2021-01-20 by The Michigan Daily

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Wednesday, January 20, 2021

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ACADEMICS

CAMPUS LIFE

‘This is a lifetime’s struggle’: Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium keynote lecture discusses current impact of Civil Rights Movement LARA JANOSZ

Daily Staff Reporter

DOMINICK SOKOTOFF/Daily Healthcare workers at Michigan Medicine have been asked to work even if they have a close contact with COVID-19.

MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily

First Michigan case of new COVID-19 variant discovered in Washtenaw County A resident of Washtenaw County has contracted a new variant of COVID-19.

B.1.1.7. found in woman with history of travel to United Kingdom, two close contacts infected CALDER LEWIS Daily News Editor

A Washtenaw County woman has contracted the new B.1.1.7. COVID-19 variant, the first known case in the state of Michigan, according to a press release from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. The woman recently traveled to the United Kingdom, where the variant first appeared. Two new COVID-19 cases have been identified from close contacts with the woman, but it is not yet known whether they are caused by the variant.

The B 1.1.7. case makes Michigan the 17th state to identify the variant within its borders. Though it is the only known case in Michigan, it is possible there are more that have not been identified, according to the press release. The new variant is believed to be more contagious, but not any more severe, than the original COVID-19 virus that has been circulating in the United States since early 2020. The higher rate of transmission could increase the number of hospitalizations and deaths resulting from the virus if it spreads widely in Michigan. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical

executive and chief deputy director for health at MDHHS, said in the press release that to combat spread of the new variant, Michiganders should continue to wear masks, social distance, avoid crowds, wash their hands often and make a plan for getting a vaccine when it’s their turn. “The discovery of this variant in Michigan is concerning, but not unexpected,” Khaldun said. “We all have a personal responsibility to slow the spread of COVID-19 and end this pandemic as quickly as possible.” The B.1.1.7 variant’s arrival comes as local health departments charged with administering

vaccines struggle to keep pace with high demand while receiving lower than expected supply of doses. While Michigan officially began Phase 1B — which includes senior citizens and frontline essential workers — on Monday, it may not have enough vaccines to vaccinate most members of this group until a later date. The Washtenaw County Health Department announced Friday it would be rescheduling its Jan. 19 appointments until Feb. 9 because the vaccine clinic hadn’t received enough supply to operate.

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GOVERNMENT

ADMINISTRATION

Previous top MI officials facing counts of willful neglect of duty

Students, faculty criticize the regent’s prominent role in the Michigan GOP

Former Governor Rick Snyder, eight Members of U-M community call for others charged in Flint water crisis recall or resignation of Ron Weiser KATE WEILAND Daily Staff Reporter

Former Gov. Rick Snyder (R), as well as Snyder’s ex-health director and other former health officials, are being charged in relation to the Flint, Mich. water crisis following a new investigation, according to the Associated Press. Snyder, who pleaded not guilty in a Thursday morning court appearance, is being charged with two misdemeanor counts of willful neglect of duty. Governmental malpractice left the majority-Black city of Flint with lead-contaminated water for years, causing at least 12 deaths and ongoing health issues for many community

members, especially children. Multiple sources with knowledge of the planned prosecution told the AP the defendants were informed of the indictments by the United States attorney general’s office on Tuesday. Courtney Covington Watkins, a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s office, told the AP investigators are “working diligently” and “will share more as soon as we’re in a position to do so.” None of those facing charges nor Gov. Gretchen Whitmer immediately released public statements. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel praised the prosecutions. Snyder’s two terms as governor ended in 2014. Under his administration, Flint’s

water supply — used by nearly 100,000 residents — was switched from Lake Huron and the Detroit River to the Flint River to reduce costs. The water was not correctly treated and corroded the old pipes, leading to leadcontaminated water. The city is still in the process of replacing the corrupted pipelines. A 2018 report, partially funded by the University of Michigan, said the former governor “bears significant legal responsibility” for his role overseeing the state agencies in charge of protecting public health. The report also said Snyder neglected his duties in failing to address the crisis sooner. See SNYDER, Page 3

FILE PHOTO/Daily Former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has been charged in the Flint water crisis.

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CALDER LEWIS Daily News Editor

University of Michigan community members are calling for the resignation or recall of Regent Ron Weiser (R) from the University’s Board of Regents, condemning Weiser for not specifically denouncing President Donald Trump for inciting violence at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. A petition begun by students Friday, which has garnered over 4,000 signatures, calls on Weiser to resign due to his past involvement with the Michigan Republican Party and the Trump administration. “The evidence is clear: Ron Weiser is complicit in Wednesday’s historic and horrifying events, and continues to defend their instigators,” the petition reads. “We demand that he either resign or be recalled by the Board of Regents, and we expect President Schlissel to condemn this threat to all students of color on campus.” The petition is endorsed by the past five Central Student Government presidents, including the 2020 CSG president and vice president, public policy senior Amanda Kaplan and LSA senior Saveri Nandigama, respectively. Prominent University groups, including the Climate Action Movement, the U-M Graduate Employees’ Organization, the University’s Roosevelt Society chapter and the One University campaign have also signed on. Because regents are elected statewide, an approved recall petition must garner signatures from 25 percent of the number of Michigan voters in the 2020 general election. The change.org petition is not recognized by the state of Michigan as an approved recall

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petition. The requirement of more than a million signatures within 60 days of the first signature makes Weiser’s recall unlikely. Dozens of faculty members have also signed an open letter released Saturday demanding that Weiser resign immediately from his position as regent. While acknowledging that it is unclear whether Michigan Republican Party members directly participated in Wednesday’s riots, the petition states that Weiser’s role as incoming chair of Michigan GOP is incompatible with his duty as regent. “As a University of Michigan Regent, you serve as the public face of a great university that champions the pursuit of truth and a genuinely just society,” the petition reads. “By contrast, as chair of MI-GOP, you will be required to promote policies and strategies that MI-GOP uses to pursue electoral victories. This includes placating violent extremists within your party as well as those who support or tolerate them.” The call for Weiser’s resignation or recall comes after the regent told Bridge Magazine on Thursday he did not know if he blamed Trump for the Wednesday riots. “I didn’t read any of that stuff, and I didn’t watch television,” Weiser said. “I watched Michigan destroy Minnesota in basketball, and that kind of contest is something that I strongly support.” He tweeted a full statement on Wednesday’s riot later Thursday following the publication of the Bridge article. “I strongly condemn those people who turned into a mob and breached the Capitol after what was supposed to be a peaceful protest,” Weiser tweeted. “Those who broke the law should be held accountable. My heart goes

out to the families of those who were unnecessarily harmed. The President said this morning that a peaceful transfer of power will occur and therefore the 2020 elections are over. It is time for Republicans to rest, regroup, and focus on defeating the Democrats in 2022.” Weiser told the Detroit News Saturday he is “definitely not” resigning, and that he condemned the violence once he was aware of what had happened. “I spent most of that ugly day in a dental chair having oral surgery,” Weiser said. “I am guilty of not watching news on TV or watching or using social media. Nothing more... Because of this transgression, my children and grandchildren have been harasssed. There should be more civility in our community!” Weiser declined Thursday and Friday to be interviewed by The Michigan Daily. The University Office of Public Affairs forwarded Weiser’s statement to The Daily and declined to comment further. Weiser is the incoming co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party — after current chair Laura Cox announced Wednesday she would not run for the position again — and former fundraising chair for the Republican National Committee. Democrats and some Republicans have accused Trump of inciting a coup on Wednesday, and multiple White House officials have resigned. Some members of Congress are now calling for the cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to strip Trump of his presidential duties, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has threatened impeachment.

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MARIA DECKMANN/Daily Students are skeptical about the upcoming winter semester.

Students look to Winter 2021 with skepticism following Fall 2020 semester

As new year begins, community members talk more robust COVID-19 response, tuition equity CHRISTIAN JULIANO & JULIANNA MORANO Daily Staff Reporters

The Fall 2020 semester — which included a Graduate Employees’ Organization strike and widespread concerns about COVID-19 policies — tested the relationship between University of Michigan students and the administration. With the start of the Winter 2021 semester around the corner, many students said they hope the University will improve from last semester and apply lessons learned from the fall to have a more successful winter. The Winter 2021 semester marks the University’s most overwhelmingly virtual semester, after Winter 2020’s mid-semester shift at the onset of the pandemic and last semester’s attempted hybrid of in-person and majority virtual learning. Business freshman John Cook said his first semester of primarily virtual classes and limited opportunities for meeting other students was marked by disappointing levels of engagement. At times, Cook said, last semester felt like “watching YouTube videos.” “One of the most important aspects of college — especially something that Michigan preaches — is (that) you can find people that you can interact with and engage with, and you can find people that push you to think harder,” Cook said. “But when it came down to classes, student engagement was zero.” COVID-19 response With the constant threat of COVID-19 looming over campus, University President Mark Schlissel sent out COVID-19 briefings to the University community each week. Some students said they were frustrated with the amount of jargon that the important information was sometimes wrapped up in, making it difficult to actually understand what was going on. LSA senior Jordyn Houle said something a bit briefer than the emails that are occasionally sent out would help more people understand what is really going on. “I think a lot of it is just a lot of rhetoric,” Houle said. “These things don’t get to the root of what the University’s response at any given time is. I think there is a lot of obfuscating around what’s going on (in the current briefings).” The University’s testing policy last semester also fell under heavy scrutiny. While

many other institutions implemented plans where students were randomly tested, the University’s plan did not mandate testing for all students. This semester, the administration changed course, electing to test all on-campus students weekly. Students like LSA sophomore Madelin Chau were surprised by the red tape covering University ordained testing in the fall. “My biggest issue is how difficult it was to find out (how to be tested),” Chau said. “They should have made that more accessible to everyone.” For the winter semester, the University has expanded testing access to all students, faculty and staff who live or work on campus. Weekly testing is required for undergraduate students who come to campus and will be enforced with checks of the newly updated ResponsiBLUE app upon entering University facilities. Administration also encourages students who live off campus to be tested regularly, particularly those living in Greek or co-op housing. Students criticized the fact that some groups, including fraternities and sororities, continued to host parties during the fall semester. Chau said she would like to see the administration take further action to stop partying. “You just hear about so many parties that continue to go on, you see it on Snapchat and things like that, so you know it’s happening,” Chau said. “I do think that they need to do something about that, focus more on the Greek Life parties.” Throughout an unprecedented semester, criticism of the administration persisted, and Houle said she found their actions when it came to COVID-19 to be somewhat soft. Similar to Chau, Houle expects the administration to be much more proactive about enforcement this time around. “I think that there was a lot of wishful thinking that this was going to go away without taking much action,” said Houle. The University announced in November a stricter, “no-tolerance” approach to COVID-19 policy enforcement for the winter semester. University Housing residents will be placed on housing probation -potentially one step from contract termination -- after their first violation. Tuition increase Before the start of the fall semester, the majority of regents voted to approve a 1.9% tuition increase, after

initially failing to pass the proposed budget. Students criticized this decision amid the economic downturn created by the pandemic. LSA senior Amytess Girgis, a recently named Rhodes Scholar and student activist involved in the One University Campaign, said the University has a “deep obligation” to put its money where its mouth is, considering its reputation as a top public university. “What COVID has really brought out in this university is just a continued lack of ability or desire to allocate its funds appropriately, whether it be to protect students and faculty during a pandemic, or whether it be to provide the necessary financial aid to help people get through these times and any other time,” Girgis said. Echoing Girgis, other students also said they were frustrated by the juxtaposition between the tuition increase and the perceived decrease in the quality of education due to remote classes. “I think the tuition increase last semester, in spite of not receiving the same quality of education that students here expect to receive, was pretty disappointing,” Houle said. “Especially considering the $10 billion endowment that they have.” Use of University buildings for shelter With the majority of University Housing contracts terminated for the winter semester, community members are now asking the administration what, if anything, will be done with empty buildings on campus. Ann Arbor City Council has raised the possibility of using empty residence halls to shelter the city’s homeless population. Although they may have a difficult time imagining the University opening its doors, students that spoke to The Daily were very open to the idea. “I don’t necessarily expect that the University will end up (housing the homeless population),” said Houle. “But in an ideal world, I think that they should definitely try to.” Girgis, who also voiced support for the repurposing of dorms, stressed the effect that the University has in raising the cost of living in Ann Arbor. “The university has a direct hand in the rates of homelessness in Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County,” Girgis said. “And so not only is it just simply the right thing to do. The university actually has a responsibility, to at least in some small way, make up for the fact that it is

actively choosing not to make housing more affordable in Washtenaw County. And beyond that it’s also just the best course to undertake as far as public health goes.” Cook said that, as a public university that relies partially on public funds, the University has an ethical responsibility to serve the surrounding community. “I think it’s their duty to aid the homeless population in Ann Arbor,” Cook said. “So, if they have those unused buildings, I think that they should be utilized.” University spokesperson Rick Fitzgerald told The Daily in a December interview that the University has been in touch with Washtenaw County officials to try to understand the community’s needs and see if there’s a way it could be helpful. Graduate Employees’ Organization strike A week into the fall semester, the Graduate Employees’ Organization launched a historic strike in protest of the University’s reopening plans. Girgis said the strike represented a larger underlying issue with a lack of community input into University decisions. She pointed to the controversy surrounding Regent Ron Weiser (R) as another example of this issue of accountability going into the winter semester. “The fundamental problem with the University administration, at least for the time that I have been here, is that they refuse to acknowledge the ways in which the University community can and should be informing their decisions,” Girgis said. Girgis, who is also an activist with the Lecturers’ Employee Organization, emphasized that LEO will be in contract negotiations with the University this semester. According to Girgis, LEO is advocating for demands GEO has also campaigned for in the past, such as higher wages for University employees and increased childcare support. Last Friday, LEO held a bargaining kickoff rally in anticipation of the months of negotiations ahead. “LEO is bargaining starting next week and (making) a lot of demands that are important, not only for them, but for the University community as a whole,” Girgis said. “The administration would do well to listen.” Daily Staff Reporters Christian Juliano and Julianna Morano can be reached at julianoc@umich.edu and jucomora@umich.edu.

