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CSG ELECTIONS
FIVE VOTES DOWN
WITH LITIGATION PENDING, ELECTION REMAINS UNDECIDED Final outcome of ongoing lawsuits could flip the race By TANAZ AHMED and EMILIE PLESSET Daily Staff Reporter and Daily News Editor
The results are in, and Make Michigan has done it again. LSA junior Cooper Charlton and LSA sophomore Steven Halperin will be the Central Student Government president and vice president, respectively, according to unofficial election results released early Saturday morning. The vote tallies were released 24 hours after polls closed for the CSG elections. Charlton and Halperin won with 4,041 votes, beating The Team’s presidential and vice presidential competitors, LSA junior Will Royster and LSA sophomore Matt Fidel, by five votes. Charlton is the current president of the University’s StudentAthlete Advisory Committee and Halperin currently serves as an LSA representative. This is the second year the Make Michigan party has secured the two CSG executive positions. Litigation against both parties is still pending. Make Michigan has filed a suit against The Team See RESULTS, Page 3A
9,129 PEOPLE, 20.9% OF THE STUDENT BODY*, VOTED FOR PRESIDENT AND VP...
4,041 4,036 Make Michigan
The Team
742 DAAP 310
SEATS WON BY PARTY The Team Independent Make Michigan
1
Write-in
OF THE 21 CSG SEATS REPRESENTING LSA...
Defend Affirmative Action Party
By EMILIE PLESSET Daily News Editor
14
24
11 WERE WON BY MAKE MICHIGAN
21
10 WERE WON BY THE TEAM
Make Michigan wins CSG executive seats by closest margin in a decade
*According to the Office of the Registrar
GRAPHIC BY CAROLYN GEARIG
RUBY WALLAU/Daily
LEFT: LSA junior Will Royster and LSA sophomore Matt Fidel. RIGHT: LSA sophomore Steven Halperin and LSA junior Cooper Charlton.
According to unofficial results released Friday evening, Make Michigan’s Cooper Charlton, an LSA junior, and Steven Halperin, an LSA sophomore, narrowly secured the Central Student Government presidential and vice presidential seats by five votes, making this year’s race the closest student government election in the past decade. Prior to this year’s election, the 2012 presidential and vice presidential elections had been the closest victory, according to election returns data from 2004 to 2015. In 2012, independent candidates Manish Parikh and Omar Hashwi beat youMICH’s Shreya Singh and Ethan Hahn by 146 votes. This is also the first year that both major parties received more than 4,000 votes each, though Make Michigan came close last year when it secured the top two executive seats with 3,937 votes. In that year, Make Michigan beat forUM by 1,087 votes. During the See CLOSE RACE, Page 3A
CAMPUS LIFE
SCIENCE
Students rally to support fossil fuel divestment
Research develops mini-lung structures
Diag gathering, keynote lecture celebrate legacy of the first teach-in By LINDSEY SCULLEN Daily Staff Reporter
In the spirit of Vietnam War teach-in protests on campus 50 years ago, University students, speakers, local community members and parents of students encircled the Block ‘M’ on the Diag on Friday afternoon to rally for better treatment of the environment and divestment from fossil fuels, and to continue campus dialogue on the issue. Later in the day, participants gathered in an Angell Hall Auditorium — the same location in which the first Vietnam War teach-in was held in 1965 — to listen to investigative reporter Amy Goodman. Both events were part of “Teachin + 50: End the War Against the Planet,” a two-day-long demonstration focused on giving climate
change the political and social attention necessary to counteract future consequences. On the Diag, protesters chanted pro-divestment slogans, including: “Be the leaders and the best, from fossil fuels we must divest.” Some carried recycled cardboard signs with calls to action such as, “End This Climate War NOW!” and “Save our ONLY home! Divest from Fossil Fuels #ClimateTeachIn50.” At one point, the participants also assembled to form the number 350 in honor of 350.org’s goal to keep the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere below 350 parts-per-million. Many scientists say this decrease in carbon dioxide levels is necessary to maintain a habitable planet. Goodman — host and producer of independent public news program, “Democracy Now!” — gave the keynote address. She is a renowned investigative reporter who has covered the East Timor independence movement and the impact of oil rigs in Nigeria. She was detained outside of the 2008 Republican National Convention See TEACH-IN, Page 3A
‘U’ collaboration uses stem cells to better understand lung disease LUNA ARCHEY/Daily
By SANJAY REDDY
LSA senior Jayla Johnson, LSA sophomore Meredith Gillies and Social Work student Kylee Smith react to their fellow performers during the Vagina Monologues at the Trotter Multicultural Center on Friday.
Vagina Monologues add new emphasis on diversity Students perform acclaimed play on feminism, sexuality By SAMIHA MATIN Daily Staff Reporter
The annual production of “The Vagina Monologues” returned to campus Thursday and Friday to explore feminism
and female sexuality. Held in Rackham Auditorium on Thursday and at the Trotter Multicultural Center on Friday, the University’s chapter of Students for Choice put on the critically acclaimed show for the third time. Sponsored by LSA Student Government, Central Student Government and Student Life, the event featured 18 performances by University students. Created by playwright Eve Ensler in 1996, “The Vagina
Monologues” is a play based on interviews with real women talking about their experiences and views on their sexuality. It is composed of short scenes dealing with an array of topics such as masturbation, orgasms, birth, sex, love and rape. LSA junior Kayla Smith directed the event and said she made an effort to include topics about diversity in the show, which the original monologues lacked. See MONOLOGUES, Page 3A
Daily Staff Reporter
Stem cell research has long been seen as a new frontier for disease therapeutics. By coaxing stem cells to form 3D miniature lung structures, University researchers are helping explain why. In a collaborative study, University researchers devised a system to generate self-organizing human lung organoids, or artificially-grown organisms. These organoids are 3D models that can be used to better understand lung diseases. Jason Spence, the assistant professor of internal medicine and cell and developmental biology, who was a senior author of the study, said one of the key implications of these lungs is See LUNGS, Page 3A
Best two out of three Michigan took two of three games in its weekend series
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2A — Monday, March 30, 2015
MONDAY: This Week in History
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‘U’ faces affirmative action case that year, a similar claim against the Law School was filed. The cases were Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger, respectively. The cases ultimately made their way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the justices upheld the University’s narrow use of affirmative action in Grutter vs. Bollinger, but struck down LSA’s point system at issue in Gratz v. Bollinger. Affirmative action was ultimately outlawed in Michigan after voters passed Proposal 2 in 2006. In response to the 1997 suits, interveners — which
THE WIRE
Pres. Harbaugh? BY LEV FACHER
Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh wasn’t on the ballot in the recent CSG elections, but that didn’t stop him from finishing fourth in overall votes for CSG president as a write-in. Harbaugh earned 115 votes, including four for the joint ticket of “Jim Harbaugh and Diag Squirrel.”
THE FILTER
Action Bronson BY ZACK GREEN
Green reviews hip-hop artist Action Bronson’s debut album, Mr. Wonderful, by discussing several songs on the album. He writes that Mr. Wonderful may not be Bronson’s best album, but he was successful in defining his own voice and showing his lyrical virtuosity.
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Repper G-Eazy performs at the Block M Party at Hill Auditorium on Saturday.
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are third parties that state claims in an existing lawsuit — alleged that minority students were discriminated against in the admissions process while the University gave unfair advantages to white suburban high schools. Subsequently, Godfrey Dillard, lead counsel for the intervening undergraduate defendants, said he would use the now-available contact list to speak with minority students firsthand and gauge their impression of the admissions process.
FRIDAY: Photos of the Week
SHIRTLESS G-EAZY
15 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (MARCH 31, 2000)
U.S. District Magistrate Judge Thomas Carlson ordered the University to turn over the names and phone numbers of all undergraduate Black and Hispanic students as part of numerous lawsuits challenging the use of race as a factor in admissions to LSA. In 1997, two white applicants represented by the Washington D.C.based Center for Individual Rights filed lawsuits against the University, claiming they were denied admission to LSA while less-qualified minority students were accepted. Later
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WHAT: Journalists and University alums will discuss public health issues in the media. WHO: LSA Development, Marketing & Communications WHEN: Today from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. WHERE: The Michigan League, Hussey Room
WHAT: All students are welcome to stop by for a free palm reading. WHO: Center for Campus Involvement, Maize Pages Student Organizations WHEN: Today from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. WHERE: The Michigan Union
Reflections on a life in letters
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WHAT: Nicholas Delbanco, Robert Frost Distinguished University Professor of English Language and Literature at U of M, will talk about his life and work. WHO: University Library WHEN: Today from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. WHERE: Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library, Room 100
WHAT: This presentation will use fiction to discuss how experts have responded or should respond to the politicization of policy relevant science. WHO: Science, Technology & Society WHEN: Today from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. WHERE: Museum of Art, Auditorium
WHAT: This lecture will cover how the European Union behaves in adverse situations. WHO: Center for European Studies WHEN: Today from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. WHERE: School of Social Work Building, 1636
Anthropologist talks Holocaust WHAT: Barbara RylkoBauer, the daughter of a Catholic prisoner held in Jewish concentration camps, will speak. WHO: Polish Student Association WHEN: Today at 5:30 p.m. WHERE: Michigan League, Michigan Room l Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@
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The lead suspect from a museum attack on foreign tourists was killed Saturday night in the Gafsa region near Algeria, AP reported. Khaled Chaieb was considered an important member of al Qaeada’s North African operations.
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University-wide dance party raises money for financial aid Event intends to provide an inclusive space for students By SAMIHA MATIN Daily Staff Reporter
Students gathered at the University’s Indoor Track and Field Building on Saturday to raise financial aid funds by dancing the night away. The University-wide dance party, called INFINITY, was designed to promote an inclusive place for students to congregate. An offshoot of #BBUM, a Twitter campaign launched in 2013 by the University’s Black Student Union, INFINITY aimed to use ticket sales and donations to provide scholarships and financial aid to students in need. The event was co-sponsored by the Dean of Students Office, School of Social Work, Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, The Black
Student Union, Engineering Student Government, Hillel, optiMize and Big Ticket Productions. The event also served as an after party for the Block ‘M’ Party, a concert held earlier in the evening at Hill Auditorium. University alum Tyrell Collier, event organizer and a former speaker of the Black Student Union, said the movement is meant to create a space where minority students can share their experiences with a wider audience. “We challenge ourselves to think creatively about how we, as a student community, can contribute to increasing minority enrollment while also building a better and more inclusive University community,” he said. Collier said the funds will make it easier for underrepresented students to enroll at the University, and in turn help bolster the University’s Black student enrollment rate, which has hovered around 4 percent. As part of a list of demands provided to the Univer-
sity in 2014, the BSU has called on the University to achieve 10 percent Black enrollment. Kinesiology junior Capri’Nara Kendall, BSU secretary, planned the event. She said not all #BBUM events raise revenue solely intended to benefit Black students. “We want students from all walks of life, religion and race to collaborate and learn from each other,” Kendall said. “We want to generate revenue for all students, not just Black students.” The event featured two DJs — a University alum as well as a student in the School of Music, Theater and Dance. LSA senior Arnold Reed, the BSU speaker, shared his enthusiasm about enjoying the dance event as well as contributing to a great cause. “It’s very important for the University community to understand how much diversity can affect a student’s life,” Reed said. “INFINITY is a great event to raise money while having a good time with your friends.” Though the event involves raising money intended for underrepresented students, LSA senior Darrartu Ali, an event organizer, noted that INFINITY does not directly challenge the problem of low enrollment of minority students at the University. Rather, he said, it is designed to create a fun and inclusive environment for all students to help others in need. “INFINITY should not be seen as the outcome of everything we hope to accomplish under #BBUM,” Ali said. “Instead, it is annexed to #BBUM as we wait for the University to implement policy that actually works.” The organizers said they hope this event will begin to take place annually during Welcome Week to attract more students. “We need to create spaces for Black students, and students of color more broadly, to socialize and have fun,” Collier said. “The lack of available safe spaces on campus for Black students to flourish socially has negatively affected the perception and reality of Black student life at Michigan.”
MADELINE BATH /Daily
LSA junior Noah Newman, member of PhiDE, lip-syncs in the talent portion of Mr. Michigan in the Michigan Union on Sunday.
Mr. Michigan competition fundraises for child health FIMRC attracts increased number of students for annual charity event By EMILY MIILLER Daily Staff Reporter
In the annual Mr. Michigan contest Sunday, eight contestants walked a red carpet in the Michigan Union and showed off a variety of talents — from playing instruments to lip syncing to cooking. LSA senior Mario Cale, a member of the Pre-Medical Club, won the pageant, which is produced annually as a fundraiser by the University’s chapter of the Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children. FIMRC is a national nonprofit organization that works to improve health in developing nations worldwide, particularly in the fields of child and maternal health. LSA senior Elizabeth Bruno, FIMRC president, said the
organization most recently collaborated with Michigan Health Engineered for All Lives to fund and build a gynecological examination table for a FIMRC clinic in Nicaragua. This year, the money raised by the Mr. Michigan contest will go toward building latrines in the Dominican Republic to improve sanitary conditions. “It’s definitely helping those areas by bringing the latrines, which have a zinc top that’s going to keep up through the rainy season,” Bruno said. “That’s just one of the ways that not only our chapter but FIMRC in general works with communities to spread knowledge about those kinds of things.” LSA sophomore Jason Millen, FIMRC fundraising co-chair, was one of the main coordinators of the event. He said this year’s event had the biggest turnout in recent memory. “Last year we only sold about 80 tickets, which isn’t bad,” Millen said. “But we’re expecting over a hundred this year.” LSA sophomore Sheema Rehman, FIMRC treasurer, said
the heightened attendance was due to an increase in participating student organizations. Seven organizations, in particular, collaborated with FIMRC: Circle K, Red Cross, Phi Delta Epsilon, Alpha Phi Omega, Seventh Mile Music, Pre-Medical Club and MRelay. “It’s the diversity of the groups that we got,” Rehman said. “Normally we target the pre-med and pre-health clubs on campus, but this year we were able to get MRelay and Seventh Mile Music and these are some awesome additions to have.” Bruno said the organization tries to revamp its event every year by adding new elements — this year, they auctioned off gift baskets donated by local businesses. “The way that we’re doing the baskets is completely new, as well as the setup and everything,” Bruno said. “They’re fresh ideas in this fundraiser that we know works really well.” Overall, Rehman said, Mr. Michigan is a fun way to fundraise through entertainment and collaboration with others.
