ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Monday, September 25, 2017
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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Fifth-year senior quarterback John O’Korn replaced an injured Wilton Speight and had his redemption moment.
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March 30, 2016 "#StopIslam", "Trump 2016" written in chalk on the Diag
November 14, 2016 Posters in Union encouraged students to report undocumented individuals and displayed white voting statistics of the 2016 election along with phrases such as “He’s Our President.”
October 2, 2016 Online faculty petitions condemning the racist posters are erased by an unknown individual, replaced with phrase, “All of the Communists Will Hang on the Day of the Rope.” The quote comes from “The Turner Diaries,” a political fiction novel that features a race war.
September 26, 2016 Racist posters ("reasons why women shouldn't date black men") found in Mason and Haven halls October 3, 2016 White supremacist posters cited websites arguing race determines intelligence and anti-Muslim sentiments found posted near Diag
GOVERNMENT
Racist Incidents on Campus April 25, 2017 Black Law Student Association board - Graduate Employee Organization posted on that Facebook page there were far-right chalkings on the campus and on the Black Law Student Association board.
August 2017 University Biological Station - Racist graffiti appeared in the bathroom of University Biological Station near Pellston. University President Mark Schlissel reported this in an email to students.
February 6, 2017 someone urinates on Muslim prayer rug in Shapiro Library
November 9, 2016 Violent messages were written on the Rock after Trump’s win. The messages were covering pro-Clinton decorations.
October 21, 2016 More racist posters ("Black and White IQ distributions") found outside South Quad
September 17, 2017 Central Campus posting column - A poster reading “Free Dylann Roof”, the white mass shooter who entered a historically Black church and killed nine people, was posted on the cylindrical vents on campus.
September 2, 2017 Anti-Latino and Pro-Trump graffiti were found on the Rock before classes started. January 20, 2017 Racial slurs directed at Black student in prospective students' Groupme
February 7, 2017 Emails threatening Black and Jewish students sent to engineering students' listserv
September 17, 2017 Three Black students had racial slurs written on their dorm room doors in West Quad
September 17, 2017 Downtown mural was defaced with graffiti supporting Dylann Roof. The graffiti also had anti-Black slurs.
April 25, 2017 West Hall Arch and CC Little - White supremacist group posts anti-Semitic stickers on Black Lives Matter posts. BLM posters were also torn down, although it is unknown if they are related.
September 20, 2017 Man arrested outside Union after punching and shouting n-word at at least one student
Daily Staff Reporter
LSA sophomore Kori Thomas was confronted with two unpleasant surprises one Friday morning in October of her freshman year. The first was a collection of racially charged flyers she found
posted outside her dorm, with subjects like “Black and White IQ Distributions” and “Lifetime Risk of HIV Diagnosis by Race/Ethnicity.” The second was the flood of aggressive and threatening replies she received after tweeting pictures of the posters. “You cant escape the meme magic. It wont stop until every
BUSINESS
A look at choice of game-day ensemble Licensed retailers, online clothing sellers among most popular for students RACHEL LEVY
Daily Staff Reporter
On mornings with home football games, collegiate men and women across campus rifle through piles of maize and blue clothing in an attempt to put together the perfect game day outfit. A game day outfit could be the most important form of garb University of Michigan students wear throughout their time at the University. Captured by Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and the like, what one wears on Saturday football lives on eternally in the realm of social media. Now, this demand for Michigan spirit wear could soon be leading to changes with local retailers. The Michigan Daily conducted a campus survey on student spirit wear choices to 500 randomly selected students, of which 56 students responded. Based on the survey results, 56.14 percent of respondents suggested their primary source of tailgating clothing was campus retailers, such as the M Den or Moe Sport Shops. The M Den, a staple University clothing store on State Street, See GAMEDAY, Page 3A
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white man and woman is woken up. #MAGA #AltRight,” another tweet read. Thomas was not expecting the high volume of replies, she said. There were 192 in total — some supporting her, but most reinforcing the message on the posters. In retrospect, she said, she might not have tweeted those pictures if she
State must validate 252,523 signatures for initiative to be on the ballot in 2018 ANDREW HIYAMA Daily Staff Reporter
DESIGN BY MICHELLE PHILLIPS
Students, faculty confronted by internet racism speak against hate ANDREW HIYAMA
Coalition petitioning for legal use of marijuana
had known the reactions she would receive. “I thought it might be a couple people, but it was so much, so I just kind of blocked it out,” Thomas said. “After that happened I just didn’t know how to deal with it. So if there was a better way not involving that (tweeting the pictures), I would See ONLINE, Page 3A
Recreational marijuana is now closer than ever to becoming permitted by law in Michigan. A ballot petition being circulated by the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol is “well past” 250,000 signatures, according to the group’s spokesman Josh Hovey. The state of Michigan requires 252,523 valid signatures for the initiative to make it onto the ballot in November 2018. Hovey says the group’s goal is to collect 350,000 signatures, to give themselves a cushion for invalid signatures — signatures that cannot be traced to a registered voter or signatures from a voter who has already signed — and
they aim to have everything submitted to the state by Nov. 22. If they are able to reach their goal, and the state validates at least 252,523 signatures, the initiative will then go to the legislature for a vote. If the bill fails in the legislature, it will then go on the ballot in Nov. 2018 for residents of Michigan to vote. Though he isn’t sure how it will fare in the legislature, state Rep. Yousef Rabhi, D-Ann Arbor, is optimistic about the proposal’s chances if it goes to the ballot in 2018. “I support the bill,” Rabhi said. “In terms of whether or not it is viable, I think that you are seeing unprecedented support, frankly, for this bill statewide. I think that the petition drive is going really well. I think that people are ready See PETITION, Page 3A
Community members walk to raise CSG votes awareness for suicide prevention to continue STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Students and city residents collect over $50,000 for mental health education ALEXIS RANKIN Daily Staff Reporter
Approximately 400 Ann Arbor community members embarked in unseasonably warm temperatures to raise awareness for suicide education and prevention by participating in the Out of the Darkness community walkSaturday morning in West Park. Out of the Darkness community walks took place nationwide this weekend with the aim of raising awareness about suicide prevention as well as funds for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to implement education and awareness strategies. The Ann Arbor walk was one of more than ten Out of the Darkness walks that took place in the state of Michigan over the weekend. According to Patricia Wheeler, chair of the walk and board member for the AFSP southeast Michigan chapter, this year’s Ann Arbor walk reported record breaking funds — surpassing their original goal of $30,000 dollars by raising over $50,000. “For this walk, today we have raised more money than any walk in Ann Arbor,” Wheeler said. The money raised came from donations from local organizations as well as funds raised by participating
teams and individuals. All the funds raised are used to raise awareness about suicide and to develop methods of education directed toward suicide prevention. “Fifty percent of the funds raised today stay in the southeast Michigan area to help with local education and prevention measures,” Wheeler said. “The other half goes to the national
organization, which is collectively the largest funder of suicide research.” Most participants were Ann Arbor community members including Ann Arbor residents, high school and University students, all of which were present to support the AFSP’s efforts to raise awareness. LSA senior Taylor Rovin joined the walk to show her support for suicide prevention
and participated on behalf of her feminist sorority, Zeta Omega Eta, which included the walk as part of their rush week events. “All of the rush events for my sorority are optional but I thought this one was really cool and an important event to be a part of,” Rovin said.
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JORDYN BAKER Daily Staff Reporter
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ROBERT BUECHLER/Daily
INDEX
The 2017 Leadership Engagement Scholarship aims to assist with finances
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Ann Arbor residents participate in the Out of the Darkness walk for suicide prevntion in Ann Arbor Saturday.
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fundraising program
Vol. CXXVII, No. 96 ©2017 The Michigan Daily
The Leadership Engagement Scholarship, approved in January by Central Student Government and designed to provide assistance to students who wish to become more involved on campus but may not have the financial means to do so, continues in its fundraising process despite no longer being a CSG initiative. The fundraising is led by LSA senior Micah Griggs, former CSG vice president, and Business junior Arathi Sabada, former CSG chief operating officer. At the beginning of their terms as CSG President and Vice President in 2016, David Schafer and Griggs, respectively, administered a demographic report to members of CSG, and found the results to be economically homogenous— 75 percent of the student governing body comes from homes earning over $100,000 a year. This report was one of several that made the CSG administration aware of how the University, specifically regarding students in leadership positions, lacks financial diversity. When CSG passed a resolution See SCHOLARSHIP, Page 3A
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SEPTEMBER 17, 1956— BIKES AND MORE BIKES: Thousands of bikes descended on the University campus last week, overflowing racks and jamming sidewalks. All bicycles must be licensed.
