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Wednesday, November 15, 2017
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ACADEMICS
LSA looks at cheating, coproducing and integrity HALEY MCLAUGHLIN/Daily
159 of 305 academic integrity violations were due to unauthorized collaboration
Pro-divestment audience members holds signs that read “Stop Silencing Us” at the CSG Divestment Resolution in the MLB Tuesday.
CSG passes #UMDivest resolution in a secret ballot after 8 hour meeting
23 votes for and 17 against, resolution approved for first time in campus history at Central Student Government early Wednesday morning with 23 voting in favor, 17 against, and 5 abstained. Daily Staff Reporters “We feel like we finally were given a voice on this campus,” a SAFE student tearily said to the Divestment — for the first time audience. “We are celebrating in the University of Michigan, when Palestinian are given real Ann Arbor’s history — passed human rights. This is the first step DYLAN LACROIX, RHEA CHEETI & JORDYN BAKER
we can take. This is an amazing victory.” The divestment movement calls for the support of the University of Michigan administration to divest from companies operating in Israel, on the behalf of Palestinians and in fear of human rights violations against them. The resolution this year was embroiled in controversy
within the Central Student Government executive board, prompting CSG to create its own investigative committee. The meeting Tuesday night deviated from previous years in several ways. Unlike last year, a secret ballot was approved, with 28 in favor, 7 against, 9 abstained. See RESOLUTION, Page 2A
MATT HARMON Daily Staff Reporter
When LSA sophomores Rebecca Bernstein and Andie Harris received a problem set back from their Stats 250 graduate student instructors, their grades were a shock: They both received zeros. Emails from their respective instructors explained their respective homeworks were too similar to those of their friends in the class. While the lowest homework grade is dropped, the sharp reprimand confused Bernstein and Harris. Their situations, however, were very different. Bernstein was working with friends in a study group as they do
every week. She said working together means answers might be similar, but is a common result when collaborating with students. “I wasn’t cheating,” Bernstein said. “I was genuinely working with someone else to help through the concepts, so to say that working together could be a form of cheating, I think it’s just really unfair because I feel like we go to a really collaborative university. On campus, there isn’t that much sense of competition among students. I work together with other students in my classes all the time so to be able to work on a problem together when it’s multiple choice and not get See CHEATING, Page 3A
Massive Online Open Courses the central topic Talk looks at blending of discussion at Academic Innovation Summit
CAMPUS LIFE
of policy, athletics
Ford CEO, Former NFL commissioner speak on social justice movements SAM SMALL For the Daily
With current political climate and an increasing number of athletic protests against social inequalities, the interplay between sports and public policy are two entities that are becoming increasingly intertwined, according to former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and Jim Hackett, president and CEO of Ford Motor Company and former interim director of University of Michigan athletics. The two discussed this intersection and more to University faculty and students Tuesday afternoon. Since September 2016, the NFL has been the topic of controversy within much of the political sphere, as former NFL player Colin Kaepernick first knelt during the national anthem to protest social and political tension nationwide. Other athletes have followed suit, leading President Donald Trump and other politicians to denounce the symbolic protest of kneeling. NFL teams like the Saints, Ravens, Jaguars and multiple individual players from teams throughout the league, have been controversially contributing to the cause originally See AWARENESS, Page 3A
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Panelists discussed significance of digital initiatives, hybrid education programs and online degree completion ALEX COTT & MATT HARMON Daily Staff Reporters
To tip off the University of Michigan’s Academic Innovation Initiative Summit, University deans gathered at a panel on the future of innovation in academics Tuesday afternoon, with 70 in attendance. Last year, University President Mark Schlissel and former Provost Martha Pollack kicked off the Academic Innovation Initiative, an effort to engage all members of the University community in discussions on how to further the University’s projects and promote constant academic innovation. The summit, held at the end of the University’s bicentennial year, included panels and breakout activities supporting the initiative. James Hilton, vice provost for academic innovation and dean of libraries, moderated Tuesday’s conversation and began by asking panelists how they are developing academic innovation within their respective schools. Lynn Videka, dean of the School of Social Work, spoke about three main areas of academic innovation the school has been working toward: Launching a MicroMasters Massive Open Online Courses program in the fall, using captivated modules and face-to-face interactions to train social workers in hybrid continuing education programs and developing the Civil Rights Academy, a program that aims to provide technology and tools to
instill middle-school- and highschool-age youth with social action skills at an early age. “It’s in helping develop informed and responsible citizens,” Videka said. “This Civil Rights Academy does just that — it awakens young adolescents to social justice issues, how to organize in the community, how to achieve goals working with social groups. We think that’s a great skill and a worthy contribution and something that doesn’t compete … with our in-person based programs.” Joanna Millunchick, associate dean of undergraduate education in the College of Engineering, discussed how the school’s on-theground classroom innovation techniques, such as their new Ph.D. program, Engineering Education Research, place engineering education researchers into the actual departments rather than creating a new, separate research department. The school is also developing new modes of teaching through virtual and augmented reality techniques. “Our students know (these techniques) are the next big thing, too. … They are the ones taking the top (research) prizes. They already realize what it is that future scorers hold,” Millunchick said. Jonathan Massey, dean of the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, spoke on the school’s emphasis on preserving a community of face-to-face learners and peer collaboration. However, architecture’s high contact hour per credit hour program raises the question of how to apply academic
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innovation to preserving handson training and balancing time dedication. “(Time dedication) skews the field,” Massey said. “Our project is to figure out how to incorporate some of the academic innovation and blend in a way that preserves the strengths of the studio pedagogy.” Laurie McCauley, dean of the School of Dentistry, emphasized her goal to use academic innovation to personalize education in three main areas: online degree completion programs, the University’s first
completely online bachelor’s degree; Pathways, the dental school curriculum used throughout all four years of the program; and the community-based dental program, partnering with health professionals at 20 sites throughout the state for patient care. “I am quite fortunate that our faculty need very little prodding to do this; they love doing these projects, they love engaging with students on a one-on-one basis and individualized manner,” McCauley said.
Thomas Finholt, dean of the School of Information, emphasized the importance of Massive Open Online Courses and the school’s commitment to online education. Several hundred thousand people are taught through MOOCs and a third of faculty are involved in these online education platforms, according to Finholt. “(MOOCs) really reflect three kinds of considerations — expanding the brand and reaching out, 80 percent of students who have See SUMMIT, Page 3A
SARAH KUNKEL/Daily
Panelists at the Academic Innovation Initiative Summit in the Michigan League Tuesday.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 31 ©2017 The Michigan Daily
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 ARTS.....................5
SUDOKU.....................2 CLASSIFIEDS...............6 SPORTS....................7
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CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES “Laverne Cox Presents: The T-Word” Film Screening WHAT: A free screening of this short documentary before Cox’s visit to campus at 6 p.m. WHO: Spectrum Center WHEN: 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. WHERE: Michigan Union - CSG Chambers
Positive Links Speaker Series WHAT: Evelina Fredriksson will discuss mindful engagement for positive education in Cambodia. WHO: Michigan Ross Center for Positive Organizations WHEN: 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. WHERE: Ross School of Business - Robertson Auditorium
RESOLUTION From Page 1A Many argued this was beneficial for the safety of pro-Palestinian students from damaging blacklists. Another was the outpouring of support: CSG Vice President Nadine Jawad, a Public Policy senior, took the floor to describe her own experiences as an Arab and Muslim student. She stated her support of the resolution, empathizing with the feelings Jewish students have experienced because she has faced marginalization herself. She urged CSG members to support divestment, standing in front of the assembly despite the possibility of personal backlash. “We have to continue talking about this but we also have to recognize if we want equitable footing on this, we need to give all people an opportunity and a voice,” Jawad said. Public Health graduate student Dana Greene Jr., who knelt on the Diag for 21 hours to protest
A Journey to Making an Ideal Violin WHAT: Renowned violin-maker Feng Jiang will discuss his art and his journey. WHO: Confucius Institute at the University of Michigan WHEN: 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. WHERE: Palmer Commons Forum Hall
Reception for Hidden Figures: When the Computer Wore a Skirt: NASA’s Human Computers WHAT: An opening reception to the Hidden Figures exhibition. WHO: Center for Engineering Diversity and Outreach WHEN: 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. WHERE: Duderstadt Gallery on North Campus
racism, also showed his support for divestment. While he clarified he did not see the resolution as anti-Israel, he also said he could not ignore his moral values. “I do not ask you to pass this resolution as a sentiment against Israel … all that I ask is that you support all people, including Palestinians,” he said. “If one of us suffers all of us suffer. … When I kneeled on that Diag in pain, I watched thousands of students walk past me. I ask you today to not be one of those people that walked past.” Tuesday morning, the Black Student Union tweeted their endorsement of divestment. Members of the BSU executive board attended the meeting, following many other socialjustice oriented organizations in supporting Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, the group that first brought the resolution to CSG. This year, History professor Victor Lieberman was not approved to join the list of speakers, prompting cheers from pro-divest students. Lieberman teaches on the Arab-Israeli
Sean Tran @its_seantran
Biopolitics and LifeWriting among Ottoman Armenians: The Sacred Life of Zabel Yesayan
The Physics and Applications of 2D and 3D Organic Heterojunctions
WHAT: This talk will discuss dehumanization of Armenians in terms of biopolitics WHO: Armenian Studies Program WHEN: 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. WHERE: Weiser Hall - Room 110
WHAT: A Physics Department Colloquium presented by Steve Forrest WHO: Department of Physics WHEN: 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. WHERE: West Hall - Room 340
“Lebensraum on the Pacific: Anton Wagner and the Urban Geography of Los Angeles”
Arthur Vandenberg: The Man in the Middle of the American Century
WHAT: Edward Dimendberg will discuss the work of German geographer Anton Wagner. WHO: History of Art WHEN: 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. WHERE: Tappan Hall - Room 180
conflict, and spoke last year heavily against divestment. Then-LSA senior Devin Jones criticized Lieberman, stating Lieberman’s rhetoric victimblamed Palestinians. Public Policy junior Samuel Lawrence spoke on Lieberman’s behalf Tuesday night, reading from his notes on how BDS aims to bring Israel down. Former CSG Rep. Gaby Roth, an LSA senior, followed, urging current CSG members to vote against divestment as she did last year as she believes the movement is antiSemitic and aims to wipe out the Jewish population. Former CSG Rep. Farah Erzouki, a University alum, spoke in favor of divestment, addressing CSG directly and highlighting that the vote isn’t to sanction a country, but rather specific companies that are tied to allegations of human rights violations. Erzouki also emphasized the weeks divestment is discussed are consistently very well-attended by students, as they use the meetings as a platform to express their views. “I’ve seen at this point thousands of students rally over leaders in support of divestment this issue and this request does not exist in a vacuum. There is long standing and diverse support on this issue as you have seen.” She went on to list several institutions whose student governing bodies pass similar divestment issues. “As a former member of student government and as someone who has been on our campus community since 2010, this is by far the concern that brings the highest number of students attending these meetings time and time again and every single year. It’s important for representatives to really grasp what they’re deciding — whether they’re deciding to amplify the voices of the students coming back time and time again.”
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WHAT: Hendrik “Hank” Meijer will discuss Vandenberg’s biography and bipartisan efforts. WHO: Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy WHEN: 7: 00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m WHERE: Gerald Ford Library
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AWARENESS From Page 1A evoked by Kaepernick. Hackett and Tagliabue spoke about kneeling boding the question of whether or not NFL players should be given the platform to voice their opinion on political matters while on the field. Tagliabue, who served as commissioner of the NFL from 1989 to 2006, expanded the league from 28 to 32 teams and was heavily active in social justice movements. Tagliabue moved Superbowl XXVII from Arizona after the state refused to establish a state holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. and has also been honored for his work with LBGTQ rights group Parents, Friends and Families of Lesbians and Gays. “It’s complicated,” Tagliabue said on the connection between sports and public policy. “Sports have had an enormous impact on diversity and inclusion and on our relationships with each other — race, color, creed, etc. Athletes and sports can have an enormous positive effect on communities; we are all woven together in the best of circumstances that is the melting that that is our society.” Hackett served as interim director of Michigan athletics from Oct. 31, 2014, to March 11, 2016, and served on the Ford School Committee from 2006 to 2017, making his involvement in sports and policy extensive. Hackett recalled his time on and off the field. “There is no line between racism and patriotism, they are just your teammates,” Hackett said. “The highest percent of participation on a team is when you don’t think of yourself, you think of the person next to you. My dream
SUMMIT From Page 1A taken our MOOCs are outside the United States, representing over 200 countries,” Finholt said. “We also aspire to use our MOOCs to reach an important domestic audience, which are students in community colleges who are transfer candidates … And (use) MOOCs as a way of exploring alternative completion of a residential degree.” Hilton then moved the conversation into a dialogue on MOOCs and their place at the University. Instead of a dichotomous relationship between offering completely online courses and face-to-face interaction with professors as implemented now, Videka said both teaching methods can be utilized to provide comprehensive educations. The Masters of Social Work program only offers a fulltime option, which includes a mandatory 912 credit hours of field experience, and Videka said many people cannot commit to the full-time program. Even now, MSW students have demanded equitable pay for these field hours because they offset time students could be working to pay for school, rent or food for their families. Videka said online courses could both include these students who could only complete a parttime program that currently isn’t offered and spur new ideas in the full program. “In some sense, (MOOCs) will open a slightly new market but the flipside of that is it’s requiring us to completely rethink the rest of our program,” she said. Taking into account the field experience many programs require at the University, Finholt said some MOOCs in the School of Information lend themselves very well to an autograder that can check an assignment automatically and show whether the student got the question correct, but other courses require more thought in how to replicate a field position. “How do we deal with this problem of assessing (our programs) online when so much
was that the young people on campus would understand the underpinnings of diversity and inclusion meant when it was not mediated and was highly controversial.” Tagliabue emphasized the fine line between protest and action. He questioned what societal change this protest could enact and how players can move forward with their message. “I think you’ve got to fight,” Tagliabue said. “But you have to do it in the right way. If your goal is to galvanize the public in support of a point of view that you’re advocating, you need to pay attention to not only those who are already with you, but those who are not yet convinced. That means you have to strike a balance, you have to understand what it takes to grow your constituency. You need to recognize the limits of a sports institution. However, leadership is at all levels at the institution.” Public Policy graduate student Jai Singletary also emphasized the link between social justice movements and athletics, and believes it beneficial to continue this conversation. “By tapping into the social aspect of what’s going on in the country and how it relates to the athletes not just within the NFL but within the sports world, protesting and voicing their opinions gives a little bit of insight about where protests and social change will come within the sports arena,” Singletary said. Traci Carson, a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Public Health, said she attended the event to expand her knowledge of the debate surrounding kneeling. “This is a topic that I have been going back and forth on, and I think each individual regards the topic of kneeling and the First Amendment right differently, and I think it
is really important to ask why they are doing it, and to get that individual’s response and not generalize everybody into one group; it is their choice to or to not kneel,” Carson said. LSA senior Kyle Lefkowitz, however, questioned what comes next after kneeling for the anthem. “This is such an important platform for the players — allowing them to be able to fight for what they believe. Now we just have to continue with actions and not just words,” Lefkowitz said. Tagliabue later urged the students to try to understand why people protest. He believes it is imperative to acknowledge why people are fighting and, even if the president demands a halt in the discussion of policy, people continue the conversation. “You won’t gain respect if you think that ‘the only solution is mine,’ ” Tagliabue said. “You have to understand who these people are. Everyone should understand that we do have a First Amendment right in America, and that the government should stay the hell out of regulating speech. You should be able to say what you think. He cannot shut us down. That is not America.” Tagliabue left University students with advice on how this controversy can teach values and unite the next generation. “Men and women are better prepared in society to be leaders than ever before. We need to make sure they have the research and the institutions to give them the opportunity to do what they’re doing in an environment where celebrity is not always an asset some people learned in last presidential election. Celebrity is not the key to the kingdom. Hard work, good ideas and institutional support is the key to the kingdom.”