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MONOLOGUES From Page 1A “Recently, the Vagina Monologues has fallen under criticism for its lack of diversity,” Smith said. “Our cast and crew acknowledge these criticisms and think that dialogues surrounding issues of intersectionality are productive and important to have.” Intersectionality refers to the intersections of identities such as race and gender. In keeping with the original format of “The Vagina Monologues,” students took turns performing their versions of popular monologues, including “My Angry Vagina,” “My Vagina was My Village,” “Reclaiming Cunt” and “My Revolution Begins in the Body.” Students also performed “They Beat the Girl Out of My Boy,” a new monologue that explores the identities and difficulties of transgender life. LSA senior Wendy Cortes performed the role of a sex worker in the monologue “The Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy.” Cortes said she was thrilled to be part of an event that opened discussions on a stigmatized subject. “I hope everyone’s awareness changes and that they can understand issues impacting women’s sexuality and identities,” she said. “People should realize that despite everything, women are still powerful and independent.”
ELECTION From Page 1A and LSA senior Andrew Loeb for harvesting 534 e-mails; The Team filed a similar suit against Make Michigan for harvesting 5,719 e-mails; and Make Michigan filed a suit against LSA junior Will Royster, The Team’s presidential candidate, for influencing a student while voting. E-mail violations are assessed per e-mail recipient. Candidates are not allowed to solicit votes through listservs they don’t own, for example. Candidates or campaign volunteers are also not allowed to harvest student e-mail addresses for campaign purposes, according to the CSG Compiled Code. “We’re going to fight them on whatever we have,” LSA junior Jacob Abudaram, The Team’s campaign manager, said Saturday morning. “Win or lose, we’re still here.” According to Law student Paige Becker, the University’s elections director, if both parties are found guilty of harvesting emails, their entire slates could be disqualified. In this scenario, the Defend Affirmative Action Party would take office. DAAP’s executive slate amassed 742.05 votes — over 3,000 votes less than either Make Michigan or The Team. “It would be all of the next highest vote getters that are actual students,” Becker said in an interview Sunday. “So for example, the DAAP ticket would take over the presidential and vice presidential seat, and everywhere where there were DAAP candidates for the assembly or independent candidates for the assembly they would take over the seats. Any that weren’t filled were be filled in the fall.” The election results came in after Make Michigan filed complaints against The Team for destroying campaign materials. The party alleged that members of The Team erased a Make Michigan chalk advertisement on the Diag and replaced it with an advertisement reading “Vote for the Team.” The University Elections Committee ultimately found The Team guilty of the charges in a two-to-one vote
Business sophomore Edith Zhang performed the monologue “My Vagina Was My Village,” which focuses on the experiences of Bosnian women subjected to rape. Zhang said the monologues provide a powerful voice to all women. “Some of the monologues are very comedic, such as ‘My Angry Vagina,’ but others bring out compelling issues,” she said. “As a society, we definitely need to be more aware of them.” LSA junior Jayla Johnson, another performer in the show, said she believes the event is a great way to introduce these topics to students in a more intimate setting. “It’s a taboo topic but events like these bring awareness to the student population, especially since it includes students from all kinds of backgrounds,” she said. LSA junior Rhani Franklin, the show’s producer, said she hoped the event will continue at the University, in part because 90 percent of the show’s proceeds go to the SafeHouse Center. The center provides services to women experiencing domestic violence and sexual assault in Washtenaw County. The other 10 percent supports the V-Day campaign, which aims to end violence against girls and women. “Through our events at the University, we are certainly contributing for a greater cause,” she said.
and assessed them four demerits. Demerits do not affect a party unless it receives 10 demerits, which then disqualifies the candidates. Make Michigan also filed a complaint against The Team for campaign finance disclosure violations. However, The Team filed a counterclaim against Make Michigan for filing a frivolous complaint. Both parties were found not guilty Saturday night, yielding no demerits on either side. The Make Michigan platform addresses several issues regarding campus safety and diversity. The party’s platform outlines goals to improve campus safety by working with the city of Ann Arbor to improve off-campus lighting as well as launch a new safety mobile application. The party also intends to promote an inclusive campus environment through the implementation of SEED faculty training, a for-profit faculty education program. During CSG debates earlier this month, Charlton addressed the party’s commitment to improving diversity and inclusion on campus. “Diversity is more than skin deep,” Charlton said. “The University of Michigan is where great minds come. With Make Michigan, we are going to be able to make the difference.” The release of the results coincided with the deadline for filing litigation. According to Law student John Lin, CSG’s student general counsel, this change was implemented in spring 2014 to expedite the litigation process. The former election policy stated that results would be announced after litigation was resolved. Under the previous policy, the announcement of last year’s CSG election results was delayed until five days after polls closed. “The intent behind this rule change is that, say if you won, you can drop all the claims you filed against the other party and that would reduce litigation a little bit,” Lin said. Daily News Editor Michael Sugerman contributed reporting.
C O L O R F U L F E S T I VA L
CLOSE RACE From Page 1A last decade, the average difference in votes between the winning and second place ticket was 793.9 votes. Excluding this year’s margin, the average is 872.8 votes. According to Law student John Lin, CSG’s student general counsel, including write-in candidates, about 22 percent of the student body voted in this year’s presidential election, a roughly 2 percent increase over last year’s student body voter turnout. He said while this year’s election saw one of the highest voter turnouts, the 2013 presidential election saw the highest voter turnout, with about 24 percent of the student body voting in the election. Lin said the higher voter turnout could be attributed to the parties’ intensified campaign tactics and efforts to reach out to many communities on campus. He also said having multiple parties contending for positions usually increases voter turnout, citing the 2013 election which saw students voting for four major parties, including forUM, youMICH, momentUM and an independent ticket. Though Make Michigan received the most votes in this year’s election, Law student Paige Becker, the University’s elections director, said due to pending litigation against the party, the election results could flip in The Team’s favor. The University Elections Committee is still ruling on five complaints, including three against The Team for harvesting e-mails and influencing voters while voting, and another against Make Michigan for violating e-mail regulations, which are assessed on a per e-mail recipient basis. Becker said Make Michigan was accused of harvesting 5,719 e-mail addresses. If the party were found guilty of violating the CSG Compiled Code under this allegation, they would garner enough demerits to disqualify their party. The next hearing will be Monday night. Then the UEC will have 36 hours to release an opinion, at which point the parties have an additional 24 hours to file an appeal to the Central Student Judiciary. Lin said assuming no complaints are dropped, election results will not be certified until Thursday morning at the earliest. If Make Michigan is disqualified, this would not be the first time a winning party is unable to take office after being found to have violated election regulations. In 2013 forUM’s Chris Osborn and Hayley Sakwa garnered 3,413 votes in the presidential and vice presidential elections, beating youMICH by 485 votes. However, the UEC later ruled that Osborn had influenced voters, thereby disqualifying the forUM executive ticket and allowing youMICH’s Michael Proppe, a current Business graduate student, and Bobby Dishell, current CSG president and Public Policy senior, to take office.
LUNGS From Page 1A the controlled environment they offer for future research. “These mini lungs will allow us to study diseases in a controlled environment and to develop and test new drugs,” he said. Specifically, Spence said, scientists will be able to take skin samples from patients with a particular form of a lung disease, reprogram the cells into stem cells and then generate lung tissue for further study. He said by analyzing the disease
Monday, March 30, 2015 — 3A
LUNA ARCHEY/Daily
Taubman student Pankti Sanganee dances at the Holi “Color-Tag” event on the Diag hosted by The Hindu Students Council on Sunday.
TEACH-IN From Page 1A for attempting to report on an anti-war protest outside. In her speech, Goodman stressed the role of independent media in bringing social justice and peace. She said the personal narratives investigated by independent outlets can allow audiences to break down stereotypes and caricatures that lead to misunderstanding and hate. “I think the media can be the greatest force for peace on Earth,” Goodman said. “Instead, all too often, from the Vietnam War, to Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and Syria today, it is wielded as a weapon of war. And that has to be challenged.” She described the challenges reporters met in Vietnam in the 1960s, including how corporate media agencies such as ABC, NBC and CBS would not run their stories. For this reason, she said, independent media is important for telling the stories that are sometimes too controversial for corporately run outlets. “We need a media that covers power, not covers for power,” she said. “We need media that covers movements that create history and make static.” LSA junior Nicholas Jansen — the president of Divest and Invest, a student organization that promotes sustainability — led chants on the Diag and stressed the necessity of divestment to fellow protesters. He echoed Goodman’s call for movements that challenge the political landscape. Divest and Invest has repeatedly called for the University to divest from fossil fuel companies. Recently, Central Student Government passed a resolution in conjunction with Divest and Invest which asks the University’s Board of Regents to form a committee to investigate the propriety the University’s oil and coal investments. Jansen said the University’s Vietnam teach-in 50 years ago was responsible for a domino effect of activism that ultimately encouraged the United States to pull soldiers out of Vietnam and end the war, adding that this example was what inspired Sunday’s event. “Now that’s what we hope to do
in a controlled environment, researchers can gain insight into the progression of various diseases and then tailor drugs for treatment. Rackham student Briana Dye was also a lead author of the study. She said the team manipulated numerous signaling pathways involved with cell growth and organ formation to make the miniature lungs. First, Dye said the scientists used proteins called growth factors to differentiate embryonic stem cells into endoderm, the germ layer that gives rise to the lungs. Different growth factors were
with this: start something here, start something big,” Jansen said. “Create some noise that make institutions like the University of Michigan — that have a lot of power and influence on what this country does — say we’re not putting up with this anymore, we’re done with fossil fuels.” M. Jahi Chappell, the director of agroecology and agriculture policy at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, was among many speakers at Friday’s teachin who spoke prior to Goodman’s keynote address. He said the issue of global climate change “is even bigger than the Vietnam War.” Chappell added that, because climate change happens in “slow motion,” it can be difficult to impress upon people the reality of its severity. Oftentimes, he said, economic barriers are what stop people from acting on climate change issues. “But there’s a really good recent presentation arguing we could see 30-percent unemployment 80 years from now because of the amount of damage from climate change,” he said, referencing a Tufts University study called “Macroeconomics in the Age of Climate Change.” “This is slow motion, but that is a real possibility. We could see huge unemployment in the future, not to mention lots of other bad effects and lives lost,” Chappell said. “So this is to try and reenact energy from the Vietnam era, on something that’s even bigger than that.” Chants continued intermittently throughout the rally. A common one was “Hey, Obama. Stop this climate drama.” Tom Hayden, author of the Port Huron Statement of the Students for a Democratic Society and a former editor of The Michigan Daily, gave the rally’s final speech prior to the formal teach-in in Angell Hall. He spoke about clean energy sources that the University and the rest of society have yet to use. Citing wind and solar power successes in other countries, he questioned why the University has not made similar strides. “The Great Lakes should be the source of wind power for the whole region,” he said. He further referenced the University’s potential in this area, given the esteemed College of
then used to cause the endoderm to become lung tissue. “We add specific growth factors, proteins that turn on pathways in the cells, that will then cause them to lift off the monolayer so that we have this 3D spherical tissue,” she said. Previous research has used stem cells in a similar manner to generate brain, intestine, stomach and liver tissue. Dye said one of the advantages of stem cell research is its direct path to studying human tissue. “We have worked with many animal models in the past,” Dye said. “Animal mod-
Engineering and its students. He acknowledged the significant strides already being made by engineers at the University, though he believes more could be done. After Hayden’s speech, teachin participants filed into Angell Hall to listen to Goodman’s keynote address. Engineering freshman Trevor Hoffman said he attended the teach-in because people need to understand the reality of climate change science and future consequences. “Why am I here? To save the planet,” he said. “If we don’t educate the masses and get them all to know, then we’re not going to move forward and we’re not going to make any progress. We just have to keep moving, we have to educate more people, get more people to know, spread the word, make it known, get everyone to know.” Marie Lynn Miranda, dean of the School of Natural Resources and Environment, gave the welcoming address prior to Goodman’s presentation. Miranda said events like the teach-in are important for inspiring others to promote change through dispersing knowledge. “I always say challenging times are also times of opportunity,” Miranda said. During her speech, Goodman used her experience in Selma, Alabama on March 7, where she went to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of Bloody Sunday, to emphasize that it is not enough to simply remember the past — citizens must use knowledge to make social progress. “I think we are seeing little uprisings and larger ones around the country that indicate something is afoot,” she said. “The media doesn’t cover movements, the media covers politicians, those who cheerlead for war.” LSA sophomore Valeriya Epshteyn, outreach chair for Divest and Invest, felt Goodman’s speech spoke devoted attention to voices that usually do not receive recognition from other media outlets. “Amy Goodman’s speech was one of the most honest things I’ve heard in a long time on campus,” Epshteyn said. “It didn’t feel very censored, and that’s what she said about the independent voice.”
els present obstacles because they don’t exactly behave the way human tissue and cells do. This is why stem cells are so promising.” In the future, Spence said researchers hope to use stem cells to replace diseased lung tissue and generate new lungs. Though he said the future is promising, he stressed patience with the process. “In terms of tissue replacement and regenerating new lungs for regenerative medicine, that’s a much more ambitious goal way down the road, we are still far away from that.”
