ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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Committee: CSG should not punish member HALEY MCLAUGHLIN/Daily
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan discusses safety initiatives currently being created in Detroit in Robertson Auditorium on Monday.
Detroit’s mayor discusses city’s future in Ross talk Mike Duggan applies business perspective in shaping policy By GENEVIEVE HUMMER Daily Staff Reporter
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, a University alum, returned to Ann Arbor on Monday to speak with a group of Business sophomores about ongoing revitalization efforts in Detroit. Duggan, who graduated from the University’s Law School in
1983, was not new to Detroit politics when he assumed the mayor’s office in 2014. From 1987 to 2001, he served as Wayne County’s deputy county executive, and prosecutor from 2001 until 2003. In 2004, he became the president and CEO of the Detroit Medical Center, where he remained until December 2012. Duggan said one of the pillars of his campaign was to make policymaking in the city a more inclusive process. “I finished every speech the same way,” he said. “I said if I’m the mayor, if you’re going to vote for me, the ‘us versus
them’ politics is over. It’s no longer going to matter if you’re Black, brown or white. It’s not going to matter if you’re Christian, Jewish or Muslim. It’s not going to matter if you’re gay or straight. It’s not going to matter if you were born in the city of Detroit or you’re an immigrant from another country. We’re going to build a city where everyone is welcome and everyone is included.” Since becoming the city’s mayor in January 2014, the city has experienced a number of changes. Five months before he assumed office, the city of Detroit filed for Chapter
9 bankruptcy. The following November, Judge Steven Rhodes approved Detroit’s plan of adjustment. Now that the city has emerged from bankruptcy, Duggan said he is pursuing a number of initiatives to improve the city. Over the past year, the city has installed 58,000 new streetlights in Detroit to fix the city’s public lighting problem. According to Duggan, the new LED lights have been installed every 300 feet so that most blocks have a light on each corner and in the middle of the block. Business sophomore Alex See DETROIT, Page 3
Council makes organizational changes for ‘16 By ISOBEL FUTTER Daily Staff Reporter
Monday’s Ann Arbor City Council meeting largely concerned organizational matters for 2016, as the council amended and approved the 2016 council rules and council calendar. The council also signed off on new committee assignments for the upcoming year, which included placements for the body’s two new members. Recently elected Councilmember Zach Ackerman (D– Ward 3), an LSA senior, will be added to six committees. These include the Ann Arbor Summer Festival Liaison, the Audit Committee, the Board of Insurance Administration, Housing and Human Services Advisory Committee and the Park Advisory Commission. Recently elected Councilmember Chip Smith (D–Ward 5) was appointed to five committees, including the Brownfield Plan Review Committee, Budget and Labor Committee, the Energy Commission, the Environmental Commission
WEATHER TOMORROW
and the Liquor Control Commission. The council also approved the Rules of Council for 2016 — a set of standard operating procedures for council-related business. Councilmember Sabra Briere (D–Ward 1) said the Council Rules Committee brought forth three components: the set of rules, ethics standards and a code of conduct for interactions between city staff and council. “One of the side effects of establishing the ethics policies is how we clarify our role in this organization,” Briere said. “That’s what we’ve all been talking about for a couple of years and it’s my hope that we have come up with three pieces of the puzzle that work for us all.” The five new ethics standards included outlining appropriate communications between council members and city staff. The new standard states that council members may not directly give direction to city staff, but instead must speak to the city administrator, who will then delegate work to staff. Briere said the ethics rule was added because city staff have been compromising their responsibilities by accepting the demands of council members. “When we interrupted someSee COUNCIL, Page 2
HI: 47 LO: 35
By JACKIE CHARNIGA Daily Staff Reporter
In a report released Monday, the Central Student Government Ethics Commission recommended that the full assembly take no action toward CSG Rep. Jesse Arm, an LSA sophomore whose conduct at a Diag demonstration last month generated criticism from members of the group Students Allied for Freedom and Democracy. The report, which will be considered by CSG on Tuesday, details the findings of what is likely the commission’s first ethics investigation. Public Policy junior Thomas Hislop, chair of the CSG Ethics Committee, said the assembly can adopt the recommendation with a majority vote. In the report, the committee said their recommendation resulted from the testimonies of all involved parties and a review of a video of the scene recorded by SAFE. Citing
IT’S LIT
ANN ARBOR
Body also passes resolution opposing state bill affecting city speed limits
Ethics board investigated Jesse Arm for conduct at Diag demonstration
Article VIII of the Student Body Constitution, the report concludes each party had equal rights both in the demonstration and the display of grievances. “Representative Arm did not engage in unethical behavior or engage in conduct unbecoming of a representative,” the report stated. “Just as the SAFE had the right to peacefully assemble in the Diag, Representative Jesse Arm had the right to voice his opinion.” According to the report, such an investigation had no precedent, as no records of previous ethics investigations were identified during the process. “The Rules Committee Chairman, (Rackham student Jared Ferguson), informed me that this is the first ethics committee hearing that CSG has had that he is aware of,” Hislop said. The report said having the committee move forward with an ethics investigation initially seemed appropriate given the video evidence, though ultimately the committee questioned whether the actions called for an investigation. Arm said earlier this month that he was particularly surprised to hear the incident would result in an ethics investigation. See ETHICS, Page 3
ACADEMICS
Author talks history of Caribbean enslavement Five-day symposium considers impact of sugar in shaping gender identities By RACHEL COHEN For the Daily
HALEY MCLAUGHLIN/Daily
Rabbi Aharon Goldstein, director of the Chabad House of Ann Arbor, lights a giant menorah on the Diag for the second day of Hanukkah on Monday.
CAMPUS LIFE
Students raise funds for Indian city hit by flooding
Business graduate students gather $5K after heaviest rain in 114 years By ISOBEL FUTTER Daily Staff Reporter
Two graduate students in the Ross School of Business, Sneha Venkatachalam and Preetha Lakshmi Narayanan, are working to raise money for
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Chennai, India, a city facing the highest rainfall it has seen in 114 years. After the flooding started a few days ago, Venkatachalam and Lakshmi Narayanan brainstormed ways they could help the people of Chennai. The pair both wanted to provide immediate assistance to those affected by the heavy rainfall as well as find resources to help with the aftermath and damages of the resulting flooding. Chennai is the capital of
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the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, which is located in southeast India. Since heavy rains began in the state, the army has needed to rescue 5,000 people, and many lack food and drinking water. Cell service and electricity have also been knocked out by storms, backing rescue efforts particularly difficult. “Something needs to be done, firstly because it’s raining now and it’s getting worse,” Lakshmi Narayanan See FUNDS, Page 3
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On Monday, several University units kicked off a five-day symposium that will touch on concepts including tourism, commercialism and gender identities — all through the history of sugar in the Caribbean. Gaiutra Bahadur, an author and journalist whose work has been featured in The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post Book World, Foreign Policy Magazine and The Nation, delivered a keynote address Monday on the experiences of indentured Indian women who immigrated to the Caribbean. The idea for the symposium originated with Anita Gonzalez, a University professor who heads the Global Theatre and Ethnic Studies minor in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance. She had been working with her colleagues on a performance project designed to consider how involuntary labor by people of color could provide a mechanism for understanding the Caribbean more broadly. The project would eventually form the See SUGAR, Page 3
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News
2 — Tuesday, December 8, 2015
MONDAY: This Week in History
TUESDAY: Campus Voices
WEDNESDAY: In Other Ivory Towers
THURSDAY: Twitter Talk
Helping the homeless
How did you become so passionate about homelessness policy? I grew up in Philadelphia, and I quickly realized what privilege was and began comparing myself to other residents of my city that had nothing. At 7 years old, I didn’t exactly know how to help aside from giving leftover food
to the people on the street, or volunteering to package food and donate it to the homeless. I knew that I wanted to dedicate my life to learning more about how to better help this population, and Ford gave me that opportunity.
benefitting from these services. It never crossed my mind to spend time in (Puerto Vallarta) or Las Vegas. I knew this would be life changing.
Why did you decide to do the Alternative Spring Break Program in Detroit?
I am also involved in K-Grams, which is a pen pal organization in which you voluntarily sign up to become a pen pal with youth in elementary schools in the Ann Arbor area to help promote healthy and strong community relationships that extend beyond their classrooms.
I saw this amazing opportunity to actually work with people in a homeless shelter. I was able to work one on one with administration in Cass Community Social Services and talk to all of the people that were
FRIDAY: Photos of the Week
THE J U RY’S OUT
ADELE GOLDBERG
Adele Goldberg is a junior in the Ford School of Public Policy. Goldberg is interested in policy related to homelessness and is involved in Alternative Spring Break and K-grams on campus. She also coaches crossfit in her spare time.
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Art & Design sophomore Sophia Castro looks at the juried undergraduate exhibit held in the Slusser Gallery in the Art & Architecture Building on Monday.
WHAT: My Brothers is hosting a workshop to learn about financial planning and how the topic relates to men of color. WHO: Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives WHEN: 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. WHERE: Michigan Union
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WHAT: The students of AMCULT 355 will be performing hula in a free, public performance. WHO: Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies WHEN: 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. WHERE: Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library, Gallery
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THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW TODAY
1
Donald Trump said Monday that the United States should close its borders to all Muslims entering the country, The New York Times reported. He said the move would help prevent a terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
2
Ben Keller, Payton Luokkala and Melissa Scholke give their takes on the situation at Princeton University in an editorial board roundtable. >>SEE OPINION, PAGE 4
3
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the ability of cities and states to prohibit semi-automatic assault weapons, The Washington Post reported.
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Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor expresses his gratitude to his fellow City Council members at Larcom City Hall on Monday.
COUNCIL From Page 1 one’s work day, we have literally interrupted someone’s work flow,” Briere said. On Monday, the council also approved a resolution to oppose Michigan House Bill 4425, which aims to amend the Michigan Vehicle Code. Under the proposed amendment, a legal speed limit under the Michigan Vehicle Code would have to be set at the 85th percentile speed of free-flowing traffic. This estimate would be under ideal road and weather conditions, and rounded to the nearest multiple of five miles per hour. The bill, if approved by the Michigan House of Representatives, would remove the ability for local governments to determine some speed limits within the city. “It’s very important for us to be able to maintain that local control,” Smith said. “This is one
of those issues where I think this isn’t necessarily shouting into the wind, this is right now a bill that’s in house committee and we’d like it to die in house committee.” In light of the recent cycling deaths in the city, the council unanimously approved a resolution to allocate $1,000 from the Alternative Transportation Education Budget to fund a Bike Light Giveaway Program. Councilmember Julie Grand (D–Ward 3) said community feedback on the proposal has been positive. “It shouldn’t take a tragedy to make us act, but sometimes it does,” she said. “One of the solutions that was brought to me was to make cyclists more visible. We know that the last couple accidents that the cyclists did not have lights on their bikes, so we want to do something about that.” Grand said the resolution will allocate money to get the ball rolling in regard to cyclist safety in the city. Smith, who was a co-sponsor
of the resolution, encouraged the public to know that this is just the beginning of cyclist safety discussions for council. “This is a Band-Aid, this is a short term fix,” he said. “These tragedies tell us that we have a need. We have a need for better cycling safety infrastructure. We can’t do that overnight.” The meeting also brought in another round of anti-deer cull protestations. Approximately 20 protesters, clad in red shirts and carrying “Stop the Shoot” signs, arrived at the meeting to demonstrate against the forthcoming deer cull in Ann Arbor, which city officials hope will help curb the city’s deer population. Though the cull was approved at the Nov. 7 council meeting, two public speakers took the podium anyway to urge council for a moratorium. Anthropology Prof. Jennifer Robertson cited studies on deer fertility programs as viable alternatives to a cull, which she said
she felt were more ethical. “The cull has polarized Ann Arbor like never before,” Robertson said. “What is troubling to me on ethical grounds is the council’s support of gun violence. Nonlethal methods have not been introduced, rather killing was the first resort.” Despite protestations and a recent petition circulating to recall Councilmember Kirk Westphal (D–Ward 2), the deer cull is set to happen this winter and will not be reopened for a vote by council as of now. Grant Strobl, the newly elected government relations chair for the University’s Central Student Government, also attended the meeting to introduce himself to the council. He said he wanted to communicate to council that he will serve as a voice of the students. “I am tasked with working with locals to provide input on policy and provide the student perspective,” he said.