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CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES Israeli Palestinian Conflict Discussion
Social-context in Child Development
Intersecting Feminist and Biological Research
Economics, Suply Chain Management Talk
WHAT: Husam Jubran, a representative at the Synergos Institute, a nonprofit that examines issues of poverty, will disucss the use of nonviolence work in the Israeli Palestinian Conflict. WHO: Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies WHEN: 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. WHERE: Weiser Hall, Room 555
WHAT: Doctoral candidate Arianna Gard, who studies developmental psychology, will discuss the effects of parents and neighborhoods on children’s development. WHO: Department of Psychology WHEN: 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. WHERE: East Hall, Room 4464
WHAT: Several feminist scholars will discuss how biological scienes can be incorporated into feminist strategies. WHO: Institute for Research on Women and Gender WHEN: 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. WHERE: Rackham Graduate School, Assembly Hall
WHAT: Andrew Davis, an assistant professor at Cornell University, will discuss multidimensional bargaining in supply chains. WHO: Department of Economics WHEN: 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. WHERE: North Quad, Room 3100
Policy Careers in the Federal Government: Inside Perspective
Understanding the Power of Nonviolent Action
Blood in the Water: the Attica Prison Uprising
BeTroit: Film Screening, Performance, Q&A
WHAT: Hardy Merriman, a leader in civil resistance, will discuss nonviolent protest tactics to confront oppression. WHO: Michigan Community Scholars Program WHEN: 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. WHERE: Rackham Graduate School Ampitheatre
WHAT: A book reading and discussion with Professors Heather Ann Thompson and Angela Dillard. WHO: Institute for the Humanities WHEN: 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. WHERE: Hatcher Graduate Library, Gallery
WHAT: Watch a documentary detailing the results of a collaboration between Berlin and Detroit-based artists, as well as artist performances. WHO: Germanic Language & Literatures WHEN: 8:00 p.m. to 10 p.m. WHERE: North Quad, 2435
WHAT: Listen to alum Tim Stryker speak about opportunities for careers within the US government. WHO: University Career Center WHEN: 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. WHERE: Student Activites Building
Local organization discusses how to fight gentrification at Diag session Event first of two information sessions which will take place in Ann Arbor and Ypsi notice of the waves of people coming in and they begin to buy up property and open more and more expensive businesses,” Smith said. “Young people are flocking in. New restaurants are opening, along with coffee shops, bike stores, and places where juice costs seven dollars per bottle.” He said the influx of such businesses may seem like a “cultural revival,” but the reality is that businesses and landowners are simply making more profit — something that can be observed in Detroit and Ypsilanti, specifically. Smith also said as wealthy newcomers acquire more property and high-paying jobs, life becomes more expensive for the original residents; Monetary values go up, residents are evicted and policing tactics change,
JENNIFER MEER Daily Staff Reporter
Revolutionary Youth Alliance, A2/Ypsi, a locally-based organization aiming to fight against imperialism, racism, misogyny and other forms of oppression, held an informational meeting about the effects of gentrification and counter efforts Sunday afternoon in the Diag. LSA sophomore Jeff Smith, one of the leaders of the presentation, explained gentrification refers to the process by which less wealthy people are displaced from their neighborhoods by wealthier people. “People start moving in, individuals start moving in, unsupported by any government Sudoku Syndication … After that, wealthy individuals, real estate developers take
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734-418-4115 ext. 1241 based on the composition of the nathankg@michigandaily.com neighborhoods. “After a time, the level of wealth in gentrified neighborhoods begins to rise exponentially,” NEWS TIPS ARTS SECTION PHOTOGRAPHY SECTION he said. “The richer replace the news@michigandaily.com arts@michigandaily.com photo@michigandaily.com rich, high-rise condos begin to LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SPORTS SECTION NEWSROOM erase even middle-class housing, tothedaily@michigandaily.com sports@michigandaily.com 734-418-4115 opt. 3 anyone who is not rich or at least EDITORIAL PAGE ADVERTISING CORRECTIONS middle class is displaced and opinion@michigandaily.com dailydisplay@gmail.com corrections@michigandaily.com gentrification begins spilling over into other, less gentrified neighborhoods.” Smith said every time a new AMELIA CACCHIONE and EMMA RICHTER high-rise development goes up Managing Photo Editors photo@michigandaily.com in Ann Arbor, the rent goes up Senior Photo Editors: Zoey Holmstrom, Evan Aaron, Alexis Rankin, approximately two percent, REBECCA LERNER Zach Moore Managing Editor rebler@michigandaily.com even though the quality of the Assistant Photo Editors: Claire Meingast, Katelyn Mulcahy, Aaron Baker, Sam Mousigian, Kevin Zheng residence has not changed. ALEXA ST.JOHN Students have expressed LARA MOEHLMAN Managing News Editor alexastj@michigandaily.com Statement Editor statement@michigandaily.com concern over the new Senior News Editors: Riyah Basha, Tim Cohn, Lydia Murray, Deputy Statement Editor: Brian Kuang, Yoshiko Iwai Nisa Khan, Sophie Sherry developments, such as the one Assistant News Editors: Jordyn Baker, Colin Beresford, Rhea going up on South Univeristy, as Cheeti, Maya Goldman, Matt Harmon, Andrew Hiyama, Jen ELIZABETH DOKAS and TAYLOR GRANDINETTI ithttp://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ results in increasing rent costs Meer, Ishi Mori, Carly Ryan, Kaela Theut Managing Copy Editors copydesk@michigandaily.com and a lack of affordable housing ANNA POLUMBO-LEVY and REBECCA TARNOPOL Senior Copy Editors: Marisa Frey, Ibrahim Rasheed options. Editorial Page Editors opinioneditors@michigandaily.com Smith explained DYLAN LAWTON and BOB LESSER Senior Opinion Editors: Anu Roy-Chaudhury, Ashley Zhang, gentrification is the result of city Managing Online Editor lesserrc@michigandaily.com Max Lubell, Madeline Nowicki, Stephanie Trierweiler Senior Web Developers: Erik Forkin, Jordan Wolff councils providing tax breaks and cheap land to businesses BETELHEM ASHAME and KEVIN SANTO ABE LOFY Managing Sports Editors sportseditors@michigandaily.com that move into impoverished Managing Video Editor video@michigandaily.com Senior Sports Editors: Laney Byler, Mike Persak, Orion Sang, Senior Video Editors: Gilly Yerrington, Matt Nolan, Aarthi cities, as well as landlords Max Marcovich, Ethan Wolfe, Chris Crowder Janakiraman, Emily Wolfe who raise rents and evict Assistant Sports Editors: Rob Hefter, Avi Sholkoff, Matthew Kennedy, Paige Voeffray, Mark Calcagno, Jacob Shames longtime residents to attract JASON ROWLAND and ASHLEY TJHUNG Michigan in Color Editors michiganincolor@michigandaily.com new residents who are able to ANAY KATYAL and NATALIE ZAK Senior Michigan in Color Editors: Christian Paneda, Adam pay more, among several other Managing Arts Editors arts@michigandaily.com Brodnax, Halibut Olaniyan, Tanya Madhani, Sivanthy Vasanthan factors. Senior Arts Editors: Dayton Hare, Nabeel Chollanpat, Madeline Gaudin, Carly Snider Casey Adams, who works with Arts Beat Editors: Danielle Yacobson, Danny Hensel, Erika ELLIE HOMANT RYA and led the presentation Shevchek, Matt Gallatin, Naresh Iyengar Managing Social Media Editor with Smith, explained there are Senior Social Media Editors: Kayla Waterman and Anna Haritos MICHELLE PHILLIPS and AVA WEINER very few manufacturing jobs Managing Design Editors design@michigandaily.com available in Ypsilanti, and so people who do not have a college education are pushed into jobs in food service or retail. CAYLIN WATERS Brand Manager Adams noted there is a push for people to go to college, but EMILY RICHNER CLAIRE BUTZ Sales Manager Business Development Manager that college tuition, such as at JUEUI HONG JULIA SELSKY the University of Michigan, is Special Projects Manager Local Accounts Manager increasing dramatically; she CAROLINE GOLD SANJANA PANDIT also noted the median income of Media Consulting Manager Production Manager University students’ families is well above the average median The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the income. University OF Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office
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PETITION From Page 1A for this.” The initiative allows people aged 21 and over to purchase and possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana or 15 grams of marijuana concentrate and grow up to 12 marijuana plants in their homes for personal use. If passed, municipalities would be permitted to ban marijuana retailers and businesses within their jurisdictions, and public consumption and driving under the influence of marijuana would be forbidden. If the initiative makes it onto the ballot in 2018, Hovey feels confident it will pass. National support for recreational marijuana is at 61 percent, according to a CBS poll from April of this year, and Hovey says the numbers in Michigan are about the same. A Michigan Daily poll of 71 randomly selected students found that 72 percent of respondents would support such an initiative, with 13 percent opposed and 15 percent unsure. 96 percent of respondents said they supported medicinal marijuana, with 4 percent unsure. Hovey said the group’s primary motivations for pushing to legalize recreational marijuana are the ineffectiveness of the current marijuana laws and the resources wasted on enforcement of these laws. “We firmly believe that, just like with alcohol, the prohibition of marijuana has been a massive failure,” he said. “One, it hasn’t stopped people from using. Two, it unnecessarily is a waste of law
GAMEDAY From Page 1A has been serving the University since 1982. In 1992, it became the University’s official retailer, taking over a space in Yost Ice Arena. M Den owner Scott Hirth said they are currently working to further expand their retail space. “We’ve been doing this a long time and we’ve been trying to address all parts of the Michigan market,” Hirth said. “We just were able to take over the space above the Victors Collection, so there’s about 4,500 square feet that is under construction right now that is going to become a new expanded women’s department.” Hirth says this new space should be completed by homecoming weekend on Oct. 27 and will be
SCHOLARSHIP From Page 1A that would require a $5 student membership fee each semester in order to provide funds for the scholarship Leadership Engagement Scholarship, Joe Shea, former CSG communications director, expressed his support for the resolution. “The idea behind this resolution is one of solidarity,” Shea said in January. “As students, we understand how expensive it is just to go here … I try to remember that for some people at this university, it is simply not possible, and that is where something like the Leadership Engagement Scholarship comes into play.” This $5 fee faced some backlash, however, as several students and administrators felt it was contradictory to the scholarship’s purpose. When the resolution was originally introduced, Andy Snow, former Rackham student representative, articulated his displeasure with the idea of a student fee.
Monday, September 25, 2017 — 3A
enforcement resources and it puts tens of thousands of people into the criminal justice system every year for using what is essentially a plant that has been found to be less harmful than tobacco, less harmful than alcohol.” Fifty-nine percent of respondents to the Daily’s survey said they had used marijuana for recreational purposes at least once in the past. The same percentage –– though not necessarily the same respondents –– said the legalization of recreational marijuana would not increase their likelihood of using. Thirty-one percent said it would, and 10 percent said they were unsure. LSA senior Enrique Zalamea, president of the University’s chapter of College Republicans, said he supported the legalization of recreational marijuana both for ideological and practical reasons. “My main reason, coming from a conservative background, in supporting recreational use is mainly because I don’t believe that the government should tell individuals what they can and can’t do in certain regards, especially if this is a plant that has been used for medical purposes,” Zalamea said. “There’s not very much scientific background that it does cause heart attacks or cause all of the different medical complications that people make it out to.” Additionally, he said, the state could save a substantial amount of money if it did not have to enforce the current prohibition on recreational marijuana. “There’s such a huge cost that’s incurred when you try and police marijuana and enforce the illegal aspect of marijuana. We could
use the kind of money that states spend on enforcing small amounts of marijuana to keep real criminals in prison, for infrastructure, for education.” And funding infrastructure and education is precisely what the proposal would do. In addition to the state’s 6 percent sales tax, there would be a 10 percent excise tax levied on the sale of marijuana. Thirty percent of the revenue from that tax would go to counties and municipalities with marijuana retailers, 35 percent would go to the state’s school aid fund for K-12 education, and 35 percent would go to the state’s transportation fund, which funds repairs of roads and bridges. Though passage of the law would be a radical change for most of the state, marijuana possession has been decriminalized in Ann Arbor since 1972. Public Policy senior Rowan Conybeare, chair of the University’s chapter of College Democrats, said she thinks the disparity between Ann Arbor and the rest of the state, and the discriminatory enforcement of the law, is unfair. “It’s a low-level drug. It’s decriminalized in Ann Arbor –– you get a $25 fine and that’s it,” Conybeare said. “And it’s crazy that in other places people are getting arrested and incarcerated. I think it’s also important to look at the racial disparities. We’re destabilizing these people’s lives for a low-level crime when other people are just getting off with it.” Rabhi agreed, adding the illegality of marijuana pushes people to use it in less-than-safe conditions.
“People use marijuana now. The prohibition on pot is not working in the way that people are thinking it’s working,” Rabhi said. “What it’s doing is pushing people into the shadows who are going to be using marijuana anyway, which can lead to unsafe conditions for marijuana usage. By bringing it out of the shadows, we can make sure that people are using safe quantities, that what they are using is as pure as possible and as low of a health risk as possible.” Though the ballot initiative appears to be on the brink of success, at least in terms of clearing the bar of required signatures, it isn’t without opposition. Keep Pot Out of Neighborhoods and Schools is a coalition that emerged to oppose the initiative. Gary Gordon, an attorney for the group, did not respond to requests for comment. At a May meeting of the Board of State Canvassers reported by the Detroit News, however —where the wording of the initiative was approved by the board — Gordon spoke in opposition to the bill’s provision allowing homegrown marijuana. “They don’t have to be licensed and they are not taxed,” he said. “There’s not regulation at all on that.” According to a press release from the group, they are “committed to making certain every citizen, especially our kids, are protected from the unregulated proliferation of pot being made available across Michigan.”
revolutionary to the collegiate apparel market for women. “It’s going to be the biggest women’s department in all of college campuses,” Hirth said. “It’s the women’s segment of the market that, frankly, manufacturers haven’t done a good enough job on. That’s changing, and it’s not as good as it needs to be yet but it’s certainly moving in the right direction.” The M Den has also recently begun to bring in bigger brands, including the University’s switch to Nike and Pink by Victoria’s Secret, the newest addition. “The key driver to us doing that expansion is the arrival of Pink,” Hirth said. “For collegeaged women, that brand is highly sought after. And if you’ve seen the product, it’s great product.” “It’s gonna be like nobody has seen before,” Hirth added.
The M Den is not the only retailer conscious of the failure to provide equal quantities of sports apparel to women. A League of Our Own, a company founded by LSA sophomore Gabrielle Gedeon and Engineering sophomore Lauren Reynolds, produces University-inspired athletic hats that are designed specifically for women. “I created a brand of hats because I realized that there is such a demand for ball caps for women and there aren’t really well-fitting hats out there,” Gedeon said. “It’s a relaxed fit, it’s not as structured as a man’s hat.” Gedeon and Reynolds were roommates last year at South Quad, where the idea initially took off. “I never used to wear hats until I saw this lady come in with her big box of hats,” Gedeon said
describing her first encounter with Reynolds. “She got me a Michigan hat and I’m obsessed with it, and I wanted to create my own. I knew what people were looking for.” A League of Our Own is not just a hat company. According to their website’s mission statement: “Baseball caps are usually made for the male audience, A League of Our Own has tailored hats just for women. Our feminine design starts with college women who are in a position to evoke change. We strive to influence and empower our community to create the lives that they want to lead.” Reynolds added their focus is to empower women and disrupt the male-dominated realm of sports.