Opinion
4A — Monday, March 30, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
The dealer, the supplier and the addict
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.
FROM THE DAILY
Increase the smoking age United States’ tobacco buying age should be raised to 21
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recent study released by the Institute of Medicine suggests that raising the minimum legal age for purchasing tobacco products to 21 could prevent, or at least delay, tobacco use and reduce the risk for later addiction in young people. The report states that if an increased minimum purchase age was implemented today, there would be a 12 percent reduction in tobacco usage by 2100. This figure should not be ignored. Moving to increase the age at which individuals can legally purchase tobacco has significant potential benefits, but can’t be the only step taken. The government should consider increasing programs that aid smokers in quitting and potentially increase taxation on tobacco products. According to the Surgeon General, nearly 90 percent of adult daily smokers have their first cigarette by age 18 and 99 percent have theirs by age 26. Those most impacted by raising the minimum age would be teenagers aged 15 to 17. If the legal minimum age to purchase tobacco were 21, it would limit the ability of high school students to obtain tobacco products themselves or ask siblings or other family members to get these products for them. Making tobacco products less accessible to younger populations will reduce the number of individuals who will become addicted to tobacco products later on in life. Moreover, increasing the tobacco purchasing age would further stigmatize the product, making younger individuals less likely to start using it. That said, a law to raise the minimum age for purchasing tobacco products must be implemented correctly. The 18-to-21-yearold population should be grandfathered in, which would avoid the issue of forcing these young people to try and find other ways of acquiring tobacco products or quit cold turkey. While the grandfather clause would not be intended to promote the continuation of smoking habits, it would be a way to help those quit under smoother and probably safer circumstances. Additionally, there are other issues that raising the legal tobacco purchasing age does not address. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2011, 68.9 percent of adult smokers wanted to stop smoking and 42.7 percent had made an attempt to quit in the past year, meaning
they stopped smoking for at least one day in an attempt to quit. Clearly, raising the age limit is not the only solution. Improving the availability of resources to help people quit smoking is also vitally important. Given that several studies have found that higher taxes on tobacco products would effectively reduce smoking habits, especially with young people and lowincome populations, it should also be highly considered as a solution. For example, a 10-percent increase in tobacco prices would lead to a five- to 15-percent decrease in smoking in people ages 18 and under. Since people of lower socioeconomic status account for a larger percentage of those who use tobacco products, and studies show that lower income people are more responsive to higher prices, a tax would likely have a significant impact on a large portion of the tobacco-using population. Along with measures that must be taken to reduce the overall percentage of people who smoke, increasing the minimum legal tobacco purchasing age presents significant upsides. Decreasing the availability of tobacco products to youths would increase the stigma attached to the use of these products and further serve to decrease rates of consumption. However crucial, this is just the beginning of a conversation on the culture of tobacco use in the United States. Tobacco use is intricately linked with other factors, such as stress and socioeconomic status. Therefore, if we, as a society, are serious about eradicating tobacco use, then ideas to reduce poverty and improve mental health treatment must also be addressed.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Ben Keller, Payton Luokkala, Aarica Marsh, Victoria Noble, Michael Paul, Anna Polumbo-Levy, Allison Raeck, Melissa Scholke, Michael Schramm, Matthew Seligman, Mary Kate Winn, Jenny Wang, Derek Wolfe
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Finding my Groove
ast semester, I wrote about performance groups on campus, exploring how they have incorporated themselves into the University lifestyle and what they have done to have a unique presence on campus. If you are in a performance group, you have had the great opportunity to bond with others who share the same desire to create a craft. For any of you who know me, I SARA am part of a group on cam- SHAMASKIN pus called Groove. We are casually known as “those guys that play trash cans,” but we are much more than that. But more than anything, this group has made my college experience absolutely wonderful. I came into college a quiet, nervous percussionist who felt most comfortable at the back of the band or hidden in the pit orchestra. Yes, percussion and drumming are not the typical instruments of an introvert, but damn were they fun to play. I had started when I was just a wee fourth-grader, so naturally I gravitated towards the percussion section. Flash forward to freshman year, hearing Groove playing on overturned and painted recycling bins during Festifall. I wanted to try out, but I was just too chicken. I was scared that it would be a male-dominated group, much too frightening for this little freshman girl to dive right into. But throughout the year, I watched my long-time friend rock out on stage at his Groove shows. It was during those shows when I realized, “I could so play that.” It wasn’t anything I couldn’t do if I practiced enough. I thought, “how cool would it be for me to be in a group dedicated solely to music?!” It was after the first Groove show I saw that I
vowed to myself to try out the next year. My life needed music, something that I had been doing since I was three years old. To just stop cold turkey when I got to college made the transition from home to school even more difficult. I needed to be a part of something that had always been a part of me. The next year, I tried out. I got my acceptance e-mail. I cried. I was undeniably happy. To the Groovers reading this, yes, I did actually cry. I was chosen to be a part of a group that wanted me because of my talents, not for how I appeared. It was at that point that I started to become comfortable with who I was. Groove helped me come out of my shell and be more outgoing. You cannot be a shy individual and stand on stage in front of 1,500 people. The combination exists, but it is difficult to manage. You become uninhibited, and you learn and absorb the other personalities of the group. We are only about 30 people, but the alumni and dedicated fans make this a well developed network that makes me love what I do. Groove has helped me to expand my artistic abilities, my music writing, to grow in leadership roles and be exposed to new types of music genres. Let’s not forget that I have now gone from hiding in the back of my band to doing a battle cry on stage in front of hundreds of people, dressing like a hippie from Soul Train and acting as Ursula the Sea Witch, more excited than nervous to be out on that stage. I strive for showing the public what Groove and I have been able to accomplish in these past three years. But to be honest, I am terrified to leave these people. Love does not even begin to describe how I feel toward these people with whom I spend countless hours, practices, chill sessions, parties and heart-to-hearts. We share a craft building music and instruments together. To you out there who is a part of a group on
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ife, at times, is completely overwhelming, especially during the years defined by undergraduate education. It’s not necessarily the busywork, but rather to what it’s made to amount: this idea that the purpose of education is to enable you to navigate AUSTIN the thralls of the DAVIS real world, to secure a job that pays well, to start saving for retirement, etc. It’s the pressure to realize predefined notions of success that catalyze anxiety. This anxiety is what has come to define higher education in the United States. The expectations I place on myself are ever-changing, multifaceted and confusing as a result. The amount of pressure I feel at any given time usually ranges from nominal to near implosion on my internal barometer. I often wonder if the University, American culture in general or my waxing and waning apathy to formal education is to blame. The trouble with this interplay can be summed up by an overarching analogy. The University is akin to a drug dealer. The high is so intense and euphoric from just a first sample of his product that you’re instantly hooked. When an 18-year-old opens that acceptance letter into the exclusive club of “Leaders and Best,” the initial feeling is the inevitable high of being deemed special. It’s the start of an indoctrination of arrogance; an education of privilege instead of right. A fast track to the apex of achievement. Once on campus, it’s all the freshmen can do to chase after that elusive feeling of significance. He or she follows a formula of success outlined by the University, searches for every possible affirmation and engages in competition with themselves and others in order to be deemed the best. The dealer peddles us what we
think we need. We use despite the incurred monetary and mental cost. Thousands are spent in search of that which was felt when that letter was first opened. This quest stomps out creativity, produces paranoia, self-loathing and depression. If the University is the dealer, American culture is the supplier. It is the creator of the drug while being, at the same time, the entity that fosters the dealer’s wealth. Culture creates a market within which the dealer’s product will be valued; our socialization leads us to believe that consumption of the drug — partaking in this perverted form of higher education — regardless of the side effects, leads to greatness. Think of Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World.” Those occupying the highest echelons of society — the Alphas and Betas, those who have been indoctrinated to the hyper-consumerist values of the ever-peaceable World State since conception — are encouraged by the State to engage recreationally and religiously to the point of dependence in the use of the drug soma, which has hallucinogenic qualities that transport the user into a state of blind optimism. Similarly, American society makes available its form of higher education to the masses under the same guise of happiness through material success. It pushes us to conform, to fit the mold of a university student. It ignites within us the need surpass our peers and justifies the equation of monetary gain with personal satisfaction. Rest and mental health aren’t options and being overworked to the point of needing performance enhancers is considered the norm. Production and further proliferation of this ideology are key to the supplier’s success; we engage with the system because it’s viewed as the only viable life option. Finally, all analogous factors considered, the student plays the role of the addict, the one who ultimately becomes dependent on both dealer and supplier. Once that first bump has been had, it’s hard to imagine a world without. The fear of running out governs all action. No matter the detrimental costs, the addict contin-
ues to subsist within preset confines. University students often choose the most lucrative educational path. Thinking deeply about problems plays second fiddle to vocational politics. There’s a lack of critique on the system because students are hard-pressed to conceptualize an education not defined by resumebuilding summer internships and a promenade before potential employers at job fairs. We have become addicted to high marks and affirmations, to the prospect of the yearly bonus and the company car. It seems as if there’s no longer a belief of higher education as a means for individual growth. We don’t study to learn; we study to succeed. And if success doesn’t come, the student is left jaded and broke, an addict without a fix, profiteered by a dealer and supplier whose only focus was a continued influx of money. The withdrawal — the understanding of how the system truly functioned — is bitterly painful. The saddest part is that victim and perpetrator are one and the same. As students, we have a choice. We can demand to be nourished by our bodies of higher education, rather than to be influenced by them. We can accustom ourselves to challenge our socialization, to redefine what it means to be educated. We can democratize the process by affording education to all individuals who value knowledge as a tool with which to overturn systems of subjugation, including those to which we pay increasingly expensive tuition. Getting sober is an onerous, confusing task, but one necessary for individual and societal health; to remain under the influence is to feed the drug to the next generation. Perhaps that’s why, at the end of my undergraduate career, I find myself at odds with the true value of my education. I ask myself: have the last four years of my life amounted to a process of self-realization, or rather, to an appeasement of the status quo? — Austin Davis can be reached at austchan@umich.edu.
WILL CANNING | VIEWPOINT
Why I cannot vote for divestment
As students at the University of Michigan, we’re commonly united through phrases like “Go Blue” and take pride in being the, “Leaders and Best.” Our strong sense of community is part of the reason why so many students choose to attend the University. This past week, a resolution was introduced to Central Student Government that hurts this sense of community and unity that many hold valuable to their Michigan experience. Students Allied for Freedom and Equality has introduced “A Resolution to Call Upon The University of Michigan to Appoint a Committee to Investigate Investments in Socially Irresponsible Companies that Violate Palestinian Human Rights.” As a representative on the CSG Assembly, it concerns me that a resolution that was so divisive last year has resurfaced. This is a resolution that I cannot support and that my fellow Wolverines should not support. There’s no denying that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a triggering, tough and difficult issue to discuss. There’s also no denying this resolution is attempting to turn this historical conflict into one where students conflate the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement with all social justice efforts. This leads to a fractured campus community in which students are only pushed to further extremes on the spectrum of the conflict. While every student on this campus has the fundamental right to have their voice heard, I cannot support movements such as BDS and #UMDivest, which present a one-sided narrative and do not allow for collaborative or constructive dialogue. Divestment has historically been used at our University with regard to South African apartheid, the tobacco industry and, most recently, the oil and coal industries. In 2005, the University’s CFO provided the basic outline for determining whether or not divestment is appropriate. This framework should be followed when asking the University’s Board of Regents to divest the University’s endowment, which is not made of student tuition, from a socially irresponsible set of investments. I chalcampus, be thankful that you are a member and realize what you have gained from such a group. If you are still searching for your group, keep looking. You will find something that makes you happy, that
lenge the appropriateness of SAFE’s request through this process laid out by the University CFO. The statement from the CFO reads: “We will ask the Regents to appoint an ad hoc committee to investigate the ethical and moral implications of our investments only when the following conditions have been met: • The concern to be explored must express the broadly and consistently held position of the campus community over time. • There must be reason to believe that the behavior or action in question may be antithetical to the core mission and values of the University. • There must be reason to believe that the organization, industry or entity to be singled out may be uniquely responsible for the problems identified.” Regarding the first point of this statement, there’s clearly no broadly and consistently expressed position of the campus community regarding divestment on this issue. Last year, when SAFE introduced a similar resolution, hundreds of students with a wide range of opinions attended CSG’s meetings and spoke during the community concerns portion of the meeting in an attempt to persuade Assembly members to vote one way or another. When looking at the second statement, take into account one of the University’s core missions — the pursuit and dissemination of truth and knowledge. Passing a resolution as controversial as the one proposed would steer the University in the opposite direction. Rather than opening the door for dialogue in which people can learn, BDS is dissuading individuals from being able to express and form new opinions at the University. Voting yes for this resolution sends a dangerous signal internally — to the members of our own campus community, and externally, to our peer institutions along with local and national lawmakers — that decisions can be made with limited information and the suppression of a wide range of opinions and knowledge. Finally, the third prong deals with responsibility for the identified prob-
lems. While the companies targeted in this resolution have been identified by BDS as infringing upon the human rights of Palestinians, this resolution fails to shed light on the positive work that these companies perform to help those in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip such as building homes, hospitals and schools. Claiming that these four companies are uniquely responsible for issues in the Middle East is a baseless accusation being treated as fact. While BDS is a movement that is attempting to hurt a country thousands of miles away, in reality, it’s only hurting our campus community right here at home. SAFE has created an atmosphere in which only one narrative is given legitimacy, and where dissent, discussion or dialogue is silenced. This threatens the ability of members of our campus to operate as an open and intellectual community. Last year, SAFE held events such as a depiction of a West Bank checkpoint and delivered hundreds of dorm residents “mock eviction notices” that suggested they had been evicted from their dorms. These actions show that this student group aims to educate community members through fear and intimidation rather than through information and fact. SAFE is a student organization on our campus that’s actively creating a polarized campus atmosphere. As a CSG representative and member of the Jewish community, I cannot support a resolution that undermines the ability of community members to create a united, inclusive campus. I cannot support a resolution that places absolute blame for a complicated conflict on one side. I cannot support a resolution that provides a platform for anti-Semitism to thrive. What the University of Michigan needs are solutions that bring multiple parties together for constructive dialogue and action. We will not do this by annually proposing divisive resolutions that spark conflict. I ask you to join me in defeating this resolution, but more importantly, I ask for your support in creating solutions that strengthen our community.
makes you want to never leave this University. As I prepare to depart from this group when I graduate in a few short weeks, I want to thank my fellow Groovers who inspired personal growth in my personal-
ity, my character and my capacity to love a group of strange and wonderful people.