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NEWS BRIEFS
‘U’ researchers develop breast cancer application The University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center developed Breast Cancer Ally, a free app aimed at breast cancer patients and their physicians. Using the app, patients can track their treatment progress and their physicians can tailor treatment plans to fit specific patients. Components of the app are specific to each patient and are based off of the patient’s data. Right now the app is only being used at the University Hospital. “The treatment recommendations and advice are in line with what the UM oncologists are discussing with the patients, so they aren’t receiving conflicting information, as can happen when one uses a generic app or website for information,” said Dr. Michael Sabel, a breast cancer surgeon who led the app’s development.
Former Courser, Gamrat aides sue Michigan House Two ex-staffers for former State Reps. Cindy Gamrat (R– Plainwell) and Todd Courser (R–Lapeer) are suing the Michigan House of Representatives for wrongful termination. In July it emerged that Courser and Gamrat had used their taxpayer-funded offices to cover up their relationship. According to audio recordings obtained by The Detroit News, Courser planned to distribute a fictional e-mail that said he had sex with a male prostitute in an effort to distract from his affair with Gamrat. In September, Courser resigned and an hour later, Gamrat was expelled on a 91-12 vote. Keith Allard and Ben Graham worked for Courser and Gamrat until July 6, at which point they were fired. The two are now suing the House and claiming that their firings violated their freedom of speech and the federal Whistleblowers’ Protection Act. They also alleged that by releasing documents that included their Social Security numbers, the House violated their privacy.
Members of the state Congress ask Obama to reconsider order Six Republican members of Michigan’s Congress are asking President Obama to reconsider his decision to have law enforcement agencies return surplus military equipment. The request was signed by Mike Bishop (R–Rochester), Bill Huizenga (R–Zeeland), Candice Miller (R–Harrison Township), John Moolenaar (R–Midland), Dave Trott (R–Birmingham) and Fred Upton (R–St. Joseph). Just last week, the Detroit Free Press reported that Michigan law enforcement agencies were expressing frustration with the loss of military equipment. These agencies said Obama’s decision has taken away key assets that cannot easily be replaced. Obama issued his executive order pertaining to surplus military equipment last January. The decision was made after protests across the country drew attention to the militarization of local police. The policy requires that local police return tracked armored vehicles, weaponized aircraft and grenade launchers, among other prohibited items. The letter pointed to last week’s shootings in San Bernardino, Calif. as one reason for local law enforcement to retain such prohibited items. The representatives argue that the executive order will make it challenging for law enforcement officials to thwart terrorist attacks. —GENEVIEVE HUMMER
DETROIT From Page 1 Rakestraw said he was impressed with Duggan’s efforts to ensure the city is well lit. “So much of wanting to go to a city is being comfortable and feeling safe in it,” Rakestraw said. “I thought it was really cool how much he emphasized making sure the streets were clean and well lit as a precursor to making real change. It seemed like the kind of response you would get from someone who is looking at the big picture in totality.” Duggan has also spearheaded a number of crime-fighting initiatives in Detroit. Given that the city does not have the resources to employ more policemen, Duggan said the current police force must be used more efficiently. Even with current law enforcement efforts, the city’s murder rate fell by 3 percent in 2014.
SUGAR From Page 1 basis for an interdisciplinary symposium titled, “Conjuring the Caribbean: How Sweet it is.” Bahadur’s novel, “Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture,” focuses on the lost histories of enslaved women, like her great-grandmother. The women described in the book were often uprooted from their families, or were runaways who fled from India to Guiana only to face more mistreatment. A “Coolie” is a name that was traditionally given to indentured laborers by the British. Throughout their journeys and in Guiana, Bahadur said these indentured women were subjected to sexual assault and domestic violence. Many were simply killed. Bahadur said she wrote the book not only to create a tangible record for her greatgrandmother, but to discover more about herself. “Does ‘Coolie Woman’ provide a home in the world for my greatgrandmother and the women like her?” Bahadur asked. “Does it provide more for me and women like me? I’d like to think that the answer to both questions is yes. Telling the stories of indentured women gives them a place in history, a symbolic home and it also gives their descendants a home and a sense of self, of identity.” Much of Bahadur’s keynote
FUNDS From Page 1 said. “But then the rains will stop, and the floods will drain, what are people going to do about the damage?” Venkatachalam and Lakshmi Narayanan said many of their Indian classmates in the Business School call Chennai their home, and still have direct or extended family living there. The pair has been working with other students to contact family and friends. “We couldn’t reach people because the phone lines were down, there was no power and the ground floor and first stories of houses were submerged,” Venkatachalam said. “We had no idea if people were actually OK, including our own family members.” The two Business students attended high school together in Chennai, and have retained connections with the city. “The estimate of damages right now is about $3 billion,” Lakshmi Narayanan said. “We asked ourselves if there was anything we could do through Ross. This is a place that encourages collaboration, this is a place that has impacts in other parts of the world — the outreach is huge.” They set a goal of raising $5,000 for the cause, which will be distributed by an organization working on the ground in India. In one day, they had already raised half that amount, in part by contacting the Ross School of
News “If we are going to reduce crime in the city of Detroit, I need to take the same 2,400 cops and use them smarter than we ever did before,” he said. “And so we are essentially, for those of you who are ‘Moneyball’ fans, we are applying ‘Moneyball’ policies to fighting crime. And it’s pretty interesting to see business school grads and cops mixing. The key to getting violence down is you have to get criminals to make different decisions. How do you get them to change the decision not to commit the crime in the first place?” Ceasefire Detroit is a program the city has implemented to address this question. Under the program, the city brings 30 to 40 residents, many of them youth, with known criminal histories together for a discussion once a month. Community members, Duggan and the Wayne County prosecutor are all present to speak about the state of violence in Detroit.
focused on the archives she worked with while researching the book. The archives, however, did not provide a full record, and Bahadur found she needed to find ways to work around the gaps. Because the majority of the primary sources from this time were written by translators or by the very people who oppressed the indentured women, she said they cannot fully convey the women’s thoughts and feelings. In an attempt to fill these gaps, Bahadur listened to period folk music, as well as viewed pictures of and listened to audio interviews with some of the women. Bahadur noted that even some of the accounts the women gave were not fully representative because the trauma they endured made it very difficult for them to talk frankly about their experiences. Instead of letting the sometimes false or contradictory archives hinder the research, Bahadur said she actively used the archives to further her novel’s plot. In the novel, Bahadur said the gaps in the limited archival material provided as much of a subject as the actual histories. “(The book) is a history written with the archive, but also against the archive,” she said. “It uses questions, sometimes cheeky questions, to expose the archive for the fiction it sometimes is. The archive becomes the subject itself.” Of the roughly 50 people who
Business Student Government Association and other associations on campus to spread the word. “We thought, ‘Hey, we should do something about this,’ and we felt that the Ross Student Government Association has the maximum reach,” Lakshmi Narayanan said. The Ross SGA distributed an e-mail to all Business students, faculty and staff Thursday urging people to donate. After Venkatachalam and Lakshmi Narayanan surpassed $5,000, they increased their goal to $10,000. The two partnered with an organization called Milaap. Similar to GoFundMe, provides a forum for donors to make contributions. “The site was started by one of our classmates in undergrad,” Lakshmi Narayanan said. “We knew it was an authentic institution and there’s a lot of accountability in where the money gets dispensed and how it’s used.” The website will also include campaign updates throughout the process. “The link has updates about how well we are doing, where the money is going and showing the receipts of the money being transferred,” Venkatachalam said. Lakshmi Narayanan said the money will be spread across different causes. “The initial money is going towards helping people find water and food,” she said.
“We’ve had 30 American men and women killed in Iraq last year, in this one little corner of Detroit we’ve had 40 people murdered,” Duggan said. “It is more violent in our corner of Detroit than in war-torn parts of the world. And what I say to them is, the ones who are most likely to be the next victim, are you. The violence has to end.” Duggan has also worked to jumpstart GreenLight, a program aimed at securing high-risk gas stations. The nine participating gas stations will be lit out to the street front and outfitted with high-resolution, color security cameras. These cameras will be connected through Wi-Fi to police headquarters where there is a real-time crime center. “The technology is so advanced that if somebody carjacks somebody at a gas station, we will be able to rewind that image at police headquarters, take a snapshot, send it out to the patrol cars in the area that have
Tuesday, December 8, 2015 laptops so that they’ll be able to see the cars and the perpetrators immediately,” he said. Duggan also emphasized the importance of enticing young people to move to Detroit — an area where he said he has seen significant improvement. “Today every housing unit in downtown Detroit is leased out, there is a six-month wait list,” he said. “We caught this trend of the millennials who don’t want to live in the suburbs and drive a minivan, who want to be closely connected, who have creative energy, are moving in in remarkable numbers. We have a lot of initiatives going on in the arts side, the cultural side.” For one thing, the city has launched a program called Motor City Match, which will give out $500,000 every quarter for the next five years to new businesses in the form of $50,000 grants. Last quarter, 370 people applied for one of 10 grants. Business sophomore Emily
Gorman, a Michigan native, said she is excited by the city’s continued improvements and will consider living there after graduation. “I definitely can envision myself there,” Gorman said. “I love the city, I volunteered there a lot in high school. I think there’s so much more energy there than people see. You see the perceptions around campus of people who aren’t from around the area, or even who are from the area. But whenever I go there’s just such an energy to bring Detroit back to what it used to be, and I just think that it’s a really cool place to be.” Rakestraw expressed similar sentiments. “All the stuff that’s happening with Shinola, the recent tech investments, what Dan Gilbert’s doing with Quicken Loans, to me it seems like the next American town,” he said. “As a young person, why not go where things are exciting?”
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Gaiutra Bahadur, author of “Coolie Woman: The Oddessy of Indenture,” delivers a keynote on Indian women’s experiences in indentured servitude at Hatcher Graduate Library on Monday.
attended the event, many were graduate students who were either artist scholars or were studying topics related to the keynote and symposium. Manan Desai, an assistant professor in American Culture and Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies, had actually featured some of Bahadur’s work in the class he teaches: South Asian Diaspora in North America. He said that he was pleased with the event as it highlighted a history not many people in the
“People have lost all their clothes, all their food, all their money. We want to also provide that rehabilitation support.” Business Prof. Puneet Manchanda, who studies emerging markets, particularly business in India, said the recent floods are destroying Chennai’s infrastructure. “The effects are truly devastating, both from a human capital and a business point of view,” he said. “A lot of people are stranded, a lot of people are stuck, and there’s a big economic impact of a shutdown of all the services.” Manchanda noted that by channeling the money through a local organization, the students are making sure the funds go to a good use. “There’s always a need for money to make things happen,” Manchanda said. “The students are doing an awesome job at collecting money.” Both Venkatachalam and Lakshmi Narayanan emphasized the importance of student contributions. “As a community, we should be proud of ourselves,” Lakshmi Narayanan said. “We all are students and faculty contributing, and for us to be able to say, ‘This is a meal for me, but instead I’m going to give it to the people who need it,’ that’s just phenomenal. To see it in our community at the University says we should be really proud about it.”
