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“Does it help you get better grades? No.” Students designate Adderall abuse as nationwide issue, often overlook long-term health effects and addiction potential MOLLY NORRIS Daily Staff Reporter
It’s a situation many students have found themselves in: It’s the day before an exam or paper is due, and they haven’t started studying. Many students The Daily interviewed said they can often feel hopeless. At the last minute, when there seems to be no other option, these students illegally find and consume Adderall, a stimulant pill that gives them more, take away the need to eat or sleep, and probably costs around $5. Of the over 1,300 respondents to a survey released by The Michigan Daily, 25 percent said they had used central nervous stimulants such as Adderall to complete schoolwork or to take an exam. However, only 8.95 percent of respondents said they were prescribed Adderall by a physician or psychiatrist. Presumably, the remaining respondents acquired the Adderall by buying it from another student on campus. This was backed by the 37 percent of students who said they were prescribed Adderall and given or sold the
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
drug to another
student. Adderall is an amphetaminederived pill, and when prescribed it can be extremely efficacious for people who suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It improves focus and wakefulness, and gives these people the ability to focus on things they wouldn’t be able to focus on otherwise. For some who are prescribed, they can’t go through the day normally without taking Adderall. Engineering junior Ben Reeves has had a prescription since fifth grade, and takes 60 mg of Adderall XR (extended release) every morning. He said it’s hard to remember what things were like when he didn’t take Adderall. From what he can remember, he was extremely lethargic, unmotivated and very hungry. “When I am on it, I can focus better on things. I can keep my attention on certain things that aren’t immediately interesting, like homework or assignments, doing laundry, any sort of adult things,” Reeves said. “This will make me better” As an Engineering student and an computer science student, Reeves said he sees the stress could prompt people without prescriptions to take Adderall, but said he hasn’t met anyone who has done so nor has he ever considered selling his own prescription.
However, other students have very opposite experiences. One LSA senior prescribed Adderall who asked to remain anonymous said people ask to buy his Adderall all the time. “Whenever anybody has an assignment to do, they’ll ask for some,” he said. “It’s literally for anything, all the time.” And when they ask, he sells. He said doesn’t use his full dosage and he needs the money, so though he doesn’t love selling and doesn’t consider himself a “huge Addy dealer,” he’s willing to take money for pills he doesn’t plan on taking anyway. It started in high school, but he said back then he was just giving it out. “In high school, I didn’t really profit from it,” he said. “I wasn’t selling it really, I just had a ton of these pills that everybody was down to take, so I just would give them out because I had a ton extra,” he said. Others agreed the increase in usage started in high school when people were anxious about standardized tests and getting into the college of their choice. One U-M student who said she occasionally took Adderall without being prescribed said that she first started taking it while studying for the ACT. “I really wanted to go here, and I thought ‘this will make me better,’ and I had access to it, so I just took it,” she said. Students who weren’t prescribed Adderall described similar experiences of taking the drug to those who were prescribed: There was a general feeling of heightened focus and productivity, as well as the ability to stay up later than usual. Based on interviews, another common thread among the students who bought or sold Adderall was they didn’t feel what
they were doing was illegal. One student said she felt that comparatively to other prescription drugs such as Xanax or Prozac, taking Adderall non-medically wasn’t as bad. Her reasoning was based on overprescribing. “I never really thought about it as being illegal to be honest because I feel like a lot of people who don’t have ADD are prescribed Adderall and I don’t think it’s like taking a Prozac or something that is so mentally altering,” she said. “I don’t think of it as, ‘Oh, this is like a drug.’ Things like Xanax are very addictive, and I feel like people that are prescribed them usually really need them, so I just feel like antidepressants and stuff like that are a lot more dangerous to use if you don’t actually need them.” Another student who sells Adderall said he agreed and used a similar argument to back up his claim that those who aren’t prescribed Adderall should be able to take it. “I think it’s fine I guess,” he said when asked about people using
24%
students report Adderall usage Adderall non-medically to study. “I don’t know. I mean I’ve used it for that myself, I don’t know that I have any condition that actually warrants a prescription for it, but since doctors overprescribe it so much. My doctor back at home was just like, ‘Hey, do you have trouble focusing?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah,’ and he was like, ‘Ok, 20 mg
of Adderall.’ ” Is Adderall really less risky? While overprescription may be an issue, the idea that Adderall is less severe than drugs like Xanax is a misconception. Adderall has been classified a Schedule II drug by the Drug Enforcement Administration. According to the DEA’s website, Schedule II drugs are “drugs with a high potential for abuse, with use potentially leading to severe psychological or physical dependence.” Other Schedule II drugs include methamphetamine, cocaine and oxycodone, while drugs such as Xanax are Schedule IV, meaning that they have a low risk for abuse and a low risk for dependence. Students who sold Adderall seemed to recognize that there were health risks associated with taking Adderall non-medically but in general did not seem too concerned with the legal risks. “I don’t feel like I had to be extremely careful about it,” one student said. “I really only sold to people that I knew personally, so I knew that they weren’t going to snitch or whatever. But yeah, it was more casual.” One student said he was more concerned about it in high school, but at the University he never really worries. “I never really worry here,” he said. “I think in high school it sketched me out a little more, because it’s not something I wanted to do in school.” Carol Boyd, the director of the Center for the Study of Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking and Health in the School of Nursing, was
confused as to why students felt there were low risks when selling Adderall. “Well it’s a felony, so I don’t know why they think that,” Boyd said. “They’re delivering Schedule II drugs, it’s just like delivering heroin or morphine or Oxycodone. It’s exactly the same as somebody who is selling Oxycodone on the street. Exactly.” Boyd, who has been at the University for 31 years, has had a longstanding interest in substance abuse. She picked up that the overprescription issue was probably part of this unwarranted nonchalance in regard to Adderall, which was in line with what the students themselves were saying. “It’s ubiquitous, and physicians prescribe it, and prescriptions have gone up dramatically over the last years, and I believe that just like with oxy, it creates this social narrative that somehow it is safe,” Boyd said. “So in the last 10 years, Adderall use has nearly doubled. The interesting thing to me is that Xanax is a Schedule IV, while Adderall is a Schedule II. But it’s because they think that everybody See ADDERALL, Page 2
Panel addresses institutional response Students LEO strike authorized to faculty and staff sexual misconduct apply for
ADMINISTRATION
ACADEMICS
if no salary increases
Standard Practice Guide review comes after spotlight on misconduct in academia
Time for ‘U’ to meet LEO calls for “substantial” raises runs out in 2 weeks
Wednesday morning, to a crowd of more than 50 faculty and staff members, University of Michigan Chief Diversity Officer Robert Sellers acknowledged there is work to be done in making misconduct reporting more accessible for faculty on campus. Sellers moderated a panel to discuss the University’s institutional response to sexual misconduct. The panel featured five speakers whose positions within the University connect to the resolution process for sexual misconduct reports. The panelists represented the Office of Institutional Equity, Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center, University Human Resources, LSA and Michigan Medicine. Attendees were comprised mainly of University faculty and staff members involved in organizations from the Michigan Alumnus magazine to the MHealthy Alcohol Management program. Discussion centered specifically around sexual misconduct by faculty and staff members investigated under the policies outlined in the U-M Standard Practice Guide 201.89. A different policy applies to student sexual misconduct. In his opening remarks,
LEAH GRAHAM
Daily Staff Reporters
Members of the Lecturers’ Employee Organization have authorized union leadership to initiate a walkout on April 9 and 10, LEO Ann Arbor co-chair Shelley Manis announced Wednesday in a telephone press conference. Manis said the University of Michigan still has time to meet the union’s demands for increased minimum salaries and annual raises. “Let’s be clear,” Manis said. “This is happening because so far the administration has offered incredibly insulting counters to our imminently fair demands. Our members are highly credentialed and dedicated professionals who contribute substantially to the educational mission of this University and we know the University has resources to ensure that we can make a decent living.” Representing nearly 1,700 non-tenure track faculty members at the University’s three campuses, LEO’s See STRIKE, Page 3
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Sellers acknowledged while sexual misconduct has been at the forefront of academia in the last decade, recent sexual misconduct from administration at Michigan State University has highlighted the work that still needs to be done. Additionally, in February Mark Hoeltzel — a former University pediatric rheumatology specialist — faced charges for child
pornography and sexual relations with a patient. “We are committed here at the University of Michigan to efforts to work to make sure sexual misconduct and the University’s responses to that as well as each individual’s resources, opportunities and responsibilities are clearly stated and clearly made evident,” Sellers said. The first presentation
featured Michigan Medicine Chief Psychologist Bruno Giordani, who addressed the fears that prevent people from reporting cases of sexual misconduct specifically related to the hierarchical organization within an institution. “There is an unequal power balance that drives academia … between deans, associate See PANEL, Page 3
RUCHITA IYER/Daily
Heinz Werner Professor of Psychology and Linguistics Dr. Susan Gelman speaks at Michigan’s panel on sexual harassment policies and reporting in the Pendleton Room at the Union Wednesday morning.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 101 ©2018 The Michigan Daily
new LSA master’s
Transcultural studies program leads into fields such as anthropology NATASHA PIETRUSCHKA Daily Staff Reporter
This fall, a small group of University of Michigan undergraduate students will be the first cohort of the new Accelerated Master’s Degree Program in Transcultural Studies. The program officially launched this year, largely directed by Prof. David Porter, chair of the English Department. The effort took Porter and a team of dedicated University professors six years to define and refine. The program offers students from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to earn an interdisciplinary Master of Arts degree only one year beyond their undergraduate study. Students are required to take two core transcultural studies courses, later selecting elective graduate-level courses in the 11 participating departments. Grounded in areas across the humanities and social sciences, the degree is largely catered to students’ visions. See MASTERS, Page 3
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ADDERALL From Page 1 uses it, and every single one of them have friends that have been prescribed Adderall for at least 15 years, that they think it is okay.” Aside from the legal risks, Boyd outlined three major health risks that can occur when people take Adderall non-medically: addiction, psychosis and death. “They could have an underlying cardiovascular problem, and Adderall – like all amphetamines – has a black box on it from the FDA, because a physician should, before prescribing, do a cardiac workup on the patient,” Boyd said. “If somebody has that underlying cardiac arrhythmia, it can throw them into a ventricular techocardi tachycardia and cause death.” While this risk is particular to those who suffer with cardiovascular issues, Boyd said
DASCHUNDS >
the other two could happen to anyone. “If you use too much of any amphetamine, you can have an amphetamine-induced psychosis,” he said. “The third is addiction...it is a Schedule II drug because it has some of the most addictive potential. If you go on the web and look up drug treatment facilities, you’ll find there are ones that are talking about treating people addicted to Adderall.” Boyd listed other side effects, some that students mentioned experiencing themselves. One student who was prescribed Adderall but wasn’t sure if he really needed it said that he had to stop taking it because of the adverse side effects it was causing. “At first it did a lot more,” he said. “It made me very productive and sort of manic, very talkative, but eventually it just got to the point where if I took it at any acute
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dose, it would just kind of cause chest discomfort and keep me from sleeping, and I couldn’t get anything done because the chest pain would make me panic. I don’t really use it for studying anymore because it makes me freak out, so I can’t study when I’m on it.” Another student who wasn’t prescribed Adderall said that she stopped taking it after freshman year for similar reasons. “The side effects to me were just too much. I would feel super dizzy from not eating and not having an appetite, and something didn’t sit with me super well about using something I wasn’t prescribed,” she said. “I know it does things to your brain, and I know there are bad side effects, and I never felt like it was doing enough to make those things worth it.” Boyd said though Adderall could work on anyone, the supposition that it makes you get better grades is false. “Yes, it does help with attention,” Boyd said. “Does it help you get better grades? No. And the studies are robust enough to show that people who use Adderall tend to have somewhat lower grades.” So why do students take it? One student felt students at the University use Adderall to keep up with a “work hard, play hard” lifestyle. “I think that here people want a balance between having fun and studying so much that they’ll do anything to focus extra while they can. They’ll do anything to get more done so that they can participate in all parts of school,” she said. “I think the people that take it who aren’t prescribed it are usually people that live a pretty lively social life.” Another student who sells Adderall said it goes along with the trend at the University of having all your work due at one time and then weeks where you have nothing to do.
