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Friday, February 8, 2019
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Misconduct complaint about ‘U’ professor unanswered for over a year Former student of Stephen Shipps reports rape allegations to University Responsible Employees SAMMY SUSSMAN Daily Staff Reporter
A former student of School of Music, Theatre & Dance professor Stephen Shipps emailed Melody Racine, the interim dean of SMTD in October 2017 alleging she had been raped by Shipps in the 1970s. University of Michigan policy compels certain employees, such as the dean, to immediately report allegations of this nature to the Office of Institutional Equity. However, this former student’s email went unanswered for more than a year. And 19 days after emailing the interim dean, the former student emailed Shipps himself — another email that sat unanswered for more than 11 months. It is unclear if either Racine or Shipps reported this former student’s emails to OIE. If they did report this email to OIE, it is unclear when that happened. Though the causes of these delays remain unclear, they call into question multiple aspects of the University’s sexual misconduct policy. The Daily communicated with Shipps’s former student prior to publication of a Dec. 10 article regarding alleged misconduct by Shipps, but her allegation — an interaction in the late 1970s she believes constituted “statutory rape” — was not included in that article, as she was concerned about her privacy. For this same reason, the former student has requested anonymity. In this article, she will be referred to
as Jane. In communicating with The Daily, Jane has declined to delve into greater detail about the alleged assault, instead preferring to focus on her communications with University personnel and the responses she did and did not receive. She has provided The Daily with copies of emails between her and the University — emails that point both to an initial year-long delay and a further slow-moving response to serious allegations of reportedly criminal conduct. Despite the University’s long-standing policy of refusing to comment on “personnel matters,” The Daily has also been able to confirm that both the University Division of Public Safety and Security and OIE were conducting investigations into Shipps as of Dec. 7, 2018. At this time, the status of these investigations is unclear. Racine declined to comment on the specifics of this article. “As is our policy and in keeping with my past and current duties as a responsible employee, I have referred your inquiry to our UM’s Public Affairs Office,” Racine wrote in an email to The Daily. Shipps did not reply to multiple emails requesting his comment on this article. His lawyer, David Nacht, similarly did not reply. The Daily contacted Public Affairs for comment on this article. University spokeswoman Kim Broekhuizen declined to
comment on the specifics of this article. “While we cannot discuss specific matters, the university takes action whenever it receives information regarding alleged sexual misconduct, which can include investigations or other actions through UMPD and the Office of Institutional Equity,” Broekhuizen said. ***
information about Shipps. Soon after communicating with a Daily reporter, the source made OIE aware of The Daily’s investigation into Shipps. The source also made OIE aware of the nature of some of the allegations against Shipps known to The Daily at the time. See MISCONDUCT, Page 3
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Former Mich. rep dies at 92
John Dingell, longest-serving congressman in US history, passed away Thursday LEAH GRAHAM Daily News Editor
Former U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., died Thursday at the age of 92, the office of U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell said in a statement. John Dingell, who was elected to the House in 1955 when he was 29, was the longest-serving member of Congress in history. “It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of
John David Dingell, Jr., former Michigan Congressman and longest-serving member of the United States Congress. Congressman Dingell died peacefully today at his home in Dearborn, surrounded by his wife Deborah,” the statement said. “He was a lion of the United States Congress and a loving son, father, husband, grandfather and friend. See DINGELL, Page 3
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Felony policy spurs criticism New protocol requires staff to disclose charges and convinctions, sparks debate EMMA STEIN
Daily Staff Reporter
The timeline of The Daily’s investigation into Shipps provides some useful context for Jane’s communications with the University. On Nov. 2, 2018, The Daily contacted a potential source for
The University of Michigan enacted a new policy in the Standard Practice Guide regarding felony disclosure on Monday. The policy requires all faculty, staff, student employees, volunteers and visiting scholars to self-report both felony charges and convictions within a week of the occurrence. The policy does not apply to those covered by a collective bargaining agreement through
a union—such as the Graduate Employees’ Organization. According to the policy, each report will be assessed thoroughly by Human Resources on a caseby-case basis based on the nature and gravity of the offense, the timeliness and accuracy of the disclosure, and the relevancy of the crime or conviction to the role(s) held at the University. Human Resources will then determine whether disciplinary action will be taken. See FELONY, Page 3
UVA professor talks ‘Black Twitter’, U-M, Mcity State trial host online journalism at speaker series event over current ACADEMICS
MICHIGAN
self-driving teach outs
Commuinity members met for discussion sponsored by Communication, Digital Studies
Upcoming educational sessions will serve as a way to bridge gap between research, academic units
Meredith Clark, assistant professor of media studies at the University of Virginia, spoke to about 30 students and faculty in North Quad on Thursday afternoon as part of the Communication and Media Speaker Series, hosted by the University of Michigan Communication Studies department. In her talk, titled “Black Women Tried to Tell Y’all,” Clark discussed participation and theorization in online spaces and the impacts of longstanding journalism models
DANIELLE PASEKOFF Daily Staff Reporter
For the month of February, the University of Michigan, partnered with Mcity, will be hosting various online “teach-outs” regarding research on self-driving cars and the implementation of such technology in contemporary society. Teach-outs are academic tools developed at the University that aim to bridge the gap between researchers and academics and the broader public, allowing both groups to engage in meaningful conversation. The teach-out series was launched by the Office of Academic Innovation in March 2017, modeled after the teach-in strategy that also began at the University and was employed during the civil rights movement. Ranging in all subjects these teachout courses can be accessed by anyone who is interested, at no cost. Mcity, a mock city located on Michigan’s North Campus, was built in order to test wirelessly connected and driverless vehicles.
ALEX HARRING Daily Staff Reporter
on communities of color. Clark said her goal is to change the journalism industry to better represent people of color. “Ultimately, my goal is to develop research applications for actual journalists to practice,” Clark said. “I am interested in disrupting the models of journalism we have used for so long that have continued to shut people of color out of news narratives.” Clark is a former journalist whose research focuses on the intersections of race, media and power. Her dissertation on “Black Twitter” landed her on The Root 100, the news website’s list of the
most prominent African Americans in the country, in 2015. Clark also contributes to Poynter’s diversity column and has had research published in academic journals. Clark said she grounds her work in Black feminist thought, a ground-theory framework focused on ideas produced by Black women and a collection of experiences. She discussed the key features of this thought framework and its social justice roots. She said she was inspired to start her research after reading a Slate article titled “How Black People Use Twitter.” Clark said she was specifically interested in how Black-
lived experiences are portrayed. “As a copy editor — they used to have copy editors working at news outlets — you are trained to come up with headlines: phrases that catch peoples’ attention, that tell them concisely what the story is about,” Clark said. “So, when I pull up this story on Slate magazine, frankly I was alarmed. Someone was making such broad generalizations about what Blacks are doing on the internet.”
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districting lines begins
Gerrymandering suit filed by LWV goes to court after rejecting settlement from Secretary of State ALYSSA MCMURTRY Daily Staff Reporter
A gerrymandering lawsuit filed by the League of Women Voters went to trial U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on Tuesday after a settlement offered by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson was rejected. Benson’s settlement offer was a proposal to declare 11 of Michigan’s 110 state House districts unconstitutional and called for them to be redrawn by an unbiased redistricting committee within legislature. One of those districts, the 55th, includes part of Ann Arbor and is currently represented by Rep. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor. The LWV, a non-partisan organization, as well as 11 Democratic voters filed a lawsuit back in December 2017 against the current districting lines of Michigan, which were previously drawn under Governor Rick Snyder in 2011. They claimed the lines are restricting Democratic voters to select districts while spreading out Republican voters throughout the state, giving them more influence over how districts vote.
Read more online at DANYEL THARAKAN/Daily Dr. Meredith Clark, former journalist and current assistant professor at the University of Virginia, gives a talk titled “Black Women Tried to Tell Y’all: Race, Representation, and Self-Preservation through Digital Counter-Narratives in North Quad Thursday afternoon.
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Vol. CXXVIII, No. 68 ©2019 The Michigan Daily
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 CLASSIFIEDS................6
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MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers
TUESDAY: By Design
WEDNESDAY: This Week in History
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BE HIND THE STORY
LSA freshman Lane Kizziah on “Blanco Polo: Michigan softball searches to fill the void”: “This week was the first time we’ve been able to talk to some of the players as well as Coach Hutchins. I’ve already read so much about them from previous years, so it was a really interesting experience to hear their perspectives in person. My story was primarily about how the graduation of one of their star players last year would affect the team dynamic this year, so the seniors were able to give some especially interesting quotes about how the program has changed over the years. I’m so excited to get more time with them and be able to get a deeper understanding of how the team functions.”
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“
I’ve charged the commission with designing longterm, comprehensive measures — beacause the problem of climate change is much too large and complex for simple solutions or interim fixes.”