of the pedagogical practice of my school is oriented toward experiential learning or engaged learning where people are doing field placements?” Finholt said. Millunchick said the current tendency of MOOCs to be large classes can decrease diversity in ideas, especially in task-oriented fields. She said instead of putting one large class on a project, they could utilize small, private online courses, set 50 smaller classes on a project and see a large diversity of solutions to the same problem. Many argued MOOCs puts quality education that is inaccessible to some communities in their hands, provided they had the technology to support it. Massey said while this is true, the product the University already offers, faceto-face education, will become highly coveted. “(MOOCs) democratize education but we will, in fact, reinforce the prestige value, the monetary value of face-to-face communities around campuses like this one because that will become the exception rather than the norm,” Massey said. During a Q&A segment, Provost Martin Philbert asked the panelists what innovations they would take with their schools if they had no budgetary restrictions. While specific applications in their schools varied, many panelists saw common characteristics of higher education such as expertise and curriculums as worthwhile targets for innovation. Finholt said academic institutions across the Big Ten conference and worldwide are not recognizing where their strengths are nor catering educational products to those strengths. With no monetary restrictions, Finholt said students could access professionals across the country digitally. “It would be great if we could … stop having to teach the things we’re not very good at and recognize that there are other places in the world that are really good at teaching those things and let our students take those courses from those institutions and from those instructors,” Finholt said. Millunchick said the way schools in the University such as the College of Engineering
and the Taubman College have to structure their students’ curriculums so they can graduate on time includes taking classes certain semesters to align with course offerings. Millunchick said the University could be utilizing technology to help students explore their other interests, gather necessary knowledge for their concentrations and break out of locked-in curriculums. “If we could somehow use technology to break that curricular demand so that … rather than having to follow these curriculum locks, students could take the curriculum a different kind of way,” Millunchick said. Rachel Niemer, director of the Gameful Learning Lab in the Office of Academic Innovation, said the summit was designed to gear the campus community toward thinking forward to what the University could achieve. “I think, honestly, we’re heading for some really interesting, thoughtful conversation amongst the community about what our values are and how we’re going to share and co-create knowledge with the broader community,” Niemer said. Philbert, during his segment, noted all of the panelists had come from professional backgrounds and professional schools and, therefore, have a bias toward preparing students specifically for the workforce. Matt MacQueen, a lecturer at the Center for Entrepreneurship, attended the summit and found it encouraging to hear people critique longstanding institutions of higher education. He said while LSA was not represented at the final panel, the ideas mentioned are not limited exclusively to professional paths and these tools could be available to more liberal arts students and faculty. “I think the opportunities in less professionally driven programs are just around different, more exciting ways to learn, less that it has to have a concrete, job outcome at the other end of it,” MacQueen said. “I would be bullish on people in LSA thinking about these tools as just more engaging ways to get more learners and get them thinking in different ways than it is, ‘Here’s your path to a profession exactly.’ ”
CHEATING From Page 1A caught for cheating but then write a response and that being cheating … just seems really unfair.” Harris, on the other hand, was asked by a friend if she could send her the homework answers. While Harris specified that her friend should rephrase the answers, her friend submitted them as is and both were flagged for academic dishonesty. Harris said while sharing her answer wasn’t a completely innocent action, she should not be punished to the extent that her friend who copied the answer was because Harris did the homework and her friend did not. “I think that I did make an error in the fact that I sent my answer to someone,” Harris said. “However, I don’t think I should be getting the same punishment as someone who copied my answer because I explicitly stated that she did not have permission to copy my answer word for word. I do think that I kind of cheated, but I don’t think to the level of someone who just copies something.” According to Esrold Nurse, LSA assistant dean for undergraduate education, common misconceptions like the ones in Stats 250 are reflected in data gathered by the Office of the Assistant Dean and the LSA Student Academic Affairs Office. Data provided by Nurse shows 159 of the 305 academic integrity violations reported to SAA in the 2016-17 school year were categorized as unauthorized collaboration. In addition, 170 of these violations were dealt with within the class structure instead of through SAA. Brenda Gunderson, statistics senior lecturer, confirmed this large number of unauthorized collaboration reports was from Stats 250. Now, she said, the class utilizes an internal system consisting of an email conversation between the Stats 250 student and the lecturer, and an automatic zero when the first instance of academic dishonesty appears. She said this protocol is meant to teach students about the classroom’s expectations and then move on with the material. “We want the students to grow from the experience,” Gunderson said. “In fact, our response to them when they come back and say, ‘We’re sorry’; we want it to be a teachable moment and so we internally say, ‘OK, well then what we’ll do is that homework will get a score of zero but we drop the lowest homework score in the class too, so in the end that can be no effect on their grade and I don’t keep track and have a list of students that have had this happen. … We want them to know we aren’t going to pass any judgement on them for the mistake. It’s done. It’s gone.” For Bernstein’s situation, Gunderson said she encourages collaboration but in terms of actually writing short answers, wording would be different if written independently after understanding the concept. “When you are sort of given an open-ended prompt of ‘Take from this output and write up a two or three or four sentence summary’ … those things would be maybe focusing on similar numbers but said in different ways and if a student is struggling, it’s easy to try to explain but then just let them look at your answer,” Gunderson said. “If you went through the idea of what a confidence interval means and you each got the good idea and went off in your own corners and
Wednesday, November 15, 2017 — 3A
wrote it up, it wouldn’t be identical. You would have your own little flair.” The LSA Academic Integrity Statement is reportedly included in all LSA class syllabi, according to Nurse. This statement defines cheating as “creating an unfair academic advantage” for yourself or others in your class. This could involve cheating to offset a grading curve that negatively affects the rest of the class and many other scenarios like Bernstein and Harris experienced. Official cases not dealt with internally, reach the desk of Nurse. From there, the student and Nurse enter a conversation about the situation. If an agreement cannot be reached, the case is sent to the LSA Academic Judiciary Committee for review and to determine if a student has violated the statement or not. In 2016-17, 104 of all academic integrity cases found the students responsible for the violation. Twenty-one were found not responsible. Nurse said discrepancies between academic integrity protocols of different colleges such as LSA and the College of Engineering can be confusing, but as for LSA, uniformity among classes is key. “The College of Engineering, for example, has an honor code,” Nurse said. “Students sign the pledge each time they take an exam. (LSA doesn’t) have an honor code but that doesn’t mean we’re less committed to integrity. How we manage it is a little different because we have more students and more cases to attend to, so we have a process which, we think, works well for us. It respects the educational aspect of it. We allow faculty to resolve cases for themselves rather than sending (students) to us for fear that we’re going to do something really bad which we don’t.” The statement was written in conjunction with the LSA Student Honor Council, a group of undergraduate students who work with students and staff to promote academic integrity and create uniform procedures for reporting academic dishonesty cases. They also inform students of what their options are when accused of committing academic misconduct. However, LSA seniors Khyati Somayaji and Laura Donohue, the SHC president and vice president, respectively, make it clear they do not act as lawyers or defense for students. They attend LSA Academic Judiciary Committee sessions, but they do not take a side or vote in the verdict. Donohue said the faculty presentations were implemented last year and allow the SHC to clarify some misconceptions about the reporting process and create a fair situation for the faculty and students. “There’s a lot of misunderstanding about what the academic misconduct reporting process is and what exactly the hearing process means for students, so it’s really important that we get to go in and clarify that,” Donohue said. “I think it’s also valuable for faculty to see that there are students on campus who have an interest in integrity.” Somayaji said academic integrity is important to promote because it affects the lives of students once they graduate through them having good morals and representing their work as their own. “These values really play out into not only professional lives but social lives and being a responsible community member,” Somayaji said. “We do a lot of work that really puts our values and ideals into perspective farther down the road
than just academics.” Nurse echoed Somayaji’s sentiments and said if people practice good academic integrity in school now, they will feel a much larger sense of accomplishment once they graduate than if they had cheated and got away with it. “There was a student who graduated and became a doctor who wrote to me 30 years later as his kids were in high school and admitted to me that he had cheated not once but three times while he was here as a student and wasn’t caught,” Nurse said. “He got away with it because no one knew but here it is, 30 years later, that his conscience is beginning to (wear thin). … When you’ve earned your degree, you earn your degree and that’s something you should be proud of. You shouldn’t have any regrets later on.” This year, Stats 250 has implemented the M-Write program into the course to encourage students to think critically and be able to write about statistical concepts. Previously an LSA honors credit option, the writing assignments are now officially part of the curriculum. With these new longer essay assignments comes the worry of students passing and selling their essays through what Nurse calls “essay mills.” With one search on a University class Facebook page, sites like eHomework can be found. EHomework offers “a high quality paper” and encourages students to “NOT BE AFRAID” because the site has “NEVER had a student get in trouble for ordering an essay from (them).” Gunderson said she’s not looking for students sharing essays or utilizing essay mills because the pros of giving students experience with writing in statistics outweigh the cons of a longer written assignment. “The ability to write and communicate is so much more important these days, and even more so in STEM disciplines,” Gunderson said. “We’re bring this into the course because there’s a very useful learning experience through that process and … a student is going to get so much more out of it if they indeed to that writing experience than if they just take something off the internet and submit it. It’s not worth those three points.” Nurse said these essay mills are just another difficulty in the current age of technology that professors have to watch out for. “The internet has expanded the availability of information related to almost anything conceivable that you’re trying to find so there are times students take shortcuts,” Nurse said. “Professors have had to work very hard to design homework and exams to reduce the incidents of plagiarism, and I think they’ve done a good job. Having students do drafts, for example, are key.” With so many elements of cheating to monitor, Bernstein said she had never heard of essay mills. However, she said she hopes most University students don’t use mills or other students’ work, but the University should better understand the difference between accidentally having similar answers and directly stealing work. “There are some ways of cheating that you just know are wrong. You just know you don’t buy a paper off someone else,” Bernstein said. “You know you don’t submit another student’s work, but there are definitely these gray areas when it comes to working with students or citing something wrong where you didn’t purposefully, intentionally try to disrespect the Code of Academic Integrity.”
PITCH PERFECT
AYUSH THAKUR/Daily
Dicks and Janes A Cappella rehearses for their upcoming concert, themed around The Office, this Saturday in Angell Hall Auditorium B.
Opinion
4A — Wednesday, November 15, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
NOAH HARRISON | COLUMN
Election wins should embolden Democrats
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ISAIAH ZEAVIN-MOSS | COLUMN
L
Imprints of an individual
ast week, I got my ear end of next term, when I will also pierced. I had wanted be graduating. In the play, I see to do it for several days an opportunity for a text that I before, to change up my look — to can forever look back on and say, I try something new. wrote that there, during There was, in other that time. A text that words, no larger, represents my time at the existential reasoning University of Michigan. behind this desire, I am studying abroad no deeper truth I this semester, but thought a piercing before I came here, I would illuminate or had planned to write a help me enact. traditional thesis — a But I was wrong. research essay guided In the ensuing days, by a set of research ISAIAH I’ve begun to regard ZEAVIN-MOSS questions. But it has my piercing as a sort been extremely difficult of imprint on my own body. I’d to get in touch with advisers back never physically changed myself in Ann Arbor and to establish the in such a permanent way before. necessary consistent connection After haircuts, sometimes I’d feel to help overcome this distance like a new person, walking down between me and familiar libraries, the street with a new swagger professors and resources. Too — or, if things went badly, with a much work, I thought. Not worth new necessity to hide my face. But it, since it will distract from my regardless, hair would always grow ability to be here. A feeling — back and take its same afro-like probably overstated — that these shape that is a consequence, I am advisers are too busy, or, at worst, told, of my Jewish heritage. that they do not actually care I see myself in the mirror now enough about my academic work and I see a body on which I have to engage with me, unless I am in made my own imprint. I was their office in person. given my body and the life that But the play I have now decided accompanies it by some existential to write demonstrates my taking level of chance, seed and egg this wish to work into my own meeting and floating off together. hands. To occupy the space, left But now, my body has become vacant by both the silence from my my own. And I love this feeling, advisers and the physical distance that there are ways to increase between me and Ann Arbor, in the amount of control I have over creative ways that speak to my my life. That I can become more own individuality. myself, more in touch with my I think this notion lies at the own predilections and identities, center of what we call “growing and that as I do this, I get to better up.” That I, as a child, was cradled know myself through spontaneous, and nourished and supported everyday actions. It did not require by my upbringing — my family some profound shift in my everyday and friends whom I love dearly. habits to feel this way. That these relationships made I feel ready to find more ways me entirely dependent on these to manufacture this feeling. To people, on these systems of own my own life, in other words. familiarity and comfort. To seek out instances in which And these people and systems my life can become more my own, are not constant. For example, Louis not just the predetermined default C.K., a person whom I have described setting that was given to me by to dozens of friends throughout my incomprehensible coincidences childhood as the figure whose life I that I did nothing to bring about. would like to most closely emulate, And in the days since I got my has just been exposed as a sexual piercing, this feeling has manifested predator, creep and liar. itself in other ways. I have begun C.K.’s standup routines and to write a play, which I hope can his Emmy-winning TV show be performed in Ann Arbor at the portray a certain honest humanity
SARAH NEFF | CONTACT SARAH AT SANE@UMICH.EDU
that I always found powerfully endearing and refreshing: a messy, smelly, morally ambiguous portrayal of human life that I often felt reflected my own everyday experience grappling with my own insecurities and incapabilities. But C.K.’s honesty, as it turns out, was merely a mask for his systematic manipulation and deceit of the women he assaulted. As he told stories of his own masturbatory fantasies onstage, to an audience of millions, we can only now begin to understand the ways in which these fantasies manifested themselves. It is sickening to imagine C.K.’s personal fetish being fulfilled by his unknowing, relentlessly laughing audience. The social death of this personal hero provides an opportunity for me to emerge more singularly myself. It allows me to define my own desires and values, and not rely upon somebody else, who, as it has turned out, I did not know at all. And of course, I’m still more dependent on my upbringing than the vast majority of people have the privilege to be. My family allows me to explore all my interests. They fund my education, for which I am endlessly grateful. My friends, many of whom I have known my entire life, know me better than I know myself. And they can provide me with indispensable reminders of encouragement and love. But this increasing sentiment of self-ownership shifts how I understand my background. I want to approach it as a springboard to leap into the world, to treat the people and the world that raised me as safety nets to fall back on if and when the world treats me, as my academic advisers did, with silence; to trust in the power of this love; to know that it exists, regardless of physical distance; and to use this trust as a tool for empowerment, to ignite my transformation into an individual who continues to make imprints — both physical and intellectual — on my own life.