United States know about. “I thought it was really great,” Desai said. “I think she not only talked about this kind of important history that I think a lot of people, specifically in the United States and even the South Asian Diaspora in the United States don’t know about; I think she also talked about the difficulty of recuperating histories when you’re dealing with archives that silence many of these voices. I thought that was really beautifully and powerfully described.”
ETHICS From Page 1 “The implications that a student representative must either shed all ideas or stop expressing them and that a basic requirement for leadership in CSG is either to have no ideas or to remain silent is foreign to the underpinnings of a free democracy,” Arm wrote in an e-mail interview with The Michigan Daily on Monday. Arm said the protest’s purpose was to provoke thought and expression, and that he was responding to the protesters’ invitation to look at their display and produce a response. “I am a fervent believer in political pluralism and freedom of speech,” he wrote. “It is impossible that all members of Central Student Government will please all students all the time. Some students will inevitably disagree with us and even disdain us for the decisions we make and the votes we take.” Whether it was regarded as a matter worthy of investigation, Hislop said there will be positive takeaways from the experience. “This investigation will allow for CSG to improve our Operating Procedures, which at the moment lack a clear definition as to how and when the Ethics Committee should be used,” Hislop wrote. “We need to improve the rules we operate by so future cases are not marked by this same confusion.” One such improvement in the rules would be whether or not a student has right to legal counsel in ethics hearings, which the ethics committee requested the rules
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Gonzalez thought that Bahadur’s keynote provided a solid basis for the rest of the symposium. “This was definitely a great kickoff event because each of the presentations frame things in the context of conjuring and sugar, which are two of the metaphors that we want to explore as we start to talk about the process of how the Caribbean resonates today and with the historical past,” Gonzalez said.
committee determine. Hislop also wrote the investigation can lead to a dialogue on counter-narratives through the University. Arm said in an e-mail he was happy the committee confirmed that his right to free speech was protected under the Student Body Constitution. “It is a shame that those who disagree with me politically tried to make me the first because of my public support for Israel,” Arm wrote. “Freedom of speech is of critical importance and all students should recognize that truth. I hope that in the future all students will be able to engage in respectful dialogue freely without fear of repercussions for their ideas.” The ethics committee wrote in the report that while representatives should be held to higher standards than the average student, Arm’s words should not be held against him. “We as an Assembly cannot let hurtful words stop us from having important dialogue and from making difficult decisions,” the report said. “The Ethics Committee encourages students and representatives to continue to passionately and respectfully advocate on behalf of the causes they believe in.” Arm said he was pleased by the results of the investigation, and is eager to continue his work in CSG. “I hope that in the future all students will be able to engage in respectful dialogue freely without fear of repercussions for their ideas,” Arm wrote. “In the future, I hope we can vet these accusations more seriously before conducting big investigations and bringing a student’s name into the media.”
Opinion
4 — Tuesday, December 8, 2015
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
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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.
BEN KELLER, PAYTON LUOKKALA, MELISSA SCHOLKE | ROUNDTABLE
What’s in a name?
In recent weeks, controversy has brewed at Princeton University surrounding its School of Public and International Affairs being named in honor of President Woodrow Wilson. Given the recent outcry surrounding Wilson’s racist policies, there has been significant debate as to whether his name should remain attached to the school. In this roundtable discussion, Daily Editorial Board members Ben Keller, Payton Luokkala and Melissa Scholke give their takes on the situation at Princeton and discuss whether the University should also examine the names on its buildings. KELLER: It’s commonplace to honor individuals by placing their names on buildings. However, when information is brought forth that damages the credibility of these people, should we immediately rush to strip them of their honor and rename such buildings? Or is it at all possible to debate the lives of these men and women to possibly come to some sort of compromise? The recent revelation at Princeton University regarding the presidency of Woodrow Wilson has prompted national outcries for the Wilson School of Public and International Affairs to change its name. Wilson, also a former president at Princeton, has come under scrutiny for racist policies he enacted during his time in the White House. However, he’s also remembered for reforms that laid the groundwork for the future policies of highly revered presidents, like President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. Herein lies the conflict: Does Wilson’s racism automatically disqualify him from name recognition? Or does his stature as a president of the United States and the forerunner of lauded policies supersede his discriminatory practices? Roosevelt is a prime example of this conundrum. For decades, he has been extolled as one of our nation’s greatest presidents. He led us out of the Great Depression and through World War II. However, many seem to forget that he ordered the internment of innocent Japanese Americans during the same war. Where’s the outrage over this blatantly racist action by FDR? Should we strip his name off of buildings or remove his face from our currency? I would assume most people would say that sort of action would be unnecessary given Roosevelt’s impact on this nation beyond his mistakes. Nevertheless, the line between what qualifies a figure in our nation’s history as good or bad is too arbitrary. Therefore, the decision to abolish a titular honor given to a man or woman of the past must be left to the respective institution that harbors that recognition. This constant battle of what defines our predecessors takes place on more campuses than just Princeton. Take the University as an example. The C.C. Little Building is named for one of our past University presidents, Clarence Cook Little. His presidency in and of itself is virtually inconsequential and didn’t include significant alterations to campus. However, Little was an avowed believer of the eugenics movement — an early 20th century development that advocated for the sterilization of humans whose offspring were deemed “unfit for society.” Now we come to the all-important question: Does Little’s affiliation with the eugenics movement (even serving as president of the American Eugenics Society) outweigh his stature as a past president of the University and thus justify the removal of his name from the C.C. Little Building? I believe that it certainly could, but other options should also be brought forth that can give Little the recognition he deserves as a past University president while also acknowledging his misguided beliefs. A portrait in the Michigan Union could suffice along with a web history of our past presidents if the name of the building were to be changed. There’s no certain criteria to decide when someone deserves to have their name on a building of higher education or whether to have it removed. Clearly, these situations need to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis in order to ensure that the people who laid the foundation for our lives aren’t unjustly recognized or deprived of that recognition. With so many conflicting facts and stances being used in the same debate, it’s important to remember an idea that is encompassed in a statement made by David Wilkins, the chairman of the Clemson University Board of Trustees, when a building name at that university was engulfed in controversy: “Every great institution is built by imperfect craftsmen. Stone by stone they add to the foundation so that over many, many generations, we get a variety of stones … Some of our historical stones are rough and
even unpleasant to look at. But they are ours and denying them as part of our history does not make them any less so.” SCHOLKE: The recent student protests at Princeton — and the subsequent public outcries — have ignited a broader, overdue discussion about both the accuracy of the histories we are typically presented with in society and the merits of the historical figures whose names and legacies are memorialized in this fashion. I think the conversation initiated at Princeton is absolutely necessary and needs to be echoed at numerous institutions of higher education across the country, including the University. It’s important for us, as a society, to acknowledge that our system of recording and retelling history is flawed and has overlooked the viewpoints and experiences of numerous groups. Adorning prestigious buildings with the names of prominent figures without a doubt memorializes these individuals and their legacies for generations. Many of these individuals — a list that includes U.S. presidents, university presidents, prominent policymakers and influential scientists — certainly deserve to be praised for their respective achievements and contributions to society. However, society cannot ignore the fact that the practice of placing these names on notable buildings, more often than not, presents and perpetuates a sanitized representation of these individual’s legacies that continues to exclude their more questionable actions and the negative consequences of those actions. Here at the University, negative aspects of the pasts of figures such as President Gerald R. Ford, C.C. Little, Sam Zell and Sanford Weill could be similarly scrutinized. Perhaps the use of C.C. Little’s name on a building serves as one example of a legacy that we may need to reconsider. LUOKKALA: Earlier, Keller questioned at what point one should draw the line that separates important figures from being honored or scorned. This is the contention; it is entirely subjective as to where such a line is drawn, but subjective to what? The individual, the society, the time? The answer to this question is difficult precisely because it isn’t permanent across time or to any constellation of people. This is where I get stuck. Keller continued that we are engaged in a “constant” discussion of what defines our past leaders. It’s the use of the word constant that is troubling. Because I think the problem here is that the battle hasn’t been constant; the issue hasn’t been properly attended to throughout time. While some thought certainly went into renaming a building after C.C. Little many years ago, I find it difficult to believe that the fact that the former University president studied eugenics in his spare time was discussed thoroughly as a factor. I think this because I cannot imagine how our own University thought we would be completely satisfied with the honor they chose to bestow. The problem, again, is that this discussion hasn’t been constant. Like Scholke acknowledged, this is in part due to the inadequate way we keep history. One simple story is kept and retold; history is often painted in broad strokes of entirely “good” or entirely “bad.” These hidden histories are a problem not only because they exist, but also because we’re just now finding out about them. This recognition provides no easy solution. We’re unable to change the lack of forethought in those before us, nor can we uncover all of the lost histories. Though it isn’t a solution to our past, we must start getting rid of the black-and-white manner in which we currently view important figures, to prevent current revelations that show us a history we hadn’t known existed. Through all of this, I have managed to evade coming to any conclusion: Keep the names or don’t. While we can acknowledge that beliefs and practices of individuals such as C.C. Little and Woodrow Wilson are wrong, the debate against changing the names includes valid points as well. Like I previously mentioned, people aren’t one-dimensional, which makes it difficult to judge whether or not they are “worthy” of the honor. It has also been questioned whether changing the names would hide history even further. In conclusion, amid the controversies erupting across the nation, I ask: Given that we have a limited account of history and an arbitrary ability to judge others, when, if ever, is it right to take action? The answer is: Until we can no longer ignore the problem.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Ben Keller, Minsoo Kim, Payton Luokkala, Aarica Marsh, Anna Polumbo-Levy, Jason Rowland, Lauren Schandevel, Melissa Scholke, Rebecca Tarnopol, Ashley Tjhung, Stephanie Trierweiler, Mary Kate Winn, Derek Wolfe
A
Gun rights are not absolute
s I watched the nation’s response to the latest wave of gun violence, a lesson on rights taught by my philosophy GSI during my sophomore year came to mind. Rights are great, he effectively said. The problem is that everyone has them. VICTORIA When two people’s rights NOBLE conflict, in a sense, they cancel out the imperative nature of the other’s right. Deciding what to do based on what’s required to uphold someone’s right is no longer adequate when two rights necessitate mutually exclusive action. The decision remains over what should be done. Rights are central to the gun control debate. Many individuals — as well as the Supreme Court — interpret the Second Amendment to mean that Americans have the right to own and carry guns. But there is another right at stake as well — the right to life. When the founders drafted the Constitution, they originally omitted a guarantee of specific personal liberties out of fear that it would be interpreted as an exclusive list. The Bill of Rights was later added with the clear message that the enumerated rights were not the only ones worthy of protection. The right to life was not included in the Bill of Rights, but it’s clear that it underpins the Constitution itself. The Declaration of Independence boldly declared life to be an inalienable right. And really, could anyone enjoy their right to bear arms if they weren’t already alive to do so? The idea that everyone has the right to live seems obvious; the government’s broad responsibility to protect the lives of its citizens is uncontroversial. It tasks itself with deterring murder, fighting terrorism and subsidizing life-saving health care. In many cases, Americans even tolerate a tradeoff of their personal liberties to enable the government to protect them. But gun control debates have taken a different tune. Any proposed infringement on individuals’ rights
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to buy or carry weapons is viewed by many as strictly unconstitutional. Recently, the Senate even voted down a bill to prevent those on the terrorist watch list from buying guns. The bill was derided for potentially placing an undue burden on a relatively small number of potentially innocent individuals’ rights to purchase weapons without due process because those on the list are suspected — not convicted — teorrist threats. Despite the fact that former President George W. Bush advocated a similar policy in 2007, votes generally fell along party lines and the bill failed. We have to change the way we talk about gun control. Framing gun control as a clear-cut personal liberties issue inhibits our ability to adequately respond to the specific issue of gun violence, as well as to our broadly construed counterterrorism efforts. As groups like ISIS strengthen their ability to aid naturalized radicals in carrying out violent attacks, it will be crucial that the federal and state governments have a broader set of policies at their disposal to limit the damage these groups can do. Strict adherence to a pro-gun ideology that hamstrings even basic initiatives to prevent weapons from falling into terrorists’ hands is not a viable way to safeguard Americans against this evolving threat. Many pro-gun advocates hold that the solution to the gun problem is to simply arm more benevolent bystanders. Friday, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. even encouraged his students to carry weapons to protect themselves and others. In their view, there is no tradeoff between respecting individuals’ right to carry guns and protecting their right to live safe from gunfire. According to their argument, the only thing standing in the way of a safer society is the fact that more people don’t go about their days armed and ready to shoot an active gunman. This argument makes one pivotal assumption: These armed good guys are both capable and willing to shoot another person should it become necessary. We don’t live in a country full of James Bonds. Shooting is considered a sport for a reason — it’s difficult and
most people can’t master it easily. Even hitting a non-moving target at a shooting range is difficult — I’ve tried unsuccessfully on more than one occasion. Accurately targeting a moving gunman amidst all of the chaos inherent in an active-shooter situation may be a higher bar than the average concealed carry licensee could conceivably clear. There is also little data to support the idea that more guns lead to fewer deaths by gun violence. The number of concealed handgun permits increased more than 15 percent in 2014 alone. Yet, crime rates involving gun violence haven’t fallen. In other countries, lower per capita gun ownership is actually correlated with lower rates of violent crime involving guns. I come from a family of hunters. I strongly believe that guns have a sizeable, legitimate place in American culture. For those who know how to use and care for their guns responsibly, the weapons also have valuable functions both in sport and personal protection. The government has a clear obligation to respect its citizens’ right to bear arms. But respect means something very different than what the government is currently doing — uncritically upholding pro-gun policy in all circumstances and at all costs. Guns have a greater capacity to inflict harm than almost anything else the average American can legally buy. If Americans want to maintain their right to bear arms, they also must respect the power of those weapons. When so many criminals — and increasingly, terrorists — use guns to inflict harm on others, that respect may entail modest limits on who can buy the weapons. In the wake of recent events, continuing to allow the free sale and carry of guns requires a new attitude toward their regulation. Accepting the unnecessary deaths of innocent Americans is not a necessary requirement of the continued right to bear arms. But using overly simplistic personal rights arguments to posture against common-sense, popularly supported gun law reforms inhibits the government’s ability to protect its citizens with little payoff for gun rights. Victoria Noble can be reached at vjnoble@umich.edu.