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“I don’t think it’s a good habit to get into, especially if you don’t have ADHD, but I’d say in a college environment where the work level goes from two weeks of a ton of shit you’ve got to do to two weeks where you’ve got nothing at all, the way kids I’m around study, I’d say anyone could benefit from it in the short term,” he said. Another student, who has never done Adderall, thinks the motivation to do it comes from some students’ lack of ability to balance the workload at the University. “Some people are definitely unaware of the health risks, but even if they are, they believe that the short-term gain is worth at least the potential health risks of using Adderall,” he said. “They believe that the tradeoff for improving their grade, even though it’s not even guaranteed that they will get a better grade, is worth those potential health risks.” Some students also talked about motivations for buying Adderall other than studying, such as snorting it before going out or suppressing appetites. “One girl bought it from me one time and she was like, ‘Yeah, spring break is coming up, so you know…’ but it was just like woah, that’s not something that ever crossed my mind as a reason I would take it,” one student said. Regardless of motivation, the drug isn’t hard to find. “I feel like you could find it in literally 10 minutes,” one student said, when asked if she ever had trouble purchasing Adderall. Most students agreed Adderall abuse was a nationwide issue, not just a University issues, an idea that was reinforced in the new Netflix documentary “Take Your Pills,” which offered a look at the world of Adderall abuse in colleges. The University seems to certainly be a victim of the epidemic: If students can find a drug in 10 minutes that they think will help them pass their exams, who’s going to stop them?
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Law School community remembers 15 years after Grutter Attorneys, academic faculty laud legacy of University’s fight for affirmative action, after Prop 2 & subsequent slump of Black enrollment REMY FARKAS
Daily Staff Reporter
Fifteen years after the University of Michigan went toe to toe in the Supreme Court defending affirmative action, racial demographics at the University remain largely homogenous. The University chapter of the American Constitution Society hosted a symposium Wednesday evening to ref lect on the case’s history and strategize around affirmative action in honor of the 15th anniversary of the landmark Grutter v. Bollinger Supreme Court case. Grutter v. Bollinger upheld the Law School’s affirmative action policy in a 5-4 decision. The ACS invited Law School Dean Evan Caminker and appellate lawyer Maureen Mahoney to speak as key figures in bringing the case to the Supreme Court. The 2003 case drew on the precedent of the 1978 case Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, which ruled affirmative action policies legal but racial quotas unconstitutional. Caminker, who specializes in constitutional law and clerked
STRIKE From Page 1 contract is set to expire in April and bargaining has been ongoing since last semester. Following general membership meetings on the University’s three campuses, LEO distributed online ballots to members Sunday. Manis said 80 percent voted in favor of authorizing the union council to instigate a major job action “if bargaining doesn’t progress substantially,” adding the University could adopt the union’s salary proposals “by merely drawing on the money generated by our labor without having to raise tuition by a penny.” In 2016 and 2017, lecturers produced $462 million in revenue while the cost of employment was $85 million, resulting in a surplus of $377 million. LEO argues the University is more than capable of raising wages and improving benefits by using this surplus. Lecturer salary has been a particularly contentious issue. Right now, the minimum salary for a full-time lecturer is $34,500 at U-M Ann Arbor, $28,300 at U-M Dearborn and $27,300 at U-M Flint. LEO proposed raising the minimum to $60,000 in Ann
PANEL From Page 1 deans, chairs, full professors, associate professors, that sets a power balance and we need to look at those factors, and we don’t have a conversation if we don’t do that,” Giordani said. Giordani stressed University should ensure no one is discouraged from reporting a sexual misconduct incident in fear the University will exhibit partiality to senior faculty members. “No university will ever be an academic university if it has the feeling that, ‘Well, it will be okay because we keep will keep this golden boy by himself and keep him away from undergraduates and graduate students and junior faculty because he makes us a lot of money,’” Giordani said. At the beginning of the semester, The Daily reported on a crowdsourced database of incidents of harassment and assault in academia — the University of Michigan appeared in reports by faculty and former graduate students more than a dozen times. SAPAC Director Kaaren Williamsen gave insight into the confidential resource of SAPAC, which often serves as a contact point before deciding
for former Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, oversaw the development of the Law School’s case. Caminker discussed the targeted strategy the team used in arguing their case. “The critical factor when
we approached the Supreme Court, not surprisingly, was to figure out how to strategize the case, how to present the case
in a way that would convince the court to rule in our favor,” Caminker said. “In a difficult constitutional case, it’s not enough to convince the court that you are right on the law. What you have to convince the court that the court wants to rule in your favor, in this case we had to convince Justice O’Connor.” Mahoney, head litigator in the case, has argued 21 cases in front of the Supreme Court and clerked for Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist. She was speculated as a potential Supreme Court nominee in 2005. Mahoney agreed with Caminker their greatest challenge in winning the case was in convincing Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. “The strategy always was the way to persuade O’Connor was to persuade her that Powell was right, that this diversity was a compelling interest and that these programs did help the nation,” Mahoney said. “But what it really meant was that in order to persuade her we had to wrap ourselves around Bakke.” Mahoney credited the success of the case to the support of former President George W. Bush and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The
administration agreed diversity was an important issue, leading the White House to issue a press release detailing its place in higher education. “I suspect that we owe our biggest break in the case to President George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice,” Mahoney said. “The one must-win issue, the issue that we could not lose was that diversity was a compelling interest — it was going to be about how to come up with a program that would satisfy that interest.” Mahoney explained how hard she worked on this case. She wrote over 300 potential response questions and conducted three moot courts with a panel of experts, including the current Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. She said at the end of the case, former Chief Justice William Rehnquist called her by her first name, an accomplishment in her book. “I never worked harder on an argument and all arguments are stressful … but this one had the sense that the whole country was watching,”Mahoney said. “I think I spent more than 200 hours just preparing for the argument and what I did and what (audience lawyers)
Arbor and $56,000 in Dearborn and Flint, with a $1,000 equity adjustment for every year of service and annual increases between 5 and 7 percent. Friday, the University offered adding $2,000 to minimum salaries in 2019 and 2020, with 2.25 percent annual raises over three years in Ann Arbor but no additional increases. LEO President Ian Robinson, a sociology lecturer, said this salary package provided no improvements for lecturers whose salaries were above the minimum. “The most important piece that they said absolutely nothing on, and had no explanation for why they had nothing to say about it, was that for people who are already above the minimum, there’s no increase at all for them,” Robinson said. Under the terms of the University’s proposal, in 2021, the last year of the new contract, the salary minimum for lecturers would be $40,000 in Ann Arbor, $34,000 in Dearborn and $33,000 in Flint. Manis called the offer “inadequate.” LEO’s current contract, which remains in effect until April 20, includes a clause prohibiting strikes. Additionally, teacher strikes and strikes by public employees
are illegal in Michigan. University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald wrote in an email the University and LEO will continue to bargain “in good faith” and remains “hopeful” a deal will be reached soon. He also expressed concern about the effect a walkout would have on students. “A work stoppage or strike by LEO members has its biggest negative impact on students at a critical time near the end of the academic year,” he wrote. “The university believes strongly that the collective bargaining process is effective and there is no need for LEO to call for a strike.” Marcus Darden, a lecturer in computer science and electrical engineering in Ann Arbor, said lecturers did not want to strike but would if they felt it was necessary. “I don’t want to go on strike,” he said. “None of the lecturers want to go on strike. None of us want to leave our students. We work hard and are very committed to them and the job that we do, and leaving for a job action is very distasteful to every one of us. But if that’s what we have to do, then that’s what we’re going to do.” LEO negotiated with the University’s bargaining team Wednesday afternoon. Another bargaining session is scheduled
for Friday, with tentative sessions planned for Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. LEO will also host a grade-in Thursday before the Board of Regents meeting, during which lecturers will address the board. General membership meetings with lecturers in Dearborn, Flint and Ann Arbor are planned for the first week in April. “At these meetings, we’ll vote on whether to exercise the strike authorization we received today,” Manis said. “Between now and these meetings we have several opportunities to make ourselves heard to the administration and plenty of time for administration to bring a serious proposal to the table.” Manis agreed lecturers did not want to go on strike. She said even if the University did not outright accept LEO’s proposal, she’d be willing to bring an offer that showed “serious” movement toward the union’s demand before LEO members to decide if such a proposal would be sufficient to postpone a major job action. “We want to hear what our members will agree to,” Manis said. “One thing we have repeatedly told them is that we are not interested in bargaining to the middle. We need substantial, serious offers.”
to report a case to the OIE. Williamsen acknowledged the fact the University is aware of the significance behind the instances of sexual misconduct that go unreported. “We know we don’t get a lot of reports … and the dynamics from institution to institution are very similar,” Williamsen said. “When thinking back to the 2015 Campus Climate Survey … I was struck by the results for why students are not reporting. The top reasons are they don’t want to get the other person in trouble, they blame themselves, they feel embarrassed or ashamed, they did not think the institution would do anything, and they did not believe the incident was serious enough.” Williamsen continued to explain how she believes sexual misconduct and the fear of reporting should not only be considered at the individual level, but also as a broader cultural issue. Representing the OIE, Senior Director Pamela Heatlie highlighted the specific architecture of how a report is handled under SPG 201.89 when a faculty or staff member is involved. Heatlie stressed in most cases this process is amended to fit the needs or specific circumstances of the
parties involved. The process begins with an initial meeting with a complainant. At this meeting before the incident is even discussed, Heatlie explains the investigation process and answers any questions a complainant may have about their privacy or rights. Complainants are also allowed to bring a support person, but this person does not play an active role in the meeting. Following the meeting, a report is drafted that includes details from the discussion with the complainant. This written statement is then sent to the complainant for review. Then, OIE approaches the respondent and schedules two meetings to first discuss the investigation process and then to give them a space to respond to the allegation. A report is then drafted and sent to the respondent for review. OIE also asks the complainant if there are any witnesses or documents that may provide additional insight into the investigation. OIE follows up with these sources and compiles all information into a preliminary report. This preliminary report is then sent to all parties for review. The complete report is then sent to an investigator who
will make a finding that can be categorized as four possible outcomes. Even in cases where the report is found to not violate the sexual misconduct policy, it can be referred to a different department, such as Human Resources, who then examines the situation based on its own policies. Rackham student Dogacan Ozturk was in attendance at the event and appreciated how the University handles cases that are found to not violate the sexual misconduct policy but still may be a concern for the University environment. “What I like most about it is how there are other classifications in the system,” Ozturk said. “Even if it does not violate the policy, it can be transferred to different offices to get the optimal solution for these types of cases.” Ultimately, Heatlie emphasized the process is designed to be as transparent as possible for the people involved. “Our whole point is that when we get to the end, we have looked at everything the parties think is relevant and everything we think is relevant … At the end when we make a finding, none of what we have considered is a surprise to the parties,” Heatlie said.