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Michigan Attorney General participates in coalition to support Affordable Care Act
17 Democratic attorneys general fight to appeal Texas district court decision CARLY RYAN
Daily Staff Reporter
Michigan is joining a coalition of 17 Democratic attorneys general fighting to appeal a Texas district court decision that ruled the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. In her announcement, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said Michigan has a strong interest in protecting the Affordable Care Act. “The Affordable Care Act provides important protections – including protecting people with preexisting conditions – and access to health care for hundreds of thousands of residents in Michigan,” Nessel wrote. Nessel’s decision to join the lawsuit came in light of her decision to withdraw Michigan from eight lawsuits former Attorney General Bill Schuette entered the state in. The lawsuit seeks to overrule a decision made in December brought forth by 18
BALANCE ACT
Republican attorneys general and two GOP governors. The lawsuit struck down the entire Affordable Care Act on the basis that its mandate requiring people to buy health insurance was unconstitutional. President Donald Trump’s tax plan eliminated the individual mandate last year. Peter Jacobson, health law and policy professor, said he expects the Texas decision to be overruled, meaning a victory for the Democratic attorneys general. “I suspect that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will overturn the judge’s decision even though it’s a conservative court,” Jacobson said. “I think that the legal arguments that Texas and its supporters are making are not compelling. The particular challenge in the Texas case has always struck me as being more about politics than law.” The expansive health care coverage has generally seen bipartisan support from Michigan. Not long after
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the Affordable Care Act was originally passed, former Gov. Rick Snyder passed a controversial expansion of Medicaid, voicing support for getting more Michigan residents covered. Jacobson agreed the Affordable Care Act has been generally beneficial for Michigan residents, citing research from the University of Michigan’s Center for Health and Research Transformation. “We have fewer people lacking health insurance and the state has benefited economically,” Jacobson said. “Studies from the University show that the state has spent less money than anticipated and the availability of health insurance has actually improved the economy. As a result, Michigan’s involvement (in the lawsuit) is really an investment in maintaining those benefits.” LSA sophomore Dylan Berger, president of the University’s Chapter of College Republicans, said although he believes the Affordable Care Act has many shortcomings that Michigan needs to address, the law should not be challenged in court. “Since its passage, insurance costs and deductibles have increased for most Americans while quality has worsened,” Berger, who is also a columnist for The Daily, said. “In the meantime, however, the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land and shouldn’t be challenged in court. Without a well thought out replacement plan, repealing the Affordable Care Act would be disastrous.” Law School professor Nicholas Bagley, a prominent Affordable Care Act researcher, said attorneys general normally wouldn’t have to worry about defending a congressional statute –– such a task is the job of the U.S. Justice Department. But because the Justice
Department hasn’t taken a stand on the legality of the Affordable Care Act, Bagley said states were forced to step in. “The Trump administration made the politically motivated decision not to defend the law, even though the case against the ACA’s constitutionality is really weak,” Bagley said. “Because the law would otherwise lack someone to defend it, California and a group of blue states intervened in the lawsuit. And they’ve now appealed the Texas district court’s decision.” However, Bagley said the involvement of Michigan in the lawsuit won’t likely have large ramifications. “Attorney General Nessel wants to signal her support for the law’s defenders,” Baglesy said. “It won’t make much of a practical difference. The other blue states are already involved in the lawsuit, whether Michigan jumps in or not, but it’s putting Michigan firmly on the side of the ACA’s supporters.” Public Policy senior Kellie Lounds, chair of the University’s chapter of College Democrats, is among such supporters, and said she is grateful for an attorney general who will protect the Affordable Care Act. “We (College Democrats) are thrilled to have an attorney general who’s actually acting in the best interest of Michigan residents,” Lounds said. However, the fight to appeal the Texas decision will not surely end in victory for Democrats, in which case the Affordable Care Act would be brought before the Supreme Court for the third time. Although the newly constituted Supreme Court now has five conservative justices, Jacobson said he is still confident the Texas decision would be appealed. “I’m dubious that Chief Justice Roberts would uphold the Texas law,” Jacobson said. “I think that the political fallout to the court would be damaging.”
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MISCONDUCT From Page 1 The Daily contacted multiple University officials, including representatives of Public Affairs, on Friday, Nov. 30, 2018, seeking comment for the Dec. 10 article about Shipps. OIE first contacted Jane on Monday, Dec. 3, 2018. It is unclear if OIE had already been made aware of Jane’s email, or if The Daily’s numerous emails to University personnel, including Public Affairs sent Nov. 30, 2018, provoked this response the following Monday. Starting in early December, Jane began receiving frequent communications from Elizabeth Seney, the assistant director and deputy Title IX Coordinator for Investigations in OIE. These communications indicated to her that the University had begun to take her complaint seriously. “Elizabeth Seney has called me several times (I can’t say for sure how many, but I have a voicemail from her on 12/8/18), and she has emailed many times,” Jane wrote to The Daily in an email. “In her phone messages she was polite and just asked that I call her back, and that she would explain more once I spoke to her.” *** When President Richard Nixon signed The Higher Education Amendments of 1972, he created a section commonly referred to as “Title IX” law. Title IX states: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” The U.S. Department of Education’s interpretation of this law has evolved over time to include specific provisions regarding sexual violence and mandatory reporting of such violence. Under recent interpretations, the Department of Education has stipulated that certain employees be designated as “Responsible Employees,” employees required to “report
incidents of sexual violence to the Title IX coordinator or other appropriate school designee.” In 1990, the federal government passed the Clery Act. The Clery Act places separate requirements on school employees regarding mandatory reporting, such as requiring certain employees classified as “Campus Security Authorities,” or CSAs, to report other serious crimes not covered by Title IX policy. University of Michigan policy combines these various reporting obligations into two discrete employee categories: “Responsible Employees” and “Non-Responsible Employees.” Responsible Employees include deans, associate deans and chairs of departments. They are commonly referred to as “mandatory reporters”. Many students will recognize these employees for the “RE” stickers they often place on their doors. Responsible Employees are required to share allegations of “sexual assault, intimate partner violence, stalking, sexual or gender-based harassment, retaliation (and) violation of interim measures” with the University, specifically with OIE. They are required to report these allegations in a timely manner, “as soon as possible” according to a training document on the University Human Resources website. They must turn over “all of the details known to (them), including the names of the persons involved, when (they) were told, precisely what information was shared, and (their) contact information.” *** In October 2017, as the New Yorker and The New York Times published allegations of sexual misconduct against Harvey Weinstein and the cultural conversation around sexual misconduct began morphing into the #MeToo movement, Jane was reminded of her experience with Shipps in the late 1970s. In mid-October, she decided to email Racine. “I reached out to Melody Racine in October 2017 because I (had) recently had contact with
another victim of Steve Shipps,” Jane told The Daily. “That certainly ignited something in me … I had attended my first Women’s March in January 2017 and I know I was influenced by the growing message of empowerment for women. I felt that it was time to stand up for myself. I wasn’t sure who to contact, but I found Ms. Racine on the University of Michigan website.” On Oct. 21, 2017 at 11:04 p.m., Jane sent an email to Racine with the subject line “Stephen Shipps.” In the email, she alleged she was raped by Shipps and shared her fears that Shipps had committed similar acts against other students. “Recent events in the news have sparked memories from my past,” Jane wrote. “Honestly, I’ve written letters/emails in the past but have not sent because I didn’t see the point. I guess I’m emboldened now. Of course I expect absolutely nothing to come from this email. I don’t know you and there’s nothing you or anyone could do at this point anyway. So, here’s the thing … Stephen Shipps raped me when I was sixteen. Over the years, I’ve heard stories similar to mine regarding Mr. Shipps.” Jane waited for a response from the University. “My allegations seemed pretty serious, so I was a bit surprised and hurt that there was no response from Ms. Racine, who I felt should have an interest and responsibility to protect both the University of Michigan as well as its students,” she wrote. After 19 days with no response from Racine or the University, Jane decided to contact Shipps directly. “I guess I gained confidence after sending the first email, and was angry that I was ignored, so I went ahead and sent an email directly to Shipps a couple weeks later,” Jane wrote to The Daily. “It was a big step and a bit scary for me to sign my name to that email.” Jane sent an email to Shipps on Nov. 9, 2017 at 2:58 p.m. A copy of this email was provided to The Daily, though Jane has asked its full contents not be published. In
this message, Jane describes her experience with Shipps. She also indicates she has heard he has committed similar misconduct against other students. “What happened was actually statutory rape,” Jane wrote to Shipps. “I’ve lived with this for a long time. In case you don’t remember, it was probably 1978 or 1979. I’d hope that you didn’t engage in this behavior with other young women, but I’ve heard that you did.” *** On Oct. 21, 2017, the date she received Jane’s email, Racine was serving as the interim dean of the Music, Theatre & Dance School — a position classified both as a Responsible Employee and a Campus Security Authority. She held this position until September 2018, though she is currently on leave for the 2018-2019 academic year. She went on leave shortly after David Daniels, a Music, Theatre & Dance professor, was accused of sexual assault by opera singer Samuel Schultz. An investigation published by The Daily in November found Racine signed off on Daniels’ tenure application in May 2018, despite reports of sexual misconduct against Daniels being filed with OIE against him in March. On Nov. 9, 2017, the date he received Jane’s email, Shipps was serving as the chair of Strings, a position he held until Dec. 7, 2018 and a position that similarly classified him as a Responsible Employee and a Campus Security Authority. He had previously served as the associate dean for Academic Affairs in the Music, Theatre & Dance School, and the faculty director of the Strings Preparatory Academy, both positions classified as a Responsible Employee. The incident Jane alleges occurred before Shipps worked at the University. As Shipps was a Responsible Employee, reporting this incident would have been self-incriminatory. While the University’s policy does not cover this specific type of situation, the Haven Training for Faculty and Staff, a training about sexual misconduct reporting all Responsible
Friday, February 8, 2019 — 3 Employees have to take every year to renew their status, makes Shipps’ and Racine’s reporting obligations quite clear. “Schools must respond to sexual violence connected to the school’s education programs and activities, including academic, educational, extracurricular, and athletic activities,” the document notes. “If you are made aware of an incident involving a perpetrator from a different school: … if you are a Responsible Employee or CAS, this is a reportable incident. Follow your institution’s reporting policy.” As such, Shipps and Racine were required under University policy to report the emails they received from Jane to OIE “as soon as possible upon learning of the behavior.” It’s unclear if this happened in the year between when Jane sent her original emails and when she received a response. Though University spokeswoman Kim Broekhuizen refused to comment on the specifics of this case, she did describe the general process OIE uses when they learn of these concerns. She also noted that though it might have taken Jane a long time to hear from OIE, this does not necessarily mean an investigation of this complaint has not taken place. “When OIE receives information about concerns, it assesses the information reported to identify — and take — appropriate next steps,” Broekhuizen said. “This process normally includes outreach to the person reporting the information, to provide them with details about resources and any options that may be available to them, and to gather additional information as necessary to review the concerns. In any instance, we would regret if that outreach didn’t happen, or didn’t happen quickly. But that does not mean a review or investigation of the allegations did not take place.” *** On Oct. 29, 2018 at 11:04 a.m. — one year, one week, and one day after she first emailed Racine — Jane received an email from Margie Pillsbury, the University of Michigan Police Department Special Victims Unit detective
within DPSS. In this email, Pillsbury stated she learned of Jane’s complaint that day. She offered to help connect Jane to law enforcement officials in the jurisdiction relevant to her complaint. She also provided Jane with information about confidential resources for sexual assault survivors. The circumstances behind Pillsbury’s Oct. 29, 2018 email remain unclear. It is unclear why it took Pillsbury more than a year to respond to Jane’s initial email, and if Pillsbury has knowledge of both emails or only one. It also remains unclear how Pillsbury became aware of Jane’s email on Oct. 29, 2018. University policy for “Responsible Employees,” as referenced above, required Jane’s email to be reported to the OIE, not DPSS. At this point in time, it is unclear if OIE was aware of Jane’s complaint. When The Daily reached out to Pillsbury for comment, she forwarded the request to UMPD spokesperson Melissa Overton. Overton could not answer questions pertaining to the specific case. *** Jane’s next communication from the University came Dec. 3, 2018 at 1:23 p.m., when she received an email from Seney. This was the first time Jane received communications from OIE. At this point, it had been 13 months since Jane sent her email to Racine, and it had been five weeks since she was contacted by Pillsbury. “The first emails from Margie Pillsbury (then later Elizabeth Seney) were a year after I first contacted Ms. Racine,” Jane said. “At first I didn’t respond because I was just busy and felt I didn’t have the time or emotional energy to talk about the assault. I soon realized that something must have happened to spur them to action, and I wondered whose side they were on. They didn’t gain my confidence when I read ‘The University takes sexual misconduct very seriously …’ I felt like the sentence needed clarification as to what exactly makes them take sexual misconduct seriously, and what the tipping point might be.”