Isaiah Zeavin-Moss can be reached at izeavinm@umich.edu.
S
ave for a special Senate race in Alabama, the 2017 election cycle has come and gone. With only a handful of governorships and state legislature seats up for election, the 2017 cycle will ultimately have a minimal immediate impact on the balance of power. Yet, it nonetheless provides a significant gauge of current political sentiments nearly a year into Donald Trump’s presidency. Furthermore, it validates the Democrats’ opposition to President Trump and congressional Republicans as a legitimate strategy. The Democratic Party assuaged many of the lingering concerns from their string of special election defeats earlier this year with a dominant performance. In the two most high-profile races of the night, the party reclaimed and retained the New Jersey and Virginia governorships. Though victory in New Jersey was widely expected, in Virginia, Democrat Ralph Northam won by nine points despite polls projecting a closer race. Though less covered by the media, Democrats made massive gains in state legislatures, retaking the Washington state Senate and possibly gaining control of the Virginia House of Delegates, depending on the final vote tallies in several stilluncalled districts. This success in state elections is of particular interest to the Democratic National Committee, given the Democratic Party’s loss of over 1,000 state legislative seats nationwide since 2008. Collectively, these victories will potentially yield dividends in 2020, when congressional districts are redrawn. Perhaps a more meaningful, if less tangible, result is the validation of the Democrats’ vigorous and unified opposition to the legislative agenda of President Trump and congressional Republicans. This strategy most visibly manifested itself in the Democrats’ loud and bitter opposition to the Republican Party’s many efforts over the past year to “repeal and replace” Obamacare. None of the plans put forward by the GOP garnered any Democratic support, but rather prompted Democrats to launch a massive publicity campaign aimed at mobilizing the populace against the bill and
COREY DULIN | COLUMN
“T
securing the opposition of moderate Republicans like Susan Collins, John McCain and Lisa Murkowski. Though it was the opposition of these moderate Republicans that ultimately doomed every iteration of the GOP’s health care bill to be put before the Senate, the coordinated and unified opposition of congressional Democrats certainly contributed. In fact, Sen. McCain, R-Ariz., whose eleventhhour opposition killed one of the GOP’s most promising attempts, the “skinny repeal,” cited the universal opposition of Democrats as a reason for his position. He asserted that health care legislation should not be passed on “a partyline basis.” Furthermore, the extended battle over health care drew voters’ attention to the issue and sharply increased public opposition to GOP repeal-and-replace plans. Though GOP efforts to repeal Obamacare limped on into September, at this point, Obamacare portends to remain the law of the land for the foreseeable future. Trump’s historically low approval ratings, coupled with the GOP’s equally abysmal favorability marks, had already lent credence to the tactics employed by Democrats during the health care debate. However, the past week’s elections further justified this strategy of defiant opposition and should give Democrats confidence in upcoming political battles, including the GOP’s proposed tax plan. That tax plan, in which the Congressional Budget Office projects will add $1.7 trillion to the national debt and primarily benefit the wealthiest Americans, is ripe for criticism. Since the House and Senate have already passed budgets for 2018, Republicans do not seem poised to enact conservative tax reform. Though tax reform would greatly please top Republican donors, it likely will be less wellreceived by the electorate as a whole, especially given that the bill could actually raise taxes on many middle-class Americans. Its potential passage portends to develop into another political liability that Democrats can exploit in 2018. Though the notion that Democrats would be united and resolute in their opposition to Trump may seem obvious, Democrats often splintered
during contentious debates over Trump’s nominees — even in the earlier months of the Trump administration, when Trump’s mandate was arguably at its peak. Understandably, red-state Democrats considered vulnerable in 2018 — such as Sens. Joe Manchin in West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana — felt a need to protect themselves. They broke themselves party ranks to vote in favor of some of Trump’s more controversial Cabinet nominees like Jeff Sessions, Scott Pruitt and Ben Carson. These three senators were also the only Democrats to vote to confirm Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to Supreme Court. Since these confirmation battles, Sens. Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have successfully kept the party united. This task will presumably only get easier in the wake of last week’s elections, which should dispel notions about the Democratic Party’s supposed inability win elections. The Democratic Party emerges from the 2017 elections with only marginally more political power, but a clear blueprint for the 2018 midterms and beyond. The Democrats are by no means guaranteed to perform well in 2018 — continued party infighting or unforeseen political developments could easily derail Democratic momentum. But the party can move forward emboldened with the knowledge that appeasing President Trump is unnecessary and perhaps even counterproductive to achieving electoral success. These races were not direct referendums on the Trump administration or the GOPcontrolled Congress, yet the Democratic sweep still reflects the President’s mandate to govern is weakening. Those dissatisfied with the current balance of power appear motivated, representing an ominous sign for Republicans. The Democratic Party should enter 2018 confident that their unwavering opposition to President Trump and his agenda will yield both legislative and electoral victories.
Noah Harrison can be reached at noahharr@umich.edu.
Princess
hey treat me like one Cinderella, played by actress Cinderella around and singer Brandy, wore at the here,” I once ball. The visuals pair brilliantly exaggerated when I was little. I was with the music. The songs and never too interested dance numbers are in the general idea of the definition of extra: princesses, but they’re they’re hilarious, over a staple in the media the top and they stay in diet of young girls. your head for at least a They line the toy week. When you have aisles and are one Whitney Houston of the main focuses singing in a movie, you of children’s movies know the songs will and TV shows, so become iconic. The they’re easy for kids to song “Impossible” has COREY connect with. been stuck in my head DULIN Despite their since I heard it in the prevalence, children’s movies that early 2000s. feature princesses fail to capture and What was most important for me showcase a range of experiences and in elementary school was how diverse backgrounds. While the princess the cast was. It featured Whoopi narrative usually brings to mind a Goldberg, Whitney Houston, Paolo helpless maiden waiting for a man Montalbán and Brandy. It’s funny to save her, like Snow White or how this movie had no problem Sleeping Beauty, there is a chance casting actors of colors while most for the narrative to instead teach movies, including the more recent young girls to learn important values 2015 adaptation of “Cinderella,” like determination, ambition and struggle to do this. Seeing a princess bravery and feature characters from that looked like me, Black with box diverse backgrounds. braids, and seeing a fairy godmother Among the hordes of remakes with curly hair was rare and special. of Cinderella, only a select few Aside from the amazing score, scenes, put women of color in the iconic colors and hilarity of the movie, the role. I recently watched one of image of Brandy as Cinderella has these, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s stuck with me since I was little. I, “Cinderella” from 1997, for the like every child, looked to find myself first time in over a decade. When among the images on the screen and I was little, I remember going to in books. “Cinderella” gave me a day camp and always asking to character to identify with, unlike most watch that movie when we had to media produced in the early 2000s. stay inside. I’m sure this irritated The 1997 adaptation of everyone, but this was my movie “Cinderella” went against the when I was in elementary school standard of most Disney movies and rewatching it showed me why and princess movies of the time — I was so drawn to it. First of all, but it was only one of a few movies there’s so much color. It makes it that starred a woman of color. After easy to understand why I wanted seeing Disney’s animated renditions to watch it all the time — the of “Cinderella,” “Snow White,” visuals are stunning. The ornate “Sleeping Beauty” and “The Little fabrics that the characters wear Mermaid” too many times on ABC are beautiful and the color scheme Family, I felt that Disney was long for the ball scene is mesmerizing. overdue to release a movie about a I wanted to wear all the fancy, Black princess. funky dresses — especially the Disney finally delivered in 2009
with the release of “The Princess and the Frog.” I was too old to aspire to be a princess; they didn’t hold as important a part in my life as they did when I was little. But Tiana spoke to whom I hoped to become. She was smart, worked hard and was hopeful. In most narratives that involve women, especially princess narratives, the woman waits for a man to save her. But Tiana used her intelligence to save herself and that knuckleheaded prince who turned her into a frog. You can say that princesses and princess movies are silly and that they are not worth paying attention to, but they are part of a larger discussion about what values we instill in children, especially young girls who make up the target audience. Movies like the 1997 adaptation of “Cinderella,” “The Princess and the Frog” and “Mulan” incorporate the stories of different cultures and areas into media consumed by elementary school children. This gives them the opportunity to see themselves reflected in characters and also learn about other cultures. Evaluating which lessons these movies teach children is just as important as ensuring that the stories told are diverse and include characters from different racial or ethnic backgrounds. Are these movies emphasizing the oldschool princess tropes of waiting for “true love” or “Prince Charming” to solve everything or do they focus on the importance of standing up for yourself and individuality like in “The Princess and the Frog” and “Brave”? I want the word “princess” redefined; instead of the negative connotation it has of a “fair maiden” waiting for everything to be done for her, it should come to mean an independent, strong, courageous person of any skin tone.
Corey Dulin can be reached at cydulin@umich.edu.
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
TV REVIEW
FILM REVIEW
ABC “Grey’s Anatomy” is still alive and well unlike most of its original cast
‘Grey’s Anatomy’ in critical condition after 14 seasons As it hits the 300 mark, it’s time for ‘Grey’s’ to pass on quietly OLIVIA ASIMAKIS Daily Arts Writer
After watching approximately one episode of “Grey’s Anatomy,” most feel as though they could perfectly execute a coronary artery bypass surgery (yes, I had to look that up). The show has been around for 14 seasons, and last week marked its 300th episode. Through all of the medical jargon, sexual scandals, dramatic deaths, complicated familial relationships and job competition, Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo, “Doc McStuffins”) is still, as they say, saving lives. The episode made sentimental remarks on past characters, the deceased Dr. George O’Malley (T.R. Knight, “Genius”) and the two that left Seattle Grace Hospital, Dr. Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh, “Catfight”) and Dr. Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl, “Doubt”). Both characters were the main focus of the show until they were written off. “Grey’s Anatomy” revolved around these four, and Meredith is currently the only one left. Well, that depends if you count Dr. Alex Karev (Justin Chambers, “Broken City”) or not. He never seemed as close with the core four. The main catastrophe plaguing the hospital in this episode is a roller coaster accident, in which two individuals remind the entire staff of George, Cristina and Izzie. Mini George and Christina are injured in the roller coaster crash, and Izzie’s look alike is their pregnant friend. All three of them surprisingly require serious medical attention. Although the nostalgia of past characters makes both Meredith and the viewer hold onto emotional feelings, the plotline was forced. It doesn’t feel natural; if anything it’s coaxed. It felt like a last-ditched attempt to make viewers reflect on past seasons, and in doing that it reminded me of how “Grey’s Anatomy” used to be entertaining.
This flashback is a reflection of how the old Greys worked, and the current one doesn’t. Now it’s just over-the-top and exhausted. The medical drama has passed its expiration date. There are too many subplots, unrealistic health concerns and overplay of sexual promiscuity. The theatrics are laughable and very predictable. A patient cannot simply have one medical issue, instead he or she has 12 and there is always a heightened moment of fear. The on-edge and tense medical procedures are only interesting when they are warranted. It’s agitating watching all of these diagnoses come out of the woodwork when it was already exciting enough. The Izzie look
“Grey’s Anatomy” 300th Episode ABC Thursdays @ 8 p.m. alike is pregnant and passes out. So naturally, the doctors test and find her placenta has a tumor on it. They immediately go to surgery, and then they have to perform an emergency c-section when the baby is premature. The plot would have worked if they had her simply pass out. Not to mention her friends are on the verge of death after their serious accident. “Grey’s Anatomy” piles on the drama to the point where it only serves to convolute and overload. The amount of sexual relations makes the show hard to follow. At every turn, someone is sleeping with someone else, not to mention during the workday. All the sex can make the show more interesting, but once again, it just feels overdone. Dr. Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone, “The November Man”) walks in on her old flame, Dr.
Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd, “Tulip Fever”) and Dr. Carina DeLuca (Stefania Spampinato, “Two Wolves”) making out, naked. Dr. Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti, “Race”) gets it on with his ex-girlfriend, Dr. Sam Bello (Jeanine Mason, “Criminal Minds”), in the supply closet when their bosses, Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson, “Frankie & Alice”) and Dr. Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr., “For the Love of Ruth”) can hear them. Then see them come out. Awkward. The predictability of both radical medical diagnoses and character decisions makes “Grey’s Anatomy” typical and spent. Meredith is up for a prestigious medical award, the Harper Avery Award. Instead of attending the ceremony, she stays behind to help with the roller coaster accident. Although the intention of this plot line was to show dedication, it largely fails. Of course, she didn’t go to the awards even though there were plenty of other qualified and capable surgeons to take care of the injuries. Not only does she miss the ceremony, but, spoiler, she wins. No surprise there. The series began with Meredith and her friends as mere interns, and now they are full blown surgeons. The show used to follow their tribulations trying to prove themselves, sleeping at the hospital and working endless shifts. They used to camp out at a very specific location—a hallway removed from the intense environment of the hospital. After Meredith wins her award, she celebrates with one of the only interns from the first season to still be around, Dr. Alex Karev, on the very gurnees they started off on. They also kick the current interns out of their spot which is pretty cute. In addition to Karev, Cristina calls from Switzerland. The memorabilia should serve as a sign that “Grey’s Anatomy” was a good show while it lasted, but it’s time to wrap it up and move on.