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Wednesday, January 20, 2021 — 3

FOCAL POINT

Daily investigation finds allegations of harassment, retaliation and intimidation against English professor

Douglas Trevor continues to teach, but is barred from meeting students off-campus, holding leadership positions for two years JULIANNA MORANO Focal Point Reporter

Tenured English professor Douglas Trevor, former director of the Helen Zell Writers’ Program and the Hopwood Awards Program, is not allowed to conduct office hours with his door closed or meet with students in off-campus spaces for the next two years. These sanctions were instituted in an April 30, 2020 letter from LSA Dean Anne Curzan. According to the confidential letter, addressed to Trevor and obtained by The Michigan Daily, Trevor is also barred from holding formal leadership positions at the University of Michigan for the next two years, though Curzan wrote that his professional conduct would be re-evaluated at the end of this period. Trevor will also not be eligible for a merit increase in his base salary in the next faculty salary program. As Trevor continues to teach at the University — with two undergraduate classes scheduled for Winter 2021 — a Daily investigation into Trevor has unearthed two previously undisclosed allegations of harassment, retaliation and intimidation against Trevor. The Daily has also learned of one previously undisclosed allegation that when a Helen Zell student came to him with concerns about another faculty member’s behavior, Trevor warned the student against threatening the educational environment. These allegations, made by three female students and staff at the University between 2016 and 2019, date back to January 2017 and extend to April 2019. These accounts have been corroborated by friends, fellow students and colleag ues of the women who were present at the time. The Daily has also reviewed

correspondence between Trevor and the women who shared their accounts as well as between administrators. Trevor was the director of the Helen Zell Writers’ Program — the University’s prestigious creative writing graduate program — from 2016 until December 2018, when he stepped down, citing family-related reasons in an email to program participants. In Fall 2018, he also directed the Hopwood Program, which hosts creative writing awards for University students and partners frequently with Helen Zell, stepping down from that directorship at the end of the year as well. In response to an email from The Daily, Curzan declined to comment on this letter. University spokesperson Rick Fitzgerald noted in an interview with The Daily that the University does not comment on personnel matters to respect the privacy of employees. Fitzgerald added that this letter from Curzan “speaks for itself.” Curzan’s April 2020 letter followed an OIE investigation into Trevor, which concluded in February 2020. The OIE investigation did not find Trevor’s conduct to be “sufficiently severe, persistent or pervasive to create a sexually hostile environment,” but Curzan wrote that Trevor had “created an intimidating, hostile, and offensive climate” in the Helen Zell Writers’ Program. In an email to The Daily, Trevor denied that he had ever engaged in sexual misconduct. In addressing other allegations, he referenced the findings of the OIE investigation, writing that OIE found the allegations to not be “valid.” “After this investigation, the OIE correctly determined that I did not violate any University policies related to sexual harassment,” Trevor wrote.

“I am saddened by the amount of misinformation that has circulated about me in recent times. I want students to know that sexual misconduct should not be tolerated and that I fully support university policies that regulate behavior by faculty and staff.” The OIE investigation into Trevor was initiated in April 2018 by then-LSA junior Emma Richter. The Daily spoke to Richter, whose allegations make up one of the three reported in this article, about her claims of sexual misconduct against Trevor while she worked for the Hopwood Program. (Richter formerly worked for The Daily as a staff photographer from September 2016 to December 2018. The Daily spoke with two individuals familiar with Richter’s situation and reviewed email and iMessage correspondence from Trevor, corroborating the consistency of her allegations.) Apart from the three allegations reported in this article, two anonymous allegations of sexual misconduct against Trevor were also posted in June 2020 on the Twitter account Assaulters at UMich, an anonymous account that posted a series of tweets calling out multiple alleged assaulters on campus. One of the two posts also claimed that the writer’s allegations against Trevor had been “severely mishandled.” Amid the numerous allegations that were posted on the account against members of the University community, Trevor was the only University professor to appear on the account. Like many allegations on the account, those against Trevor are unverified by The Daily. The Assaulters at UMich account did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The allegations against Trevor follow a larger pattern of alleged abuse from tenured faculty and deterrents to

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reporting at the University and in higher education more broadly. In 2020, three women came forward alleging decades’ worth of sexual harassment from Martin Philbert, the University’s former provost who held the office from 2017 through January 2020, when he was placed on leave. Also in 2020, other allegations of sexual misconduct were brought against the late University doctor Robert E. Anderson and Jason Mars, assistant professor of computer science. The latter has recently faced controversy for his continued teaching appointment at the University. The Daily also uncovered previously undisclosed allegations against former School of Music, Theatre & Dance professors Stephen Shipps and David Daniels in 2018. In a follow-up email to The Daily regarding the allegations against Trevor, Fitzgerald said the English Department is working to resolve inequities. “We also can tell you that the leadership team in the English Department and LSA are addressing these matters,” Fitzgerald wrote. “Knowing there is always more to do to improve equity and inclusivity, the department is engaged in a number of ongoing initiatives to ensure that all voices are heard and all members of the community feel included.”

Richter was an LSA junior in April 2018 when she received an email from Trevor, who she had met the previous month through her work-study job for the Hopwood Program. In the email, Trevor wrote that he had reported Richter to OIE for having an inappropriate romantic relationship with another faculty member — an allegation both the faculty member and Richter deny. The Daily was provided a copy of this email. Richter said Trevor’s email caught her off guard. Earlier

that same day, she had gone to OIE to consider reporting two professors she alleged were sexually harassing her. One was the faculty member Trevor alleged she was in a relationship with. The other was Trevor. “It was funny — in a dark way — to me,” Richter said. “That Doug would do that just seems ridiculous.” Richter alleged that before and after receiving this email, from March 2018 to October 2018, Trevor sexually harassed her while she worked in the Hopwood Room, which houses offices for Hopwood Program leadership and often functions as a venue for Helen Zell-affiliated events. According to Richter, Trevor made inappropriate advances toward her outside the workplace as well, inviting her to get drinks after Universityaffiliated events and taking her out for coffee in a manner that made her uncomfortable. Richter said she first met Trevor a month before receiving his email, when he was the Helen Zell director but had not yet become the Hopwood director. She said they met at a Helen Zell welcome event, where she had been asked to take photos. The event had an open bar, and Richter said Trevor had clearly drank before he struck up a conversation with her and invited her to join him and another faculty member for drinks after the event. One of the individuals contacted by The Daily confirmed they had witnessed the invitation. Richter remembered declining the invitation and stating that she was underaged. But Trevor allegedly insisted she accompany them, arguing she shouldn’t walk home from the event alone. According to Richter, after repeated urging from Trevor, Richter accepted the invitation. Richter, Trevor and the other professor went to the Raven’s Club, where Richter said that she witnessed Trevor gossip about Helen Zell

The disaster in Flint gained national recognition, with many criticizing the city and state for extensive governmental mismanagement, environmental degradation and racial bias. The Michigan Court of Appeals is hearing a large group of ongoing cases between

multiple plaintiffs and the state of Michigan and the city of Flint, among other defendants. It is likely many of those cases will be resolved in a settlement between residents and the city and state, though some have protested the possible agreement saying it did not include all necessary measures.

“It got worse over time”

Design by Samuel Turner

SNYDER From Page 1 A spokesperson for Snyder has previously said the state took proactive steps to work with communities on the issues caused by the crisis. Bacteria in the damaged

WEISER From Page 1 Five people have died from injuries or conditions inflicted at the Capitol Wednesday, including a Capitol police officer. Meshawn Maddock, Weiser’s co-chair running mate, organized buses to take Michiganders to Washington D.C. Wednesday. In a Thursday tweet, Maddock wrote that she condemns the violence and breaching of the Capitol “in the strongest possible terms.” “The rally was supposed to be a peaceful event and people who broke the law should be held accountable,” Maddock wrote. “I am horrified at the death of the young woman and pray for the healing of our nation.” Maddock is director of the

water resulted in at least 90 cases of a severe form of pneumonia and at least 12 deaths. Former health director Nick Lyon, one of the individuals charged, previously said he knew of the reported cases months before the outbreak was publicly addressed by Snyder

in January 2016. Lyon was previously accused of involuntary manslaughter charges for failing to inform the public about the outbreak in a timely manner. In June 2019, prosecutors working under Nessel dismissed the case, as well as charges against seven other individuals.

Michigan Conservative Coalition, which in a Wednesday morning email to members prayed that God “convict” members of Congress, judges and other elected officials who have “refused to get involved” in overturning Biden’s election victory. “The real war we are fighting is for the spiritual soul and God-given destiny of our nation,” the email reads. Weiser told Bridge on Thursday that Maddock was watching the chaos in D.C. from a hotel room window. “I don’t believe she was part of it,” Weiser said. “I don’t believe she incited it.” LSA junior Ryan Fisher, chairman of the University’s College Republicans, condemned the petition in a text message to The Daily. “This is an insignificant attack on a great regent, one that is unlikely to succeed,” Fisher wrote. “The

accusations levied by recall proponents are empty and impetuous.” Public Policy senior Ben Gerstein, former Central Student Government president, expressed his support for the petition in a tweet Friday afternoon, demanding University administrators and President Mark Schlissel notice the call for Weiser’s resignation or recall. “Beyond his role in elevating President Trump’s fascist movement, Regent Weiser has shielded himself from scrutiny through both his personal donations to the University and his position on the Board of Regents,” Gerstein tweeted. “As the former and incoming Chairman of the Michigan GOP, and his past role as the RNC’s fundraising coordinator for President Trump, he is complicit in the events that culminated in Wednesday’s attempted white supremacist coup.”

students’ sex lives. “It was … like making fun in a mean way,” Richter said. “The other piece of it that was uncomfortable was … in contrast … (Trevor) saying and, directed towards me, being like, ‘You’re so mature, Emma, you know. You completely get it.’” That evening was only the beginning of several encounters with Trevor that Richter said made her uncomfortable. The site of these subsequent encounters was frequently Richter’s workplace, especially with Trevor set to take over as Hopwood Director in Fall 2018. Richter also alleged that Trevor would regularly hug her and touch her inappropriately on the shoulders, hand and small of her back outside of that encounter. “It got worse over time,” Richter said. “You know, the small of your back becomes your butt.” In one specific encounter, Richter alleges that Trevor saw her in the Hopwood Room, where he walked up to her and began rubbing her arm while pointing out she hadn’t responded to an invitation to coffee with him. Richter said this interaction made her feel like agreeing to coffee was “something I have to do.” The Daily reviewed iMessages between Trevor and Richter after their coffee meeting. “Yes, that was fun,” Trevor texted Richter after they went to coffee. “Let’s do it again sometime soon. Good luck with all your responsibilities!! Remember to make time to feed the soul.” Richter decided to formally report Trevor and went to OIE on April 23, 2018. Richter shared that this process presented frustrations of its own, particularly after Richter learned that her case had been transferred from one investigator to another in May 2018. See FOCAL POINT, Page 4 This article has been updated to include the specific charges announced against former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. Daily Staff Reporter Kate Weiland can be reached at kmwblue@umich.edu.

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4 — Wednesday, January 20, 2021

FOCAL POINT From Page 3 When this investigator first contacted her, Richter alleged that one of the first things he told her was that he was surprised she was reporting Trevor. The investigator allegedly said he had worked with Trevor after Trevor reported Richter and the other faculty member to OIE and — according to Richter — the investigator said Trevor was a “great guy.” One of the individuals contacted by The Daily confirmed that Richter shared this story with them at the time. “After he said that, I just checked out,” Richter said. As a result of these frustrations, Richter said she decided to take a step back from the investigation in late May 2018. Over the summer, she heard little from Trevor. However, with Trevor poised to take over as Hopwood Director in Fall 2018 and to move into an office adjoined to the Hopwood Room, one of Richter’s supervisors contacted Trevor around this time to request that he wait to move into the office until the end of summer, according to an April 25, 2018 email obtained by The Daily. The supervisor advised him to delay his move to create a “more comfortable working environment” for Richter, who was still working in the Hopwood Room. Trevor wrote back that he took issue with the suggestion. “(Y)our email is obviously unsettling to me as it implies that my presence in the Hopwood Director’s office would make Emma Richter uncomfortable,” Trevor wrote in response. Ultimately, Richter said that Trevor moved into the office at the beginning of the Fall 2018 semester, but problems continued. With Trevor officially stationed in the director’s office and without any enforceable measures preventing her from having to see Trevor, Richter said the situation worsened. To avoid further encounters with Trevor in the Hopwood Room, Richter said she took three weeks off of paid time off in October 2018. She also took a week off of her classes,

Trevor was asked not to enter the store and was added to an internal list of banned customers around this time as a result of complaints from Literati staff. The owners of Literati did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Richter graduated from the University at the end of the Spring 2019 semester. The OIE investigation of Trevor’s conduct did not conclude until almost a year after her graduation in the Spring 2020 semester. According to Richter, the experience and ensuing reporting process consumed more than a third of her three-year undergraduate career. “It was really like a full year of my life, dealing with so much pressure, dealing with school, dealing with needing to keep multiple jobs and doing a thesis and also trying to have friends, while also being pressured by these professors who harassed me,” Richter said. “It became my whole life, in a really awful way, and took away so much from that time in my life.” “It’s changed my life forever” Over the course of 2018, a Helen Zell alum and former staff member of the program alleged that her close, occasionally boundary-pushing friendship with Trevor quickly devolved into months of retaliation and attempts to get her fired. Trevor stepped down as the director of Helen Zell at the end of the same year. The former staff member spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing privacy and safety concerns. In this article, she will be referred to as Kate. In interviews with The Daily, Kate alleged that this retaliation began after she sent Trevor an angry email in January 2018 calling him out for what she considered “obnoxious” behavior. The Daily spoke with three individuals familiar with her experiences who corroborated the consistency of her allegations. “It’s changed my life forever,” Kate said. “I’m, like, kind of hyper-vigilant now, probably forever.” Kate said she and Trevor

of their friendship. According to Kate, three months later, in April 2018 — the same month Richter reported Trevor to OIE — Trevor reported Kate to staff Human Resources, also contacting her supervisor as well as David Porter, then-chair of the English Department. He told all three that Kate had been unprofessional in the January 2018 email, according to Kate. This marked the beginning of Trevor’s attempts to “ruin my life,” Kate said. In one instance, Trevor accused Kate of encouraging Richter to report him to OIE because of Kate’s “resentment” toward him, an allegation Richter and Kate denied to The Daily. When Richter’s supervisor — who was also Kate’s supervisor — asked Trevor to delay his move-in to the Hopwood Room director’s office to help Richter feel more comfortable in the April 2018 email shown earlier and printed again below, Trevor responded by doubling down on his allegation that Kate was behind Richter’s OIE report. “I have reasons to believe that my own comportment is being misrepresented and that this could be tied to the situations I endured with (Kate) this past semester,” Trevor wrote. “ ... I fear that I might be in the process (of ) being slandered due to the resentment of a staff member and that staff member’s relationship with others.” Kate said Trevor’s accusations against her continued to escalate from there. Trevor also allegedly called the police on Kate in the Fall 2018 semester after her phone had “butt-dialed” him multiple times. Kate said she received a call from the police, telling her they had received a complaint from Trevor that she was harassing him. Kate’s friend, who corroborated the consistency of this account to The Daily, later accompanied Kate to the Apple Store. They learned the calls Kate claimed were unintentional stemmed from him having been listed as her emergency contact earlier in their working relationship, the friend and Kate said. Kate said she got a new phone because of how alarming Trevor’s reaction was.