Our world is better than ever
eturning home for Thanksgiving weekend, I did what any other college student does on Turkey Day — I began hourlong debates with my elders. Our discussion topics varied and followed no clear, linear logic. Initially, we covered ISIS SAM (because what COREY else?), American national security, and then moved in to lighter topics like crime, poverty, religion and the Syrian refugee crisis. Of course, I know the golden rule of family dinner conversation: Don’t talk about politics or religion — but neither I nor my family members could help ourselves. It seems that argumentation runs through our blood; the only escape being heated discourse (and for me, the convenient platform of the Daily. Thanks, editors). So the debating continued, volume increased, vocal chords were expanded and many worked tirelessly to convince their ideological opposite wrong. This year, though, while I continued the tradition of discussing world affairs with those I definitely shouldn’t be discussing them with, I hoped something about the conversation would change — specifically, its tone. That is, I hoped that even though we’d fiercely debate depressing topics, ultimately everyone would remain optimistic about the future. See, during most holidays, my family members discuss problems that plague people high and low in our society. We discuss problems for the obvious reason that problems make life exciting — they provide us with the prospect of finding a solution, a path toward resolution. It’s no question that social, political and economic problems are challenging, but if we didn’t have challenging problems, we’d be miserably bored and lacking purpose. Internally, we’d feel bereft without raising potential answers. Yet even when recognizing our
continuous problems, it’s important that we maintain perspective on the overall state of the world. So when I hear my family members say things like “god, I would not want to be young today” and “the world is going to shit,” I become more irritated with how people perceive the world. Unfortunately, I’m not at all surprised. Sadly, I hear this utterly unfair blanket statement about the state of the world all too often, not just by my own kin, but also by many old and young people I encounter. This defeatist attitude makes me uncomfortable because it dismisses an incredibly important point about our society today. That is, in innumerable ways, the state of the world is better than it has ever been in human history. Throughout my contentious family discourse, I’ve tried making this point clear, but no matter how I frame it, my words fall on deaf ears. And while it is true that we have arduous problems like racial and wealth inequality, global warming, many acts of gun violence and suicide, we must reconcile that, by the numbers, our world is getting better. People, on average, have a higher standard of living and higher well-being around the world. That is, crime, violence, war, homicide, rape and sexual assault, famine and abject poverty have all declined in the past several decades. What’s more, general health (due to the eradication of disease), life expectancy, literacy, education levels, political freedoms and opportunities for personal autonomy have risen to a higher degree than ever before. In many ways, we’re moving closer to an idyllic utopia. Unfortunately, few believe it. Many people, particularly in America, interpret the world as miserable and depressing. Americans perceive crime and violent crime as rising and are more fearful of a large terrorist attack and Syrian refugees. Regrettably, as I’ve noted in my previous article, this unwarranted line of thinking potentially leads to fear-driven practices and policy that influence hate and discrimination, thereby adversely affecting everyone.
In my opinion, the proliferation of information, with particular regard for our television sets and computer screens, drive this fear. We hear, watch and read more horrifying stories throughout our day, and for longer periods, than ever before. Due to this constant bombardment, we perceive that our world is crumbling even as we walk outside and realize everything is fine. That’s why many people believe the world is “going to shit.” But as noted above, today we’re not dying nearly as often due to transportation accidents or losing infants due to a scarcity of health care resources. People’s lives, on the whole, are better. The measures we have in place for safety from the top down in our society — our laws, objective judicial systems, advanced medical and research institutions, and private ownership of shelter — has created a safer world for U.S. citizens to be sure. What all this means is that we must step back from the information we consume daily online and on our TV screens and consider our world more broadly. We must zoom out and see the world through a lens that isn’t painted with human tragedy or specific acts of horror. This is particularly important considering the media’s incentive, knowing humans are easily be driven by fear and emotion. If we frame our vision in a nuanced light, we can understand with clearer heads how the state of the world is. Of course, interpreting the world differently doesn’t mean we should be cut off from it. Citizens everywhere deserve to know what is going on. However, in a world where it’s easier than ever to access information from everywhere around the world, what we do with that information becomes increasingly important. So every time you watch the news, consider who’s talking to you and the general societies in which humans are operating and how that’s changed over time. Aside from relatively small instances of human tragedy (that we, of course, should do everything to prevent) the answers will more often be optimistic. Sam Corey can be reached at samcorey@umich.edu.
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Arts
EVENT PREVIEW
Tuesday, December 8, 2015 — 5
TV REVIEW
Love and ‘Piazza’ ‘Top Model’ goes out SMTD production explores beauty and challenges in Italy By BAILEY KADIAN Daily Arts Writer
If I had to choose an ideal location to explore all things beautiful and passionate, no doubt it’d be Italy. This weekend, at the The Light in Arthur Miller the Piazza Theatre, students from Dept. of the School of Musical Music, Theatre Theatre Studio & Dance pres- Dec. 10-13 ent “The Light Arthur Miller Theatre in the Piazza,” a $10-$18 musical exploring the beauty of love and the challenges that follow. As a studio production, the show centers on actors’ creations and the depth they bring toward telling this story. “Being a story of relationships and human connection, this show lends itself well to a minimal, actor-centric approach,” director Brian Hill wrote in an e-mail interview with The Michigan Daily. “I knew that everything was going to have to be actor generated.” With a cast of 15 musical theatre students, a five-piece orchestra and strong technical design, this production will, as Hill puts it, “feel like a full meal.” Adapted from Elizabeth Spen-
cer’s novel, with music and lyrics by Adam Guettel and a book by Craig Lucas, “The Light in the Piazza” is set in the 1950s and tells the story of Clara and Margaret Johnson, a family from North Carolina, who spend the summer in Florence. Clara, Margaret’s daughter, falls in love with a local Italian, Fabrizio, which Margaret strongly opposes. Premiering on Broadway in April of 2005, “Piazza” was a huge success — which doesn’t come as much of a surprise considering the talent of the original cast, including Victoria Clark as Margaret, Kelli O’Hara as Clara and Matthew Morrison as Fabrizio. The original production won six Tony Awards, including Best Original Score, Best Orchestrations, and Clark took home an award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical. While casting the production with such strong roots, Hill sought honesty in each character. He acknowledged that no one is exactly like the members of the original cast, just as no one is exactly like SMTD students Kaity Paschetto (Margaret), Christina Maxwell (Clara) or Luke Steinhauer (Fabrizio). “I prefer to let the actors’ individuality dictate the interpretation,” Hill wrote. Hill’s vision for the show focuses on what each actor brings to the work and how their contributions further enhance the story. Due to the simplicity of the technical elements of this production, stagecraft such as a hat caught in the wind, one of the most well-known
scenes of the show, was created through the actors’ choices rather than technical support. “Knowing that we had that limitation set the tone for the physical vocabulary of the show ... it has been a constantly shifting process finding out how to use this vocabulary as effectively as possible.” Hill’s reaction to these adjustments is not one of deterrence. “I love limitations. They always lead to creative solutions,” he wrote. While considering themes “Piazza” illuminates, Hill lets the story move naturally. “I think story comes first and theme follows as a byproduct,” Hill wrote. “My main objective has been to tell this gorgeous story truthfully.” And just as each actor brings something distinct and unique to the roles that audiences have grown to love, Hill believes each audience member takes something different away from this production. “One of the happy surprises for me is how much of an ensemble piece this play really is,” Hill wrote, while describing the development of this work. “This company has found a way to tell this story as a true ensemble.” Just as you’d expect, the incredible talent of SMTD students has led to very high demand for tickets. “Though I’m told the run is already sold out, if you can get a ticket to see the show … do,” Hill wrote. “This cast is extraordinary and the entire company from orchestra to crew is creating something very special.”
with a fizzle in finale By CHRISTIAN KENNEDY Daily Arts Writer
After 12 years and crowning 22 top (in title only) models, “America’s Next Top Model” quietly ended its run Friday C night with its second male America’s winner, deaf model Nyle Next Top Dimarco. Model Tyra Banks’s muse gave the Series Finale world the ultimate freak- The CW out, endless surprises and Jade. However, in its final installment, “ANTM ” failed to encapsulate its own place in pop culture history, going out with an episode rather than a celebration. Beginning the two-part finale with four contests: Lacey, Mikey, Mamé and Nyle, the show milked the models’ roles to extreme lengths with ubiquitous off-camera commentary — which consisted of Lacey’s weight loss and purity tirades, Mikey’s mini-monologues on his destiny for prison, Mamé’s relationship drama and Nyle’s gushings on modeling and deafness. Even by the end of the first episode, it’s painfully obvious that each contestant’s
THE CW
We swear this is actually from the show.
uniqueness had been talked to death, leaving no words fresh enough to further the cast’s dispositions. And when models aren’t discussing themselves, topics range from explorations of narcissism to vamping of the competition’s meaning and importance. Following the final four’s last photo shoot, a campaign for Zappos Couture, Mamé and Nyle are declared finalists, competing in the finale runway show flanked by their fellow cycle-22-ers. Mamé (semi-successfully) addressed how she cozied up with Mikey after beau, Justin, was eliminated in episode 10. This cycle’s clown, Devin, has just enough camera time to remind viewers why he wasn’t missed while the remaining almost-top models
not-so-subtly support their pick for the title. Tyra Banks — the show’s only consistent figure — was its compass as always. Surprising viewers with fashion choices (that nose ring), and charming them with her gravitas and energy, it’s only sad that her gravity to the program wasn’t expressed in screentime or fresh commentary. Too often, her lines left deliberations and feedback in the realm of any old “ANTM” rerun on Oxygen rather than than that of a true series finale. In between the fleeting moments of tenderness between contestants and their mothers and fashion industry chic, “America’s Next Top Model” ’s final shot felt dated and left me missing Janice Dickinson more than ever.