“The one mustwin issue, the issue that we could not lose was that diversity was a compelling interest.”
have to do is you have to spend your time actually trying to anticipate any possible question that someone may ask you.” Out of the 21 Supreme Court cases Mahoney has argued, she considers this case one of the highlights of her legal career. “I really want to thank Evan and the University of Michigan for giving me this opportunity,” Mahoney said. “It was just a chance do one of the most challenging important cases an advocate could ever hope for and I know it was a difficult choice for them.” Mahoney recognized the University’s choice to hire her for this case was challenging. As a Republican and active member of the conservative community, civil rights lawyers were skeptical of her ability to argue the case. Caminker advocated for Mahoney in the hiring process because of her sincerity and drive to win. “We interviewed four or five of some of the best moral advocates and brief writers in the country at the time and I ended up championing Maureen,”Caminker said. “I thought she gave us the best chance of winning partly because I think she believed in the case and I’m not sure the
MASTER’S From Page 1 Prof. Xiaobing Max Tang, director of the new program, highlighted the degree’s vanguard status. “This is a new kind of master’s degree program. Not only on this campus, but also in the country,” he said. “I think we are one of the very few and leading programs in thinking about serving our undergrad students in this capacity.” Prospective students begin their journey by applying junior year. If accepted into the program, senior year is considered a transition year, in which students are allowed to take one to two graduatelevel courses. Students are fully emerged by the fifth year of the program, taking graduate courses in their field of study and later fulfilling a capstone project. This year, LSA junior Jeremy Ray is applying by the April 1 deadline in hopes of being admitted into the program for his senior year. “My areas of interest are especially related to this,” he said. “It’s also a year off of the regular grad school path. You don’t have to spend extra time, or the extra bills that are associated with that.” Ray studies anthropology and linguistics at the University with the goal teaching English in the community or even abroad. University students interested in this program often come from diverse areas of study, and the degree offers them a practical way of fusing together their interests. The master’s program prepares students for futures both in academia and careers, with easy accessibility into fields like anthropology, sociology and the humanities. “In terms of career opportunities, I think what we can prepare our students for is a training and experience with a variety of approaches to not only different cultures, but also issues of diversity,” Tang said. “In thinking about how we can understand cultures beyond the national border, but also cultural difference within the national context.” For LSA junior Ashley Tomaszewski, cross-cultural understanding is vital, as she aspires to enter a career in immigration law. Majoring in both political science and modern Greek, she said getting this degree made sense. “Anything that can help me be better at translation, kind of on the f ly, is helpful,” she said.
others did and Maureen was explaining to us why the case was important to her personally and the country. I thought at the time that she sounds really sincere and that’s why I want to hire her, and if she’s not sincere she’s doing a damn good job.” Three years after the University’s victory, Michigan voters approved Proposal 2, a ban on affirmative action practices in state universities and colleges. Black enrollment at the University plunged from 10.4 percent of the student body in 2002 to 6.4 percent by 2008. Administrators have explored pipeline programs and expanded recruitment efforts through initatives like Wolverine Pathways and the Go Blue Guarantee, but current metrics still hover around 4 percent. Law student Austin DelPriore said he looked forward to coming to the symposium as the case pertained to such an important part of law and the public. “I’m genuinely interested in this, being such a consequential case,” he said. “It’s both fascinating being a law student and a general member of society and it’s a very impressive panel.”
Tang said students will have free range in designing their education program. Students will work closely with their cohort and have the guidance of advisers. With their mentorship, students will select courses that will speak to their needs and interests, whether they want to work for cultural institutions or nongovernmental organizations. “I’m doing research this summer and next year, and so any program that I can find that is willing to help students with their research and have a plethora of advisors to do so … is amazing,” Tomaszewski said. Over the past year, the program has received inquiries both on a national and international level, largely in part of the program’s avant-garde nature, Tang said. As of now, however, the
Students are fully emerged by the fifth year of the program, taking graduate courses in their field.
program is only offered to University juniors. The next few years will be dedicated to establishing a strong system and listening to student feedback. Ray said the novelty of the program is attractive, as it allows students to mold the degree to their personal interests. “It’s very new, which means I really get to decide a lot of the course work I’m doing,” he said. Tang also emphasized the potential extent to which the program can grow. “If it’s successful, there’s no reason not to expand it and make it available to students from outside the University of Michigan,” Tang said. The program encourages students to be open-minded in their interests. Students with a sense of curiosity and interest in multi-cultural and personal understanding embody the values of the program, Tang said. “You can’t excel if you’re not working in the field you’re passionate about,” he said. “The program is authentically a program that allows students the opportunity to make this discovery.”
Opinion
4 — Thursday, March 29, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
KRYSTAL HUR | COLUMN
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STEPHANIE TRIERWEILER | COLUMN
Complete the ‘positive business’ funnel
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ccording to the It’s not that the positive University of Michigan’s business focus is an empty Ross School of Business campaign. The school offers a employment report, ton of events, classes bachelor of business and programs that administration aim to inform students graduates accepted about using business to full-time positions make positive change in 10 major and support them in on industries in 2017. campus activities with Close to 40 percent impact. For example, of them entered one of the first core the financial classes in the BBA STEPHANIE services industry program, Business and an additional TRIEREWILER Administration 200, 20 percent includes corporate entered consulting. About 10 social responsibility concepts percent of masters of business in its curriculum. The Business administration students’ School houses the Center for internships last year included Positive Organizations, which a social impact component, but operates popular learning impact was not mentioned for programs like Magnify and BBA internships or full-time +LAB and hosts the Positive positions. Just 1.8 percent of Links Speaker Series. Its Center BBAs entered the non-profit, for Social Impact hosts an education and government annual multidisciplinary Social sectors combined. Impact Challenge and several This report, of course, doesn’t student organizations within give a complete picture of the the Business School — like kind of work Business students Net Impact and Community and alumni do in their early Consulting Club — create careers, but it clues us into the socially conscious communities types of opportunities students and opportunities for students seek out immediately after to work with local non-profits. graduation and for which they consider themselves candidates. It makes sense finance and consulting would comprise a substantial percentage of BBA graduates’ entry-level positions; jobs in these areas tend to demand business majors, pay high starting salaries, are often prestigious and can act as a launch pad for a variety of careers. But unlike many other top business schools, Ross School of Business identifies “positive business” at its core. Its website I believe one of the main proudly states, “At Ross, we reasons many BBA students develop leaders who make engage in positive business a positive difference in the activities like the ones above world. Become one,” and “Be but don’t end up pursuing a force for good. Align your related job positions in their desire to make an impact with early careers is because the our positive business focus.” Business School doesn’t frame The school also places its these kinds of career tracks as a commitment to sustainability, standard option. social impact and positive When I went through business in line with leadership recruiting for internships my development as components of junior year, I remember several its central mission. classmates had interviewed with Why, then, is impact a dozen or more banks through mentioned nowhere in the Business School’s on campus the Business School’s BBA recruiting system. But my employment information? Why online search for “non-profit” do few alumni explicitly pursue under recruiting company type non-profit work and why aren’t pulled up only a single result. benefit corporations and social I attended an information enterprises well-represented session for the Center for among BBA students’ more than Social Impact’s internships, 190 hiring companies? which outlined its Impact
Just 1.8 percent of BBAs entered the non-profit, education and government sections combined.
“
Corps program and grants opportunities for students who design their own social enterprise, but opportunities and funds were extremely limited for undergraduates. While MBA students — who typically work for several years between undergraduate and graduate school — have had time to explore their careers and pursue different job opportunities, I believe BBAs feel strictly funneled into the major buckets of finance, consulting, marketing and accounting. And if they are interested in working for companies with socially or environmentally driven missions, they must sacrifice the Business School’s career resources and look for jobs through off campus recruiting. In an already competitive, high-stakes job search environment, I feel this lack of representation of nonprofits, benefit corporations and social enterprises on campus drives away students who would otherwise include impact-driven jobs in their recruiting process. What makes a business administration degree so compelling — especially in a broad program where students’ required classes cover a number of different functions — is its versatility. Practically every field needs people with management, communication and analysis skills. Though people might not immediately think of business majors when they imagine who pursues non-profit or impact-driven work, these organizations could benefit immensely from employing graduates from top business schools like the Ross School of Business. Through its positive business campaign, the Business School is taking important steps toward developing classes of business students who have motivation and accountability in their workplaces and communities. But its absence of nonprofit and purpose-driven organizations in its on campus recruiting system hinders students from including a valuable path in their set of perceived career options.
Stephanie Trierweiler can be reached at strier@umich.edu.
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
I am here today to acknowledge and represent the African American girls whose stories don’t make the front page of every national newspaper, whose stories don’t lead on the evening news. — Naomi Wadler, 11-year old activist at the March for Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C.