BOOK REVIEW
‘The Doll’s Alphabet’ an enjoyably grotesque read Grudova’s collection of stories leaves the reader’s skin crawling ASIF BECHER Daily Arts Writer
Camilla Grudova’s “The Doll’s Alphabet” is a deeply weird and completely brilliant book. You find its images replaying in your head on an endless loop long after turning the final page, and for good reason: It’s kind of terrifying. Women unstitch their own skin clean off their bones, they turn into werewolves and eat their own children, and they give birth to alien tubers (eyeless and mouthless, but nonetheless alive and squirming). There’s a sewing machine powered by the blood of the young seamstresses
Wednesday, November 15, 2017 — 5A
using it — and a grotesque half spider/half man obsessed with keeping the machine alive at any cost. The stories rarely follow a clear narrative path, but they make an awful visceral sense, pulsing with the internal logic of a nightmare. They’re distinct, but the stories share a world filled with rot, decay, rusty machines and bloody open wounds. Grudova’s characters are rarely heroes; they form dark fixations and obsessions that tear their lives apart. Sometimes they’re literal monsters, sometimes they’re just people in a bad situation — but they always feel real, lived-in. The characters are often just barely scraping by, living on carefully
rationed food in tins and selling their very bodies to survive. There’s a vague dystopian
“The Doll’s Alphabet” Camila Grudova Coffee House Press October 17, 2017 atmosphere permeating the whole collection, but we never find out exactly what happened.
Anyone else remember Masterpiece Mystery Sunday nights at 9 p.m. on PBS??
20TH CENTURY FOX
‘Orient Express’ manages to entertain despite flaws Branaugh succeeds in his retelling of the aged Poirot mystery IAN HARRIS
Daily Arts Writer
“Murder on the Orient Express,” both directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh (“Dunkirk”) is simultaneously a sleek re-mastering of a classic story as well as a throwback to a bygone era. Branagh stars as Hercule Poirot, one of Agatha Christie’s most memorable characters, along side an allstar cast that includes Penélope Cruz (“Loving Pablo”), Willem Dafoe (“The Florida Project”), Judi Dench (“Victoria and Abdul”), Johnny Depp (“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales”), Josh Gad (“Beauty and the Beast”), Derek Jacobi (“Cinderella”), Leslie Odom Jr. (“Hamilton”), Michelle Pfeiffer (“mother!”) and Daisy Ridley (“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”). With witty dialogue, interesting characters and a mystery that is just as engrossing today as it was when Christie first wrote it, “Murder on the Orient Express” is a grand old time. Opening in Jerusalem in 1934, the film introduces Poirot with a prologue sequence that does an adequate job of setting the stage for the puzzle solving to come, without resorting to heavy-handed exposition to explain who Poirot is and why he does what he does. From there we are quickly introduced to a wide variety of characters, some of whom will play major roles in the drama to come, some of whom will play minor
In fact, a lot of the book’s world is sketched out through carefullychosen but sparse details, where we’re left to fill in the rest ourselves. But this is intentional, a classic horror technique: There’s nothing scarier than the unspoken. Grudova’s writing has a rhythm to it, a perfectly even rise and fall that is equal parts graceful and hair-raisingly creepy. The first story in the book opens with a casual narration: “One afternoon, after finishing a cup of coffee in her living room, Greta discovered how to unstitch herself. Her clothes, skin and hair fell from her like the peeled rind of a fruit, and her true body stepped out.” As you keep reading, you find yourself simultaneously mesmerized by the cadence and meter of the writing, and completely repulsed by the contents. But Grudova is too smart to disgust her readers without a purpose. Every harrowing description, every piece of brutal body horror has a clear focus. At its core, this is a book about the danger and existential panic contained within women’s bodies. It’s a vivid
roles, one of whom will shortly be killed off, prompting the mystery, and all of whom are played by A-list talent. While some audience members might find this segment of the film to move at a ridiculous pace, with little time given for the audience to acclimate themselves to each new face before being whisked to the next scene, the story moves with such a sense of joy and excitement that this table setting doesn’t come across as such so much as it comes across as a fascinating roll-call of the passengers we are about to
“Murder on the Orient Express” 20th Century Fox Rave Cinemas, Quality 16 watch. Once the titular murder occurs and the interviews with the suspects begin, the movie never lets up. Apart from certain narrative beats relating to Poirot’s deceased wife, no revelation or twist falls flat. Poirot’s personal storyline feels half-hearted at best, but truthfully that’s not what we’re here for anyways, and the time it would’ve taken to more thoroughly develop Poirot’s back-story feels like time the
externalization of female pain and anger. In “The Mouse Queen,” our protagonist starts transforming into a werewolf after her husband leaves her alone to raise their twin baby boys. She goes
It’s a tribute to the fact that women are brutally hurt all the time — and too often, nobody cares
out every night, eating women and children and all the other vulnerable people she can find. There’s “The Sad Tale of the Sconce,” which starts with a wooden mermaid who has been carved into the masthead of a ship, until the sailors, “... ate her lips, her hair, her shoulders, and, using a knife, gave her the
film doesn’t have. There’s so much mystery to get through and so many characters with secret identities and false histories and long lost relatives to uncover that the movie doesn’t have time for the simple personal story surrounding Poirot. Because of this his final decision, meant to represent a big change for his character, feels slightly underwhelming, if only because the overall solution to the central mystery feels so satisfying in contrast. The production design and overall look and feel of the film couldn’t be more perfectly suited for the story being told. Cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos (“Denial”) makes creative use of the train setting to produce some seriously dynamic shots and sequences. In particular is the use of overhead shots to emphasize the “Clue”-like atmosphere that develops throughout the picture. The music by Patrick Doyle (“The Emoji Movie”) is suitably whimsical and mysterious in parts, fitting for the tonal shifts that occur during the length of the feature. “Murder on the Orient Express” might not reinvent the wheel, but it does what it does very well, providing an entertaining murder mystery with a wonderful cast who ham it up as much as they can. It’s clear that everyone involved with the picture was having a damn good time. By the time the credits roll, everyone in the audience will be too.
anatomy a mermaid does not have.” Or there’s “Unstitched,” the short tale that opens the collection, about women learning to tear their skin off to reveal a secret, more truthful self within. “Men were divided,” she writes, “between those who ‘always knew there was something deceitful about women’ ... and those who lamented ‘the loss of the female form.’” Grudova is angry, with the kind of anger that’s never quite made explicit. It boils under the surface of everything she writes. “The Doll’s Alphabet” is a tribute to the fact that women are brutally hurt all the time — and too often, nobody cares. It’s a testament to Grudova’s skill that it never feels heavyhanded, it only ever feels true. And that’s really what makes “The Doll’s Alphabet” induce goosebumps: it’s giving voice and form to a barely-contained rage, and a very real violence. “Do not come here by yourself again,” a man tells a young girl in “Edward, Do Not Pamper the Dead.” “Remember you are a vulnerable person.” It’s a familiar warning.
6A — Wednesday, November 15, 2017
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
the breath right out of you. You’re left feeling as if you didn’t truly deserve to witness this moment, to see the stars align right in front of you. Two: Sometimes we don’t see what’s right under our noses. But I’m not complaining — had this been found centuries earlier, I wouldn’t have been as beautifully spellbound as I was four years ago. The Battle of Anghiari will likely never be recovered. In order to do so, Vasari’s painting would have to be destroyed, and it’s very probable that da Vinci’s painting would emerge
ART NOTEBOOK
The Battle of Anghiari, copy by Peter Paul Rubens
in a damaged condition. As an art enthusiast, I’m devastated The Battle of Anghiari won’t ever be seen by myself or the public. It’s almost more distressing, however, that most people will never know this painting. It seems than an art piece lost isn’t as painful as an art piece undiscovered. Since The Battle of Anghiari is the latter, it’s as if a huge part of da Vinci’s reputation never existed. It brings up the controversial question: Is it just to destroy a “lesser” piece of art to recover a more famous work? As much
as I’d love to revel in the glory of da Vinci’s painting, I couldn’t justify destroying another piece of art to do so. Regardless, seeing the words “Cerca Trova” with my own eyes was an experience that transcended all my previous notions of self-discovery. When I close my eyes, I can still see the white, fine printed words etched in my mind. “Seek, and ye shall find.” I wonder what else I’ll discover if I disregard the apparent and dive into the unexplored.
RUBENS
The mystery of Leonardo da Vinci’s lost masterpiece
Writer Trina Pal takes us through one of art’s greatest mysteries: the tenuous connection between Vasari and Leonardo da Vinci TRINA PAL
Daily Arts Writer
As I stared up at Giorgio Vasari’s painting, The battle of Marciano in Val di Chiana, uncontrollable chills traveled down my spine. I couldn’t believe that Leonardo da Vinci’s most revered work during his lifetime was right beneath this 43 by 25 ft fresco. And I’m most definitely not talking Mona Lisa. I was standing in the largest political hall in Italy, the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. Six similar frescoes depicting battle scenes ornamented the walls of the room, all requiring me to crane my neck to glimpse the tops. A family trip had led me to Italy, but as I looked up at the famous fresco, there didn’t seem to be anyone else in the room. All I knew was myself, soaking in the mystery of the lost masterpiece, The Battle of Anghiari, that was rumored to be behind these walls. When it was painted in 1505, The Battle of Anghiari was regarded as the best work by Leonardo da Vinci, arguably the most well-known painter of the Renaissance era and today. This one battle scene, commissioned by Italian statesman Piero Soderini to be painted in the Palazzo Vecchio, was said to surpass any other painting produced during the Renaissance. A century later, however, painter Giorgio Vasari was told to paint over it by the Grand Duke Cosimo
I. After this, there are no known records of The Battle of Anghiari. Art historians knew it should rest in the Palazzo Vecchio, but found nothing more than copied sketches by Peter Paul Rubens and da Vinci himself. Nothing could point them to the original. But five years ago, everything changed. In March 2012, Italian art analyst Maurizio Seracini discovered that Vasari’s painting actually rested on a thin wall about
I’ve never cared much for Vasari as a painter. I will, however, attest to the man’s ingenuity
one to three inches in front of the rest of the paintings in the gallery. By controversially drilling small holes into parts of Vasari’s painting, Seracini discovered pigments behind this wall. After further analysis, it was found that da Vinci had used these same pigments in many of his other works. Not having the heart to destroy Leonardo’s acclaimed work, Vasari had built a thin wall over the original painting
before painting himself. What’s the big fuss, you ask? What about this could cause me to feel as if I was in an alternate universe, standing in this grand gallery on this particular hot August afternoon? It’s simple. I’d even brought binoculars in preparation. Nothing was going to take away from this life changing moment, and nothing did. I’ve never cared much for Vasari as a painter. I will, however, attest to the man’s ingenuity. Vasari, reluctant to paint over Leonardo’s work and knowing that historians would be searching for it centuries later, had included a vital clue in his painting. On one of the green f lags about 20 feet up, lost in the chaos of the Battle of Marciano in Val di Chiana, he had painted the words “Cerca Trova” in white paint. In other words, “Seek, and ye shall find.” It’s amazing that art historians didn’t find it earlier. I’ve never shaken off this day of discovery. I was amazed these words weren’t found centuries earlier. This inscription was written on a painting in a room where The Battle of Anghiari was said to have existed, yet no one had pieced together the clues until five years ago. I’ve come to two conclusions. One: The mysteries I always classified as the realm of fiction novels can manifest themselves in reality, and they can do so in a way that sucks
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ACROSS 1 “Rhoda” production co. 4 It may follow cries of “Bravo!” 10 Brink 14 Longtime coach Parseghian of Notre Dame 15 Chestnut horse 16 Witnessed 17 B.A. or B.S. 18 With 57-Across, what a 37-Across does; also, as the circles show, what each answer containing them does 20 Alamo competitor 22 DDE’s overseas command 23 Racers in some Wii games 24 Item that isn’t on its regular hook 28 Gear components 29 Assist 30 Peace, to Pedro 33 Say yes 35 Journalist Curry 36 Warsaw native 37 Casino employee 41 The two 42 Tolkien forest shepherd 43 In __: unborn 44 Stun 45 “The A-Team” actor 46 The “A” in James A. Garfield 48 Prepared goodies for the fundraiser 52 Blotch 55 Former transp. regulator 56 Confident words 57 See 18-Across 61 Keogh plan rel. 62 Many 63 Paradise 64 Third-qtr. ender 65 Actress Russo 66 Fireplace shelf 67 Goal line crossings: Abbr. DOWN 1 Start of a famous palindrome
Battle of Marciano in Val di Chiana fresco by Giorgio Vasari
VASARI “Cerca Trova” as painted by Giorgio Vasari in Battle of Marciano in Val di Chiana
2 Eternal City fountain 3 Legal administrator 4 Difficult curve 5 Tenant’s winter complaint 6 Source of support 7 “Friend __?”: sentry’s query 8 Slo-mo reviewer 9 Pipe shape 10 Composed piece 11 Expensive 12 Bloke 13 Fades to black 19 __ out a win 21 The State of the Union, for one 25 Onionlike veggie 26 Moist and chilly 27 Nice 30 One drawn to controversy 31 Oriole or Jay 32 MapMyWalk starting point 33 “Waterloo” band 34 Healthy look 35 Pretend 36 Former New York governor George
38 Weightlifting move 39 Start a pot 40 German capital 45 Retail outlet 46 Say yes 47 Italian lawn bowling 48 Keep moist, in a way 49 “What I __ My Summer Vacation”: school essay
50 Like some seals 51 Spells, as of cold weather 52 Emotional mark 53 Beast of burden 54 Thames academy 58 Run smoothly 59 LAX announcement 60 __ Kan pet food
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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, November 15, 2017 — 7A
Final Foes: Previewing the NCAA Tournament Final Four ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer
In the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament, the Michigan field hockey team proved it was up to the challenge. The Wolverines dispatched Syracuse and Northwestern to advance to the semifinals. Michigan is coming in hot — not allowing a single goal in the postseason so far — but the Final Four will be its biggest test yet. The Daily broke down potential matchups for the Wolverines this weekend in Louisville. No. 3 Michigan vs. No. 9 Maryland Prior to its 3-2 doubleovertime win in September, Michigan had failed to defeat the Terrapins in 15 years. That time, it clinched a national championship. So it seems only fitting that the Wolverines will have to get through Maryland one more time. The Terrapins defeated No. 13 Wake Forest in the round of 16, 2-0, then upset No. 2 Duke in the quarterfinals, 3-2, to advance to the semifinals. There, Michigan awaits. Maryland, a traditional field hockey powerhouse, brings a well-balanced attack. It ranks 18th in the nation in goals per game and 13th in goals-against average. Midfielder Lein Holsboer led the Terrapins in goals scored and assists. She was named to the All-Big Ten First Team and the All-Big Ten Tournament team. The Wolverines face a big threat in Holsboer, who scored one of Maryland’s two goals in its earlier matchup. However, as the season progressed, the Wolverines have improved their strategies for overcoming those challenges. Michigan will seek to neutralize Holsboer with its dynamic back line of freshman Halle O’Neill, junior Maggie Bettez and senior
Katie Trombetta – the Big Ten Player of the Year. Look for the Wolverines to utilize a 2-on-1 defensive formation for extra protection. Leading Michigan’s offense on the forward line are fifthyear senior Carly Bennett, junior Emma Way and sophomore Meg Dowthwaite. They contributed to a squad that ranked 11th in the nation in goals per game. On offense, the Wolverines are fast and confident, but their real strength comes from their passing. To keep Michigan off the board, the Terrapins will need to be as aggressive with their blocking as Syracuse was in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinal. Maryland led the conference in shots, and it will look to overwhelm its opposition with sheer quantity. In senior goalkeeper Sam Swenson – the national leader in save percentage – the Wolverines have just the person for the job. The Terrapins are a team with no real weaknesses, but Michigan is ranked better in all aspects of the game, making this match the Wolverines’ to lose. If Michigan does advance past Maryland, it will advance to the title game, where it will face one of two potential opponents. Michigan vs. No. 4 North Carolina North Carolina is the underdog in its semifinal match against Connecticut, but if Michigan advances to the title game, it should hope the Tar Heels are there waiting. That said, North Carolina is no slouch. The Tar Heels outscored their opponents 8-2 in their run to the ACC Tournament championship and earned the fourth overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. North Carolina does everything well. It ranks sixth in the nation with 3.82
goals per game, a feat more impressive when considering its competitive conference. Rather than one standout on offense, North Carolina has remarkable depth. Seven of its players had five or more goals on the season, with midfielders Ashley Hoffman and Malin Evert leading the tally at 11 apiece. A leading scorer who also plays defense, Hoffman will be a different look for Michigan. Planning an offensive and defensive attack will be tough against a team with so many hybrid players, but the Wolverines come in with the advantage of having seen the Tar Heels before. Michigan won its season opener against North Carolina, 3-2. Since then, both teams have improved. But the Tar Heels may be in for a big surprise with the look of the Wolverines’ back line. Neither O’Neill nor Bettez started the season opener, but both have come into their own as vital pieces of Michigan’s defense. Perhaps the biggest change has been the Wolverines’ approach to penalty corners. They struggled with defending corners in the early part of the season, and North Carolina took advantage in its first match. But the personnel change, along with a focus on corner defense in practice, has led Michigan to be much stingier with allowing goals — posting 15 shutouts in its last 18 games. The Wolverines have been able to formulate a defensive plan of attack for all types of offenses, an ability that will be more crucial than ever against North Carolina. If these teams play in the title game, it will be closely-fought and low-scoring. However, Michigan’s previous success against the Tar Heels and much-improved defense should make it a slight favorite. Michigan vs. No. 1
ARNOLD ZHOU/Daily
Senior defender Katie Trombetta was named Big Ten Player of the Year and will be crucial to Michigan’s defensive effort.