with felonies. “I’m old enough to remember very clearly the Vietnam era and the Civil Rights era when a lot of University of Michigan faculty and students demonstrated, not just in Michigan but in the South, and a lot of them were arrested, a lot of them were charged,” Huesmann said. “And police liked to charge them with felonies, like resisting arrest.” Huesmann discussed how the requirement to report all felony charges, regardless of whether an individual is guilty or not, could restrict free speech. He said the policy could instill a sense of fear into community members and make them question actions they have a right to exercise, such as peaceful protesting. “I suspect it (arrests at protests) could easily happen again and people could engage in demonstrations and protests about civil rights and they could well be charged with the felony of resisting arrest, and this policy requires them within one week to report it to the University,” Huesmann said. “And that really is going to have an inhibiting effect on what people do.” Huesmann sent an email to the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs voicing his concerns. He said he hopes the committee will issue a statement opposing the policy. *** Law professor Samuel Gross said this policy should not interfere with current dismissal procedures. “Michigan is an ‘employment-atwill state,’ but the University policy on employment is considerably more restrictive,” Gross said. “Your boss could fire you (in the state of Michigan) because he’d rather hire his nephew, or because you came into work late once, or because you were in possession of marijuana. There’s no problem with that because they can also fire you for no reason. The University is much more restricted by its own policies.” Thomas said the University will review the cases fairly and not use the policy as an excuse to fire employees. “If you review our discipline policies in our SPG, we move toward a fair approach and process,” Thomas said. “We do not discharge people on a lark.” Another concern about the policy is whether the need to report not only convictions, but charges as well, is a
violation of due process. Ashley Lucas, director of the Prison Creative Arts Project and associate professor of theatre and drama, said in an email interview with The Daily the policy infringes on the rights of employees during the assessment process, when the University must act as a judge and determine the consequences for a felony charge. “A requirement to report felony charges puts University administrators in the position of having to evaluate the guilt or innocence of a person who has not yet had the opportunity to have their case adjudicated in a court of law,” Lucas wrote. “This is a violation of our right to due process.” Gross said while being charged with a crime is not the same as being convicted, an employer has the right to know and there is nothing intrinsically wrong with the gathering of all information. “It is the case, and it’s very important, that being accused of a crime or arrested for a crime or held in pre-trial detention is not in itself proof or anything like proof that you committed a crime, and can’t be the subject of some types of actions,” Gross said. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not a fact that people can’t be made aware of … and that’s something an employer is entitled to know about.” Thomas claimed the University is not violating employees’ right to due process and the safety of the community is the number one priority. “Felony charges are very serious,” Thomas said. “It means that they have found enough evidence to do the charge, and so we will review charges in order to ensure the safety of our community.” Gross discussed how the University could find out about all felony charges and convictions regardless of selfreporting by simply going to the police and asking for a list. However, the requirement of self-disclosure makes the process more convenient for the University.
In her
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J U L I A N A H U X TA B L E
DANYEL THARAKAN/Daily Juliana Huxtable, an American artist, writer, performer and musician, gives a talk as part of the Penny Stamps Speaker Series in the Michigan Theater Thursday evening. Her art is part of the exhibition “Art in the Age of the Internet” on view at the UMMA through April 7th.
DINGELL From Page 1 He will be remembered for his decades of public service to the people of Southeast Michigan, his razor sharp wit and a lifetime of dedication to improving the lives of all who walk this earth.” John Dingell recently entered hospice care following a cancer diagnosis. On Wednesday he tweeted that while he was too ill to post on social media, Debbie Dingell would continue to share messages on his behalf. “The Lovely Deborah is insisting I rest and stay off here, but after long negotiations we’ve worked out a deal where she’ll keep up with Twitter for me as I dictate the messages,” John Dingell tweeted. “I want to thank you all for your incredibly kind words and prayers. You’re not done with me just yet.” John Dingell retired from Congress in 2014. Debbie Dingell, who is his wife, won a campaign to occupy the seat he vacated. Debbie Dingell missed
President Donald Trump’s State of the Union on Tuesday, tweeting the following day John Dingell’s condition required her to stay home. “Friends and colleagues know me and know I would be in Washington right now unless something was up,” Debbie Dingell wrote. “I am home with John and we have entered a new phase. He is my love and we have been a team for nearly 40 years.” Debbie Dingell continued, “I will be taking each day as it comes. We thank people for their friendship and support and ask for prayers and privacy during this difficult time.” John Dingell was a staunch advocate of the auto industry, in addition to promoting environmental protections, and working to expand health care. In September, John Dingell was hospitalized for more than a week following a mild heart attack. After being admitted, he tweeted that “Rumors of my demise may have only been slightly exaggerated.” After his retirement, John Dingell’s social media accounts
brought him continued fame. In 2014, The Atlantic declared his Twitter account the best of any member of Congress. On Thursday, President Mark Schlissel issued a statement on John Dingell’s passing, praising his legacy and offering condolences. “John Dingell’s resolute devotion to the people of Michigan and our nation set a high standard to which we should all aspire in public service,” Schlissel said. “He fought for legislation and led change that made our state and nation better for all Americans – including civil rights, access to quality medical care, and clean air and water. I will always admire and remember his decades of thoughtful, optimistic leadership, grounded in a belief that healthy communities, economic prosperity, and environmental stewardship are all values that we could relentlessly pursue for the betterment of our society. I considered John a historically significant public servant and man of great gravitas.”
FELONY From Page 1 Additionally, those who do not disclose their felony charges and convictions face consequences up to, and including, dismissal. Since its enactment, the policy has garnered attention and criticism among faculty. Laurita Thomas, associate vice president for Human Resources, said the policy was created with the intention of making sure all members of the community feel safe on campus. “We became aware of circumstances where we were not aware of this kind of situation across higher ed — not necessarily at Michigan,” Thomas said. “And many institutions have moved to enhance the safety of our community, and this knowledge will help us do that.” *** L. Rowell Huesmann, professor of communication studies and psychology, claims the policy infringes on the rights of students, faculty and staff. He discussed how, in the past, many people have been arrested for protesting and charged
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Opinion
4 — Friday, February 8, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
KIANNA MARQUEZ | COLUMN
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Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of The Daily’s Editorial Board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
FROM THE DAILY
On the government shutdown
B
etween the dates of Dec. 22, 2018, and Jan. 25, 2019, the United States government was partially shut down after President Donald Trump refused to sign any funding bills that did not include the $5.7 billion he wanted for his wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. This 35-day shutdown was the longest in American history, and resulted in more than 420,000 federal workers being furloughed, an estimated 0.13 percent of economic quarterly growth lost per week and wasn’t ended until Trump ultimately agreed to sign a stopgap bill, funding the government through Feb. 15. Trump, however, still doesn’t have his wall, which he desperately wants. Despite many people — including some who voted for Trump — blaming him for the shutdown, Trump has threatened to either declare a national emergency or shut down the government once again if not given his desired wall funds. While the Democratic Party should advocate for its political principles, it is important to remember that the well-being of the American people is the most important issue the party should focus on. Thus, avoiding a government shutdown should be a goal high on the agenda, as so many Americans’ livelihoods depend on an open and well-functioning federal government. Trump’s hardheadedness means that it is likely that he ultimately rejects anything the Democrats put forward. However, the Democrats completely giving up on the negotiation process would not be ideal either. Both a shutdown and national emergency would cause chaos, and the adults in the room should at least try to do what they can to avoid either scenario. The sitting administration has taken such malevolent policy positions that means attempting to find middle ground would, in effect, turn the Democrats into co-conspirators in a marginally less objectionable crime. The optics of extending a hand across the aisle may prove politically advantageous for them going forward. While it seems unlikely that Trump would accept anything the Democrats sign off on, the party can still take the high road. To be clear, since it is the Republicans — not the Democrats — insisting their demands be met, Democrats are under no practical
obligation to come to the table, though they certainly have the right to pursue such a tactic. Going forward, Trump has placed himself in an extremely tight position in regards to the wall, leaving him little room for success or recovery. After Democrats and Republicans were able to compromise on a bill which allocated $1.3 billion to border security back in December, Trump initially said he would agree to sign it — but ultimately ended up reneging. It is also worth noting that in March 2018, Democrats were ready and willing to give the administration the full $25 billion it wants for the construction of a border wall in exchange for a path to citizenship for DACA recipients, but this was also turned down. While polls show that 59 percent of Americans oppose the wall, Trump, out of fear of losing his core base of supporters, has been driven away from compromise and towards more extreme options. With Congress seemingly content to go on without funding for a wall in place, Trump’s two options appear to be another shutdown or declaring a state of national emergency — unfortunately for him, neither are very popular nor promising. First, of course, Trump could do what he has already done and shut down the government. However, it’s unclear what exactly that would accomplish. This could prove politically perilous, as Trump bore most of the brunt for the last shutdown and the multitude of negative effects should not be compounded by taking such a disastrous course of action again. Secondly, Trump could declare a national emergency. However, that would be
unpopular among Senate Republicans, a group who has previously, for the most part, stood behind him. In addition to being unpopular, declaring a national emergency could also be unconstitutional. While the Supreme Court has a history of favoring executive power, Trump isn’t exactly strengthening his case for a national emergency by threatening to declare one if Congress doesn’t do his bidding. Emergencies are supposed to be declared when congressional approval would be too slow to handle an emerging crisis, so patiently waiting before declaring one runs contrary to the assertion that the matter at hand is an “emergency” at all. Since the recent government shutdown proved to be an exercise in futility, Trump ultimately does seem to be leaning towards the national emergency route. As mentioned earlier, it seems unlikely that Trump would accept any deal the Democrats would propose. However, seeing as though he seems to be in a rather desperate position, it might make sense to re-propose a path to citizenship for DACA recipients in exchange for the $5.7 billion. If Democrats were, at one point, ready to fork over $25 billion for a DACA path to citizenship, then this deal would effectively save $19.3 billion that would have gone toward a project that Speaker Nancy Pelosi decried as “immoral” just last month. We look toward Feb. 15 and hope for the best. Arriving at an equitable solution to this looming problem is an absolute necessity and the soul of our nation depends on it. We urge that our elected officials do their jobs and uphold their oath to do what’s best for their country and their constituencies.