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due to mounting stress of being unable to avoid Trevor in the workplace. The Daily was provided documentation of this time off in both cases. At the end of the month, she also reached out to OIE to continue with the investigation process. Richter alleged that she also continued to encounter Trevor outside of the Hopwood Room. In the Spring 2019 semester, she was working a part-time job at Literati Bookstore, which frequently partners with Helen Zell for events and readings. Richter alleged that Trevor continued to try to interact with her in the store. “(Trevor) would insert himself into places that I was, or conversations (I was having),” Richter said. After one Helen Zellaffiliated event in April 2019 where Trevor was in attendance and allegedly tried to interact with her — which a former Literati employee was able to independently corroborate — Richter said she approached the owners of Literati with her concerns. The owners contacted Trevor and asked him to no longer visit the store, according to Richter. Two employees of Literati in April 2019 confirmed that

started as friends. She was hired for a staff position in 2016 after completing her third year with Helen Zell and worked closely with Trevor, who had become director the same year. The two had inside jokes, would casually text and observed “low levels of professionalism.” Kate also said Trevor was f lirtatious with her. She said he sent her suggestive messages, on multiple occasions sending her songs with romantic lyrics and calling them “our song.” (The Daily reviewed some of these messages through screenshots provided by Kate.) Given that they were closer in age — Kate said she came to the program later than many of her peers — and close as friends, she said his actions didn’t strike her as inappropriate at the time, so she didn’t call him out then. “I can look back now and be like, ‘That wasn’t appropriate,’” Kate said. “‘He shouldn’t have been f lirty.’” Trevor and Kate allegedly maintained this close working relationship and friendship until January 2018, when Kate sent Trevor the angry email, frustrated at the fluctuating boundaries in their professional relationship. While their working relationship survived for a few months after that, Kate said this marked the end

At the time, OIE’s investigation into Trevor’s conduct, initiated by Richter’s April 2018 complaint, was still underway. In October and after the phone incident, to evade further escalation, Porter and the LSA Dean’s office offered Kate a “temporary reassignment” until Trevor was no longer director of Helen Zell. By the time Trevor stepped down from the directorship in December 2018, however, the experience had been traumatizing to the extent that Kate said she chose not to return. “It’s stressful to have someone throw grenade after grenade at you, even if they don’t go off, you know?” Kate said. “Because he thinks they’re going to go off. Like, he wants them to go off.” A “very clear double standard” With Trevor as director of the Helen Zell Writers’ Program from 2016 through 2018, students would have to go to him to report their alleged conflicts. Molly Dickinson, a former Helen Zell student, alleged that Trevor repeatedly sided with her professor when Dickinson went to Trevor with her concerns, resulting

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in Dickinson feeling alienated from the program. Dickinson was a student in the Helen Zell Writers’ Program from 2015 to 2017. At the beginning of her last semester in the program, Dickinson alleged that Trevor ignored her concerns when she brought him troubling communication she had received from an instructor and instead warned her against threatening the educational environment. (The Daily contacted Dickinson’s professor, who cited Dickinson’s privacy in declining to comment.) Two colleagues of Dickinson’s and one friend confirmed to The Daily that she shared this story with them at the time, as did another colleague who accompanied Dickinson to one of her meetings with Trevor. In January 2017, Dickinson contacted a professor over email, informing them that she would be absent from class one day due to ethical concerns with a course assignment. Trevor became involved when Dickinson’s instructor replied that she had reported Dickinson to Trevor for the email. The professor initially encouraged Dickinson to make arrangements with Trevor to drop the class. The Daily was provided a copy of their email exchange, an excerpt of which is printed below. Alarmed by what she considered an “abrasive” response from her instructor — as well as the obstacle it could pose in her ability to graduate on time that semester — Dickinson had a one-on-one meeting with Trevor the next day, hopeful her concerns about how her instructor responded would be heard. Dickinson remembered printing her email exchange with the professor to show Trevor. She also brought a message her professor had sent to the rest of the class responding to the concerns Dickinson had identified without naming her, a copy of which was provided to The Daily. In the meeting, however, Dickinson said Trevor refused to look at the materials she’d brought. “Pretty quickly in our conversation, I realized that he was not really a receptive person and not someone who was going to be advocating for my experience at all,” Dickinson said. Instead, Dickinson claimed that Trevor lectured her about how her words had made her instructor feel unsafe. “He magnified it into this very large and bizarre argument about the quality of open discussion in the classroom … without actually engaging in any specific conversation with me about the truly abrasive words that were written to me,” Dickinson said. The issue over one assignment spawned into additional meetings between her and Trevor, Dickinson said. Dickinson also alleged that over the course of their discussions over this conf lict, Trevor would offer lucrative professional and academic opportunities in what felt like efforts to appease her, then expressed surprise or denied he had made the offer when she followed up. In one instance, Dickinson said that Trevor offered to arrange a workshop between her and one of the program’s high-profile visiting writers from the popular Zell Visiting Writer Series. Dickinson said this offer was especially appealing, given the complications she experienced in her coursework that semester due to the unresolved issue with the professor. However, when she followed up, Dickinson

said Trevor did not follow through on that offer. “When I actually turned around and asked for that, he just thought it was mindboggling that I would think to make such a request,” Dickinson said. Kate, who was in her administrative position at the time, corroborated the consistency of this allegation. Dickinson said the alleged lack of support from Trevor and the ensuing complications in her path to graduation took a toll on her mental health. She also said that it resulted in feelings of social alienation from the program as a whole. “I very much retreated from the MFA community,” Dickinson said. “From everything, really.” Because Dickinson said her concerns were repeatedly dismissed in subsequent meetings with Trevor, she said the experience illustrated for her the ways in which Trevor’s rules of professionalism applied differently to students than they did to faculty. “There seems to be this very, very clear double standard of: ‘We can be personal and fun and intimate when I say it’s okay,’” Dickinson said. “‘But when you unknowingly do something that I don’t agree with, then we pull down the jail.’” “Their hands are often tied” The women who shared their accounts said it wasn’t just Trevor’s alleged behavior that was at the crux of their negative experiences. Rather, they contended that the University’s reporting mechanisms were not prepared to handle their cases in a way that protects vulnerable parties from the actions of tenured faculty. OIE has consistently been criticized for its timeconsuming investigation processes. In both Richter’s and Kate’s experiences, they said Trevor continued and escalated his behavior while the OIE investigation was in progress. “The way time works at the University is different from how it works for individual people,” Kate said. “It’s really easy for the University to just outwait (complainants). … Things take a month, two months, three months, you know — people get tired. People get distracted. They move on.” For Richter and Kate, as they waited for the OIE investigation to close, their best option to avoid Trevor was temporarily leaving their jobs altogether. Former students, including Dickinson, who experienced conflict related to Trevor’s Helen Zell directorship told The Daily their negative experiences with him also drove them away from the program. Richter, Kate and Dickinson each shared that they did, on the other hand, feel supported by individual English Department administrators in the process. They stressed that the English Department took the allegations seriously, but that departmental administrators’ ability to intervene on students’ and staff member’s behalf was limited. “A thing that I really was struck by in my experience there was how intensely their hands are often tied,” Kate said. “It’s not the kind of thing where, you know, a few people can be like, ‘This is messed up.

Get rid of this person.’ That’s just not how the University works. Maybe it should be. But that’s not how it’s structured.” When asked what options are at a student’s disposal if they do not feel comfortable reporting to a program director or administrator, Fitzgerald responded with other routes a student may take depending on the nature of the complaint in a follow-up email to The Daily. Options include reporting to a department chair, the dean’s office of a particular college or OIE. Fitzgerald emphasized that OIE investigates issues “beyond sexual misconduct,” such as discrimination based on race, national origin, disability and religion. In an email to The Daily, Porter, the former English Department Chair during the time of the three allegations reported in this article, provided the English Department’s specific mediation protocols, specifying the roles that departmental officers are and are not advised to play. He also commented on the distinction between OIE’s and specific department’s responsibilities when a complaint is under investigation. “Once a formal complaint has been lodged with OIE, the expectation is that OIE takes on full responsibility for investigating the complaint,” Porter wrote. “While department leadership is expected to establish and reinforce expectations for respectful workplace behavior and to offer support to department members who report problematic experiences, decisions concerning consequences for violations are entirely in the hands of the college deans.” In Curzan’s own letter of reprimand for Trevor, she alluded to OIE’s findings before writing that she nonetheless found his behavior “troubling.” She added that his alleged retaliation posed concerns for the departmental climate. “Research shows that workplaces where retaliation occurs can foster sexual harassment because fear of reprisal limits reporting,” Curzan wrote. “This is not a culture or climate that any of us want to have in LSA.” Richter emphasized that, ultimately, this becomes an issue of not only individual student’s experiences, but also of diversity, equity and inclusion at the University. “If I hadn’t been a young woman in that employment environment … I wouldn’t have experienced what I did,” Richter said. “It’s not just like: Bring those people to the room. It’s like: How do you treat them when they’re there? And if they’re treated like that, they’re not going to want to be there.” Started in January 2021, Focal Point is The Michigan Daily’s dedicated investigative reporting team and main outlet for investigative longform content. Focal Point reporters spend months interviewing multiple sources and gathering documents to produce complex, nuanced content. In many cases, Focal Point uncovers stories that those in power have sought to repress. Daily Staff Reporter Julianna Morano can be reached at jucomora@michigandaily.com.

Read the letters obtained by the Michigan Daily during this investigation at MichiganDaily.com

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Arts

Wednesday, January 20, 2021 — 5

Artist Profile: SMTD senior Addison Tharp digitizes jazz HADLEY SAMARCO Daily Arts Writer

Innovation in the performance community is not a new phenomenon during the COVID-19 pandemic, but what about here on campus? The School of Music, Theatre & Dance has a whole host of performers who have not stood by and waited for the pandemic to pass, and SMTD senior Addison Tharp is no exception. As a jazz studies major, Tharp has faced the challenges of remote music production head-on as he navigates the new digital world of music production. “As a musician, you have to sort of adapt to the lifestyle because obviously, I don’t have any gigs or performances or anything like that anymore,” Tharp recently told The Daily in a virtual interview. Despite the challenges that have been presented to him, Tharp has been working on multiple projects this semester. Although a trumpet player by training, he also plays piano, composes and writes music whenever he can. Tharp’s most recent endeavor was a virtual big band piece entitled “Awakening,” performed by Tharp himself alongside a small group of musicians. Tharp composed, produced and performed the piece along with his peers — the total process took four months to complete. When recalling the making of “Awakening,” Tharp describes the process as an interesting and difficult one, especially for a jazz musician. When a jazz ensemble per-

forms or records live, it is common for the musicians to rely heavily on improvisation instead of strictly following the written music. However, when virtual, this natural flow between players is near impossible to replicate when the performers cannot hear and react to each other — instead of the usual spontaneity of someone taking the lead, the parts have to be organized and planned out more than they would in a typical jazz performance. “It requires listening, being all there together, reacting to everybody playing,” Tharp said. “That’s the one downside to this format, is that you can’t really do that.” Each part of Tharp’s piece was recorded individually and then layered together one by one instead of the traditional group recording style. This was a new experience for Tharp, who had no exposure to recording in this kind of digitized way, with its lengthy process and discombobulated parts. However, the experience offered Tharp the opportunity to learn new skills mixing and arranging pieces of music digitally. “It was just a lot more focused in terms of having to record everything, whether that was soloing or just the written parts,” Tharp said, revealing a consolatory advantage of remote production. Although it was months in the making, Tharp’s song was finally completed on Nov. 27, 2020, and can be streamed now. When asked about the inspiration for the piece, Tharp replied, “Basically, the overlying message of the chart is like, trying to find

beauty with all the stuff that’s going on right now. Trying to find beauty in things as simple as hearing the birds sing or something along those lines.” His words, as well as his music, strike a common chord — beauty is something the world is sorely in need of right now more than ever. Tharp championed “Awakening” as one of his more complex pieces of work, and the lyrics were personal to him: “I used it as sort of like a way to cope with the initial shock of COVID. Because that was like, one of the first things that I did over the summer was start writing this tune.” It has been a difficult year for many, and Tharp’s story is not an unfamiliar one. Seeing the beauty and art that has bloomed out of hardship is inspiring and heartwarming. With this piece finished and behind him, Tharp has more time to focus on his long-term project, a five-to-six-song EP he has been experimenting with. With one song finished and another on the way, he is branching out from his acoustic roots and delving into electronic music, resulting in something akin to a mixture of Anomalie and Robert Glasper. Excited for what comes next, Tharp is ready to take his new skills with him into his career postgraduation. “It’s adding a whole new dimension to (my) creative ability.” Although it hasn’t been perfect by any means, Tharp’s work is proof that jazz performance has persevered.

Photo by ADDISON THARP

NETFLIX

‘Bridgerton’ proves there’s nothing like a good period piece SARAH RAHMAN Daily Arts Writer

Netflix’s period drama “Bridgerton” has taken the world by storm, and with good reason. You don’t have to be a fan of period pieces to see how the series immerses viewers in a riveting universe while also confronting relevant issues in our modern world. “Bridgerton” proves my long-held belief that period pieces are among the top tier of television, when they are done right. With the vast amount of new television series coming out these days, I’m faced with a difficult question to tackle: What exactly makes a series “good” when the range of available content is so extensive? Amid a broad variety of genres, subject matter and creative perspectives, what is the common thread that runs through everything worth watching? “Bridgerton,” and period pieces at large, can be our case study to answer these questions. For one, good TV ought to provide a mode for escapism. The beauty of period dramas is that there is escapism inherent within the genre because the whole concept is based on another time period. “Bridgerton” is set in 1813 London and revolves around aristocratic life, particularly that of several families with children of marrying age. “Bridgerton” finds the perfect opportunity for escapism by walking the line between the reality of the time period and extravagant fantasy, through using striking costume design

that defined the Georgian period. Beyond costume design, the bright, vibrant cinematography and editing style mean that, while the show may be set in a society with an abundance of rigid and boring rules, it’s also visually striking throughout, immersing viewers in a world far, far away from their living rooms. Escapism is also achieved through emotion. Nothing makes you forget the problems of the real world like taking on the problems of fictional characters and resonating with their experiences. This is easily done through period pieces because the setting in a different time period implies that there’s going to be a different set of values and standards of success. Because this world is so different, viewers can easily decipher what it means to succeed while maintaining a degree of emotional separation from their own lives. In “Bridgerton,” success comes through maintaining wealth and status within aristocratic society, which requires adherence to a strict, repressive set of social rules. For Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor, “Younger”), the protagonist and eldest daughter of the Bridgerton family, this means marrying well so that her younger sisters can benefit from the status she achieves. As the show progresses, Daphne’s understanding of success begins to include her desire for love. Escapism is provided by how much we can empathize with Daphne and how we can understand the tension between wanting to take

care of our families while also seeking our own personal happiness. The passionate relationship between Daphne and the Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page, “Sylvie’s Love”) is thoughtfully built, and it feels real. This passion also leads to an absurd amount of sex scenes — which is another form of escapism, if you’re into that. It’s clear that escapism is rooted in our ability to empathize with the problems of the characters in the show. “Bridgerton” not only creates a vibrant world but a world whose problems we can easily adopt every episode. This notion isn’t exclusive to period pieces, obviously, but I think period pieces do it better because the distinctive rules and values make the emotional struggles of its characters more blatant. However, escapism alone isn’t quite enough to merit a series’s quality. At the end of the day, the problems have to mean something, otherwise we wouldn’t actually care. There are definitely shows that provide escapism for escapism’s sake, but in order for a show to be meaningful and have longevity, there ought to be context and relevance behind the problems the characters face. Ultimately, there needs to be a message that connects the show back to our current reality. This is easily achieved in period pieces because, while they may take place in a different time period, they still exist within our own universe.