Will Canning is a CSG representative and Business junior.
— Sara Shamaskin can be reached at scsham@umich.edu.
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Monday, March 30, 2015 — 5A
FILM COLUMN
FILM REVIEW
Scared Shitless: Part Two The first part of this column was published in The Michigan Daily on Mar. 13. nwar Kharral leers out a bedroom window. Right hand hovering over his crotch, a dusting of peach fuzz beading sweat across his upper AKSHAY lip, Anwar SETH pauses before posing a question of seemingly profound importance. “Wank? Or tell group? … Wank? Or tell group?” Masturbate at the sight of the woman chopping wood outside — a woman no one else believes even exists — or point, shout, show the world she’s not just a hormone-addled figment of his imagination? As George Berkeley once wondered, if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, should Anwar rub one out? This is the kind of question, just stupid enough to stick without risk of self-parody, that is asked a lot in “Skins,” the BBC TV series that secured Dev Patel, Jack O’Donnell and many other yuppie British actors their spot in Hollywood casting lineups. Patel, who portrayed Anwar for the show’s first two highly watchable if not groundbreaking seasons, approaches those questions with an eye on the open, often cringeworthy treatment of sexuality they imply, a certain candidness or, more accurately, bluntness that lays the foundation for characters in soon to come American counterparts like “Girls” and “Shameless.” Like the rest of the cast, Patel is swinging for the fences in every frame, but only because the premise demands that kind of self-aware outrage at the faintest pin drop of a plot point. It’s the Hollywood version of “they broke up???” — a set of character traits as enclosed, petty and exaggerated as anyone who ever went to high school remembers them being. Audiences shovel through the empty calories, writers wheel through the smarmy sound bites, and in this sense, the window dressing serves its purpose. Soap operas have been perfecting (peddling) the formula for half a century, and make no mistake: along their deepest sinews, that’s exactly what these shows are. Punched up melodrama for millennials. There’s no need for Patel or any of the other actors to flex subtlety, so why bother?
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‘Skins’ only breaks the barrier when it deals with race. “Skins” only ever manages to break the barrier and get under skins when it’s dealing with race, doing so in a way that’s both glancing yet poignant. It offers answers, sort of. In a scene where Patel tries to stammer through the reasons behind Anwar’s homophobia, the dialogue settles the argument with a four-word explanation. “I’m just a Muslim.” The instinctive response is “there’s more.” Much more, but the show’s effectiveness in discussing these issues stems from a willingness to nick the jugular, then leave whoever’s in front of the camera to stanch the blood with their hands. The writing never changes after that crucial scene, but Patel’s performance takes a shot of liquefied cocaine to the face. In an introductory screenwriting class, it could be
compared to finding oneself lost at sea in a gale of subtext, only an actor keeping the dialogue from its insistence on dogpaddling away from a shitstorm. So even though Anwar never even deigns to look over his shoulder while hiding behind those feeble four words, Patel is hand-delivered a role dripping with moldable tension. And the result is more human, real, uncontrived than anything he’s done since.
“Wank? Or tell group?” Watching “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” is like being stabbed in the part of the brain that parcels out feelings of national pride to the rest of the body. There’s no pain — it just coughs a little before keeling over somewhere in the broken pauses between Dev Patel’s (playing Sonny Kapoor) put-on Indian accent. Of course, let’s not forget the fact that, like his character, the geriatric Brits Patel is supposed to be palavering in his quest for exoticity also share the emotional density of a hologram. Still, the indignant asshole in me wavered. If I had to be completely honest, I’d be forced to admit there were stretches in both installments where I couldn’t help but crack at least a few smiles — the films are like two large spoonfuls of concentrated sugar, saccharine enough to make you beam in discomfort, water running down your face, whenever Dame Judi Dench exchanges flirty glances with the locals.
Patel swings for the fences. “Marigold” ’s problems share roots with “Skins” ’s strengths. In both cases, Patel starts encased inside scripts overladen with inflated dialogue but lacking any weighty plot turns. In “Skins,” he breaks out by gradually, wordlessly poking holes in his character’s homophobia while the audience heaps sympathy in his direction precisely because Anwar is struggling with real moral dilemmas on screen, and he’s so obviously doing it without any help from the script. It’s a home run that floats on Patel’s acting chops, yet still manages to arc alongside the cheap melodramatic tics of its source material. “Marigold” never gets past the window dressing. The most disheartening aspect of watching it swallow up Patel and spit him out as a tokenized caricature is realizing how little anyone cares, how often it’s heralded as an insightful portrait of aging — nothing more, nothing less. Most Indians I know watch the film because it’s a chance to see versions of themselves in the limelight, then laugh it off for its hazy, unrealistic portrayal of India. As long as old people are buying matinee tickets and Rotten Tomatoes labels it endearing, why not kowtow to stereotypes? When the credits rolled, I wanted to continue seething in that pit of outrage. I wanted to keep my finger pointed squarely at Hollywood. But the fact of the matter is Patel is content to pick a role that sees its entire moral arc hinge around his character’s preparation for a wedding reception, the wedding reception during which he will dance to the Bollywoodthemed song that will in turn become the climactic musical centerpiece for the film. It’s work. And in a perfect world, there would be no
inaccuracy in simply labeling this as one of those “for the money” jobs actors take to pay off the mortgage on a fifth house. Yet, in an industry with little to no set roles for people with brown skin — on either side of the camera — it makes sense why Patel would have extra incentive to spend screen time solidifying his image as the face that most often comes to mind when Americans think “Indian.” This is the tradeoff films like “Marigold” demand. It’s fucking terrifying in that “I feel bad for this filthy rich celebrity” kind of way, true, though more so when one considers the bottleneck glaring down any person of color looking for an in, no matter how small.
WARNER BROS
“Which one of you is Gucci Mane?”
It’s hard to get into offensive ‘Get Hard’ By LAUREN WOOD Daily Arts Writer
‘Marigold’ never gets past the window dressing.
Though it’s not always clear where the line is between offensive jokes and funny, boundarypushing ones lies, “Get D Hard” falls Get Hard definitively into the former Rave and category, Quality 16 relying on Warner Bros. overdone acting and a questionable plot structure to confront issues much larger than it can handle. The film’s premise revolves around one rich white banker’s fear that he will be raped when he goes to prison. James (Will Ferrell, “Step Brothers”), a welloff hedge fund manager who seems completely ignorant to the working class around him, is falsely accused of laundering funds from his company and is sentenced to 10 years in the worst prison in Los Angeles He employs Darnell (Kevin Hart, “Ride Along”), the owner of the car washing service in his office parking garage, to teach him how to survive in jail, assuming that because he
So when Aziz Ansari says his last three roles were Randy, Chet and Tom — not Kumar, Vishnu and Sandeep — should it be a point of pride, the ideal end-goal? No. Because saying so implies there is no space for Indian-American stories to fit through the bottleneck. Because Aziz has never worked with an Indian-American writer or director in his entire film career. Because the only IndianAmerican writer-director Dev Patel has ever worked with is M. Night Shyamalan. And because, in that case, the character he played was a Chinese teenager named Zuko. Seth is rapidly running out of shit, literally and metaphorically. To send him some more, email akse@umich.edu
is Black, he must know his way around an Los Angeles County maximum security prison. James is wrong; Darnell is a straightedged, hardworking father, but because he needs money to move his family out of their dangerous neighborhood, he decides to teach James about prison survival, or at least what he thinks prison might be like. The two enter into a month-long training program, and finally end up working to solve who set James up and clearing his name altogether. While there is some small seedling of a good or funny idea deep within this plot, “Get Hard” edges past satire and into the realm of offensive, working under the guise of breaking down stereotypes while actually relying on them for its entire story. The film clearly trying to make some statement about wealth and the working class in America, but it relies on rape jokes and racist supporting characters to make this remark, simultaneously reinforcing the ideas it claims to be subverting. Although Hart’s character actually has some laughable moments (in one scene he impressively acts out an altercation in the prison yard between three over-the-top black, Latino and gay inmates,
Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Monday, March 30, 2015
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
playing three characters at once), Ferrell falls flat, crafting a ridiculous and unbelievable character with little material to build on. While this bit succeeds in movies like “Anchorman” or “Step Brothers,” where Ferrell’s impossibly strange characters are the key to the winning satire, his role in “Get Hard” seems tired and overdone. One of the most destructive things that can happen to a comedian is that they actually believe themselves to be hilariously funny; Ferrell has obviously fallen into this trap, with no one brave enough to tell him he’s gone too far. The film becomes a long string of him laughing at his own jokes, with Hart running around him in circles to weave some kind of sense into the story. Although there are certainly a few funny moments in “Get Hard,” the film and its actors approach sensitive topics with a half-baked attempt to actually make a statement. By trying to take on the major issues of race and class but grounding its story in one long rape joke, “Get Hard” turns its message into a joke, and the entire film crashes under the weight of the issues it tries to confront.
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ACROSS 1 Also 4 Hotelier Helmsley 9 Make small adjustments to 14 Post-ER area 15 First stage 16 ABBA’s “__ Mia” 17 Black-and-white cruiser 19 High-tech prefix with space 20 Memorial __ Kettering: NYC hospital 21 Teensy bit 23 Word on a penny 24 Yin’s partner 25 Black-and-white puzzles 27 When doubled, a Pacific island 29 Actor DiCaprio, familiarly 30 Black-and-white music makers 35 “The Jetsons” boy 39 Go over snow 40 Painkiller with a Meltaways children’s brand 42 “__ Maria” 43 2014 film about civil rights marches 45 Black-and-white companion 47 Outfielder’s asset 49 Brouhahas 50 Black-and-white flag 56 Take five 59 October birthstone 60 Curly-horned goat 61 Happen 62 Really casual “No prob!” 64 Black-and-white ocean predator 66 Pal of Threepio 67 Behave theatrically 68 Type 69 Way up or way down 70 Meeting of church delegates 71 Albany is its cap. DOWN 1 Slightly sloshed 2 City in Florida’s horse country
3 Released from jail until trial 4 Diving lake bird 5 Picture that shows more detail: Abbr. 6 “Sesame Street” grouch 7 “Sweet!” 8 Gillette razors 9 HBO rival 10 “Totally awesome!” 11 Campfire glower 12 Modify, as a law 13 Go-__: mini racers 18 Tease relentlessly 22 ISP option 25 Like dense brownies 26 Little shaver, to Burns 28 Dial type on old phones 30 Ltr. add-ons 31 Eisenhower nickname 32 Days of yore, quaintly 33 Supporting vote 34 NBC show that celebrated its 40th anniversary in Feb.
36 Cause an uproar of Biblical proportions? 37 Fertility clinic eggs 38 Itch 41 Actor Sharif 44 Shoplifter catcher, often 46 Handheld burning light 48 Med. scan 50 __ Brothers: pop music trio
51 Dizzying painting genre 52 Coffeehouse order 53 Bassoon relatives 54 Potentially infectious 55 Former jailbird 57 Tarnish 58 Tough hikes 61 Didn’t pay yet 63 Laughs from Santa 65 From __ Z
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6A — Monday, March 30, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
FILM REVIEW
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
‘It Follows’ brings Zayn directionless art back to horror By GIBSON JOHNS Daily Arts Writer
Innovative score and cinematography terrify and captivate By VANESSA WONG Daily Arts Writer
When “It Follows” begins, we don’t see “It,” but we see her. In one fluid shot, a distraught girl in a thin shirt sprints through her peace- A ful suburban It Follows neighborhood, desperately State Theater It’s like bondage, just not the fun kind. seeking refuge from something. Northern and the only way to escape is to Scratchy, pulsat- Lights FIlms pass “It” on. ing synths blare The physical forms of “It” as she refuses are not, themselves, scary. The help from a well-meaning neigh- unyielding persistence and vacant bor, dodges past her father, jumps stares make them so. Ultimately, straight into her car and floors “It” ’s origin and purpose go unexit. Her trembling body is small plained, so the victims cannot even against an expansive beach as she fully understand their tormentor. calls her parents and tells them she Nothing is more terrifying than loves them. Next is a jarring, front- battling the unknown, except the on view of her dead body, leg bent added sting of the curse – doing it bloodily at a gruesome angle and alone. The haunting operates like a high heel dangling dangerously off psychological illness. Because only her foot. “It” has arrived. its victims can see “It,” Jay’s loyal “It Follows” ’s subtle terror friends remain a step removed comes not from gore or jump- from her experience and cannot scares, but from a monster that truly help her despite their best embodies no defining characteris- efforts. tic. We first meet Jay (Maika MonCentral to the quiet unease roe, “Labor Day”) floating lazily in is the film’s mood-setting her backyard pool. She spots a bug soundtrack, provided by Bay on her arm, inspects it and serene- Area composer and producer ly lowers it back into the water. Disasterpeace. Breathy, atmoBut her peace is quickly shattered. spheric sounds and dissonant After having sex with her boy- synthetics swell around the friend, she finds herself haunted film’s gloomy visuals. The setby a monster only she can see. It ting slices out a bleak alternate takes on different manifestations universe in which time stands each time, but always comes for still. Cell phones coexist with her slowly and purposefully. Her grainy black-and-white TV. boyfriend informs her that if “It” Parents or daily routines don’t kills her, It will come back for him, intervene. A tense haze clings,
NORTHERN LIGHTS FILMS
refusing to detach, and only “It” soldiers forward. The film constructs an intricate dialogue about innocence and intimacy. Sex sparked the monster, and the loss of innocence brings an underlying sense of anxiety. At first, the film is set in a tranquil, well-maintained suburb, but after “It” strikes, the backdrop shifts to blighted Detroit streets. Once removed from childhood’s protective bubble, responsibility falls on Jay alone. Despite what overtly seems like an STD-scare metaphor, the film implies more than just abstinence. Though intimacy spells death, it’s also the only way to stay alive. In this way, real-life horror blends with the supernatural as Jay grapples with emotional trauma and the difficult decision of how and to whom she should pass “It” on. Intelligently made and truly petrifying, “It Follows” harnesses our basest fears about intimacy and the unknown. We may laugh at lurid special effects, indulge in waves of blood that we know could never prevail in reality, but emotionally devastating victimhood? That’ll get to you.