EMILY CONSIDINE | CONTACT CARTOONIST AT EMCONSID@UMICH.EDU
D
A tribute to the engineer
espite the havoc that continues to be wreaked on our natural world, there is no doubt that we are making substantial strides to improve the quality of our environment. At this point, one of the most prominent issues is how we can implement green practices into our daily lives — a problem I would turn to engineers to solve. In this mercenary society, it’s not good enough to be green. It’s not enough to say that the problems we see with the fluctuations of our environment will be fixed as long as we employ methods that limit the consequences, which have essentially consisted of using renewable energy, reducing waste and rationing our goods and materials. We have to think about how we can sustain a lifestyle that reduces these negative effects that we impose on the environment. In other words, we know our innovations and efforts are driven to serve an urgent purpose in our society, but we have to make sure they are feasible in the sense they can be continually implemented in concurrence with our economic and social values. In terms of the people we should look toward for progressing — and, ultimately, accomplishing— this goal, I would wholeheartedly put my trust in the hands of engineers. As an aspiring engineer whose intellectual abilities and character have been enriched by the University of Michigan Engineering community, I am proud to say we are becoming more than what misconceptions and stereotypes assume about our characters and our priorities. This University’s efforts to make our roles in our communities more meaningful has transformed the idea of what it means to be an engineer. As a witness of these milestones, I am confident this movement promoted in many institutions will translate to the rebirth of a society that will unequivocally consider all of its sectors, including the environment, in terms of how it functions and how it progresses.
The curriculum for engineers at this University is not only preparing us to be intellectually capable of working on our society’s infrastructure, communication and transportation issues, but is also prioritizing our knowledge of how to be cohesive members of the workforce in the process. Even as a freshman who has only been studying at the University for two semesters, I have taken classes embedded with the importance of how what we learn applies to the real world. We have wasted no time taking prerequisites, first-year writing requirements, or other classes that may or may not relate to our majors. We will all have taken the engineering core classes, which I view not as a pesky requirement but as an essential foundation for the information we will need to apply to our work once we are pursuing our specialized majors. All the while, we are taught to understand how the various disciplines within engineering — as well as other sectors, such as business or public health — are affected as a result of implementing specific concepts we have learned. In addition to acquiring essential knowledge, the curriculum demands I am aware of the effects of the decisions I make, a gesture that is preparing me to make decisions in life that will satisfy the goals I have while not preventing others from achieving their agendas. In addition to intellectual breadth, the University is also continuing to promote social versatility, psychological flourishing and a sense of community among its engineering students. In an article written by Kate McAlpine for The Michigan Engineering News Center, she highlights the plans Anthony Waas, department chair of Aerospace Engineering, has to raise awareness for the entire University’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion campaign: “While we try to invite a diverse range of speakers to give lectures on aerospace topics, we haven’t brought in speakers who can speak of their
research on diversity. To address this, our department will invite speakers to give public seminars about the changing landscape in society and how we can mirror it in our department.” In essence, Waas’ efforts to diversify the ideas heard by aerospace engineering students will enable these students to recognize the validity of leaders in the field who come from different backgrounds. The campaign will also help students develop communication skills in which they will be able to simultaneously convey and respect ideas with one another. This is only one of the ways that the University is expanding the realm of collaboration for engineers in all of its disciplines. Furthermore, while often forgotten, the strides made in the field of engineering today demonstrate themselves as an inclusive effort by nature. I believe this inclusive state of mind can apply directly to the strife we face in improving the quality of our environment. The heart of this mentality is that we are psychologically aware and capable of making decisions with consideration of how they will affect others. Thus, we will have to compromise what’s best for the environment and best for the economy and best for society as we seek to find balance between all. At the root of change in any aspect of our lives is social change, a type of change that encompasses a massive pyschological adjustment by everyone in a society. With monumental change comes massive responsibility and massive effort, and I believe it is the grit, resilience and persistence engineers harness that will allow us to create the scale of change required to achieve a sustainable balance between all sectors of our society.
Kianna Marquez can be reached at kmarquez@umich.edu
MAX STEINBAUM | COLUMN
O
Will the border wall run through Berlin?
n the morning of Aug. 13, 1961, the residents of Berlin awoke to discover that the Communist government of East Germany had ordered the construction of a wall to divide the eastern and western halves of the city. Designed to prevent civilian defections from Soviet Bloc East Germany to democratic West Germany, the wall stood for nearly three decades until the fall of communism in Europe in 1989. To the capitalist democracies of the West, the Berlin Wall was a concrete symbol of the existential struggle between Western freedom and Soviet tyranny. While the exact number is difficult to determine, one BBC study claims 262 East German civilians died at the wall while attempting to defect to West Germany. It’s no wonder the wall’s November 1989 dismantling was met with triumphant celebration by East and West Germans alike. Two million East Berliners poured into West Berlin during the weekendlong celebration that followed reunification. One British journalist described the festivities as “the greatest street party in the history of the world.” A wave of optimism washed over Germany’s capital; Europe, they knew, was about to experience a new birth of freedom. The section of the wall that divided East and West Berlin, a notorious symbol of communist oppression that it was, spanned only 27 miles. The U.S.-Mexico border is nearly 2,000 miles. With the border greater than the distance between Ann Arbor and Seattle, much of it rolls through the empty sands of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts. Near El Paso, Texas, that long line meets the lazy Rio Grande, a meandering river that forms the rest of the border until it empties into the Gulf of Mexico. Since 1998, 7,216 migrants have died trying to cross this border — more than 27 times the number of people killed between the two Berlins. America’s southern border, of course, is no Berlin Wall. The Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart, as the East German government called it, was designed to prevent East Germans from escaping their totalitarian prison. Tragedies at the Rio Grande or in the Sonoran Desert, however upsetting, are the result of America protecting the integrity of its borders, which any country has the right to do. But a consideration
of migrant push factors renders the geopolitics not entirely different. While some East Germans fled westward due to political considerations, many fled in pursuit of economic opportunity and better living conditions. Undocumented immigrants from Central America, of course, seek entry into the U.S. for the same reasons. Let me be clear: Laredo 2019 is no Berlin 1979. But they clearly bear some political similarities — and in terms of a humanitarian crisis, the human cost of America’s chronic border headache far surpasses Berlin’s. While it has always been a staple of President Donald Trump’s rhetoric, the border wall fiasco returned to the fore of national politics when the now resolved government shutdown began on Dec. 22. Demanding that Congress allocate $5.7 billion for the construction of a border wall, Trump refused to sign a budget plan without that critical provision. House Democrats, who control the lower chamber of Congress as of Jan. 3, wouldn’t budge. Without an agreedupon federal budget, the war over the wall ballooned into a month-long government shutdown, costing the American economy $11 billion and forcing 800,000 federal employees to work for a month without pay. The government shutdown was an unforced error by the president. Trump, for whom border bombast has served as a perennial go-to, has been promising a border wall since he launched his campaign in 2015. Little progress has been made on that front, and Trump lunged at the opportunity to show some concrete commitment — even if it required a government shutdown. After a month, the shutdown ended with a temporary three-week reopening of the government, with the hope being that Congress could reach a long-term budget resolution in that time. No such deal has been struck yet, meaning another government shutdown looms on the horizon. But it doesn’t need to happen. If the president were as shrewd a political navigator as he frequently claims, he’d retreat from, rather than reinforce, all the border wall talk. Not only is it a bad solution for border security, it’s a losing fight that will only continue to reflect poorly on Trump. First and foremost, a wall on America’s southern border won’t end illegal immigration. Most undocumented immigrants, in
fact, enter the U.S. legally and then overstay their work visas. It also won’t stop illegal drugs from “pouring into our country,” as Trump has repeatedly claimed. The majority of cartel narcotics from Mexico are brought to the U.S. through legal ports of entry. Plain and simple, a border wall is not the anti-migrant, anti-drug panacea Trump claims it would be. But that fact, along with the reality that Democrats will never entertain its funding, seems to be lost on our commander-in-chief. For a man who cares so deeply about his popularity, it would seem that if pragmatic politics isn’t a primary concern, perhaps it is poll numbers that are informing his behavior. But an explanation can’t be found there, either. Less than a third of Americans would support a second government shutdown to acquire border wall funding, and a majority would blame Trump if another shutdown occurs. What’s more, nearly 70 percent of Americans believe the wall shouldn’t be an immediate priority, and half say it shouldn’t be a priority at all. Any way you look at it, a border wall is practically unreasonable, politically unattainable and publicly unpopular. But even so, Trump’s relentless push for building a “big, beautiful” border wall has always been more symbolic than practical — and its consequences would be symbolic as well. As The Boston Globe’s Jeff Jacoby writes, Trump’s longsought barrier “would be ‘great’ only in its brutal ugliness and hideous symbolism. It would be an American version of the monstrous Berlin Wall.” American pressure helped topple the Berlin Wall in the fall of 1989. When Ronald Reagan traveled to West Berlin in the summer of 1987, he delivered a speech in which he challenged the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to destroy the infamous barrier dividing Berlin. “Mr. Gorbachev,” he pronounced, “Tear down this wall!” Two years later, the Berlin Wall was reduced to rubble. Now, three decades on, America must ask itself a question: Do we really want to pick up the wall’s pieces and rebuild it here?
Max Steinbaum can be reached at maxst@umich.edu
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
FILM SERIES
WARNER BROS
Undercover in film: A look at crime in ‘The Departed’ ANISH TAMHANEY Daily Arts Writer
“Those goody-good people who worked shitty jobs for bum paychecks and took the subway to work every day and worried about their bills were dead. If we wanted something, we just took it. If anyone complained twice they got hit so bad, believe me, they never complained again.” These are the words of none other than Henry Hill, one of the most fascinating gangsters to ever live. He is both a very real person and the quietly ironic, flawed antihero of Martin Scorsese’s biopic “Goodfellas.” The film was adapted, often verbatim, from “Wiseguy,” Nicholas Pileggi’s nonfictional chronicle of Hill’s life, remaining largely true to the man’s experiences. I’ve always loved crime stories, especially those about the intricate inner workings of a sprawling organization or with
the charming wit of a film like “Goodfellas.” But it wasn’t until I read the film’s source material that I started to question the relationship between organized crime and the importance of its filmic parallels. Surely, the two are not mirrors of each other. But in the case of “Goodfellas,” much of the heart, shaky morality and general tone remained identical from the nonfiction book to the dramatized movie. The thing about organized crime in film, however, is that there isn’t simply one brand of it. For as long as I’ve been watching crime stories, I’ve noticed just how eclectic they can be, a range of different stories based on the different locales, ideologies, backgrounds and values. I want to take a deeper look into the differences among these stories to more completely understand what they say about our daring and our flaws. This is the first installment in a series where I’ll examine several of the varieties
through which organized crime manifests onto film. The first lens I’ll glance into is a cultural one. How exactly does ethnicity and region affect the structure, process, and idiosyncrasies of a criminal organization? It’s no easy question to answer, so for simplicity’s sake, we can narrow our focus to three films. To start with, “The Departed” is probably the most iconic Boston crime story, showcasing a largely Irish mob. It is distinct from its genre siblings in its small town feel, ruminations about identity in crime and detachment from the narratives that govern similar stories. Next, I’ll examine the pinnacle of Italian crime sagas and the modern standard for American cinema, “The Godfather” series. What these films do best in the light of cultural meaning is to construct a living, breathing world where the complex and hierarchical structure of the mafia exists naturally and
Friday, February 8, 2019 — 5
understandably to any audience. Both “The Godfather” and “The Departed” won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1973 and 2003 respectively, but the equally iconic film that completes this unholy triumvirate of modern American crime stories was infamously snubbed for the Oscar in 1991. There’s no better example of a film that combines these two culturally disparate depictions of organized crime than “Goodfellas,” with Hill himself being half-Sicilian and halfIrish. From there, the options to explore are as numerous as the term “organized crime” is amorphous. There’s not just one kind of crime, and there’s certainly not just one kind of crime story. *** “The Departed,” at its essence, is an exceptionally smart movie about cops and criminals saying incredibly inane things to each other. Saturated with more than its fair share of quotable oneliners and snarky moments, the movie is an equally intellectual story of the police and the mob sending traitors into each other’s organizations. While identity in “The Departed” can play a crucial role in accruing authority or hiding motivation, a conflict of identity is also the downfall of many of the film’s characters. The result is a tense and often muddled relationship between the perpetrators and the persecutors of crime.