“At the end of the day, I don’t care that it’s generally going to help students who need money — I see the student fee as basically a regressive tax for students the most, in general, and I do find it massively, massively insulting that we just act like financial aid covers it,” Snow said in January. “People take out loans and pay, not only that fee, but finally pay back quite a bit when they finally get the money to do it, so without reducing where people pay, I will not be able to support this.” Those organizing the scholarship hope to have its funds available by the fall of 2018. These funds, however, will no longer come from the student fee. Griggs stated while this method has been discontinued, fundraising and advocacy events will continue to be utilized to raise both the monies and advocacy. “In the past we’ve done fundraising on campus,” she said. “We participated in Giving Blue Day and that was really successful, and we’ve also done fundraising and received donations from alumni, students, people who
were heavily involved in student organizations on campus while they were students here. We use a plethora of channels to increase funding for the scholarship.” As an endowed scholarship, one with large contributions and a permanent establishment, Griggs foresees a long future of success in helping students achieve their goals through leadership and campus involvement. She also thinks having students at the forefront of the scholarship, specifically by spreading the word and helping to organize fundraising, the scholarship will be one that will continue to provide assistance for those who need it most. At the end of the 2016-2017 school year, and at the end of Schafer and Griggs’ terms as CSG President and Vice President, Schafer, in an interview with the Daily, spoke of his pride in the initiative and his optimism that its success will continue to affect students in a positive way.
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ONLINE From Page 1A have considered it, but I just thought that was the best way at the time.” According to Austin McCoy, Michigan Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral fellow, tweeting pictures of racially charged flyers found on campus is just what you shouldn’t do –– a lesson he, too, learned the hard way after posting pictures of racist flyers he found. “We posted them on social media, mostly as a way to raise awareness of what’s going on. Like, ‘This happened, here’s proof.’ But then, three hours, I just started getting all kinds of nasty tweets that were either reinforcing the messages on the flyer, or just attacking me personally,” McCoy said. “But then I was like, ‘Okay, I see what they’re doing. They’re basically using us trying to raise awareness around this to basically hijack it. They’re trying to demonstrate what they’re doing through what we post.’ And that’s when I was like, ‘Okay, we just can’t reproduce any of their fliers online.’ “ And the public incidents of racism on campus have only grown more frequent since students returned to campus. Days before school commenced, racially charged writing was found on the Rock. On Sept. 17, racial slurs were found written on the dorm name tags of several Black students in West Quad. Hours earlier, graffiti was found on a mural downtown. During a protest of the incidents Wednesday night, a man observing got out of his car and, after shouting profanities and racial slurs at students, got into a physical altercation with at least one student. The 24-year-old man, who was not affiliated with the University according to Diane Brown, Division of Public Safety and Security spokesperson, was arrested for disorderly conduct and later released pending warrant authorization. “When the investigation is completed, it will be submitted to the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office for review and authorization of any charges,” Brown wrote in an email interview. “That should take a few days to a few weeks.” But more often than not in these incidents, the perpetrators’ identities go completely unknown. Though DPSS opened an investigation into
the vandalism at West Quad, nothing so far has come of it –– perpetrators have not been found for any of the racially charged graffiti, posters or emails this year or last. Investigations were opened into some other incidents as well. When an anonymous source sent out a series of emails to Computer Science and Engineering undergraduate students, threatening to kill Black and Jewish students, and “spoofing” the emails to make them appear to be sent by a University professor, DPSS opened an investigation to find the source, partnering with the FBI. “Spoofing incidents, particularly with email, can be very complex and difficult to investigate,” Brown wrote. “Often these investigations require the involvement of federal partners to work with foreign governments to follow the international trail.” Sol Bermann, the University’s interim chief information security officer, agreed on the difficulty of catching the people responsible for emails like the ones that were sent. “It is very difficult to catch the perpetrators of these sorts of acts because of the wide availability of anonymous IT services, like email,” Bermann wrote in an email interview. Bermann explained how the University goes about finding and fixing holes in its online network. “The university routinely monitors and responds to reports of new vulnerabilities along with information from intelligence sources and the U-M IT community,” Bermann wrote. “We determine the risk of any vulnerability that could contribute to a serious IT security incident, looking at factors such as whether exploit code is available, whether exploits are occurring, if U-M systems are at risk, and more. Alerts, advisories and notices are then sent to the IT Security Community and other IT groups. Ultimately, online security begins with every student, staff and faculty member.” The DPSS-FBI investigation, however, remains open. For Thomas and many other students, that fact doesn’t inspire confidence in the ability of the University to protect them from such attacks.
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Opinion
4A — Monday, September 25, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
HANK MINOR | COLUMN
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BEN BUGAJSKI | OP-ED
Straight men need safe spaces, too
S
afe spaces have inspired passionate debate in higher education: They’re either necessary to help students deal with microaggressions and trigger warnings, or they criticize a university for coddling and sheltering students. While I thankfully have never experienced the need to enter a safe space, I believe in the premise of safe spaces to help students process the painful parts of becoming adults and facing real challenges in the world. That’s why, as a male feminist, I believe that straight men need safe spaces, too. Safe spaces for men have been described and defended by one such safe space moderator at the University of British Columbia, Ryan Avola. He argues that to combat toxic masculinity, men need a space to talk out their conceptions of gender. Otherwise, they force women and people of color to have the conversation for them. I agree with this; however, I also think the discourse surrounding gender has been radicalized by both feminists and conservatives, creating a vicious feedback loop of more and more extreme positions. If the end goal is to educate straight men on the complexities of privilege, insulating them among themselves is the first step to stopping this cycle.
Masculinity must evolve to adapt to a new world.
Toxic masculinity is a form of masculinity that enforces and perpetuates sexual conquest and violence. Critics have arg ued toxic masculinity leads to domestic violence and g un violence, and it imprisons men just as much at it harms women. Most importantly, toxic masculinity reinforces itself throughout a man’s life. From an effeminate boy being called a “faggot” to a sensitive teen being told to “grow a pair” to a cooperative man being urged to “take control,” toxic masculinity breeds competition and domination among men. This creates a system where competition, loudly voicing your opinion and stoicism are valued and “feminine” values like cooperation, listening to others and expressing your emotions are, literally, defeated. These “manly” values were certainly useful at a time. Back when we were huntergatherers, it was important to have someone who shot first and listened after because we faced so many bodily threats. However, humanity has evolved beyond our primitive roots, and now traits like working in a team and communicating verbally are valued highly by none other than Forbes. Guess which gender these are traditionally
associated with? Not maleness. All this is to say that masculinity must evolve to adapt to a new world where communication conquers competition, where listening trounces overpowering opinions and where expressing empathy edges out emotional indifference. To overcome this, straight men need spaces to talk
To combat toxic masculinity, men need a space to talk out their conceptions of gender.
about gender without women. As a Women’s Studies major, I am comfortable talking about gender and the pitfalls of masculinity. However, I have yet to encounter a Women’s Studies class (and especially a discussion section of a class) in which men aren’t unilaterally designated the problem of life. I have often felt uncomfortable expressing a more moderate opinion in polarized, radicalized spaces, which is detrimental to educational conversations in academia and gender politics in general. This implicit policing of discourse perpetuates the idea that men themselves are the issue when, in reality, the problem is toxic masculinity. Female feminists: Imagine you’re told that something you can’t control — your gender — is everything wrong with the world. The point of criticizing men’s actions is to criticize the toxic masculinity that inspired them. However, this nuance is often lost in one-sided conversations that devolve into a laundry list of (legitimate) harms that toxic masculinity has inflicted upon women and people of color. There is a critical difference in criticizing the dominant expression of maleness and criticizing the unknowing expresser of this harmful masculinity. If you were a man, would you really listen to the rest of the argument? Of course you’d get defensive, because why the hell wouldn’t you? After a few class periods, you’d start to hate all the “feminazis” and zone out for all the discussions of the perpetuation of gender inequality. There’s probably a 50-50 chance you’d start beginning sentences with, “Well, actually…” This is exactly why straight men need safe spaces to discuss gender. I understand and identify with feminism, but most men don’t understand the difference between healthy and toxic masculinity. They don’t understand that their behavior is perpetuating gender inequality because
their personal experiences don’t align with accounts of the harm they cause. By acting as straight men are supposed to act, they’ve reaped the rewards of oppressing others. White men, in particular, are primed to not understand that their race and gender advantage them, and having women and people of color seemingly jump down their throats about their very existence makes them defensive. It’s not necessarily being privileged that stif les them from accepting the gender and racial hierarchy, it’s the feeling of being attacked that stif les them from listening. The very tactics feminists have adopted to become heard in a patriarchal society have alienated men and stopped them from listening. If in a patriarchal society men overpower and silence women, then let’s use men to spread the message. Straight men need a space where they can accidentally misgender someone or make an inadvertent misogynistic comment or admit that they don’t understand structural racism and won’t immediately be pounced on. It’s all part of growing pains. If we understood these forces from the get-go, then they wouldn’t need explanation. This is not to say these comments are okay. However, undoing a lifetime of socialization is a long, tedious process and telling someone to check their privilege only exacerbates the hostility.
What men really need are male role models of healthy masculinity. And, of course, the people who benefit most from homophobic, misogynistic, racist systems are the last to realize they’re stacked in their favor. The problem is that this won’t be fixed until these exact people realize they are the beneficiaries of the system, and while the originally-female gender theorists have done their piece, at this point what men really need are male role models of healthy masculinity. Straight men need safe spaces to discuss structural inequalities without women or people of color because, like everyone, they feel most comfortable listening to people who share their social identities and experiences, which is what a safe space provides. These are uncomfortable conversations, and instilling values of equity takes time that women and people of color understandably don’t have the patience for. However, until that point is reached, then maybe straight men need other straight men to teach them the error of their ways.
Ben Bugajski is an LSA senior.
I
We all SHARE the risk
t can be easy to feel insulated from national events on campus — the demands of coursework, social involvement and employment create a barrier between our world, campus and the larger country. The nature of academia, though, means that we must be more alert than average; our responsibility to be politically engaged is enhanced, not diminished, by our status as students. But sometimes, important pieces of legislation often remain ignored by students. One such example is the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act, which House Republicans have recently sent to the f loor for a vote after a brief, tasteful pause on debate following the shooting of Steve Scalise, R-La., House of Representatives Majority Whip. Among other things, the bill would dramatically loosen regulations pertaining to gun silencers, making them much easier to obtain. Ostensibly to protect the hearing of hunters and other responsible gun owners, this bill — in serving no benefit beyond alternatives like inexpensive hearing protection — exists to soothe fears in the short term at the cost of significant human damage in the long term. Silencers, also referred to as “suppressors,” were invented in the early 20th century and quickly put to use by the United States’s military. Most states allow for the purchase and use of silencers, though federal law seems to recognize their criminal danger: Violent crimes committed with a silencer carry a minimum sentence of thirty years in prison. Silencers, as of today, face somewhat burdensome regulation — they require a
$200 transfer tax and have a license waiting time of up to nine months. In addition to this, they can cost more than $1,000. All of these factors work to make silencers fairly rare; there are fewer than one million being used by civilians in the United States, compared to nearly 300 million guns. SHARE would reverse this. At risk of being controversial, I don’t believe you need a silencer to hunt deer, as is legal in 40 states. At even greater risk, I don’t believe you need a silencer for self-defense (neither you nor the person causing you to fear for your life will be in a position to mind the noise). SHARE is opposed by many police organizations and gun control groups, and for good reason. Silencers decrease a weapon’s recoil, allowing for greater accuracy. They also, of course, disguise the gun’s noise, potentially making it harder for targets to identify a shooter. It’s important to remember we aren’t discussing a toy to be used in gun clubs or a novel alternative to ear protection — these are devices designed explicitly to increase one’s ability to kill. A cynical faction of Democrats has suggested the gun debate is one the left should retreat from — that gun control must be sacrificed to other political priorities. This speculation, I think, fails to consider the real point of being — and voting — “progun.” This segment of the electorate doesn’t comprise constitutional purists who want to protect their interpretation of the framers’ intent, it comprises people who are afraid — afraid of inadequacy, of the “other,” of being vulnerable to the Democrats and government overreach.