ALBUM REVIEW
Sufjan strikes again By MELINA GLUSAC Daily Arts Writer
As I sit in the Starbucks on State Street, light rain grazing the windows and plaguing the faces of incoming customers, I figure it’s a good time A to listen to Sufjan Stevens. I’m Carrie & sipping coffee; I Lowell feel existential and introspec- Sufjan Stevens tive. The weather is cementing Asthmatic Kitty these feelings. So let’s go, Stevens. Throw me all the emotional hoopla you’ve got. Stevens, first name pronounced “Soof-yahn,” is a Michigan native and master of eliciting what hip young kids are calling “the feels.” A graduate of Hope College and The New School, his intelligent lyrics, melodic inventiveness and directional fearlessness make him both a critical darling and cult favorite. And he’s been at it since 2000 — a veteran, to be sure, yet consistently youthful in sound. So what exactly does his career entail? His genre, his trajectory thus far — it’s all so impossible to pinpoint. He’s been everywhere and done everything. Notable endeavors include (but aren’t limited to) the following: a folky, orchestral album set in Chicago concerning all things emotional and Midwestern (Illinois, 2005); a conflicted, wondrously complex electronic beast rooted in the vibrant Louisiana (The Age of Adz, 2010); a buxom, five-disc Christmas extravaganza (Songs for Christmas, 2006) and more. Many more. Indeed, the aforementioned trio deserves a deep listen, vanilla latte in hand. As for 2015’s Carrie & Lowell? Well, that deserves everything. The first few notes of “Death with Dignity,” the opening track, cooingly allow the listener to know they have embarked on some sort of ethereal, profoundly sad journey. It’s one of the strongest on the album. “I don’t know where to begin,” Stevens sings in his fragile, pleading whisper. Never has a
voice that sounds like the irresistibly thin glass vase in your house — you know, the one that will shatter into tragic chunks if dropped (sorry, mom) — sounded so stunning. Dreamy, plucked acoustic guitar weeps along with Stevens as he ventures this time to Eugene, Oregon — a land of painful, poetic and potent shards of the past. The two figureheads of the album, Carrie and Lowell, featured on the cover in all their ’80s glory, are vital to understanding Stevens’s pain. His mother, Carrie, suffered from depression, schizophrenia and substance abuse all her life; she left the family when Stevens was a baby because she thought herself unfit to raise children. Carrie married Lowell Brams soon after, and Stevens and his siblings traveled to their home in Oregon for a few summers during his childhood. These trips house the only memories he has of Carrie; Stevens struggled with the sparseness of their relationship and his surprising grief upon her passing in 2012. You can hear the struggle in almost every song on the album. “Carrie & Lowell,” the title track, is a moving ode to that elusive duo complete with hymn-like harmonies (think: “Scarborough Fair” by Simon & Garfunkel. Carrie & Lowell, Simon & Garfunkel. Stevens must have a thing for duos.) “Should Have Known Better” and “Eugene” sound interestingly child-like, etched with pretty, subtle piano and simple melodies. They’re semi-pleasant and serve a great contrast to tunes like “All of Me Wants All of You,” a song with introverted lyrics like “I trace your shadow with my shoe.” I have no idea what that means, but it made me cry in public. So thanks, Stevens. Good things, good things. Soft but pounding strumming propels us forward on “Drawn to the Blood.” Here, Stevens reaches his falsetto for a few precious seconds in the chorus and descends soon after, soulfully mirroring the ups and downs of a wail. Almost all of the songs on the album follow this sob-inspired structure melodically. They tend to crescen-
do about half way through, as you would at the peak of a mournful cry (“Fourth of July”), and then they sigh their way back down toward the end — the cleansing, regulating aftermath (“The Only Thing”). Breathe in, breathe out and cap it off with some misty, dissonant chords. It works. One of the chilling things about Sufjan Stevens is his lyrical repetition. In “Casmir Pulaski Day” off Illinois, as he’s doubting God’s intentions after the death of a friend, he whispers, “and He takes, and He takes, and He takes.” All it takes is this redundancy to do you in for good — similarly, as he gently croons “We’re all gonna die” on “Fourth of July,” the listener is in shambles by the fifth time around. Religious tones also seep through on Carrie & Lowell. “John My Beloved” has Stevens looking to perhaps the eponymous disciple for strength over a beautifully stripped background. “No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross” is equally heart-wrenching, and “Blue Bucket of Gold” is a captivatingly melancholy-yethopeful end to a tremendous musical feat for Stevens. Simplistic folk takes the front seat — there’s no tinkering with genres, electronics, tempos or keys here. It’s just a man and his guitar — against the world, like Elliott Smith or Bob Dylan? Not quite, though the album has hints of both of these gents. Rather, Stevens is strumming against the death of a soul (perhaps the soul). In that way, this is folk taken to the next level. Carrie would’ve been proud. As I finish the album, I think about a certain theory regarding death — one that proposes that the inevitable end of one human paves the way for the creation of another. Stevens said in an interview with Pitchfork that he doesn’t plan on having kids, as he’s slightly jaded from his own dissatisfying experience with family. So maybe his baby is this album, the bones from which he builds a freshly contemplative genre of folk — full of life. A new life. I look up from my seat. It stopped raining.
Boy bands aren’t supposed to last forever. We all know that. At a certain point in their unrelenting reigns over pop music, the hysteria dies down, the boys become men, the fans’ interest wanes, their sound evolves and, eventually, a band member decides that they’re over it. Justin Timberlake broke off from *NSYNC to go solo. A.J. McLean went to rehab and Kevin Richardson temporarily left the Backstreet Boys soon thereafter. The Jonas Brothers broke up when Nick wanted to venture out on his own. And, of course, Zayn Malik left One Direction last week because he wanted to have a “normal” life and record solo material. Yet, despite how predictable the life cycle of a boy band may be, the news of a member leaving will always be met with shock and passionate disappointment. In the case of One Direction — the first of their kind to rise to stardom in the age of social media — that intense reaction was even stronger than it would have been, say, 10 years ago. When the news of Zayn’s departure broke last Wednesday, it was absolutely unavoidable. The reactions from fans and non-fans alike made headlines themselves as everyone tried to make sense of an announcement that, really, wasn’t that difficult to understand. When Simon Cowell brought the boys back from the brink of elimination on “The X Factor UK” to form a five-piece boy band, it was, in the world of singing competition series on television, a relatively revolutionary decision. And it paid off in a bigger way than anyone could have imagined. From the moment they started singing Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn” the first time they performed together, it was clear that Simon was onto something. You could see the money signs reflecting off of his jet black aviators as the group of teenage boys confidently crooned in front of him. Week after week, the One Direction hysteria grew — both online and offline. As is customary to competitions like “The X Factor UK,” though One Direction didn’t technically “win,” they were the de facto champions that year. They had cultivated a massive fanbase and became a household name, but were free from the contractual stipulations that came with coming in first place. Until their debut single, the still-catchy “What Makes You Beautiful,” was released almost a year after their formation, support for the boys online spread like wildfire around the world. Led mostly, but not exclusively, by teenage girls, the Directioners used social media
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to back their boys and spread the word about the world’s most exciting boy band since the early ’00s. There were — and still are — a lot of things to like about One Direction that set them apart from the boy bands of yesteryear. They didn’t dance or wear matching outfits. They each had an individual style that at once set them apart from one another and helped them to remain a compatible, multi-dimensional unit. Their boyish camaraderie, though definitely played up, was genuine and not manufactured. They pantsed and poked each other’s butts on stage. In interviews, they made fun of each other and displayed their cheeky British humor that was borderline inappropriate for their young fans, but appealed to their mothers enough to make them the “ok” kind of bad boys. But, perhaps most importantly, every member of One Direction has his own discernible singing voice and personality that individual fans can latch onto. Harry, Liam, Niall, Louis and Zayn are different, unique young men and they aren’t trying to hide that. Despite their love for One Direction as a whole, every Directioner has a favorite. There aren’t just one or two standouts because they’re all standouts in different ways. And this wasn’t the case for the boy bands of years past. Find me one person who claims their favorite member of *NSYNC was Chris Kirkpatrick or anyone who liked Kevin Jonas better than Nick or Joe. Seriously. Part of One Direction’s mass appeal is that their members and fans celebrate their collective individuality and, in an age when social media allows for more niche fan bases to flourish, that is a very powerful quality to have when put all together. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop One Direction from following the same path that every boy band seems destined to follow. Because boy bands have such short life spans, the rate of their music production and touring and appearances has been increas-
ingly accelerated. One Direction has been touring seemingly nonstop for three years, and they’ve released four albums in four years. As a group of men that are growing up themselves and trying to find their own identities in this world, it’s no surprise that it eventually became too much for one of them to handle. Performing bubblegum pop — presumably not the type of music that Zayn Malik would prefer to be singing — for sold out arenas of screaming, hysterical young girls must have been exhausting. That’s a lot of pressure. For a little over half a year now, One Direction’s goofy lads-will-be-lads dynamic has been fading. When I saw them perform last summer, it was clear that something was off, specifically with Zayn. Whether he was bored or blazed (he was probably a little bit of both), there was rarely a smile on his bangs-covered face and he dragged his feet on stage while the other four acted the way they always have. The energy was unbalanced. So, the signs have been there. From a personal perspective, Zayn’s decision to leave One Direction makes sense. But that doesn’t make it any easier to come to terms with. What will One Direction be without him? They’re going to continue as a foursome, but it’s hard to imagine that some, or a lot, of their magic will disappear. I’d imagine that they’ll fare a bit better than the post-Geri Halliwell Spice Girls did, but who really knows? Zayn will try his hand at a solo career and he’ll probably find success (he’s the best singer of the group), but I don’t think he has the personality of someone destined for prolonged success as a solo artist. That seems to be more part of the increasingly Mick Jagger-esque Harry Styles’s trajectory. They’re still the guys we have always loved, but One Direction will never be the same without Zayn. It’s sad just how fast the night changes.
FILM REVIEW
‘Transatlantique’ is bare and beautiful By KARL WILLIAMS Daily Arts Writer
“Transatlantique” is Montreal-based documentary filmmaker Felix Dufour-Laperriere’s debut featureA length film, Transatlantique which follows Michigan Theater the lives of work- La Distributrice ers traveling across the Atlantic on a cargo ship. Dufour-Laperriere’s film made its American debut at the 53rd Ann Arbor Film Festival. Of course, the well-known mantra is “it’s about the journey, not the destination.” While not necessarily adventurous, “Transatlantique” is concerned only with the voyage. It eschews the facts of plot and the mechanisms of narrative, instead focusing on the experience of the crew members amid the wide expanse of the Atlantic. Neither the departing point nor the destination are made clear. Men talk, but there is no dialogue. There are no characters, only men. Every man remains anonymous, even when the film tracks the inti-
mate details of their daily lives. Although the workers are presumably from India — they play cricket and seem to speak Hindi — this is never made explicit, like most of the detail in the film. Indeed, Dufour-Laperriere’s film is a documentary in the most minimalist sense of the word. It documents the lives of the voyagers as lived without adornment, reveling in the banality of life at sea isolated from larger social interactions. There are large stretches that depict basic human activity: men eat, read, prepare for work in the morning, play board games, pray, etc. Dufour-Laperriere reduces the content of the film to the minute activity of these men, but avoids the trap of becoming tedious itself. Much of the film oscillates between sequences of the ocean and those of human activity. This formula risks redundancy, but evades it. Many of the images of the sea are shot at different angles, and each is stunning. There are some scenes that seem to have been shot from beneath the water, which are particularly incredible. In fact, “Transatlantique” is surprisingly enthralling and fascinating throughout its entirety, due in large part to its cinematography
and score. Filmed in black and white, the cinematography catches the beauty of the sea along with its monotony and treachery. If based solely on visual criteria, “Transatlantique” is one of the most beautiful films one will ever see. Dufour-Laperriere seems to be well versed in the European cinema of the 1960s, especially Michelangelo Antonioni and Federico Fellini. Aesthetically, “Transatlantique” compares well to a film such as Antonioni’s “L’Avventura,” most notably in each work’s depiction of the sea. However, Dufour-Laperriere’s film has the advantage of being shot digitally, intensifying the clarity of the images and creating a more powerful cinematic effect. The contrast between white and black in the film is wondrously strange. The white is almost unbearable, and the black is total. At times the screen will shift from total darkness to intolerable luminescence with no warning. The cinematography is accentuated by a powerful score that blends immaculately. The score is soft and, at times, nearly undetectable. But it fuses incredibly well with the stark images. The score captures the latent annihilation lurking beneath the glittering facade of the sea.