Key to this dichotomy, as stated throughout the film, is the concept of being Irish. Vera Farmiga plays a psychiatrist at the Massachusetts State Police Department and delves into this cultural contradiction. At one point, Matt Damon’s character, Collin Sullivan, realizes the struggle she faces, admitting to her, “You’re up shit’s creek with a client list full of Mick cops.” The film continually reinforces the Irish as having a tendency to veil their emotions, tying this theme to the conciliatory nature of the criminal and police enterprises. Not only do the Irish in the film value reservation and stoicism as a part of who they are, but they find that these traits become necessary for survival in a underworld of shadows, calculation and betrayal. Another distinctly fascinating feature of the film’s Irish mob is that criminals are not singularly concerned with power or hierarchy. Of course, there is a head to the organization, Frank Costello, played by an entertainingly overacting Jack Nicholson. But other than him, none of the other gangsters care much about the control they wield. They seem more concerned with the money and the sheer joy of recklessness. During one conversation, Leo DiCaprio’s Billy Costigan says to Costello, “I probably could be you. I know that much. But I don’t wanna be you, Frank.” On the other hand, the police force is more akin to other
WARNER BROS
COMMUNITY CULTURE NOTEBOOK
ALBUM REVIEW
On not judging a coffee by its cover: How I found the best cup ever in a hospital ZACHARY M.S. WAARALA Daily Arts Wrtier
ANTI- RECORDS
Girlpool’s latest is stunning EMILY YANG
Daily Arts Wrtier
Until now, each new Girlpool album has signalled a momentous stylistic change for the duo — the strikingly sparse shouting-andstrumming of their self-titled EP gave way to an elegant and idiosyncratic indie in 2015’s Before The World Was Big, and rather than settling into this style in the manner of Frankie Cosmos and Snail Mail, they toughened and saturated their sound in 2017’s Powerplant. Each evolution of their sound has felt deliberate, their music retaining its essential characteristics as the duo gained confidence and explored new sonic horizons. While this stylistic restlessness continues — Cleo Tucker recently said in an interview for Document Journal that he is “so over rock music” — their newest album What Chaos Is Imaginary is less an upending than a synthesis of the styles the band has surveyed so far and a careful glance in a new direction. The new material is subtle, like a filter on a photograph. There are several songs on the new album that would fit in on Powerplant, and the newness is mostly layered atop this solid foundation. A few songs are adorned with the incandescent glow of an electric organ, there
criminal organizations in film, with a cutthroat structure and a web of secrets. “Work hard and you’ll rise fast with the best possible position in the department,” announces Alec Baldwin’s Captain Ellerby, near the film’s start. Those who succeed in the department, such as Sullivan (the mole), do so through deception and less-than-legal practices. For example, Sullivan impersonates a convict’s lawyer to extract information from him. In the ambition to associate cops with criminals, Martin Scorsese actually portrays the Massachusetts State Police Department to a mob-like organization, perhaps even more so than the mob itself. The director’s fascination with moral ambiguity is not unique to this film, but might just display itself most brazenly and effectively here. The result is a brilliant twist on the typical dynamics of crime stories and a mockery of the prescribed identities we assign to government institutions. “The Departed” is all about paradoxes. The paradox of Irish reservation and sculpting identity, the paradox of committing and preventing crimes, the paradox of deep narrative complexity and the curt dialogue of wise guys. It’s an ordeal of oxymorons, but one that manages to hold distinct place in the canon of organized crime films.
are occasional experiments with drum machines, the recording and production style is generally thicker and dreamier, a few songs remind the less submerged moments in Beach House’s discography. Possibly the most striking moment on the album is the title track, on which Harmony Tividad’s voice hovers over a sparse arrangement that is later unexpectedly (but seamlessly) joined by a string quartet. It almost brings to mind Lana Del
What Chaos is Imaginary Girlpool ANTI- Records
Rey in its expansive sweep; it made me feel as though Girlpool were always destined for this scale. That the following track, “Hoax And The Shrine,” opens with an unadorned acoustic guitar is a reminder of the band’s scope — the album hangs together improbably well considering the eclecticism of its materials. Between the recording of Powerplant and What Chaos Is Imaginary, Cleo Tucker began his gender transition, which
included testosterone injections that lowered his voice by about an octave. Girlpool’s earliest music was defined by the close proximity of Tucker and Tividad’s voices, which sang in close harmony when not in unison to the point of sonic indistinguishability. While neither of them take the role of “fronting” the group now, they take turns taking the lead instead of singing in unison. This separateness mirrors the creative process that the duo approached for the album — Tividad and Tucker were known to have a tightly collaborative creative process, but for this album they lived separately and wrote songs on their own. Many of the songs on this album can be found in demo form on Tividad and Tucker’s separate bandcamp and soundcloud pages, but on the album, the other member of the duo usually joins in on background vocals in a role gently supportive rather than enmeshed. If Girlpool’s music is “about” anything when considered as a whole, it’s about navigating a burgeoning adulthood — ambition, anxiety, love and its nearby feelings, the constant shifting of overlapping comfort zones. While Girlpool have thoroughly matured as musicians, the album still lives in the yearning mental spaces of their first releases, thoroughly elevated and expanded.
I was nearing the end of a long overnight shift working as an emergency department scribe just outside of Ann Arbor. It was a slow night, having only seen around ten patients by halftime at 4 a.m., so I indulged myself by studying for my upcoming organic chemistry exam. My eyes and I began the end-ofshift descent into letharg y; I began to move more slowly, my computer screen seemed fuzzier than before and I started to inadvertently tune out my periphery. I had a few hours yet in my shift to get through, but I had certainly hit the wall. I meandered over to the coffee machine tucked in the corner of the department and grabbed a Styrofoam cup. The coffee machine looked like it was out of the ’90s, with all of its once-white now yellowed, and a red Folgers label that had faded to burnt pink. But one should never judge a book by its cover, and in that vein, one should not predict the quality of coffee based on the appearance of its maker. I crunched the “reg ular” button on the side of the machine and watched the dark liquid quickly fill the cup. After staying my hand for a few seconds to allow it to cool, I took a sip of the hospital coffee. This hospital coffee was rich. It was rich like a Van Boven reg ular who purchases items that aren’t on clearance. It was rich like someone who can buy a venti and only drink a tall’s worth of coffee. It was rich like a
new textbook, even though the used copy was drastically less expensive. I am not certain if it was, but this hospital coffee sure tasted fresh. It was fresh like syllabus week or an untouched copy of The Daily. It was fresh like seeing tour groups at the University of Michigan for the Class of
This hospital coffee was rich. It was rich like a Van Boven regular who purchases items that aren’t on clearance.
2023. It was fresh like a new lab coat, instead of one that had just been poorly washed from last semester. These are all things I’ve seen and/ or done before, like the coffee I’ve consumed before, but there is undoubtedly something about the re-experiences thereof that act as catalysts for dusty,
motivational bursts waiting in my pituitary. This hospital coffee was rejuvenating. It was as if I had spent a summer abroad, in Paris or Rome or Madrid, to find myself and finish my lang uage requirement. All of my curiosities about the world refreshed, with an entirely new set of experiences under my belt. And though I enjoyed said time abroad, I told everyone that asked that I was happy to return home and get back into the reg ular swing of things. But even after returning home, I kept wondering if maybe I didn’t utilize the study abroad opportunity as well as I should have. I mean, study abroad is a great opportunity that looks great on a resume, but maybe I should have chosen somewhere different? Somewhere more applicable for my major? Maybe it didn’t matter anyway. I’ve only got a couple of years left before graduate school. I only had a few hours before that shift was up. This hospital coffee had the same effect as a study abroad program, only without the debt. This hospital coffee was reassuring. It told me to close my organic textbook and reassured me that my exam would turn out alright. It reminded me that I could sleep the following day. It reminded me that no matter when the next patient comes in and no matter what they present with, during that shift or in the distant future, the hospital coffee would be there. I can’t be certain as to whether it will mimic this particular episode, but I do know that that was one phenomenal cup of coffee.
Arts
6 — Friday, February 8 , 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
BOOK REVIEW
TV REVIEW
‘Where Reasons End’ is an indispensable look at grief ARYA NAIDU
Managing Arts Editor
My God, this one made me sad. “Where Reasons End” is a string of fictional dialogues between a mother and Nikolai, her deceased son. Nikolai committed suicide. Yiyun Li writes about trauma with an eloquence so intimate that her words read as her truth, and I had to look her up. She wrote the novel in the months following the passing of her own son. I want everyone to read this book. It’s experimental in its effortless lack of linearity, but it reads with a heaviness that sinks like a brick. I never want to read it again, but I always want to have it close by. Forever, always, never, Li cycles through these abstractions over and over. I do the same, we all do, until our feet cement in some hapless form of ever. “The unspeakable is a wound that stays open always, always, and forever … I will be sad today and tomorrow, a week from now, a year from now. I will be sad forever.” There’s a sickness in the notion of forever, a masturbatory kind of selfindulgence in thinking you can hold a person in your hands indefinitely. Reeling from the pain of a loss can be so intense that it become easier to choose to feel nothing at all. Li has filled what would be the heaviest kind of nothingness with words. She accepts her feelings as they come. Death is impossible, indisputable, and Li
deals with it. Time wasn’t made for us to touch, but Li knows better. She doesn’t dare toy with tomorrow; instead, she strangles a fever dream out of today. “A self is timeless,” Li writes. “Tenseless.” And I can see it. I see her time, hear it screeching, watch as it evaporates altogether. Her language is so entrenched in time’s failure to pass, and what results is a white-knuckle
in fact, mean something, is a hope-laden resolve. Life isn’t perfect, but it’s enough. In one of the novel’s more overtly harrowing epicenters, our narrator recounts showing Nikolai a particular line from “Sense and Sensibility,” that “to wish was to hope, to hope was to expect.” Nikolai tasked himself with the hope to be perfect, and this hope translated into a searing belief that unless he could be, he had nothing left to live for. “Where Reasons End” is a mother’s grief over such a dire translation: “Who, my dear child, has taken the word lovable out of your dictionary and mine, and replaced it with perfect?” What happens to Nikolai isn’t tragic — it’s sad. This book is sad, these conversations are sad. Li has created a life in this book from Nikolai’s words that’s opaque and grossly adversary to the f luidity of what it means to live. She grips time, treats death like taffy, and it’s not right or wrong. It just is. Nikolai was too fast to taste his own freedom. The mother in this novel describes someone who dies as having the “privilege” of not being left behind — a sentiment so blunt it nearly broke me, as did many of Li’s words. Life is hard. What we’re doing here is so very hard. Unless there’s peace nestled inside the rubble of each moment, the days start to hollow themselves out. The novel is aptly titled, because the dialogues that fill this narrative don’t happen so much as they simply are, like time is, life is, death is: reasonless, but present. Always.