I characterize them this way because there were about 750,000 guns sold the month following the Sept. 11 attacks, but more than one million the month following Barack Obama’s first election and roughly two million following his re-election. Sales rose again toward the end of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, when she seemed guaranteed to win. It would be ridiculous for the left to sacrifice this issue because of an opposing argument based in fear, especially a fear of them, their political opposition. Backtracking on gun control thus fails to win votes and leaves the country without a coalition saying, “Perhaps we should reign in the civilian ability to cause massive loss of life, both to themselves and to others.” I would be remiss not to mention the Democrats actually supporting this bill. I don’t understand what, even with possible threats in 2018 and 2020, a Democrat has to fear simply holding the line on gun restrictions. Conservative voters won’t remember or care that you voted for SHARE, and your left-wing base will see it as a betrayal. The reward — whether measured in votes gained or campaign dollars from the National Rif le Association — is minuscule compared to the risk. As Donald Trump decries “bad dudes on both sides,” and as Republicans warn of the “militant left,” I would appeal to House members’ selfinterest: if not for the safety of your country and its people, for your own.
Hank Minor can be reached at hminor@umich.edu.
RACHEL BEGLIN | OP-ED
Capitalizing on anti-capitalism
S
pider-Man: Homecoming” was not a particularly important nor life-altering must-see movie of the summer. But when I left the theater, something was off. I couldn’t figure out why I was so bothered by the edgy, cynical character that Zendaya plays; I agreed with everything she was saying! When she looked up at the Washington Monument and refused to go inside because it was built by slaves, I was slow-clapping along with her. The movie mentions, but fails to unpack or address, other societal problems through a liberal lens, from the correcting of “Indian” to “Native American” to a visible demonstration of the tension between white- and blue-collar workers. I’m pretty sure this is the first Marvel film to open with a line shutting down racism. But at another point in the film, Zendaya’s character mentions that she’s going to protest without detailing what exactly she’s protesting. In this, her “cool” revolutionary attitude transformed into something reminiscent of the notorious Kendall Jenner Pepsi commercial — idealizing a purposeless gathering of people who “protest” because it’s fun and hip, not as substantial, tactical resistance to state violence. It appears, then, that Zendaya’s character was written as an archetype — to make the film seem “woke.” We see this capitalization on radical anti-capitalist movements outside the movie theater, too. Walk into any shopping mall in the United States and I bet you can find five different blouses with the word FEMINIST emblazoned on them. Maybe in sequins. I wonder: Do the people purchasing these cute tees that broadcast their liberal beliefs realize that partaking in this transaction supports the capitalist pressures of fast fashion, an industry that often employs women in underprivileged countries to
work in dangerous conditions? Do they realize supporting stores like H&M supports the hyper-competitive capitalist system that breeds inequality, not only socioeconomically but amongst sexes, sexualities, races, religions and ethnicities? It raises these questions: Are we bad people for buying these shirts? Are we bad people for paying $8 at Goodrich Quality Theaters to watch Tom Holland take his shirt off and Zendaya recite carefully crafted lines about political awareness? How many elephants are your elephant pants saving after the cotton has been grown and fertilized and processed and dyed and packaged and shipped to your house?
It appears, then, that Zendaya’s character was written as an archetype — to make the film seem “woke.” This is where the jury’s still out. Because even though there’s something inherently antithetical to corporations and businesses making money off our anti-consumerist, anti-capitalist, pro-equity mentality, perhaps there is something to be said about how proud people are to be radical, liberal and feminist in 2017. Maybe it’s a good thing that we are wearing our identities on our sleeves – literally – if that means conversations are starting and people are joining the movement. Maybe some people will walk away from this Spider-Man movie inspired by Zendaya’s character and participate in the next protest or vigil on campus. If you go to a protest just to post about it on social media, despite its paid ads and sponsorships, you still went, right? You were
counted just like everyone who didn’t post about it. You might have been less engaged, doing it for liberal brownie points, but you did go. It’s impossible to tell what the net impact of this marketing technique is going to be. If some commercial producer thought that showing Kendall Jenner in a protest would get more people to buy Pepsi, doesn’t that say something wonderful about our political landscape, even if the video was crude and disingenuous? It does signal that the exercise of our First Amendment rights of assembly and free speech are important to young people. We are getting political, and we are demanding to be heard. If these capitalist trends are mere ref lections of our cultural values in the 21st century, then it’s incredibly exciting that feminist T-shirts and elephant pants are f lying off shelves. Even if the wrong entities are receiving the monetary benefits, at least our children are growing up in a world where it’s cool to care about real issues in real time. Perhaps the next step is recognizing that our values are being exploited and realizing that we don’t need the Toms, the FEMINIST tees or the elephant pants to make our point. Don’t get me wrong — I’m not preaching to be holierthan-thou. I shop at these malls. I pay for these movies. I try my best, but I know that in my everyday actions and purchases I, too, am surely supporting and upholding power structures that I would find morally unacceptable if I looked a little closer. We live, work and play in a capitalist society, and it’s only fair that we treat ourselves with some patience and forgiveness when we get sucked into its ploys, while still holding industries accountable for their paradoxical products and marketing strategies.
Rachel Beglin is an LSA senior.
Arts
5 — Monday, September 25, 2017
TV REVIEW
STARZ “Outlander” has returned
‘Outlander’ premiere has historical roots, romance
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
What makes a series like “Outlander” so different from shows of a similar nature is their ability to portray the historical reality of gruesome battle scenes. It’s easy to create a wonderfully brutal battle scene from scratch, but to portray a moment in history alongside the familiar characters is something special indeed. The Battle of Culloden, from which the aftermath is depicted in the first half of the season premiere, is one of the most significant clashes in British history in a struggle against the Jacobite rising. Gruesome and bloody, “Outlander” holds nothing back in depicting the battle and the fall of many of last season’s heroes. Most of which is told through f lashbacks as Jamie relives the most gruesome moments of battle in his isolation. From walking through the woods to lying atop a pile of fallen Jacobites, Jamie is obviously living in his own personal hell, mourning the loss of Claire all the while. Though each season brings a new chapter into the lives of Jamie and Claire, one thing
that fans can always count on are the misty eyes that are likely to occur when watching “Outlander.” Whether it be through Jamie’s anguish conveyed in a single look or the young Jacobites who are physically led to their own
This is mainly accomplished through quiet scenes that are able to speak volumes
execution, this season is no exception to the pulling of the heartstrings. As much as Jamie suffers, as does Claire, which is, of course, ref lected in a more modern sense. Deciding to complete her education in medical school, she faces blatant discrimination which serves to remind us of a time
not so long ago. But it’s not only her professional reputation that suffers under the weight of another life. At home, Frank smoothly accepts Jamie’s child as his own, though he struggles to share Claire with Jamie. But with good reason. Even in the throes of passion, Claire cannot look Frank in the eyes, preferring to simply make love to her husband. Except her husband lies separated in the past by 200 years and far across the Atlantic. Not only does the “Outlander” premiere encompass the best of the series, but also the best of the reality of Claire and Jamie’s situations. While it’s obvious that Claire’s marriage to Frank is all but destroyed by her devotion to her rough and rugged husband, it’s a sharp blow to see the mournful reality of a marriage destined to fail play out on screen. However, as Jamie struggles more than we’ve ever seen him, we cannot help but anticipate a welcome reunion between the lovers. After all, history does have a tendency to repeat itself.
FILM REVIEW
The new series explores the intracacies of Jamie and Claire’s relationship as they enter the next chapter of their lives in the show MEGAN MITCHELL Daily Arts Writer
Based off the novels by Diana Gabaldon, “Outlander” follows the story of Claire (Caitriona Balfe, “Now You See Me”), a young army nurse whose single touch to a henge circle transports her to the Scottish Highlands in 1743. Torn between two worlds, Claire must make the impossible decision to remain in the past or return to the present, where a previous life awaits her return. This dualism, emphasized often throughout the series, was especially poignant in the premiere of the third season of the steamy series, as both Jamie (Sam
Heughan, “Doctors”) and metaphor for the new lifestyle Claire struggle to adjust to a which Claire is struggling life without one another. to adapt. Though she has This is mainly accomplished returned to her own time and through quiet scenes that is living happily in Boston with are able to speak volumes, her husband Frank (Tobias sometimes Menzies, “Game without uttering of Thrones”), Outlander a single word. a part of her Moments as still remains Series 3 — 2 simple as a man in the Scottish episodes playing bagpipes Highlands with on the corner of Jamie. Cooking reviewed the university over the fire reminds viewers rather than on STARZ of the double life the stove, she Mondays at that Claire has responds almost not only lived, automatically 8:00 pm but continues to that her husband live. A Scottish much prefers it — song playing the line that once quietly and unexpectedly separated Jamie from Frank is on the streets is the perfect beginning to visibly blur.