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Love, and feelings of any kind really, have always existed very close to the surface for me. They tend to be the main force in my life, something I find reflected in music. Piercing emotions are what drive a tune — what music was created as an outlet for. This is why, one night recently, something about girl in red’s music struck me, and began to bother me. It felt synthetic, made like a puzzle piece to fit a waiting niche of consumers. And then I looked around and realized, it wasn’t just her. There was a whole movement. As a pansexual woman, it’s really great to see more representation for women-lovingwomen (wlw) in mainstream

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

Daily Arts Writer

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

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ROSIA SOFIA KAMINSKI

Release Date: Wednesday, January 20, 2021

SUDOKU 2

Lesbian love in indie pop WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com

ACROSS 1 Guthrie’s “Today” co-host 5 Apple tablet 9 Easily bruised Cajun veggie 13 Collectively 15 Possessive shout 16 Currency with Khomeini’s picture 17 “Same here!” 18 Greek salad ingredient 19 Out of sight 20 It takes getting used to 23 Note dispenser 25 Large tea dispenser 26 Geese cries 27 Native American leaders 31 Put a cap on 32 One of its first customers was a collector of broken laser pointers 33 IRS forms expert 36 Just slightly 37 Brown ermine 39 Born and __ 40 Theater backdrop 41 High time? 42 “Shrek” princess 43 Exuberant compliment 46 Some blue jeans 48 Sea-__ Airport 49 Observe 50 Morning news deliverers ... or based on a hidden word in each, what 20-, 27- and 43-Across are? 54 Late notice? 55 “The __ Report”: 1976 bestseller 56 Bangkok natives 59 Ticket stub abbr. 60 Meadow mamas 61 Fires off 62 Programmer’s alternative to “if” 63 Yom Kippur ritual 64 Heavy homework amount

2 Half of snake eyes 3 Ryokan floor cover 4 Political alliance 5 “Everything’s OK” 6 Berth place 7 Initial poker payment 8 Tie on a track 9 Instruments with stops 10 Key-cutting site 11 Raging YouTube friend of Luigi in posts 12 Sheltered from the wind 14 Plumlike Asian fruit 21 GoDaddy purchase 22 Boris Johnson, e.g. 23 Book with insets 24 Clichéd 28 Auction action 29 Africa’s Sierra __ 30 Trade name letters 33 Flaky bakery product 34 Tubular pasta

35 “Opposites attract,” e.g. 37 Kitchen bigwigin-waiting 38 A.L.’s Blue Jays 39 Show __ 41 Black, in Biarritz 42 Rhinestone surfaces 43 __ Nicole Brown of “Community” 44 Taking a breather 45 Monet’s May 43 __ energy

ANSWER ANSWER TO TO PREVIOUS PREVIOUS PUZZLE: PUZZLE:

01/20/21 01/16/21

“Coaster! Don’t mess up the table!”

46 Record company imprint 47 Heroic tales 50 Sit for a portrait 51 Bygone audio brand 52 66 and others: Abbr. 53 Flightless bird of the pampas 57 Altar affirmation 58 Phishing target, 54 briefly N.L. East player

01/20/21

“I think that’s wood polish...”

media, especially in danceable songs. But I must admit, I have a love-hate relationship with what I’ve started to refer to as “plastic lesbian pop.” This is pretty much what it sounds like: indie pop female artists who often sing romantically about other women in a way that feels monetized — and, as such, inauthentic — such as Clairo, King Princess, girl in red and Hayley Kiyoko. On the one hand, I’ve always been a huge fan of natural LGBQ+ representation such as the songs of these artists where the love itself is the focus, not as much the struggle of being gay (although, of course, that’s vital to see represented too), as this normalizes the LGBQ+ experience. These songs don’t scream “I’m gay,” but say it slowly and steadily, without any sort of nervous rush, telling us that the song is about a woman in the same casual tone that they would use were it about a man. This simple teenage pop tells an easy, gay love story — maybe just a highlyedited version of one. However, a lot of the time it feels like the record executives said to themselves: “Oh, the kids think it’s cool to be gay? Ok, let’s give them that and make lots of money off of them.” As such, a lot of this wlw music feels disingenuous, like it was made to capitalize off of peoples’ love, hypocritically monetizing that which, not too many years ago, a lot of people struggled to accept. So, while I am really pleased to see parts of the LGBTQ+ community be accepted and normalized by being put into the mainstream, I hold a place for anger against this music and its rote, churned-out feeling. Overall, I struggle with the fact that capitalism turns representation into a much more formulaic thing. When listening to this music, it makes me question if there is a way for the gay experience to exist widely and successfully in media without feeling like a tool being used for profit — like a box to be checked off or like there are defined pathways for how to be gay. Boiling it down to just one way of existing as a queer person, as this plastic lesbian pop does, spoonfeeds this gayness to the rest of a world in a way that does not break its boundaries, and thus does not allow for full expression and representation. This pop lesbian aesthetic is a clearly marked path on how to be a cool wlw that still fits into straight people’s comfort zones. This is accentuated by the fact that this aesthetic is very present on TikTok, where the app and its users assign it a designated place in the gayness of things. Artists such as Clairo have also been taken over by “straight” TikTok, with not a lot of care being paid to the sapphic lyrics. The emotional vulnerability seems manufactured, the gay experience exploited; not by these artists, necessarily, but by the capitalist culture that consumes their work. It is important to note that the creators of the music themselves are gay, and are sharing their experiences and profiting from this as well. However, part of this trend of boppy, formulaically representative music is that straight people easily absorb this pop media without paying attention to the struggle it took for these gay artists to get here, and will move on

to the next trend when this one is over. Trends are the essence of pop culture, so it is inevitable that anything that is part of it will eventually pass. The lesbian/ bisexual woman identity, bursting onto the scene in this particular manner, seems to follow these hallmarks of a social media event, enshrined on TikTok, that will eventually fade into the next craze. However, the straight relationship has existed as a trusty constant through pop culture. Why can’t the LGBTQ+ identity exist in the same way? What it comes down to is that this music is widespread enough to almost be a genre. It is one of the few gay experiences widely accepted — one sung in somewhat generic chords, by attractive, mostly white young women — and does not capture the full wonder of the LGBTQ+ community. The beauty of the community lies in the fact that there is no one way to define “queer” — queer arises as a blanket term because there are so many different sexualities and gender identities that each individual interacts with in their own way and on their own terms. For some, it is a central part of their identity, something they feel compelled to discuss, or else they feel they are not being true to themselves. For some, it is a casual, factual part of life that they will only bring up if asked. For some, it is a hidden, denied portion of themselves. It is difficult to give an exact answer to my aforementioned question of how to properly represent the gay identity in the mainstream in a way that doesn’t feel boxed in. This is because an opinion coming from just one person could never have a hope of answering for all members of the LGBTQ+ community. Sometimes, it is more important that these questions are asked than answered, so that more people may consider them. The beauty of the LGBTQ+ community is that there are so many different voices and experiences to be celebrated and felt. This plastic lesbian pop reduces the community down to a single kind of voice, one seraphic and sapphic, sure, but one kind all the same. This allows straight people to comfortably feel as though this makes for enough representation, and proceed to wash their hands of the matter. If a gay person complains, this music becomes just another example they can point to, giving the LGBTQ+ community another token. While writing this, my thought process ran into many different walls, making me turn back around and reconsider constantly. I think this attitude of consistently considering and asking questions is important in matters of representation; new voices emerge all the time from all different kinds of identities, and to give one answer to all of these would never work. This plastic lesbian pop is a gift in that it makes me celebrate how far representation has come because this is popular at all, yet also makes me think about how much further it has to go. After all, there is time, when thinking critically about music such as this, to smile at the joy and inclusion it does inspire with its documentation of lesbian relationships, and dance a little.

Opinion

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Wednesday, January 20, 2021 — 7

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ILANA MERMELSTEIN | COLUMNIST

We cannot continue to ignore homelessness in Ann Arbor

n September, Ann Arbor City Councilmember Elizabeth Nelson presented the idea that the University of Michigan open vacant campus housing to Ann Arbor’s homeless population. Shelters in Ann Arbor lack the space to adequately house the homeless, but on-campus housing will only house up to 3,000 students for the winter 2021 semester, leaving plenty of empty rooms. Many in Ann Arbor support Nelson’s proposal, but others are skeptical. Comments in some University of Michigan parent Facebook groups reflect frustration toward the situation: Why will the University house the homeless in dorms for free when students, who were willing to pay full price, were not given the opportunity to live there? Though the frustration is warranted, it does not overshadow the argument for housing the homeless population in University of Michigan dorms. Using vacant on-campus housing to house the homeless promotes public health in Ann Arbor, balances the University’s contribution to the increase in Ann Arbor housing prices and reflects positively on the University’s commitment to the surrounding community. Providing the homeless population with stable housing options minimizes their risk of exposure to COVID-19, therefore minimizing the risk of everyone in Ann Arbor. Homeless people are at high-risk of contracting COVID-19, as they do

ARIES

How you interact with the wider world becomes a focus for you this week, as the Sun leaves your career zone and heads into your social and community zone instead.

not have the resources necessary to follow many CDC guidelines. They do not have shelter in which to isolate or quarantine, and social distancing often is not an option. The homeless experience even greater risk in Ann Arbor, given the increase in population density during the academic year and frequent student gatherings that break COVID-19 guidelines. In providing more of the Ann Arbor homeless population with housing stability, we give them the necessary resources to better adhere to CDC guidelines, minimizing their own risk of contracting COVID-19 and, as a result, the whole of Ann Arbor’s risk. We cannot discuss homelessness in Ann Arbor, though, without discussing the University’s role in it. The University of Michigan has an enrollment of approximately 48,000 students, many of whom reside in offcampus housing. This large demand for housing in Ann Arbor results in an increase in housing prices, making it unaffordable for many Ann Arbor residents. Ann Arbor real estate has appreciated by 67.85% since 2000, while that of the state of Michigan has appreciated by only 46.20% since 2000. While this increase in value has made housing expensive for many students, it has made housing impossible for many residents, and many become homeless as a result. The University’s presence in Ann Arbor is a catalyst for homelessness, so it makes sense for the institution to

help to solve the problem it helped to create. Still, opponents to Nelson’s proposal view the use of University dorms as housing for the homeless population as unrealistic, unsure of how the University will implement the plan. They will be relieved to know that the University of Michigan will not be the first to house homeless residents in their vacant dorms. Suffolk University opened a residence hall to Boston’s homeless population in March of 2020. With help from a local hotel and the Boston Public Health Commission, the University was able to offer 172 rooms to those who needed shelter, and the few students in the dormitory were relocated. Providing isolated spaces to members of the homeless population minimized the spread of COVID-19 among the community. Similarly, Sonoma State University opened facilities to the Sonoma County homeless population in April of 2020. In tandem with Sonoma County, the University provided residents with food and water, healthcare, and access to government benefits. The areas in which they lived were fenced off in order to allow residents to adequately shelter in place in accordance with the state’s guidelines.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com Ilana Mermelstein can be reached at imerm@umich.edu.

JESSIE MITCHELL | COLUMNIST

Another 2020 shocker — OIE is late on something

hould annual reports be published annually? For the University of Michigan’s Office of Institutional Equity, this is apparently a difficult question. OIE, the office that handles investigations of sexual misconduct within the University, estimates that their annual report for the fiscal year that ended on June 30 will be ready in mid-January 2021. The last report was published on Nov. 11, 2019. Spokesman Rick Fitzgerald attributed the delay to the “new umbrella policy” (effective Aug. 14, 2020) and “other matters (that) were a higher priority.” The umbrella policy is the University’s policy for addressing sexual and gender-based misconduct. It applies to the University’s Ann Arbor, Flint and Dearborn campuses and encompasses faculty, staff, students and third parties.

PISCES

YOUR WEEKLY

TAURUS

AQUARIUS

WHISPER

Expect an upsurge in energy this week, as the Sun shifts into your public and career zone. Feeling more ambitious and more confident, you’ll want to think about your future plans.

You can expect to be extremely busy this week as unforeseen tasks, chores, duties or responsibilities are headed your way.

It’s all change on the domestic front this week, as Mars conjuncts Uranus in your home zone and brings surprises right to your door.

“Mushu!” GEMINI Lots of deep thinking this week. The Sun is starting to transit your philosophy zone now, so you are opening your heart and your mind to alternative views.

CAPRICORN Everything about you is normally pretty risk-averse, but this week it’s anybody’s guess what you might feel inspired to get up to!

“Samoyed’s are clouds.”

CANCER This week you may well be overcome by a desire to do something ‘useful’ or ‘meaningful’ for the world, or for your local community.

LEO The Sun begins to transit your love zone this week, which should help you to feel centered, loved, nourished and cherished in a relationship.

SAGITTARIUS Mars conjuncts Uranus in your everyday routines zone, suggesting that if you don’t actively seek change, change may be imposed upon you regardless.

“Kim and then Kimmy. I’m so sorry!”

VIRGO The Sun transits your health zone. Although you’re normally a creature of habit, you are a mutable sign at heart, flexible and ready to change.

LIBRA This could be a deeply passionate week for you, Libra, as the Sun begins to transit your dating and fun zone.

SCORPIO The Sun now shines its warmth from your family and domestic zone, healing rifts and bringing plenty of laughter and family togetherness.

