ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Friday, March 31, 2017
Ann Arbor, Michigan
michigandaily.com
GOVERNMENT
Activists aim to promote unity despite differences Students across the political sphere hope to create a more inclusive campus CARLY RYAN
Daily Staff Reporter EMMA RICHTER/Daily
Bentley Historical Library Director Terrence J. McDonald speaks on the importance of University history at the unveiling of the Michigan Daily archive in the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library on Thursday.
Bentley Historical Library unveils digital Michigan Daily archive
New collection compiles over 200,000 pages, 316 volumes spanning 125 years ALEXA ST. JOHN
Managing News Editor
Twelve decades of student reporting, 316 volumes of breaking coverage and 200,000 pages of University of Michigan news were revealed Thursday night as the Bentley Historical Library unveiled 125 years’ worth of digitized archives of The Michigan Daily. The Daily has been a facet on campus since 1890 and has covered both national and local
issues such as politics, social movements, higher education and changing demographics of the University. The event was attended by student journalists, alumni and prominent University leaders — including University President Mark Schlissel and James and Anne Duderstadt, former University president and vice president, respectively. Prior to the digitization, previous issues of the Daily could only be viewed in person at the Bentley or at the Student Publications
Building, where only bound paper copies are available. Now, however, the new database, consisting of digital preservation and online infrastructure of the Daily from 1890 to 2014, eliminates the need to view physical copies and makes all the Daily’s content searchable and browsable for alumni, researchers and historians alike. The financial support of the Kemp Family Foundation is largely responsible for the digitization.
John B. Kemp, who attended the University as both an undergraduate and law student in the ’60s, has vast familial roots at the University and wanted to be able to view his time at the University through digital records of the Daily. The Bentley has archived similarly pertinent materials, particularly historical documents, student records, maps and University intercollegiate athletics documentation. See BENTLEY, Page 3
Public Health student Vikrant Garg, co-organizer of activist group Students4Justice, said he never really felt safe in the Michigan Union until the activist group posed its sit-in there in February. “It really allowed me to imagine what an activist center that centered people of color and marginalized students could look like,” he said. In a different sphere of activism, LSA sophomore Amanda Delekta, the author of the #NotMyCampus petition that received over 300 signatures, penned the letter to alert the University of Michigan that many conservative students didn’t feel at home or included in the political conversation. “I think #NotMyCampus accomplished its main purpose in first identifying there is a significant conservative population on campus and then creating a platform for
conservative students to speak out on following the election,” she said. Though Delekta and Garg differ in their methods of activism, both are examples of students involved with the multiple protests, sit-ins and petitions that cropped up following the incendiary presidential election. Though months have passed since the election, in terms of activism, neither student feels like their job is done. “I think since the election, the University has tried to create forums for students to participate in,” Delekta said. “However, I still think there is a long way to go before we reach a place where students of all ideologies are able to respect one another.” Students4Justice aims to combat oppression and injustice on campus. After the election, the club hosted multiple sit-ins and outlined a list of demands calling for the University to respond to bias incidents on See ACTIVISTS, Page 3
SpringFest fashion show celebrates State house City group set to vote history of art for bicentennial year designated
GOVERNMENT
ANN ARBOR
on business tax relief
The event featured clothing styles from recent decades, centered on vintage
“Good jobs for Michigan” bill passes state senate by 32 - 5 vote on Wednesday
More than 150 students and faculty gathered at the University of Michigan Museum of Art on Thursday evening to attend “The Art of Fashion,” a bicentennial birthday bash event, which featured an exposition displaying fashion throughout recent decades, with a focus on vintage clothing. This event was co-hosted by campus organizations MUSIC Matters, EnspiRED, NOiR Runway Fashion, Bronze Elegance and SHEI Magazine. This is the third annual SpringFest fashion show and the first collective event between these prominent fashion organizations on campus. Ross sophomore Ayla Ahmed, a co-organizer of the event and SpingFest senior producer, introduced the exhibition and spoke about the origins of the show. “It was originally devised by MUSIC Matters as a means to unite the fashion community on campus,” she said. The show featured twenty models half from Bronze Elegance and half from NOiR Runway Fashion. Each of the four themes featured five models. The first part of the show launched into an upbeat Renaissance-inspired theme. Following, an Asian-fusion theme was introduced. This theme inspired by Asian-inspired tradition.
ANDREW HIYAMA Daily Staff Reporter
A pair of bills creating new tax incentives for businesses employing Michigan residents is moving to the Michigan House of Representatives after the state Senate passed it by a 32-5 vote Wednesday. Under the bills, nicknamed the “Good Jobs for Michigan” program, businesses with at least 250 new employees making at least 125 percent of the annual average wage for their region would be able to keep up to 100 percent of the income taxes taken out of their employees’ paychecks for 10 years. Businesses with at least 500 new employees making at least 100 percent of the average wage would receive up to a 50 percent abatement lasting five years. The state is divided into 10 prosperity regions, for which the average wage is calculated independently, but the average salary for the state as a whole is about $45,000. Specifically, the bills authorize the payment of withholding tax capture See TAX, Page 3
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KATHERINA SOURINE Daily Staff Reporter
The third theme was represented by exclusively male models, displaying themes of the present, taking on a more modern and simplistic approach. Concluding the exhibition was the finale, “Visions of the Future.” Aaron Pelo, editor-in-chief of SHEI Magazine, expressed his enthusiasm for working collaboratively with the UMMA and the other fashion organizations. “The other fashion organizations are the best of the
best,” he said. “It’s absolutely inspiring to be in their company because they all run such good shows. Working with the UMMA was such a real pleasure for me, and I think for everybody, just because they’re such visionaries here. I think the final show was really a knockout.” Ahmed was also impressed by the final product. “The SpringFest fashion show in the past has always been held in the Diag,” she said. “But this year UMMA approached us
about partnering with them, and I think this has been immensely successful, having it in this artistic space, and being able to have the clothes influenced by the artwork around us.” LSA junior Yiwen Lin said this was her second year attending the fashion show, and she was impressed by the change in scenery. “In the museum, we have a different context,” she said. “It’s really cool. It works very well.”
KEVIN ZHENG/Daily
LSA student Yara Gayar walks down the runway in a fashion show hosted by EnspiRED, NOiR Runway Fashion, Bronze Elegance and SHEI Magazine at the UMMA on Thursday.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 57 ©2017 The Michigan Daily
by SPLC as hate group
Deir Yassin Remembered cited for Holocaust denial, weekly synogogue protests ANDREW HIYAMA Daily Staff Reporter
Deir Yassin Remembered, a local group famous for its weekly protests outside Temple Beth Israel in Ann Arbor, has been placed on a list of hate groups compiled by the Southern Poverty Law Center under the subcategory of Holocaust denial. According to the Washtenaw Jewish News, Deir Yassin Remembered is “the only sustained action targeting a Jewish house of worship anywhere in the United States.” Mark Potok, editor-inchief of the SPLC’s quarterly journal, explained the addition in a recent interview on Michigan Radio, stating the group defended Nazism. “We list them because over the years they have come to more and more explicitly embrace real-life Holocaust denial,” he said. “The kind of Holocaust denial that these people practice is essentially a defense of Germany and National Socialism.” The group’s name references See GROUP, Page 3
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 ARTS......................6
SUDOKU.....................2 CLASSIFIEDS...............6 SPORTS....................7
News
2 — Friday, March 31, 2017
ON THE DAILY: DARKNET TAKES .EDU More than 122,000 University of Michigan email “.edu” addresses are available for sale on the internet, according to a report from Digital Citizens Alliance, a nonprofit organization focused on internet safety, as reported by the Detroit Free Press. These addresses are harvested by hackers and put up for sale on the Dark Web, also referred to as the darknet, which is an internet network that can only be accessed with certain software or connections where illegal goods can be peddled, the Free Press reported. Brian Dunn, managing partner of ID Agent, the company that gathered the data for the report, said the hacked addresses could potentially be used to steal peoples’ identities or trick others into giving up information, the Free Press reported. “What is more trusted than an e-mail coming from a ‘.edu’ address?” Dunn said. “They can be used to launch malware or Trojan horse attacks, because people might be more willing to click on an e-mail coming from an ‘.edu’ e-mail address, thinking it’s real.” These Trojan horse attacks function by tricking users into launching a program, then unleashing a virus onto a computer using the intent to steal further information. In the report, the University topped the list of schools by number of email accounts available for sale on the darknet, while Michigan State University was fourth on the list with about 116,000 “.edu” addresses available. - CALEB CHADWELL
M A K I N G PA P E R
Food Truck Friday
WHAT: This three-day conference will focus on empowering community members and students to promote peace and social justice. Student registration is $35. WHO: Rotaract Club at the University of Michigan WHEN: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. WHERE: Michigan League
WHAT: Food trucks from Bigalora Cucina, Cool Jacks and Shimmy Shack will be on North Campus selling food to students to celebrate the end of the school week. WHO: Michigan Dining WHEN: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. WHERE: North Campus, Gerstacker Grove
Economics at Work Lecture WHAT: University alum Gail R. Wilensky will talk about her career experiences, including time spent as a White House senior adviser to President George H.W. Bush on health and welfare issues. WHO: Department of Economics WHEN: 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. WHERE: Lorch Hall, Room 140
Playing at Detroit on Saturday for the WNIT championship and we want to see you there in your MAIZE! #goblue Michigan Alumni @michiganalumni
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily Papermaker Radha Pandey demonstrates the traditional techniques of paper-making from India at Hatcher on Thursday.