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A
Being critical of complicity
s my freshman year at the University of Michigan comes to a close, I have been ref lecting on the racist incidents that have happened this year: There were the racial slurs written on the doors of Black students at West Quad Residence Hall. There was the video of the man appearing to urinate on the “Black Lives Matter” written in chalk on the Diag. More recently, there was a student who posted a Snapchat of her and her friend with blackface masks with the caption “#blacklivesmatter.” There have been numerous incidents, both on and off campus, and each time many people have responded with outrage and discussions about the problematic nature of such actions. However, I’ve noticed my peers have become less receptive to such discussions as the year has progressed. People don’t really like talking about the same issues as they keep reoccurring, and I’ve found lately people have been trying to change the topic when such events are brought up. I think some students are resistant to having such conversations because they’re tired of discussing the same issues over and over again. Moreover, because the winter semester ends in a month, many students are gearing up for finals by studying for tests and starting to draft essays for their classes. I myself feel drained, and there are admittedly times when I want to forget about issues such as shootings and racism that plague college campuses. Actually, there are a lot of times when I feel this way, even when I’m not drowning in schoolwork or the news isn’t filled with stories about tragedies. These feelings aren’t new, and my peers and I are not the only ones who have them. In “Bad Feminist,” a book of essays by Roxane Gay, she discusses how problematic it is that sometimes things can be hard to hate. She writes, “We have all manner of music glorifying the degradation
of women, and damnit, that music is catchy so I often find myself singing along as my very being is diminished.” This sentence resonated with me because it reminded me of how challenging it is to be critical of things that have problematic elements to it. One of my favorite book series growing up was the “Little House on the Prairie” series, yet the entire series is based on a family of white pioneers who explore land stolen from Native Americans. One of my favorite TV shows is “Gossip Girl,” which has no diversity except for Nelly Yuki, who exemplifies the studious-loser-with-no-friends Asian stereotype. There is also Raina Thorpe and her father, who appear in time for Black History Month and disappear after being the focus of a few episodes. Should I feel ashamed for liking a TV show about a bunch of rich people who are completely unaware of their privilege? Probably. Do I still watch “Gossip Girl” episodes on Netf lix when I’m bored? Yes. While enjoying a TV show or a problematic song may seem like less serious offense than posting a Snapchat mocking Black Lives Matter, the truth is doing so shows complicity. I may not have created such offensive content myself, but the fact I support such media is, on some level, a representation of my surrendering to the subjection of others. When I was a child, I found joy when reading about how Laura Ingalls Wilder’s family built a home on “Indian territory,” and then continued moving West without realizing that their actions were at the cost of many Native Americans losing their homes and being subjected to the control of white Americans. I myself reside on land stolen from Native people. I want to say it’s enough for me to be critical of myself and others, but I can’t speak for everyone. It’s problematic to support media that subject others, and it’s important to understand we are all in some capacity being complicit
with the subjection of marginalized groups. On the other hand, however, if we stop supporting or engaging in some way with media that’s problematic in any way, there would be a significantly smaller amount of media left to consume. I think this is a hard line to draw, with no clear answer as to what’s the best course of action to take. I think, at least for me, all I can do is be critical of everything and make sure to speak out when something is offensive. While this is an incredibly unsettling conclusion and makes me feel as if I am not doing enough, I also know it’s possible to like or engage with something without liking everything about it. While I like “Gossip Girl,” I recognize its faults and I don’t idolize it. I like “Little House on the Prairie,” but I keep in mind as I read it that the Ingalls’ happiness is ultimately rooted in Native American suffering (without portraying Native Americans as pitiful victims, of course). I sleep in my cozy bed in my dorm building that was built on stolen land, but I never forget the land rightfully belongs to the Native Americans who originally resided there, not the University of Michigan. I never support or condone outrightly offensive acts, such as writing racial slurs on doors or mocking Black Lives Matter. I make sure to make my opinion known, no matter how tired or disgruntled I am, because the fight against the subjection of others doesn’t stop just because I didn’t get a full night’s worth of sleep. I am also careful when consuming new media and make sure the work I engage with aligns with my beliefs. To be honest, I don’t think doing all these things is enough, and I’m not sure if acknowledging that nothing is perfect is enough. However, while it may not be enough, it’s a part of the solution and it’s important to take these steps.
Krystal Hur can be reached at kryshur@umich.edu.
ERIK NESLER | COLUMN
F
Facebook needs help — now
acebook has been through a tough year. The company is under scrutiny for launching an app targeted toward children in January and allowing Russian actors to meddle in the most recent U.S. presidential election. The new developments in the Cambridge Analytica scandal are only adding fuel to the fire. On March 17, the Cambridge Analytica scandal revealed Facebook’s negligence when it comes to protecting user data. Cambridge Analytica, the London-based political consulting firm that worked with the Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, inappropriately (and potentially illegally) obtained data on 50 million Facebook users. Though we don’t know exactly what the firm did with the data, it was likely used to inf luence an election — suggesting Trump may not have won the election fairly. Cambridge Analytica obtained this data through a third-party personality quiz app developed by a Cambridge University researcher. When you take one of those quizzes provided through a thirdparty app, the developer is able to access not only your data but the data of all of your friends as well. Because 270,000 people took the personality quiz developed by the university researcher, data was collected on over 50 million people. To remedy the scandal, Facebook could decide to simply prohibit any thirdparty apps from collecting user data. Facebook would never make such a decision, however, because its business
model relies on these thirdparties. Facebook generates revenue because advertisers are willing to pay for space on its platform. Advertisers are willing to pay more when users are more engaged with the platform — ideally, advertisers want users to be addicted. To encourage addiction, Facebook promotes viral content created by thirdparty apps ( like quizzes that ask, “Which ‘The Office’ character are you most like?”). These third-party apps also add to Facebook’s revenue stream, as they pay to be promoted. Facebook is thus incentivized to keep these third-party apps happy — as they are the company’s customers.
Facebook is simply too influential to turn a blind eye to its negligent business practices. Related to this issue is Facebook’s allowance and active promotion of fake news — another form of viral content that sparks user interest. News that has an eye-catching headline (even if it is from an unreliable source) is exactly what gets people to click. The fake news epidemic that Facebook, along with other social media platforms, has perpetuated could have damaging effects on society. The editorial board of the Wall Street Journal wrote, “A few thousand Russian ads on Facebook didn’t
turn the 2016 election, but the proliferation of fake news is tainting public discourse.” Because over 110 million Americans get their news from Facebook, the platform must take steps to ensure the accuracy of its content. The company also needs to ensure its algorithms are not actively promoting unreliable content on its users’ News Feeds. Facebook needs to realize its platform — which reaches over 2 billion users worldwide — can be dangerous. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has recently responded to public scrutiny by asserting the platform will only promote publishers whose content is “trustworthy, informative and local.” I hope Zuckerberg keeps this promise — I hope users will be more accurately informed in the coming months and years. As for protecting Facebook’s users’ privacy, The Economist has called for the company to take its data protection protocols to a new level: “Facebook needs a full, independent examination of its approach to content, privacy and data … (which) should be made public.” The publication’s editors called for the creation of a “Data Rights Board” that would enforce rules and reg ulations regarding the use of user data. Though the reg ulations that The Economist are calling for are intense, I believe that they are necessary. Facebook is simply too influential to turn a blind eye to its negligent business practices.
Erik Nesler can be reached at egnesler@umich.edu.
Arts
5 — Thursday, March 29, 2018
STYLE
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
COMMUNITY CULTURE COLUMN
Are trendy hoop earrings culturally appropriative? SOPHIA HUGHES Daily Arts Writer
“A style that links so heavily with identity is not taken seriously until it is seen on a white woman,” Ruby Pivet wrote in a piece for Vice. Recently, hoop earrings have become a staple in the wardrobes of an increasing number of young people of non-Latinx origin.
If you’re like me, you would have been completely unaware that hoops could be considered cultural appropriation
If you’re like me, you decided to make the purchase because you heard hoops were making a comeback in 2017. If you’re like me, you never gave a thought to the significance of hoop earrings to others, and more specifically, to the culture of others. If you’re like me, you would have been completely unaware that hoops could be considered cultural appropriation. Before I begin, I would like to state that I am not picking a side in this article. I am not determining whether or not hoop earrings are cultural appropriation because I believe, as a white woman, it is not my place to decide what is offensive to someone else’s culture. I am merely bringing up both ends of a discussion that I believe is
important. It was not until I decided to write a piece on how hoops were making a return that I discovered Ruby Pivet and her piece for Vice. A Latinx writer, Pivet recently brought about talks that hoop earrings should be weighed equally among bindis, Native American headdresses and braids in terms of cultural appropriation. “Hoops exist across many minority groups as symbols of resistance, strength and identity,” Pivet wrote. Pivet discusses her frustration as hoop earrings have always played a central role in her life, and yet members of society are claiming that hoops are making a comeback. Though Pivet and other Latinx women have been sporting oversized hoops ever since they could remember, it is now being labelled as a new, cutting-edge trend because renowned and stylish — in the eyes of the U.S. media — white women are wearing them. Besides Pivet, other Latinx women have spoken out regarding this subject. Three Latinx students painted a mural at Pitzer College in which they asked their white classmates to stop wearing hoops. One of the students, Algeria Martinez, brings up an important point regarding how society seems to embrace hoops when they are worn by white women but peddles in stereotypes when Latinx women wear them. On her Instagram account, Algeria Martinez wrote: “Because it’s cute and aesthetic when they wear hoop earrings, but it’s ghetto and hard for us to be taken seriously when Black and Brown bodies wear them.” The students’ demonstration highlights clear discrimination within our society. The fact that American pop culture is so open to adopting the trend when Vogue suddenly declares it the look of the summer and depicts various white women modeling it, while phrases such as “the bigger the hoop the bigger the hoe” are still spoken regarding Latinx and Black women, is obvious discrimination.
Though many women that are primarily exposed to this discrimination from Latinx and Black communities have learned to embrace their hoops despite others seeking to tear them down, there is an obvious problem that mainstream white society must look to reverse itself. However, on the other end of this argument is the fact that hoops did not necessarily
Society seems to embrace hoops when they are worn by white women but peddles in stereotypes when Latinx women wear them
originate in Latinx culture or the “Cholas” neighborhoods of Southern California. In fact, they were being used in 1500 BC in Egypt, being worn by Julius Caesar to represent his power throughout his reign and golden hoops were being widely exchanged between pirates between 1650-1730. In this way, it can be argued that hoop earrings do not necessarily belong to any one culture as there have been so many instances throughout time in which another country has adopted the hoops as their own. These are some of the cries that are being made in the comments section of these articles. With these two sides of the argument on the table, it’s time to consider: Are hoop earrings cultural appropriation?