Read your weekly horoscopes from astrology.tv

Granted, timeliness has never been OIE’s strong suit, nor has transparency, a fact acknowledged recently by Regent Denise Ilitch (D). Transparency is a priority in a year marked by multiple high-profile instances of the University utterly failing to address sexual misconduct and then further marred by distrust from faculty, students and staff. These annual reports are supposed to provide some measure of clarity, as previously indicated by Fitzgerald. It is simply unacceptable that the University of Michigan community will go at least 14 months without any measure of accountability from OIE. OIE has a tendency to be sporadic with their annual reports. They have been published in September (2018), October (2016) November (2014, 2019) and January (2016). Multiple calendar years have elapsed without an annual

report, so this is not a problem that can be chalked up to any one year’s increased responsibilities. It is important to note that OIE estimates that their next report will be ready in January — there is not a hard release date. As a student at this institution, I would be expected to communicate with my professors if I were to turn in a paper a day late, let alone give myself a five-month cushion. For comparison’s sake, the University’s Annual Fire and Safety Report is published every single year at the beginning of October. This year, they have been given an extension, a date clearly noted on the front page of their website.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com Jessie Mitchell can be reached at jessiemi@umich.edu.

ALEXANDER NOBEL | COLUMNIST

It’s time to say goodbye to golf

hether for a competitive match, a networking outing with colleagues or just to catch up with friends, Americans love the game of golf. In 2017, over 24 million Americans took to vast, green stretches of land to drive around in a cart and hit a ball with a club. While golf courses may look pretty on the outside, a deeper look at them tells a completely different story. Between the valuable fertile land that they currently occupy, the billions of gallons of water used every day and the drastically high use of pesticides, golf courses are ecological and health disasters. Golf has surpassed its expiration date and should go the way of the dinosaurs. Americans must put environmental and human health before pleasure and leisure. To build a golf course, companies must obtain the rights to a large chunk of land. In the United States, the average size of golf courses ranges between 110 and 190 acres. For reference, this is larger than the world’s smallest country, Vatican City, which takes up just over 100 acres. According to ESPN, there are more than 15,000 golf courses in the U.S. This brings the grand total of acreage of American golf courses to over two million acres — larger than the state of Delaware. The land used for golf courses is sometimes located in valuable areas situated near oceans or lakes. Building golf courses in these places takes away from the agricultural opportunities that could be used to feed local communities. Besides occupying potentially fruitful land, development of golf courses ravishes native ecosystems. Following the allocation of the land, all of the natural vegetation is cleared to allow for the course to be built. All of the trees, plants and habitats for the animals that lived there are wiped out — forcing them to migrate into other ecosystems, creating a hazardous cycle.

Golf courses also use an incredibly large amount of water. According to the United States Golf Association, water usage from daily golf course irrigation totaled 2,312,701 acre-feet per year, which equates to an average of 2.08 billion gallons of water per day between 2003 and 2005. In comparison, an Olympic swimming pool holds just over 660,000 gallons of water — this comes out to over 3,000 Olympic swimming pools of water per day. This immense amount of water could be used for farming or treated and provided for households that do not have access to clean running water. This issue became increasingly relevant during California’s drought in 2015. California is home to over 1,000 golf courses, so when there was a lack of water and public officials had to decide where to allocate the water, the choice should have been obvious. California should have shut down the golf courses and made sure that every resident had access to clean drinking water. However, this was not the case. As many as two-thirds of Californian golf courses stayed open and the average 18-hole course continued to use 90 million gallons of water each day. While Californians all over the state were struggling to find clean water to drink, cook or clean with, golf courses were using enough water to fill 136 Olympic-sized swimming pools daily. Another major health risk posed by golf courses comes in the form of pesticides. Researchers surveyed former golf superintendents and found that four types of cancer — brain, lymphoma, prostate and large intestine — were more common in golf superintendents than people working elsewhere.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com Alexander Nobel can be reached at anobel@umich.edu.

Opinion

8 — Wednesday, January 20, 2021

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

ANDREW GERACE | SENIOR OPINION EDITOR

“

Stop discriminating against disabled students. No exceptions.

No exceptions” punctuates the testing section of Dr. Ron Caldwell’s Econ 101 syllabus. On four separate occasions in the syllabus, “no exceptions” clearly informs disabled and chronically ill students that their experiences won’t be taken into account and that they may face discrimination or infringement of their civil rights. While “no exceptions” — a clear violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act’s reasonable accommodations mandate — may be glossed over by students without disabilities, this ableist rule can be the difference between passing and failing for students with disabilities or chronic illnesses. This discriminatory and lazy “no exception” rule must be eliminated across campus if the University of Michiganwantstoliveuptoitsmission of serving “the people of Michigan and the world through preeminence in creating, communicating, preserving and applying knowledge, art, and academic values, and in developing leaders and citizens who will challenge the present and enrich the future.” A blanket denial of both legal and moral obligations to provide reasonable accommodations is an

archaic violation of this mission and unfit to exist at the University or any academic institution. For two students I spoke to, Dr. Caldwell’s “no exception” policy and the subsequent support of the policy from the Economics Department and the University, barred them from being able to succeed in their respective situations. A student with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type II who, due to privacy protections, will be referred to as Peter in this article, and Cheyanne Killin, LSA senior and former Services for Students with Disabilities Student Advisory Board chair, were both greatly impeded by this policy. Even when a disabled student does everything right, these “no exception” policies create intense barriers and stresses in order to simply graduate. For Peter, Dr. Caldwell’s “no exception” policy resulted in having to take an Econ 101 final under medical duress, as the final exam period overlapped with prep time for a necessary and urgent procedure. Peter submitted the proper documentation at the beginning of the semester, including a Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD), a medical VISA that outlined the

accommodations required for SMA2, and followed up with the professor via email, explaining his circumstances. He further invited the professor to read about SMA2 and ask any questions he may have about the condition. Had Dr. Caldwell done further research, or reached out to Peter about his disability, he would have discovered that people with SMA2 must receive injections every four months to prevent further muscular atrophy. In a letter to University President Mark Schlissel and the Economics Department, Kathy Homan, president of the Washtenaw Association for Community Advocacy, wrote that “the injection (Peter) receives is called SPINRAZA. It’s a lumbar injection that can and has generated serious side effects for him, the most common side effects of SPINRAZA include lower respiratory infection, fever … vomiting, back pain, and post-lunar puncture syndrome … This is the only medication that has the promise of halting the progression of (Peter)’s Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type II.” As the semester was coming to a close, Peter discovered that the window to take the Econ 101 final overlapped with the prep time

needed for his injection procedure, rescheduled due to COVID-19. Within hours he reached out to Dr. Caldwell, explaining his situation and asking simply that the professor open the exam window earlier so that he could take the exam. Mind you, Peter wasn’t asking for more study time, simply asking he be given an opportunity to take the exam before his procedure. Instead of providing this reasonable accommodation, Dr. Caldwell stated that he hoped Peter would “understand that providing alternatives that, as per the syllabus, are not available to the rest of the class is a bit unfair to the other students.” He presented Peter with the option of taking the final during the prep time of his procedure, under medical duress, or a ranked score. Dr. Caldwell outlined the alternative in a June 23 email, saying “Specifically, we rank order all students and find where you fall among the students for the exam that you completed. I.e. say you are 40 out of 112 (this is just an example). Then I take the exam you missed (2nd exam in this case), rank order all students, and give you the score that the 40th individual received.” This arbitrary alternative is unreasonable, as it failed to provide Peter with an

MAGGIE WIEBE/DAILY

DANI BERNSTEIN | CONTRIBUTOR

t’s a pretty simple question: “Do you condemn white supremacy?” But even after three public statements, University Regent Ron Weiser (R) still has not answered it. Weiser is an elected member of the University of Michigan Board of Regents and the incoming chair of the Michigan Republican Party. His incoming co-chair, Meshawn Maddock, is a prominent voice in the “stop the steal” movement that alleges Donald Trump won the election, and she helped organize busloads of Michiganders to attend what became a domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, an attack that was orchestrated in part by well-known white supremacists carrying Confederate flags and covered in neo-Nazi tattoos. The events of that day were the culmination of long-term planning from white nationalist groups, including the Proud Boys, that organized online to take over the Capitol not just in opposition to the certification of the Electoral College vote, but expressly in the name of white supremacy. The day of the attack, Maddock shared a since-removed video of the crowd on Instagram, calling the group a “sea of Patriots.” In the video she shared, a man off-camera can be heard yelling, “We need to march on the Capitol when we’re done here and drag these people out of power.” Later in the day, members of this crowd came within minutes of killing members of the U.S. Congress and Vice President Mike Pence. The day after the insurrection, when directly asked by Bridge Magazine about who incited the riot and his views about what had occurred, Weiser, who has been a major donor to the outgoing

Op-Ed: Weiser must resign

president and even landed on his 2016 inaugural committee, failed to condemn his co-chair Maddock or white supremacy. Instead, he said that he had not watched the attacks or news surrounding it: “I watched Michigan destroy Minnesota in basketball, and that kind of contest is something that I strongly support.” He later blamed this response on oral surgery he received the day of the riots. Weiser cleaned up his original response with a second statement saying he condemned “those people who turned (a protest) into a mob” and that his heart went out to those “unnecessarily” harmed. Later, in light of a growing number of signatories to a Change.org petition and an open letter signed by faculty, staff and alumni calling for his resignation, Weiser offered an additional statement that was substantively the same as his previous one, calling the events “incredibly tragic and wrong,” without referring to them as a terrorist attack or insurrection. At each turn, even without the haze of oral surgery, he still managed to miss the words “I condemn white supremacy.” Apart from Weiser’s shocking disregard for the severity of the Jan. 6 insurrection, his statements are a matter of safety for anyone affiliated with the University. Let me put it in a broader context: Just months after I graduated from the University of Virginia as an undergraduate student, white supremacists descended on my former home, terrorizing students and, the next day in downtown Charlottesville, killing a young woman. If, in the immediate aftermath of this attack, any member of the UVa Board of Visitors had equivocated in their condemnation of these neo-Nazis,

they would have been promptly shunned by the UVa community and rightly stripped of any titles or standing. Anything less, and the neo-Nazis who had already terrorized UVa would have felt empowered to come back for more. That same danger in Michigan is very real. According to the FBI, armed insurrectionists are currently planning to attack Michigan’s Capitol, which, as we are all too painfully aware, was already attacked in April, followed by an attempt to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. In fact, one of the men who attacked Michigan’s Capitol last spring participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington, D.C. And yet, here at the University, even after three separate statements, the fact remains that Weiser has at no point condemned his co-chair, who was complicit in a terrorist attack on the U.S., or white supremacy itself, an abhorrent phenomenon and the avowed cause of the terrorists. As a result — and at a minimum — he must resign. The stakes here cannot be understated. Failing to condemn the driving force of this riot will only let that force grow stronger. White supremacist activity on university campuses hit a record high in 2019, the most recent year for which data is available. Well before white supremacists successfully invaded the U.S. Capitol, they marched on UVa’s grounds carrying torches and chanting “Jews will not replace us.” In these moments, language matters. It is not enough to denounce violence by itself and in a passive voice. Our regents must loudly, explicitly and unequivocally stand against white supremacist ideology and the terrorist attack it wrought. There is simply no room

opportunity to demonstrate or test his knowledge, which is the entire point of assessments. “I really felt like I should’ve had the opportunity to show my growth in the course,” Peter expressed. “Letting me take the test just a few hours earlier would’ve made that difference. The window encompassed my procedure so there was nothing I could do about it. It’s not like I was asking for anything extraneous, it’s not like people were taking it at the same time of day, it was an exam window. I don’t understand why I couldn’t have had an earlier exam window.” Naturally, after this disappointing and disheartening experience, Peter filed a grade grievance appeal through the Economics Department. As Peter arrived, via Zoom, at the grievance committee hearing, he was shocked to find the panel was solely made up of colleagues of Dr. Caldwell. “There was no specialist, the ADA coordinator wasn’t there, no one from OIE (Office of Institutional Equity) was there, no one from SSD was there, no one versed in the ADA was there … the professors were referring to Dr. Caldwell by nicknames, it all felt very out of place,” Peter reflected. Cheyanne Killin said that she deeply agrees “that this situation not only exemplifies the rampant ableism present in the University but is one of many examples that expose the need for major departmental and institutional change. Disabled students are viewed here as an afterthought or an additional difficulty, leading to our needs not being met and our needing to surmount intense barriers and stressors, seemingly alone, in order to simply graduate. For a University that overly prides itself on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, disabled and chronically ill students are, most certainly, not receiving those sentiments.” The appeal committee’s lack of SSD representation, ADA specialist, or medical advocate underscores the systemic problems that exist in the economics department and beyond. “The University should make it mandatory,” Homan wrote of the situation. “That a certain ratio of any committee members making decisions related to the disability community and Americans with Disabilities Act have expert knowledge on both …” Ultimately, and surprisingly to Homan, while the committee was not in unanimous agreement, they “sided with the University over (Peter).” Peter did everything right. He went out of his way to communicate and provide the right documentation to explain his situation to Dr. Caldwell prior to the exam, he enlisted the

support of community advocates like Homan to help him following his unfair treatment and went through the department’s procedure that was supposed to remedy these situations. The University failed him at every step. While the evidence of one student being crushed by the system should be evidence enough to change it, it is also important to highlight that Peter is not alone. Killin reflected on her past with Dr. Caldwell, saying “I actually failed a course under the same instructor due to an ableist situation.” Just like Peter, the “no exception” rule in Dr. Caldwell’s class prevented her from having the same opportunity for success as her non-disabled peers. Killin was in the middle of having her disability diagnosed when she took Econ 101 in 2017. As her illness progressed and she became too ill to attend classes, she was given permission by University Health Service for medical absences; even with this permission Killin still went to her Econ 101 section to turn in her bi-weekly quizzes, required to be turned in in-person under the “no exception” rule. “However, as my illness progressed, I stopped being able to go to the classroom to turn in my exams,” Killin noted. “I emailed both Professor Caldwell and my GSI about this and asked if I could scan in the exams to them, even offering to take pictures of myself with the completed exam to assure my identity. Under the ‘no exception’ rule, this was denied, and I received a full zero for the last two quizzes, which caused me to fail the course. I retook (the class) the next semester, under similar medical circumstances, with the only change being an accommodating professor, and got a B+.” Situations like this should not exist; disabled and chronically ill students should not have to play academic roulette, wondering whether the professor teaching their course will be accommodating or lean on discriminatory “no exception” rules like Dr. Caldwell. The University can and must remedy these infringements on civil rights if it wishes to live up to its mission statement and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion goals. When The Daily reached out to Dr. Caldwell via multiple emails for a response on the use of his stringent “no exception” policy and its relationship to ADA non-compliance, he did not respond.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com Andrew Gerace is an Opinion Senior Editor and can be reached at agerace@umich.edu.