‘Where Reasons End’ Yiyun Li Feb. 5, 2019
kind of clinging to grief that’s expressed as honestly and genuinely as anyone can. “What if, having lived through a dark and bleak time, a parent can convince a child that what we need is not a light that will lead us somewhere, but the resolution to be nowhere, even if it’s ever and forever.” I don’t know what it means to live fully, or to live well, even. Life is delicate and unbearably breakable, and maybe it’s just a series of resolutions: an acceptance of the time we are given, be it boundless or not. Light doesn’t always have to be burning or fading. Sometimes it just needs to be on. Nikolai’s mother asks him: “Life is imperfect, but it does mean something, no?” Choosing to believe life does,
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Release Date: Friday, February 8, 2019
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
FOR RENT
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Yukon supplier 4 __ pants 9 Scorned lover of Jason 14 Aptly, it rhymes with “spa” 15 CNN correspondent Hill 16 Big period 17 TV trailblazer 18 Boxing academy? 20 Loud noises 22 “There, there,” e.g. 23 One at the top of the order 26 Whirling 30 Optimist’s hopeful list? 33 “Othello” role 34 Pamphlet ending 35 Have __ for 36 Colorful bird 37 Literal and figurative hint to four puzzle answers 41 Field supervisor 43 Sword-andsandal feature, e.g. 44 Turkish title 47 Award using spelled-out initials 48 Wild party in Dallas? 51 Wednesday, to be exact 53 Souvenirs 54 Plays ball 57 Musical collaboration instruction 58 Literary alliance? 63 A, in Aachen 64 Senate staffers 65 Coke or Pepsi 66 Young Darth’s nickname 67 Bright 68 Hindu mystics 69 Ballet composer Delibes DOWN 1 Refuse 2 Poe genre 3 Title servant in a 1946 Paulette Goddard film 4 Mag mogul
5 Home of the 2001 World Series champs, on scoreboards 6 Eighteenwheelers 7 Call back? 8 Only deaf performer to win an Oscar 9 Waikiki, to surfers 10 Recipient of a New Testament epistle attributed to Saint Paul 11 __-wop 12 Prefix with conscious 13 Calder Cup org. 19 Without 21 Vast expanse 24 Tuck away 25 1974 CIA spoof 27 Discounted combo 28 Supermarket chain 29 “__ is the winter of our discontent”: Shak. 31 Luau ring 32 Architect’s addition
36 Start to manage? 38 Summer refresher 39 College admissions fig. 40 Document with bullets 41 Cousin of org 42 Band of Tokyo? 45 Sincere 46 Hall of fame 48 Puerto Rico, e.g.: Abbr. 49 Barely makes it
50 Handle preceder 52 Discharge 55 Iberian river 56 Metallic waste 58 Lived 59 Basket border 60 Early civil rights activist __ B. Wells 61 Covert maritime gp. 62 Cred. union offerings
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
By Andy Morrison ©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
LARGE 3 BDRM at 119 E Liberty. Free washer and dryer, central air. Heart of Ann Arbor, 5 min walk to UM. Available for fall. $2400. Please contact 734 769 8555 or 734 277 3700.
NETFLIX
Netflix’s ‘Russian Doll’ is just clever, charming and loopy enough to be iconic MAITREYI ANANTHARAMAN Daily Arts Wrtier
It wasn’t so long ago that death felt like riskiest, most consequential choice TV writers could make. What better way to upend a story, discombobulate an audience and stir up some water-cooler chatter than the grisly, shocking, teary slaughter of a beloved character? But two things are making that less and less true. First, this is an age of experimental television, where every narrative convention we take for granted is duly ignored. And secondly, everyone watching seems to be mired in a comfortable sort of nihilism, resigned to spend the rest of eternity in the service of Jeff Bezos while the Floridian peninsula sinks into a rapidly acidifying ocean. It makes mortality feel almost quaint. Dying, schmying — we have bigger fish to fry (though, you know, those falling pH levels are already doing that). If we’re all doomed to shuffle off this mortal coil eventually, shows like NBC’s “The Good Place” and Amazon’s “Forever” ask, why not use death as an opportunity to re-examine the lives we’ve been living? “Russian Doll,” Netflix’s cool, caustic, fabulous new entry in the death-com genre, gamifies the concept, hinging its stakes on the journey of self-discovery. Nadia Vulvokov (Natasha Lyonne, “Orange is the New Black”), a curmudgeonly video game designer, wakes up on the night of her 36th birthday in her friend’s outré East Village bathroom after being fatally hit by a cab. And again, after tumbling down the stairs. And again after falling into a basement grate on the sidewalk. “The universe is trying to fuck with me,” she snarls. “And I refuse to engage!” It’s a premise probably forever associated with “Groundhog Day”: What would you do if you were stuck indefinitely in a time loop? Learn French? Try your hand at ice sculpting? Attempt to win the heart of Andie MacDowell? (Come on, we’d all attempt to win the heart of Andie MacDowell.) “Russian Doll” knows it’s treading on iconic ground. Nadia’s loops all begin with the same infectious Harry Nilsson song — a nod to the clock radio blaring “I Got You Babe” that woke Bill Murray’s Phil Connors in each of his loops. But Nadia attacks her situation with a fierce
‘Russian Doll’ Season One Netflix Streaming Now
sort of logic that the movie’s misanthropic meteorologist never did. She’s a programmer, after all. Surely, she reasons, this is some kind of bug in life’s code. Was it the drugs she took that night? Could her friend’s apartment be haunted? The answer is more complicated than Nadia would like it to be. Fixing this bug will take unpacking years of repressed trauma and peeling back the layers of her life, much like the titular nested matryoshka doll. Luckily, as an early-season plot twist reveals, she won’t have to go at it alone. The New York of “Russian Doll” is seamy, grungy, a little Lynchian. But it’s also familiar and brightly-peopled — like a cross between “Mr. Robot” and “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” Each supporting character — whom we come to know a little differently in each reboot — is affectionately drawn, quirky, but always warm. Lyonne herself is a standout. It’s a gem of a show that can do what it does in a wonderfully tidy half-hour format, one a few other shows could stand to adopt. The compactness leaves “Russian Doll” feeling so well-paced and densely-plotted that it’s probably worth a re-watch or two to soak in every last detail. Now there’s a never-ending loop I wouldn’t mind being stuck in.
Dying, schmying — we have bigger fish to fry (though, you know, those falling pH levels are already doing that).
02/08/19
02/08/19
NETFLIX
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Friday, February 8, 2019 — 7
A study in contrasts: ‘M’ packs Wolverines not focused on rankings combo of youth and experience AKUL VIJAYVARGIYA Daily Sports Writer
ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer
Two years ago, the Michigan baseball team had 11 players selected in the draft, the most by any one school. All eleven of them signed contracts. Seven were juniors. A year later, the absence of the seven would-be seniors leaves some gaps in the Wolverines’ lineup. And with those gaps come opportunities for young players to step into bigger roles. Michigan’s reliance on younger, less-experienced players caused the team to struggle at points last season. The Wolverines got off to a slow start, losing 11 of their first 15 games. After that, though, they went on a tear, winning 20 straight games. Ultimately, though, the team’s collective lack of experience caught up to them in the Big Ten Tournament. After beating Iowa 2-1 in extra innings to start the tournament, their season ended with consecutive losses to Purdue and Ohio State. But this year, with another year of experience, Michigan’s younger players look poised for success. The team has also taken the offseason to get stronger and faster, and that increased level of physicality has already been evident in how the team has been playing in practice. “It’s a little bit of an older team, so I see a group of kids who’ve had another birthday, who’ve gotten stronger, who’ve become more physical, so I would like to think we’re capable of hitting for more power this year,” said Michigan coach Erik Bakich. “I like to think some of our pitchers are going to be stronger, more durable. We’ve seen some bumps in velocity from some
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Sophomore outfielder Jesse Franklin is a candidate for a breakout season.
of our pitchers, and they look more physical on the mound as well.” Among those looking to make the jump is Jesse Franklin. The sophomore outfielder struggled to adjust to college baseball at the beginning of his freshman season, hitting an average of .095 with two hits over his first nine games. But he soon found his stride, hitting his first of a team-high 10 home runs on Mar. 20 to kick off a hot streak that lasted several weeks. Despite his slow start, Franklin finished the season with a solid .327 average and 47 runs batted in. Franklin was part of a strong freshman recruiting class that stepped into big roles last season. Another notable nowsophomore is right-hander Jeff Criswell, who “has a lightning bolt for an arm” according to Bakich and who will now be in competition for a starting role. Criswell had a 2.23 ERA last season over 32.1 innings of relief, pitching several scoreless innings and one perfect inning in the process. Also in a position for a strong
year is senior Jimmy Kerr, who will play at either first or third base. Kerr made 19 starts at third last year. In 2017, his sophomore season, he was part of a defensive infield that was statistically among the best in college baseball. “Jimmy Kerr has been in this program – this is his fourth year now – and he’s earned a starting job,” Bakich said. “He’s put on a lot of size, a lot of strength, a lot of explosiveness, he’s hitting the ball with a lot of juice in the bat, so it’s really good to see.” Overall, expectations are high for Team 153, whose combination of youth and experience coupled with improved strength could be enough to send the team into a deep playoff run this spring. “We’ve got our goals set as high you can set them, and in terms of how we’ve prepared and being around these guys every day, it feels like a championship team,” Bakich said. “Everything feels right in terms of what type of group this could be. It feels like a special group.”