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
The best Young Thug Remembering John songs I heard in 2015 Lennon 35 years later MUSIC NOTEBOOK
By RACHEL KERR Daily Arts Writer
By MATT GALLATIN For The Daily
The first time I’d ever really heard of John Lennon was when I was standing at his memorial. While walking through Central Park with my parents, we stopped at Strawberry Fields, his quiet commemorative in the middle of New York City. I was about 12 at the time, and I knew The Beatles like I knew the Bible: I obviously was aware of its existence, and I’d heard some parts, but I’d never read it and never cared to. There was a “Hey Jude” rendition on TV that I vaguely recalled and I must have heard “With A Little Help From My Friends” at some point. But other than those fleeting moments, The Beatles were nameless to me. John Lennon meant even less. Like many 12 year olds, I spent half of my time complaining and the other half on my oh-so-cool new flip phone. But this memorial, which epitomized a man and a time of which I was totally unfamiliar, managed to move me from my adolescent trance. I sat on one of the benches and looked around — actually looked around. Strawberry Fields, a small blip in the massive park, is far less assertive than your average memorial. There are no towering statues, no imposing sculptures, no extended quotes. One word, “Imagine,” sits in the center of a Portuguese mosaic. All kinds of people line the surrounding benches, wearing anything from the all black of a New Yorker to classic ’70s tie-dye. I didn’t make the connection at the time, but it’s a spot on representation of Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” (“For weak and for strong, for rich and the poor ones … for black and for white, for yellow and red ones”). Flowers were placed all around the mosaic forming a peace sign, and at the entrance a man sat and sang the words “love is real, real is love … ” But none of this can describe the emotion that Strawberry Fields captures. Hope, love, peace or maybe something else entirely, hovers in the air like a warm cloud. It seeps through the looks of the people walking by, the couples on the benches,
and the kids running around. In many ways, Strawberry Fields is all of John Lennon and none of John Lennon. While Lennon was straight forward and gritty, his memorial is reserved and kind. While Lennon struggled with inner turmoil, his memorial is serene and at ease. Both represent something much larger than themselves. Lennon may have once been a man, but what he now symbolizes is something far greater than flesh and bone. Perhaps, though, the most beautiful part of John Lennon was how imperfect he was. He struggled with depression, he cheated, he left his first son, he had violent bouts and on and on. In our era of “problematic” celebrities and TMZ, Lennon would far from fit the mold of perfection and conformity we demand from our idols today. And Lennon didn’t care. He gave out Fuck You’s as easily and eloquently as he sang about love. On “God,” from his solo masterpiece John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, he calls out everyone from Jesus to Kennedy as a fraud. Few then and few now are willing to make such blunt, controversial statements, and even fewer are so universally embraced for it. But above it all, John Lennon loved this world. His music was critical because he saw greatness and hope in humanity. He railed against the Vietnam War, inequality and politicians in the hope that something would change for the better. And yet the violence and hatred he fought was the very thing to take his life, when 35 years ago today he was gunned down in front of his home in New York City. Those issues Lennon was consumed by in the ’60s and ’70s are eerily similar to those we deal with in 2015. The militant chauvinism he warned us of seems just as prevalent today than before the Vietnam War. Last month, conservative Twitter account Cloyd Rivers posted “ISIS is coming to America … They will come to cities and people with no guns … Arm yourself. Get training. Stand ready.” It was retweeted by thousands. Concerns over inequality have boiled over into protests on our streets and in our universities. The sexism that Lennon’s feminist voice — given
to him by activist and wife Yoko Ono — derided is still prevalent, making it stubbornly difficult for women to reach top positions in the workforce and adding to pervasive levels of sexual assault on campuses and across the world. Gun violence, the very thing John Lennon lost his life to, has found its way into our lives with alarming regularity. But there are moments of hope. Thousands gathered this year in Central Park to commemorate Lennon’s 75th birthday, forming what would become the largest human peace sign ever made. As relatively inconsequential as a moment like that might seem, it shows that for all of the nihilistic comments that are thrown around — “love is dead,” “the world is screwed,” etc. — there’s still a sense of optimism left, something that will hopefully never change. The same is true with music today. For some reason, certain fans seem to believe that the industry has been in a state of perpetual decline since the ’70s. Detractors said the industry died with Lennon, and then again with Cobain, and again with Tupac. But “real” music is far from dead, assured by leaders like Kendrick and Killer Mike. Their socially charged poetry, while tackling different specific issues than Lennon, is based on the same activist spirit that we hail Lennon for. Take Kendrick’s song “Alright” from his protest album To Pimp a Butterfly. “N***a, we gon’ be alright” might not be as delicate as “imagine all the people, sharing the world as one,” but the message is similar. Both recognize problems that pervade our society while still evoking hope. We might not all be living in communes or crossing the country in painted Volkswagen vans, but 35 years later John Lennon’s legacy remains strong. Maybe this is because 2015 isn’t so different from Lennon’s own era. We fight some of the same battles and we deal with many of the same problems. And just as they needed Lennon’s voice in the ’60s and ’70s, we need it today. If you look in the right places, you’ll find it.
Young Thug is both the antithesis of 2015’s rap scene and its greatest product. In a year defined by responses to racial tension (I’m looking at you, To Pimp A Butterf ly), he seemed completely uninterested in making any sort of social commentary. While other heavy-hitters struggled with relevance (Lil Wayne) and respect (Drake), Thugger dominated by just not giving a fuck. His unpretentious attitude felt refreshing in a sea of serious rappers, his rapid product output provided a stark contrast to artists leaving us in the dark about release dates and his all around eccentricity ushered in a completely new style of hip hop. But before reading, please note that this is not a list of the best Young Thug songs of the year but of the best Young Thug songs I’ve heard this year. The dude puts out a new track every other day, and they can be pretty difficult to sift through. I could easily copy and paste the full Barter 6 track list on here and call it a day (because that album is just straight bangers), but that wouldn’t be doing the rapper justice. Instead, I sorted through that and his other prominent projects of 2015, Slime Season and Slime Season 2. And while this list is undoubtedly premature — he’ll definitely put out more music during December — these songs remain some of his most significant of the year. 10. “Be Me See Me” As the lone Metro Boominproduced track on an otherwise London On Da Track-dominated Slime Season, it makes sense that this song stands out, if for no reason other than its production. The fact that it has an aggressive Thugger rapping over it just makes it even better. 9. “Phoenix” I love Thug songs that could almost be sad but then aren’t because it’s Young Thug, you know? Like, you can still get drunk to this song. And not “crying alone in your room” drunk, but, like, drunk drunk. But really, this is as
introspective as we’ve seen the rapper, but still offers some of his classic lyricism: “Kuna Matata I need you, I am a Mufasa genius / Baby come fuck for no reason.” It’s oh so satisfying. 8. “With That” To be honest, a lot of this song doesn’t make sense. And when it does, chances are you can’t understand it anyways. The harsh switching of f lows could make it hard to swallow if not for the syrupy production that coats it with an irresistible sweetness. 7. “Hey, I” To the surprise of many, Young Thug is quite the romantic. In the most melodic and strangely linear track we’ve gotten from the rapper, he sings about a woman that’s “ready for a kiddy.” He lets his guard down with her — “I might just tell this hoe my secret” — and even swears off other women — “I, want nothing to do with none of these lil bitches.” But of course, it ends with the song’s most heartfelt line: “I’m going down on her hard till I’m partition.” Can someone write a song like that about me? 6. “Power” Despite leaking months before its official release on Slime Season, I didn’t hear “Power” until a video of a little girl singing it went viral. Thank god I did though, because this song features one of my favorite lines on the tape: “She sucked like eight dicks, I call her Octagon.” 5. “Flaws” Isaac Flame’s production is f lawless. Thug’s verses are some of his strongest. This song just straight bangs. 4. “Raw (Might Just)” This ballad — if you want to call it that — is everything I didn’t know I wanted from Young Thug. Who would have thought any of us would enjoy him crooning “L-O-VEEEEEEE” over a chopped and screwed beat? But it works, and it’s beautiful. “A wise man once told me nothing” is one of the most profound insights I’ve heard in a while. Damn. 3. “Check” Behind “Can’t Tell,” this is unarguably the most
commercially successful song on Barter 6. Maybe because it’s one of the safest efforts on the album. Maybe because the repetitive hook (“Got me a check, I got a check”) is catchy as fuck. Or maybe because it features this series of lines: “No, they won’t tease on that dick / They won’t read on that dick, they won’t leash on that dick / Don’t Felicia that dick, Mamacita that dick / They gon’ snitch on that dick/And she screamin’ loud, she can’t secret that dick / Mama a beast on that dick.” Whatever the reason, this is the song you should show someone when you’re introducing them to Young Thug. 2. “Best Friend” I felt incredibly tempted to give “Best Friend” the number one spot on this list, just because I can’t go a day without playing it. The sound of soothing strings being plucked begins the song and then ushers it into a cacophony of other noises that serve to both shock and satisfy you. They build and build and build … and never really resolve. But that’s classic Thugger; we’re never going to make sense of him or his sound. And do we really want to? 1. “Halftime” Despite its release in early 2015, this track is a culmination of Young Thug’s entire year. Following legal issues surrounding his album’s title — he tried to take the name Carter 6 from Lil Wayne — and press scrutiny surrounding his sexuality — he’s often seen cross dressing — Thug assures us all he knows exactly what he’s doing. He doesn’t give a shit about the beef with Wayne (“Got 100 mil flat like my motherfucking idol / I might eat it, I might lick it, but I swear I’ll never bite ‘em”) and acknowledges his own heavy inf luence on pop culture (“Every time I dress myself it goes mother fucking viral”). And it features some of the most interesting production and the most powerful rapping on Barter 6. The beat keeps changing and his f low keeps switching; I can’t follow either. He doesn’t stop for air, and we don’t want him to. I could listen to him rap forever.