Detroit Historical Society Presentation
WHAT: This workshop will teach attendees about protecting personal information and email from internet scams and identity theft. WHO: Information and Technology Services WHEN: 11 a.m. to Noon WHERE: Michigan Union, Room G312
WHAT: Tobi Voigt, from the Detroit Historical Society, will present on a project to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the unrest in the city in July 1967. WHO: Museum Studies Program WHEN: Noon to 1 p.m. WHERE: UMMA, Room 125
Fun Friday Night
Refugee Crisis Lecture
Symphony Band Concert
WHAT: The Museum of Natural History will have extended hours until 8 p.m. and will offer dinosaur tours and Planetarium shows. WHO: Museum of Natural History WHEN: 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. WHERE: Ruthven Museums Building
WHAT: Students Organize for Syria will host Turkish Consul General Umut Acar and the Honorary Consul General Nurten Ural for a speech about Turkey’s role in the refugee crisis. WHO: International Institute WHEN: 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. WHERE: Mason Hall, Room 3437
WHAT: To celebrate the University’s bicentennial, the Symphony Band will perform works of music that have greatly influenced its history. WHO: School of Music, Theatre & Dance WHEN: 8 p.m. WHERE: Hill Auditorium
Students are annoyed by the various construction projects around campus that obstruct their walks to class — many of which will not be completed in time for current University of Michigan students to take advantage of them. Some recent changes to the campus landscape that have been completed are the new Biological Science Building, opening in summer 2018, which will house the University’s Museum of Natural History and Weiser Hall, which will open this summer and will house the Department of Astronomy and LSA’s International Institute. LSA junior Claire Bartosic shared how the closing of the Sudoku Syndication sidewalks near Weiser Hall continues to make an impact on
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12 decades of the Michigan daily have been digitized & recorded in a searchable database courtesy of @umichbentley emily @stringham_
College is having peanut butter toast and a rice krispie treat for dinner because nothing in the dining hall sounds good
EMMA KINERY HUSSEIN HAKIM of funding of the construction Editor in Chief Business Manager projects will come from the 734-418-4115 ext. 1251 734-418-4115 ext. 1241 Student Life Student Fee paid kineryem@michigandaily.com hjhakim@michigandaily.com with student tuition. Of the student tuition money, a portion will go toward NEWS TIPS ARTS SECTION PHOTOGRAPHY SECTION renovations of the Michigan news@michigandaily.com arts@michigandaily.com photo@michigandaily.com Union and the North Campus LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SPORTS SECTION NEWSROOM Recreation Building. Some new tothedaily@michigandaily.com sports@michigandaily.com 734-418-4115 opt. 3 features for the Union include EDITORIAL PAGE ADVERTISING CORRECTIONS the enclosure of the courtyard opinion@michigandaily.com dailydisplay@gmail.com corrections@michigandaily.com on the main level for year-round usage and a new open-concept layout. The NCRB will gain expanded weight and training rooms. AMELIA CACCHIONE and EMMA RICHTER An estimated total of 934,600 Managing Photo Editors photo@michigandaily.com Senior Photo Editors: Zoey Holmstrom, Evan Aaron, Alexis Rankin gross square feet will be REBECCA LERNER Assistant Photo Editors: Claire Meingast, Emilie Farrugia, Sinduja constructed in new buildings and Managing Editor rebler@michigandaily.com Kilaru, Sam Mousigian, Marina Ross building additions, along with the renovations, an estimated ALEXA ST.JOHN LARA MOEHLMAN Managing News Editor alexastj@michigandaily.com Statement Editor statement@michigandaily.com total of 608,500 square feet Senior News Editors: Riyah Basha, Tim Cohn, Lydia Murray, Deputy Statement Editor: Brian Kuang. Yoshiko Iwai of existing buildings around Nisa Khan, Sophie Sherry campus will be renovated. Assistant News Editors: Kevin Biglin, Caleb Chadwell, Heather Colley, Erin Doherty, Maya Goldman, Matt Harmon, Andrew The sidewalk leading to the http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ DANIELLE JACKSON and TAYLOR GRANDINETTI Hiyama, Jen Meer, Carly Ryan, Kaela Theut Hill Neighborhood from Central Managing Copy Editors copydesk@michigandaily.com Campus, where new Biological Senior Copy Editors: Marisa Frey, Ibrahim Rasheed ANNA POLUMBO-LEVY and REBECCA TARNOPOL Science Building is located, Editorial Page Editors opinioneditors@michigandaily.com DYLAN LAWTON and BOB LESSER would often be closed Senior Opinion Editors: Caitlin Heenan, Jeremy Kaplan, Max Managing Online Editor lesserrc@michigandaily.com Lubell, Madeline Nowicki, Stephanie Trierweiler during the initial stages of Senior Web Developers: Erik Forkin, Jordan Wolff construction and required BETELHEM ASHAME and KEVIN SANTO ABE LOFY students to find alternate — Managing Sports Editors sportseditors@michigandaily.com Managing Video Editor video@michigandaily.com often longer — routes to class. Senior Sports Editors: Laney Byler, Mike Persak, Orion Sang, Senior Video Editors: Gilly Yerrington, Matt Nolan, Aarthi Minh Doan, Chloe Aubuchon, Sylvanna Gross, Chris Crowder “When I lived on the Hill Janakiraman, Emily Wolfe Assistant Sports Editors: Rob Hefter, Max Marcovitch, Avi last year and had to walk Sholkoff, Ethan Wolfe, Matthew Kennedy, Paige Voeffray JASON ROWLAND and ASHLEY TJHUNG through the walkway, I Michigan in Color Editors michiganincolor@michigandaily.com ANAY KATYAL and NATALIE ZAK Senior Michigan in Color Editors: Christian Paneda, Tanya would leave earlier just in Managing Arts Editors arts@michigandaily.com Madhani, Neel Swamy, Adam Brodnax, Areeba Haider, Halimat case the walkway was closed, Olaniyan, Sivanthy Visanthan Senior Arts Editors: Tess Garcia, Dayton Hare, Nabeel which happened like twice,” Chollanpat, Madeline Gaudin, Carly Snider said Bishop. Arts Beat Editors: Caroline Filips, Danielle Yacobson, Danny ELLIE HOMANT Hensel, Erika Shevchek, Matt Gallatin Last year, with the Managing Social Media Editor Senior Social Media Editors: Carolyn Watson, Molly Force construction of the new MICHELLE PHILLIPS and AVA WEINER addition to the Ross School Managing Design Editors design@michigandaily.com of Business, many residents Senior Design Editors: Alex Leav, Carly Berger, Christine Lee of East Quad Residence Hall felt the construction had a SONIA SHEKAR largely negative impact on Digital Marketing Manager their experience. JESSICA STEWART LSA junior Sophia National Accounts Manager EMILY RICHNER Davidson shared how Sales Manager JULIA SELSKY the sheer noise of the Local Accounts Manager ANNA HE construction influenced Special Publications and Events Manager CLAIRE BUTZ her academic and personal Production and Layout Manager experience at the University.
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her walk to class. “On a daily basis, construction can often get in the way of just walking,” Bartosic said. “It’s not as bad now, but last year, when it was all closed off, you couldn’t easily walk.” The renovations at Weiser Hall also put a strain on students who had classes there and needed to get to their next class on time. “Having to walk around the construction was super annoying and almost made me late a couple times,” said LSA sophomore Kate Bishop. Currently, over $986.1 million is planned to be spent among 13 major construction projects currently underway across the campus, not including current projects on the University’s Medical Campus, smaller renovations and recently completed projects. Of the running total, $102.6 million
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The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University OF Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office for $2. Subscriptions for September-April are $225 and year long subscriptions are $250. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and The Associated Collegiate Press.
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TAX From Page 1 revenues from the state to businesses. Withholding tax capture revenues are the income taxes paid by businesses to the government on behalf of the businesses’ employees by taking a portion out of employees’ paychecks. If the business overestimates the amount of this income tax, employees are refunded every year when they file their taxes. Under the bills, the money withheld from employees’ checks would stay with the businesses rather than going to the state. The program is capped at
GROUP From Page 1 the Deir Yassin massacre, a 1948 attack by Zionist military forces on the eponymous Palestinian village that left over 100 people dead in their homes. Henry Herskovitz, a member of the board of directors for Deir Yassin Remembered and later, a self-described “former Jew,” stirred controversy in 2014 when he campaigned for the release of Ernst Zundel from prison, who was sentenced by a German court to five years in prison for inciting racial hatred through literature he published. Zundel, along with co-author Eric Thompson, wrote a book entitled “The Hitler We Loved and Why,” published in 1977. Though Herskovitz himself has not expressed such strong pro-Nazi sentiment, he does question the existence of the Holocaust. In a July 2016 video posted on the Deir Yassin Remembered website, Herskovitz explained his doubts. “Why do I support open debate on the Holocaust?” he asked. “Because I want to
ACTIVISTS From Page 1 campus. Garg said the demands posed by Students4Justice will work as a checklist for what the University needs to fulfill. “We will continue to do everything necessary to fulfill the demands from September, reintroduced during the sit-in,” Garg said. LSA freshman Charde Madoula-Bey, an organizer of a police brutality protest, agreed, saying activism will end when the University makes tangible improvements, not when the activists become tired. “Because of the lack of change, I believe that activism is always needed when the demand for justice is not met, so until there is a change in the social climate towards minority groups on campus, I promote all activism,” she said. While political activism is usually seen in a positive light, especially when dealing with younger generations, LSA freshman Tiana Brandon, finance chair of S4J, said though the organization will be working hard to fulfill its long-term goals, she hopes nothing will warrant a political protest in the future. “I am sure, based on the current behavior already portrayed by the incoming class of 2021 and all of the political turmoil in the country, that something else will happen and a similar protest will take place,” Brandon said. “However, I would like to stay hopeful that an event will not occur that requires such response.” Madoula-Bey agreed and said, though activism is positive, it is also an indication of largescale issues, which she said are becoming more prevalent on campus. “As far as any shift in the political climate, specifically on campus, the climate has become negative,” Medoula-Bey said. “The racism and discrimination has been becoming more blatant since the election. But for minority groups, there has
a maximum value of $250 million, representing at most 15 agreements with a company per year. The five opposing votes in the Senate were all from Republicans. In an interview with the Detroit Free Press, one of them, Sen. Patrick Colbeck (R–Canton), argued the bills would benefit too few people. “This is a case that we need to be pursuing broad-based tax incentives that benefit everybody, not these targeted benefits that benefit 15-some odd companies,” Colbeck said. “I’m tired of the business being prioritized over the best interests of everybody.” In a statement last week, Gov. Rick Snyder was tentatively
The net amount that the state is taking in from businesses is miniscule compared to what people are paying in income tax
know what happened and why it happened. Because I resent manipulation, and I feel manipulated and threatened when decent people like Ernst ... are locked up for expressing what they believe … If I say passenger jets did not bring down the two World Trade Centers, I don’t go to prison. But when I ask for a single wartime photo of a homicidal gas chamber, in Israel and a dozen other countries, I put myself at risk for prison time.” A member of the Beth Israel congregation, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of harassment by Deir Yassin Remembered, said the group’s apparent concern with the Israeli-Palestinian conf lict and Israeli apartheid were superficial. “That is the nominal organization to which they are affiliated, but that is ancillary to their primary motivation,” the member said. “Their primary motivation is a deep anti-Semitism, in the same way as the Ku Klux Klan claims to be defending white rights.” Devin Jones, a representative of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality –– a student organization that opposes the Israeli apartheid, similarly
to DYR -– agreed that DYR’s engagement with the IsraeliPalestinian conf lict was not serious. “Firstly, I think that any group that denies that Holocaust participates in hate speech and contributes to antiSemitism by denying one of the worst genocides in human history,” Jones said. “Thus, if the SPLC found evidence that DYR has denied the Holocaust then their listing as a hate group is justified.” Jones continued to say that DYR’s anti-Semitism did more to hurt the BDS movement than help it. “Any type of racism, including anti-Semitism, is not allowed in the movement. It directly violates the principled approach that BDS takes to end Israeli state racism and apartheid,” he said. “Additionally, many Jews support BDS, including Jewish Voice for Peace, and any anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial that occurs by groups supporting BDS excludes Jews from being able to stand in solidarity with Palestinians and ending Israeli apartheid. Thus, DYR cannot fully support BDS until they renounce antiSemitism and holocaust denial.” The synagogue has asked that people not engage with the picketers.