Connecticut Connecticut is still undefeated at 21-0. The Wolverines lead the nation in goals allowed per game, and the Huskies lead in goals scored. This matchup, if it happens, will be a clash of the titans. Connecticut has been unstoppable all year. The American Athletic Conference may not be as competitive as the Big Ten or ACC, but the Huskies beat top-10 teams Northwestern, Penn State and Michigan. Forward Charlotte Veitner leads the nation in goals per game, and three Connecticut players – Svea Boker, Amanda Collins and Casey Umstead – rank in the top 10 in assists. The Huskies’ offense is so prolific that they have been held to one goal only once this season. The two teams met in September and the Huskies came out on top, 2-1. However, like the North Carolina match,
this game was early in the season, when both teams were still developing their identities. It was an evenly-matched game, with the ultimate advantage for Connecticut coming on a goal scored off a penalty stroke. Michigan has not allowed another this season. The other two goals came off penalty corners. While both teams have strong defense on corners, they may provide the best scoring opportunity in a match between two top back lines. The Huskies may be more poised to take advantage, as one of the Wolverines’ few weaknesses in the postseason has been giving up corners. It will be up to Michigan to strike a balance between being conscientious of giving up corners while not becoming too passive. If the Huskies have any cracks in their foundation, it is their recent performance. Connecticut gave up four
goals in its first two NCAA Tournament matches against Boston University and Penn State. Meanwhile, the Wolverines earned shutouts in each of their first two games. It could be a fluke for the Huskies or it could be a product of unfamiliarity with the competition — one disadvantage of a smaller conference. Still, it’s hard not to give the upper hand to Connecticut. Michigan’s offense has struggled against elite defensive units such as Syracuse and Penn State, from which the Huskies would be a step up. And while the Wolverines’ defense has thus far been prepared for anything, no previous opponent has received offensive production from quite as many sources. Two teams that seem near unstoppable, with only one of them emerging as champion. This is the matchup the NCAA Tournament deserves.
Defensive zone key ahead of Wisconsin Intangibles key for ‘M’ WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
ANNA MARCUS Daily Sports Writer
During the first period of its Big Ten home opener against thenNo. 4 Minnesota, the Michigan hockey team saw three viable scoring opportunities — but none broke past elite goaltender Eric Schierhorn. This was a microcosm of one flaw in the Wolverines’ distinguished weekend — they struggled to find the net early despite creating many opportunities for themselves. “I think we had some good chances,” said Michigan coach Mel Pearson. “And sometimes you finish and some you don’t.” Though the Wolverines eventually triumphed in their Friday slate, the Golden Gophers built a dangerous scoring cushion early on. Right after the first intermission, they put three on the board within eight minutes. “It’s awesome that we have character to be able to come back from whatever deficit,” said junior forward Cooper Marody, “but it’s not something you want to build on
as far as doing that every game.” Pearson mirrored this sentiment, emphasizing that playing behind with three-or four-goal deficits will not be a sustainable practice moving forward. And his solution to this problem? Don’t get so far behind in the first place. “You can’t continue to play from behind,” Pearson said. “I think (we need) more preparation, and attention to detail defensively. We’ve got to be better defensively; you can’t give anything up until you get something going.” This week in practices, Michigan has put a greater emphasis on the defensive zone, focusing its attention on odd-man rushes and not turning the puck over the blue line from the neutral zone. Minnesota’s third goal Friday night came when Golden Gopher forwards Brent Gates Jr. and Tyler Sheehy created an odd-man rush in Michigan’s zone, en route to a clean shot past sophomore goaltender Jack LaFontaine. The following night, defensive lapses were responsible for another
Minnesota goal, when defenseman Ryan Lindgren found a breakaway, bringing the Golden Gopher lead to 3-0. With more direct attention to these game-like defensive scenarios, Pearson believes the Wolverines can curb the number of scoring opportunities for their opposition. He largely sees this lack of attention on defensive play stemming from how defense is treated from the time hockey players begin their careers. “From the time you’re raised up in hockey, you get home and the first question your parents or grandparents ask is ‘Did you win and how many goals did you score?’” Pearson said. “It’s not ‘Did you block a shot?’ or ‘How well defensively did you do?’ It’s all about offense. It’s ingrained. So we’ve got to change that.” This mentality, since almost innate, can take time to change. However, Pearson believes the defensive tweaks his team needs to make won’t be major, as they tend to be representative of individual
mistakes and not holistic issues. “I will say of the goals we gave up (this weekend) everything can be changed,” Pearson said. “It wasn’t a total breakdown of the system.” Michigan sees the responsibility of protecting its net as a duty of the entire team, and not solely the responsibility of its defensemen and goaltenders. “If one of your five guys on the ice messes up, you’re in trouble,” Pearson said. “You’re in trouble of giving up a goal.” Sharpening the defense this week could see an almost immediate effect, as Michigan’s upcoming series is against another top dog with a hot offense: No. 9 Wisconsin. The Badgers have netted at least one goal during the first period in each of their seven wins this season — notably scoring three before the first intermission Friday against Michigan State. If the Wolverines are able to reduce these offensive efforts, they will leave more room to get ahead early, and not have to worry again about making extraordinary comebacks.
RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily
Michigan coach Mel Pearson emphasized that the Wolverines will need to avoid putting themselves in a hole early when they face the Badgers this weekend.
Wolverines use defense, free throws to top Liberty on Sunday afternoon HUNTER SHARF Daily Sports Writer
It’s not always glamor that wins the game. In the No. 24 Michigan women’s basketball team’s 74-50 blowout against Liberty, the Wolverines relied on a strong performance from the free throw line – a major differentiator in the game. The Lady Flames got to the line just 14 times and converted on just six free throws. On the other hand, Michigan shot 21 of 26 from the charity stripe. As junior shooting guard Nicole Munger explained, the team focused on free throws during this offseason. “We ran a lot from missed free throws,” Munger said with a laugh. “And now they’re going in, and it’s paying off and we’re (also) in good condition. We worked a lot in practice and by ourselves just because we know they’re free points.” And an improvement from the free throw line has been evident in Michigan’s young season. The Wolverines were 18 of 21 from the line in their season opener against George Mason. While just two games in, the team has averaged 23.5 free throw attempts, up from 16.8 last season. “We just did a good job of moving the ball,” said freshman forward Hailey Brown. “With that, we found ways to draw fouls. Whether that be a dish and then an andone, or a drive and attack. We were able to put people in the right positions to finish and draw fouls.” The first half saw a particularly high number of fouls, with Liberty committing 14 to Michigan’s nine. Twentyfour of the Wolverines’ free throw attempts came within the first two quarters. This was, in large part, a byproduct of Michigan’s ability to get
into the bonus early in the quarter. “We did a great job on drawing fouls early by picking up touch fouls,” said Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico. “And that brought us to the line. I thought that’s really what gave us our lead – when Katelynn (Flaherty) was able to get to the line so early.” To no one’s surprise, Flaherty converted on those opportunities, shooting a perfect 10 for 10. She finished the game with 20 points – only nine shy of becoming Michigan’s all-time leading scorer. Barnes Arico also explained that getting the right players – like Flaherty and senior center Hallie Thome – to the line has contributed to the Wolverines success. The impressive free throw display wasn’t the only thing that stood out, as the defense was equally impressive. By allowing 50 points, Michigan far outshined its 2016-17 average of 61.8 points allowed per game. “We started off in our zone, and I think it was very effective,” Brown said. “Whether it was the 22 press or falling back to the twothree … our zone did a good job of putting pressure. I think with our length we can cause a lot of havoc for the other players.” The full court press was a key tactic for the Wolverines. The game plan was implemented by assistant coach Wesley Brooks and forced the Lady Flames to speed up the game, helping Michigan force 22 turnovers. In the semifinals of the Preseason WNIT, the Wolverines are likely to play No. 9 Louisville. In order for Michigan to overcome a stout Cardinals team, these unglamorous areas must continue to be a focus.
8A — Wednesday, November 15, 2017
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Munger continues thriving in her role ROHAN KUMAR Daily Sports Writer
Always involved and always doing her job — Nicole Munger has a key role on the Michigan women’s basketball team, but is often in the shadows of her teammates. After all, it can be quite challenging to stand out when sharing the backcourt with senior guard Katelynn Flaherty — the program’s soon-to-be all-time leading scorer. Some would take the easy way out by relying on the stars, while others would be discouraged and would throw in the towel. But not Munger. The junior guard plays a crucial role for the team and is an important piece to the Wolverines’ puzzle. She has received substantial playing time ever since joining the squad, and she found her spot in the starting lineup this season. Yet Munger is seldom in the spotlight. Flaherty is a talented scorer who has keys to the offense. Junior center Hallie Thome controls the paint and often gets big blocks. Both have started for the majority of their careers and the fans and critics regularly take notice. But Munger shines too — she just doesn’t get the same glamour. Munger is a reliable player who is always ready when the team needs her. She’s played an integral role in Michigan’s first two games this season against George Mason and Liberty, and has tallied 27 points, seven rebounds and four steals so far, all while proving to be effective beyond the arc as well. She put her hustle on display against Liberty. Early in the third quarter, an opposing player held the ball near the top of the key when, suddenly, Munger
lunged forward, stripping the ball and causing havoc. The opposing player partially regained possession but Munger wasn’t done yet. She dove to the ground and fought to force a jump ball, switching the possession to the Wolverines. There was no need for Munger to put herself on the line given the scenario at that time. Michigan was returning from a dominant first half and led 46-26. She could have gotten comfortable, but gritty basketball players like Munger never do the bare minimum. She was a difference maker in the WNIT championship game last spring too. The Wolverines went into triple overtime against Georgia Tech when she stepped up, scoring seven points in the final overtime to help her team win its first banner. She was clutch then and could be clutch this season too, as Michigan dreams of making it to the NCAA Tournament in March. She is exactly the type of hardworking, reliable player who could make the team’s dreams come true, and it’d be a lie if the tournament wasn’t on her mind too. “There’s a lot that goes into a season, but I definitely think the tournament is what our eyes are set on,” Munger said at the team’s Media Day in October. But Munger is more focused on the next game and the next possession, and will continue to provide the Wolverines the foundation they need. “ … We have — I don’t even know — 25 games before that, so we have to execute from today, to tomorrow, to every day,” Munger said. “And hopefully we can just take it one day at a time and hopefully by the end of the season our name will be called.”
