Graduation Edition 2021

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INDEX

Vol. CXXX, No. 29 ©2021 The Michigan Daily

NEWS.........................2 OPINION.......................4 ARTS.............................6

MIC...............................8 S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 0 A D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 2

News

2 — Graduation Edition 2021

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

ACADEMICS

‘U’ comments on professor refusal to recommend study in Israel KATHERINA SOURINE 2018 Daily Staff Reporter

University of Michigan professor John Cheney-Lippold is facing claims of anti-Semitism after rescinding his offer to write a recommendation letter for LSA junior Abigail Ingber, who requested the letter for an application for a study abroad program in Israel. Cheney-Lippold, who works in the American Culture Department, expressed his apologies in the email but claimed that as part of an academic boycott against Israel, he would be unable to write a recommendation for the student. Club Z, an organization that works to empower and network Jewish students who are committed to Zionism, posted the screenshot of the email exchange to Facebook Sept. 16. The group criticized the email, claiming the message was anti-Semitic. The post also noted the U.S. Department of Education recent changed its definition of anti-Semitism to include situations that hold Israel to a double standard in comparison to other democratic states. “As you may know, many University departments have pledged an academic boycott against Israel

in support of Palestinians living in Palestine,” the email read. “This boycott includes writing letters of recommendation for students planning to study there.” Cheney-Lippold acknowledged his mistake in claiming University departments support the boycott and amended the statement he made in the email. His support of the boycott, he explained, is a personal stance. “I support the boycott because I support solidarity,” he said in an interview with The Daily. “I follow the idea that people who are being discriminated against or people who need help … I feel compelled to help them. I was following a call by representatives of Palestinian civil society to boycott Israel in a very similar tactical frame as South Africa. The idea is that I support communities who organize themselves and ask for international support to achieve equal rights, freedom and to prevent violations of international law.” This boycott comes on the heels of last year’s iteration of the #UMDivest movement, and the reulting Central Student Government resolution calling for the University to investigate divestment from companies that violate Palestinian human rights. The resolution passed last November with 23 votes in favor, 17 against and five

abstentions. The following December, the Board of Regents rejected to consider the resolution in an online statement. Michigan Hillel Chair Kendall Coden, an LSA senior, described her disappointment with CheneyLippold’s decision not to write the letter, saying professors should encourage students to explore educational opportunities without the influence of personal politics. “I can’t speak for all students, but I know that I and many others feel hurt by this decision,” Coden said. “Studying in or visiting Israel is an opportunity to immerse ourselves in an Israeli culture that is different from our own, but also a Jewish culture that is very familiar and part of our own identity. Students should not be denied the opportunity to experience another culture as a result of a professor’s political viewpoints.” University Public Affairs released a statement regarding the incident, reaffirming the consistent opposition of boycotting Israeli institutions of higher education. The statement upholds no academic department or unit officially maintains a boycott. “It is disappointing that a faculty member would allow their personal political beliefs to limit the support they are willing to otherwise provide

ADMINISTRATION

Climate and 1U protesters blockade exit after Regents, forcibly moved by police EMMA STEIN & LIAT WEINSTEIN

2019 Daily Staff Reporters

Members of the Climate Action Movement and the One University Coalition from all three U-M campuses joined forces to protest before and after the Board of Regents meeting on Dec. 5, ultimately blockading the exits following the meeting in response to the University’s lack of action regarding their demands. U-M Flint senior Lucine Jarrah, a member of One University, addressed the crowd at the pre-meeting protest. She began by saying the University has not listened to these student activists and has instead actively pushed them aside. “Over the last year, our movements have been actively demonstrating the urgency and addressing the drastic inequities in Flint and Dearborn, as well as establishing a carbon neutrality agreement at the University of Michigan,” Jarrah said. “Instead, for months we have been consistently sidelined by the Board of Regents who have been dismissive in every opportunity to communicate our mission.” Jarrah said no progress has been made in the One University Campaign, and while the University says they support their cause, no action has been taken. “Time and time again we are seeing the University of Michigan deny and reject the inequitable conditions on the Flint and Dearborn campuses,” Jarrah said. “This denial has only managed to fuel the instability and mistrust between our campuses and, in the end, students are the ones getting left behind. The One University Campaign was formed in January of last year. It is now almost a year later, and we have yet to see the results we need … words of solidarity are no longer enough. We need action and we need it now.” LSA junior Solomon Medintz, who writes for The Daily’s Opinion section, was the last speaker before the board meeting. He noted while the big picture goals and demands are important, the point of the protests at the meeting are to get the bare minimum of action needed to keep the University on track. “This is a critical moment, and we haven’t gotten anything, and we need to know that we’re going to have a chance of getting our big picture goals,” Medintz said. “We’re not asking for everything today; we’re asking for what is absolutely necessary.” Medintz then expressed his frustrations surrounding the