been a prevailing mood of hope amongst our communities.” As expressed in many of the protests, the current power ratios in Washington, with President Donald Trump in the White House and a conservativecontrolled Congress, can be a major obstacle or cause for discouragement among young activists. However, Engineering senior Keanu Richardson, who organized the protest outside University President Mark Schlissel’s home following the racist and anti-semetic emails sent to students, said now is not the time to give up or ignore the issues. “The change we want to see on campus probably won’t be seen by anyone who’s on campus right now,” Richardson said. “But now’s not the time to get discouraged, but motivated to make sure that this campus is better for future generations.” Richardson added change does not have to come from large-scale protests. He said the personal relationships he has formed have been some of the most conducive to change. “I will say that students need to stop equating people to institutions,” Richardson said. “President Schlissel isn’t a bad guy. He’s very genuine and wants to help, but he also understands the limitations that he has in his role as a leader of an institution. I would say that the same goes for a lot of members of administration.” Moving forward, Richardson said he hopes student activism can be more aware of its context within a nation that is inevitably more diverse than our campus. He said ignorance can be avoided by becoming more “teachable.” “You have people who have convinced themselves that change is happening because of a bubble they created,” Richardson said. “If I unfriend or block everyone who has a different opinion than me, then all I’m going to see are people rallying toward my cause. I’ll convince myself that the world is changing because I’ve severely limited who’s in my world, and now I can only see what I want
to see.” Madoula-Bey, who has planned an April march and speak out against human trafficking, said she doesn’t see student activism waning anytime soon, considering the number of issues — such as climate change and lack of minority voice — she would like to see addressed. Regardless of the purpose or the agitator or even effectiveness, Delekta said the recent student activism is inherently positive, and hopes it continues. “I love to see so many students engaging in their civil freedoms to express their opinions,” Delekta said. “Insofar as protests that do not infringe on the freedoms of others, I think that student protests are an inspiring symbol of the political activism within our generation.” On the other side of the debate, more conservative students participate in forms of activism, despite being an ideological minority on campus. LSA sophomore Ashley Calcagno, who signed the #NotMyCampus petition, explained her perspective of campus as a conservative. “Part of attending the University of Michigan, as a conservative, is understanding that you are entering an environment where the majority of your peers have differing political ideologies,” she said. Calcagno added, while protests often facilitate awareness, they don’t necessarily bring about change. For Calcagno, the role of the University is not to behave as a political actor. “As for the future, I would like to see the University continue to work toward equally including the feelings and emotions of people on both sides of the political spectrum,” she said. Regardless, Calcagna said if need arises, an appropriate response to any bias furthered by the University should be expected.
supportive of the bills. “Both packages are addressing areas that need to be addressed,” he said. “There still may be some issues that can be improved, but I won’t want to get into too many specifics. And I think there’s a need for a tool in the tool box for potentially large manufacturers, particularly where they pay above average wages.” State Rep. Yousef Rabhi (D– Ann Arbor) strongly opposed the bill, states businesses in the state have already been given enough. “The net amount that the state is taking in from businesses is miniscule compared to what people
BENTLEY From Page 1 Terrence McDonald, director of the Bentley, spoke to nearly 100 attendees at the Gerald R. Ford Library on Thursday about the significance of the digital documentation of the Daily. In an interview beforehand, McDonald said the digitization project involved partnerships across multiple units at the University, including the Bentley, the IT department of the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library and the Student Publications. The resulted is an archive that holds huge implications for future understanding of the University. “A great university, to stay great, has to maintain a high level of historical consciousness,” McDonald said. “We have a great history; certain members of our community know about that history, but the world beyond that needs to know more about that.” Though the project was completed last October, the data was originally only released to faculty and students involved in bicentennial-themed courses last December. “The idea of digitizing the Daily was, to begin with, a way of getting the story out; that is, the digital initiative of the Daily is already crafting more scholarship on the history of the University of Michigan in the last three months with its very limited release than we’ve produced than in the previous multiple years,” he said. McDonald, who has 27 students in his bicentennialthemed course “22 Ways to Think about the History of The University of Michigan,” said his students have already made great use of the archives in their research. “The Daily, because of its editorial independence, its daily publication and its journalistic ambition — it’s just a phenomenal newspaper of record of the history of the University,” McDonald said. At the release, McDonald introduced Kemp, who spoke about the significance of the archives with regard to his extensive family background with the University and the memorializing of students’ time. “It’ll allow a lot of people that had great memories at Michigan
Friday, March 31, 2017 — 3 are paying in income tax and sales tax and all that,” he said. “We’ve given them a repeal of the Michigan Business Tax, a reform of the personal property tax, and we’ve given, given, given to businesses and I feel like the whole argument behind this is ridiculous. If businesses can’t create jobs after we’ve given them all this other stuff, then I don’t know what else it’s going to be.” Calling the bill “corporate welfare,” Rabhi argued the money the state would lose from the bill could be more effectively spent by the state itself. “We have to be able to pay our bills as a state,” he said. “That’s $250 million that
to be able to have tangible evidence of that by getting a Michigan Daily article about it,” Kemp said. “Once you get to Michigan, you build memories that will last you a lifetime, you make friends that will last you a lifetime.” Kemp spoke of his foundation’s generosity for the program as a form of repayment for what the University has given his family. “For four generations, our family members have received the many benefits of being University of Michigan people,” Kemp said. “I really don’t want you to remember, I don’t want you to note or recollect everything I said today. I just want you to remember all of those things I described. If you insist on remembering something I said, then let me ask that you remember the last two words: Go Blue.” Afterward, Schlissel spoke, musing on his time as a student journalist at Princeton University. Schlissel credited his experience reporting as preparation for his career as University president. Princeton’s student publication, the Princetonian, recently digitized its archives, something Schlissel noted has allowed him to ref lect on his time as a college student and hopes the Daily’s archives will do the same. “The new archives we’re celebrating tonight represent an important milestone in University of Michigan student journalism,” Schlissel said. “In a place like the U of M, a chronicle of our university is also a record of the larger society. This project exemplifies the culture of innovation that is thriving throughout our university.” Schlissel then performed the first official online search of the Daily’s digital archives, searching for a column written by former Daily columnist Haya Alfarhan titled, “Sit with your differences.” “When privileged individuals are unwilling to interrogate their internalized biases because it makes them uncomfortable, it forces students with marginalized identities to trigger themselves emotionally to make a point,” Alfarhan wrote in the column. “Privileged comfort comes at the cost of triggering marginalized students. Students who trigger themselves to do so because these topics consume their lives
could’ve gone to schools, that could’ve gone to police and fire, that could’ve gone to creating jobs in infrastructure. We can create jobs with that money if we actually invest it in our public infrastructure, which, that’s where the money’s going to be coming out of.” Rowan Conybeare, chair of College Democrats, Public Policy junior said she supports the bill if it follows through. “If the bill delivers on its promise of creating wellpaying jobs, then it should be an effective bipartisan effort,” Conybeare said. President of College Republicans Enrique Zalamea, an LSA junior, did not respond to requests for comment.
and a lack of discourse in class is genuinely painful for them … Yes, professors should be able to facilitate their class discussions better, but it’s also students’ responsibility to engage wholeheartedly.” Following Schlissel’s remarks, a panel spoke, consisting of LSA senior Shoham Geva, editor-inchief of the Daily for the 20162017 academic year, Neil Chase, executive editor of The Mercury News in addition to being chair of the Student Publications Board and Philip Power, founder of The Center for Michigan, a nonprofit organization aimed at curing statewide political culture. The panelists — moderated by McDonald — discussed a number of topics, primarily challenges in the field. Power experienced issues with regard to coverage of the Dean of Women and the Vietnam War; Chase, however, experienced financial barriers when the Daily shifted from being a paid publication to free distribution under his tenure and Geva discussed the challenges she faced with diversity and entering the digital age. Power highlighted the entrepreneurial attempts of nonprofit journalism. “The Daily is what honed our interest and our capacity to take complex things and put them into sensible pros and argumentative politics,” Power said. “There is not enough money in the philanthropic ecosystem to fund and sustain nonprofit journalism in the scope and intensity that we need in order to save this country.” Ultimately, the panelists concluded with a discussion of maintaining public engagement in current political context. Micheline Maynard, Daily alum and Knight-Wallace fellow for 1999-2000, said in an interview after the event the archives serve multiple purposes that will be beneficial to many communities. “This is going to be an incredibly valuable resource for those of us who write books, those of us who are interested in journalism and especially those of us who were born in Ann Arbor, because this is a tool for us to look back on our town,” Maynard said. “It’s very rare to find an archive this complete and that goes back as far as it does.”
Opinion
4 — Friday, March 31, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
MICHELLE PHILLIPS | COLUMN
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com
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ANNA POLUMBO-LEVY
and REBECCA TARNOPOL Editorial Page Editors
REBECCA LERNER Managing Editor
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Carolyn Ayaub Megan Burns Samantha Goldstein Caitlin Heenan Ibrahim Ijaz Jeremy Kaplan
Sarah Khan Anurima Kumar Max Lubell Alexis Megdanoff Madeline Nowicki Anna Polumbo-Levy
Jason Rowland Ali Safawi Sarah Salman Kevin Sweitzer Rebecca Tarnopol Stephanie Trierweiler
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s Editorial Board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
FROM THE DAILY
E
Don’t cut our progress
arlier in March, President Donald Trump’s administration released its “skinny budget” proposal for the 2018 fiscal year, causing a lot of bipartisan controversy. To offset a 10 percent increase in defense spending, raising funds to $52.3 billion, the proposal would significantly reduce funding for the National Institutes of Health and eliminate federal funding for close to 20 agencies, including the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Cuts and closures of these programs will be detrimental, as they have had a profound and lasting impact in every corner of the United States. Extensive cuts in federal funding for — much less the elimination of — these agencies will have overwhelming ramifications for a wide array of educational opportunities at the University of Michigan. Though these proposals are not expected to be passed into law in their original forms, The Michigan Daily’s Editorial Board is deeply concerned by these proposed cuts because of their tangible effects on the University and how they reflect our country’s values. The NIH, NEA and NEH have promoted crucial research in the sciences, as well as scholarship in arts, culture and history and have helped create thousands of jobs in all 435 congressional districts. On our campus, the proposed 20 percent budget cut to the NIH may have the most tangible effects, as the University prides itself as one of the world’s leading public research institutions. The NIH devotes over 80 percent of its resources to provide grants for research projects and programs in the sciences across the country. Many institutions of higher learning, including the University, depend on such grant money to pay for research costs, including graduate student and research assistant salaries and the equipment and materials necessary to conduct research. As a result of such a deep slash, all members of the University community — undergraduate and graduate students as well as staff and faculty — would be deprived of resources central to their abilities to conduct research. NIH funding for grants is already exceptionally competitive, and this cut will make research funding even less accessible. Beyond the negative implications the cuts would have on the University’s scientific research, educational development and rankings, there is no mention of the National Science Foundation in the budget blueprint. The omission of the NSF, a similarly
large federal funder of science research for universities, is another troubling sign for future research funding in Ann Arbor. However, the natural sciences are not the only place where the University and the nation as a whole would feel the negative impacts of the budget. An outright elimination of the two agencies paramount to supporting the arts and humanities across the country, the NEA and NEH, would severely limit programs that promote the arts. With little public funding available elsewhere, programs at the University are largely dependent on grants from these endowments. For the 2016 season, the NEA awarded the University Musical Society with $30,000 to bring performers, residencies and educational programs to Ann Arbor. The money that University programs, like UMS, have received has been instrumental in jump-starting young peoples’ careers in the arts. Public media is also in jeopardy in the proposed budget. Funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which largely funds local radio and TV stations, would be cut to zero. A 2016 nationwide survey showed that PBS and other member organizations were among the most-trusted information sources in the country. In an era of increased distrust of government and news media, it is vital we preserve the organizations we trust the most to deliver us reliable and unbiased information.