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Evans now avoiding ‘sophomore slump’ TED JANES
Daily Sports Writer
Chris Evans had never heard the term ‘sophomore slump’ before Tuesday night. But Jim Harbaugh was still worried the sophomore running back would have one. After a freshman campaign that Harbaugh called “outstanding,” it wouldn’t be easy for Evans to top it his second time around. In 2016, Evans ran for 617 yards and four touchdowns. Over the offseason, fans and media speculated that he’d be Michigan’s top running back this year. But as the first few games of the season came around, Evans lost the starting role. He rushed for just 123 yards in the first three games and fumbled during that stretch against Air Force. Fifth-year senior Ty Isaac surged, and junior Karan Higdon seemed to get the right blocks every time he had a play called for him.
“The plays weren’t blocked as well, and the assignments weren’t on point when (Evans) was in the game,” Harbaugh said Monday. “Then Karan would get in, and it was kind of the luck of the draw with the hand that he was dealt.” Evans was just getting unlucky. He’d get a turn in the rotation to run, but the offensive line didn’t develop the blocks he needed. It was frustrating, but he couldn’t predict how the blocks would pan out, so he didn’t let it get to him. It took more than a few games for Evans’ impact to really show. “About game seven, eight, nine it started evening out,” Harbaugh said. That it did. Evans began getting more carries, and the results began to show. Against Rutgers — game seven — he caught redshirt freshman quarterback Brandon Peters’ first touchdown. Against Minnesota, he rushed for two
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Sophomore running back Chris Evans had a slow start to the year, but has scored four touchdowns in the last two games.
For Metellus, blocked punt eases earlier stress ORION SANG
Daily Sports Editor
Josh Metellus relieved some stress this past Saturday. The sophomore safety said Tuesday night that he’s been practicing blocking punts all year and worried about whether he would ever do it in a game. He finally did in the second quarter of Michigan’s 35-10 win over Maryland. It “felt soothing,” according to Metellus. That relief may not have compared to what he felt early last week, when Metellus discovered he was eligible to play in the first half against the Terrapins. In the third quarter of the Wolverines’ 33-10 win over Minnesota on Nov. 4, Metellus found himself in a scrum after the whistle. Golden Gopher lineman Donnell Greene threw a punch at junior safety Tyree Kinnel. Metellus walked over, stood in front of Greene and promptly found himself ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct. The call didn’t sit well with Jim Harbaugh, who said last
week that “it didn’t really have a lot of logic to it.” “It didn’t seem like he threw a punch,” Harbaugh later said of the incident. “There was a scrum, the official said there was a scrum and they weren’t going to lose control of the game, so there were off-setting penalties.” Metellus didn’t think he did anything wrong. He said Tuesday that he was “just trying to protect his teammate.” “Coach told me next time, just don’t go over there,” Metellus said. “Just stay back. We already got the flag. There’s no reason to go over there to start something.” He understood why the officials threw him out of the game, though, and was more worried about whether he’d be available for the first half of the Maryland game. But that wasn’t immediately made clear. The rules state that any player ejected for targeting in the second half of a game must sit out the first half of the following contest. Metellus wasn’t called for targeting. But he was worried nonetheless whether a
touchdowns and 191 yards. And this last weekend versus Maryland, he tallied another pair of rushing touchdowns in the Wolverines’ third straight win. The running back’s production, as Harbaugh realized, was really just a matter of time. Harbaugh had watched the tape of Evans’ first few games, and the running back hadn’t really been doing anything wrong. “Yeah, it’s frustrating, but as a running back, you can’t predict how (the blocks) are going to be,” Evans said. “You just got to go in there and trust it and go hard at the end.” Evans gained momentum over the last couple of weeks, earning praise from Harbaugh for making plays out of situations where the blocks didn’t come together. Harbaugh said that he likes the way Evans is running, catching out of the backfield, getting yards after contact and blocking as well.
suspension would carry over. In fact, he was so worried that was the first thing he checked once he returned to the locker room. “I didn’t even take a shower,” Metellus said. “I just grabbed my phone and started Googling. I couldn’t find an answer.” He found company in the training room in freshman receiver Nico Collins, who had injured his ankle during the game. Collins asked Metellus if he was suspended for Maryland. Metellus told Collins he had actually meant to ask him the same question. The next day, people started calling Metellus, asking him about the incident and what it meant for Maryland. Metellus didn’t know the answer. The whole situation was “funny” to teammate and close friend Devin Bush Jr. “We were just joking about it,” Bush said. “Making fun of him — that he got kicked out the game.” The mystery continued through the weekend. Metellus went to Schembechler Hall
on Sunday, hoping to find the coaching staff. They weren’t around, and no one else he asked knew the answer either. The next day, he asked Harbaugh. Harbaugh didn’t know. And at that point, Metellus got pretty worried. “I was just sitting there like, ‘Damn, I probably am kicked out,’ ” Metellus said. “ ‘If they don’t know by now, I’m probably not going to play the first half.’ ” But it didn’t take much longer for the situation to be resolved. After Monday’s practice, Harbaugh pulled Metellus aside and told him he wouldn’t miss any time. So his burden was lifted — and luckily so for Metellus. After all, his blocked punt came in the second quarter. Had he been suspended, he would’ve still been worrying about blocking his first. “Yeah, it just calmed me down,” Metellus said of the play. “I was stressing about getting one this whole season and I finally got it, so I just let everything go.”
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Sophomore safety Josh Metellus finally blocked a punt against Maryland, only a week after he anxiously awaited a ruling on his potential suspension.
“I just went into the season giving everything I got,” Evans said. Earning playing time on a running back rotation with three key players — and a fourth emerging with redshirt freshman Kareem Walker — would be no easy task. Evans, who splits carries evenly with Isaac and Higdon, said that he can’t have a selfish mindset. He understands that he might not rush for a 1,000-yard season when he only gets a third of the carries. His counterpart this weekend, though, can’t say the same. Wisconsin running back Jonathon Taylor is having the freshman season a running back can only dream about. With 1,525 yards through the first 10 games, Taylor leads the Big Ten. He has run for 12 touchdowns and averages seven yards per carry, and plays a critical part of the fifth-ranked Badgers’ offense. He’s responsible for 46 percent of Wisconsin’s rushing attempts, and the other 54 percent is split between 14 different players. As the lead rusher, and a solid rusher at that, Taylor was bound to have a stellar season. Evans admits that Taylor “is a great player,” but knows that his situation is different here in Ann Arbor than Taylor’s in Madison. “We can’t be selfish,” Evans said of his teammates. “Like, ‘Man, I wish I got all the carries, and I wish I rushed for 1,500 just like (Taylor).’ ” He doesn’t have the opportunity Taylor does. Evans has never been and probably won’t ever be the only running back that Michigan relies on. He’ll keep sharing carries, and there will undoubtedly be plays he takes where the blocks don’t arrive. But on the plays where the blocks do arrive, it’s up to Evans to make the most of them.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Slow starts are fixable for young Wolverines MARK CALCAGNO Daily Sports Writer
Though 2-0, the Michigan basketball team hasn’t had the start it anticipated. Against less-talented and undersized teams in North Florida and Central Michigan, the Wolverines were expected to roll. But that wasn’t the case. Michigan came out flat against both opponents, leading to closer-than-anticipated contests. Saturday, North Florida trailed by just two at the half and remained within single digits until roughly seven minutes remained. Central Michigan, meanwhile, led by as many as 8 points during a first half it largely controlled Monday night. “We thought the other day that (our players) warmed up really slow, and we weren’t as into it,” said Michigan coach John Beilein. “We were fired up to come out and play today. Assistant coaches did a great job in the locker room. We were fired up – didn’t make a difference.” Conventionally, this wouldn’t be an encouraging trend for a team looking to make back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances. But the Wolverines’ slow starts shouldn’t be a cause for concern and – to an extent – are understandable. For one, both the Ospreys and Chippewas play zone defenses – a strategy that just a few college basketball teams utilize. Adjusting is a challenge, even for Beilein. “First of all, this is a first,” Beilein said. “In 1,200 games as a head coach, I think you add up high school, it’s probably 1,200 — 80 minutes of zone in two games. What they’re doing is they’re trying to negate a lot of what we can do man-to-man.” Added junior forward Moritz Wagner: “They played zone, so that kind of trumps everything a little bit because you’ve got to think completely differently. You’ve got to think differently than you’re naturally supposed to.” It takes time to feel out a zone
defense, and Michigan’s offensive attack proved that. Michigan committed four of its six total turnovers against Central Michigan within the contest’s first seven minutes. And through nearly 10 minutes of action Saturday, the Wolverines tallied just nine points. Simply, in the early parts of games, Michigan’s offense has looked out of rhythm – an issue Beilein hopes will be fixed with more aggressive basketball. “We’re passing, we’re passing, we’re passing,” Beilein said. “We’ve got to drive the ball. We’ve got to get two feet in the paint.” Inexperience also has its part, too. With three new starters, the Wolverines’ offense won’t be prominent immediately. “It’s going to take a little time to gel,” Robinson said. “We gotta get used to each other. We’ve got young guys, obviously, but we’ve got to be a little bit better out of the gate.” Michigan fans should also take solace in the fact that Monday’s shooting numbers are not representative of a normal game. Few opponents will shoot as well as the Chippewas did from deep – 10 3-pointers on 42 percent shooting. The Wolverines, meanwhile, shot just 29 percent outside the perimeter. Fifth-year senior forward Duncan Robinson – a consistent marksman – went an ugly 2-for-8. But to start strongly in Michigan’s next game Thursday against Southern Mississippi, Robinson knows the other end of the floor takes precedent. “Probably defensive, first and foremost,” Robinson said. “The ability to get stops. I think shots will fall some games more than others. Tonight, especially that first half, they weren’t. You count on them, but you’ve got to (be able to) count on defense. “Those first four minutes – those ‘four-minute wars’ we call them – we’ve got to come out and try to swing first. That’s going to be a priority for us.”
statement T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | N OV E M B E R 1 5 , 2017
An International Village for Ypsilanti?
2B
Wednesday, November 15, 2017 // The Statement
statement T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | N OV E M B E R 1 5 , 2017
Managaing Statement Editor: Lara Moehlman
Editor in Chief: Emma Kinery
Managing Editor: Rebecca Lerner
Deputy Editors: Yoshiko Iwai Brian Kuang
Design Staff: Michelle Phillips Hannah Myers Emily Hardie Erin Tolar Emily Koffsky
Copy Editors: Elizabeth Dokas Taylor Grandinetti
Photo Editor: Alexis Rankin
The picture stays in the kid: ‘Tea and Sympathy’
I
knew I was attracted to men before I knew I was Attracted To Men. It began at my summer camp, a small wooded refuge tucked away in northern Wisconsin. There, one or two hundred boys or so, from age 9 to 15, played, swam, canoed, sailed, crafted, cooked, gathered, laughed, cried. I crushed. (I did those other things, too.) I didn’t know how to describe it, so I didn’t. I let it smolder, carrying on summer after summer as I approached hormonal adolescence. We had our social with the girls’ camp. I flung a frisbee around with my friends. We talked about girls back home. “Ah, I’ve got no one,” I said. I had my eyes on the older kids and, more commonly, the counselors — those who were spending their first one or two summers of college in rural Wisconsin, often sweating and shirtless. In recent months, as I sorted out my sexuality, both privately and publicly, I realized that maybe the reason why I didn’t like camp as much as the others was that, quite simply, I was surrounded by people I was attracted to. That’s pretty hard for the 36 weeks in total I spent as a camper there.
BY DANIEL HENSEL, DAILY FILM EDITOR There’s a strange little movie that came out in the mid-1950s called “Tea and Sympathy,” which was adapted from a successful and controversial play that set its aim on crises
ultimately straight, student. I don’t want to pass judgment on the film, mangled by the stifled politics of the conformist 1950s, but “Tea and Sympathy” portrays a
ILLUSTRATION BY ERIN TOLAR
in masculinity and gay panic. When the film moved from the stage to the screen, MGM, which had won the buying frenzy when the film’s rights were up for sale, struggled to adapt the subject material to something that would pass the stringent censors. Ultimately, the film’s focus changed from a gay student at an all-male prep school to an effeminate, but
spirit and mentality rarely captured so painstakingly accurately. Protagonist Tom Lee’s crippling interiority — he is psychologically tormented for his femininity into submission and silence — far exceeds in severity my experience, but there are some similar strands. I kept to myself, feeling psychologically terrorized by the presence of the hyper-masculine.
And like Tom, I found myself in a strange place in a homosocial setting. I was rarely the object of derision, yet I couldn’t help but feel out of place in my cabin. Everyone was so straight. And not only was I not (though I didn’t quite have the word for it, and I didn’t grasp it), I was an introvert in a small space. There wasn’t much room for me. One of the centerpieces of “Tea and Sympathy” is the very homoerotic (or at least sounding) hazing sequence, in which the older boys at the school run around and tear off the pajamas of the new students (how heterosexual!). Tom, called “sister boy” by his peers, is “protected” at the event by those who are quicker to see him as a woman than a man. I was included in activities, to be sure, but often my avoidance came from a sexual fear I could not at that time articulate. On the final evening of camp, my penultimate summer at least, the ninth graders (the oldest campers) played a naked basketball game. I avoided it at all costs. That’s why, after watching “Tea and Sympathy,” I was surprised to find myself gravitating more toward another film, “Everybody Wants Some!!” Put simply,
though the two films take place in similar settings, “Tea and Sympathy” is told by an outsider and “Everybody Wants Some!!” is told by an insider, a freshman in the baseball house at a Texas college enjoying his welcome week in 1980. Jake is the perfect freshman for (most of ) the guys in the house: He is jovial, funny, pokes fun at the older jocks and hangs with the cool older guys. And yet he knows his place: He submits to the hazing rituals of his house, at the risk of losing his ability to have children, and he follows the older guys around. But Jake thrives. And the best part is: He does it with his reserve. After the older guys strike out flirting with some girls moving into the dorms, one, played by Zoey Deutch, approaches their car, points to Jake and notes, “I like the quiet guy in the back seat.” “Everybody Wants Some!!,” perversely I suppose, was a sort of wish fulfillment — an alternate reality in which I was well-liked, I was the heir apparent to the masculine reign, instead of the quiet kid in the corner who was largely ignored. It was fantasy, it was fictional, it was false. It was freedom.