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The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | March 30, 2015
DEFENDING
HOME TERP Michigan tops Maryland, 5-2, to take two out of three in home series By NATHANIEL CLARK Daily Sports Writer
Sunday, the Michigan baseball team picked up right where it left off Saturday. In the wake of a 10-2 victory over No. 20 Maryland (18-7, 4-2 Big Ten) in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Wolverines (14-12, 2-4) topped the Terrapins, 5-2, Sunday to take two out of the three weekend games. “I’m proud of the way our guys responded after a tough weekend last weekend (at Nebraska),” said Michigan coach Erik Bakich, referring to last weekend’s sweep. “They responded with a great week of training. To see that carry over into (this weekend’s) games was what we needed.” Michigan’s offense wasted no time scoring runs. The barrage came in the bottom of the first inning. With junior third baseman Jacob Cronenworth and freshman shortstop Jake Bivens on first and second bases, respectively, and no one out, senior centerfielder Jackson Glines hit a single to center field, scoring Cronenworth. Sophomore first baseman Carmen Benedetti followed up with a single of his own to drive in Bivens and make the score 2-0. Junior left fielder Cody Bruder then hit a bunt single that advanced Benedetti and Glines to second and third, respectively. That prompted Maryland coach John Szefc to pull starting pitcher Willie Rios in favor of Taylor Sties before Rios was able to record a single out. “We needed to come out and set the tone,” Bakich said. “We were on the other side of that coin last weekend.”
The Wolverines did not stop there, though. Senior designated hitter Kyle Jusick quickly smacked a three-RBI double to put the Wolverines up 5-0. “The guys before me got some great atbats, and I was able to get a pitch I could drive,” Jusick said. “It’s really nice to be seeing the ball well and to be able to help the team out.” After that, Stiles settled down and pitched seven scoreless innings, retiring the last 16 batters he faced. But the Terrapins’ offense could not dig their team out of the hole. “Stiles was filling up the strike zone,” Bakich said. “It’s hard to put together offense when the opposing pitcher isn’t walking people.” The situation briefly got tense for Michigan in the third when sophomore southpaw Brett Adcock surrendered two RBI singles to chip the lead to 5-2. But he got Maryland’s Tim Lewis to pop out to Bivens, who threw to Jacobson to tag the runner out at second, ending the threat. “Double plays are always huge momentum swings for the defense,” Bakich said. The Wolverines’ bullpen put the team on their backs in the last several frames. After sophomore left-hander Brett Adcock was pulled after four innings, freshman righty Jayce Vancetta pitched four scoreless frames to earn the win, and freshman righthander Bryan Pall closed out the game, picking up his first career save. Pall now has 14 strikeouts on the season with a 0.59 earned-run average over 15.1 innings. “We feel really good about Bryan Pall at the end of the game,” Bakich said. While winning a series against a ranked opponent is no small feat, Michigan will have little time to celebrate. The Wolverines will take on Toledo and Central Michigan on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, before resuming Big Ten play at Indiana next weekend.
Maryland 3, Michigan 1
UNFINISHED BUSINESS n The Michigan softball team dropped the series finale to Iowa at Alumni Field on Sunday, 6-4. Page 2B
Michigan 10, Maryland 1
MOVING ON
Michigan 5, Maryland 2
n Michigan secured its spot in the WNIT semifinals with a win at Southern Mississippi. Page 4B
SportsMonday
2B — March 30, 2015
MEN’S LACROSSE
Michigan can’t solve Maryland By BRANDON CARNEY Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan men’s lacrosse team didn’t bring the right demolition crew to College Park on Sunday when it tried to smash through the nation’s No. 1 defense. It took the Wolverines nearly the entire first half to find their opening goal, as the Maryland defense kept them in check on the way to a 13-4 victory. In addition to facing the nation’s top defense, junior specialist Brad Lott had his hands full taking faceoffs against the Terrapins’ senior midfielder Charlie Raffa, who ranks in the top 10 nationally in faceoff win percentage. Raffa dominated all Michigan faceoff men he faced, winning 11 of his 14 draws on the day. “There’s not really a lot you can do when the other team is dominating faceoffs,” said Michigan coach John Paul. “It’s such a tough matchup. (Raffa is) one of the top faceoff men in the country, and there’s not a magic pill you take and suddenly start winning faceoffs against top guys.” Heading into the half, it appeared the Wolverines (0-1 Big Ten, 4-5 overall) were still within arm’s reach of catching up to No. 3 Maryland (9-1, 1-0). Junior midfielder Kyle Jackson netted Michigan’s opening goal with 67 seconds left in the half, bringing the Wolverines within three goals of the Terrapins. Before Jackson’s goal, the Michigan offense looked completely incapable of breaking down Maryland’s solid defense, struggling to maintain possession and find a finishing touch on shooting. The Wolverines were especially vulnerable due to weak stick work, giving up a total of 11 turnovers Sunday. Michigan was without sophomore attacker Ian King, who, despite being out the last four games, still leads the team in scoring. While replacing an attacker as talented as King has been nearly impossible, Paul still needs the Wolverines’ starting attackers to pick up some of the slack, something they failed to do so against Maryland. “Our attackmen need to be more explosive,” Paul said. “They need to be challenging their
defensemen a little more. Maybe that’s where (King) can help us in the coming weeks, but we still need some of these guys to step up consistently and win games and own that.” On the other side of the field, Michigan’s defense absorbed attack after attack from a slow and methodical Terrapin offense. After conceding three goals in the first quarter, Michigan held Maryland to only one goal in the next period despite the Terrapins’ advantage in possession. Six minutes into the second half, though, the Wolverines’ defense couldn’t hold the Terrapins’ attack back any longer. Maryland went on a 5-0 run over the course of five minutes, putting itself up eight and crushing any hopes of a Michigan comeback. The Wolverines were able to score three goals after halftime, including freshman midfielder Patrick Tracy’s first career goal. Tracy received extended minutes and also earned his first assist off of Jackson’s first goal. “It felt nice to finally contribute to the team,” Tracy said. “(It) feels good to finally get over the hump and be able to help the team anyway I can. Personally, sticking to my strengths worked, especially with the assist.” There was very little that went right for Michigan on Sunday, but Tracy and Jackson’s performances highlighted the Wolverines’ depth in midfield, which will be crucial in upcoming games. With the matchup against the Big Ten favorite in Maryland out of the way, Michigan will focus this week on a crucial game against Rutgers. With a fourthplace or better finish still a strong possibility for the Wolverines, they will surely refocus and carry forward some positives from Sunday. “We talked about in the locker room afterward how our goals are still there and we still have incredible opportunities in front of us,” Paul said. “The guys were talking about that right after the game, and I think they understand how good Maryland is, but a lot of things have to go right to beat those guys, and we’re not the only ones who have figured that out.”
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SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN
N
The things you don’t hear in Michigan athletics
ever before has there been a year as unpredictable and unflattering in Michigan athletics. The football, men’s basketball and hockey teams all failed to make the postseason. GREG Now, one GARNO of the few bright spots at a time when even Congress possibly had a better year is the men’s swimming and diving team, which finished third at the NCAA Championships this weekend. It’s a crazy time to be a fan in Ann Arbor. So much is changing and happening, so many feats have been reached that even the most seasoned fans aren’t quite sure what to expect. The one constant, when the athletic director, football coach and even PR staffs have been replaced in the same offseason, are the statements everybody hears time after time. The “We just didn’t execute” and “I have to do a better job coaching” after losses. Or even after wins: “We played great one-pitch softball.” Even, “We’re not looking ahead to Ohio State.” But some sentences have never been uttered in the history of Michigan athletics. Some of them are just as strange — perhaps worthy of Rick Reilly’s ideas in the back page of Sports Illustrated — as the year going on right now: “I’m not sure Jim Harbaugh
is the right guy for the football program.” “Guys, finish your drinks, we’ve gotta get to the field hockey game.” “I’ll say it again, Red Berenson is ready to rock the cover of GQ.” “Gee, I’ll tell ya, I don’t know how they’re going to fit all the students into the student section at the Big House this year.” “I’ve never been intimidated by Hutch. I mean, I just don’t understand how she’s supposed to inspire her team. Maybe she’s past her prime?” “I don’t know what makes these gymnasts so special. Anybody could stick a Yurchenko one-and-a-half, right?” “There goes John Beilein on another one of his loud, uneducated tirades again. Guy can’t control his temper.” “Are you going to head to the men’s golf invite right after class, or are you going home first?” “Nah, the hockey team said they were tired of Rick’s. Think they said they would rather stay in, maybe watch a movie.” “Yeah, Adam Coon, I’m talking to you, all 6-foot-5, 285 pounds of you. ‘You’re soft.’ ” “Crap, there aren’t any tickets left for Saturday’s women’s rowing regatta.” “I’m serious, we’ve gotta hurry if we’re going to make it to the field hockey game on time.” “Don’t worry, I should
definitely be back in time tonight after the baseball team’s doubleheader. They don’t run very long.” “Sometimes, I think there are too many people covering women’s water polo. I can’t even be on Twitter for 10 minutes without someone talking about it.” “No, Mr. five-star recruit, the weather doesn’t get that cold up here. You really won’t notice.” “Time Magazine’s 10 most secure jobs today: Michigan Athletic Director.” “What do you mean you didn’t go to the soccer game? It’s so close to everything on campus.” “Do you ever think that sometimes the Michigan communications staff gives the media too much access?” “How are the men’s and women’s track and field teams always shattering attendance records?” “No mom, I was just sleeping in before the football game. It started at noon, after all.” “Yeah Alejandro, I’m telling you, the Michigan volleyball team was absolutely checking you out.” “I get all my gear from the M-Den, since everything is so appropriately priced.” “Has anyone heard anything good about this guy Jabrill Peppers?” “Yeah, I think Spike Albrecht definitely has a chance to go out with Kate Upton.” “I don’t know about you, but the Maize Rage would probably
It’s a crazy time to be a fan in Ann Arbor.
be better if it wasn’t in the lower bowl.” “And for the sixth consecutive time, the State News has defeated The Michigan Daily at football. The better journalists win again.” “I’m not sure Michigan has enough depth at quarterback this year. It should probably get another one before the season starts.” “The basketball team can’t win unless it recruits like Duke or Kentucky. Beilein can never make it work.” “I’m tired of the women’s basketball team always being talked about. Why do they get all the credit?” “Alright, last chance. We either get to field hockey before the gates open or we don’t get in at all.” “One of these days, the men’s swimming team is bound to win a conference championship.” “God, where can a man find some khakis in Ann Arbor these days?” “They upgraded the lacrosse facilities again? Geeze, they get all the nice stuff.” “Do you think there will be enough time to drink before this year’s night game?” “Don’t forget, today’s guest lecturer on e-mail etiquette, Dave Brandon, is speaking at 12:52. Don’t be late.” “That Garno kid sure seems like a well reasoned, thoughtful young man. I don’t know if I’ve ever read something of his I didn’t like.” Has something in here actually been said? You can tell Garno at ggarno@umich.edu or on Twitter: @G_Garno. Complaints can be sent to @jakelourim.
‘M’ places third at NCAAs By RAJAT KHARE Daily Sports Editor
Senior Bruno Ortiz strode somberly behind fellow seniors Richard Funk and Justin Glanda. Before reaching the podium, he looked up, took in the moment and wiped away at his left eye. He realized then, perhaps, that this moment would be the last time the lights would ever shine as bright as they had throughout his illustrious career at Michigan. At the end of the three days at the Campus Wellness and Recreation Center in Iowa City, the fifth-ranked Michigan men’s swimming team finished in third-place at the NCAA Championships. After a dominant regular season, one in which the Wolverines were undefeated in the Big Ten, followed up with a fifth straight Big Ten Championship, it was the final accolade earned by the seniors under the block ‘M’ banner. First place at NCAAs wasn’t expected of this team, but it would have been the perfect way to end the script. “Richard Funk gave a speech to the team at the end of the meet of how proud he was of the team because we don’t have the talent of teams that we competed against,” said Michigan coach Mike Bottom. “But we have the work ethic, and we have the ability to be creative and make changes and stand up to some of these teams that have a little more talent, actually a lot more talent than we do.” Qualifying five freshmen out of a group of 12 swimmers, Michigan always knew it would be a tall order to send off its seniors with their second national championship in four years. To accomplish the feat, it would have to defeat the toughest competition it faced all season, going up against perennial powerhouses Texas, Florida and California. At the conclusion of day one, Michigan sat in fourth place, just 14 and three points out of second and third place, respectively.