The national effect of placing such little value on the arts, humanities and research and so much on defense depicts the United States as a defensive and shortsighted nation. The NEA and NEH, which each received around $148 million last year out of a $4 trillion budget, have brought about lasting celebration and appreciation of the arts. Eliminating these agencies is a shameless ignorance of the invaluable output that has been generated from a merely fractional input. The NIH has been — and continues to be — a chief funder of research and the sciences. Slashing its funding by 20 percent is a surefire way to usher in a “lost generation” of scientific innovation and careers. Investments in these three programs have led to or supported thousands of jobs. The argument that the proposed cuts are necessary in order to finance a massive defense department, one that already spends as much as the next seven countries combined, undermines many of the educational and cultural values upon which the United States has been built. It seems to demonstrate that our values lie more in the military than in the arts and sciences, despite the proven importance of the sciences and the arts. While the budget has yet to pass, these tangible repercussions, both monetarily and culturally, should be very concerning not only to members of the University community, but to the nation as a whole.
CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and op-eds. Letters should be fewer than 300 words while op-eds should be 550 to 850 words. Send the writer’s full name and University affiliation to tothedaily@michigandaily.com. NIA LEE | CONTACT NIA AT LEENIA@UMICH.EDU
Why keep applying ourselves?
T
he day I was accepted to learn they were living my fantasy. to the University of I have noticed recently that friends Michigan, I thought all my age become intimidated and my problems were question their interests solved. I had been as they hear about admitted to a top sophomores getting into public school and different programs. I am knew I would get an constantly wondering education that would if I am making the help me to grow in right decisions or if a productive way. I am missing out on At first, I was not opportunities with sure if I was going applications that may MICHELLE to get in, and I felt come around once an reassured reading academic career. When PHILLIPS my acceptance I see the congratulation letter. I never thought of myself posts on Facebook I can’t help but as the top of my class. I could think, “I am interested in political never get by just by reading over science. Am I going to miss out if the study guide, and I always had I don’t apply to the Ford School of to work hard to do well. That is Public Policy next year?” why when I was accepted to this elite university, and I was in awe and excited for the four years to come. I was excited to take advantage of the opportunities the University had to offer and was eager to jump right in. But after being here for six months, I am surprised at the number of applications I still have to fill out, even after being accepted to and coming to the University. I recently applied to and was accepted to the Sweetland Minor in Writing, which was a program I did not expect to apply for. And I am continuing to struggle with the fact that I have to constantly demonstrate my commitment I also question if I am applying to my studies and activities to the right extracurriculars, because of the number of because this campus offers clubs admissions processes looming ranging from a capella to observing after my initial acceptance. squirrels on campus. Am I missing I dreamed of college as a place out on opportunities by not where, once you are accepted, spending time on going through every educational opportunity is rigorous application processes? at your fingertips. When I came And if I do apply, am I wasting my home for Winter Break to friends time trying when I know there is a who attended other schools and slim chance of acceptance? Similar had already declared their majors to academic programs, will I without applying, I was surprised second guess myself after applying
I dreamed of college as a place where, once you are accepted, every educational opportunity is at your fingertips.
and realizing I have wasted my time and effort? College is supposed to be a time to explore, but the culture created through competitive application processes disincentivizes exploration in favor of choosing one path and sticking with it. I’d love to spend my time exploring all my interests, but it poses a large challenge when I have to apply to and commit myself to few specific things. Yes, it’s true that college isn’t easy and comes with lots of tough decisions. But these decisions should not limit exploration of our interests. College presents us with opportunities to grow, but if our explorations are limited by a yearly deadline, then how will we ever get the chance to explore our every interest? I cannot deny the goals I have in transferring to an upper-level program have made me more invested in that program’s subject. But I worry that this has come at the cost of not pursuing other interests. The constant need to evaluate my choices in what I have decided to dedicate myself to at such an early time in my career is exhausting. There is a time and a place in life to know that my professional decisions will have major consequences for my future, but that time and place is not in my freshman year. My freshman year should have been the time to explore all the opportunities that would feed my many interests. Instead, it was spent constantly looking over my shoulder making sure I was setting myself up for the best opportunities for success, and I shouldn’t have to feel this way.
Michelle Phillips can be reached at mphi@umich.edu.
ELISABETH BRENNEN | OP-ED
I
A simple student request
n November, I was one of over 1,100 seniors who signed a petition expressing disappointment with the spring 2017 commencement plans. Replacing a featured speaker with a video of past speeches seemed underwhelming — especially for the bicentennial event. Following the petition, seniors held out hope that a featured speaker would be announced and the issue would subside. After all, what good reason could the University of Michigan have to deny us something so standard? It doesn’t lack notable alumni to call up, nor does it struggle to bring interesting, relevant speakers to campus. On Monday, I was surprised and upset to read that the University did not invite a featured speaker to our commencement and instead moved forward with a video production. I am proud to be a part of the University’s 200-year history, and many of my memories here have been among the set of traditional Wolverine experiences. However, many more have been the result of my place as a student at this particular time, whether contributing to campus-wide Snapchat stories or marching in November’s post-election walk-outs. A video of current faculty and students reading decadesand centuries-old speeches will not capture these unique
“
experiences and certainly will not honor them. Rather, the video communicates to graduating seniors that our experiences, talents and futures are not worth addressing and that encouraging words from any commencement speech can just as easily apply to any of us. Collectively, perhaps this is true. Maybe we are not so different from classes before or after us, and maybe all commencement speakers speak in clichés that only momentarily inspire. However, many graduates are non-traditional or firstgeneration students, many have accrued thousands of dollars in debt and we have all encountered hardships over the past four years to make it to April 29, 2017, when it would be “worth it.” Our individual paths to graduation have not been as uniform as a video of recycled speeches would suggest, and we deserve even momentary inspiration from someone who understands us in the here and now. What is most angering is that this is just another instance of a much more troublesome habit of University administrators: consistently ignoring or inadequately responding to student concerns and demands. For many of those cases, I can acknowledge — though I disagree with — the University’s stated perspective and hesitance to respond.
There are more serious problems than dissatisfaction with a commencement speaker, or lack thereof, that require reflective, nuanced and longterm responses from the University. Thus, the University’s refusal to address the class of 2017’s concerns about commencement renders me all the more shocked. Confronted with relatively uniform opposition to a noncontroversial University-only event, the University decided (again) to disregard student sentiment. A simple and clearly articulated problem with a tangible solution was ignored in the name of prioritizing the University’s history and reputation above its students. Rather than celebrating the graduates — the express purpose of a commencement ceremony — the University is hijacking our day in order to celebrate itself. Admittedly, this may seem trivial in light of more serious issues affecting students and graduates, but it is nonetheless frustrating that the University ignored student concerns for no reason other than to promote itself. After four years of hard work here, it is disappointing to me and many other seniors that the University would not consider a simple student request.
Elisabeth Brennen is an LSA senior.
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
40 percent of women who receive care at Title X clinics consider it to be their only source of health care. — Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) in protest of a bill which was tied 50-50 and passed with the vote of Vice President Mike Pence to remove funding from health care clinics supported by Title X, including Planned Parenthood.