On John Keats and Kendrick Lamar I recently witnessed a conversation between a student and a professor about the definition of poetry. A student was asked the name of one of his favorite poets. He replied that while he was not very familiar with classical poetry, he was a huge fan of Kendrick Lamar. The teacher then asked whether Kendrick Lamar could be considered a poet. “Kendrick,” he said, “can never be the next Keats.” The response to this statement was amazing. The student responded that more people were familiar with Lamar than Keats; that Lamar currently had a much bigger inf luence on popular culture than Keats. And when the professor asked, everyone in class agreed that they were familiar with Kendrick Lamar’s work; a couple of students claimed that they were familiar with John Keats’s poetry. Everyone could name Lamar’s recent work; few could name anything that Keats had produced. I am admittedly not very well versed in rap, hip hop or pop music. As you may have noticed from my previous columns, I am much more familiar with classical music than I am with popular forms of music. But even I had heard of Kendrick Lamar: My dad became a huge fan of Lamar this past year after reading about To Pimp A Butterf ly and
Everyone could name Lamar’s recent work; few could name anything that Keats had produced
MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW: ‘DISTRICT 9’
JYP ENTERTAINENT
Anyone who has spent a little time perusing K-pop music videos knows that some of them feel like complete (and oftentimes action) movies, condensed into three or four minute-long sequences. This is not a bad thing; in fact, it could not be a better thing. It’s what makes it so easy to spend hours on YouTube watching video after video of EXO and BTS. This tradition has a newcomer: nine-member boy band Stray Kids. Yesterday, they released their debut music video, “District 9,” and it’s already clear that waiting until the next one is going to be a struggle. The video spends most of its time between a creepily sterile facility of some sort and a broken-down bus. Visually, it’s fantastic; the initial shot of all nine members lined up perfectly still
in a room full of green light makes the video impossible to look away from and, from a glittering rose garden to the white-walled rooms of the building’s interior, the images from there on out do not disappoint. All of it seems to speak to a desire to not be contained, which takes off when the group escapes the facility and rides away on the bus. The masterfully rapped lyrics are wholesome yet hardcore at the same time: “They just look at us as a bunch of troublemakers / It won’t be an easy one to change their views / But we won’t get down on misconceptions and bias / It’s our mission to prove who we are.” The choreography is also creative and exciting, whether the group is dancing in the parking lot or on the moving bus itself.
witnessing his performance at the Grammy’s. On the other hand, I am not terribly familiar with Keats’s poetry. I read some of his sonnets in A.P. Literature when I was in high school. Besides this, I know little to nothing about his career or his oeuvre. Historically, I can characterize him as an English Romantic poet from the second generation of Romantic poets. I know that his poetry is usually grouped with Shelley and Byron. Besides that, I know very little about Keats.
Though our academic and cultural institutions may tell us that Keats is a more inf luential or important cultural figure than Lamar, the experiences of most college students would seem to dispute this claim. Though I could understand why the professor might suggest that Keats’s poetry was of a higher artistic merit than that of Lamar, doesn’t our generation’s affinity for the words of Lamar challenge this
SAMMY SUSSMAN assumption? One common assumption about popular artists is that they represent a fad, that the work that they are creating is of less intrinsic artistic worth and that it will be forgotten by later generations. But Lamar seems to have overcome the generational boundaries that one would ascribe on a fad. My dad, after all, is a 49-yearold Google employee who usually listens to the popular music of his generation. His appreciation of Lamar’s music is a testament to the cross-generational appeal of Lamar’s music. The inclusion of hiphop music in our popular culture represents the gradual disintegration of racial, social and economic barriers between different subcultures. As Lamar illustrates, artists growing up in Compton are able to integrate themselves as never before into the larger cultural lexicon, moving past the strict subcultures to which they were previously confined. These artists also face significantly less pressure to censure their art to meet the demands of popular culture. Twenty or 30 years ago, it would have been hard to imagine an artist such as Lamar being able to address issues of race in such a headon manner. Yet modern artists can address these issues without fears of blacklisting and outright persecution, just those of conservative outcry and negative reviews. Though not yet complete, our popular culture is constantly becoming more inclusive toward artists of all walks of life. For another example of this I am reminded of MUSKET’s recent production of “In The Heights.” As I interviewed the cast about this production, they kept returning to this idea of depicting the real Latinx
experience on stage. They spoke about the failures of musical theatre to accurately depict Latinx individuals. They spoke of the casting of a white actress in “West Side Story” and the depictions of the Latinx community as in this play as violent and incapable of adapting. And they spoke of the joy they felt in positively depicting the Latinx community on stage; the honor the felt to welcome midwestern audiences to the wonders of Washington Heights. Some may view our lack of familiarity with classical artists like Keats as a sign of cultural or educational decline. But what good is the study of these classical artists if they perpetually alienate so many members of our society? Why should the work of hip-hop artists be treated as anything less than poetry if they represent the spoken words of those that were historically excluded from poetry? When it comes to questions of John Keats and Kendrick Lamar, it is time to challenge the idolization of Keats in favor of the inclusion of Lamar. It is time to tear down the exclusive definitions we hold of high art in favor of including those who have been historically and systematically prevented from being considered as high art.
Genre-defining boundaries are evaporating, in some instances far faster than we can fully understand
Genre-defining boundaries are evaporating, in some instances far faster than we can fully understand. We are moving toward a world in which it is the quality of one’s art and not the nature of one’s background that determines artistic merit. While we maintain the exclusive ranks of great artists that we inherited from academics of long past, it is time for us to widen the lense of what we believe to be a great artist. Let history take Keats, I want to tell the professor, and let us take Kendrick.
“District 9” Stray Kids JYP Entertainment As a debut, “District 9” does everything it should do. It demands the viewer’s attention from start to finish, and also asserts the question of the budding group’s identity with lines like, “Knock it off with your negative vibes, back off,” and, “Why are you talking like you know me though I don’t even know myself?” One can only hope that the band releases new music (and new actionpacked music videos) in the near future. Until then, there’s nothing to do but stick to watching this one over and over again. - Laura Dzubay, Daily Arts Writer Sadhana Ramaseshadri
Arts
6 — Thursday, March 29, 2018
COMMUNITY CULTURE
Nederlands Dans Theater performs at Power Center YOSHIKO IWAI
Daily Staff Reporter
The transient nature of dance has the power, if done well, to create windows into a world we would otherwise never experience. This weekend Nederlands Dans Theater brought not one, but three universes to our doorsteps. On Friday and Saturday night, Nederlands Dans Theater performed at the Power Center. Filling the house from the front row to the back of the balcony, it was packed with students, faculty, Ann Arbor locals and people from all over the state. It’s not often a triple bill show gets a standing ovation more than twice, at least not in my time at the University, or even at the large performances I’ve seen at Lincoln Center. When it comes to NDT, it seems like no one in the audience wants to stop clapping. The Dutch dance company is based in The Hague, and has maintained its international reputation as a leader in dance for decades. The program included two works by artistic director Paul Lightfoot and his artistic partner Sol León, as well as “The Statement” by Crystal Pite. “I think our works, even though they can be so varying, each of them has a relationship to social structures, but also our connection globally and as human beings within each other,” Paul Lightfoot said in an interview with The Daily before the shows. “Worlds apart, but at the same time transmitting a lot of messages about how we connect as people.” The opening number, “Shoot the Moon,” is an NDT signature. Dancers immediately take the
audience to a painfully deep place of human connection and isolation. Revolving walls creates three separate rooms where we watch relationships unfold and meld together. The fluid vocabulary of the movement alone creates tension between bodies, between the self. Lightfoot and León choreograph facial expressions that are simultaneously convoluted and impossibly beautiful. Music by Philip Glass drives the piece to reveal vulnerability and incredible resilience — it’s no wonder the long-standing repertoire of 12 years continues to be well-received. “I hope we set a kind of an example of what you can do with something,” Lightfoot said. “(Dance) has always been regarded, I think, as the ugly sister of the arts compared to opera or classical music or theatre. Ballet or dance has sort of been more frowned upon and less elitist and perhaps seen as more superficial than it actually is.” The second work by Crystal Pite pushes boundaries even further. “The Statement” is set in a corporate business setting with two men and two women in suits, based off of her production “Betroffenheit.” With an original script and sound score, the text adds a layer of complexity that sets a brilliantly cynical tone. The audience laughs at the sarcasm, the movement perfectly timed and calculated. The dancers move with such precision and dynamism, it becomes impossible to turn away, to close your jaw or think of anything besides the present moment. Underlying the sweeping movements are complex questions surrounding guilt and blame in our society — a masterpiece that is both
Classifieds
kinetically and psychologically moving. “I think people are always thrilled to watch kinetic interventions,” Lightfoot said. “They’re top sporters … I think, in general, for people to watch dance is something that is really invigorating — it drives all your senses.” The closing piece, “Singulière Odyssée,” made its international premiere this weekend. The curtain rises and the set alone captivates — a European artdeco train station with altered dimensions. Lightfoot spoke about coming across a waiting area on his travels from Zürich to Luxenburg, when he decided to create a dance based on a real place for the first time. The flawless technicality of the dancers stands out in this piece, highlighted by moments of unison and sustained partnering. Autumn leaves fall and flood the stage, the rustling leaves adding an unpredictably stunning texture. “When people come see a work, they have to be fully aware that what they’re going to be walking into is a world of duality,” Lightfoot said. “I think in principle is really crucial — the idea of the yin and yang, masculine and feminine energies. That’s how you get transformation.” The abstract nature of the pieces gives freedom for narrative interpretation. Regardless of how the narrative is received, one thing that is undeniable is how sophisticated and seasoned the dancers are. “Forget the works, watch the dancers,” Lightfoot said. “It’s a beautiful thing to watch this group of people. They are ultramotivated and at their peak all the time. They will recognize
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the process of development and embrace each other … Like butterflies, we don’t have 40 years to extend our careers. We have 20 if we’re lucky, 15 possibly, 10 more than likely.” Lightfoot referenced NDT as a sort of “mini United Nations,”
made up of 22 nationalities, with dancers from various cultures and backgrounds. Words don’t do justice to the physicality or artistry of this triple bill. The only thing I can do is urge others to see and experience. “Art and culture in general
is building so much force at the moment,” Lightfoot said. “With everything manmade and natural disasters going on around the world, more and more you find people looking towards culture as a sort of trusted outlet.”
BOOKS
‘A Woman, In Bed’ shows multifaceted female lust MIRIAM FRANCISCO Daily Arts Writer
Anne Finger’s “A Woman, In Bed” evades easy classification. It’s not really a romance novel, and calling it historical fiction would be reductive. Set in France in the half-century following World War I, “A Woman, In Bed” follows Simone as she moves through the varied bodily experiences of womanhood that are often left undiscussed: menstruation, motherhood, abortion, lust, masturbation and sexual experimentation. “A Woman, In Bed” does not have particularly compelling or nuanced characters. The plot isn’t extremely engaging, and the prose is often stilted. Instead, the strength of this book lies in its methodological approach to writing about female sexuality and corporeality. Finger’s narrative is an unabashed and unflinching chronicle of the aspects of female life that have long been considered improper material for literature because they are too mundane or too culturally or politically controversial. Finger’s discussions of abortion are especially transgressive, and the frankness with which she renders the procedure and its aftermath is almost lurid: “The doctor flung the curette down on the table in exasperation. Bits of blood and tissue flew away from it, dotting his glasses, his cheek.” A later abortion, this one performed by a female doctor, is less emotionally draining for Simone, and also less physically painful. The doctor instructs Simone that if she runs a fever and needs to go to the hospital to “Be sure to tell them you passed something small and white. You saw a tiny hand or
foot. That it fell into the toilet, and you were so distraught you flushed it away.” The physicality of abortion is described in detail, as is the emotional aftermath.