Wednesday, November 15, 2017 // The Statement
3B
Soundtracking: Midterms
I
BY MATT HARMON, DAILY STAFF REPORTER
did this to myself. I have no one else to blame but yours truly. I had a syllabus. I had a to-do list app on my phone and my laptop. I even had sticky notes taped to my mirror to remind me to start earlier. I knew having a midterm paper and an exam on the same day would be a recipe for disaster, but I didn’t think about the fact that I’m a shitty cook. The paper has to be 1,400 to 1,500 words. The exam is multiple choice and free response. It’s 9 p.m. and I decide to head to the Hatcher Graduate Library Reference Room. It’s big enough where if I crawled under the desk and died, it would take a few days for someone to discover my lifeless body and arrange for me to take my exam in the afterlife. On my way to the Graduate Library, I pick up a large black coffee and a Red Bull. I’ve never had one before, but it seems like a rite of passage for a small boy about to cram for the worst day of his life. My friends pulled all-nighters almost every week last year. The honors math track almost got the best of them. I’d be going to bed around midnight or 1 in the morning Thursday night, and I’d walk past my friends, their heads buried in their pages of math homework. “Night, guys!” I’d say as I walk past. They’d all look up, bags under their eyes and sadness radiating. I promised myself I’d never put myself through that form of hell. Must’ve crossed my fingers or something ’cause I went right ahead and broke that promise by waiting to start so late. I slam my backpack on the ground in the Reference Room. Heads jolt up, but I’m too busy getting ready to face my demons to care. My coffee and Red Bull sitting on the desk, I open my laptop and pull up the study guide. In the wise words of Lil Pump, “Esketit.” All Night — Chance the Rapper “All night, I’ve been drinking all night, I’ve been drinking all night, I’ve been drinking, ay ay” Working through my haphazard lecture notes and attempting to stay focused on the vocab, I keep sipping from my chalices, alternating between hot and cold. As the clock winds forward, both elixirs become lukewarm and gross. I’ve been staring at this vocab sheet for three hours now and I still know nothing, which is a really good start, I’d say. Comparing my dismal notes to the lecture slides on Canvas, there is a clear discrepancy. Sometimes I think about what it was like 40 years ago when you had to just write down everything the professor said to be prepared for an exam. When middle schoolers who love the Rolling Stones and the Who say, “I was born in the wrong generation,” I don’t think they realize the gravity of that statement. Try studying for an exam without PowerPoint, kid. I keep looking at the exam review, then my notes, then the slideshow. Vocab, notes, slideshow, repeat. These definitions make zero sense, but writing them down is the only hope I have at this point. Definition — Black Star My eyes are drooping. This can’t happen now. Wake up, Matt. I smack myself across the face a few times to jolt myself up. The girl next to me gives me the side eye. Nice to meet you, hardworking student who will probably leave way before me.
bad I might never make it up the hill to begin with. One-hundred words in my essay later, I check my watch again. Oh ILLUSTRATION BY EMILY KOFFSKY no. 4:44 — JAY-Z How the hell is it almost 5 in the morning? I haven’t done anything. This night has been the educational equivalent of going trick-or-treating and only getting toothbrushes and Dots. I’m writing this essay but I’m not even sure what the English language is at this point. The lines blur together. I hope this bad boy is even slightly coherent. This is the biggest RIP. Time slows and speeds by simultaneously. What is life? ____45_____ — Bon Iver *Three more hours later* You know that episode of “SpongeBob” when Mr. Krabs is calling the radio station asking for Just as I start to drift off a little, a loud bell chimes across the Reference Room. I look at my watch: 12:00. the song that goes “Beep beep boop bebop boop bop?” A voice rings over the speaker but no words can be That’s basically my inner monologue at this point. Nine deciphered. It sounds like a parent in a Charlie Brown a.m. is not a good look on this young lad. Still wearing holiday special. All I can make out is it’s midnight and the same outfit as yesterday, I have made a Matt something about University of Michigan students. He Harmon-shaped dent in this couch I’ve been sitting on. I’ve watched the dining hall open for the unfortunate could be telling me everything on my exam tomorrow souls with 8 a.m. classes. Well-rested students fresh and I would never know. What a shame. I reach for my Red Bull. Nothing. It’s empty like out of the shower get ready to face the day with an my soul at this point. Same with my coffee. A brown enthusiasm unknown to mankind while I fade into ring lines the bottom of my cup. With my body full of oblivion. The same friends in my position last year are no caffeine and regret, I contemplate my next move. longer on the honors math track, which means they get No Coffee — Amber Coffman I can’t stay here anymore. I need to get out. I feel eight hours of wonderful sleep now. I see them walk trapped like Sybil in her jar. Yeah, that was a T.S. Eliot down the stairs from the South Quad lobby to greet me. reference. I’m capable of more than just kids’ movies I knew this day would come. “How’re you feelin’, Matt?” they ask. I guess this and Nickelodeon references. Where’s my upper-level is what I deserve. I just didn’t think it would sting as writing requirement fulfillment? I pack up my stuff and head back to the South Quad much. They head off to their 9 o’clocks as I stay right where Residence Hall basement, the same place my friends spent every Thursday night and Friday morning last I was. I hope they visit in an hour. Call Me on Your Way Back Home — Ryan Adams year. Life gets a kick out of irony. Four hours until my exam, my paper is done. It may With my life wasting away, I decide to roll the dice and start breaking away at this paper. Hopefully, it’ll have been written with my blood, sweat and tears, but it’s done. I don’t think it was actually Hemingway who be better than the exam. said, “Write drunk, edit sober,” but last night, I was not *Three hours later* drunk and I will definitely not be editing this paper I think I’m delusional. I’m drying up. at all so looks as if I failed Ernest or whoever he Water Me — Lizzo If you’re reading this, if you’ve made it this far, send stole the mantra from. I walk into class, ready to turn in my paper and do help. I’m only 600 words into a 1,400-word essay and some last-minute cramming for my exam in a few I don’t know if I’ll make it. Reflecting on the events that led me to this moment hours. My eyes are dead, the fire inside has burned isn’t pleasant, but the only way we grow is through out. I ask my friend in lecture when we’re turning learning from our mistakes. Honestly, I’d rather learn in the paper. What she said proved someone is out enough to ace this exam and finish this paper instead, to get me. By someone, I mean myself because as I said before, I have no one else to blame but yours but I guess this’ll do. I can’t believe I thought this would be a blessing. truly. “The paper? You mean the one that’s due next Two big grades the same day? Let’s get them out of the way! Nothing could go wrong. After I’m done, week?” she said. Ballad of the Dying Man — Father John Misty it’s all downhill until the end of the semester. Too
4B
Wednesday, November 15, 2017 // The Statement
Wednesday, November 15, 2017 // The Statement
An International Village in Ypsilanti? T h e f i g h t ove r g e n t r i f i c a t i o n i n a r u s t b e l t c i t y
by Brian Kuang & Ishi Mori, Deputy Statement Editor and Daily Staff Reporter
A
t a May meeting of the Ypsilanti City Council, Amy Xue Foster — a Chinese-born, Troy-based businesswoman — proposed an ambitious project to construct a glittering high-end apartment complex on a patch of dilapidated industrial land. To be dubbed “International Village,” the complex would sport distinctly East-Asian architectural decor and target well-to-do Asian nationals attending Eastern Michigan University and the University of Michigan or working in automotive research. The project was to bring at least $250 million in investment — primarily raised through the controversial EB-5 visa, which grants green cards to wealthy foreign investors — to a city that had seen better days before most of its manufacturing jobs left, promising to revitalize a dilapidated 36-acre patch of land that was costing the city over a million dollars in debt per year. The “village” would contain high-end housing units and self-contained commercial spaces to serve tenants. To some
city officials and residents — like resident Bob Resch — the proposal was akin to serving the city money on a plate. “The property there has languished for the past 20 years, and this development seemed to be the first ray of hope that something would become of the 38 acres,” Resch said. “You’ve got to believe that anybody who’s willing to dump $250 to $300 million to the infrastructure … they have to be serious.” Yet not all see the project through the same lens. Numerous residents — particularly those in the adjacent, predominantly working-class neighborhoods — balked at the prospect of creating a self-contained block that could increase their rents and provide them with little tangible benefit in return. Public trust in the development process — already tenuous as opponents feel there has been insufficient public input — collapsed when allegations emerged in late September that city officials took a weeklong trip to China that was allegedly funded by a company represented by Xue Foster — a clear con-
flict of interest. Less than five months after the project was initially proposed, the four officials found themselves sitting in the same City Council chambers facing an investigation initiated by the City Attorney. In many ways, the disagreement that evolved over International Village in Ypsilanti echoes those over gentrification taking place in cities from San Francisco to Detroit. All of these stories carry common threads: new residential developments are proposed to serve growing housing demand from higherincome workers moving into the local economy, raising economic and social anxieties among pre-existing residents. Washtenaw County itself is no stranger to such public polarization over gentrification. In Ann Arbor city politics — where Democrats hold all but one local office — the fault lines lie not along party identification, but rather where one stands on the issue of building luxury high-rises downtown. Yet the debate over International Village in Ypsilanti is unique and carries major implications for the future
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE YPSILANTI CITY
An illustration of the International Village design concept.
of the post-industrial rust belt town. ***** As originally proposed to the city, International Village was to contain 1,750 units, each listed at least $1,100 per month. The complex would also contain commercial units targeting its residents. The presentation explicitly notes the proximity of the proposed site to Eastern Michigan University, the University of Michigan and several high-tech research hubs such as the American Center for Mobility in Ypsilanti and Mcity in Ann Arbor. But placing a luxury housing complex and 3,000 wealthy foreign nationals in a city with a population of 21,000 did not sit well with some residents concerned with the potential displacement of working-class residents. Particularly troubling to some were concerns that the “village” would displace its predominantly African-American neighbors. Longtime Ypsilanti resident Bryan Foley, who lives near the proposed project, said the International Village was introduced with little consideration for the needs or history of the surrounding community, adding that he would prefer a business that would add jobs to the local economy to take the place of the proposed high-rise. “We had an automotive plant … that closed in the late ’80s or ’90s, and just outside of the township you had a General Motors plant and a Bosch plant. All those closed,” Foley said. “Immediately after those businesses closing, we had an epidemic of crack cocaine, and we’re just now getting stabilized. So now you’ve got an influx of new people coming in and rents will go up … basically we’re getting displaced again, in our own communities.” Amber Fellows, a local activist and member of Ypsilanti’s Human Relations Commission, argued the development adds insult to injury to the African-American community, which is facing pressure from socio-economic forces outside of their control. “This development is fundamentally not serving African-American communities, and it would actually likely put pressures on that community, which is already being turned over,” Fellows said. Ypsilanti City Councilmember Brian Robb, D-Ward 3, argued there is little empirical evidence that International Village will contribute to or speed up gentrification, though he conceded gentrification is a real phenomenon in Ypsilanti. “They’ve never actually been able to explain why this would drive African Americans out of South Side and the whole concept is: If you own your home, this development’s
not going to impact you,” Robb said. “I think it’s a leap to say that this would gentrify people out of the community.” What underlied all these concerns was an anxiety that the residents of the International Village — predominantly international students from Asia — would be largely self-contained in an insular community. At a coffee shop meeting of community activists opposed to International Village, a sign with pseudoChinese writing hung on the wall calling the EB-5 visa “Donald Trump’s vision for immigration.” However, community members like Nathanael Romero denied any suggestion of a soft xenophobia toward Asians as a driver of their opposition. “There was a sense that if you were against International Village, you were against international students, against Chinese people, against the sort of diversity that would come from that,” Romero said. “A lot of the opposition that we’re seeing to International Village is coming from millennial renters and the Black community on the South side, and some of the conversation was: ‘Is there antiAsian sentiment in the Black community?’ ‘Is there anti-Black sentiment in the AsianAmerican community?’ ” Foley was more blunt in his assessment. “I wouldn’t care if they’re from Nigeria or Toledo, Ohio or whatever,” Foley said. “But you’re purposely bringing a group of people and isolating them — and this land is going to be exclusively for their benefit, and exclude the rest of the community.” ***** Those opposed to the development plan were further frustrated by a lack of transparency in Ypsilanti City Council, which held only two community meetings this past summer to discuss the matter — one the day before the body approved the sale of the property. Adding a further layer of mistrust to the
project were the allegations that a trip to China taken by city officials was improperly funded by the developer. According to emails released to the public as part of an investigation by the Ypsilanti City Attorney’s office, City Attorney John Barr explicitly warned city officials in May that it would be an ethical violation to accept any trips to China paid for by the developer. “A trip to China would be worth thousands of dollars and cannot in any way be considered minimal,” Barr wrote in the May memo. “Even though a China trip would be educational, the benefit conferred, considering that the developer is requesting action by the city, would, in my opinion, make accepting the trip unethical and illegal under the city ordinance.” Yet in late September, Mayor Amanda Edmonds, Mayor Pro-Tem Nicole Brown, Police Chief Tony DeGiusti and City Manager Darwin McClary took a trip to China, ostensibly to meet potential investors. Released emails showed the officials sought alternative funding for the trip, and received a “scholarship” offer from the Wayne State University Chinese Students and Scholars association to fund the trip for the purpose of promoting “cultural exchanges between China and the United States.” However, an investigation by the Detroit Metro Times and a subsequent probe by the Ypsilanti City Attorney found evidence the city officials were aware their $16,800 grant had been indirectly funded by Xue Foster’s development company — a clear conflict of interest. All four accused city officials have claimed to be unaware of the source of funding for their trip, and the matter is currently under investigation by a special counsel appointed by the City Attorney. In an email to The Daily, Xue Foster declined to discuss the allegations of impropriety. Edmonds and Brown did not respond to requests for comment for
AARON BAKER/Daily
Local activists opposed to International Village meet in downtown Ypsilanti Monday.