RELEASE DATE– Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Sales pitch 6 Outback birds 10 Sunup 14 Café lure 15 Clickable webpage word 16 Home to billions 17 Grass shortener 18 Apart from that 19 Slightly wet 20 Julie Andrews’ “The Sound of Music” role 23 Risk, e.g. 24 Healthful berry 25 Jimmy Fallon hosts it 31 “Homeland” spy org. 32 Taxi 33 Nebraska city 34 “Apocalypse Now” setting, familiarly 35 Gathering for fans of graphic novels, anime, etc. 38 Delivery vehicle 39 Painting need 41 Microwave 42 Valuable rock 43 Avengers member with a patriotic shield 48 Tolstoy’s Karenina 49 Dutch cheese 50 9/26/1957 Broadway debut featuring the consecutive songs found at the start of 20Across, the middle of 25Across and the end of 43-Across 55 With 50-Down, tightrope walker’s place 56 Oscar winner Kazan 57 Aquafina rival 59 Craving 60 Accelerates, with “up” 61 Foolish 62 Military meal 63 Cafeteria carrier 64 V-formation fliers
DOWN 46 Suitable for all 31 “Closing Bell” 1 “Casablanca” ages, filmwise channel pianist 47 Apple software for 35 Repetitive shout 2 Formal school creating videos at a protest dance 50 See 55-Across 36 Required little 3 Corn Belt state 51 Omelet effort 4 Rise into view ingredients 37 Newspaper 5 Cattleman’s rope 52 Prima donna opinion pieces 6 Late morning hr. 40 Secret supplies 53 Ready for picking 7 Venus de __ 54 Toy dog’s barks 44 Add to text, as a 8 Disentangle 55 Play a kazoo missing letter 9 Quick drawing 58 TV’s “Science 45 Carpenter, at 10 Arp’s art Guy” times movement 11 Right away, in a ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: memo 12 Namby-pamby person 13 Midday snooze 21 Gas brand that had a torch in its logo 22 Florida’s Boca __ 25 Pageant winner’s crown 26 Exaggerate, as a stage role 27 Spanish island in the Mediterranean 28 Devastation that’s wreaked 29 Scarlett of Tara 30 Decrease in intensity 09/26/17 xwordeditor@aol.com
By Peter Gordon ©2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
09/26/17
WARNER BROS. “Friend Request” playing in theaters now
‘Friend Request’ is every bit as insipid as expected
The film is more horrifying in its execution than anything else JEREMIAH VANDERHELM Daily Arts Writer
“Friend Request” is a train wreck of a motion picture, every bit as stupid and borderline offensive as a movie with the tagline “Evil is trending” is expected to be. The trio sitting behind me in the theater apparently caught on early, and after ten minutes, they left, whispering, “If we leave now we can make the next showing of ‘It.’” If I’d had any idea what was about to ensue, I would have followed them. The film tells the story of Laura (Alycia Debnam-Carey, “Fear the Walking Dead”), a pretty, popular, perfect college student who adds a shy girl from one of her classes, Marina (Liesl Ahlers, “Inside Job”), as a friend online. However, after Marina begins to exhibit strange behavior, Laura unfriends her, leading Marina to take her own life. Soon people start dying, and it becomes apparent that some remnant of Marina is still terrorizing Laura. But that isn’t the worst part. As people start dying, Laura starts losing friends online. Can she and her friends stop this malevolent force before more people die? And can they do it before, unthinkably, her friend count hits zero? On the most basic level possible, “Friend Request” is a monumentally ill-advised movie. People die frequently and horribly, yet the main characters are continually interested in how this is affecting their social media
image instead. The film features several cutaways showing the friend count of the main character dropping closer and closer to zero, and it treats this with the gravest importance. In a smarter movie, this might have been played as an intentional joke, a satire of our increasingly social media obsessed society. Unfortunately, despite
“Friend Request” Ann Arbor 20 + IMAX, Goodrich Quality 16 Warner Bros. attempts at ham-fisted messaging about internet addiction – there are moments the screenwriter may as well grab you by the throat and scream in your face, “SEE! THE INTERNET IS EVIL!” for all the subtlety on display – nothing ever comes of it, and it just seems in bad taste. Of course, in a story that demonizes those with mental illness and valorizes the people who on more than one occasion call the target of their ridicule a “bitch,” that’s about par for the course. That leads into the biggest problems of “Friend Request,” the characters, who are easily organizable into two camps. There is Laura, who is perfect and popular and never does anything wrong and is the most boring member of the ensemble as a result. Then there’s
everyone else, who spend their time riddling off relevant exposition and heroically insulting a suicide victim. In fact, the most sympathetic character of the whole ordeal is Melanie herself, who is given a tragic backstory that means her actions, if not condonable, are at least understandable. The horror is riddled with the same kind of brainless jump scares that always populate this sort of f lick. Every other scene, a character wanders off on their own, and something jumps out at them and screams, and because humanity has a fight-orf light ref lex, we scream, too. It’s lazy and predictable, but again, it’s par for the course. And of course, the whole thing wraps up with one last scare that makes no sense, but as a horror movie in 2017, is required to give it the illusion of weight. Likeable characters, a well thought out plot, and competent scares might have done the same thing, but that would apparently be asking just too darn much. It’s hard to articulate how much I hated “Friend Request.” I hated the way it vilifies those with mental illness and implicitly advocates avoiding them at all cost. I hated that it treats the people who ridicule them as some sort of heroes. I hated the characters. I hated the story. Most of all, I hated that just two weeks after “It” showed us what an incredible cinematic experience the horror genre is capable of delivering, “Friend Request” is here to remind us of the predictable, boring, insipid drivel it usually is.
Arts
6A — Monday, September 25, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
large part to the writing based on Jeff Bauman’s own memoir, “Stronger” is distinguished by its ability to convey drama without dramatic tropes. Finally, “Stronger” also challenges the survivor narrative, complicating the term “hero” and humanizing the process of dealing with trauma. One of the main threads of the film is the Bauman family’s effort to
FILM REVIEW
substantialize the city of Boston’s idolization of Bauman as a hero, transforming him into a symbol for Boston Strong. However, the film challenges this process and focuses on Bauman’s relationship with the word “hero,” his PTSD and his love for the city. Ultimately, “Stronger” explores the tensions involved in the commodification of trauma and the exploitative nature of
turning Bauman into a symbol of hope, while simultaneously emphasizing the incredible importance of community in Boston and the collective bond shared by its people. Though layered in its portrayal of Boston Strong, the film is a testament to the collective strength of the city and the inspirational importance of Jeff Bauman.
ARTS WAS A LITTLE GRUMPY TODAY. WE HAD A ROUGH WEEKEND. ROADSIDE PRODUCTIONS ‘Stronger’ explores the story of Jeff Bauman
E-mail arts@michigandaily.com for information on applying.
‘Stronger’ appropriately complicates Boston Strong David Gordan Green’s recent film starring Jake Gyllenhaal tells the story of a Boston marathon runner who lost his legs SYDNEY COHEN Daily Arts Writer
“Stronger” is the real-life story of Jeff Bauman, a native Bostonian who lost his legs in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and became a symbol of hope for the city in the trying time following. In this captivating and intensely sad film, director David Gordon Green (“Our Brand Is Crisis”) seamlessly explores Bauman’s deep internal struggle and his relationships with his family and his girlfriend, while also emphasizing the collective grief felt by the city of Boston. With deeply moving performances by Jake Gyllenhaal (“Okja”) and Tatiana Maslany (“Orphan Black”), “Stronger” moves slowly and powerfully. The film portrays love, adversity and the human condition in a wholly genuine and heartwrenching story centered around two people’s devotion to each other. Bauman’s story is masterfully expressed by Gyllenhaal, an actor who has proven time and again his incredible range and depth of emotion. While critical discourse questions the ability and morality of an ablebodied actor playing a disabled character, Gyllenhaal’s eloquent performance rewards the casting of a deeply interior actor rather than focusing on the ability of the actor’s
body. As Bauman, Gyllenhaal communicates the physical trials of even the most mundane things after his double amputation, such as going to the bathroom and getting out of bed. His physicality as an actor is unbelievable; Gyllenhaal moves his body in a way that works to eliminate the distinction between his actual body and the one he portrays on screen. While this discrepancy is understandably problematic, it is emotional and convincing nonetheless. Gyllenhaal also portrays Bauman’s emotional
“Stronger” Roadside Attractions Rave Theater
turmoil, his surface-level reliance on humor in response to his condition in contention with a deeper interrogation of himself as a man. The film not only centers around Bauman’s personal struggle following the Boston Marathon bombing, but also on his relationship with his girlfriend Erin Hurley (Maslany). Their on-again off-again relationship is complicated when Bauman shows up to support Hurley in the marathon, which inevitably ends traumatically
for both of them. However, the trauma only further solidifies their personal connection as the two navigate love, understanding and selfishness. This relationship is the driving force of the film, deeply honest in its portrayal of human connection. Maslany is spectacular, expressing devotion and confusion in subtle and intertwined ways, exemplified in her consistent clashing with Bauman’s mother (Miranda Richardson, “Testament of Youth”). With her dynamic performance Maslany solidifies her place as a high caliber actor in tandem with Gyllenhaal. The film’s ultimate strength lies in its avoidance of clichés in telling the Marathon bombing narrative. In other words, the film doesn’t over-dramatize the event and its aftermath. The bombing itself happens almost quietly, without jarring camera movements or suspenseful music; Green forgoes drama and instead relies on the audience’s common understanding of the gravity of the event. Moreover, the film does not shy away from painful but genuine moments in the narrative. One of the most memorable scenes in the film is the one in which the nurses change Bauman’s wound dressing, and he feels for the first time the excruciating pain of his amputated legs. This scene is long and straightforward and raw, and acutely honest. Due in
COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW
Value the Voice: toward inclusivity on our campus A new series based around the art of storytelling is coming to UMMA starting this Tuesday. The theme? ‘Transitions’ ARYA GUPTA
Daily Arts Writer
“Imagine a ‘TED talk’ that doesn’t sound scripted and isn’t lecture-style, but is more so just me telling you a story about how I didn’t have a spoon to stir my Kool-Aid, and I woke everybody up on Saturday morning in the residence halls trying to find a spoon to stir my Kool-Aid and the valuable lessons that I learned from that.” As described by Comprehensive Studies Program (CSP) Academic Advisor Keith Jason, who spearheaded the event, “Value the Voice” is just that: A storyteller’s lounge. “It’s the person’s story, so we’re asking them to tell real stories,” Jason said. “Not myths or legends or anything like that. But, [to] communicate their own experiences in their own authentic voice and share their experiences so that other people can learn from those.” Making its debut this Tuesday at the UMMA, the event will have four installments (in September, November, January and March). The theme of this first one is “Transitions.” A new city, a new school year, a new challenge — the evening will focus on all of the transition-related experiences and sentiments that matter to its storytellers. The event will include about seven stories, five of which will be told by students. The other two will be by Dr. Harold Waters, director of CSP, and
Elizabeth James, the Program radio show in Detroit. Associate in Afro-American “Somewhere between the and African Studies. Coined as two, I think I fall. And I’m “voices of wisdom,” they’ll be really happy, because I feel like there to share moments of their I’m a bridge between all three lives that may speak to the of the generations. That’s very social and political landscapes meaningful for me because both within I feel like I’m and beyond carrying their the University approval and “Value community. carrying it on,” the Voice” “It’s sad, but it’s she said. Storytellers reality that these Passing kinds of tough down tradition, Lounge times are not surveying new,” Jason said. the present, Tuesday, “I don’t think September 26th informing the our culture that’s future — “Value @ 7 P.M. 40 and under the Voice” is does the best job a safe space UMMA of reaching out for people to those folks to examine Free who’ve lived themselves through it in their and experience time and how they belonging in a overcame those challenges.” University setting that can Elizabeth sometimes be isolating. James, a Daily “It’s so important, because Arts alum and I feel as though the sense of incredible force community is being shattered,” of compassion, James said. “We need to return shared with the to that idea of what community Daily what she means and feels like… Just hopes to come knowing that you have every from being a right to be here, and that your “voice of wisdom” voice matters; that’s what I for the night. think my key intent is with this “I can program. That’s why we called remember certain it ‘Value the Voice.’” great moments “You know, we’ve got two in my classes, different things going on — the but most of all, climate of the country and the I remember climate of the earth — all of the things that these things are coming at us, happened outside and it’s very easy to lose track of class,” James of who we are and that we’re said. “[It] means better together and stronger all the world to together… If we want to be, me if I can help I think, our highest level of anybody or help humankind, I really think that their way be a means you have to be able to little easier. I feel share,” James said. “Share your like what I went toys, share your stories, share. through is worth You get more back when you it, because it’s not share than you ever imagined something that you could.” I’ve left and just The world is a better place held in my heart.” because people like Elizabeth A third-generation James and Keith Jason do what storyteller, James grew up they do. “Value the Voice” will understanding the power of challenge you and love you like sharing. Her grandmother only the best nights can. Go was a traditional healer down in with an open heart, and let in New Orleans, Louisiana, yourself explore the inclusivity using stories to calm the and healing that comes from patients that came to see her. simply sharing. It’ll be worth Her mother, also an alum, told it. stories through her night-time
A new city, a new school year, a new challenge — the evening will focus on all of the transition-related experiences and sentiments that matter to its storytellers
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The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | September 25, 2017
Michigan 28 Purdue 10
O’K Fifth-year senior quarterback John O’Korn stepped in for an injured Wilton Speight midway through the second quarter, leading the eighth-ranked Wolverines to victory with 270 yards and a touchdown. TED JANES
Daily Sports Writer
WEST LAFAYETTE — The biggest crowd at Purdue in nearly a decade watched in silence as Michigan redshirt junior quarterback Wilton Speight laid motionless on the ground. Speight had been slammed for an 11-yard sack, and a second hit from behind crunched Speight’s neck as he fell to the ground. Speight left injured midway through the first quarter, but led by fifthyear senior quarterback John O’Korn, the eighthranked Wolverines (1-0 Big Ten, 4-0 overall) rallied for a 28-10 win. With Speight out,
Sending a message
Many NFL players took a strong stance by kneeling for the National Anthem in spite of the President’s comments.