And it was the upperclassmen, Ortiz and junior Anders Nielsen, leading the way, helping Michigan finish with 105 points. “My goal for the team was a top-five finish,” Bottom said. “We lost such a great class last year with Connor Jaeger and Mike Wynalda, and the list goes on and on and on. No one expected that class to be replaced, but this team actually had a better finish than that class. It just shows the character of this senior class that led this team: Justin Glanda, Bruno Ortiz and Richard Funk.” Ortiz helped Michigan score its first points of the Championships, anchoring the 200-yard freestyle relay team of freshman Paul Powers, sophomore Vincent Tafuto and Glanda to a seventh-place finish. He followed up the effort with a fourth-place finish in the 400yard medley relay alongside freshman Aaron Whitaker, Funk and junior Dylan Bosch with a seventh-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle in between. “When I was a freshman, sophomore and junior, I wanted to score points for the team, just simply, just that,” Ortiz said. “Right now (as a senior), I just want to inspire the team and thinking that this is my last chance to represent Michigan, I want to give the freshmen a message of how to represent Michigan.” Though Ortiz swam in six races on the day, it was Nielsen who had the highest individual finish for the Wolverines on the night, placing fourth in the 500yard freestyle. Clocking in at 4:12.16, Nielsen set a career best for himself and etched his name in Michigan’s record books as the fourth-fastest time ever in the event. Day two saw veteran members of the squad step up, as it was Nielsen who again had the highest finish for the Wolverines. A runner up in the 200-yard freestyle team with a time of 1:32.72, Nielsen posted the second-fastest time in school history in the event. In the relays, though,
ZACH MOORE/Daily
Bruno Ortiz swam six races on the first day, helping Michigan to 105 points.
Michigan faltered, missing out on the finals in the 200-yard medley. A strength of the team all year, the relay team instead had to settle for a first-place finish in the consolation final. Despite the medley result, the Wolverines were able to add to their point total by way of fifthand seventh-place finishes in the 100-yard breaststroke from Funk and Ortiz, respectively. Clocking in at 51.65 and 51.68, the pair became the first swimmers to break the 52-second mark for Michigan. Clinging onto a slim overall lead on day three, Michigan was uplifted by an unexpected performance from freshman PJ Ransford. Competing in the 1,650-yard freestyle, Ransford nearly pulled off a stunning finish. He led for most of the event but was unable to hold off a push from Matias Koski of Georgia, placing him second in the event with a 14:34.36. “(Coach Bottom) just said to stay focused, swim for the team, swim for Michigan and you’ll be fine,” Ransford said. “They just kept saying that over and over, and it all worked out well for all of us.” Still without an outright win, relay or otherwise, Michigan was hopeful it would come in the 200yard butterfly by way of another upperclassman in Bosch. He won the event in 2014, setting the NCAA record with a 1:39.33. Bosch seemed to go stroke for stroke with Jack Conger from
Texas out of the blocks. Down the stretch, though, Conger’s teammate Joseph Schooling came from behind, out-touching both Conger and Bosch, sending the latter to a third-place finish. By the time the final event of the 400-yard freestyle relay rolled around, Texas, California and Michigan had already secured their first-, second- and third-place finishes, respectively. The quartet of Powers, Nielsen, Glanda and Ortiz placed sixth in the event, but, at that point, it was all about enjoying the last swim for Michigan for the two seniors. “This pool, this Iowa pool, it was my first championship meet here my freshman year and even Big Ten’s, the first year it was here,” Ortiz said. “And even ending my career here, I don’t know, it’ s just so many memories as a whole, and, each race, those memories came back to me.” When the Wolverines walk back into Canham Natatorium next year, there won’t be an NCAA Championship banner hanging from the 2014-2015 season to greet them. And there won’t be an NCAA event title to defend. Instead, there will be hardware in the trophy case anointing them third-place finishers at the Championships. But for a team with little business being in third place, for Ortiz, Funk and Glanda, perhaps the ending was fitting of the memories they had created at Michigan.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
Michigan advances to WNIT semis By BRAD WHIPPLE Daily Sports Writer
In its last five games, Southern Mississippi had clawed its way out of a double-digit deficit before coming back to MICHIGAN 69 60 USM win. So when the Michigan women’s basketball team held a 32-13 lead with 3:42 to go in the first half, it didn’t mean much. Then, the Golden Eagles (13-5 Conference USA, 25-11 overall) went on a 9-0 run, ending the first half on a buzzer-beating jumper. They wanted that sixth comeback, especially amidst their deepest postseason drive in program history. “What they did to us at the end of the first half, I was kind of having a stomachache at halftime,” said Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico. “I knew down the stretch it was going to be a battle. I knew they were going to double us, they were gonna pressure us (and) they were gonna throw everything at us. “We were gonna have to make free throws, we were gonna have to take care of the ball and we were gonna have to respond, try to defend and make some stops.” Sunday, those things needed to fall in place for Michigan to earn a win in front of a record-setting crowd of 5,480 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Though Barnes Arico’s stomach may have been churning at halftime, her team didn’t skip a beat during the second half en route to a 69-60 win over Southern Mississippi. The win sends the Wolverines (8-10 Big Ten, 20-14 overall) to their first WNIT semifinal since 2010, and they will host UCLA on Wednesday night. “Southern Mississippi had an incredible crowd,” Barnes Arico said. “Thought it made a difference in the game, and it kept the game really tight. Every time we tried to pulled away, they came back. … I thought it was
an exciting basketball game for everyone.” With a win over the Golden Eagles — the result of a balanced offense that had five players in double-digit scoring — Michigan eclipsed 20 wins for the fourth straight season. But in the final three minutes of the game, that reality almost escaped the Wolverines’ hold. In the second half, Southern Mississippi showed its trademark skill, which is to take a blowout game and turn it into a singledigit nail biter. Michigan once had a 17-point lead, but with 2:30 to go in the game, it was down to five. Guard Jerontay Clemons completed a three-point play to put the game at 59-54 in favor of the Wolverines. The Golden Eagles’ comeback looked inevitable, but it wouldn’t come to fruition. “We held on, but that’s just the kind of team they are,” Barnes Arico said. “If you can get your team to play that hard all the time and to not quit when you’re down like that, that’s pretty special.” Senior guard Shannon Smith made a jumper immediately after to get Michigan back in control, and Southern Mississippi’s offense fell apart. The Wolverines’ next eight points came from free throws, as the Golden Eagles were desperate to make anything fall. But Michigan continued to grab the defensive rebounds, preventing any sort of second-chance opportunities. It wasn’t a final defensive lockdown by the Wolverines though, but instead a stellar first-half performance from the senior class that kept Michigan alive. With perfect shooting, the seniors — Smith and forwards Cyesha Goree and Nicole Elmblad — put the team in a position to handle any second-half runs from Southern Mississippi. During the first 20 minutes, the senior trio shot a combined 11-for-11, scoring 24 of Michigan’s first 32 points. Elmblad never missed a beat with her left-
March 30, 2015 — 3B
WOMEN’S LACROSSE
Michigan drops Big Ten opener By KATIE CONKLIN Daily Sports Writer
DELANEY RYAN/Daily
Cyesha Goree scored 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in Michigan’s win.
handed shot and missed just two shots overall to total 14 points. Smith missed only one shot, with seven of her 11 points coming from the charity stripe. As for Goree, she found herself packed in the paint with two or three Golden Eagles to trying to shut her down. But she remained relentless. With 15 points alongside 12 boards, Goree recorded her 17th double-double this season. During the second half, though, she sat several minutes with three fouls — an absence that was most certainly felt. That’s when Southern Mississippi made its move. With 13:16 to go and Goree out, the Golden Eagles quickly chipped away at a double-digit deficit to cut the game to nine points. With no other option, Goree went back in, facing the risk of fouling out. Elmblad soon
followed suit with a third foul of her own, putting more pressure on the guards to pick up the slack. As the inside became a war zone, junior guard Madison Ristovski made a 2-point jumper 26 seconds after Goree returned, and freshman guard Katelynn Flaherty carried the weight thereafter. Flaherty scored just two points in the first half, but during the second frame, Barnes Arico moved Flaherty to the baseline. In the next six minutes after Ristovski’s basket, Flaherty scored all four baskets, also ending a four-minute scoring drought in that span. “She is arguably one of the best shooters in the country, hands down,” Barnes Arico said. “She got tight in the first half, and I’m so happy she came out in the second half and didn’t stop shooting.”
It was a historic weekend for Big Ten women’s lacrosse, headlined by the first-ever games in its inaugural season. While 5 MICHIGAN the OHIO STATE 13 conference may be new, many of the teams featured are anything but. With perennial powerhouse Maryland from the Atlantic Coast Conference, alongside another longtime contender in Northwestern, the Big Ten makes for stiff competition. The Michigan women’s lacrosse team opened its Big Ten slate at Ohio State. Though off to a better start this season than last year, the Wolverines did not perform to what they consider to be the best of their abilities, losing to the Buckeyes, 13-5. Michigan sophomore midfielder Madeline Dion hit twine off a midfield transition to put the Wolverines up by a goal just 1:45 into the match. The lead did not last long, though, as the Buckeyes responded with four straight goals. Sophomore midfielder Kim Coughlan, the only player to score more than one goal in the game, broke the Buckeyes’ streak by scoring with 19:12 left in the first half, but the tally was Michigan’s last goal for the next 30 minutes. “We started slow on attack,
and our communication was a little off,” Coughlan said. Though the Wolverines improved into the second half, there was no escaping the 8-2 advantage Ohio State gained in the first stanza of the game. “All season we’ve been trying to play for 60 minutes,” Ulehla said. “I’ve stressed the importance of coming up against the Big Ten. You can’t choose to play your own game.” Playing for a full 60 minutes, or in some cases longer — as three of Michigan’s losses have been in overtime — has been something the Wolverine’s have struggled with this season. Whether this difficulty is due to the team’s lack of experience or composure, they still don’t know. However, learning how to play a consistent game as a cohesive unit is one of Michigan’s top priorities. “We’re not there yet but we keep talking about (playing consistently),” Coughlan said. “We’re still working on it and working to get to that point.” Though the Wolverines didn’t come out on top in their first Big Ten matchup against Ohio State, there is a still an entire month before they could meet again in Piscataway in the Big Ten Tournament. “This is definitely a good learning experience,” Coughlan said. “For the future, we’ll just be working on our plays and offense and communications and working more together as a team.”
“All season we’ve been trying to play for 60 minutes.”
‘M’ struggles continue Wolverines fail to handle MEN’S LACROSSE
By DAVID MALINOWSKI Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan men’s tennis team stumbled into the weekend with one of the worst records in team history. Against respectable Iowa (2-2 Big Ten, 10-5 overall) and Nebraska (2-2, 9-7) teams, the Wolverines’ fortunes were supposed to finally turn around. Initially, Michigan (0-4, 3-12) was cruising with a lead coming out of doubles play against Iowa with wins by the senior pairing of Alex Petrone and Michael Zhu and from the second pairing of Leo Hua and Alex Knight. Then, the Wolverines stalled and entered a downward spiral, a sight that has become all too familiar for a team that cannot get out of its own way. Michigan went on to lose nine of its next 11 combined matches over the course of the weekend. In Iowa City, freshman Carter Lin and Zhu were the only singles wins. After getting shut out, 6-0, in the first set,
Zhu came back to win the next two sets and the match 6-3, 7-5. Against Nebraska, the Wolverines were swept, losing the doubles point and its first three singles matches. Petrone took junior Dusty Boyer to two separate tie breaks in the match’s first two sets, failing to convert on both. The day ended quickly, with none of the singles matches lasting longer than two sets. “We come here to win these matches and find our first Big Ten win, but it’s disappointing,” said Michigan coach Adam Steinberg. “Every match we’ve played except for one we’ve been in.” With the losses, the team is still winless in conference play and now has just three wins overall. “We just have to be a little better at the big moments, and we’re just not doing that,” Steinberg said. The team, Steinberg said, loses all belief and makes a lackadaisical attempt at a comeback up until it loses. “We have a lot of work to
do fundamentally,” Steinberg said. “When things aren’t going well, we break down and stop thinking about technique and it becomes, ‘Oh, we’re going to lose again.’ I think that happens to a team when things just aren’t going well.” Michigan needs to improve on the little aspects of the game, with sitting back on short balls instead of playing them aggressively serving as a principle example of one of the many problems it has to fix. “You lose those matches and it just goes (downhill) fast,” Steinberg said. “We get into this habit of, ‘Here we go again.’ We’re running into each other.” If there is any hope of salvaging the season, it will come in the next few weeks. Michigan will be playing at home for the majority of its remaining games. Taking advantage of a chance to focus on the basics, practice in a familiar environment and hit the reset button to get itself back on track is all the team can grasp onto at this point.
PAUL SHERMAN/Daily
Alex Petrone earned a doubles victory with partner Michael Zhu to get Michigan off to a strong start against Iowa.