Arts
6 — Tuesday, December 8, 2015
TV REVIEW
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
TV REVIEW
An ‘Ex’-cellent Average ‘Superstore’ mid-season finale By SHIR AVINADAV Daily Arts Writer
‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’ goes into the holidays on a high note By SAM ROSENBERG Daily Arts Writer
Since the premiere of “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” ’s premiere on the CW back in October, star Rachel Bloom (“Robot Chicken”) B+ has consistently proved Crazy her knack for singing, writ- Ex-Girlfriend ing and act- Mid-season ing in one of finale this year’s best new shows. By The CW infusing witty original songs into its musical comedy genre, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” explores the imaginative mind of Bloom’s character, Rebecca Bunch. So far in the first season, Rebecca has grown from an unhappy, overworked New York lawyer into a more emotionally involved character in West Covina, Calif. She clearly still denies many of her actions, constantly repressing how she moved to the West Coast just to be with her high school summer fling Josh Chan (Vincent Rodriguez III, “Hostages”). Regardless of her motives, Rebecca’s underlying neurosis and her quest for happiness builds a strong foundation within the show. This past week’s mid-season finale, “My Mom, Greg’s Mom and Josh’s Sweet Dance Moves!” feeds viewers another round of strong character development and musical numbers in a typically pleasant fashion. The holiday theme of the episode plays out nicely, but for Rebecca and Co., the holidays are far from nice: Rebecca receives a visit from her domineering single mother (Tovah Feldshuh, “Flesh and Bone”) for Hanukkah, in
hopes of mending the boiling tension between the two; Greg (Santino Fontana, “Frozen”) dreads spending time with his mother (Mel Harris, “Thirtysomething”), who left him and his dad when Greg was young; Josh yearns for the glory days of being a kid at Christmas (who wouldn’t?). While these characters cope with their problems during The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” showcases their situations as a vehicle for their growing self-awareness. Since the pilot, Rebecca’s strained relationship with her mother has been slowly building to a climax — their tense interactions only shown through flashbacks, a phone call and a brief FaceTime chat. But now that Rebecca’s mother makes a complete appearance, we see their dynamic in action. In her first grand entrance, Mrs. Bunch belts out the episode’s first musical number “Where’s the Bathroom?” where she makes rapid-fire critiques about Rebecca’s home, taunts her physical appearance and inquires about her sexual orientation. Through her fastpaced delivery, Mrs. Bunch’s overbearing personality and critical behavior toward Rebecca become evident, and the song clearly reflects Rebecca’s harsh upbringing. Following Mrs. Bunch’s formal introduction, Rebecca does everything she can to impress her disparaging mother. She lies about how she works at a refined law firm and how her best friend is a stuffy British woman, played by Rebecca’s actual best friend and confidant Paula (Donna Lynne Champlin, “The Good Wife”). Though Rebecca’s “mom-pleaser” attitude may be a gag in the episode, her constant attempts to win her mother’s approval unveils a deeper, much more psychologically troubling truth. Coupled with her depression, Rebecca might be tackling reactive attachment disorder. Rebecca explic-
itly admits to her “mom-pleasing” ways, yet she perpetually lies to her mother about her work life and friendships simply because she still aches for the approval she has always wanted. In contrast to Rebecca, Greg embodies the opposite — a “momhater,” if you will. He reluctantly goes to visit his mother, whom he calls by her first name “Shawna” and brings along Rebecca’s neighbor Heather (newcomer Vella Lovell) for support. Much to Heather’s surprise and Greg’s dismay, Shawna and her “privileged” family are genuinely welcoming people. But instead of acknowledging how thoughtful and caring his mother is, Greg continues to resent her, solely because she abandoned him and his father. Greg has too much pride in recognizing his mother’s kindness, whereas Rebecca has too much anxiety in overcoming her mother’s coldness. Of course, Rebecca and Greg eventually learn from their mistakes; Greg accepts his mom and her generosity to spend time with him and Rebecca accepts her mom as well, though she still doesn’t see how her mother continues to deprive her of happiness. The only small flaw within the midseason finale is Josh’s subplot. It’s oddly short and primarily used to connect with the last sequence of the episode: Josh’s yearning to celebrate Christmas as a kid is fulfilled when he rejoins his old high school breakdancing crew at West Covina’s annual Winter Wonderland event. This, however, leads into the second musical number, “California Christmastime,” which is equally hilarious, campy and clever. After eight spectacular episodes, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” ends its mid-season finale on a high note. Though it isn’t the best of the season, it deftly ties together three subplots, two refreshing musical numbers and one charming protagonist — making for an overall emotionally satisfying episode.
Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
CHILDCARE
DOWN 1 Gave the boot 2 Jules Verne captain 3 *2005 documentary about a bear enthusiast 4 Cyberchuckle 5 Scuba gear element 6 River of Pisa 7 Belle’s beloved 8 White state tree of New Hampshire 9 News show VIP 10 Payment after a divorce 11 See 69-Across 12 Quite a long distance away 13 River of Hades 22 Harshness 23 44th president 25 Director Craven 27 Ouzo flavoring 28 Aesthetic judgment 29 Vanishing ski resort apparatus 30 Wedding vows word 32 *Brains, figuratively 33 Cry of surrender
34 Measured in steps 37 Poet __ St. Vincent Millay 40 Norwegian composer Edvard 41 News network with a six-color logo 44 Dancer Duncan 46 Return from Venus? 48 Builds
50 North African expanse 52 Nebraska city 54 Fat measure 55 San __, Italy 56 In the know about 57 “Down with,” in Paris 58 Auto club services 60 Assistant 61 Porgy’s beloved 65 Camcorder button
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of the many characters adding range to a plot that seems lost in its effort to center on the potential for comedy in a boring workplace. Glenn (Mark McKinney, “Saturday Night Live”), the store manager, exudes a nauseating optimism, like a father with no authority trying to make his kids think he’s cool. His exuberance makes him an easy target for manipulation by his employees, creating an amusing dynamic, but automatically relegating him to the sidelines of the plot. The potential for romance between Amy and Jonah pushes any chance the other characters stand of having a quality role to the plot’s periphery. Even Amy, who goes by the name Ramona at work to avoid mixing her personal life and work life, loses some of her complexity. In his efforts to impress her, Jonah, and the possibility of romance between the two, overshadows Ferrera’s character — effectively minimizing one of the few strengths the show has. Even in a plot as static as its characters’ workplace, there are a few amusing moments that merit praise. Overall, the show reproduces an atmosphere of monotony inherent to its setting. Though Jonah tries to show Amy “moments of beauty” in their world of daily annoyances, the show itself struggles to find its own “moments of beauty.” In an effort to meld comedy with some sort of a deeper statement about finding joy in the humdrum of day-to-day life, “Superstore” misses the mark. But with America Ferrera leading a solid cast and with some wellwritten dialogue, the show has potential. Just don’t expect it to be the next “Office.”
TV REVIEW
Call: #734-418-4115 Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 __-Saxon 6 Swedish quartet 10 “Woe is me!” 14 Plain-paper copier pioneer 15 Rider’s strap 16 Hitchhiker’s ride 17 “Revenge” costar VanCamp 18 Drug cop 19 Words to an old chap 20 Doughnut order: Abbr. 21 *“I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member” speaker 24 Potsdam pair 26 Bum kin 27 In great detail 31 Keyed into the register 35 Votes against 36 Slender woodwind 38 Loy of “The Thin Man” 39 Belief suffix 40 Artist Moses ... and, when divided into three parts, a hint to the answers to starred clues 42 N.C. State’s conference 43 Step 45 Pitchers Darling and Guidry 46 Singer Lovett 47 __-weensie 49 Paid for the release of 51 Dynamic opening? 53 Cake served au rhum 54 *Score-settling competition 59 Indent key 62 Forfeited auto 63 __ San Lucas: Baja resort 64 Bandleader Shaw 66 Cupid 67 Gradual melting 68 Marsh stalks 69 With 11-Down, Louvre masterpiece 70 Get wise with 71 Central Park’s 843
NBC’s new workplace comedy “Superstore” is a revealing portrait of the monotony of daily life. It illustrates the frus- Btrations of an unsatisfyingly Superstore dull job, love and human Series Premiere desire — well, Mondays at 10 p.m. as much as a NBC sitcom about a motley crew of employees working at a spoof of Walmart can. Justin Spitzer’s (“The Office”) new series follows a band of offbeat employees with Amy (America Ferrera, “Ugly Betty”) at the helm. Ferrera’s endearing performance of the shrewd, yet dispassionate, Amy is reason enough to watch the show, but leaves us wanting more from the plot itself. Though the setting of a large retail chain leaves little room for original content (how many packages of toilet paper can the new guy knock over?), the show revels in the tedious duties and individual traits of its characters. Even something as simple as Cheyenne (Nicole Bloom, “Project X”), a young, pregnant employee attempting to pick up a box, is shown facetiously. Jonah (Ben Feldman, “Mad Men”), the well-meaning yet blundering new guy who quickly (and predictably) develops a crush on Amy, resorts to stacking soda cans in the image of a smiley face to impress her. Ferrera easily takes on her role as the unamused and seasoned floor manager, with no shortage of thinly veiled sarcasm to dole out to unwitting Jonah. A playful back-and-forth
commences between Jonah and Amy when he mistakes her for a customer and unintentionally insinuates that the employees at the store are beneath him, saying, “I know I don’t seem like the type of person who would work at a place like this” (at which point Amy looks over at Cheyenne struggling with the box). Amy feigns surprise and sarcastically says, “Oh no, I wouldn’t want to sound condescending,” when Jonah reprimands her for restating what he’d just said. This magnificently awkward interaction is then tarnished by a slapstick routine where Jonah attempts to lean against a mountain of bulk toilet paper rolls and falls over, bringing them all down with him. Jonah’s unfortunate gaffe leads to him spending the rest of the episode trying to get into Amy’s good graces. But he accidentally misprices all the electronics and creates chaos among the store’s shoppers. The contrast between Amy and Jonah shines as Jonah uselessly pleads with an old man not to buy a mispriced item, and Amy chases a woman who leaves the store only to end up in a physical altercation with her. Hilarity ensues as one employee Garrett (Colton Dunn, “Key and Peele”) encourages customers over the speaker system to take advantage of the mistake. The security guard panics, and then it all abruptly ends when another employee, Dina (Lauren Ash, “Lars and the Real Girl”), marches in front of the crowd with a rifle. Dina’s dramatic response exemplifies her rougharound-the-edges, but emotionally vulnerable, characterization that is made even funnier by her crush on Jonah. Dina is just one
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“What the hell?” asks Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie, “Southland”), waking up to the sight of Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor, C+ “The Walking Dead”) Gotham and Edward Mid-season finale Nygma (Cory FOX Michael Smith, “Carol”) singing together. In many ways, this reaction of disbelief sums up my thoughts on “Gotham” ’s second season. The show is insane, many times edging into headshaking ridiculousness, but there are moments where it becomes ridiculously entertaining, against anyone’s better judgment. One of the biggest issues “Gotham” had in its first season was a failure to commit to a specific tone. As it tried to balance a gritty police procedural with over-the-top supervillain antics, “Gotham” became a muddled mess. However, in its second season, the series committed to the more exaggerated reality of its comic book origins while maintaining darker moments. “Gotham” is still a mess, but at least now it’s a mess with some direction. Abandoning the incredibly dull (and often lazy) procedural aspects of its inaugural season, “Gotham” became far more serialized. Its sophomore attempt focuses on the vengeful machinations of the Galavan siblings, Theo (James Frain, “True Detective”) and Tabitha (Jessica Lucas, “Evil Dead”), against Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz, “Touch”). Issues like shallow characters continue to prevent several storylines from ever really distinguishing themselves. Theo never rose above his one-track mind for vengeance and became a relatively dull villain, even though Frain embraced the more flamboyant aspect of the show. Another new character, Captain Nathaniel Barnes (Michael Chiklis, “The Shield”), became a traditional incorruptible cop and not much else. Again, the strength of Chiklis’s acting elevated aspects
of the character — but, like so many “Gotham” characters, he remained as flat as the comic pages that “Gotham” draws inspirations. The lack of character development in places is a real shame, considering the incredible amount of depth and development that comprises the extensive Batman mythos on paper and film. Again, a lot of these issues spawn from “Gotham’’ ’s tendency to not commit. Characters always walk a line but hardly ever cross it. They appear to be locked in perilous personal crises until the writers acquiesce and pull them away from the edge. Thankfully, the series at least makes some commitment in its finale with Gordon. “Gotham” has always hinted at Gordon needing to embrace a dark side in order to bring justice to the city he wants to protect. His twisted relationship with Cobblepot has been the main personification of this idea, as the two occasionally trade favors with each. Gordon’s willingness to dirty his hands contrasts with “Gotham” ’s earlier episodes when the show always stopped him from going too far instead of actually testing the metal of its usually righteous protagonist. This time, “Gotham” ensures that Gordon will go all the way to stop Galavan. “You keep trying to kill yourself,” says Gordon’s girlfriend Leslie Thompkins (Morena Baccarin, “Homeland”) as he prepares to join his few allies and Cobblepot’s thugs in an attempt to rescue Bruce. By having Gordon fully enter into an uneasy alliance with the future Penguin, the show finally puts Gordon at risk of losing his moral responsibility — something that becomes all too apparent in the episode’s final minutes. “Gotham” still has some major problems, from characterization to absurd plot movements, but at least the ship has righted itself to a degree. The after-credits teaser again displays concerns about the shows ability to commit to major moves, including character deaths, but only time will tell if “Gotham” is on the right course or steering straight into an iceberg.