» SportsMonday Column Page 2B
O’Korn completely took over. He completed 69 percent of his passes for 270 yards and one touchdown. “I thought John really played great,” said Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh. “He was seeing things really good right from the time he came into the ball game. (He) ran the offense well, made the big plays.” On the first scoring drive, O’Korn went 5-for-5 in the air for 61 yards and ended the drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass to redshirt sophomore tight end Zach Gentry. And each drive, O’Korn continued to improve in the pocket. On the Wolverines’ second scoring drive, O’Korn went 5-for-9 with 73 passing yards. Sophomore running back Chris
Evans capped the drive with a 10-yard rushing touchdown, going straight up the gut for the score. On Michigan’s third scoring drive, O’Korn connected on all three of his passes for three first downs and 65 yards. Another fifthyear senior, running back Ty Isaac, dove one yard for a touchdown. To put the game out of reach, Evans rushed for his second touchdown in the fourth quarter, breaking past the line of scrimmage for a 49-yard score. Evans ended with 97 yards on 15 carries. For the first time this season, the Wolverines’ offense excelled, and it started with O’Korn. Though Michigan had struggled all season in the red zone, it was perfect against the Boilermakers (0-1, 2-2). The Wolverines converted all three of their red-zone trips for touchdowns. They were 1-for-10 in that category prior to the game. “It was nice to see something that was stressed so much all week carry into the game,” O’Korn said.
“We were 3-for-3 in the red zone, and the work we put in as a team paid off.” Depending on Speight’s diagnosis, O’Korn may be called upon again. He proved capable of commanding the pocket, and displayed an ability to slip past tackles to gain yards in seemingly disastrous situations. And O’Korn saw plenty of them. He faced pressure from Purdue’s defensive line all day, as the Wolverines’ offensive line showed their inexperience. The Boilermakers sacked Michigan’s quarterbacks four times. This defensive pressure helped Purdue through the first half. At the end of two quarters, the home team led, 10-7. The Boilermakers’ twoquarterback system had troubled the Wolverines’ defense early on, but Michigan cleaned up the mistakes and held Purdue to just 10 yards in the second half. Purdue quarterbacks Elijah Sindelar (7-for-16, 103 passing yards, one touchdown) and David Blough (5-for-13, 32 passing
yards) continuously used trick plays and throwback passes to confuse the Wolverines. Eventually Michigan’s defense caught on. “They caught us off guard (early),” said sophomore linebacker Devin Bush. “They kept doing it, but we just hunkered down and played our man. “… We knew towards the end of the game they were going to pull out more trick plays.” Redshirt junior defensive end Chase Winovich led the defense with six tackles and three sacks. Bush also continued his successful year with six tackles and a sack of his own. Despite those early scares, the Wolverines prevailed. The extent of Speight’s injury is still unknown, and when the starter went down, O’Korn ran onto the field to help him up. “Just lead the team,” Speight told his teammate. “Do what you do.” So O’Korn went out and put on a show, giving Michigan it’s first Big Ten win of the season.
Redemption
On Saturday afternoon in West Lafayette, John O’Korn found more than a victory, as his winding path of a college career finally received some closure. » Page 4B
SportsMonday
2B — September 25, 2017
SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN
Take a knee
M
y job is to write about Michigan sports, but my identity is as an AfricanAmerican woman. After a week in which my own University saw racist messages written on residence hall doors and yelled at a rally outside the Union, the President of the United States spent the weekend criticizing NFL players for exercising BETELHEM their First ASHAME Amendment right to kneel during the National Anthem. He called out NBA players in a separate yet similar fashion, but I’m going to focus on the NFL for now because, at this pace, these bi-weekly columns could become an ongoing series on the social issues raised by sports. Today, the country’s focus turned to race and the hidden politics of identity. It’s a concept that has been ignored at every turn. While sports are held up as a gold standard — a setting where people from every spectrum of society can come together for a few hours and share in the experience of a melting pot of emotions — there is a darker undercurrent inherent to their reverence in this country. Between the white lines, players are seen as a collective, showered by a single spotlight. As long as the players are wearing uniforms that match those of the fans cheering for them from the stands or their couches, they are all part of the same team. All of their successes are celebrated, and all of their failures are mourned. Together. That tradition of unity is strongest before the whistle is even blown. When the National Anthem is played or performed, a chorus of people stand as one to honor the
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AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
The President of the United States called out NFL players for kneeling during the National Anthem, but their larger point about society is too important to ignore.
country they love and the citizens who risk their lives to protect it. That’s why when Colin Kaepernick decided to take a knee last year — to take a stand against social injustice — the chorus of voices began to split. Some praised his name while others defaced it. Some understood his message while others distorted it. Some followed his lead while others rebuked it. Kaepernick, now unemployed by the NFL, put his job on the line because he put his identity first. In the realm of sports, that’s a controversial stance. It shouldn’t be. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has become a vocal advocate of his former quarterback, and he maintained that role Saturday at Purdue. Asked if he agreed with the President’s stance, Harbaugh made his position explicitly clear. “No, I don’t agree with the President,” Harbaugh said.
“That’s ridiculous. Check the Constitution.” The First Amendment explicitly gives all U.S. citizens the right to freedom of speech and the right to peaceful assembly. The backlash facing Kaepernick shows that both of those rights have come under heavy fire. In choosing to focus public discourse on a problem that has plagued the country since long before the current president took office, Kaepernick has pushed himself and his fellow NFL players into uncharted waters. They have had a tough decision to make every Sunday since he first touched his knee to the turf. Kaepernick made his a year ago, and he no longer has a job because of it. Now, his colleagues have to decide whether or not they should stand with him by kneeling as well. According to the President, NFL players who want the “privilege” of
making millions of dollars should stand for the National Anthem. Otherwise, the owners should employ his signature line to take away said privilege. The NFL is a majority AfricanAmerican league. For the President to call NFL players who are protesting injustices toward their social group “sons of b------,” while deeming the participants of the altright rally in Charlottesville “very fine people,” speaks volumes about race and society in this day and age. Athletes are seen as entertainers, and fans give them a stage to put on a show. In exchange for the ability to play a sport for a living, athletes are seen as beholden to the desires of the consumers who spend their hard-earned money to support them. They are told to be grateful for what they have, and are seen as spoiled when they voice their discontent. The owners — whose
multibillion-dollar empires are also sustained by these consumers — are in the same boat, but they notably don’t face the same wave of criticism. It’s just as notable that not one owner is Black. The argument that athletes should stick to sports is not only detrimental for its demeaning nature. Its underlying notion devalues athletes as individuals, deeming them undeserving of the ability to speak their minds about issues pertinent to their lives. Their identity off the field is determined to be irrelevant. So on Sunday, in response to the President’s comments, many NFL players brought their identity with them on the field. Dozens of athletes from teams across the country knelt in silent protest, while three entire teams decided to stay in their locker rooms during the anthem. Many owners defended their players in
official press releases, and some even took the field to participate in protests alongside their teams. While that could be a sign of progress, photos spread on social media told an alternate tale. Of the players choosing to take a knee, not many were White. And Kaepernick is still nowhere to be seen on a football sideline. In the press box at Purdue’s RossAde Stadium, my fellow football beat writers and I happened to still be sitting as the National Anthem was set to begin. Another media member looked at us and asked if we were pulling a Kaepernick. We weren’t, and as we hurried to stand up, I hesitated for a split second. I could have kept sitting, or even kneeled myself. All I would be risking is disconcerting looks from media members who I likely won’t ever see again after graduation. My job at a student-run college newspaper is safe, but I stood up anyway. Every time I have since Kaepernick lost his job, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel conflicted about it. The National Anthem is a fundamental tradition of our country, and I would prefer if everyone stood and saluted the American flag. But taking a knee now means that inequality in our society is a serious issue that needs to be addressed, and that is a cause I wholeheartedly support. The First Amendment is a fundamental element of our country as well, and Kaepernick should not have been punished for exercising his. Kaepernick started a conversation about the intrinsic link between race and sports. After the President’s pointed remarks, that conversation has reached a tipping point, and two clear sides have emerged. Take a stand with the President or take a knee with Kaepernick. Ashame can be reached at ashabete@umich.edu or on Twitter @betelhem_ashame.
Five Things We Learned: ‘M’ proves it can close out games ORION SANG
Daily Sports Editor
There’s no debate. Over the past few seasons, Michigan has struggled to finish off opponents. Devastating losses to Michigan State, Iowa, Ohio State and Florida State have all come because the Wolverines weren’t able to hold onto a late lead. Purdue may not be on the level of any of those teams. But Jim Harbaugh still believes he may have learned a valuable lesson about this team: it can close out games. “They can win in the late rounds,” Harbaugh said after Saturday’s 28-10 win over the
Boilermakers. “That’s a great thing to learn about your ball club. You never know quite what the character is of the team, and things get tough. A lot of people start (looking) for alternatives. Our guys dug deep and finished them off.” Here are five (other) things we learned from the win: 1. Offensive line struggles Michigan’s issues in pass protection were made painstakingly clear Saturday. Purdue entered the game with one sack on the season and left it having sacked Wilton Speight and John O’Korn four times. There may not have been
a more sobering image than Speight lying motionless on the turf after one particularly nasty hit in the first quarter. Quite simply, Michigan needs to do a better job of protecting its quarterbacks. The Wolverines didn’t find success running the ball until late in the game either, and even then, they finished with just 139 yards on 44 carries. All in all, it was a fairly pedestrian day for the offensive line. 2. Michigan’s corners have been better than expected Cornerbacks coach Mike Zordich’s candid — and blunt — remarks earlier this summer about his position group seem to have worked. The Boilermakers scuff led to 159 passing yards on 30 attempts — completing just 43 percent of their passes — and a large chunk of those yards came on gimmick plays such as a wide receiver pass, tunnel screens and throwbacks. Purdue was unable to find any success when it tested Michigan downfield, as sophomore cornerbacks David Long and Lavert Hill had fantastic days in coverage. Long, in particular, stood out; he had several impressive plays where he was in perfect position. This was a position group that many pointed to as a possible weakness before the season started. Saturday’s performance was yet another sign that the corners are in lockstep with the rest of the defense, which now ranks No. 1 in the nation with an average of 203.3 yards allowed per game.
first quarter. Gentry had three catches for 48 yards on the day; his battery mate, sophomore tight end Sean McKeon, led the team with five catches for 82 yards. Neither possesses the same type of ability as Black, Michigan’s second-leading receiver on the season who may miss the rest of the year with a broken foot. Yet both — in addition to junior receiver Grant Perry and redshirt freshman receiver Nate Schoenle, who tallied a combined 5 catches for 68 yards — made up just fine for Black’s absence Saturday. Michigan may not have a single player on the roster who can currently replicate Black’s skillset. Until it finds an individual who can, it’ll take a group effort to do so. 4. Chris Evans isn’t going away It would’ve been easy to count out the sophomore running back after the first three games of the year. After all, he had lost his starting job
after only one game, and his replacement, fifth-year senior Ty Isaac, had rushed for an impressive 336 yards entering Saturday. But Isaac, who left last week’s game injured, looked ineffective against Purdue, taking 10 carries for just 20 yards while struggling in pass protection. Junior Karan Higdon didn’t do much better, rushing for 31 yards on 10 carries and fumbling on a screen pass. So Evans took advantage. He received the most carries and was the most productive back, running 14 times for 97 yards with two touchdowns. His late 49-yard touchdown scamper was an exclamation point on what was an excellent day, his best of the season, and showed that Evans definitely has more to say when it comes to the ongoing competition for carries. 5. BOLD PREDICTION: John O’Korn has reopened the quarterback competition
Harbaugh said after the game that he thinks the injury Speight suffered is a “soft tissue” problem and not anything structural; his status going forward, though, remains unclear. But even if Speight returns quickly, O’Korn may have done well enough Saturday to earn more snaps. When Harbaugh was asked whether O’Korn’s performance warranted another look at the quarterback competition, he appeared to laugh it off. Yet his answer — though a def lection — was still telling. “He played great,” Harbaugh said. “He really did. John played a heck of a ball game, and we’re happy for him. Like I said before, thought he came into the game seeing things really well right off the bat.” In the season opener against Florida, Harbaugh elected to insert O’Korn into the game to give Speight a chance to calm down after throwing two consecutive pick-sixes. After Saturday, it may not take that much going forward for Harbaugh to play O’Korn.