Maryland’s skilled offense By BRANDON CARNEY Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan men’s lacrosse team didn’t bring the right demolition crew to College Park on Sunday when it tried to smash through the nation’s No. 1 defense. It took the Wolverines nearly the entire first half to 4 MICHIGAN find their MARYLAND 13 opening goal, as the Maryland defense kept them in check on the way to a 13-4 victory. In addition to facing the nation’s top defense, junior specialist Brad Lott had his hands full taking faceoffs against the Terrapins’ senior midfielder Charlie Raffa, who ranks in the top 10 nationally in faceoff win percentage. Raffa dominated all Michigan faceoff men he faced, winning 11 of his 14 draws on the day. “There’s not really a lot you can do when the other team is dominating faceoffs,” said Michigan coach John Paul. “It’s such a tough matchup. (Raffa is) one of the top faceoff men in the country, and there’s not a magic pill you take and suddenly start winning faceoffs against top guys.” Heading into the half, it appeared the Wolverines (0-1 Big Ten, 4-5 overall) were still within arm’s reach of catching up to No. 3 Maryland (9-1, 1-0). Junior midfielder Kyle Jackson netted Michigan’s opening goal with 67 seconds left in the half, bringing the Wolverines within three goals of the Terrapins. Before Jackson’s goal, the Michigan offense looked completely incapable of breaking down Maryland’s solid defense, struggling to maintain possession and find a finishing touch on shooting. The Wolverines were especially vulnerable due to weak stick
work, giving up a total of 11 turnovers Sunday. Michigan was without sophomore attacker Ian King, who, despite being out the last four games, still leads the team in scoring. While replacing an attacker as talented as King has been nearly impossible, Paul still needs the Wolverines’ starting attackers to pick up some of the slack, something they failed to do against Maryland. “Our attackmen need to be more explosive,” Paul said. “They need to be challenging their defensemen a little more. Maybe that’s where (King) can help us in the coming weeks, but we still need some of these guys to step up consistently and win games and own that.” On the other side of the field, Michigan’s defense absorbed attack after attack from a slow and methodical Terrapin attack. After conceding three goals in the first quarter, Michigan held Maryland to only one goal in the next period despite the Terrapins’ advantage in possession. Six minutes into the second half, though, the Wolverines’ defense couldn’t hold the Terrapins’ attack back any longer. Maryland went on a 5-0 run over the course of five minutes, putting itself up eight and crushing any hopes of a Michigan comeback. In the five-minute stretch, the Terrapins held constant possession and pummeled redshirt sophomore goalie Gerald Logan with quality shots. The Wolverines were able to score three goals after halftime, including freshman
midfielder Patrick Tracy’s first career goal. Tracy received extended minutes and also earned his first assist off of Jackson’s first goal. “It felt nice to finally contribute to the team,” Tracy said. “(It) feels good to finally get over the hump and be able to help the team anyway I can. Personally, sticking to my strengths worked, especially with the assist.” There was very little that went right for Michigan on Sunday, but Tracy and Jackson’s performances highlighted the Wolverines’ depth in midfield, which will be crucial in upcoming games. That being said, defense was a concern with Michigan being outshot and outpossessed. Maryland posted 20 more shots than the Wolverines, a stat due primarily to the Terrapins holding the ball for a majority of the game. With the matchup against the Big Ten favorite in Maryland out of the way, Michigan will focus this week on a crucial game against Rutgers. With a fourth-place or better finish still a strong possibility for the Wolverines, they will surely refocus and carry forward some positives from Sunday. “We talked about in the locker room afterward how our goals are still there and we still have incredible opportunities in front of us,” Paul said. “The guys were talking about that right after the game, and I think they understand how good Maryland is, but a lot of things have to go right to beat those guys, and we’re not the only ones who have figured that out.”
“It felt nice to finally contribute to the team.”
SportsMonday
4B — March 30, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Pitching staff shines in 2-1 series win Nutof, Adcock, Cronenworth start as Wolverines beat Maryland twice By BEN FIDELMAN Daily Sports Writer
After being outscored 25-7 in its Big Ten opening series against Nebraska last weekend, the Michigan baseball pitching staff was in need of a serious lift. The climb from an 0-3 start in conference play could have become an even tougher task with the team heading into a three-game set against No. 20 Maryland (4-2 Big Ten, 18-7 overall) this weekend at Ray Fisher Stadium. But the pitching staff as a whole would came through on the weekend, allowing just six runs to one of the best offenses in the nation. “It was huge coming off a tough weekend, we needed to get something going in Big Ten play moving forward,” said freshman right-hander Ryan Nutof. “We were kind of embarrassed after last weekend. We had a meeting and figured out who we were (as a pitching staff ).” Looking like somewhat of a rag-tag group, the starting rotation is beginning to rebound from injuries and recent poor performances. This weekend, junior right-hander Jacob Cronenworth, Nutof and sophomore left-hander Brett Adcock went to the mound for the Wolverines (2-4, 14-12). So far this season, Nutof has been the only one of the three with a reliable track record as a starting pitcher, carrying a 2.92 earned-run average through seven starts. Cronenworth took the mound for the Wolverines in the first game of the series on Saturday afternoon. Though
he’s usually the team’s closer, he put together a solid outing in a losing effort, as Michigan dropped the game, 3-1. Allowing just two runs over five innings of work, Cronenworth put Michigan in a position to take an early victory and defeat Maryland’s Mike Shawaryn, one of the best pitchers in the conference. “(Cronenworth) is a guy that’s going to attack the zone with a lot of quality pitches,” said Michigan coach Erik Bakich. “He’s tough on the mound and gives us a chance. He’s dominant in the closer role, and we didn’t even get to him last weekend. In our current state, he can best serve us in the starter role. He gave us five decent innings (Saturday).” Though there was a lack of run support in the first game, the Wolverine offense had no problem putting the team on top for the rest of the weekend. That offensive effort, paired with stellar pitching, led Michigan to take two of the weekend’s three games. In the second game of the series, Nutof was dominant through 7.1 shutout innings, allowing just five hits on the afternoon. He would have continued further into the game, but he was taken out for precautionary reasons when he started feeling chest discomfort. The Michigan starter with the lowest ERA in the 2014 campaign was Adcock, who ended the season with at 2.87. His numbers this season have been far from consistent with that, but this weekend he put together a start that could prove to be a turning point for his season. After loading the bases in the first inning, Adcock was on the receiving end of a stern mound visit from Bakich, and he responded by striking out the side to neutralize the Terrapin
RITA MORRIS/Daily
Freshman right-hander Ryan Nutof pitched 7.1 shutout innings, giving up five hits and a walk while striking out six in Michigan’s 10-1 rout of Maryland on Saturday.
threat. He ended up allowing just two runs in four innings pitched, which, combined with four innings in relief from freshman right-hander Jayce Vancena, was good enough to lead the Wolverines to victory. Looking forward to the rest of the Michigan season on the mound, the team awaits the return of junior left-hander Evan Hill and sophomore right-hander Keith Lehmann from injuries. Both players had major roles for the Wolverines in last year’s rotation and could provide some much-needed depth for Michigan as it moves into the heart of its season. “(Hill) is going to be back sooner than later,” Bakich said. “I know he’s very anxious to get back on the mound, and the team is looking forward to getting him back out there. If
Wolverines falter in late loss to Iowa By KEVIN SANTO Daily Sports Writer
The weight of the weekend was finally bearing down on sophomore right-hander Megan Betsa’s shoulders. For the first time in an otherwise dominant weekend, Betsa was struggling. She was missing the strike zone. She didn’t seem so eager to put her foot back on the rubber. The snow started to fall, the fatigue started to show and the game was slipping out of the Wolverines’ grasp. The Michigan softball team (5-1 Big Ten, 31-5 overall) fell 6-4 to Iowa in the final game of its Big Ten home-opening series. After establishing an early lead, the fourth-ranked Wolverines collapsed in the top of the sixth inning, as the Hawkeyes (2-6, 11-26) finally cracked the pitching code of sophomore right-hander Megan Betsa. “When you pitch (15.1) innings in a weekend, you’re going to get tired,” Betsa said. “They did a good job making adjustments to my pitching and that’s a compliment to them. But when they make adjustments, I need to make adjustments too, and I just didn’t do that (well enough).” Through five innings, Betsa allowed no runs and recorded 11 strikeouts. But when Betsa walked shortstop Megan Blank, the wheels began to fall off Michigan’s pitching carousel. Iowa catcher Holly Hoffman worked an 11-pitch at-bat, and sent the final pitch to the plate over the left-centerfield wall. Right fielder Allie Wood followed up with a solo shot of her own to left field to make it 4-3, with Michigan still leading. Though Betsa got out of the jam with two strikeouts, the worst was yet to come for the Wolverines. Michigan failed to record a single hit in the bottom of the sixth, and the Hawkeyes capitalized in the following inning. Betsa put two runners on
base and was replaced by senior left-hander Haylie Wagner. But things didn’t improve after the change in the circle. Runners advanced on a wild pitch by Wagner, and she proceeded to intentionally walk Hoffman on the next at-bat to load the bases. Iowa first baseman Kaitlyn Mullarkey stepped to the plate and laced a hit down the first-base line, scoring two runs to put the Hawkeyes up 5-4. Wood then drove in another run with a groundout. After the three-run seventh inning, the Wolverines failed to recover as they hit into a double play and grounded out to shortstop to end the game. The silver lining of Michigan’s loss was sophomore left fielder Kelly Christner’s consistent performance at the plate. In the bottom of the first inning, junior
centerfielder Sierra Lawrence was hit by a pitch, and on the following at-bat, Christner tattooed a 2-1 pitch out of the park to left-center field. After the first inning surge, Michigan struggled to put runs on the board, only posting one run in the third against Iowa right-hander Shayla Starkenburg. “When we’re on it seems easy,” said Michigan coach Carol Hutchins. “But when we’re not all on we still have to find ways to win and to compete better. We squandered too many at-bats. We got what we deserved.” It should have been an easy sweep. Betsa’s 35 strikeouts on the weekend should have been enough. But after being leaned upon all weekend, Betsa was bound to fall eventually. And the Wolverines paid a large price when that time came.
there’s one area that you don’t want to be thin in, it’s pitching. With a couple of other guys that are out right now from the mound, getting everyone back to full strength will be big for this club.” Bakich expects both Hill and Lehmann to be back in the next few weeks. The coaching staff compensated for those injuries by moving Cronenworth into the rotation. Neither he or Bakich knows how long a starting role will be his, but both said that next Friday at Indiana will be another situation where Cronenworth will be used to begin the game. “Moving Cronenworth to the starting role certainly gave us a boost,” Bakich said. “Really, we feel comfortable doing that because we feel good about
(freshman right-hander) Bryan Pall at the end of the game. We start multiple guys and try to keep it simple with them by telling them to attack the zone with quality pitches and let your defense work behind you. When we’ve done that, the results have been very positive.” Michigan faces three of the projected top teams in the conference in the beginning of the season in Nebraska, Maryland and Indiana, so weathering that portion of the schedule with a banged-up pitching staff has been key for the Wolverines so far. Sitting with four conference losses through six games isn’t ideal, but Bakich believes if the staff can keep stringing quality starts together, Michigan will be a serious contender in the Big Ten.
BY THE NUMBERS Michigan Baseball
6
Total runs allowed by Michigan pitchers in three home games against Maryland this weekend
194
Team strikeouts, ranked fourth in the Big Ten
.232
Batting average allowed by the Michigan pitching staff
7
Runners Michigan pitchers have picked off this season
‘M’ regains leader in Sweet By TYLER SCOTT Daily Sports Writer
Senior catcher Lauren Sweet was standing on second base when freshman designated player Aidan Falk ripped a single through the right side of the infield March 14 in the Michigan softball team’s matchup with Kent State. Sweet rounded third and bolted for home, but as she slid into home, her right foot was trapped under her body at a plainly unnatural angle. The run scored, but the damage was done. The fans at Alumni Field held their collective breath until Sweet was helped off the field in a fireman’s carry. But Saturday, Sweet was substituted in as a pinch-hitter for the Wolverines in the fifth inning. When she stepped into the batter’s box for the first time since recovering from her injury, the fans roared. “Being out for a week and a half is pretty tough, and I’ve really been struggling with it,” Sweet said. “(The cheers) were
like a spark for me to work even harder to get back as well, it was awesome.” Michigan faced a disappointing loss on Sunday to go 2-1 against Iowa on the weekend. If Saturday’s brief in-game appearance had been a test of Sweet’s health, she passed. When the starting lineup was announced prior to Sunday’s loss, Sweet’s name was on the list. She was back at her familiar post behind home plate for the first pitch. “It’s a lot of ups and downs — I think it’s hard to say exactly where I’m at,” Sweet said. “I want to be out there, so I’m going to work as hard as I can to be out there whenever I can.” It wasn’t obvious at first that she was comfortable being back. Sophomore right-hander Megan Betsa’s first pitch slipped out of Sweet’s glove. It happened again for the second batter. It had been 15 days since Sweet had last experienced live pitching in a game, so maybe a little rust was to be expected.
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Sophomore right-hander Megan Betsa pitched 15.1 innings in three games, striking out 35 batters and picking up two wins before losing the series finale.
But by the second inning, Sweet had settled in, comfortable in resuming her long tenure as Michigan’s catcher. Her role is about more than just technical expertise. She’s the watchman for the pitching staff — a source of calm and positivity when tension runs high. “I expect her to take control of the pitchers, that’s her job,” said Michigan coach Carol Hutchins. “I think she’s very good at it, and we’ve needed her back. It’s unfortunate (that) for her first good start back we didn’t get it done.” The Hawkeyes overcame a four-run Michigan lead by scoring three runs in the sixth and seventh innings to upset the Wolverines. But throughout the final frames, whether it was when sophomore right-hander Megan Betsa was fighting fatigue, or when senior lefthander Haylie Wagner found herself in a bases-loaded jam, Sweet was there to walk out to the circle and steady her pitchers. “Most of the time it’s just to calm down,” Sweet said. “No matter what happens, I need to be positive, and I need to be giving them all the energy I have. No matter what happens, I’m there for them.” There was no demand on Sweet to make plays at the plate, no chances to try and gun down an attempted steal. Despite taking the 6-4 loss to Iowa, perhaps it was the perfect scenario for Sweet to ease herself back into her starting role. Before her injury, Sweet was batting .324 with six home runs and 28 RBI. though resuming that productivity may not come as easily for Sweet as fulfilling her duties as catcher. “She’s a big bat in our lineup, but I didn’t think her bat looked very good,” Hutchins said. “She’s going to have to work hard this week to swing better.” But her fans and teammates will still be there to cheer her on when she’s up at bat. Perhaps it’s a poetic twist of fate that now Sweet will be reaping the benefits of a positive approach she champions.