After a disappointing ending to a season that was not up to the Michigan softball team’s lofty aspirations, coach Carol Hutchins had a simple answer for the softball team’s focus throughout the offseason. “Pitching, offense and defense. You know, you catch and throw.” With the winningest coach in college softball at the helm, the Wolverines recognize that any sort of rebound from last year starts with the fundamentals. Ranked No. 19, according to the USA Today, Michigan once again is predicted to come out victorious in the Big Ten with No. 21 Minnesota being the only other team from the conference appearing in the rankings. But winning the Big Ten isn’t going to be enough for what the Wolverines have their sights set on. “In every aspect of our program, we are gearing up for a chance to be a World Series contender,” Hutchins said. “That’s the expectation of the program, so all we can do is hold the standards of the program
in everything we do, whether it’s working hard, whether it’s showing up on time, whether it’s doing the little things properly.” Being ranked towards the bottom of the top-20 would be encouraging for most programs. For Michigan, it’s uncharacteristic. However, the players have their blinders up. “Honestly, we don’t talk rankings in here,” said sophomore pitcher Meghan Beaubien. “Like, coaches don’t bring it up. I don’t think the team has brought it up as a group, it’s just not something we focus on. Because ultimately, the preseason ranking doesn’t mean anything when you get to the end of the year. So much time and anyone can beat anyone, you know.” “We try to not pay attention to rankings, what happens outside of us,” added junior third baseman Madison Uden. “I mean, we have our own little thing where we just try keep everything within us. You know, a lot of great players talk about just trusting the process and doing what you know. And that’s what we’re kind of working on right now.” But questions have arisen about whether the Wolverines’ style is
primed to defeat the Pac-12 and SEC powerhouses that make up a majority of the top-15 teams. With college softball slowly shifting to power-hitting over consistency, Hutchins’ long-standing (and proven) offensive philosophy will continue to be challenged. Michigan trusts her, however, and knows that 35 years of coaching has brought some tried and true methods to Hutchins’ name. “I think we keep to what (Hutchins) wants us to do, but I think actually, it just kind of depends on who she brings in,” Uden said. “Obviously when (former Wolverines Sierra Romero) and Sierra Lawrence stepped out, we became more of a consistency team than a power hitting, which they’ve adapted to that great over the past couple of years. We struggled with that, I know, my freshman year. But I know this year is gonna look a lot better. “We are a more consistent team, not so much of a power hitting team but who says you can’t get the job done with consistency?” If Uden’s point is to hold true, the rankings should follow suit.
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Junior third baseman Madison Uden believes her team can win with an offensive approach focused on consistency.
Michigan gets third straight win Johnson steals show in women’s
basketball victory over Hawkeyes TEDDY GUTKIN Daily Sports Writer
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Freshman foward Naz Hillmon helped lead a 7-0 run at the end of the first quarter to guide Michigan to an early lead.
ROHAN KUMAR Daily Sports Writer
Heading into the final frame, the Michigan women’s basketball team trailed Nebraska, 49-48. Two tense minutes went by with neither side able to find the nylon and break the silence. The Cornhuskers (5-7 Big Ten, 10-13 overall) spoke first with a layup, but the Wolverines responded with a free throw from senior center Hallie Thome. Then, more tension followed — in the form of over four more scoreless minutes — until freshman forward Naz Hillmon made her way to the line, making both shots to tie the game. Thome soon followed suit, with two more from the charity stripe to give her team a two-point lead. That — coupled with the stellar defensive effort that followed — was enough to propel Michigan (6-6, 15-9) to a 67-61 win Thursday night at Crisler Center. “Before the fourth quarter even started, we were all kind of tensed up — I think we could feel that,” said junior forward Akienreh Johnson, who finished with 14 points and six steals. “So Hallie, she brought us in a circle and said ‘Guys, no matter what happens just go out and have fun.’ … So after she said that, it kind of just calmed
us down.” With less than four minutes left in the opening frame and the score tied, 8-8, things took a turn for Michigan. Freshman guard Amy Dilk made a contested floater but landed awkwardly. She collapsed, grasping her right knee, and sat out the rest of the game. Back in high school, Dilk injured that same knee two times and had surgery. “She’s gonna get an X-ray tomorrow,” said Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico, “and then we’ll have more information about her tomorrow.” A few possessions later, Nebraska drained a 3-pointer to take the lead and build some momentum off the Wolverines’ misfortune. But then Hillmon — who entered the game when Dilk went out — had her say. She notched two layups that sparked a 7-0 run for her team. Michigan led, 17-13, at the end of the quarter. “She’s my roommate. We’re pretty close, so seeing (Dilk) go down wasn’t something that any of us expected or wanted, of course,” Hillmon, who scored a team-high 18-points, said. “So that was hard for us, but we knew we had to adjust in that moment. Amy wouldn’t want us to sit around and
mope and ask her about her knee in the middle of the game.” Within the first 80 seconds of the second stanza, Johnson notched a triple, two steals and a fast break layup. Senior guard Nicole Munger also excelled. She tallied a jumper and then a 3-pointer midway through the frame to give her team a 10-point advantage — its biggest of the half. The Cornhuskers battled with more pressure on defense though, while having their own success from beyond the arc. They made two 3-pointers that fueled a 13-4 run, and at the half, the Wolverines’ lead shrunk to three points, 35-32. After the break, things remained close. Michigan retained the upper-hand for much of the third frame but Nebraska kept chipping away. With less than three minutes to go in the third, the Cornhuskers grabbed the lead and soon added some security with another triple. However, Michigan had the final say, squeaking out a win and improving its NCAA Tournament hopes. “It feels awesome,” Barnes Arico said about winning her third consecutive game. “I wish we were healthy, but way for everybody else to find a way to grind it out and pull away a victory tonight.”
With just over two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Nebraska inbounded the ball down by two. As Hannah Whitish tried to push the ball up the court, however, Akienreh Johnson intercepted the pass and sprinted down the floor for a layin that would put the Michigan women’s basketball team up by four points. The play was one of the game’s biggest moments, and it’s only fitting that Johnson was the one to initiate it. In the Wolverines’ 67-61 victory, the junior guard scored 14 points on five-for-seven shooting, dished out three assists and recorded a whopping six steals. It was an absolute clinic that cemented Johnson’s role as one of Michigan’s key pieces going forward, especially with questions surrounding freshman guard Amy Dilk’s availability after she suffered a gruesomelooking injury in the first quarter after finishing a layup in traffic.
While the loss of Dilk appeared to be cause for concern, the Wolverines found their spark in Johnson, who stole the show on the defensive side of the ball. Johnson picked off a Nebraska pass on her first possession of the game, making her presence felt almost immediately. She then opened the second quarter with a three from the top of the key and proceeded to follow that up with two consecutive steals and a layup in transition. Her preparation in practice and ability to read plays on the fly helped her crack the Cornhuskers’ pass-heavy offense. “I knew that they were gonna go ball fake and then pass it opposite,” Johnson said. While it was the defensive side where Johnson shined brightest on Thursday night, she provided one of the night’s highlight plays on the offensive end as well. With six seconds left in the second quarter, Johnson received a pass on the right wing from senior forward Nicole Munger and proceeded to
nail a tough fadeaway jumper as time expired. It was a shot that Johnson practiced routinely. She said that Munger trusting her to take the shot helped encourage her to be aggressive with time winding down. “Her giving the ball to me gave me the confidence to take that shot,” Johnson said. After breaking her left hand this past fall and missing over 30 practices, Johnson has been slowly working her way back to full strength. After showing flashes on occasion, Johnson’s 19-point outing last Friday against Iowa and defensive showcase against Nebraska on Thursday seemed to finally indicate that she is back at full strength. Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico has always known that the talent was present, and now she’s thrilled that the rest of the nation is beginning to see it too. “She’s a kid that can do so many things for your team, and I think everybody’s starting to see that now,” Barnes Arico said.
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Junior guard Akienreh Johnson shined brightest on the defensive end Thursday night, sparking Michigan’s win.
Sports
8 — Friday, February 8, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Matthews holds key to offense Tale of the tape: ‘M’ offense ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editor
When he steps in front of cameras, Charles Matthews, by nature, is quiet — both by the volume of his voice and the substance of his words. On the night of Jan. 22, though, after Matthews hit a buzzer-beater to pull Michigan over Minnesota in a game it had no business winning, a throng of media surrounded him and, in the most unlikely setting possible, he started to divulge. The Wolverines played poorly that night, nearly blowing what should have been an easy home win thanks to a listless offense, as had Matthews himself. Buzzerbeater aside, seven points on 3-of-7 shooting and a 76 offensive rating, as measured by KenPom, wasn’t going to cut it. Neither was anything else Michigan did that night — the second game in a row it hadn’t looked like itself. Matthews, an internal leader, started to explain why. “I told the team, Zavier (Simpson) told us as well, we kinda gotta loosen up,” he said. “We kinda playing kinda tense out there. We understand we wanna have a perfect season. We wanna win, but we still gotta be out there
playing with smiles on our faces, having fun and competing to win that.” It’s no coincidence the Wolverines have lost in two of Matthews’ three worst performances by offensive rating, nor should it surprise that their offense has generally lagged when he has struggled. The reason behind that is simple. When Michigan’s offense lags, it falls back on Matthews. In turn, Matthews falls back on contested midrange jump shots, which don’t do much for anyone. That’s why, as the Wolverines jumped out to an early lead on as part of a 77-65 win over Rutgers on Tuesday night, their offense humming, it was Matthews greasing the skids. When the Scarlet Knights cut the lead to 10 — seeming to weather Michigan’s initial onslaught — Matthews nailed a three on the right wing. Then he came off his man to block Geo Baker. Then he went to the midrange, nailing a fadeaway jumper. In a half where the Wolverines scored 1.43 points per possession, that was the only midrange shot Matthews took for the first 15 minutes. Take what you will from a
Tuesday in Piscataway. But this is what Matthews — and by proxy, Michigan’s offense — will look like in March if the Wolverines are to live up to their potential. “He’s gotta embrace, just, this thing right now,” said Michigan coach John Beilein on Tuesday. “He’s in his fourth year playing college basketball. He’s got interesting decisions at the end of the year. He just needs to do exactly what he’s doing today. Just go attack. Enjoy every game, take the ball to the basket. Shoot the open three when you got it. And that — those turnaround shots at the beginning looked like, ‘Oh my god, we’re back at Villanova,’ right? The way he started that game.” Matthews’ defense will buoy Michigan on his worst day. As it relates to the Wolverines’ ceiling, and Matthews’ NBA prospects, all that is set in stone. It’s the rest that’s in question. A relatively unassuming 11-point performance can provide one hell of an answer. “That’s who he is,” Beilein said. “That’s why you saw me. I grabbed him and I looked at him. I said, ‘That’s who you are, Charles. That’s who you are. And don’t think anything different.’ ”
ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
Redshirt junior wing Charles Matthews scored 11 points in a 77-65 win on the road at Rutgers on Tuesday.