DIMITRA COLOVOS | COLUMNIST

What it means to “be political”

to believe that what’s happened on other campuses can’t happen on ours. We cannot give officials three or more chances to get their condemnations right. The issue here is not just a matter of delay — it’s the reluctance to denounce something as odious as white nationalism or domestic terrorism at all. Any hedging is disqualifying. The day Weiser made his first statement — deflecting to basketball — I, along with many others, emailed him demanding his resignation. After a handful of tense exchanges, I asked him point-blank in my latest email, “Do you condemn white supremacy?” He responded that he is less powerful than I think — despite being the incoming chair of a state political party, an ambassador under former President George W. Bush, a significant donor to the current president and a member of the Board of Regents. He said that he has no influence over white supremacists, which ignores his leverage and responsibility as a public figure to prevent their normalization. He also said that as a Jewish person, he fears white supremacists himself. When The Daily’s Editorial Page Editors reached out separately for a comment from Weiser, he did not respond. U-M students also feel fear — only none of us have the power to do anything about it. Any official who refuses to readily identify and publicly condemn the danger of white supremacy only amplifies its danger for the rest of us. Dani Bernstein is a third-year law student at the University of Michigan and can be reached at dbern@umich.edu.

here is a riot at the United States Capitol, but you happen to be in Miami, Florida on vacation. When choosing to post either a beach picture or an educative update of the insurrection, is it not obvious what is more important to share with your followers on social media? To “be political” has recently become a certain personality type. When some people choose to be apolitical, however, they choose to not involve themselves in the dialogues that occur on online platforms. There are two types of people who choose not to engage in those discussions on social media. The first know they are not invested in social media and don’t feel that posting anything will make a change in the world, but they may know they made a more important change at the polls earlier this year. These people are not truly apolitical, they are just nonexpressive. The issue is the second type of people, those who choose to not be political, and instead, show off their unaltered lives in this political climate. Being apolitical is a privilege — being able to ignore current events or how the decisions politicians make affect your daily life is an example of privilege. These people are not only demonstrating that they do not need to concern themselves with the changes in our country that impact tens of millions of others, but they are willing to actively steer societal conversations away from those changes. On Jan. 6, Trump supporters charged the U.S. Capitol in a white supremacist attempt to stop the confirmation of President-elect Joe Biden. The response by the police to this event highlighted the stark contrast between the Black community’s experiences with the police and that of the white

community. Namely, law enforcement was far more violent toward Black Lives Matter protesters this summer than toward the predominantly white rioters storming the Capitol building. On the Thursday following the event on Jan. 6, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg chose to suspend President Donald Trump’s Facebook account after being flagged several times on the platform for misinformation. This series of events established plenty of opportunities to get political on social media, and many college students did. While many people chose to use social media to show solidarity and spread information, plenty of people were posting anything other than the content that mattered for the day. I was disturbed by a picture of a Spotify song recommendation or dinner array at a hotel restaurant in Florida amid the postings of rioters sitting at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s, D-Calif., desk and scaling the walls of our nation’s Capitol building. With the heightened political atmosphere this past year with the election, the Black Lives Matter movement and the pandemic, most people can agree that 2020 was hard on our mental well-being. It is easy to see how people would need a break from social media and the constant flood of news. It is also easy to feel suffocated by all of the Instagram stories and Tweets that may begin to lose educational value over time. I cannot emphasize enough that choosing to not participate in social media politics is OK, but choosing ignorance in a tumultuous time by sharing examples of an unharmed, privileged life is not.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com Dimitra Colovos can be reached at dimitrac@umich.edu.

Sports

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Freshmen impress in Wolverine weekend sweep

ALEC COHEN/Daily

Michigan freshman Jaedan Brown impressed in her debut for Michigan.

ALEX WALKON

Daily Sports Writer

With every other match clinched, Michigan freshman Merri Kelly found herself in a third-set tiebreaker, and all eyes turned to her. Kelly and Wisconsin sophomore Charmaine Seah traded points until Kelly’s groundstrokes eventually proved too much to handle, taking a 10-8 victory in the tiebreaker. The Michigan women’s tennis team’s return to the Varsity Tennis Center was flooded with late game heroics, yet the highlight of the weekend was the Wolverines’ new faces and their ability to respond to adversity. “I think our freshman class is as good as any in the country,” Wolverines’ coach Ronni Bernstein said. “I see them stepping up and having a huge impact for us this year.” Freshman Jaedan Brown proved Bernstein’s point by opening her second day of singles with a dominant first-set win over Northwestern sophomore Briana Crowley, 6-0. Crowley came

storming back, taking the next set, 6-4, and jumped out a 2-0 lead in the third. Brown responded by winning six of the next eight games, taking a 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 victory. “(Brown’s) maybe one of our best,” Bernstein said. “It’s still early obviously, but with her skills, I think she could be a great player for us.” Freshman Gala Mesochoritou joined the mix after falling just short in a crushing 6-7 (4) firstset defeat against Wildcats’ sophomore Christina Hand. Showing composure beyond her years, Mesochoritou extended the match with a gritty 7-5 secondset victory before cruising 6-2 in the third, including an emphatic overhead to finish the match. Freshman Kari Miller played with a lead for most of the weekend, but she handled the pressure confidently when the time came. Ohio State junior Kolie Allen pushed Miller to the brink on the final day of the tournament, where Miller found herself down the majority of the first set before clawing her way back to tie things at six apiece.

“(Miller) is going to be really good and already is,” Bernstein said. “She doesn’t take a ball off ever.” Miller snatched the tiebreaker 7-5 and never looked back en route to a 6-1 victory in the second. Kelly, Brown, Mesochoritou and Miller combined for an 11-1 record over the weekend in their singles debut, putting the rest of the Big Ten on notice. The Wolverines’ freshman class came in with lofty expectations as highly touted recruits, but their early success is a product of more than just talent. The influx of freshman has bolstered a lineup with experienced, tested players ready to lead their new teammates. Graduate student Chiara Lommer’s role on the team has expanded to far more than winning matches. “We talk to our team about this: (Lommer) doesn’t give up, doesn’t quit on one point,” Bernstein said. “She’s an incredible competitor and it’s awesome for the younger kids to see that because she wins by fighting.” Lommer isn’t just a leader by example. Her intensity is commanding and infectious. “(Lommer) is probably the best person to play doubles with because she’s always so positive with you,” Bernstein said. “I think it helps (Brown) at moments when the pressure is on.” In matches defined by momentum swings, the young Wolverines often had their backs against the wall, but they took it as an opportunity to showcase their resolve and relentless effort early on in Michigan’s season. “Their tennis speaks for itself,” Bernstein said. “They fit in and they work hard. “Our girls respect them a lot on the court already.”

Wednesday, January 20, 2021 — 9

‘M’ navigates past ranked opponents to begin shortened season

ALEC COHEN/Daily

Michigan coach Mike Bottom saw his women’s team sweep Saturday.

CONNOR EAREGOOD For The Daily

Diving head-first into the season, the No. 9 women’s swimming and diving team (2-0) put critics’ questions to bed with a convincing double dual meet performance. The Wolverines reigned over No. 20 Indiana (1-1) and No. 24 Northwestern (0-2) on Saturday as they beat the Wildcats 185.5112.5 and outpaced the Hoosiers 174-126. Michigan dominated the freestyle events in its first meet since the Big Ten Championship last February. Senior Sierra Schmidt and sophomore Kaitlynn Sims placed first and second, respectively, in the 1000-yard and 500yard freestyles. Junior Maggie MacNeil took home first in the 200-yard freestyle, while senior Daria Pyshnenko won the 50 and 100-yard freestyles. MacNeil and Pyshnenko — along with freshman Sophie Housey and junior Olivia Carter — teamed up for first in the 400-yard freestyle relay. While MacNeil is no stranger

to freestyle events, she does not regularly swim the 200-yard freestyle for the Wolverines. Her victory was quite special against swimmers who train specifically for the event. “(MacNeil’s 200-yard performance) was something that coach Rick Bishop did to win the 200-yard freestyle,” Michigan coach Mike Bottom said. “We’ll take them where we can get them. That’s part of being a coach.” MacNeil was also slated to swim the 100-yard freestyle, but Pyshnenko replaced her at the last minute, making a sacrifice to help lift her team. “We had a moment where MacNeil was supposed to swim the 100 freestyle and wasn’t feeling up to par,” Bottom said. “(Pyshnenko) had to step up to win that 100 freestyle.” One of the most exciting races of the day was the 200-yard backstroke, in which sophomore Mariella Venter, freshman Casey Chung and freshman Sophia Tuinman placed in first, second and third, respectively. Chung, Venter and Tuinman also placed first, second and fourth,

respectively in the 100-yard backstroke. Carter played a key role for the team, winning both butterfly events and the 200-yard individual medley. In the 200-yard butterfly, Carter finished more than four seconds ahead of her opponents. Slower times were expected at this meet as the teams placed focus on the late February Big Ten Championship, but the effort clearly remained as the athletes raced for the first time in what seems like ages. Carter praised Housey and junior Victoria Kwan for the grueling schedules they faced. With Kwan facing a quick turnaround between the 200 and 100-yard butterfly, she had little time to recover between events. Housey took a similar turnaround in stride, this time just an event separating her performances in the 200-yard individual medley and 200-yard freestyle relay. Despite the Wolverines facing more of a struggle in the dive events, some positives could be taken from the team’s performance. Senior diver Christy Cutshaw placed fifth in the 1-meter dive and seventh in the 3-meter coming back from an injury, and freshman Taylor Peters made her debut at the meet. Not only does the meet raise expectations for the rest of this season, but also for future seasons. With underclassmen playing a significant role in the team’s success, this meet showed that the team possesses the tools to be a long-term threat for the Big Ten Championship. Despite being the first formal meet since last February, Michigan looked ready to go from the start of the day. Whatever rust existed from the long gap in competitions seemed negligible for the Wolverines, who proved to be a well oiled-machine.

On journey to the top, Kelley paves the road for those behind him GRAYSON BUNING For The Daily

Expectedly, the sentence “I’ve broken my legs around 16 times” often takes people by surprise. For many who share the unfortunate commonality of having suffered a leg fracture, the experience is regarded as one of their most traumatic. The logical, justified follow-up to such an incredible statement would be to explain the ways in which these fractures negatively impacted their own life — the frustrations, the limited mobility, the pain. For Michigan Adaptive Sports and Fitness athlete and decorated grad-student and wheelchair tennis player Chris Kelley — who has, in fact, broken his legs 16 times — this isn’t the case. Instead, Kelley quickly follows up with a qualification designed to illustrate that he’s come away from these experiences not with a desire for sympathy, but a sense of gratitude that things aren’t worse than they are. “I have a pretty mild form of a pretty severe case,” Kelley said. “It could be significantly worse than what it is.” Kelley was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, a very rare genetic disease. Also known as ‘brittle bone’ disease, the genetic abnormality means that the production of the structurally important protein known as collagen is abnormally produced in the body. As a result, parts of the body that depend on collagen to function properly are negatively affected, with bones being the primary example. Those with osteogenesis imperfecta experience bone fractures at very high frequencies, limiting their ability to participate in most contact activities. “Thankfully, I’ve only really had it impact my legs. I’ve never broken my arms and I’ve never broken a rib, so I’m pretty lucky,” Kelley continued. Some of those who have suffered more severe leg fractures require what’s called a “rodding” surgery, wherein a metal rod is inserted into the leg to stabilize the bone and reduce the likelihood of future fractures. The vast majority of those who undergo a rodding surgery

only ever need one. Kelley has had four — both of Kelley’s femurs and tibias are supported by large metal rods. Through a combination of innate talent and sheer determination, however, Kelley has rendered these tribulations largely obsolete. Despite getting a relatively late start to wheelchair tennis — he only began to play organized tennis during his freshman year of high school — Kelley has forged an extremely successful career for himself. By his junior year of high school, Kelley was selected to represent the U.S. Junior team at the World Team Cup, one of wheelchair tennis’s biggest international showcases. He performed well and was subsequently asked to be part of the United States Developmental team, putting Kelley in a prime position to eventually be promoted to the men’s national team, the pinnacle of wheelchair tennis in the U.S. “He can definitely be a part of our team USA that goes and represents us as part of the World Team Cup for the men’s team,” one of Kelley’s national team coaches, John Devorss, said. “He’s dedicated, he’s a great competitor and he works hard, so time will tell.” Upon obtaining his bachelor’s degree in social work from Grand Valley State University, Kelley decided to take some time before returning to school for his master’s degree to fully immerse himself in the world of wheelchair tennis. “It was definitely one of the most fun gap years that I think anybody could have,” Kelley said with a grin. During that time off, Kelley crisscrossed the U.S., competing in tournaments in places like Oregon, California and Florida. With each match, his reputation as a formidable competitor grew. “He had an absolutely fabulous year,” Craig Kelley, Chris’s father, said. “Less than six losses the entire season. It was tremendous. By the end of 2019, Kelley ranked second in the United States Tennis Association’s Men’s A division for wheelchair tennis. Soon, he planned to move into the Men’s Open division, the most prestigious international division in the sport. As a part of the Open division, Kelley would be competing alongside athletes like Shingo Kunieda and

Gustavo Fernandez, the world’s very best wheelchair tennis players. However, as the year 2020 rolled around, the COVID-19 pandemic quickly dashed Kelley’s hopes of moving into the Open division. His ascendancy would have to be put on hold — for now. With a break in the action, Kelley decided that it was time to return to school to obtain his master’s degree and become part of a collegiate wheelchair tennis program. Given his meteoric rise in 2019, he was hotly recruited by a number of renowned programs. Among them was the University of Alabama, a powerhouse in the collegiate adaptive sports world and winner

athlete, but also as a way to help grow the program into being one of the best in the nation,” Kelley said. And maybe fate played a bit of a role. Shortly after his first e-mail correspondence with Dr. Feranmi Okanlami, the Director of Michigan’s Adaptive Sports and Fitness program, Kelley was flying home from a tournament in New York. After passing through security, a voice from behind asked, “Hey, are you Chris Kelley?” Startled and slightly unnerved at being referred to by name immediately after a typically uneasy TSA encounter, Kelley turned to find none other than Okanlami. “After that, I thought maybe

PHOTO COURTESY OF GRAYSON BUNING

Chris Kelley has fast risen to the top of wheelchair tennis’s rankings.