“A Woman, In Bed” Anne Finger Cinco Puntos Press March 27, 2018 Simone is upset and mourns the children she did not have, but then she remembers the children she does have, the ones who barely have enough days-old bread to keep from starving, and
The strength of this book lies in its methodological approach to writing about female sexuality and corporeality
her sadness — not regret — takes on a different tone. Finger does not condemn or defend Simone; instead, she simply describes, and lets the reader interpret as they like. Similarly unflinching are
Finger’s descriptions of the female body when it is simply existing. Simone “scraped the nail of her pinkie finger along her gums, along her teeth, smearing the whitish stuff that caught beneath her nail,” her breasts “began to jet milk” and she has “fetid breath in the morning.” The explicitness of these descriptions are unusual — they are not sexual, and they do not further character development, world-building or plot. Instead, they advance Finger’s quest to illustrate the richly pleasurable, painful and often numbingly mundane experience of inhabiting a female body. The novel is often lethargic and stagnant, probably due to the lack of character development and the clunky plot. The moments of clarity are all the more powerful given their murky surroundings; they emerge from the slushy prose like tiny windows into the novel Finger could have written with a bit more storyboarding and editing. “A Woman, In Bed” is worth the read just for these little gems. Finger deftly maneuvers between desire and circumstance, candidly describing the choices that Simone makes in a way that is neither opportunistic nor cruel. It’s rare to find an insistently feminist novel or even one willing to fully describe the complexly entangled pains and joys of womanhood. The frequent shortcomings of this book are especially disappointing given the scarcity of novels that even attempt to describe the embodied experience of being a woman with a grace and empathy that illuminates rather than obscures. “A Woman, In Bed” proves that avoiding these subjects would be a loss — it’s far better (and more interesting) to valiantly try and fall short.
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ACROSS 1 “... __ a puddy tat!” 5 Bygone 26-Down rival 10 Limit 13 Small rodent 14 Bold alternative 16 Have a mortgage 17 “... two fives for __?” 18 Helix-shaped pasta 19 Pince-__ 20 Surprisingly little, pricewise 23 Picasso’s birth city 24 Desertlike 27 Superfast 32 RR stops 35 Healthy drink 36 Immigrant’s subj. 37 Maxim about frugality 42 Comic strip cry 43 “Deadliest Catch” narrator Mike 44 View from Catania 45 It’s learned the hard way 50 Put away 51 Split up 54 Confusing statements ... and a hint to the circled letters 60 MSNBC’s “Morning __” 62 Add value to 63 Avian digestive system part 64 Brewpub order 65 School bud 66 Singer Horne 67 “Not __” 68 Bond and others 69 Macron’s state
7 Post-WWII alliance 8 Settled on a branch 9 Ho Chi __ City 10 Harmonious 11 Leave openmouthed 12 Candy with an Emoji dispenser set 15 VI x XVII 21 Flat-topped cap 22 Editor Talese with a Doubleday imprint 25 “Show time!” 26 Co-founder of the SkyTeam alliance 28 Skin care name 29 “That is sooo cute!” 30 Wasikowska of “The Kids Are All Right” 31 Engine starter: Abbr. 32 DNA lab items 33 Unspoken 34 Call for an appointment
38 Before, in ballads 39 Scand. land 40 Temple athlete 41 Squid appendage 46 Light opener? 47 Coined money 48 Pageant bands 49 Anesthesiologists’ work sites, briefly 52 White-plumed wader
53 “Strawberry Wine” country singer Carter 55 Gen-__ 56 First family grandson? 57 Let go of 58 Actress Rogers 59 Rescue team acronym 60 Word with hawk or walk 61 “¡Viva el matador!”
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DOWN 1 Nobelist Pavlov 2 Revered emblem 3 Singer/songwriter __ Ray Joel 4 Followed the crowd? 5 European dumpling 6 Not exactly By Jerry Edelstein and Bob Monat hummable
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SINGLE REVIEW: ‘LOST IN JAPAN’
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The thing you need to know about Shawn Mendes is that he was a Vine kid. More importantly, he was one of those Vine kids who didn’t use the platform for tormenting unsuspecting parents or siblings, but rather used it mostly for showcasing musical talents that would have otherwise remained hidden. Armed with an acoustic guitar and a wide smile, Mendes would post short clips of him covering various Ed Sheeran, One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer songs (and even a Beyoncé track thrown in here and there). His rise to fame started here, under the pastel green curl of Vine’s logo, vocals restricted to bitesized, five-second long segments. It’s a shallow personability that has remained constant throughout his music, even as Mendes stepped away from Vine, entered into record contracts and started releasing original albums. His songs lack substance, depth or dynamism, instead just minute variations
on the same easily-consumable, bred-for-radio sound that has been recycled throughout generations of generic pop stars from Ed Sheeran to Charlie Puth. And it isn’t a bad sound — catchy hooks and predictable melodies
“Lost in Japan” Shawn Mendes Island Records are easy to sing along to when you’re stuck in bad traffic — but it’s one that lacks originality; music that never goes beyond established constraints. Shawn Mendes’s newest single, “Lost In Japan” follows the same formula — easily memorable “Can’t get you off my mind” a bow on top of the whole shiny, auto-tune slathered chorus — only with an “edgy” R&B twist. Rather than authentic, the dancing synth and energetic tempo’s upbeat pulse are only reminiscent of Calvin Harris’s
Funk Wav Bounces Vol.1, and Shawn Mendes finds himself continuing to rip off those who came before him. To be fair, Mendes is not a bad artist. His vocal range is astounding, natural falsetto reaches add texture to every lackluster melody and, as he jumps from the smooth crescendo of the chorus into the abrupt “I could feel the tension / We could cut it with a knife” of verse one, Mendes is graceful, never allowing the delicate warmth of his voice to falter. “Lost In Japan” is nothing new. Similar to the breezy triviality of what came before it — songs like “There’s Nothing Holding You Back” or “Treat You Better” — the single’s best feature is its consumerism — the nearly universal sentiment that can be found within Mendes’s manufactured confession of love.
- Shima Sadaghiyani, Daily Music Editor
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Thursday, March 29, 2018 — 7
Michigan mercies UD Mercy, 15-0 Hoogenraad grand slam feuls ‘M’ ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer
There were so many runs, the scoreboard wasn’t sufficient. When sophomore outfielder Haley Hoogenraad hit a grand slam — the last in a series of exclamation points that punctuated the third inning — the number of runs displayed for the frame clicked from seven to one. There was no room for a double-digit inning. The game started inconspicuously. Junior second baseman Faith Canfield worked a leadoff walk, but the rest of the team was unable to follow suit — a familiar refrain for the Michigan softball team. But the 17th-ranked Wolverines (1-1 Big Ten, 25-7 overall) made the contest more and more lopsided before defeating Detroit Mercy (1-2 Horizon League, 6-18 overall), 15-0. “The biggest thing … was just trying to make adjustments early,” said freshman designated player Lou Allan. “And I think that after the first inning, we all came together and kinda had a game plan.” Those adjustments showed up in the second when two quick groundouts were followed by three singles, two stolen bases, a walk and an error to score three runs. In the third, eight Michigan batters came to the plate before a single out was recorded. The Wolverines got on base by any means necessary, from linedrive doubles to infield singles to muffed throws. Every time it seemed the Titans would be able to stop the bleeding, Michigan kept going. Detroit Mercy didn’t help itself, committing two errors and throwing a wild pitch. The Wolverines didn’t squander those chances, scoring six unearned runs in the inning. “We had to capitalize on their mistakes,” Allan said. “What we did in previous
MATT VAILLIENCOURT/Daily
Sophomore outfielder Haley Hoogenraad hit a fate-sealing grand slam in the third inning to put Michigan up 14-0.
games is get runners on, and then we wouldn’t capitalize. … It was like, just staying within ourselves and just allowing ourselves to do what we do and play the game.” And when Hoogenraad deposited a 2-1 pitch into the grass beyond left-center field, it was just the cherry on top. “We were all up and excited for every little small thing that was great that someone did,” Allan said. “I think that really helped us in the long run to get our 15 runs.” Meanwhile, freshman lefthander Meghan Beaubien mowed through the Titans’ order. She proved that last Wednesday — when she couldn’t even complete one inning before being pulled — was an aberration, as she struck out nine without allowing a hit. But no game is over before the fifth inning, and for the Titans, the bottom of the fourth only added insult to injury. Michigan coach Carol Hutchins opted to rest her starters, instead giving several seldom-used bench players
looks. And they, too, found success. Junior infielder Mackenzie Nemitz earned the first hit of her collegiate career with an infield single. She eventually crossed the plate on a bases-loaded single by junior utility player Alex Sobczak. “This game kinda boosted our energy a little bit,” Allan said, “and made us believe our adjustments are actually working.” It was a true team effort, with 11 different players getting hits and two others getting on base. Senior first baseman Tera Blanco and senior right fielder Aidan Falk — two of the Wolverines’ heaviest hitters — were pulled before their third at-bat. Beaubien and freshman righthander Sarah Schaefer combined for 11 strikeouts and no hits. Maybe the scoreboard — missing digit or not — undersold Michigan’s achievements. “We’re trying to get them to really just play the game and not play the opponent and to be on task every pitch,” Hutchins said. “And I thought we were a lot better today.”
TIEN LE
Daily Sports Writer
For Haley Hoogenraad, there was no better feeling in the world than hitting a home run. It just happened to be with loaded bases. She said after the game, she didn’t know the bases were loaded. She just knew it was a home run when the ball met the bat — and that was the only thing she cared about. It was the sophomore outfielder’s first career grand slam and the No. 17 Michigan softball team’s first of the season. And at that point in the game, it was just icing on the cake — the Wolverines already had a 10-run lead prior to the grand slam and eventually commanded the game to a 15-0 win over Detroit Mercy in five innings.
But the team was excited for her regardless of the score. “I think the kids, they celebrate each other’s success,” said Michigan coach Carol Hutchins. “And they also know how hard this kid’s worked, and she didn’t always get to bat for herself. We had her in the 10-spot a lot. And no kid likes that, so she just comes in ... she works hard.” Hoogenraad’s grand slam was proof her hard work bore fruit. She wasn’t always given the opportunity to make those types of plays before. As a freshman, she played in 27 games but only registered 14 at-bats due to her defensive prowess and lack of offensive ability. When she was in the batting lineup, it was always at the bottom. Her average of .214, the second worst on the team, didn’t help either. That didn’t deter her from wanting to bat — it did the opposite. It gave her a goal to strive toward. Thanks to her previous struggles, she put in time on her days off, searching for her weaknesses and fixing them. Before practice, she would arrive earlier for extra repetitions. After she batted, she would watch over the video to check her form, her timing and anything wrong with her approach in order to improve. “She puts in a lot of extra,” Hutchins said. “I can’t tell you how many Mondays that I’ve been in the building, and that’s their day off, and she comes
wandering around to look for the video, and she’s got her gym shorts on and her batting gloves, and she’s out in the building. She just works for it. It’s really exciting, and we’re all happy for a kid like that.” Coming into her own, she increased her offensive load to handle 74 at-bats so far in the season with an average of .311, good for fifth-best on the team. All of that set her up for a career highlight — a grand slam. “Well, I think just, she’s learned how to hit at this level,” Hutchins said. “In a lot of our big games this year, she’s had some big cuts for us and big RBIs and right now she’s pulling more than her weight.” In the bottom of the third, freshman first baseman Lou Allan reached on fielder’s choice, allowing her to reach first. With junior utility player Alex Sobczak hitting a single to left field and sophomore outfielder Thais Gonzalez walking in a full count, the bases were set for Hoogenraad. The Titan pitcher tried to bait her to swing twice, instead throwing two balls. With a foul the next pitch, Hoogenraad prepared herself for a big one. A wide swing from her signaled just that. As the ball flew into left center field, there was no doubt to anyone where it would land. But to Hoogenraad, it was proof of validation — that her hard work was paying off. “I was so excited,” Allan said on Hoogenraad’s home run. “I mean, I’ve seen her work so hard in practice over the past couple days and just for her to get that home run, it was a great feeling. Any time a teammate gets a grand slam, I mean, that’s awesome.”