University’s decision not to take action. He said despite the administration voicing their support for the movements, nothing has happened. “Both our movements have met with the administration and regents dozens of times, and although officials have said they support our goals, they do nothing,” Medintz said. “They do absolutely nothing. So, we are here to say that we are not going to be silenced or pushed aside anymore.” LSA junior Amytess Girgis told The Daily the University is mistreating people of color, not only on campus, but around the world, because climate change disproportionately affects minority populations. “The University of Michigan is the top public institution in the country, and the fact that it is neglecting communities of color, low-income communities, not only in the state, but frontline communities around the world in its complicity with climate change is really not becoming of a number one public institution,” Girgis said. Before the last public commenter addressed the Board of Regents, the 1U and CAM members present in the meeting exited the room chanting, “The people united will never be defeated.” Wearing 1U pins and holding signs criticizing the University for continuing to invest in fossil fuels, the protesters gathered in front of all entrances to the golf course, creating a blockade so cars could not drive through. In an interview with The Daily at the protest following the meeting, Regent Michael Behm (D) said he remains supportive of the protesters even though most regents choose not to respond to their statements during the public comment section of the meeting. “(The meeting is) not conducive to having a conversation,” Behm said. “Many of the topics that came up are things we’re presently working on. And I think it’s good that we do have comments like this, because the comments make the board mindful of how the community feels.” In response to the protesters’ demand the University reach carbon neutrality by 2030, Behm said the University’s administration is working toward making small changes that ultimately bring the University closer to this goal. “Instead of making a hollow promise and not being able to live up to it just with an arbitrary date, the University wants to make sure that we can truly achieve carbon neutrality,” Behm said. “I think (the changes) can be incremental.” Regent Paul Brown (D) also came to the post-meeting protest. He addressed the current culture at

board meetings to stay silent after the public commenters in an interview with The Daily. He said he wished he could respond, and that there needs to be a better line of communication and more transparency. Brown also noted the Regents do care about issues such as climate change and inequitable funding on the different campuses and spend time brainstorming solutions. “As a new Regent, I’m trying to understand the protocol and why the current protocol exists,” Brown said. “But I, and probably every other regent, is crawling out of our skin wanting to respond to each speaker. Right now, the culture is to not. I suspect there are a lot of good reasons for it, but we have to figure out a way to answer each of these questions, because that’s what the questioners deserve. … we have to figure out a way to communicate what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, because the questions that the speakers brought up, we spent most of the day today working on. We are focused really on the issues they brought up today.” While most of the protesters were gathered at the main entrance on East Stadium Boulevard, some were at a back entrance and a walkway to prevent administration from exiting. Police officers and security began bringing out barricades to stop the activists from leaving the front area, even if they were just trying to get to their cars. The officers said “there was no reason to go down there,” and threatened to arrest anyone who tried to cross the barricade for trespassing. Eventually, the police and security forcibly moved and held back the protesters blockading the back exit and waved the cars of the administrators and regents through. After the protesters were pushed aside by police officers and forced to vacate the entrances, Girgis and Medintz spoke to the remaining crowd and praised their efforts, saying they were “brave” to risk possible arrest for their cause. Girgis said even though they made progress in forcing the board to listen to their statements, students will still need to put pressure on the University to agree to their demands. “The fact of the matter is that, yet again, discussion has been avoided about the issues that matter most to us,” Girgis said, causing a chorus of “boos” from the crowd. “About the issues that matter to the state and the people of Michigan, and about the issues that matter most to the nation and the world as a whole. And, to be clear, this is not an isolated incident. We’ve been doing the work for a year and being ignored. And that’s why we’re here, and that’s why we’re angry.”