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Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
FILM REVIEW
Friday, March 31, 2017 — 5
COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW
COURTESY OF HOTEL DALLAS
COMPLICITE
‘Life’ is well-crafted but Mandolinist Daniel Brito ultimately meaningless to perform in Kerrytown Latest Daniel Espinosa-directed movie boasts impressive cinematography, but has little to show for in terms of thematics scare better than the last. It’s impossible to go too deep Daily Arts Writer into “Life” without discussing the alien at the center of it in Astronauts some capacity. find an alien. The Without going “Life” astronauts are into excessive Columbia Pictures idiots. The alien detail, while kills the astronauts. the design of Rave Cinemas, With a premise the creature Goodrich Quality 16 like that, it’s hard will likely fall to see “Life” as into “love it much more than a modern- or hate it” territory, Espinosa day, A-list “Alien” rip-off, but does great work here, as well. it surprisingly has more in From the moment its intentions common with “Gravity” than become malicious in a sequence anything else. Aesthetically, that is equal parts wellthe comparisons write directed and frightening, the themselves from the first shot alien is a singularly terrifying — a “oner” that encompasses antagonist. It’s a force of pure the entire first opening evil that constantly outwits scene. While it lacks the scale and emotion of that earlier film, “Life” is nonetheless impressive in how handily it manages its tension and horror. The resultant film is f lawed, but perhaps the most intense space thriller since Alfonso Cuarón’s 2013 masterpiece. Apart from being just a gorgeous piece of cinematography and direction, the opening scene shows off the setting, the key to the film’s successes. The emphasis placed on space as we know it as opposed to a futuristic starship a la “Alien” gives the film an immediately scary atmosphere that director Daniel Espinosa (“Child 44”) wrings for nearly every drop of tension. To that end, “Life” never goes for the easy scare, instead preferring to ease the viewer into full-on terror and let the characters’ increasing paranoia speak for itself. Much of the film is made up of several slow-burn scenes followed by bursts of horror, and outplays the scientists, and screenwriters Rhett who — in a departure from Reese and Paul Wernick’s genre clichés — don’t act like (“Deadpool”) fearlessness with complete idiots for the entirety character deaths, established of the runtime. The action early, makes each subsequent therefore becomes that much JEREMIAH VANDERHELM
‘Life’ never goes for the easy scare, instead preferring to ease the viewer into full-on terror and let the characters’ increasing paranoia speak for itself
more engaging. This is not to say that the characters on display are paragons of complexity or anything of the sort. They’re well-sketched more than wellwritten, not quite f lat but not quite fully formed either. This doesn’t affect the movie too much, as there are some character traits to latch onto, but it does hold it back to an extent. Films like “Alien” and “Gravity” succeeded because of the combination of suspense and character. It would have been hard to give much depth to a cast of this size and caliber without interrupting the film’s pacing, but it may have also given “Life” the push it needed to move from “good” to “great.” And on that note, the aspect that makes “Life” hardest to recommend despite its f lashes of greatness is impossible to describe at all: the ending. Again, without going into any detail, the ending to “Life” is an unrewarding fake-out that relies on poor editing to get its point across. It’s foreshadowed from a mile away, but sitting in the theater, after two hours of sustained tension, it’s hard to believe that it was greenlit. It gives the entire film a meaningless cast in retrospect. The ending doesn’t taint the entirety of “Life,” though. It is still well-crafted, and Espinosa’s handling of both character and mood is assured. Moviegoers looking for a good scare should look no further. It isn’t without its problems, and they keep the film from attaining the greatness it comes so close to, but “Life” is still an involving — if ultimately empty-feeling — time at the movies.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
DAYTON HARE Senior Arts Editor
For perhaps as long as human society has existed, music has existed with it. As civilizations and empires rose and fell, as republics and autocracies collapsed and were reborn, music was there through it all. It’s one of the few true universals in our world, one of the omnipresent markers of our existence that cling at the very core of what it is to be human. It was present in the nomads’ tent, and it’s present on the phone in your pocket. Because of this, to come anywhere even remotely near to an understanding of a culture requires a knowledge of the music that is important to it. It helps to show the passions and the rituals of a people, the history and ethos of a society. And fortunately, today’s globalized world affords us more opportunities than ever to hear and admire those musics from traditions unfamiliar to our ears. One such unfamiliar tradition (for most Ann Arborites, at least) is the choro music of Brazil. Originating about 150 years ago in Rio de Janeiro, choro marks one of the first fundamentally Brazilian genres of instrumental music, and in a concert Saturday night at Kerrytown Concert House, the audience will have the chance to experience a performance by one of this genre’s greatest contemporary musicians. “Choro has its origin in European polka. It arrived in Brazil fast and dancing, and Brazilian musicians started to play it slowly and it became more melancholic, more dramatic,” said Danilo Brito, mandolinist and choro musician, who will be performing this Saturday in Kerrytown. “This was around 1860, 1870. So soon we were doing music to make people cry, because it caused this emotion to those who were hearing it, and so the name of this genre, choro, means ‘to cry.’ ” Brito (who does not speak English, and communicated through translation by his manager, Maria Silvia Braga) went on to explain that despite the
genre’s name, much of the music is in fact fast, cheerful and virtuosic — “but always intense.” Choro is a type of music that is of great important to the culture of Brazil, expressing a wide range of sentiments, and in the view of Brito and others, it is the genre that best represents the spirit of the nation. “Choro is the musical expression of Brazilian people,” Brito explained. “Brazilian people have very intense feelings, sometimes melancholic, sometimes nostalgic, sometimes cheerful. All these different intense feelings of Brazilian people are very well represented by all the different
Danilo Brito Kerrytown Concert House Saturday, April 1 8 P.M. $5 Student, $15 General Admission styles that choro has.” In this assessment, Brito is in the company of some of the most famous Brazilian figures in the history of music. “The Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos said that choro is the music that best represents the soul of Brazilian people,” Brito said. “The great maestro and composer Radamés Gnattali said that choro is the most perfect and last stage of Brazilian music.” Brito was drawn to choro at a young age. His father was an amature musician, and played mandolin and Cavaquinho. Through him and the musical environment he fostered around him, Brito was introduced to music early on. “[Some] nights [we] had hearings of old vinyl recordings, and very soon [I] started playing [my] father’s instruments, mandolin and cavaquinho,” Brito said. “And through hearing the old vinyls [I] learned to play.” Brito never had a formal teacher, but his natural ability and passion for the music has since propelled him to the forefront of the choro
scene. Saturday’s performance will mark but one concert on a tour that has already included Vancouver, Seattle, Portland and Oakland, among others. The tour has been an immensely positive experience for him. “It’s been wonderful, my feelings about this, my impressions of these concerts have been wonderful,” Brito said. “ [There has been] a very warm reception by the audience, always with full houses, and a great energy… [I] played at Kuumbwa [Jazz] in Santa Cruz last night, and it was a memorable evening that [I] will keep with [me] the rest of [my] life. The connection with the audience was fantastic.” Choro is a music that is energetic, involving a full range of complex harmonies and counterpoint, in addition to having a highly improvisatory structure. These qualities, in part, help address the question of why Brito is so drawn to the particular genre. More than anything, however, it was the passionate spirit of the music that drew him in. “This music captured me by feeling,” Brito said. “It’s always a very intense and strong feeling when you hear it. Either it is cheerful, or melancholic, or chromatic, or romantic. It’s a genre that gives [one] the tools to express [one’s] feelings in a most complete way, perfectly or almost perfect.” It is this sense of emotion and feeling that Brito hopes to share with Ann Arbor Saturday night. When he performs, it is an act of passion, a passing on of the emotion of the music. “The music that [I] will present comes directly from [my] heart,” Brito said. “The style of music that we play demands a lot of study and technicality, but the intention is that the audience does not feel all this work that is behind, but just receives music as it is, as pure emotion, feelings and expressions. Our technique is always from the work of music of pure heart. The audience, hearing it, will feel this.”
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
FOOD COLUMN
Making eggplant effortless There are some things that don’t necessitate recipes. Some things are so simple that exact measurements or a lengthy ingredients list unnecessarily complicate their preparation. As simply as they’re made, they’re even more satisfyingly enjoyed. Oftentimes, these things take a form of their own — their preparation rooting itself into some tucked away part of our imaginations, where they grow and change over time. These improvisations — the spontaneous melding of ingredients we unexpectedly find at hand — serve as the basis for many of our most treasured and frequently consumed meals. The recipe-less recipe may have been derived from watching your mother or grandmother cook the same go-to meals time and time again or from attempting to recreate the soothing ease with which Food Network chefs display
their creations on screen. Or, you snagged a vegetable or ingredient of the grocery store shelf and an idea popped into mind, finding its realization through swift, barely thoughtout movements within the kitchen, culminating in a thrown-together masterpiece. No matter its origin, the unscripted, haphazard kitchen creation dispels the pressure of having to meticulously follow instructions and compile a lengthy list of resources. Often, it’s this austerity that inhibits creativity and can result in a lackluster dish that doesn’t live up to expectations. Or, you may find yourself thoroughly impressed with the results only to remember the gruelling efforts leading up to it and swearing off the recipe for the future. Equally as impressive is making something on the f ly that tastes like it took a lot of effort and preparation, but didn’t actually. All it takes is
a few ingredients you already have on hand and the marriage between a few pantry staples. Marinated eggplant has recently become one of my go-to thrown-together recipes. It bears the ease of utilizing few ingredients and even less thought, yet it packs all the f lavor and heartiness of extensive kitchen work. The dish emerged after I bought eggplant on a whim and, unable to decide the
SHIR AVINADAV fate of its consumption, was struck by inspiration from the transcendent memory of a marinated eggplant dish I had once been served at Mani Osteria. So, to the best of my ability, I attempted to recreate
the f lavorful dish with only the items at hand — eggplant, salt and pepper, chili f lakes, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and garlic. As is my preferred cooking method with most vegetables, I hastily cut my eggplant into cubes, tossed them in olive oil and sprinkled them with salt, before throwing them in the oven at 375º for about 20-30 minutes, checking frequently to ensure all sides got their fair share of roasting. Typically, I’d sprinkle the eggplant with salt and let rest for ten minutes prior to soaking up the excess moisture with paper towels, however I was out of paper towels — a repercussion to be expected when cooking on the f ly (and when living with 13 roommates in college). After the the eggplant turned nice and crisp in the oven, almost charred on some sides, while perfectly tender on the other, I let it cool for several minutes. Then, I grabbed a
tupperware container and tossed the cooled eggplant cubes in; I drizzled them generously with more olive oil, balsamic vinegar and the crushed garlic and added a generous pinch of salt, black pepper and red chili f lakes (and about half a teaspoon of dried basil if you have it on hand), tossing well to combine. In order to draw out all those piquant f lavors, I let the eggplant mixture refrigerate for a few hours to soak up the acidity of the vinegar and the sweet bite of garlic — the nutty olive oil binding all the rich, zesty f lavors together. It’s no surprise then, that waiting for the eggplant to marinate can be trying. However, once the chunks of eggplant have absorbed the marinade, they can be served with a thick, crusty bread that’s been toasted to a slightly burnt crisp, or they can be tossed with freshly sliced basil leaves and shaved parmesan into a salad —
or if you’re me — eaten straight out of the container. Not only is it incredibly easy to make, a large batch of marinated eggplant can carry you through the week. The meaty eggplant, enhanced by the flavors of the marinade, make a superb side dish or meal of their own. Dole out over pasta with plenty of cheese and fresh basil for a quick weeknight meal or over a bowl of grains and sautéed kale. It’s flavors are vibrant and crisp enough to cool our palates on a summer day, while the hearty vegetable can satisfy on a cold, winter evening. If you’re not an eggplant-kind-of-person (it’s cool, not everyone is), this method works great with red bell peppers too. Easy and versatile? You heckin’ bet it is. Delicious? That too. With slightly more effort than pouring yourself a bowl of cereal, marinated eggplant be an easy fix to an uninspired meal, without draining your energy or stock of ingredients. So, roast and refrigerate those tasty little cubes and enjoy.
Arts
6 — Friday, March 31, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
FILM REVIEW
TV REVIEW ABC
LIONSGATE
‘Stars’ basks in milestones ‘Power Rangers’ surprises embrace the comedian’s personality to perfection in Daily Arts Writer their dance — so much so that the pair’s score for the night pulls them to This week the bottom “Dancing with the marked the 24th of the ranks Stars” season of ABC’s this season. long-standing, Was their jazz Season Premiere live competition number truly show “Dancing horrendous? ABC with the Stars.” Not Mondays at 8:00 Coincidentally, necessarily, p.m. this also marks just pulled the 400th episode off in a novel for the series, for approach that which the network has spared didn’t sit well with the judges. no expense in celebration of These discrepancies between its accomplishments. Opening the elements of a celebrity’s with a number aimed at background and character that replicating the Oscar-winning ultimately win over the judges film “La La Land,” the cast and determines whether or waltzed onto the stage for not they will advance in the their first dance of the season. competition begs the question Perhaps the most notable of subjectivity. While one celebrity cast member this couple’s tango is beautifully season is Normani Kordei, executed in terms of style one of the members of girl and precision in step, another band Fifth Harmony, which couple’s quickstep may suffer has received recent backlash from too much of the celebrity’s after member Camila personality interjected into Cabello’s sudden departure. their dance. However, Normani is quick While some groups may to distance herself from her choose to dress in the manner singing career, announcing of their professions, others from the beginning that her draw from their experiences. grandmother’s love of the show All in all, this trend seems is what ultimately compelled to indicate that numbers her to join the cast. True to her choreographed in a manner fierce personality as a member least connected to the dancers of Fifth Harmony, Normani seem to work the best on leaves it all on the dance f loor. “DWTS.” On the other side of the Another example of spectrum, “Saturday Night this is the performance of Live” alum Chris Kattan, professional bull rider Bonner with partner Witney Carson, Bolton and dancing companion MEGAN MITCHELL
Sharna Burgess. Though they performed their country cha cha with unmistakable chemistry and a hint of sass, their overall score kept them situated nicely in the middle of the competition. One of the main inf luences of their performance came from Bolton’s bull riding days, as the couple struts the stage with blue jeans and plaid shirts, cha cha-ing the stage with a southern strut and bedazzling the crowd. Alternatively, Simone Biles, a gold medal Olympic gymnast, stunned with a beautiful dance. Biles is clearly the frontrunner of the competition, if she can continue producing equally exquisite moves in future performances. What differentiates these two pairs, once again, seems to be their ability to incorporate style and the way in which strong elements of their personalities leak into their performances. This season of “Dancing with the Stars” is clearly off to an interesting start, as the dancing duos attempt to balance out their interests and bring the best aspects of the personalities into their performances. Though some performers may learn from their mistakes, others grapple with the idea of letting go of personality quirks in favor of higher scores. All points aside, the 400th episode is a true ref lection of what “Dancing with the Stars” is all about.