“Well, I think just, she’s learned how to hit at this level.”
“I think the kids, they celebrate each other’s success.”
Strong freshmen power Wolverines’ victory Michigan can’t hang on MEN’S GYMNASTICS
CONNOR BRENNAN Daily Sports Writer
Prior to the Michigan baseball team’s game against Central Michigan, freshman Jesse Franklin was showing out in batting practice, crushing balls to right and center field. At 6-foot-2, 205 pounds, the first baseman looks the part, and after a tough transition earlier in the season, he’s putting it all together. In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Wolverines (3-0 Big Ten, 13-11 overall) clung to a one-run lead against the Chippewas (2-1 MAC, 7-161 overall). Similar to batting practice, Franklin found one in his sweet spot and smoked a solo shot over the right field wall. Though the Michigan pitching staff proceeded to give up two runs in the top of the seventh, Franklin’s homer sparked the Wolverines offensively for the rest of the
game. Along with sophomore outfielder Dominic Clementi, who lined a single into right to bring home two runs, Franklin drove in another run in the bottom of the seventh. In the eighth, up by three, Franklin continued to deliver. Stepping up with runners in scoring position once again, the freshman hit a gapper that plated two more to give Michigan a comfortable 8-3 lead. Central Michigan was able to tack on two more runs in the bottom of the ninth, but the Wolverines’ lead proved to be insurmountable, winning 8-5. The game started off fairly slowly for both sides, but the Chippewas broke the deadlock in the second inning via a sacrifice bunt. Michigan coach Erik Bakich pulled junior right-hander Troy Miller for freshman lefty Angelo Smith. “Troy was on a 45-pitch limit just so we could have him in
relief for Friday and Saturday, with the doubleheader Saturday,” Bakich said. “With Angelo, we were just going to go one inning, but he was throwing so well, and the game was so close. We just felt we needed to keep him in there.” Smith provided the muchneeded bridge from the third inning to the seventh. Smith kept Central Michigan scoreless, allowing only one hit. “He really showed us something today,” Bakich said. “I thought he did an outstanding job attacking the zone, being very aggressive and consistent with all his pitches and his execution. I thought that was great to see.” Another freshman, Jordan Nwogu started at left field, going 2-for-4 with an RBI. Franklin, Smith and Nwogu’s successes are the continuation of a trend this season. The freshmen have stepped up to help turn their team’s season
around. “Besides having really good upperclassmen role models, I think the biggest thing is just that all of the coaches really believe in us,” Franklin said. “Even if we do poorly in the field, they still encourage us, and I think deep down they really think we can do it. You can really see and feel that when you talk to them.” The freshmen may have catalyzed the victory, but sophomore outfielder Christian Bullock and juniors Jonathan Engelmann and Blake Nelson consistently got on base, combining for four runs and three stolen bases between them. “A lot of guys contributed,” Bakich said. “A lot of guys came off the bench and made a difference. A lot of different pitchers were used in the game, so it was very much a total team effort even though the freshmen seemed to shine.”
DARBY STIPE/Daily
Freshman first baseman Jesse Franklin showed out in batting practice, then continued it in the real game, hitting a home run and two singles in Michigan’s win.
BAILEY JOHNSON Daily Sports Writer
Mack Lasker finally nailed his pommel horse routine. While the sophomore specializes on the event, he has struggled throughout this season. But on Saturday, he scored a career-high 14.45 in the No. 7 Michigan men’s gymnastics team’s 405.05-407.35 loss to No. 8 Penn State. The Wolverines began the competition with five clean routines on floor exercise, led by junior Emyre Cole leading the way. Cole scored 14.25, good for the win on the event with freshman Jacob Moore placing third. Then came Lasker and his teammates’ display on the pommel horse. A week after having six falls across five routines on the apparatus, Michigan had no major mistakes. By far the tallest gymnast on the team at 6-foot-3, Lasker’s long lines brought him success as he tied for first place on the event with the Nittany Lions’ Stephen Nedoroscik, the defending pommel horse national champion. Senior Dmitri Belanovski started the Wolverines off strong on rings with a simple yet well-executed routine that he capped with a stuck dismount. His score of 14.10 ended up being a team-high on the still rings, an unusual result for the leadoff athlete. “He kept the momentum going,” said Michigan coach Kurt Golder. “It’s always important to get off to a good start, and that’s what he did. He actually has kind of a pretty easy routine, but he really executes it well. Got the stick, just gets the whole team fired up.” Sophomore Mitchell Brown led off on vault with a score of 14.30, and his proceeding teammates kept raising the bar. Both Moore and redshirt junior Marty Strech stuck their vaults, and Cole anchored the rotation with a score of 14.75 to win his second title of the day. “The pressure was on for sure because I wanted to do a great vault, I wanted to stick it,” Cole said. “I didn’t want to under-rotate it or anything so I kind of played it safe, but it was a good feeling just hitting back to back to back, increasing the
score again.” Though the Wolverine teammates put in four solid rotations, the season-long issues on parallel bars and high bar returned for Michigan in the final two rounds of the competition, with three falls occurring on each event. Brown fell in his parallel bars routine, and junior Matthew Whitaker added two falls of his own moments later. Cole was put in the unenviable position of salvaging the rotation for his team, and he rose to the occasion with a score of 14.35 after ending his routine with a stuck double front dismount. Bock, competing in the allaround for the first time this season after undergoing surgery in January, followed Cole with a stuck dismount of his own and a score of 14.55, good for second place on the event. “I’ve been hitting my sets pretty well in the gym lately, so I think I’ve broken through a little barrier in that regard,” Bock said. “Just trying to crank through the set instead of wondering if I’m going to hit it or not, so I think that’s made it a lot better.” Michigan maintained a narrow lead of just 0.25 points going into the high bar rotation, and five solid routines would likely have been enough to hang on for the win. Redshirt junior Alec Krystek hit a clean routine in the leadoff position, and freshman Jonathan Liu followed with a clean routine of his own. But junior Uche Eke ran into trouble on a release skill and fell, though he finished with a stuck full-twisting double layout dismount after remounting the bar. Two routines later, Belanovski fell twice after attempting another challenging release skill. Inconsistency on parallel bars and high bar has been a prominent feature of the Wolverines’ performances this season and is something they will need to improve on with the season drawing to a close. Saturday, the inconsistency cost them one meet. In the postseason, it could cost them much more.
Read the full story at MichiganDaily.com
Sports
8 — Thursday, March 29, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Brienne Minor makes history MAYA SALINAS Daily Sports Writer
In observance of Women’s History Month, The Daily launches a series aimed at telling the stories of female athletes, coaches and teams at the University from the perspective of the female sports writers on staff. Daily sports writer Maya Salinas continues the series with this story. Brienne ‘Bri’ Minor isn’t your typical tennis star. She’s not the highest-ranked player on the Michigan Wolverines’ Women’s tennis team. She wasn’t even seeded as a singles player going into last season’s NCAA Championships. But on May 29, 2017, everything changed. That Monday, Minor shocked herself and the rest of the tennis world by winning the singles championship. “Going in unseeded, no one expected anything from me,” Minor said. “I actually loved being unseeded. I loved being the underdog.” And it was an underdog story for the ages. Minor’s run made her the first Wolverine in the program’s history to win a championship. “That week I just kinda got on a roll,” Minor said. “The team event was over; I was just kinda playing for myself. … Day by day, each match.” Minor’s championshipwinning match — after five grueling wins prior — was against Florida’s Belinda Woolcock, who she defeated 6-3, 6-3. Three of the six matches were against top-16 seed opponents. When Minor won, she threw her racket in the air, the defiant celebration of someone who beat multiple of the country’s best players. “It was a surprise to me,” Minor said, speaking of her title win. For winning the championship, she earned a wildcard spot at the U.S. Open. Minor saw all the greats in one
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Junior Brienne Minor looked up to the Williams sisters growing up, and now, after winning a national championship, she has her own chance to inspire others.
place, and for a moment, played in the same tournament as some of her tennis idols. She called it the best experience of her life. *** Looking back on what shaped Minor into the national champion she is today, she thought largely about her family and their influence on her hardworking, yet humble demeanor. Growing up, Minor watched both of her sisters, Jasmine and Kristina, play tennis from childhood to college, and in turn, helped her do the same. To this day, Jasmine and Kristina are some of her biggest supporters. As Minor was playing in the round of 16 during the tournament, her sisters were watching from home. Kristina was in New Jersey and Jasmine was in Washington D.C. at the time, but once they saw her win that match, they decided they
had to support her in person. Kristina got in the car after work to pick up Jasmine, and together they drove through the night to surprise Minor in Georgia. Jasmine said that supporting her sisters was a principle that she was raised with, no matter their endeavors. “We always want the best for Bri,” Jasmine said. And her parents are huge supporters too. “They support us like no other,” added Brienne of her parents. In a match against Purdue on March 25, Minor won 7-6, 6-1, just a month and a half after returning from a knee injury. As her parents watched her play, Minor’s mother, Michelle, was mostly quiet, but anxiously playing with her hands, as if her daughter’s nerves were transferred into her body. Her father, Kevin, watched more
calmly, taking note of every move his daughter made. Both parents occasionally spouted something along the lines of ‘Go Blue.’ But for the most part, they sat quietly, supporting their daughter in a nervous silence. And that’s just against Purdue. One can only imagine what they were like during that Monday in May. *** More broadly, Minor made history as the first African American woman to ever win the singles title. The last African American to win a singles title in Division I tennis was Arthur Ashe over 50 years ago. Minor plays in a sport dominated by white athletes, despite tennis having a worldwide presence. Tennis has always been mostly white, and the Minors felt that firsthand. “We were the only family
of color for a very long time,” Jasmine said. “We knew how to deal with certain things.” Minor’s biggest inspirations outside of her family and her teammates are powerhouse tennis players Serena and Venus Williams. The Williams sisters have done a lot to change the face of tennis and foster a sense of inclusivity through the representation of African American females as elite tennis players. Their inspiration clearly rubbed off on Minor who, after finishing her degree, wants to play tennis and volunteer in clubs where kids don’t always have the same opportunities and resources she had growing up. Jasmine told the story of how other young African Americans reacted when they interacted with Minor on the tennis court. “Even if you go to a Michigan women’s match you’ll see all
these little Black kids that come,” Jasmine said. “They crowd around Bri. They go straight to her above anybody else, and it’s not because of how good she is. It’s because they finally see someone who looks like them. … And that’s a big deal. “I don’t think people realize what it’s like to go your whole life and not see someone who looks like you.” Added Kristina: “It’s hard to imagine what you’re capable of if you’ve never seen anybody do it before.” By becoming a national champion, Minor gained not just the title, but the platform to increase the representation of African American women in tennis even further and to a young audience. “Just being able to represent that group is just really something special to me and I hope I can pave the way for younger African American female tennis players,” Minor said, “and really younger tennis players in general, just like Serena and Venus did for me.” These goals should be important to tennis as a whole. In college tennis during the 2015-16 season, less than 400 of the almost 9,000 female tennis players were Black, excluding Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The numbers for male tennis players are even lower; only 218 of 7,842 male tennis players in the 2015-16 season were Black. But minority representation in tennis is slowly improving. Minor hopes to positively contribute to this change. “This is uncharted territory for her, I think for all of us,” Kristina said. “There’s definitely something bigger surrounding what Bri has done.” Watching the Williams sisters taught Minor that she could play tennis regardless of her background if she was willing to work hard. Now, she has the chance to transfer that message to the next generation.