5B
AARON BAKER/Daily
A sign opposed to the construction of International Village hangs in downtown Ypsilanti.
this story. DeGiusti redirected all inquiries to the Department of Economic Development. Even supporters of the International Village development acknowledged that public trust in the issue had been compromised, making the future approval of the project unclear. “It’s almost laughable — it’s a little frustrating that you’re looking at this kind of a development and your guys can’t even get out of the huddle without fumbling and bumbling,” Resch said. “I’m glad that they’ve decided to do this internal investigation with this outside law firm. … I think personally it’s a jumble of miscommunications.” For those like Foley, who already held a dim view of their city’s handling of the International Village project, the scandal only serves to validate their impression that some city officials aren’t acting with their constituents’ best interests in mind. “I really do believe (city officials) acted out of bad faith,” Foley said. “I really do believe that they thought this was just going to be business as usual, and nobody was going to do checks and balances on them and they were going to just squeeze it on through.” ***** The uncertain fate of International Village and developments like it illustrate the dilemma facing Ypsilanti in the 21st century. Founded in 1825 by three settlers on a crossing the Huron River and named after a general from the Greek War of Independence, Ypsilanti grew from the automotive industry. Like too many factory towns in the Industrial Midwest, however, Ypsilanti’s fortunes soured with the departure of many of these factory jobs. Since 2001, 13,000 manufacturing jobs have left the city, with the Willow Run plant — a famous bomber factory in World War II — shuttered by General Motors in 2009. Ypsilanti’s population has hollowed out by roughly one-third from its peak at almost 30,000 in the 1970s. The 2008 financial crisis hit the city disproportionately hard, and average incomes continue to lag behind the
national average. Following the recession, though, the population has grown alongside a revitalized Depot Town-centered downtown. The knowledge-based economy, rooted in the presence of the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University and their affiliated research complexes, offers to breathe new life into the city. However, as new, more affluent residents have pushed into Ypsilanti, a dilemma is increasingly evident in the community. How can a community grow itself economically, while still protecting the interests of its longtime residents? “What we’re seeing is a process of tech gentrification and it’s going to change the character of Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township,” Romero said. “The question of international capital is an important one, because the number one concern is our community stakeholders having a seat at the table, particularly the most vulnerable ones — and it doesn’t seem like it.” According to Robb, Ypsilanti must find a new source of vitality as manufacturing declines throughout the Midwest and the rest of the United States, though he maintained the city did not specifically court the technology sector. “Manufacturing in Michigan is disappearing, so the logical move is into service and technology type of businesses,” Robb said. “(However) if you draw parallels between this and we’re moving toward a technologybased community, I think that’s coincidental.” The development itself is now in jeopardy in light of the allegations of impropriety. On Monday, Ypsilanti City Council put the International Village development on hold, after Xue Foster’s qualifications as a developer were called into question and the architectural and construction management firms exited the project. McClary wrote in an email that if no development agreement is in place by Dec. 31, the purchase agreement will likely expire and kill the project.
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Wednesday, November 15, 2017 // The Statement
From Skaramagas Dock
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rom the center of Greece’s largest refugee camp, you’re surrounded by hundreds of temporary housing units. The white, rectangular metal boxes are in precise rows, creating a grid that projects a sense of order. Many of the boxes are adorned with rooftop solar water heaters and television dishes. The United Nations, Save the Children and other international donor logos abound. Here, Syrian families wait for resettlement in northern Europe. By noon the center of the camp at Skaramagas Dock, on the outskirts of Athens, is lively. Young children chase one another around the boxes. Teenagers kick a soccer ball. Parents bring children to the library, or to the Red Cross Red Crescent health clinic. Volunteers — Europeans — traverse the cement-covered, unshaded center in colored vests that identify their organizations. As you progress through the camp, you catch glimpses of a radiant blue sea to your right — the Mediterranean. Hidden behind rows of white housing units, it’s striking. The view to your left, above the rows of onestory camp dwellings, leaves an even greater impression: hundreds, perhaps thousands, of steel shipping containers stacked six or seven containers high, waiting to be loaded onto vessels bound for ports across the globe. They’re labeled with the names of South Korean, Chinese, German and Greek shipping companies. -I visited the refugee camp in March, alongside other graduate students from the University of Michigan. We saw the boxes, the sea and the shipping containers through the windows of our van as we were arriving. While those sights weren’t immediately distressing, or emotionally taxing, a brief encounter minutes later altered my perception of what I saw that morning, and of Europe’s refugee crisis. With my back turned to our guide, I stood in front of a young girl, likely no older than four. She was alone, staring at me — an outsider. I stared at her. Moments before, I’d seen her chasing friends around a nearby box. She was dressed and acted like many young children across the world. And yet I couldn’t avoid thinking that she might be different. I asked myself: How would being displaced affect her? How would her life be different than those of Greek children in nearby neighborhoods? I wanted more questions answered, too. Where and when would her family move? Would she ever return to Syria? I knew almost nothing about her, but in the moments she happily chased her friends, and stared at me, I saw glimpses of her life. I also began to feel my own inadequacy. It doesn’t matter that Skaramagas Dock is orderly and well-run. (I’d been told before visiting that, because of this, officials typically take visitors there and not to more deprived sites.) It doesn’t matter that volunteers ensure it is clean and safe. It doesn’t matter that living conditions seem to be improving, with a new library and sewing workshop.
Placing people in boxes in camps, for months if not years, is a tragedy. We box up goods — olives, olive oil and feta cheese from Greece — in shipping containers and send them around the world. We’ve sheltered tens of thousands of refugees in similar boxes (and much worse, in tents during winter storms), leaving them thus incapacitated for months, or more typically, years.
by Anthony Cozart, Public Policy graduate student Seeing them next to Skaramagas Dock suggested the crisis has had little impact on our economic world order or individual economic decisions. The containers should have been comforting evidence that Greece was finally recovering from a decade-long, severe economic depression. Instead, the sight of cranes shuffling containers around the port, and onto ships, imparted a disconcerting impression of
PHOTO COURTESY OF ANTHONY COZART
This contrast, and the consequences, is clear. One makes people richer; the other leaves refugees— including children like the girl I saw — stuck in time, in between places. -Earlier in the week I’d heard from prominent NGOs, politicians and researchers about how politics in the United States and Europe have failed. Skaramagas Dock is certainly evidence of that. I’d heard how our foreign policy has failed to address the conflicts in the “origin countries” — Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria — that have forced millions up against, and through, Europe’s deadly borders and seas. I’d read, and now seen at Skaramagas Dock, how thousands have been left waiting in camps and “jungles,” amid the shadows of Europe’s “receiving countries.” Experts from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, politicians and foreign policy advisers convincingly argued how outdated regulations, austerity and nationalistic voters in receiving countries have extended the crisis and impoverished our world. These conversations led me to think that my government’s policy response has failed, contributing to my sense of inadequacy. The refugees affected by politics and policy in Europe, and by the immigration ban I’d protested at the airport only weeks before, now had images and names in my mind. Seeing the similarity between the shipping containers and refugee shelters, and knowing how differently we treat their contents, made me question our economic practices and public policy as well. Shipping containers are one of the most visible symbols of our global economy today.
normalcy — that the refugee crisis had had little impact on economic and business decisions. It’s human nature that when something bad happens to others, you stop what you’re doing and help. It’s in law, too; when a ship is in distress, neighboring sailors must come to the rescue. Economists and businesses seem to behave differently. There are more refugees today than any time since the 1940s, but businesses haven’t altered what they’re doing, even when those in need are just next door. I felt inadequate because I study economics and public policy, two disciplines that clearly haven’t done enough to solve the crisis to get refugees out of the camp at Skaramagas Dock. Economists and policy analysts have failed to persuade the public of the benefits of immigration and of welcoming refugees. Perhaps more damning is that both disciplines have contributed to the business-as-usual attitudes seen next door to the camp. Economists and policy makers may have tempered their enthusiasm for neoliberalism since the years of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, or even Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, but ideas like societies as markets and individuals as profitmaximizers still affect how we act and justify narrow-minded decisions. I haven’t abandoned my belief in economics as a systematic approach that can lead individuals, and ultimately societies, to the best outcomes. Why? Economics tells us to make decisions using a set of rules — by thinking on the margin, by considering “opportunity costs” (the next best alternative to a choice) and by weighing costs against benefits. Together these rules explain how we (should) respond to incentives, whether social, legal or financial. But
in the absence of public policy, using this recipe to dictate your behavior, without thinking seriously about how others are affected, can lead us all to undesirable outcomes. Isn’t it crazy to make decisions in a narrow-minded, costbenefit calculating way when your neighbors are refugees (as in Greece), or living on $2 a day (as in much of the United States)? And yet many people and businesses regularly do this. -Our response to the crisis could be different. Before visiting the camp that morning, we met with Nadina Christopoulou of the Melissa Network. The Melissa Network is a community organization led by immigrant women, including former refugees, for migrant women. From the first two floors of an apartment building in Athens’s Victoria Square, the Melissa Network provides classes, counseling and community for women in need. Artists and activists stop by each day. Several MacArthur fellows, including A.E. Stallings and Michigan’s Khaled Mattawa, have read and taught poetry there. I left deeply impressed that morning. The community exudes generosity and empowerment. When introducing a teacher there, Christopoulou made sure we heard the teacher’s story: she was born in a refugee camp. And now as a young woman, that she has created and taught a hundred lessons to younger, newer refugees. The introduction was a small act, yet was visibly empowering; the young teacher spoke confidently to us. The Melissa Network is growing a diaspora of empowered refugees — throughout Athens, and as they are resettled, Europe. Many of them were once not much different than the girl I stood in front of at Skaramagas Dock. Throughout the week in Athens, I had heard repeatedly that we must address the root causes of the crisis — the conditions and conflict in the origin countries. One foreign diplomat described “deep pools of suffering” in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. While this is certainly true, doing so may take decades. In a lecture to the Ford School of Public Policy last month, Christopoulou proffered a different solution, one that can have an immediate impact, in the United States and Europe. We should work to build more integrated communities, connected by what we have in common and supported by small, healing gestures. Melissa’s approach is a noneconomic solution in a policy environment defined by economic ideas like austerity, efficient public management and entrepreneurial philanthropy. Instead of weighing the costs and benefits of serving those who have just joined their community, the Melissa Network welcomes them. And it’s clear that her approach is working — empowering young migrants, eradicating extremism and bringing the Athens community together. Visiting Athens in March led me to see the ways our government, and my disciplines, have failed. The Melissa Network shows what is possible.
Wednesday, November 15, 2017 // The Statement
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Personal Statement: My anxiety by Sami Martin, LSA Senior
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hen I was 14, it felt as if someone suddenly hung a strobe light over me. It refused to budge and followed me everywhere, the light piercing. I felt I was constantly glanced at, scrutinized and judged by everyone. I was wrong, but I didn’t know it back then. All I knew was that words hung like icicles from the roof of my mouth, and my throat was parched when a stranger talked to me. Ideas surfaced like bubbles inside my head, but failed to roll off my sandpapery tongue. My stomach churned, my hands trembled and sweated. My heart raced when I was assigned to speak in front of a crowd. It panged for acknowledgment and admiration. I let it down miserably again and again. I could hardly say anything. The few words that came out were shaky, squeaky and rushed. I spent nights dissecting the moments — chalking them as failures — and crying immeasurably with shame. I never spoke about it to anyone. I turned 17, and entered 11th grade. Things hardly changed. I enveloped myself with the three closest friends I had growing up, using them fiercely as a shield so I didn’t have to talk to anyone else. I was my geekiest, unreserved and sarcastic self with them. I talked for hours and they realized how passionate and hilarious I could be. One of my friends also had a penchant for tough love. She asked me why I didn’t talk more and why I was always quiet around others. I hated her questions, found them intrusive and tried to disregard them. I went to college alone — my friends remained oceans away — and was presently overwhelmed. The hallways and classrooms teetered with overeager and over-competitive people. Everyone seemed to have their lives under control despite entering college a few days ago. I tried to reach out to only those who seemed harmless to me, skipping out on many potential friendships. I worried for months when a conversation with a classmate I’d barely known stumbled to a resounding awkward silence. I regretted f laking out on invita-
ILLUSTRATION BY HANNAH MYERS tions because I’d felt too nervous to say anything. I thought I was always blundering; I felt nobody else did. I fumbled in lectures and giving presentations, and felt I couldn’t show my face to anyone after them. I felt insecure, misunderstood and incessantly observed, and considered as an object of ridicule and scorn. I was wrong, but I could not stop myself. My anxiety led to my shame, which spiraled into a deep depression. I hid in my cramped dorm room, and mechanically chewed the food I’d gotten from a cheap, greasy place because I couldn’t go to the dining hall and have everyone I know see me as a loser, a loner or an antisocial freak when I did not consider myself to be one. I loved being around people, I loved my
family and my friends, and I wanted to get to know others. But I was convinced that everyone I met hated me, pitied me and would drop me the minute they found someone better. I harbored and cultivated so much self-hate that I believed nothing would ever change — I would always be alone and inadequate in everything I did. It took some time to even start the baby steps of acknowledging my long-term problems. I talked to my parents first, nervous about their reactions. My father — one of the strongest people I know — shared that he struggled with anxiety when he was my age. He also stuttered occasionally, but he gradually overcame it to have an exceptional career in public speaking. My mother lifted the pres-
sure by saying it didn’t matter if I failed at everything I did. I laughed, knowing she wasn’t serious, but felt thankful for the immense love and support she showed. A therapist I went to for a while told me to be proud of what I’d accomplished. I told her all my accomplishments were small; she sternly and consistently reminded me to always look at the glass as half-full, and that I was wrong. I also expressed my problems to two friends. Both turned out to be very supportive, listening to every worry I had, no matter how silly or inane it was, with the greatest empathy and attention. I was touched and grateful by everyone I reached out to, unable to believe that it was OK to share and that I could stop putting on a façade. I don’t always feel great, though. There are days when I am pounded with bitterness, regret and anger that I suffer from anxiety. There are days when I must take extra steps to take care of myself. There are days when I worry, over-worry and fall asleep at 8 p.m. because I can’t take it anymore. I am easily tired, saddened and hurt. But I am also trying to get better every day. I try to strike up conversations with strangers. I don’t wait for other people to reach out to me. I go to places alone and enjoy myself. I people-watch, rhyme words and create stories about them. I embarrass myself in front of people, including some professors, and stop caring too much. I also see a lot of people like me in places everywhere. I work in a residence hall and can quickly pick out the shiest or most socially anxious residents, unlike some of my colleagues on staff. I try to accommodate them and make sure they are comfortable and happy. I reach out to them because I have been in their shoes and sometimes still am these days. My anxiety — my biggest shame — has invaluably taught me to become more observing and empathetic toward people. I am less inclined to judge anyone. I am imperfect, mosaic and broken. But I am also considerate, aware and strong. I am finally on the road to showing myself to the world — unworried, in the moment and unapologetically real.