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RELEASE DATE– Friday, March 31, 2017
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
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Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
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of other recent superhero f licks, but stupid in that it combines a lot of different dumb stuff together. It’s got that dumb teenage melodrama. It’s got that dumb big action scene at the end. It’s got a pretty fun villain with a pretty dumb plan. But as dumb as it all is, the actors know it, the writer knows it, the studio clearly knew it and the director seems to have given but one direction to his cast: ham it up. The movie goes all in on every dumb thing about it. But it’s hard not to respect that in a day and age in which every movie is trying to be the most important or the biggest movie of the year. This movie knows what it is. It’s a B-movie for kids. And kids will undoubtedly love it. It’s not trying to reinvent the wheel from a narrative perspective, but it does bring some much needed diversity to the Power Rangers ranks in a way that is more understated and natural then similar attempts by other movies (the recent “Beauty and the Beast” comes to mind). Everyone (especially the older actors) is clearly having a ball, and the last third of the film revels in being about exactly one thing: the power of friendship. Yes, “Power Rangers” is a silly, dumb kids movie. But it never tries to be anything but that. In this day and age, that’s oddly quaint.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
FILM REVIEW
Classifieds ACROSS 1 Serious service 5 Toaster opening? 10 Moxie 14 Settled down 15 Treasure 16 Crop, say 17 Taboo 18 Parade instruments 20 Unused car using some 56-Across? 22 It can be bid 23 Coin toss winner’s option 27 Large Eurasian group 31 Very, to Puccini 32 DJIA company alphabetically following Home Depot 35 Movies using some 56-Across? 38 PC alternatives 40 Dreamers have big ones 41 A scarf can protect it 42 Compulsive sort using some 56-Across? 45 Yahoo! alternative 46 “Silas Marner” author 47 Static source 49 Doctor’s order 52 Latin dance 56 “Antigone” characters? 60 Dawn, for example 63 Place for pins and needles 64 Amazon ID 65 Unlimited free mileage pioneer 66 Mapmaking name since 1872 67 What much insurance covers 68 Family nicknames 69 Wild plum
ridiculous sci-fi characters. Although it opens with a For the Daily wacky sci-fi prelude in which Cranston’s Zordon becomes the last remaining Based on the original Power “Power Rangers” perennially Ranger, the successful “Mighty vast majority Lionsgate Morphin’ Power of the film’s Rave Cinemas, Rangers” series runtime is Goodrich Quality 16 that has been spent focusing airing on TV in on the various various iterations familial and since the early ’90s, this new social problems that the film attempts to update the teenagers are dealing with costumed-samurai-who-riderather then the extraterrestrial robot-dinosaurs premise for a threat of Banks’s Rita Repulsa. modern audience — to varying One of our heroes is a burnt-out levels of success. star quarterback, one of them is Directed by Dean Israelite caring for an ailing parent, one (“Project Almanac”), “Power of them has autism, one was Rangers” follows in that involved in a sexting scandal series’ footsteps by choosing and one of them doesn’t believe to focus mostly on the five her parents will accept her for titular heroes rather then the who she really is. All of them wacky world around them. are social outcasts; it’s teen These aren’t the happy- drama to the 10th degree. go-lucky Power Rangers of In the name of being yesteryear; these teenagers are realistic, “Power Rangers” troubled, and the film makes ends up turning into an episode sure that the audience knows of “Degrassi” for long stretches it. A cast of talented, more- of its runtime. Everything is or-less unknowns makes up played so seriously that when the ranks of these new edgier it is finally time for someone to Rangers, including Dacre shout “Go, go, power rangers!” Montgomery (“A Few Less and giant robot dinosaurs run Men”), Naomi Scott (“Terra across the screen, it’s hard not Nova”), RJ Cyler (“Me and Earl to completely laugh out loud. and the Dying Girl), Becky Tonal whiplash abounds, and G (“House of Sin”), and Ludi yet somehow, against all odds, Lin (“Monster Hunt”) who are parts of it do kind of work. joined by veteran actors Bryan Make no mistake, “Power Cranston (“Breaking Bad”), Rangers” is stupid. Not stupid Bill Hader (“Saturday Night in the mindless destruction Live”), and Elizabeth Banks sense of “Man of Steel” or “The (“Pitch Perfect”) as the more Avengers” or any other number IAN HARRIS
03/31/17
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‘CHiPS’ exhausts, dismays ranging, fascinating topics as poop and “scrotal tears” that Daily Arts Writer feel like they go on for a small eternity. These things can “CHiPs” opens with the be funny if something funny onscreen message: “The is being said, but when, say, California Highway Patrol charmless characters are just does not endorse talking about this film. At all.” At anilingus over “CHiPs” first, it seems like and over again, Warner Bros. a tongue-in-cheek that tends to be joke about police more annoying Pictures officers not wanting than anything Rave Cinemas, a movie to make else. Goodrich Quality 16 light of their jobs. Perhaps if Then the movie the characters starts. Walking out were charming of the theater, it is or likable, clear that the disclaimer was a it would be easier to give warning, an omen not heeded. “CHiPs” a pass, but instead, No one in their right mind the characters seem to fall into would want to be associated a handful of easily divisible with a comedy this tepid and categories. The women — devoid of laughs, least of all the except for director, writer people it allegedly portrays. and star Dax Shepard’s (“The It’s a crime-comedy with a Boss”) wife, Kristen Bell boring crime and next-to-no (“Bad Moms”) — exist to be comedy, annoying at best and sexualized or made fun of for offensive at worst. their lack of attractiveness in It starts out harmlessly a series of gags about being enough, with early scenes a “two out of ten” that, if wisely leaning more heavily nothing else, will probably on Michael Peña (“Collateral give our sitting president a Beauty”), by far the funnier of hearty laugh. The men of the the two leads — about three movie exist either to be macho, of the four jokes in the entire macho men or to be made fun movie that work do so because of for not being enough of a of him. Then, the story shifts macho, macho man. into gear, and it becomes clear The latter group seems to what type of comedy “CHiPs” speak to a deeper misogyny will be. It’s the kind where or just plain bigotry at the there aren’t really any jokes, heart of “CHiPs.” As director, the writers just force in lengthy Shepard has no problem with conversations about things putting bare breasts on screen that aren’t innately funny in whenever possible, but when the hope that, at some point, the time comes for him to get God will smile upon them and naked — in a role that he wrote comedy will present itself. and cast himself in no less — So viewers are left with nudity is suddenly a bridge too conversations on such wide- far, and he opts to blur it out JEREMIAH VANDERHELM
in one of the most hypocritical creative decisions in recent memory. If it were possible to chalk it up to anything other than Shepard’s cowardice, it might be the funniest moment in the movie. As it is, it’s still so brazenly out of place and nonsensical that it’s worth an incredulous “Did that really just happen?” smile. With the dearth of any source of amusement on display, the desperate mind of an average “CHiPs” viewer will begin to look elsewhere for entertainment. They will find none. As with seemingly all modern comedies, the movie takes a sudden turn into self-seriousness in a sequence that is bereft of laughter — intentionally this time. Similarly dour is Vincent D’Onofrio, who isn’t bad, but his villain — with his sudden bursts of violent anger and forced backstory for the sake of “sympathy” — feels like a poor man’s version of his much better turn on “Marvel’s Daredevil.” With its tone, “CHiPs” is clearly trying to emulate the wild success and critical acclaim of “21 Jump Street,” but where the writers should have learned to balance satirizing the action-comedy genre while paying tribute to their source material, they instead learned to cram in as many F-bombs as possible and go for the easy poop joke whenever they can. The result may include a couple decent bike chases but is otherwise tiringly awkward and unfunny to the point of mental agony.
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Friday, March 31, 2017 — 7
2017 Position-by-position breakdown ROBERT HEFTER Daily Sports Writer
The No. 22 Michigan baseball team’s lineup was not yet set in stone when it traveled to California for a 13-game road trip over spring break. After losing former pitcher Brett Adcock, first baseman Carmen Benedetti and pitcher Evan Hill to the MLB, there seemed to be multiple voids the Wolverines would have trouble filling. What Michigan did not know, though, was that it would fill those positions with incredible ease, recording 238 hits, 165 runs and a .387 on-base percentage so far this season. Just as the Wolverines have had a consistently high-octane offense, their defense has had ice in its veins. Posting a 19-6 record with a cumulative 3.16 earned-run average and seven saves, the Michigan pitching rotation has outperformed expectations. Backing the pitchers up is a veteran fielding squad that has given up just 18 errors so far this year. The Daily breaks down the Wolverines position-byposition in order to anticipate the solidifying starting lineup approaching Michigan’s long home stand, starting with a threegame matchup against Penn State this weekend. Pitching: With two of four starting pitchers returning from last year’s squad, the battle for the ace job ensued immediately from the start of spring training. Despite the competition, it seemed
inevitable that junior left-hander Oliver Jaskie would fill that role. With a 3-1 record and 3.44 ERA, Jaskie boasts the best performances and the most innings pitched out of the starting rotation with 34. However, he has not quite achieved superstar status due to the prowess and consistency of his teammates. Junior right-hander Alec Rennard, who transferred this year from Santa Rosa Junior College, has certainly stepped up to the challenge, recording a 3.20 ERA with four wins and one loss. Rennard has quickly solidified his role in the rotation as a spot starter, and the fact that he has walked just two batters over the course of his 25.1 innings pitched displays his consistency. Junior left-hander Michael Hendrickson stands as the lone pitcher without a loss. With a 3.25 ERA — but 13 walks and 11 runs forfeited — Hendrickson has proven to be a reliable arm and will continue to get the nod. Junior right-hander Ryan Nutof, on the other hand, lags behind the rest of the rotation with a 6.39 ERA and a 1-1 record. While Nutof has a discrepancy in the ERA column, his 14 walks over 31 innings pitched is on par with the rest of the rotation. Michigan has not found its go-to relievers as of yet. Senior right-hander Jackson Lamb leads the team with six saves and has been entering the game in the most save situations. However, it is unclear who will come into the game in the sixth, seventh or eighth innings. Sophomore William Tribucher has pitched the most innings from
a reliever with 19 and has a 2.37 ERA, while freshman Tommy Henry has 16.2 innings pitched with a 1.08 ERA. Both seem to be the frontrunners for a mid-game clutch substitute, but have been used interchangeably. As the Wolverines are in the midst of an 18-game home stretch, kicked off by a matchup against Penn State this weekend, Michigan will need to mix-and-match pitchers in order to maintain its consistent performances. Catchers: One thing is clear about the catcher position, and it’s that senior Harrison Wenson will be behind the plate. His lackluster .224 batting average thus far is not indicative of his impact on the field. With 20 RBI — third on the team — he certainly makes his presence known on and off the field. Though Wenson was drafted 39th in last year’s MLB Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates, he decided to stay at Michigan, a decision that speaks to his passion for the team as well as his leadership. Right now, junior third baseman Drew Lugbauer starts behind the plate when Wenson can’t. However, that deal is not permanent, as two freshmen recruits in Harrison Salter and Marcus Chavez joined the squad. Junior Brock Keener seems poised to assume the position in the future, as he already has been filling in for Wenson in certain situations. First Base: Junior Jake Bivens has taken up the mantle at first base and seems to have a solid footing for the position. With a .258 batting
CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily
Junior third baseman Drew Lugbauer has been a major part of Michigan’s high-octane offense this season.