Despite familiarity of MSU, Boka found connection at Michigan RIAN RATNAVALE Daily Sports Writer
When Nick Boka jumped into a brawl against Michigan State in the Great Lakes Invitational, it wasn’t the first time that the senior bled for the Michigan hockey team. From the time he could pick up a stick, Boka wanted to be a Wolverine. And both of his grandparents were fervent Michigan hockey fans. Many years back at a Michigan game, Boka was playing mini-sticks in the halls behind the bleachers at Yost Ice Arena. As he lunged forward with his stick, Boka crashed into a picture frame on the wall and ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily shattered his stick. But after a team employee picked glass out Senior defenseman Nick Boka committed to MSU prior to coming to UM. of his hair for the rest of the game, he left the arena that night enough for Boka, who committed coach remembered the signed not only happy but with a Red to play in East Lansing during his stick that he gave Boka, and his Berenson-signed stick to replace freshman year of high school. conversation with Wiseman his old one. “At the time, Tom was the sealed the deal. “I don’t remember much of it coach at State when I was going “I decommitted on my own but I still have that signed stick through the recruiting process,” because, as I said it never with me,” Boka said. “It’s pretty Boka said. “... It just felt like the felt right,” Boka said. “On my special.” right move at the right time.” recruiting visit, (Wiseman) knew After four years on the blue In time, however, Boka I wanted to be a Wolverine and line for the Wolverines, it’s began to feel differently. While wanted to come here. Michigan hard to imagine him wearing Michigan spent the better part was the first school I visited after anything other of a quarter- I decommitted, and I committed than a Michigan century skating right away. sweater. But its way to “Luckily for me, Wiseman when Boka first Frozen Fours, spoke to me at the right time. started getting Michigan State (Michigan State) never felt right recruited, he only made the to me, it never felt right in my initially turned tournament once heart. He said there’s always a to the Spartans. in the six years spot for me at Michigan. So I’m Though prior to Boka’s pretty thankful for him and for Michigan was commitment. the opportunity to play here. I the defenseman’s The Spartans couldn’t be happier with how it preferred had his old coach, all turned out.” destination, he old players he Those former junior hockey didn’t get an offer right away. played against and even some of teammates and familiar faces Boka’s former coach with his old teammates, but the even from East Lansing? They’re the Detroit-based Honeybaked more familiar allure of Michigan anything but that now. Boka hockey program, Tom Anastos, beckoned. Without even being himself admits that when the two was the Spartans’ head coach at committed for a full year, he in-state rivals meet on Friday in the time, giving him the same decommitted. Ann Arbor and Saturday in the chance to latch on to something Once Boka’s choice became “Duel in the D”, there won’t be comfortable that he would have public, Wolverines assistant any love lost between the two had with the Wolverines. Though coach Brian Wiseman knew that rivals. Michigan State went a middling Boka wanted to be a Wolverine For familiarity’s sake, both he 30-34-11 in Anastos’ first two and brought him to Ann Arbor. and Michigan wouldn’t have it seasons at the helm, it was When Boka saw Berenson, the any other way.
comes alive against Rutgers JACOB SHAMES Daily Sports Editor
Rutgers’ plan to upset the Michigan men’s basketball team Tuesday appeared straightforward: funnel the ball inside and scrap for close buckets, while packing the lane on defense and forcing the Wolverines to hit enough jumpers to beat them. Offensively, the strategy was quite successful, as big men Eugene Omoruyi, Myles Johnson and Shaquille Doorson combined for 37 points on 16-for-30 shooting. Defensively, it was another story. Michigan nailed 47 percent of its 3-pointers and scored 1.17 points per possession to hold off the Scarlet Knights, 77-66. Despite not resulting in a win for the home team, the gameplan was a logical one — and a few days ago, it might have even worked. Friday night, Iowa overwhelmed the Wolverines in the paint, and on the other end, sat back in a zone to dare them to shoot. Michigan obliged, but hit just eight of 33 treys in a 15-point loss. What changed? Knocking down open shots was one part of the equation, but getting them in the first place was just as important. The Daily took to the tape to look at what went into the Wolverines’ best offensive performance in nearly a month. Ignas Brazdeikis gets going: Per a tweet from The Athletic’s Brendan Quinn, when Brazdeikis hits his first 3-pointer, he averages 18.4 points per game on 53 percent shooting, as opposed to 13.1 points and 41 percent otherwise. Without knowing why this difference exists, any statistic like this should be taken with a few grains of salt. But it’s still too massive to ignore. Anyway, the freshman forward drilled his first shot on Tuesday. He finished with 23 points and a career-high five 3-pointers. Quite the coincidence. On that possession, he was matched up with Omoruyi — his former high school teammate — on the left wing. It was a simple read for Brazdeikis as junior center Jon Teske came down to set a pick. Omoruyi went underneath the screen, deciding he was better off taking his chances with a pullup three instead of his 240-pound frame sticking with the nimbler Brazdeikis on the perimeter, as well as wanting to take away Teske rolling to the hoop. “They definitely didn’t prepare for my 3-point shot, I feel like,” Brazdeikis said. “They didn’t close out as hard, and they left me open.” Big mistake. To be fair, it wasn’t as if there was a right answer. Throughout the game, Brazdeikis sat outside looking to dance to the rim, waiting for the Scarlet Knight bigs to join him. More often than not, they couldn’t keep up with the rhythm. Pick-and-pop becomes deadly: Last season, the pick-and-pop with Moritz Wagner was one of Michigan’s offensive staples. Against Rutgers, the Wolverines utilized it to great effect. Brazdeikis generally plays the ‘4’ in Michigan’s offense, and
his combination of slashing and outside shooting makes him a matchup nightmare, especially against a mostly paint-bound Scarlet Knights squad. Nowhere was this mismatch more evident than in the ball screen game. “What Rutgers does, and this is very common, is they’re gonna choose to play with two big guys,” said Michigan coach John Beilein. “And it’s very difficult for them to switch at the four position.” As a result, Brazdeikis ended up with two warmup jumpers midway through the second half. Omoruyi wasn’t quite quick enough, or in position, to be able to close out effectively on either. The next time the Wolverines tried the pick-and-pop, Omoruyi closed out, and junior point guard Zavier Simpson blew past him for a layup. “I thought we played well in the second half, but you can’t get yourself in a hole against a team ranked in the top five,” said Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell. “Every time we made a mistake on the defensive end, they made us pay.” That was one of those mistakes, as Geo Baker did himself no favors by completely giving up on the play — though that may have stemmed from a miscommunication between him and Omoruyi, whose closeout on Brazdeikis was far too late. But the main point of the previous play is to show the dilemma that the Scarlet Knights faced in defending this action. Simpson — who finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists — has been elite at making plays when getting downhill, either from finding the open man off the pick-and-roll and pick-andpop or with his signature hook shot. Rutgers decided that taking away Simpson’s penetration was the smartest strategy in defending the ball screen, giving up multiple wide-open looks in the process. That’s the luxury of having one of the country’s most unique players; a barely 6-foot-tall point guard who’s also an elite finisher. Charles Matthews blows the game open: For about five minutes, the redshirt junior wing was the best player on the court. With 15:22 to play in the first half, he took advantage of some poor scouting. Matthews prefers to drive towards the baseline off the side pick-and-roll, but Montez Mathis forgot this momentarily as Matthews shook him with a slight hesitation to the right. No Scarlet Knight was close to being in position to cut off his drive. Matthews’ jumper has come and gone this season, but he knocked down two free throws after drawing a foul on a baseline inbounds play two minutes later. On Michigan’s next possession, he stepped into, and swished, a confident 3-pointer. By that time, Matthews’ teammates had sensed he was feeling it, and cleared entirely out of the way for him to attempt one of his favorite shots, a 14-foot turnaround that’s as unblockable as it is inconsistent. This time, it dropped in. Matthews scored just two points the rest of the way, but his dominating stretch turned out to be critical. After the Wolverines
took a 17-point lead nine minutes into the first half, Rutgers outscored them 55-50. Michigan finds success in transition: “Sometimes, fast break, we shouldn’t even do it,” Beilein said after Michigan beat Minnesota on Jan. 22. “Because we’re jogging up the court. We gotta sprint. We don’t run. … You end up getting scores in the 50s and 60s if you’re not willing to bust your butt to get up the court.” Against the Scarlet Knights, the Wolverines not only sprinted in transition, but showed strong positioning and patience when they were unable to get a bucket immediately. Often, it started with — who else? — Simpson. Off a long rebound three minutes into the game, he was decisive but steady in pushing the ball up the court, his penetration drawing Omoruyi to help under the basket. The product was an easy corner trey, as Simpson fired the bounce pass to Brazdeikis at exactly the right time. A minute later, another Simpson rebound led to fastbreak points. Before the rebound even landed in Simpson’s hands, sophomore guard Jordan Poole was off and running. Poole’s recognition put him behind the entire Rutgers defense, and Simpson hit him in stride. Michigan’s best possession of the game, coming with seven minutes left in the first half, wasn’t a fast break. But its roots stemmed from transition, where Brazdeikis steamed up the middle in anticipation of a breakout. Meanwhile, Poole spaced the play well near the left wing. While the Scarlet Knights got back to defend the fast break, part of successful transition offense is the ability to know when to run and when to pull out and set up the halfcourt attack. Simpson saw he didn’t have an immediate play and didn’t force the issue, and from there, dribble-drive penetration, a smart cut by Matthews and unselfish passing led to three points. Early in the second half, the Wolverines’ transition attack exhibited more good spacing, as Simpson ran in his lane and forced Baker to stay on him. Brazdeikis fired a pass to Matthews, who simply beat everyone down the court. The pass was inch-perfect, right over Baker’s fingertips, but without Simpson sprinting out wide, Baker would have been able to play free safety and come up with a likely steal. Six minutes into the second half, Simpson pushed the ball hard up the court and forced Rutgers to surge downcourt ahead of him. The Scarlet Knights were rightly occupied with stopping Simpson, but failed to notice Poole, the Wolverines’ best shooter, as the trailer. The result was a wideopen triple. Notice a common denominator in all of these plays yet? “Fourteen, seven and seven. That’s incredible,” Beilein said after the game, reciting Simpson’s stat line. “We’ve been really blessed. It’s probably why we’ve had any success we’ve had is that we have really good point guards. ... The point guards make it go.”
He said there’s always a spot for me at Michigan.
ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
Junior point guard Zavier Simpson had 14 points, seven assists and seven rebounds on Tuesday against Rutgers.