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Tuesday, December 8, 2015 — 7
A look back at Michigan’s ‘M’ faces test at SMU milestone win in 2001
FIELD HOCKEY
By LEV FACHER Managing Editor
By BOB HUNT Daily Sports Alumnus
Editor’s Note: In honor of the 150th year of Michigan athletics, the Daily looks back at what it was like to cover the first women’s team national championship in Michigan history. Bob Hunt, a Daily sports writer from 2001 to 2005, recalls his experience documenting a major milestone in Michigan sports. When I was just a freshman living in Alice Lloyd Hall in the fall of 2001, one of the things that amazed me the most about the University of Michigan was the passion for success its people have in literally everything it does. Things that I didn’t know existed before I got there — such as solar car racing or Indian dance festivals — have entire communities of people within the University working to be the best at an incredibly diverse set of pursuits. While it may sound hokey at best or arrogant at worst to outsiders, students and faculty at Michigan really believe they are working to be “Leaders and Best.” So when Michigan won the 2001 NCAA Field Hockey Championship, giving the University its first national title in a women’s sport, the feeling on campus was more of surprise than anything else. There was surprise that, given all of the University’s athletic success, this was something that had never happened before. Having written a little in high school and looking for ways to get involved on campus, I went into the Student Publications Building on Maynard Street and joined the Daily’s sports staff during my first week in Ann Arbor. I had written
a few cross country articles when the editors said they needed someone to help with field hockey. However, other than seeing the goofy-looking sticks around high school, I knew close to nothing about the sport. Little did I know I would witness history in my first semester on campus. At the time, a title run would have also been a surprise to anyone outside the program. Despite the fact that the Wolverines had made the national championship game two years prior, they had lost three of their last seven games going into the NCAA Tournament. When Michigan lost 3-0 to Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament, things were looking bleak. However, even from the limited time I had spent with the team, I could tell that the Wolverines still had confidence in themselves and liked playing with each other. Also, due to various NCAA rules, Michigan got to host an NCAA regional despite not being a top seed. The Wolverines began the tournament in Ann Arbor, facing North Carolina, which had made the Final Four in 12 of the previous 15 years. Michigan upset North Carolina and then beat Michigan State in overtime (a game in which the Spartans appeared to take the lead but had a goal overturned). All of a sudden, the team was headed to Kent, Ohio for the NCAA Final Four. The Wolverines continued that momentum into a
championship game against topranked Maryland. Despite not having the run of play for most of the game, Michigan stunned the crowd by taking a 2-0 lead early in the second half and never looked back. What seemed unlikely just a couple weeks earlier was now reality. While everyone around the team and at the Daily at the time knew history had just been made, as much emphasis as possible was put forth by the department on declaring it a great achievement for the University, women or men. Michigan had already seen a great deal of recent success in softball and women’s gymnastics, which is why it was such a surprise around campus that this was the first women’s title. From the team’s perspective, however, they were excited to represent the school, sports or otherwise. For me, it started a four-year journey working at the Daily, which ended up being one of the best jobs I’ll ever have. I later went on to cover a hockey Frozen Four, a men’s basketball NIT Championship and the Rose Bowl. Even though I left writing after school, I made many friendships I still maintain today. For that, I guess I have to thank, in part, field hockey coach Marcia Pankratz and her team for that sunny Sunday afternoon in Ohio back in 2001. However, I like to look back on it as just another great event to happen to a pretty great University.
I would witness history in my first semester on campus.
After Tuesday, the Michigan men’s basketball team will have played seven games in 19 days: Two in Ann Arbor, one in North Carolina, Michigan one in Texas at SMU and three in the Matchup: Bahamas. Michigan 6-2; The SMU 6-0 Wolverines (6-2) are When: Tuesday 9 P.M. suffering from a pair Where: Moody of backcourt Coliseum health issues TV/Radio: already, but ESPN2 they’ll soon get the chance for some rest and recuperation with a four-game home stand against so-called “guarantee” opponents like Delaware State and Bryant. One non-conference obstacle remains, however, before that stretch: Tuesday’s trip to No. 19 Southern Methodist. The Mustangs have charged out to a 6-0 start despite the NCAA’s September announcement that head coach Larry Brown was suspended nine games for a lack of program control, among other reasons. The sanctions stem from violations related to academic fraud and “unethical conduct” and also preclude SMU from participation in the 2016 postseason. Nonetheless, five Mustangs are averaging double-figure scoring totals, and as has been the case in each of Michigan’s losses this year, they pose a major threat size-wise on the glass. Beilein acknowledged Monday that his big men will once again have their hands full in terms of rebounding. In particular, he marveled at SMU’s Jordan Tolbert, who is averaging eight rebounds despite having started just two games.
Five Things We Learned By TED JANES Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan women’s basketball team lost its first game of the season Sunday, failing to achieve what would have been a historic 8-0 start. The Wolverines’ record fell to 7-1 after they played outside of Michigan for the first time this year. It never really looked like the Wolverines had a chance to redeem last year’s loss to Princeton. Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said the team was playing “catch up” from the opening tip. Despite another scoring frenzy from sophomore guard Katelynn Flaherty, the Wolverines couldn’t come out with a win. Here are five things we learned from Michigan’s first loss of the season.
The rebounding gap left by three former seniors, Cyesha Goree, Shannon Smith and Nicole Elmblad, appeared too big to make up at the start of the season. The trio accounted for nearly 60 percent of the Wolverines’ total rebounds last
Freshman guard Boogie Brozoski is playing 17.3 minutes per game, one of three freshmen to earn significant action.
year. But with the addition of freshman center Hallie Thome, the entire team is stepping up on the glass. Thome, at 6-foot-5, isn’t even leading the team in rebounds. Sophomore forward Jillian Dunston has 54, and four other players average at least four per game. Unlike last year, the team hasn’t had to rely on a “Big Three” to get the majority of the rebounds. Michigan didn’t beat Princeton in most categories, but it did come out on top in the rebounding department, 35-31. 3. Thome’s height isn’t as dominant as it looks. As one of the tallest centers in women’s basketball, Thome is going to stand out. Up until Sunday, nobody could find an answer for Michigan’s newest weapon. All Thome had to do to lead the country in field-goal percentage through her first six college games was put her hands up where no one else could reach, catch, make a post move and finish. Princeton’s frontcourt,
though, was made up of two seniors: Annie Tarakchian and Alex Wheatley. The pair held Thome to just three points, her worst performance yet. Wheatley and Tarakchian were both stronger than Thome, and physicality was the difference maker. There won’t be many opponents, even in the Big Ten season, that can match Thome’s height, but if they can play more physically, they might be able to win the post battle. 4. Michigan is better than last year. It’s hard to guess how much better the 2015-16 team is, but the 17-point loss to the Tigers was far better than the year before. In 2014, Princeton and Pittsburgh beat Michigan by 30 and 19, respectively. The Wolverines beat Pitt by 37 on Thursday. The aforementioned graduated seniors left plenty of gaps, but new faces are making big improvements. Dunston and Thompson are both taking on bigger roles. Three different
freshmen — Thome, Brozoski and guard Nicole Munger — are all getting significant minutes, surprising Barnes Arico with their contributions. 5. BOLD PREDICTION: Flaherty will set Michigan’s single-season scoring record. The Wolverines’ star player is averaging 21.3 points per game through the opening eight games of the season. Flaherty set her career high with 34 against USC Upstate, and she missed that tally by only one against Princeton. The sophomore already holds the No. 9 spot on the list with 499 in her freshman year, and she’s on pace to beat that by a landslide. Odds are Flaherty won’t be tossing up too many 30-point outings once the Big Ten season begins, but she has already scored 170 points this year. Jennifer Smith set the record of 659 points in the 2003-04 season. There are 21 games left in the regular season, and if Flaherty keeps it up, she won’t be too far from it.
can’t do it, he’s got to come out. “Let’s see what it is,” Beilein said. “It’s a very tender area of your body, and you also want to make sure that you don’t hurt him for down the road. An ankle injury will plague you all year long if you don’t allow it to heal.” On paper, the SMU matchup looks to be among the Wolverines’ three most important nonconference games, alongside their Battle 4 Atlantis matchup against then-No. 19 Connecticut and their Nov. 20 loss to Xavier, which now clocks in at No. 10 in the AP Top 25. While SMU is undefeated, some have questioned the quality of its opposition so far — the Mustangs’ best win is likely an 85-70 victory at Stanford on Nov. 19. And while Michigan’s Aubrey Dawkins has yet ask his father, Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins, for a scouting report, he knows there’s still time. “That’s a good idea,” Aubrey Dawkins said. “I should.”
ICE HOCKEY
Boo Nieves dishes on Berenson, more Daily Sports Editor
RITA MORRIS/Daily
2. … But rebounds have not been.
“Four offensive rebounds a game,” Beilein said. “I’ve never seen that.” Beilein has, however, seen the Mustangs — they beat Michigan last year at Crisler Center to cap the Wolverines’ four-game December losing streak. The 62-51 loss came on the heels of losses to New Jersey Institute of Technology and Eastern Michigan, and a 27-point blowout at then-No. 3 Arizona. This time, Michigan enters the game coming off four consecutive wins but will have to overcome the absence of junior guard Derrick Walton Jr. to keep the streak alive. Walton’s status remains questionable with what Beilein referred to as a lateral ankle sprain, which he sustained last week in the first half of Michigan’s 66-59 win at North Carolina State. “We tried a little bit (Sunday),” Beilein said. “He wasn’t able to go. … If he does try and play and he
By JASON RUBINSTEIN
1. Turnovers are a problem… Barnes Arico mentioned how the team looked “really young” against Princeton, referencing the 22 turnovers. Freshman guard Boogie Brozoski and Flaherty share the team lead 21 giveaways each. Brozoski had just three on Sunday, but each of them seemed unnecessary. She is known to thread the needle, making flashy, artful assists that find teammates all around the court, but she may have tried to do that a little too much this weekend. Along with Brozoski, junior guard Siera Thompson had a team-high five turnovers. Every Wolverine besides senior forward Kelsey Mitchell, who played for just five minutes, registered at least one turnover. Princeton scored 19 points off them.
RUBY WALLAU/Daily
Aubrey Dawkins scored 16 points in 20 minutes against Houston Baptist.