average — right in the middle of the pack — and a .421 on-base percentage, Bivens established himself as a reliable bat that can hit in any spot in the lineup. His recent move to sixth in the batting order shows his versatility as a hitter. What’s more impressive, though, is his glove. He’s been involved in 203 put outs, and has only committed one error. Bivens’ offensive output and defensive prowess makes him a pivotal part of the lineup. Second Base: The first batter that steps up to the plate at Ray Fisher Stadium is 5’8” sophomore Ako Thomas. Though atypical for a leadoff hitter, Thomas boasts a .323 batting average with 31 hits and a .450 on-base percentage. Thomas has proven that his lead-
off abilities demand respect, and his one error shows his reliability in the field. Shortstop: Ranked third in the Big Ten in hits with 34, currently leading the team in batting average at .330 and in the midst of an 11-game hitting streak, Michael Brdar exemplifies what it means to be a senior on a baseball team. His two errors are not too shabby either, making him a player that can be counted on to produce offensively while making very few mistakes in the field. Third Base: In the third game of Michigan’s series against Northern Illinois earlier this season, Lugbauer stepped up to the plate and said goodbye to the Huskies with a walk-off three-run home run beyond the
right field wall. Lugbauer leads the team in home runs and RBI with six and 27, respectively. The clean-up hitter has been a machine at the plate and he will likely continue to be a staple for the Wolverine offense. Outfield: Much like the infield, the outfield exemplifies offensive performance supplemented by solid defense. In right field is sophomore Jonathan Engelmann, who trails his fellow outfielders with a batting average at .246. In center field is Johnny Slater, who leads the team with four triples and also boasts 22 RBI. In left field is redshirt sophomore Miles Lewis, who leads the outfield in batting average at .302. Lewis, since transferring this season, has provided the Michigan offense with yet another reliable bat.
Big Ten Breakdown: Michigan set to challenge for title PAIGE VOEFFRAY Daily Sports Writer
Last year, the Michigan baseball team had an impressive start to the season and was pegged to finish high in the Big Ten. But by the end of the 2015-16 campaign, the Wolverines hopes of the postseason quickly vanished after dropping nine of their last 11 games. This year, Michigan has had much of the same start to its season as last year. Now, it is eager to erase the sting of barely missing out on the NCAA Tournament and has made a point to rest key players when the opportunity arises. But with the Wolverines entering the heart of the Big Ten season, they will need to focus on staying consistent all season. In the preseason coach’s poll, Maryland was selected to finish atop the Big Ten with Michigan following right behind – a matchup fans didn’t have to wait long to see. The Wolverines opened Big Ten play against the Terrapins last weekend, wrecking a sweep for Maryland by taking Sunday’s game in College Park. Despite Michigan’s impressive season thus far, coach Erik Bakich doesn’t care about preseason rankings or even in-season
rankings. All that matters to him is the result at the end of the year. For those who want a glimpse at what the end of the season could hold, the Daily breaks down the teams that will compete against the Wolverines for the Big Ten title. Michigan State (3-0 Big Ten, 15-6 overall) Fresh off one of its best seasons in program history, Michigan State improved one spot from last year’s preseason poll, moving into the fifth slot. The Spartans shine the brightest on offense, leading the Big Ten in team batting average with .303 and hits with 233. Michigan State currently has nine batters batting over .300, with its most consistent threat being sophomore infielder Marty Bechina. Bechina is batting .338 and has started every game this season. The Spartans nearly lost four players to the MLB draft, but senior catcher Matt Byars decided to remain in East Lansing and finish his college career. Byars appeared in all but one game for Michigan State last year and finished the season batting .284 with 26 RBI — a feat he is well on his way to achieving again this year with a .254 batting average and 11 RBI. The Spartans ended their season in the semifinals of the Big Ten
Tournament against Ohio State in extra innings, a loss it is sure to try and redeem this year. Indiana (3-0, 14-9-1) The Hoosiers are sitting comfortably in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten. They were picked to finish fourth in the conference, and their season is shaping up to follow suit. While Indiana is strong offensively, its pitching may cost it some games down the stretch. Its regular starters on the mound include junior right-hander Brian Hobbie, sophomore left-hander Tim Herrin and freshman left-hander Andrew Saalfrank, each with a 4.50, 4.97 and 6.08 ERA, respectively. The Hoosiers’ pitching staff allows a lot of hits and cannot counteract that with many strikeouts. The trio of starters has just 53 strikeouts on the year. For comparison, Jaskie alone has 42. Fortunately for Indiana, it returned its offensive most valuable player in Craig Dedelow, who decided to stay with the Hoosiers even after being drafted in the 34th round. Indiana will host the Big Ten Tournament at the end of the season, but if it cannot strengthen itself on the bump, the Hoosiers may be looking at a worse finish
AARON BAKER/Daily
Michigan coach Erik Bakich has the Wolverines in good position to make a run at the conference title this season.
than fourth place. Maryland (2-1, 15-8) Picked to finish first in the Big Ten and taking two out of three games against Michigan was a promising start to the Terrapins’ conference campaign. Junior right-hander Brian Shaffer currently has the most impressive statistics in the Big Ten. He leads the conference with a 1.77 ERA and has 48 strikeouts on the year. His teammate, freshman right-hander Tyler Blohm, also joins him near the top of the Big Ten, currently boasting a 2.86 ERA. The pair has already received Big Ten honors, with Shaffer taking home Pitcher of the Week and Blohm sharing the Co-Freshman of the Week two weeks in a row. Shaffer was dominant against the Wolverines, pitching 8.0 innings and allowing just five hits and two runs. Two players were added to the Preseason Honors list, including sophomore outfielder Marty Costes. He leads the Terrapins with a .359 batting average, 33 hits and 15 RBI. Costes has only improved since his 2015-16 campaign in which he batted .263 and led his team with 37 RBI. As a sophomore, he still has plenty of time to make his mark for Maryland. Minnesota (3-0, 15-8) Minnesota boasts the best two hitters in the conference in redshirt freshman infielder Jordan Kozicky and junior infielder Luke Petterson, hitting .400 and .397, respectively, and the rest of the Golden Gophers’ lineup isn’t far behind. Minnesota currently sits second in the Big Ten after a sweep of Northwestern, and if the Golden Gophers can use the momentum from the top of their batting order to propel the offense, they may be able to remain in the upper-half of the standings. Iowa (2-1, 14-9) The Hawkeyes have some powerful hitters and a strong veteran squad leading them this season. Senior infielder Mason McCoy earned Big Ten Conference Player of the Week recently after hitting .438 and picking up six RBI over four games. McCoy and his teammate junior first baseman Jake Adams trade off leading the
conference in offensive statistics. McCoy leads the Big Ten in runs (26) and doubles (9), while Adams takes the top slot in RBI (31) and home runs (9). At the beginning of the season, the focus for Iowa was on strong pitching and defense, but it has been in the box where the Hawkeyes have excelled — ranked second in the conference for team batting average with .286. While Iowa’s pitching hasn’t been as stellar as anticipated, it has a deep staff that could easily pick up as the conference schedule gets going. Nebraska (0-0, 13-10) A trio of sophomore infielder Angelo Antavilla, freshman outfielder Mojo Hagge and junior outfielder Scott Schreiber make up the majority of Nebraska’s offense. They are currently batting .366, .333 and .326, respectively, and combine for 46 of the Cornhuskers’ 98 RBI. Nebraska also possesses dual threats on both sides of the ball with juniors Luis Alvardo and lefthander Jake Meyers. Meyers has a .280 batting average, but also posts a 2.01 ERA and is 4-1 on the season, while Alvardo bats .270 but also records a 3.00 ERA. The use of players on both sides of the ball allows them to gauge the strike zone better, allowing them to pitch in the zone and know when to hit. With three well-established players on offense, the improvement of Meyers and Alvardo throughout the season will bring much-needed depth to the Cornhuskers’ lineup. Nebraska has seven consistent starters, but otherwise often rotate the rest of its roster into the game, providing experience that could be crucial late in the Big Ten season. Ohio State (0-3, 10-14) Ohio State isn’t just responsible for ending the Spartans’ 2016 season, but the Buckeyes also defeated Michigan in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament last year, a loss that played an important role in the Wolverines’ NCAA Tournament hopes. The Buckeyes went on to clinch the Big Ten title, but this season, a championship may not be in Ohio State’s grasp. The loss of 13 players to the MLB
Draft and graduation leaves the Buckeyes in a rebuilding year. Ohio State sits nearly last in the Big Ten in team batting average (.240) and in fielding percentage (.960). The Buckeyes were forced to replace their entire starting infield as well, creating spots that their 17 newcomers would surely be glad to fill. Still, Ohio State’s biggest strength is on the bump, but it sits in eighth place in the Big Ten. Senior right-hander Jake Post has made the most appearances for the Buckeyes, but is just 1-1 on the year. Ohio State’s best reliever is redshirt junior right-hander Austin Woodby, who has a 2.45 ERA and is 2-0. The Buckeyes began last season outside of the preseason poll, just as they did this year, but finished the season on top — proving that Ohio State can’t be counted out. Purdue (1-2, 13-11) While the Boilermakers currently sit in the middle of the Big Ten, they have made headlines through junior right-hander Tanner Andrews. He has already won Big Ten Pitcher of the Week twice and has a 3.55 ERA. Purdue is fresh off a loss to Valparaiso where the pitching staff earned 13 strikeouts, but the offense couldn’t support them as they fell, 5-1. The midweek game may not have brought the confidence the Boilermakers were hoping for, especially as they enter a weekend series against defending Big Ten champions Ohio State. Penn State (0-0, 10-13) The Nittany Lions will open their conference slate in Ann Arbor this weekend, and while their season has been relatively mediocre, senior catcher Alex Malinsky is back in the lineup and may provide the spark that Penn State needs. Malinsky missed the beginning of the season after he took a ball off his face in practice, but since returning to his team he has wasted no time. Though he’s only had seven at bats, Malinsky’s hitting .429 and has a .714 slugging percentage. His injury has not slowed him down, an attitude that the Nittany Lions may need as they continue the rest of the season.