Two weeks in January JACOB SHAMES Daily Sports Writer
It’s March 29, 2018. The Michigan hockey team is in the Frozen Four, two games away from winning the 10th national championship in program history. Think back to March 16, 2017. Three early Penn State goals handed the Wolverines a quick exit from the Big Ten Tournament, a merciful end to their worst season in three decades. Think back to April 10, 2017. After 33 storied years behind the Michigan bench, coach Red Berenson announced his retirement, leaving behind a program firmly entrenched in a rebuild and with no one in charge of construction. Last weekend, a 6-3 win over Boston University in the NCAA Northeast Regional Final made it clear that the Wolverines’ rebuilding phase was over. But the victory wasn’t quite an emphatic declaration that “Michigan is back.” In reality, that’s a statement that the Wolverines have spent the last two months making. It’s a statement that began with two weeks in January. *** The first day of 2018 marked the Wolverines’ nadir. In the opener of the Great Lakes Invitational, a mediocre Bowling Green team fired four goals past sophomore goaltender Jack LaFontaine within the game’s first 24 minutes. Michigan’s comeback effort fell short, and it settled for a disappointing thirdplace finish in the tournament. Coming off a third-place GLI finish in 2017, Michigan was 8-9-1 and 1-3 in conference play. This season appeared different at first, but for all the promise the Wolverines showed in a road win at defending Big Ten champion Penn State and a win and a tie against then-No. 4 Minnesota, their record on Jan. 2 sat at just 8-8-2, and 3-5-2 in the Big Ten. Nothing seemed to hint at anything other than last season’s fate. “We weren’t at a happy point in our season,” said sophomore forward Jake Slaker. “But we still had a lot of games left, and we knew we could turn it around.” Looming next on the Wolverines’ schedule, however, was then-No. 2 Notre Dame, which had yet to
lose a Big Ten game. Michigan met the Fighting Irish at Yost Ice Arena coming off just two days of rest and without freshman forward Josh Norris, sophomore forward Will Lockwood and freshman defenseman Quinn Hughes, all of whom were then competing for the United States at the World Junior Championships. Five minutes into the game, Notre Dame scored a power-play goal. Five minutes later, it added another. The Fighting Irish machine was operating exactly how it was supposed to. Until suddenly, it wasn’t. Senior forward Tony Calderone slid a goal past Notre Dame goaltender Cale Morris to halve the Wolverines’ deficit in the first period. Michigan outshot the Fighting Irish by almost double during the game’s final 50 minutes, producing oddman rushes and grade-A scoring chances at will. In the end, Notre Dame held on to win, but only thanks to a Herculean effort in the crease from Morris. “We really had a great game, but we didn’t have Norris, we didn’t have Hughes and we didn’t have Lockwood,” said Michigan coach Mel Pearson after Tuesday’s practice. “And I thought we coulda shoulda won the game. I think we outchanced them in scoring opportunities, we just didn’t finish at key times.” Added sophomore goaltender Hayden Lavigne: “That was kind of where we realized — I don’t even think it was the whole weekend, it was the first game where we could compete, and we probably deserved to win it.” Not only did the Wolverines take this newfound confidence with them to South Bend for the series’ second game that Sunday, but Norris and Hughes — only a day removed from World Juniors — rejoined the fold. The freshmen fit into the lineup seamlessly, teaming up for Michigan’s lone goal in the third period. A second straight 2-1 loss wasn’t the result the Wolverines hoped for, but at the risk of using the admittedly fuzzy term “moral victory,” that’s exactly what it was. “(Hughes and Norris) played extremely well,” Pearson said. “Another one-goal game, a tough
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Michigan coach Mel Pearson and his team turned things around in January.
loss. But I think then, you could see, we’re not far off. You don’t walk out of the rink feeling like there’s no chance.” Out of nowhere, seeds of hope showed signs of sprouting. Norris and Hughes were growing up on the fly. Lavigne brought steadiness between the pipes. And for the first time all season, Michigan seemed to truly embrace an underdog mentality. “Everybody picked us to lose that weekend, and we kind of just said in the locker room, ‘Screw that,’ ” Slaker said. “Like it’s our time to start turning around.” It was nothing-to-lose confidence mixed with a healthy dose of urgency — even in two losses, the Wolverines felt they had put forth their best performance of the season. “That was our first weekend where we played two really solid games,” Slaker said. “Even though we lost, we were really happy with our game, and we knew we were playing a good team.” But Michigan still had to win at some point — and it would have to do so in a place where it rarely does so. *** The similarities were eerie. Last season, Michigan traveled to Minnesota the second week of January. It may not have been the Wolverines’ very last chance to reverse their season’s trajectory. But it was a golden opportunity to gain momentum, at the very least — they had won only one of their last six games at Mariucci Arena. Instead, two losses to the ninthranked Golden Gophers — neither of them particularly close — were just
two more forgettable episodes of a forgettable season. One year later, on the second week of January, Michigan received a chance for redemption; an opportunity to do what the Wolverines of a year before could not: turn around their season in Minnesota. However, that’s not exactly what Michigan was thinking as it prepared that week, practicing on the Olympic-sized ice rink of the Ann Arbor Ice Cube about 15 minutes from Yost Ice Arena in preparation for Mariucci. The process of rebuilding a program isn’t one that’s accomplished in one weekend, nor is it done by looking too far ahead — the Wolverines just wanted to take it one game at a time. It’s one of the most exhausted cliches in sports — “one game at a time.” But Michigan, heading into what it knew would be, in one way or the other, a tipping point in its season, truly seemed to practice what it preached. “Get the first game and then worry about the second,” Slaker said. “That’s kind of been always our motive throughout the year. If we have a two-game weekend, we focus on the first one and we don’t even worry about the second.” The Wolverines knew that the first one would be a battle. Mariucci Arena has broken plenty of superior teams before. The wider Olympic ice propels the pace of the game into hyperspeed, and the Golden Gophers’ unprepared, inexperienced opponents inevitably run out of breath trying to keep up. Minnesota is tailor-made for its home arena,
and for Michigan to have a chance, it would have to eliminate almost every mistake from its game. At the Cube, the Wolverines drilled themselves on puck protection, eliminating turnovers in dangerous areas that had plagued them for the entire season. They stressed immaculate defensive zone positioning, countering the Golden Gophers’ ultra-talented skaters in space. “Everything was just faster and harder,” Calderone said. “Everyone was just competing more, and you could just see a completely different team.” Meanwhile, a potent mix of nervous energy, quiet self-assurance and fuel from being overlooked powered them through that week’s practices. On their bus ride to Mariucci before the series’ first game, that mix was easily apparent — Pearson described it as one of the quietest pregame buses of the year. “We knew what we were up against, and it was just an extra level of people being focused and dialed in,” Slaker said. “Little bit of nerves and a little bit of excitement. People just had their headphones in, doing their pre-game rituals, just dialing it in.” Added Pearson: “This isn’t really a quiet team. So when they’re quiet like that, you know something’s going on.” Sure enough, something was. Senior forward Dexter Dancs gave Michigan the lead with a snipe just 15 seconds into the game. Despite the blazing start, the first contest eventually became the battle the Wolverines anticipated. Minnesota controlled the game’s tempo, and Michigan spent much of the game trying desperately to hang on. But the Wolverines did — even through surviving a 27-19 shot deficit, surviving a six-on-four situation in the game’s final moments — and pulled off a crucially-needed, 5-3 victory. “I don’t think anyone really expected to sweep,” Lavigne said. “But we went in there and we won the first game … and that kind of led us on to believe — second game, you know what, this is our game as well.” The series opener opened the floodgates — if Friday was Michigan
at its most intense and sharply focused, Saturday saw a looser, freer group take the ice. The end result was the same, but it never felt as close as it did a night before. Norris and junior forward Brendan Warren both scored in the first three minutes, Lavigne made 17 of 18 saves and the Wolverines allowed just two shots in the third period, claiming their first sweep in Minneapolis since 1977 with a 3-1 win. “We played hard at Minnesota,” Pearson said. “It’s a tough place to play — an Olympic sheet, there’s some adjustment there, but we played a very solid defensive game. Just coming off the Notre Dame series and winning the game now we had some mojo, we were starting to get some swagger to the game and some confidence.” You know what happened next. Riding that swagger and confidence, Michigan returned home to face Penn State, and behind two lightsout displays from Lavigne, the Wolverines held the nation’s topranked scoring offense scoreless in even-strength play on their way to a second straight sweep. Since Jan. 7, Michigan has lost just four games. “We just started to see that we could win, we just had to get better in a little bit,” Pearson said. “Ask a little bit more from everybody else, and I think that’s what happened at Minnesota and then you got some confidence going home. Play Penn State, and all of a sudden you’re rolling. It’s like that snowball rolling down the hill, it just starts growing and growing, and there’s no stopping it.” Two months after the Wolverines swept the Golden Gophers, a fullblown avalanche tore through Massachusetts, laying waste to Northeastern and Boston University. At the heart of that avalanche is the original snowball that began rolling down the hill during those two weeks in January. The ingredients are simple, if a bit predictable. Stable goaltending, disciplined defense, balanced offense, talented youngsters starting to blossom, grit and confidence — lots of confidence. And they’ve taken a oncerebuilding, once-left-for-dead team all the way to St. Paul.