3. Replacing Tarik Black may require more than one player
4:10 P.M. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 RAC K H A M A M P H I T H E AT R E
A public lecture and reception. For more information call 734.615.6667.
Led by John O’Korn, Michigan aired the ball out against Purdue’s secondary, throwing for 284 yards — on 9.2 yards per attempt — with one touchdown, a 12-yard catchand-run to redshirt sophomore tight end Zach Gentry in the
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Sophomore running back Chris Evans led Michigan’s backfield with 14 carries, 97 yards and two touchdowns.
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
September 25, 2017 — 3B
Cerda keys Michigan to needed victory ‘M’ tops Northwestern MEN’S SOCCER
BENJAMIN KATZ Daily Sports Writer
Entering Sunday afternoon’s contest against Northwestern (0-4-0 Big Ten, 2-7-0 overall), the No. 22 Michigan men’s soccer team had been held scoreless with no shots on goal in its past two games. As a result, the Wolverines went 0-2-1, halting the momentum they had gained early in the season. Just under six minutes into the first half against the Wildcats, Michigan (2-1-1, 5-2-2) had already registered one shot on goal, but was still unable to convert set pieces and scoring chances against a struggling Northwestern defense — it had been outscored, 10-1, in the first half and outshot, 98-74, this season. In the 16th minute, yet another Wolverine chance went by the wayside, as sophomore midfielder Jack Hallahan’s through ball sailed past the outstretched foot of freshman midfielder Marc Ybarra and trickled out of bounds. After groans from the crowd subsided, midfielder Ivo Cerda stared at his teammates, clapped his hands fervently and shouted, “Keep it going!” The junior captain lived by his mantra, setting the example for his teammates to follow. Fifteen minutes later, Cerda’s header into the top-left corner of the goal off another Hallahan cross from the right f lank put the Wolverines on the board and, ultimately, back in the win column with a 3-1 victory. Though the goal — Cerda’s second this season — helped the Santiago, Chile native further his poise the rest of the game, it was more about using the goal as inspiration for his teammates. “Every player would like to score early,” Cerda said. “It’s
easy then to play, but I always try to rub that confidence off and motivation onto my teammates, especially after scoring a goal.” In his newly-established role as one of the team’s three captains, Cerda blends selfconfidence and work ethic to be a model for the players around him. “(They should) try to stay focused, try to keep a high line,” Cerda said. “They all knew what this game meant to us. It was a turning point for our season, we hoped to get a win today so we can get back on a winning streak. There’s so much to say: they’re all focused, but I just try to keep
them motivated.” After a red card to junior forward Francis Atuahene left Michigan fielding just 10 players for the end of the first and the entire second half, it was the workhorse Cerda who stepped up once again with a man down. “He’s done really well,” said Michigan coach Chaka Daley. “He’s been asked to play in many different positions as a result of having a little bit of an injury to start the year and having to wean him into our team. He and (Ybarra) are probably the two fittest guys on the team. All of the hard work they do — and all the hard work the team does — is the difference.”
I felt that, at moments, you would imagine they had 10 men.
Added Cerda: “I felt that, at moments, you would imagine they had 10 men. We were looking good, keeping possession. … That’s because we trusted what we do, we don’t get scared by any pressure like this. We’re prepared to be a man down and we were lucky enough to get a 2-0 lead.” After defenseman Jackson Ragen scored in the 55th minute to put the Wolverines up 2-0, it was Cerda who was first to sprint to the freshman with a big hug. It was Cerda who, as the final whistle blew, breathed a sigh of relief, displayed a wide grin and threw his hands up in the air as if he was Rocky winning a 10-round fight. And it was Cerda who motioned his teammates to run over to the Michigan Ultras, waved at fans to stay and not head for the exits, and started to sing “Hail to the Victors.”
CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily
Junior midfielder Ivo Cerda helped lead the Wolverines to victory despite losing Francis Atuahene in the first half.
MARK CALCAGNO Daily Sports Writer
Last year’s match between Michigan and Northwestern epitomized the Wolverines’ 2016 season. The Michigan men’s soccer team outshot the Wildcats 23-13 but fell in a double-overtime heartbreaker – a capsule of what was frequently described by coach Chaka Daley as “balls not bouncing the right way.” But on Sunday at U-M Soccer Stadium, things broke more in No. 22 Michigan’s favor – as they have for much of this season. The Wolverines (2-11 Big Ten, 5-2-2 overall) beat Northwestern (0-4-0, 2-7-0) 3-1 to exceed their win total from last year. “It means a lot, it’s definitely a special season for us,” said junior midfielder Ivo Cerda. “We don’t like to talk a lot about last year, but it’s definitely important to get back in the winning race. We come from two really tough losses, but I think this team has a lot in store and it’s important for us to get a win today.” After an uneventful start to the match, the Wolverines broke through in the 31st minute. Sophomore forward Jack Hallahan sent a soaring free kick into the box that met the head of Cerda, deflecting into the top left corner past the goalkeeper’s reach. But almost as quickly as the score came, Michigan would lose a man for the rest of the afternoon. Just seven seconds after his substitution, junior forward Francis Atuahene received a red card after he got too much of a Northwestern player on a challenge. It was a tough break for the Wolverines’ 2016 leading scorer, who has battled injuries and found the back of the net only
once in the young season. Michigan would add to its lead off another set piece to open the second half – this time off a corner kick from junior defender Marcello Borges that met the head of freshman midfielder Jackson Regan for his first career goal. As displayed by both of those conversions, Daley sees these set pieces as an asset. “It’s something you obviously want to get sharper with,” Daley said. “When you look at the run of the game, most games concede within the 18-yard box or set plays. Certainly, to put yourself in a position where we’re competitive I think is important.” A 10-man formation wouldn’t hurt the Wolverines until the 65th minute, when a freerunning Sean Lynch connected from the right flank to cut the lead in half. Northwestern continued to pressure in an attempt to equalize, sending four shots on goal in the final 15 minutes. Sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Verdi, however, was aggressive in knocking away attempts near his net. The Wildcats nearly equalized off a free kick via a yellow card in the 90th minute – Michigan’s fifth of the day – but the Wolverines would instead seal the victory thanks to Jack Hallahan’s open-net conversion. “If we can control our own destiny and stay within the top half of our league – this win was huge for that,” Daley said. “To be down a player and have to grind it out for 60-70 minutes is phenomenal. I’m so proud of our guys and what they accomplished.” Northwestern outshot Michigan, but balls bounced the Wolverines’ way. What a difference a year makes.
The good, bad and ugly: Purdue KEVIN SANTO
Managing Sports Editor
If you were looking for drama on Saturday, West Lafayette was the place for you. Trailing by three until the end of the third quarter, the Michigan football team was staring down the barrel at an upset in Ross-Ade Stadium. But behind a redemption story from John O’Korn that is oft reserved for movies, the eighthranked Wolverines managed to pull away and not look back. Michigan escaped Purdue with a conference-opening win, and is now entering its bye week undefeated with Michigan State as the next team on the docket. The Daily breaks down the good, the bad and the ugly from Saturday’s game. The good There was a lot to like about the Wolverines’ road trip. O’Korn finally had his day, the defense had yet another standout performance and Michigan’s tight ends — redshirt sophomore Zach Gentry and sophomore Sean McKeon — solidified themselves as reliable options in the Wolverine passing attack. Michigan’s fifth-year senior quarterback seized his moment after being thrust into a tense game following Wilton Speight’s exit. He was perfect on his first drive, completing all five of his passes for 61 yards before finding Gentry for a touchdown, and ended the game with 270 yards and a touchdown on 18-of-26 passing. He did have an interception, but it was more so the product of an unlucky bounce on a catchable ball than a poor decision. More than anything, O’Korn helped the Wolverines exorcise their demons in the red zone — converting on every trip — and he connected on a number of difficult throws throughout the matchup with the Boilermakers. Speight, on the other hand, entered the matchup 1-of-17 in the red zone. Gentry and McKeon proved to be O’Korn’s fail-safes, as the duo finished as Michigan’s top two
receivers. McKeon finished with five catches for 82 yards, while Gentry recorded three catches for 48 yards and the Wolverines’ lone receiving touchdown. There were concerns about who would replace freshman wide receiver Tarik Black’s production, but McKeon and Gentry left the Michigan faithful with a sense of relief for now. And of course, Michigan’s stout defensive unit had another hallmark day. Purdue — an offense brimming with trickery — managed to score 10 points in the first half while racking up 179 yards, but the Wolverines held the Boilermakers scoreless with just 10 yards in the second half. The performance catapulted Michigan to the top of the team defense rankings, as the unit is surrendering an average of 203.3 yards per game. Not to be overlooked, sophomore running back Chris Evans finally had the performance that many were waiting for. He finished the game with two touchdowns and 97 yards, highlighted by a 49-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter that effectively ended the contest for good. The bad Michigan is beginning to show an affinity for turning the ball over, as the Wolverines have forfeited possession seven times through four games. With just under 10 minutes remaining in the third quarter, O’Korn completed a pass to sophomore running back Karan Higdon for an 11-yard gain. The positive yardage was canceled out, however, by Higdon’s ensuing fumble. Linebacker Danny Ezechukwu recovered the ball at Purdue’s 37-yard line. Though the Boilermakers didn’t manage to capitalize on the mistake — Purdue went three-and-out — it was still a dangerous moment given that the Wolverines trailed, 10-7, at the time. The fumble opened up the door for Evans’ breakout performance, however, as Higdon did not
receive a carry for the rest of the game. The second turnover came earlier in the game, with just over eight minutes remaining in the second quarter. O’Korn’s pass to junior wide receiver Grant Perry was picked off by Navon Mosley and returned seven yards to Michigan’s 27-yard line. The Wolverines’ defense bailed them out, though, forcing Purdue to settle for a field goal. Again, the interception was not really O’Korn’s fault, as it bounced off Perry’s hands. Still, while no team has been able to truly make Michigan pay for turning the ball over, that can only last so long. The ugly It didn’t take long for Michigan to hit a low point against Purdue. Midway through the first quarter, redshirt junior quarterback Wilton Speight was sacked by linebacker Markus Bailey for an 11-yard loss before absorbing a second hit that crunched his neck and ended his day. It was a scary moment in West Lafayette, as Speight laid motionless on the ground before gingerly walking off the field with the help of trainers. He needed to leave the field to receive X-rays and never returned to the game. While there is no official diagnosis, Jim Harbaugh said after the game that he believes it to be a “soft-tissue” injury. There is still no timetable for Speight’s return, but O’Korn’s performance begged the question of whether or not a fresh quarterback competition would be opened. Harbaugh did not answer the question directly, but he did give O’Korn the credit he was due. “I thought John really played great,” Harbaugh said. “He was seeing things really good from the time he came into the ballgame. He ran the offense well, made the big plays. The throw he hit Gentry on the seam route down the middle was a big-time throw. And he had others. Really proud of him. Proud of the whole team.”
RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily
Sophomore tight end Sean McKeon led all receivers with five catches for 82 yards against the Boilermakers.