Sports
8 — Friday, March 31, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
A new family for Miles Lewis HUNTER SHARF Daily Sports Writer
Little did Miles Lewis know that one text would change his life – that a lone message was the first step towards him becoming a Michigan Wolverine. That message came last April, while Lewis was still a member of the North Dakota baseball team and his then-coach Jeff Dodson urgently demanded a team meeting. “I got a text from my coach that said ‘If you have class right now, you have to miss it,’ ” Lewis recalls. “And the athletic director came in and told us the news that the program was getting cut (at the end of the season) and said good luck basically.” After 115 years, the Fighting Hawks baseball program was dropped as part of budget restructuring that also saw the golf program evaporated. The cuts were estimated to save the university $720,000 in operating budgets and salaries according to KVRR.com, the school’s local news station. The announcement came midseason and was unexpected, even for the coaches. Losing the team marked the end of a baseball career for most players on the roster. Lewis wasn’t most players. He redshirted his first year at North Dakota while recovering from a double labrum injury suffered while playing high school football. In his first season of play, Lewis led the Fighting Hawks in home runs, hits, slugging percentage, total bases, stolen bases and batting average (at .360). His impressive stat sheet earned him a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American
nod and 2016 Western Athletic Conference Freshman
CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily
Redshirt sophomore left fielder Miles Lewis transferred from North Dakota after its program was cut, and is now enjoying early success with the Wolverines.
of the Year honors. Most importantly, it turns out, his high level of play drew attention from many programs throughout the country. For the team’s most talented players, such as Lewis, the cut merely meant they would be moving on. “As soon as the word got out that they were dropping their program, I think every competitive recruiter went right to the stat page,” said Michigan coach Erik Bakich. “(They) looked at their top pitcher, a kid named Zach Muckenhirn and their top hitter, Miles Lewis.” Bakich was right. Miles not only drew attention from Michigan, but other major programs including Iowa, Oregon and Creighton. This sort of notoriety was new for Lewis. His shoulder injuries forced Lewis to miss the high school baseball season his senior year, which deterred many college recruiters. “Getting recruited by big schools was kind of a new experience for me,” Lewis recalls. “That really didn’t happen for me in high school.” *** Lewis attended Hudson High School in Hudson, Wis., where he was an All-State selection in baseball as well as Academic All-State in baseball, football and basketball. For a while, he considered playing college football instead of baseball. However, inspired by his older brother Mitch – who is 27 and played baseball at University of Wisconsin - La Crosse – Miles stuck to baseball. “(Baseball) was something that my brother always loved growing up,” Lewis said. “And
he was my biggest role model and I just wanted to follow in his footsteps.” Following in Mitch’s footsteps turned into a mutual bond in which the two challenge and motivate each other. While Miles feels that his older brother is a role model for him, Mitch finds this ironic. “It’s good to hear (that I motivate him) but I feel like he motivates me to be better,” Mitch said. “It’s amazing to see him work so hard in not only baseball, but also his academics. To balance those two and play at such a high level, it really motivates me to take on more challenges and better myself.” The brothers’ competitiveness also drives the duo to succeed. Their brotherly rivalry extends from the baseball diamond, where Mitch claims that he is the “smarter ballplayer while Miles is the more athletically talented player,” to the living room, where playing Mario Kart and Mario Party Three have become some of their favorite pastimes. Laughing, Mitch contests that, “Miles is a very good baseball player, but he is a very average Mario Kart player.” Miles, on the other hand, is quick to refute this statement, asserting that he is one of the best players in the state of Wisconsin. However, the one thing they can agree on is that they owe thanks to their father for introducing them to baseball and inspiring the two to play. Their father taught them the game, coaching them in some capacity from tee-ball all the way through high school. Now, Miles eagerly anticipates his father and the rest of his family attending a game at Ray
Fisher Stadium and watching him play in a Wolverine uniform for the first time. *** When the North Dakota program was cut, Lewis wasn’t concerned that it would mark the end of his baseball career. That didn’t make saying goodbye to the friends he had made any easier. It was difficult to leave behind the life that he had become accustomed to and the teammates he considered family. “It was a very emotional time,” Lewis explained. “Having to leave your best friends that you’ve known for years and some great coaches. It was really tough, but it all works out.” Fortunately for Lewis, it seems as one door closed, another one opened. Shortly after the program cut was announced, coach Bakich took a trip to North Dakota to see Lewis play. The two went out to dinner and Lewis visited the team in Ann Arbor a few weeks later. “The one thing that stuck out to me was the coaches here and how much energy they have,” Lewis recalls. “And how much they can help from a developmental standpoint and the fact that they love winning here.” And for Bakich and Michigan, Lewis was the ideal person to replace the now-graduated left fielder Matt Ramsay. “It just lined up,” Bakich said. “Not only the baseball program and our development and how we do things, but the school academically. He was a 4.0 student at North Dakota, never got one B in any class. It seemed like all the pieces fell into place and he was a perfect fit.” Another thing that stood
out to Bakich – or anyone in Lewis’ presence – is his athletic build and sheer size. Listed at 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, Bakich describes Miles physique as a “football body” and as someone who “could play tailback for coach Harbaugh.” “He’s just absolutely shredded, ripped, very strong,” Bakich awed. “It’s like he’s out of a muscle and fitness magazine.” Fortunately, his abilities as a ballplayer were equally impressive. Lewis is what Bakich describes as a multi-tool player – a switch hitter who can get on base, drive in runs, steal bases and make web-gem plays in the field. Now a redshirt sophomore left fielder, Lewis has lived up to the expectations and has showed off his various tools. Primarily batting fourth or fifth in the lineup – spots typically designated for a team’s best hitters – Lewis is currently boasting a .302 batting average with 14 runs batted in, 15 runs scored and eight stolen bases. Additionally, Lewis has committed no errors on the season. While the left fielder feels that he has progressed in all facets of his game in his short time as a Wolverine, his defense is what he has seen improve most – something on full display Tuesday, when he robbed Toledo of an extra base hit on a diving
catch. This sort of effort and intensity has become the norm from Lewis in games and during training. “He stands out in all of our training sessions and all of our practices,” Bakich said. “He’s always diving, he’s always hustling (and) he’s always going full speed. He has no off switch. You’re never going to need to prompt him, he’s a selfstarter. He’s on go all the time... He could have a bad game and bounce right back and have a great game.” Lewis isn’t all business, though. His roommate – junior catcher Brock Keener – was quick to point out that he is “fun to be around and real goofy.” That much was clear this past Wednesday, as Lewis was juggling baseballs with teammates in the dugout after turning in a 2-for-4 effort in the Wolverines’ routing of Central Michigan. That comradery was almost instantaneous, as Lewis credited the group for making him one of their own from the second he stepped on campus. “The moment I got here it was like a new family,” Lewis explains. “All the guys are really great.” That’s not to say his North Dakota family is gone, though. Lewis still texts his former teammates. He still visits them when he’s back in Wisconsin. The North Dakota program is gone, and it’s certainly unfortunate. But with his new career unfolding in Ann Arbor, Lewis explains, “I don’t really like to live in the past too much. You just have to play the game and not think too much about it.”
Taking a punch JACOB SHAMES Daily Sports Writer On Baseball
O
n the surface, it would appear that the memory of Michigan’s painful collapse down the stretch last season has faded away. The Wolverines (19-6 overall, 1-2 Big Ten) sit comfortably in the national rankings, have scored the second-most runs in the Big Ten and have the best earnedrun average of any team in the conference. Essentially, the 2017 Michigan baseball team looks a lot like the 2016 team did for most of its season. Throughout his career, Michigan coach Erik Bakich has held a reputation for his dynamic and energetic nature. His vigor has been a key driving force in the program’s resurgence – from taking the Wolverines from 22-34 the year before his arrival, to a 39-25 record and Big Ten title in his third season, and to a
34-12 start in 2016. For Bakich, last year’s finish – a 2-9 slump at the end of the season which left the Wolverines outside the NCAA Tournament – presented an opportunity to return to the foundation for what made Michigan’s turnaround over the last few seasons possible in the first place. While the 2016 Wolverines rode the momentum of a surprise run to the postseason the year before, this year’s team has perhaps a more powerful force fueling them. “The way we did not finish the season strong last year was the impetus to get back to those roots of mental toughness training to prepare us for any adversity that strikes,” Bakich said. It’s no surprise that Bakich loves describing his team
in fighting terms, with an emphasis on taking and throwing punches. One of the Wolverines’ traditions after each game is to hand out an award – an object representative of the team’s mentality and spirit – to the player who made the biggest impact that game. Last season, the award was a hard hat. This year, it’s a pair of boxing gloves. “We’ve been down, we’ve taken punches, we’ve given up big innings and had to fight back,” Bakich said. “That was something that was a large target that we wanted to hit head on to be a tougher team.” Resiliency – whether shown in late-inning surges and comebacks, scoring immediately after giving up runs, or simply fighting to keep at-bats alive – is the central message. Already, Michigan
“This team has trained harder than anyone in the country.”
has won four games in the ninth inning or later, after winning just two such games a season ago. The Wolverines have outscored their opponent in 67 innings, while being outscored in just 38. They’ve scored in 36 percent of their innings, but that number goes up to 41 percent when they’ve surrendered a run the inning before. At the plate, Michigan has displayed patience and grit by drawing walks in 14 percent of its at-bats, as opposed to 11 percent last season, and has shown a newfound aggression on the basepaths, having stolen 57 bases already – or three less than it did all of last season. Many of the key contributors of last year’s team – junior left-hander Oliver Jaskie, third baseman Drew Lugbauer, first baseman Jake Bivens
and senior catcher Harrison Wenson – are back for another season, so this steely resolve isn’t one that just appeared out of nowhere. Instead, this mental toughness training was the focus of the Wolverines’ offseason; a conscious effort to gear them for the ups and downs of a long season. “Whether it’s military or other sports teams or other competitive sports that do similar training to strengthen that competitive mindset, it’s absolutely a skill that can be developed,” Bakich said. “Toughness, confidence, leadership – everybody comes into this world with a certain level, but those are all skills that can be developed, and those are three things that we invest a lot of time on in this program.” Added Bivens: “Some of
“Those are three things that we invest a lot of time on.”
it’s inherent, but I think this team has trained harder than anyone in the country. (Bakich has) built that toughness into us, and we are a group of fighters.” With pitchers like Jaskie, who possesses a 3.44 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 34 innings, and a batting order that’s dangerous top to bottom, there’s never been any doubt about Michigan’s ability to throw a punch. But that was true last season. Currently, the Wolverines are knocking on the doorstep of national prominence. But with quality opponents such as Michigan State, Indiana and Oklahoma awaiting this month, the question of whether they can take a punch needs a definitive answer in order for Michigan to break through. And so far this season, the answer to that question has been a resounding ‘yes’. Shames can be reached at jacosham@umich.edu or on Twitter @Jacob_Shames