During the 2011-12 hockey season, the Daily hockey beat ran a video series called “Quick Hits.” The videos comprised of one-onone interviews with the hockey players, which included talking about anything and everything. At the urging of the old beat writers, the Daily is bringing back Quick Hits — this time in written form. For the first edition, the Daily sat down with senior forward Boo Nieves, who has three goals and six assists this season, to discuss his year, Michigan coach Red Berenson, E. coli and more. TMD: How would you evaluate your season thus far? Nieves: It got off to a good start and then it got frustrating with that concussion. I think I’ve come back a bit stronger, and I’m slowly getting back to my game. TMD: Do you think this is an NCAA Tournament team? Nieves: Absolutely. I think this past weekend, we showed resilience. Yeah, we let up a lot of goals, but I think the fact that we can comeback both games, both nights, and have contributions from all different lines and players was definitely a sign of an NCAA team. TMD: What is your most memorable interaction with Red Berenson? Nieves: Probably when we were doing double-downs (conditioning) and (junior defenseman) Michael Downing started taking pucks out of the net so we could do 3-on-1s instead of doing conditioning skating. I’ve never seen Red smile so much in my entire life. TMD: What was the worst part of living with (senior forward) Justin Selman in the dorms?
Nieves: He never does anything he doesn’t want to do. Like if he doesn’t want to clean up, he just doesn’t do it. If he doesn’t want to go grab the laundry, he just doesn’t do it. He’s very lazy. TMD: Describe (junior forward) Max Shuart. Nieves: Shuart. He’s a character. He’ll make you laugh even when you’re in a bad mood. He can always put a smile on your face. He’s the jokester on the team and keeps everyone’s spirits high. TMD: Who’d win a fight: Shuart or Downing? Nieves: Prison rules? Downing. In a civilized fight, probably Shuart. TMD: Who has the strangest pregame routine? Nieves: Steve Racine or Nolan De Jong. They are here so early and just doing a little bit of everything. TMD: You’re a music major. Who is the best singer on the team? Nieves: Cooper Marody. No question. TMD: How annoying is (junior forward) JT Compher to practice against? Nieves: Oh my God (Laughs). TMD: What’s your go-to meal in Ann Arbor? Nieves: Chipotle. TMD: Even with E. coli? Nieves: Yeah, I probably shouldn’t have said that. Probably Babo then. TMD: Apparently you used to eat Zebra cakes, Swiss rolls and drink Arnold Palmer before games. What is that about? Nieves: My old roommate Ryan Rosenthal is actually buddies with (Selman) from home, and he and I had a ritual before games (at Prep School). We did that one game, and it took off from there so we had to keep doing it. TMD: That can’t be healthy… Nieves: It was usually the night before games (laughs).
“I’ve come back a bit stronger.”
Sports
8 — Tuesday, December 8, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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Junior tight end Jake Butt said Monday that he is split on his decision between leaving for the NFL Draft and returning for his senior season at Michigan.
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Jehu Chesson was named Michigan’s MVP by his team on Monday night.
Butt torn on draft plans Chesson earns By MAX COHEN Managing Sports Editor
Michigan junior tight end Jake Butt said Monday that he’s considering foregoing his senior season and entering the NFL Draft. Butt, who was named the Big Ten Tight of the Year last week, said his decision will come in the near future, likely “in the next week or so.” As of now, Butt is 50-50 on his decision. He recently made a pros and cons list with his father, he said, and staying at Michigan and going to the NFL had arguments on each side. Before he makes up his mind, Butt plans to seek advice from Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh. Butt plans to rely heavily on Harbaugh and the rest of Michigan’s coaching
staff in regard to this upcoming decision because of the extensive NFL experience many of the Wolverines’ coaches have. “Really, it’s going to come down to … a lot of it’s going to be based on what Coach Harbaugh says,” Butt said. There are two main reasons Butt is considering leaving early. The first is that it’s possible that his NFL stock will never be higher. The second is risk of injury. Butt has had knee operations in the past, including one for an anterior cruciate ligament tear that affected him for much of the 2014 season. Butt said if he didn’t believe he would be selected in the first three rounds of the draft, he would definitely come back to Michigan. So far, he has been hearing that he would be selected within that range after a junior
campaign in which he caught 48 passes for 620 yards. Still, the decision isn’t an easy one. Another year with the Wolverines could further establish Butt as one of the greatest tight ends in program history, and playing for Harbaugh — with his NFL pedigree and penchant for developing tight ends — could help Butt improve even more. “Coming back, there’s so many reasons why I want to come back: To try and break some of these tight end records, I love my roommates, my teammates, we haven’t accomplished what I came here for as a team to do,” Butt said. “That’s beat Michigan State, beat Ohio State, win a Big Ten championship.” Butt has spoken to former Michigan teammates Jake Ryan,
Devin Funchess and Taylor Lewan about their experiences in the NFL. He knows that the NFL is a different world, one in which the entirety of your focus is on football. He compared it to Michigan’s intense fall camp this season, but he noted with a grin that the football this time around would come with a “nice paycheck.” Butt had more receptions this season than he previously had in the rest of his Michigan career combined. Coming off a 2014 season in which he caught 21 passes for 211 yards, Butt never imagined that a breakout year could lead to this dilemma. “It’s still all crazy to me that I even have to make this decision,” Butt said. “At the beginning of the year, it wasn’t even in my vision or thoughts.”
Wolverines reflect on tough finale ahead of Citrus Bowl Glasgow, Bolden still not over season-ending loss to Ohio State By MAX BULTMAN Daily Sports Editor
It’s been over a week since the Michigan football team ended its regular season on the sourest possible note. And while the Wolverines have had time for their bodies to recover, they still haven’t fully healed from the 42-13 beating Ohio State handed them. There is a silver lining: No. 14 Michigan was invited to play Florida in the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day. But in advance of the bowl game, senior linebacker Joe Bolden opened up about the emotions surrounding their regular-season-ending loss. “To be 100 percent honest, I’m not over either one of the losses (to Michigan State or Ohio State),” Bolden said. “It’s just crazy to think about. I guess in a way, both us and Ohio State were that close to finishing Michigan State, and it’s not something that we’re happy about. Or, at least I can speak for myself, it’s not something I’m happy about. “I think it’s a good opportunity that we have with the Citrus Bowl, and with a solid opponent in Florida to end the season on a good note and get these guys and get everybody rolling into next year.” After hearing Bolden’s comments, fifth-year senior center Graham Glasgow leaned forward and cosigned his statement. “For the record, I am also not happy about those two losses,” he said. The Buckeyes scored more points on the Wolverines than any other team this season — 42,
MVP accolade at annual bust Harbaugh excited about team’s progress in his first season By ZACH SHAW Daily Sports Editor
LIVONIA, Mich. — Jehu Chesson said Monday afternoon that he tends to shy away from individual attention, but if the 95th annual Michigan Football Bust is any indication, it isn’t working. In a celebration of the No. 14 Michigan football team’s 9-3 season, the redshirt junior wide receiver was named the Bo Schembechler team MVP for the season. “I’ve been humbled and blessed to be around great people on a daily basis,” Chesson said. “I’ve learned so much, and it’s a huge part of why I’m here today.” In addition to Chesson, senior tight end Michael Jocz was awarded the Dr. Arthur D. Robinson Scholarship Award for top student-athlete. Jocz boasts a 3.97 grade-point average in mechanical engineering — the highest on the team. Senior linebacker Desmond Morgan won the Roger Zatkoff Award as the team’s top linebacker, while fellow senior linebacker Joe Bolden won the Robert P. Ufer Bequest for most outstanding love and enthusiasm for Michigan. Redshirt juniors Chris Wormley and Ryan Glasgow split the Dick Katcher Award for most outstanding defensive linemen, while fifth-year senior offensive lineman Graham Glasgow won the Hugh R. Rader Memorial Award for the team’s best lineman. Chesson’s player-selected honor comes after a season in which he led the team with 801 yards from scrimmage and 11 total touchdowns. His biggest performance came against Indiana on Nov. 14, when he tied a school record with four touchdowns and added 207 receiving yards. Last week, he was named first-team All-Big Ten in the coaches’ vote. Though it was a career season, Chesson remains focused on his main goal: team success. “When you ask me about individual goals, I don’t really have a lot of individual goals,” Chesson said Monday afternoon. “The team is what really matters more. … With that kind of
mentality, I think that really freed up a lot of opportunities for me to run down on kickoff, to get there on punt return and try to pin a guy in, get good blocks for Jabrill so he can make something happen.” When asked earlier in the day who he voted for, Chesson didn’t hesitate to name the player who fed him the ball all season — fifth-year senior quarterback Jake Rudock. “It’s really important to really acknowledge those who support you, who are in your corner,” Chesson said. “Without a quarterback — I mean, it sounds so cliché, but literally — without the decisions Jake makes throughout the game to throw me the ball, the O-line holding it up, or the defense giving them a three-and-out, making them punt, and allowing me and the offense to come out on the field and basically increase our stats, if you will. “It’s all made possible by your teammates and your coaches, so I’m really thankful for them.” Prior to the awards, the bust celebrated not only the 2015 team but also the 30th anniversary of the 1985 team that finished 10-1-1 and No. 2 in the final polls — the highest in former Michigan coach Bo Schembechler’s 21 seasons at Michigan. More than 30 members of that team were in attendance, including current Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, who was the 1985 team’s quarterback. Though many consider that team to be one of the best in modern Michigan history, Harbaugh elected to nominate this year’s team into the conversation, factoring in the year-to-year improvement over total wins. “The train was moving in the wrong direction, and this team moved it around on the tracks. That’s not easy to do,” Harbaugh said. “(The team) gave it everything they had. Not a single complaint. I feel like we got our dignity back.” Among those in agreement was Harbaugh’s current boss, interim Athletic Director Jim Hackett. Speaking just over 13 months after taking the position and a week after announcing he would be resigning, Hackett noted that at the bust last season, he wanted to be able to answer one question: “Did we get better?” “I didn’t need a year to realize I would feel better about this team,” Hackett said. “I knew we got better the day I hired (Harbaugh).”
“I’ve learned so much, and it’s a huge part of why I’m here today.”
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Fifth-year senior Graham Glasgow recalled his disappointment from Michigan’s loss to Ohio State on Nov. 28.
one more than Indiana’s 41 in a double-overtime Michigan win — and likely kept Michigan from making a New Year’s Six bowl in Jim Harbaugh’s first season as coach. And other than the 29-point blowout, the Wolverines were in both of their other losses this season. They lost by seven at Utah in Week 1, and were one miraculous fumbled punt away from beating Michigan State. “I think, really, the common factor when you look at all three of our losses this year is not tackling,” Bolden said. That was certainly the case against the Buckeyes, as J.T. Barrett and Ezekiel Elliott perfectly executed the readoption offense. The game turned
into a blowout in the second half, making Michigan’s final loss of the season the most excruciating. It was the last game the Wolverines’ seniors played at Michigan Stadium. “It was pretty emotional for me, just like seeing my teammates in (Michigan Stadium) for the last time, and being with Kyle and the O-line, we have our own little nook in the locker room where we all sit together,” Glasgow said. “It was pretty emotional. Never want to go out like that, and that probably added to it, and it is something that we’re trying to get over, something that I’m trying to get over by winning the last game.” Added Bolden: “It’s hard to describe, especially the way it
“It was pretty emotional. Never want to go out like that.”
happened. … We got our butts kicked — there’s no ifs, ands or buts about it. And it’s just hard to fathom, you come in, and you remember the exact time you first put the uniform on, and you button your chinstrap on the helmet, and it’s just hard to fathom that that was the last game here in front of the home fans that we love so dearly.” But while it’s understandable that Glasgow, Bolden and every other Wolverine senior would be torn up after losing to Ohio State for the fourth consecutive year, they were also able to keep a sense of perspective about the direction of the program under coach Jim Harbaugh. “I think that this program is rising very quickly, and I think that it could (compete for a Big Ten title) as soon as next year,” Glasgow said. “I think that the guys that we’re losing are going to be replaced by more than capable and able guys, and talented guys, and I think that they’ll be a good team next year.”