TRISH CORTES, RN, MS
SHERVIN ASSARI, MD, MPH
MICHELLE RIBA, MD
NANCY BAUM, PHD
A conversation with former Mental health: Personal Republican Congressmen and policyand perspectives Mike Rogers Dave Camp
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SportsMonday
2B — September 25, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
O’Korn jumps on chance to rewrite story W
EST LAFAYETTE — This isn’t the prettiest offense. There are dropped passes. There are blown-up running plays. There are botched pass protections that end with Michigan’s starting quarterback lying motionless on the ORION turf, badly SANG injured, before he walks slowly and gingerly off the field towards an unknown fate and further medical testing. Consistency — that’s also been missing. Through the first three weeks, issues arose in the red zone, where the Wolverines scored only one touchdown in 10 trips. Michigan was 3-of-3 inside Purdue’s 20-yard line on Saturday. Against Florida, the Wolverines ran the ball 49 times for 215 yards. Michigan could muster just 139 yards on 44 carries against the Boilermakers. And the big plays — even those don’t always come easy. Perhaps the best example came with 6:32 left in the third quarter. It was 3rd-and-6, and Michigan trailed by three. The call was a pass. Purdue entered the backfield quickly, and the play appeared to be dead in the water. John O’Korn had a different idea. He spun out of a nearcertain sack, rolled to his right, waited patiently and delivered a pass to Grant Perry for a crucial 12-yard gain. Led by their fifth-year senior backup quarterback, the Wolverines would march down the field that drive and take a
lead they never surrendered. “He played great,” said Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh. “He really did. John played a heck of a ball game, and we’re happy for him. Like I said before, thought he came into the game seeing things really well right off the bat.” Added sophomore tight end Sean McKeon: “(O’Korn) was definitely confident. He just wanted to do a good job — do his job. Make it seem like he had confidence in us, and we wanted to help him out in any way we could. Really got the offense going and he did a great job today. “Definitely very proud of him, happy for him. He got his shot; he made the most of it.” After a bruising and uneven 28-10 win, we still don’t know much about the identity of Michigan’s offense. We do know, however, what John O’Korn has become — a dependable backup whose performance in relief of Speight may have just reopened the quarterback competition. O’Korn has taken criticism in the past for his struggles to master the unknown — an inability to deal with pressure both on and off the field. In the summer, he spoke frankly about losing his confidence after being replaced as the starter at Houston. He felt like the scapegoat for things that were outside of his control; coming under that much scrutiny as an 18-year-old, he admitted, shook him. It took a transfer across the country, two years and a new coach in Pep Hamilton to get back what he had lost. That showed in his play, especially in a start last year against Indiana — the one other time O’Korn has played extensively in place of an injured Speight. Against the Hoosiers, amidst a blizzard, O’Korn looked constantly
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Fifth-year senior quarterback John O’Korn had a moment of redemption in West Lafayette on Saturday, leading the Wolverines to a victory over Purdue.
harassed — even when he wasn’t. He never seemed comfortable in the pocket, and completed just 7-of-16 passes for 59 yards. That game stuck out to him, even nearly a year later, for what it represented: a missed opportunity. “More than anything, I would’ve liked to get a few throws back from that game,” O’Korn said in August. “… I think maybe I pressed a little too much, tried to make the big play a little too much instead of just letting things come to me.” That was why Saturday’s game, during which he completed 18-of-26 passes for 270 yards and one touchdown, meant so much to him. He didn’t press. He didn’t always try to
make the big play. He let the game come to him. Doing so gave him a chance to rewrite the book on John O’Korn. It gave him a chance to revisit his past history — both at Michigan and at Houston. “We all believed in John,” said redshirt sophomore tight end Zach Gentry, “and I think that we were able to buck up and rally the troops and get it done.” After his 12-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, O’Korn turned and let loose at the opposing sideline. He wasn’t just yelling in excitement. Later, he admitted he was yelling at Purdue co-offensive coordinator Tony Levine, his former coach at Houston. “I’m human,” O’Korn said.
Gentry shines against Boilermakers KEVIN SANTO
Managing Sports Editor
WEST LAFAYETTE — Zach Gentry trotted off the field at Ross-Ade Stadium, alone, christened by cheers of adoration. He reached the corner of the end zone — the same corner in which he scored what was arguably Michigan’s most important touchdown of the game. Fans pleaded with him, desperate for a piece of game-worn Michigan football memorabilia. The redshirt sophomore obliged, removing one of his gloves and tossing into the first row. It landed in a teenage girl’s possession, and she instantly fitted it to her left hand — a perfect accessory to the maize Michigan shirt that she was already wearing. Then she pulled out her iPhone, held the glove next to her face, and flashed a smile for the camera. One day ago, his glove and her photo wouldn’t have meant much. Frankly, the recipient of Gentry’s glove might have had no idea who he was at all, if not for the name on the back of his jersey. On Saturday, that all changed. Gentry put forth a breakout performance in a game that the Wolverines may have needed it more than ever. He wasn’t the only tight end to star in West Lafayette, as sophomore Sean McKeon led all receivers with five catches for 82 yards. Gentry himself tallied three catches for 48 yards with Michigan’s lone receiving touchdown. But when redshirt junior quarterback Wilton Speight went down midway through the first quarter with an injury that ended his day, fifth-year senior John O’Korn needed someone to lean on. Lucky for him, Gentry didn’t wait to oblige. With just under 12 minutes left in the second quarter, the Wolverines found themselves in the red zone on O’Korn’s opening drive. After two
straight carries by fifth-year senior Ty Isaac, Michigan was facing a 3rd-and-4 on Purdue’s 12-yard line. For a different team, at a different time, a field goal in the second quarter may have been easier to stomach. With a backup quarterback, coming off a game in which four red zone trips ended with no touchdowns to show for it, it meant a whole lot more. O’Korn took the snap. Gentry shed a lineman before streaking, wide open, across the 10-yard line on a crossing route. O’Korn made the simple play, dumping it to his tight end. The rest was up to Gentry. He had one man to beat to the pylon, and he did, diving into the end zone for the first touchdown of his collegiate career. “We saw the specific defense they were in, and Coach (Pep Hamilton) and Coach (Tim Drevno) made a good play call,” Gentry said. “Luckily it popped open, and I’m excited about it. Felt good to get the first one out of the way.” There was no grand celebration — just a quick point
to the cameras before flipping the ball to the ref. It looked like it was all business, a surprising fact for a man who converted to the position just roughly two years ago, around the time that Michigan was preparing to face Florida in the Citrus Bowl. Gentry may have once been a coveted quarterback prospect, but on Saturday, he finally had a performance that looked like the culmination of years of work — complete with the big plays that helped Michigan avoid what once looked like a disastrous fate. “It’s something that takes time,” he said. “I’ve been able to go out and execute and (the coaches have) been helping me out a lot with that.” His second highlight came in the fourth quarter. Freshman wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones was flagged for an illegal block. What would have been 2nd-and-11 on the Purdue 16-yard line turned into 1st-and-25 on the Boilermakers’ 31. The Wolverines may have led by four, but that wasn’t quite comfortable enough.
Gentry made his mark again, single-handedly cancelling out the penalty by contorting his body on the next play to register a 25-yard reception down the seam and record what may have been the most impressive quarterback-receiver connection of Michigan’s young season. O’Korn put the ball in a place that only Gentry could catch it. And Gentry rewarded his quarterback for it. Even he couldn’t quite put the play into words. “I don’t know,” Gentry said. “I just looked straight up and (O’Korn) threw a good back shoulder ball, and I was able to adjust to it successfully. And it was actually a good ball cause there was a guy inside me.” Three catches may seem pedestrian, but not for Gentry. It has been a long path to Saturday night, but he finally had his moment. As for the glove, well, some teenager is going to have quite the story to tell tomorrow morning. And she definitely won’t have to explain who Zach Gentry is anymore.
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Redshirt sophomore tight end Zach Gentry scored Michigan’s lone passing touchdown against the Boilermakers.
“Anytime you get to go out and beat your former coach — it was his decision to bench me in the first place — it’s gonna be an emotional night.” Once the game ended, O’Korn lingered on the field for the customary post-game TV interviews. He answered questions with a grin on his face, hands on his hips, looking happy. When it was over, he jogged off to join his teammates. It’s a path he’s taken plenty of times before, at both Houston and Michigan. But this time, he ran off alone. He was under the spotlight, and deservedly so. The remaining Michigan fans watched as he approached their corner of the bleachers. They cheered loudly, chanting his name in unison.
It may have seemed unlikely before the season that John O’Korn would have found a career’s worth of closure on a sweltering Saturday afternoon in West Lafayette. And yet, that’s exactly what happened. “It’s been a journey — there’s no secret it’s been tough,” O’Korn said. “I talked about it in camp. The culmination of all those things, it was an emotional night for me. The biggest thing, I’m just happy that I can contribute to a great win on the road. Beat the elements, beat the team in their own house and have a happy flight home.” Sang can be reached at otsang@umich.edu or on Twitter @orion_sang.
FOOTBALL
The troubling state of the offensive line
W
EST LAFAYETTE — Two quarterbacks took the field for Michigan on Saturday. One got knocked out of the game in the first quarter, while the other led the Wolverines to a 28-10 victory. At first BETELHEM glance it might seem ASHAME like their days were polar opposites, but both redshirt junior quarterback Wilton Speight and fifth-year senior John O’Korn shared a common thread against Purdue. They were let down by their offensive line. Speight dropped back to pass, and all he could see was black. The Boilermaker defensive line collapsed on him in seconds, and Speight was on the ground. But that wasn’t the worst hit he took on the day. Moments later, another defender rammed into him from behind, and it took Speight a long time to get up. The trainers helped him to his feet and Speight walked off under his own power, but clearly hurt, he never returned to the field. The game was still tied at zero, and there were still 50 minutes left to be played. Near the halfway point of the third quarter — with Michigan down 10-7 — a sequel was almost greenlit. But just as films would bomb at the box office if they stuck to the same script, the Wolverines would have suffered a similar fate if they didn’t add a new twist to either the characters or the storyline. O’Korn dropped back to pass, and all he could see was black. Purdue broke through the offensive line and swarmed O’Korn. He maneuvered in and out of harm’s way, managing to stay on his feet long enough to convert a 3rd-and-6 pass. They went on to score a touchdown on that drive to
retake the lead, and they never fell behind again. In this case, the storyline didn’t change. Despite coming away with a win, that could be a disconcerting trend for Michigan. For a unit whose central purpose is to protect the quarterback, the Wolverines’ offensive line put forth an underwhelming performance. Purdue came into Saturday’s game with only one sack. The Boilermakers left it with four more, totaling 28 yards in losses. They also tallied four other tackles-for-loss, forced a fumble and intercepted a pass on the day, and that’s only in the metrics that statisticians keep track of. Based on the eye test, both Speight and O’Korn were hassled, hurried and harassed by Purdue, and the Wolverines’ offensive line couldn’t stand its ground. This isn’t a new issue for Michigan. After losing three of its five starters from a season ago, it was expected that they would need time to develop a rhythm as a unit. But as the Big Ten opener showed, conference play won’t afford them many opportunities to work out the kinks. The Boilermakers presented a serious threat because they outmuscled the Wolverines at the line of scrimmage from the outset. The offensive line’s one bright moment Saturday came on the same drive in which O’Korn escaped to find Grant Perry. Set up just shy of the end zone at the 10-yard line, Michigan had Purdue on its heels. Running back Chris Evans lined up behind O’Korn, and it looked like a run play was coming. It didn’t matter if the Boilermaker defense picked up on it. The line moved them out of the way entirely, and Evans trotted into the end zone untouched for his first touchdown of the year. That’s an encouraging sign that the Wolverines will need to build on as they progress through the Big Ten season. If they don’t, Michigan’s quarterbacks could spend a lot of time lying on their backs.