of five of the last seven wheelchair tennis national championships. Also among them, however, was Michigan — a program in its infancy looking to gather enough athletes to even begin competing at the national level. For the extraordinary amount of work required to overcome the hardships he’d faced up to that point, Kelley certainly would have been forgiven for opting for the easier route and joining the established Alabama program. After all, their recent record imparts little doubt that they’ll be among the favorites to win the wheelchair tennis title for years to come. Instead, he chose Michigan. Kelley chose the project. “I saw the University of Michigan not only as a way to be an adaptive

Michigan is the place where I’m supposed to be,” Kelley said. Although the lack of competitive opportunities in 2020 was a disappointment, it wasn’t the end of the world for Kelley. With his now-slender schedule, Kelley set his sights on a different pursuit: finding ways to help expand access to sports for individuals with disabilities. When one hears of a story like Kelley’s — a highly talented athlete arriving late on the scene yet still managing to rapidly ascend the ranks of their sport — one question begs to be answered. Why didn’t they start sooner? In Kelley’s case, and in the case of so many other athletes with disabilities, the answer seems to be that they simply didn’t know that opportunities for them to

participate in sports existed. Despite their good intentions, Kelley’s elementary and middle school physical education teachers often simply didn’t know how to get him involved safely. “Giving P.E. teachers and educators the tools to introduce adaptive sports to students with disabilities is a huge part of it,” Kelley said. “The other main one is physicians,” Kelley added. “I was diagnosed at the age of two. I had doctor’s appointments constantly, and I don’t remember a physician ever mentioning that adaptive sports were a possibility.” Kelley is convinced that this can be remedied. Over the summer, Kelley worked closely with Adaptive Sports and Fitness staff members to develop the ASIRI project, a collaboration with Project Healthy Schools to develop a more inclusive physical education curriculum. The curriculum aims to embed adaptive sports and inclusive recreation programming into the physical education experience of young students with and without physical disabilities across the state of Michigan. After he completes his master’s in sports management, Kelley hopes to continue working with the Adaptive Sports and Fitness program full-time. “One of my main goals is to grow adaptive sports at the university level, so I want to find ways to get involved and stay involved as much as I can,” Kelley said. While Kelley aims to continue to expand access to sports for individuals with disabilities by developing more projects like the ASIRI project in the future, his true passion lies elsewhere — coaching. “I’ll look for adaptive sports jobs first with the hopes of finding something where I can either develop a program or do some diversity, equity and inclusion work,” Kelley said. “But if I can coach out on the court for even one day a week, that fills my bucket. It’s my dream job.” Kelley has been coaching tennis for nearly as long as he’s been playing. In high school, Kelley got his first taste of coaching while helping out with local children’s programs. Throughout his time at Grand Valley, Kelley subsequently

expanded his coaching to include adult classes at a nearby tennis club. Since then, Kelley hasn’t been able to get enough of it — he’s traveled across the Midwest with the United States Tennis Association to lead wheelchair tennis clinics, taken on the role of coach for Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital’s youth wheelchair tennis team and has spent a year as the assistant coach of a high school varsity tennis team. “I love that he’s somebody who’s teaching both kids and adults, both able-bodied and in wheelchairs,” Devorss said. “Truly, that’s an amazing thing. It’s rare.” Kelley’s coaching acumen is bolstered by support from his father, Craig, an experienced tennis coach with a degree from Ferris State University in Professional Tennis Management. The two have coached alongside each other at a number of camps, allowing Kelley to draw directly from the wisdom of his father. “He’ll even help me too, at times,” Craig Kelley said. “He’ll say ‘Hey, I think you might be being a little too firm with the kids.’ It goes both ways.” From his many years of coaching, Craig Kelley has come to realize the most important concept to instill in the minds of young players, a concept Chris has already taken to heart in his own coaching. “Above anything, it’s the love of the game,” he said. “You want to make sure that you keep the spirit within them, making sure that they want to come back and play day after day.” Added Chris: “It’s important to realize that sport is supposed to be a good opportunity to grow a community and to get physical activity. It’s not life or death.” One day, Chris Kelley admits, there’ll come a point in time when continuing to compete will no longer be an option. Years of swinging a racket with extreme force will mean Kelley’s shoulder cuffs and wrists will deteriorate. Eventually, his body simply won’t be able to sustain the wear and tear any longer. Before fully setting his sights on coaching, however, there’s one thing Kelley is adamant about accomplishing. “I want that national championship ring,” Kelley said.

Sports

10 — Wednesday, January 20, 2021

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Boards, lights and ice: the backyard rink that produced Michigan captain Jack Becker TIEN LE

Daily Sports Contributer

Russell Becker trudged out to the backyard, dragging the hose with him. A kid waddled through the snow, curtly behind him. Boards. Check. Lights. Check. Goalposts. Check. Russell ran down a mental list of things he had to prepare. Luckily for him, the kids were too young to need the nets. It was that time of year again — winter — an eagerly anticipated time for the Becker kids. As November approaches, so does Minnesota’s cold, harsh winter. But alongside the bitter winds that nip at their noses comes the chilling temperatures that let them host their own personal ice rink at their home. Jack Becker followed his dad, helping him carry the hose through the basement doors leading from the back of their house to the open field where they had laid the rink boards prior. Jack and his brothers always loved to help their father set the stage, but when it came to most of the heavy work, Russell did that by himself, at least until Jack reached the age where he could also do heavy lifting. Jack loved the backyard rink. When his brothers could come out to skate with him, they would play games, pretending to be different NHL players. It was the spot he went to when he needed to practice. It was the spot he went to when his friends came over to play. It was the spot that he never wanted to leave, even when the ice became rough and cut up. He took to it as often as he could. *** Play stopped and all heads turned to Jack Becker, as the then11 year old was sprawled on the ice, breath heavy. It was hard to see his face through his breath’s fog that condensed against the cold, hard, winter air of Duluth, Minn. But if you looked closely enough, past the mist and the clenched hand held up to his nose, you could see blood dripping down Jack’s face. He was in his backyard, in the

homemade ice rink his family put together — his personal kingdom, his own sanctuary. And yet, out there on his rink, he had taken a hard hit and was trying to contain his bloody nose. It was around Christmas time and his extended family had gathered at their house to celebrate the holidays. Aunts, uncles, cousins: All came in to join the Beckers and, naturally, most of them took to the ice in the backyard. Hockey runs deep within their family’s roots. His cousins played at Division I schools. His uncles had grown up playing all their lives. And his father, Russell Becker, played four years at Michigan Tech and helped coach Jack every step of his playing career. When Jack was old enough to walk, Russell nudged him towards the ice. When he was old enough to play, Russell joined the bench as a coach to most of his teams. And that day, Russell wanted to teach his son another lesson. Russell was always a hard-nose, physically imposing player. When he played under then-Huskies coach Mel Pearson, he had to earn his stripes playing with hustle, effort and passion. And even after he stopped playing, he carried that mentality everywhere he went — including a festive backyard hockey game among the family. That day, son and father split onto opposing teams. Neither side wanted to lose. The rink — one that Jack and his dad had built together — was smaller than an average rink, but only by a bit. The tighter enclosure, however, meant that it would be more jam packed with action. And it was. Jack saw it first hand when he went for the puck, blindsided by a check from his dad. It came to the surprise of none. Everyone there knew Russell liked to play hard. And that day, he made sure Jack knew. Play stopped as Jack laid on the ground. Before anyone could go over to help him, or before Jack could patch up his wound, his dad came to him and told him exactly what he should do next: ‘Get up.’ Added Jack: “So I got up and just

continued playing.” For Russell, it was routine. Get hit, get up, hustle. “(Russell) was obviously a big stay-at-home, hard-nosed defenseman,” Pearson said about his former player. “He was a strong kid, tough kid, was just a simple, just a simple player. You can see a lot of similarities with Jack. The dad was a solid no-nonsense, hardworking, very polite, humble type person, and that’s what you have in Jack.” As soon as Jack picked up the sticks and put on the skates when

else. You know, it’s always easier to get after your own kid than maybe to try to get after somebody else’s.” Finding that balance between dad and coach took some time for Russell. Was he being too hard on Jack because Jack was his son? Was he letting him off the hook with something for the same reason? What would people think looking in from outside? “You didn’t want other parents to think that you were being biased towards your kid,” Russell said. “All those types of things make it tough

COURTESY OF PIONEER PRESS

Six-year-old Jack Becker watches as his hockey heroes are introduced at the start of the NHL All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2004 in St. Paul, Minn.

he was three, Russell ran with it. From mini mites to as far as he could, Russell helped coach Jack, sitting behind his bench mostly as a defensive coach for the teams. But being able to coach Jack was enough. “I look to my parents a lot for a lot of things in my life,” Jack said. “I think when on the ice he’s my coach, and you know, you gotta respect him, but he’s still your dad.” In terms of playstyle, there’s not much to pass down. Russell specialized in hustle defense, Jack wanted to be a forward. Jack quickly became a better skater, as noted by Pearson, but Russell passed on his effort and work ethic and some defensive techniques. “Sometimes, dads can be harder on their own son than they might be another player,” Pearson said. “Just they don’t want to show any favoritism. And I think you demand more out of your son than somebody

Michigan routs UIC, 409.000-328.100

to be a dad and be a coach.” But once he found the healthy median, it became a much simpler task. Jack was an easy kid to coach. “He’s just such a respectful kid,” Russell said. “From that standpoint … he was an easy kid to coach, he was always the hardest working kid on the team.” It was an experience for Jack that he remembers fondly. He didn’t think about the intricacies of his father being his coach. He just treasured the moments where he could play while his dad was on the bench, helping him along the way. “After high school, you know it’s never really going to happen again,” Jack said. “And Dad worked really hard to learn so many things from the ADM or the USA hockey development model there. He worked so hard to help us to have practice plans that were good.

“I just thought it was such a blessing. Really fun having him as my coach.” Even with all his father’s history in the sport, playing hockey was always a choice, never an obligation for Jack growing up. But being surrounded by hockey from a young age — between his uncles, cousins and, most importantly, his father — his mind had always been made from the get-go. Jack loved hockey. He never wanted to leave the rink, any rink, whether he was playing or not. And his dad helped make that possible. For a portion of Jack’s youth, Minnesota was without a professional hockey team after the North Stars moved to Dallas in 1993. However, after a small drought of professional hockey, in 1997, St. Paul, Minn. was awarded an expansion team. That team would become the Minnesota Wild, who had their inaugural season in 2000. The return of an NHL team in the state would domino to Minnesota hosting its first All Star Game in 32 years during the 2003-04 season. Russell decided it was a can’t miss event for him and his boys. He wanted them to learn the game, in part, by watching and being around it, sure, but this was an event that only came around so often. He wanted them to just be able to be there and enjoy the moment. Jack walked into the doors of the Xcel Energy Center side by side with his dad and one of his younger brothers, Joe. The then-six-and-ahalf year old could barely hold back his excitement. He had even thrown on the jersey of one of his favorite players, Marian Gaborik, for the occasion. The trio had come early, hoping to catch the players warming up. Together, they scaled the steps of the arena until they stopped at their seats, placed directly behind the glass. Russell and Joe began to sit down, but Jack had other plans. He stayed standing, mesmerized by the surroundings and hoping to get a better glimpse at the players as they came in. His hands pressed against the glass, Jack leaned in, eyes wide in anticipation.

And then came the players, the All Stars. Bursting in from the tunnel, they skated laps around the rink. In awe, Jack threw his hands over his mouth, a picture-perfect moment for the occasion. That’s exactly how St. Paul Pioneer Press photographer passing by saw it too. The photographer snapped a picture of the moment and the next day, had it plastered on the front page — showing the world what the Becker family already knew. “It’s a cool photo,” Russell said. “And it just shows at a very young age him gazing at these players and how much he loved the game.” Added Jack’s mother, Trisha: “His face is priceless because he is looking out the glass and you can see his reflection in the glass. He is so happy to be there and so consumed by the whole scene that he just looks like that’s exactly where he wants to be, in the rink.” *** Back home, when dusk came around, the skating on the ice didn’t stop even as the puck started to blend in with the darkness that surrounded it. Time didn’t deter Jack, all he had to do was flick the switch for the lights, and continue to skate on his outdoor rink. It was a joy for him to be out there, no matter the hour. “I always say that Jack has always had a passion, and you can’t really teach a passion,” Trisha said. “He just really loves to be on the ice. He just really has always loved to be out there.” Early in the morning, late at night, nothing stopped him from being in the rink. The nets came out when he got older to make it easier to catch flying pucks. The lights came on when it got dark. A bad practice didn’t discourage him. Neither did a bad day in general. When he could, he’d make his way to the ice and shoot. It was a way to outlet his thoughts and, sometimes, his emotions. “Whether it’s a stress relief or he just enjoys the whole process of being on the ice,it is a good stress reliever for him.” Trisha said. “He’s always pretty focused on it.” For Jack, it is therapeutic.

Wolverines ready to regroup after first loss TEDDY GUTKIN Daily Sports Writer

JULIA SCHACHINGER/Daily

Paul Juda’s dazzling performance in vault was critical to holding momentum in Michigan’s win.

ABBAS KAGAL

Daily Sports Writer

Sophomore Paul Juda took a deep breath and broke into a sprint for the vault. Juda, the fourth in Michigan’s vault rotation, was following three subpar vaults from the Wolverines. With IllinoisChicago holding a 0.100 point lead in the round, Juda knew his opportunity to shift the round in his team’s favor lay within his grasp. With all eyes on him, Juda leaped over the vault and stuck the landing, letting out an emphatic roar while his teammates rushed towards him. Juda earned a 14.650 for the vault, the highest vault and individual score up until that point. Michigan went on to win the round behind subsequent strong finishes from senior Nick Guy and sophomore Adam Wooten, and the Wolverines closed out UIC with resounding victories in the last two rounds. No. 3 Michigan men’s gymnastics (1-0) opened its season with a 409.000-328.100 dual meet win against the Flames (0-1) on Sunday, with each team performing at its respective training facilities. Despite the unusual format of virtual judging and the

absence of fans, the Wolverines showcased their preparedness from the very beginning. “They seemed to keep the energy up,” said Michigan coach Kurt Golder. “They did a great job as the meet went on. Enthusiasm didn’t slow down or dwindle away or anything like that.” Wooten opened for Michigan in round one, floor exercise, and earned a score of 13.400, immediately setting the tone for the entire meet. The Wolverines went on to win each of their next five matchups and finished with a steep 11.150 lead over UIC. Michigan further extended its lead to 31.200 following round two, pommel horse. Senior Anthony Tawfik opened for Michigan, while senior Cameron Bock earned the highest score of the round with a 14.400. It looked as if the Wolverines couldn’t be stopped. The next round, rings, mirrored rounds one and two, with strong performances overall from Michigan’s rotation. Sophomore Casey Cummings opened round four (vault) for Michigan. At this point, with a 48.350 lead and all the momentum in their favor, the Wolverines looked to cap off their outstanding routines

from the previous three rounds and push their lead out of reach. Desperate to keep their hopes alive, the Flames strung together an impressive first three vaults and gained a lead over Michigan. But just as UIC began building confidence, Juda stepped up to the challenge. “I live for the clutch, I live for the pressure,” Juda said. “A quote that I resonate with is ‘it’s a privilege to have pressure.’ I knew the guys really were counting on me to do a good routine right there, and I had to do it.” Michigan cruised through parallel bars and high bar, with Juda earning the highest individual score of 14.700 in parallel bars. He had the best overall performance and led the team in four events, with Bock leading the team in the remaining two. Michigan’s first competition ended just as it planned, securing a commanding lead from the get-go and winning each round handily. The Wolverines face No. 4 Nebraska next week, the first of many tough Big Ten matchups. Michigan’s mentality is to do everything it can to win, and the Wolverines will need to show the same dominance on the road as they did on Sunday.

“When the street fight started, we didn’t answer it.” Michigan men’s basketball team’s assistant coach Phil Martelli’s words perfectly encapsulated the scene of the Wolverines’ first defeat of the season which came on the road at the hands of then-No. 23 Minnesota on Saturday. After coming into the contest averaging 80.2 points per game, Michigan only managed to put up 57 points in an 18-point loss and tied its season-high 20 turnovers. “You can practice it as many times as you want, but if you make a bad decision in the game, that’s just the way it is sometimes,” sophomore wing Franz Wagner said. While the whole team was disappointed in its performance, the Wolverines believe that their first loss can help them grow stronger. “Obviously everyone picks on what you did wrong, and they try to exploit ‘why didn’t you win,’ but there are good things that come out of losses,” graduate transfer guard Mike Smith said. “The one thing that I can take away from this is that we always have to be ready to go — 24/7 — and just continue to compete at the highest level because it’s not going to get any easier.” After scoring in doublefigures in the first 11 games of his collegiate career, freshman center Hunter Dickinson was notably held to just nine points in 23 minutes. Gophers’ head coach Richard Pitino instructed his squad to double team Dickinson in the post nearly every time he touched the ball which gave both Dickinson and Michigan plenty of trouble. “I didn’t think he was overdoing it,” Martelli said. “I think in a way he was not as

JULIA SCHACHINGER/Daily

Michigan expects to bounce back against Maryland following its first loss of the season.

sharp. He’s been so sharp and his IQ is so high. Rather than getting things done in a beat, it was taking him a beat and a half to recognize what was going on which was unusual.” Alongside Dickinson, Smith struggled shooting the basketball as well. Despite having 10 assists, Smith failed to score a point, shooting 0-of-6. He also turned the ball over three times in 37 minutes of action. It was a rare down game for Smith, who has averaged 8.4 points and 5.8 assists per game and has served in a steady role as the team’s primary point guard. “I did a poor job of leading the team regardless of scoring,” Smith said. “I think I should’ve led more and been more vocal. I take accountability for that. Being a point guard and being the older guy on the team, I think I fell short of doing that for the team.” After the loss, Michigan held film sessions to understand where things went wrong. The film session helped to demonstrate to the team that Minnesota’s defense took it out of its normal offensive f low, forcing it to adjust its system that had proven to be so effective through 11 games

on the f ly. After breaking it down, though, the Wolverines think they may have found solutions on how to respond. “I was surprised by the things we saw (on film), they’re pretty easy to fix I think,” Wagner said. “So that’s kinda my mindset going into the next game is we gotta play with our habits, what made us get those first couple games and then it doesn’t really matter that much what other teams throw at us.” A loss, especially the first one of the season, is always a tough pill to swallow. But Smith believes that the loss will only streng then the bond that he and his teammates have. “A lot of teams, either that I’ve been on or in general, when you lose, people start pointing fingers,” Smith said. “But at the end of the day, even when we were down 20 and the second team was in, we were up clapping for everybody. “We wanted to see them succeed because we know how much time they put in to be out there. This is going to help us become closer and want to win more and to fight for each other.”

JANUARY 20, 2021

SPORTSWEDNESDAY

MICHIGANDAILY.COM

R A I S I N G

THE BAR

MADELINE HINKLEY/DAILY | DESIGN BY JACK SILBERMAN

MICHIGAN DOMINATES OHIO STATE IN SEASON-OPENING MEET KENT SCHWARTZ

Managing Sports Editor

Both Michigan and Ohio State experienced setbacks on the uneven bars. The difference came in the way the two squads responded. For the Wolverines, junior Abby Heiskell barely missed the bar on her way down from an aerial off the high bar and fell onto the mat. Her teammates picked her up and finished the bars with three straight 9.9-plus scores to close out the event, punctuated by junior Natalie Wojcik’s emphatic fist as she pumped it in victory upon landing her own 9.925 routine. Ohio State, meanwhile, couldn’t muster a similar response. It couldn’t match the firepower of the

Wolverines on either of the first two events, or indeed in the entire meet, as Michigan (1-0) surpassed Ohio State (0-1), 197.225-196.000, on Saturday. “On any event, you have to be able to recover from a mistake, and I thought on both bars and beam the team did a great job of not allowing one mistake to affect their performance when they came after,” Michigan coach Bev Plocki said. “I would not expect perfection on the first meet out so I’m not upset that we had a mistake, but we learned from it.” Raina Malas’s early mistake on the uneven bars didn’t spell doom for the Buckeyes in and of itself, but it did take away options on their path to victory. Options that were few to begin with. At the halfway point in the meet,

Michigan held a 0.775 point lead over its rival, thanks in large part to that strong committee on bars. Junior Abby Brenner had her highest-scoring bar routine since 2019, notching a 9.900. Fellow junior Maddie Mariani also matched a career-best score with 9.900 on beam with a routine that made her appear glued to the beam, tying with junior Natalie Wojcik for a team-high. “(Mariani) was remarkable on beam, and that’s what she’s capable of,” Plocki said. “She’s becoming more experienced in learning how to handle her nerves under pressure and do that routine like she does in front of us every day in practice.” The remaining options for Ohio State to notch a comeback were dashed by the anchors of Michigan’s

roster. Sophomores Gabby Wilson and Sierra Brooks, coupled with Wojcik, were on point throughout the meet. As the only three gymnasts to compete in all four events for either team, seven of their 12 performances surpassed the 9.900 mark, while only once did the Buckeyes’ entire squad have a routine reach it. “That’s what it’s all about, it’s having those athletes that are rock solid and they can do it week in and week-out,” Plocki said. “Regardless of what happened before them, they can go out there when the lights turn on and perform.” Sprinkled throughout the meet were moments of exaltation. Wojcik’s triumphant fist bump on bars was accompanied by Brenner’s shout of victory following her floor routine. The energy built from the very first

run on vault and ended in a victorious applause at the end of Wojcik’s clinical floor routine. At the end of the night, six of the top seven routines on vault were by Michigan athletes, leading to a 49.300 score. Five of the top six routines on bars led to 49.400. Six of the top eight routines on floor led to 49.450. Only on beam did the Wolverines fall behind the Buckeyes: Its 49.075 score lost to 49.100. Michigan’s meet on Saturday was an exhibition in excellence. From its start on vault, the team clad in blue came out prepared and determined, snatched a lead and never gave it back. And though they didn’t lack mistakes, the Wolverines overcame them in a way its opponent couldn’t: Through depth, through inspired routines and through emphatic determination.

Sports

12 — Wednesday, January 20, 2021

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

For Ziyah Holman, stunning comeback brings moment in the spotlight By now, you’ve probably seen the clip. If you haven’t, Michigan freshman Ziyah Holman takes the baton for the final leg of the 4x400 relay at Saturday’s Simmons-Harvey Invitational from 25 meters behind her closest competitor. With- THEO in seconds, MACKIE she passes an Ohio State runner. A lap later — mere steps from the finish line — she uses a final burst to bury Indiana too, winning the race for Michigan with a 51.79 second split. “51 seconds of thrill” is how Anthony Belber, her high school coach at Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C. describes it. On social media, hundreds of thousands feel the same way. As of Tuesday afternoon, the video has 454,000 views on Facebook, 204,000 on Twitter and 47,000 on Instagram. What hasn’t made the social media rounds is Holman’s 600meter race an hour and a half earlier. There’s less drama to that one because she won by four seconds with a time of 1:29.27, topping a pair of Ohio State seniors. “It was a stadium record, a meet record and an NCAA lead (for the season),” Holman said by phone Tuesday, with the nonchalance that accompanies expectation. After all, she’s used to this. She’s been an anchor in the

ALEC COHEN/Daily

In her first collegiate meet, Ziyah Holman ran 1:29.27 in the 600-meter and anchored the 4x400 relay.

4x400 since she was a freshman in high school. The only time she can remember not being in that position was at the 2019 Pan American U20 Championships when her team set an under-20 world record. So when she took the baton Saturday afternoon, she just reminded herself to do what she was taught. “Just go test them, honestly,” Holman said. “Just go get them, see how far you can get. As the race keeps going, you see yourself getting closer. Like oh my god, I’m actually getting closer.

Why would I try so hard and not try to win?” When she did, it was more familiar than anything. “All the time in high school, honestly,” Holman said when asked if she’s ever experienced a similar comeback. “That was my thing.” Five hundred miles away, those were the memories that raced to Belber’s mind as he watched on a live stream. As Holman took the baton, he turned to his daughters and said, “If this were high school, she would’ve caught those girls, but this is too big of a gap for

college.” 51.79 seconds later, Holman proved it wasn’t. “I know how strong she is, but it even blew away my expectations for what kind of a time she would be running this time of year,” Belber said. “She made the college athletes around her look like they were just high schoolers.” For Holman, the race itself wasn’t as stunning as the social media attention it garnered. For 47 months, every four years, track is a sport that often blends into the background. She was a three-time Gatorade Player of

the Year in high school, but that doesn’t bring the same fame as it does in football and basketball. So when Saturday’s video went viral, it brought Holman a level of attention she’s never experienced before. “I’ve gotten so many messages, it’s not even funny,” Holman said. “I feel so bad because I’m still replying — trying to reply — to everyone, but honestly it’s pretty impossible. I’m still replying to stuff from Saturday.” Since Saturday, she estimated she’s gotten 500 direct messages from family, friends and fans across Instagram and Twitter, with about 100 left to respond to. It’s not all positive, though. Holman said she’s gotten one or two racist messages, which she brushes off with an admirable absence of second thought. “I can’t sit here cursing people if I wanted to, because that’s not done with class,” Holman said. More than anything, that’s the lasting difference in her life from Saturday morning. With one stunning, come-from-behind leg of a 4x400, she’s immediately been thrust into the public eye. “It’s real, people are watching me now,” she added. “Anything that you do has to be done with class, honestly, because you have so many people at your back.” If everything goes according to plan, Holman will have even more people at her back this summer. Before COVID-19 postponed the 2020 Olympics to this summer, she had

received an invite to Olympic trials for the 400 meters. She’ll almost certainly be invited again, this time with a year of college training and experience under her belt. “It gave me some more time and more confidence, honestly,” Holman said. “I don’t know what I would’ve done last year.” That’s the other impact of Saturday’s race. In 2016, the eighth and final American to qualif y for the 400 meters posted a 51.80 in trials. If Holman can repeat Saturday’s performance, she’ll put herself in strong contention to do the same. And while athletes generally post faster times with running starts in relays, Holman did so on an indoor track — which has more turns — and with tired legs from her previous accolades that day. If she does qualify for the Olympics, she’ll have reached her ultimate goal. But for now, Saturday’s meet — the first of her college career — is a pretty good place to start. “I had no idea what was gonna happen,” Holman said. “I just came out there to compete. I have goals, but I definitely didn’t expect a 51.7 split. That was crazy. I couldn’t believe that.” On social media, neither could hundreds of thousands of new fans.

Mackie can be reached at tmackie@umich.edu or on Twitter @theo_mackie.

Johnson and Beniers lead the way for Michigan’s offense

MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily

Freshman forward Matty Beniers has registered 11 points this season playing on a line with Kent Johnson.

JOSH TAUBMAN Daily Sports Writer

Tune into a Michigan hockey game and chances are that Kent Johnson and Matty Beniers will catch your eye. The freshman forwards have taken the Big Ten by storm this year, playing on a line together. Johnson has been on a torrent scoring pace with a team-leading 16 points — and his 12 assists top the Big Ten. Beniers has been successful in his own right, as his 11 points indicate, the third-highest total on the team. “They’re really engaged with each other as far as how they want to play,” Michigan coach Mel Pearson said. “Matty’s probably got a little bit more of a motor and speed. Kent’s a little bit better cerebrally and (with) what he does with the puck. But they both read off each other extremely well.” Putting the duo together paid off almost instantly. In their first collegiate hockey game against Arizona State, Beniers found the back of the net twice and Johnson had the primary assist on both goals. They’ve only gotten more comfortable with each other as the season has gone on.

“We both know where we are, where we’re going to be when we’re going around the ice and where we want the puck when we’re shooting,” Beniers said. “We’re just building chemistry right now.” They have contrasting styles on the ice, but their combination of abilities makes them tough to beat. Beniers stands out for his ability to play a 200-foot game. He’ll be circling around the offensive zone looking for a scoring opportunity then moments later hustling back to play defense. And he doesn’t let up the entire game. “He’s never taken a day off, he doesn’t know how to,” assistant coach Kris Mayotte said. “His motor and his compete is elite. You don’t coach that; it’s something special that he has in him.” Johnson, meanwhile, has a dazzling flare to his game and can pull out highlight reel plays at a moment’s notice. Much like Beniers’s ability to grind out long possessions on both ends of the ice, Johnson’s flashy moves are more of a natural instinct than a coachable trait. “I just try to not really think when I play and just let my training and my subconscious do the work,”

Johnson said. “If I feel like I need to do something between my legs to make the best play, then I’ll do it.” Johnson and Beniers are both currently projected as top ten picks in the 2021 NHL draft. Having two top NHL prospects on a line together is a rare privilege, and the Wolverines have taken full advantage of it. Before the season, Pearson emphasized that the key to strong lines is to have two guys who play well together and then build off of it. It’s been a revolving door at right wing on the line, but it hasn’t slowed the duo’s production. “I think you’ll see them be even better in the second half,” Pearson said. “We just got to find the right guy to put on the right side with them.” Michigan has a lot of talent on its roster, but if it wants to make a deep tournament run, it will have to push the right buttons to maximize that talent. Halfway through the season, it’s clear that pairing Beniers and Johnson together has been a step towards achieving just that. “We saw from day one, they’re smart players,” Pearson said. “A smart player needs smart players to play with them.”