for our students,” the statement read. “We will engage our faculty colleagues in deep discussions to clarify how the expression of our shared values plays out in support of all students.” Cheney-Lippold affirmed the boycott focuses on institutions rather than people and stated that denying Ingber’s academic opportunities should not be in question. “The perennial claim of antiSemitism I fully deny,” CheneyLippold said. “I have no bad will against the student, and I would have very gladly written a letter for any other graduate program or study abroad. The idea is that I am just one person, and by refusing to write that letter or at least rescinding it, I tried to keep to my conscious and to the fact that I believe that the boycott is a good tactic to enhance human rights and to get everyone in Israel-Palestine to have what international criminal court and the U.N. in general has requested, which is equal rights for everybody.” Cheney-Lippold also said he wanted to focus on the importance of dialogue within the University on this issue as well as highlight the student organizations on campus who are furthering knowledge on the issue for the campus and upholding diversity of thought. “As a professor, I’m not just a

machine writing things for people,” he said. “I have opinions and even though a letter of recommendation is about the student, a lot of thought goes into them. It’s not a blank check where I’m signing for them to go to any place they want, it is a dialogue. It’s what the University is about, talking through differences and really figuring out where each other stands, not expecting something or assuming something, but really trying to get into what is the key difference. Seeing what can we do more, how can we have a larger campus-wide discussion. I want to push it beyond the horserace politics of what John did or did not say.” LSA junior Sophee Langerman said she fully supports Cheney-Lippold’s decision as a boycott, divestment and sanctions activist, but reaffirmed the complexity of the issue and the diversity of opinion among students on campus. “I believe that this professor is 100 percent correct in his refusal of writing a recommendation letter in support of the BDS movement,” she said. “A trip to Israeli-occupied Palestine would mean the support of the mass murder and oppression of not only Palestinians, but Ethiopian Jews, Mizrahi Jews, East-Asian immigrants and other non-white

minority communities. BDS cannot support that. I would also like to point out that this professor was never under any obligation to write this student a letter of recommendation, and in fact, she got more than most students do by receiving a reply about why he would not participate.” Langerman hopes the boycott can encourage peaceful dialogue and activism for students and faculty alike at the University. “As far as I have experienced, Jewish and Palestinian communities on campus have always had a divide due to the rhetoric produced by Zionist entities that anything ‘pro-Palestine’ is anti-Semitic, which is just flat out incorrect,” she said. “If anything, I hope that this professor’s boycott empowers the rest of the academic community to take a stand against apartheid regimes, and brings forth more fruitful dialogue surrounding the BDS movement – and why it is such a crucial form of nonviolent activism.” Ingber told The Michigan Daily she is currently unable to comment on the incident, as she is waiting to discuss it with University officials. According to Club Z’s Facebook page, they did not receive the message from Ingber, but rather from another University professor to whom the email was sent.

CAMPUS LIFE

MLK keynote speaker Angela Davis: “What we need now is to generate hope” JASMIN LEE

2020 Daily Staff Reporter

“It is important for us to learn how to pay tribute to those whose names we don’t necessarily know,” activist and Martin Luther King Jr. symposium keynote speaker Angela Davis said in her lecture Jan. 20 at Hill Auditorium. “And to recognize that the agents of history are not so much the leaders and the spokespeople but rather the masses of people who develop a collective imagination regarding the possibility of a new future.” Hill Auditorium was filled to capacity for Davis, a prominent activist, author and distinguished Professor Emerita at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives (OAMI), among other University of Michigan departments, sponsored The Martin Luther King Jr. symposium. The theme of the symposium was “The (Mis)Education of US.” Davis has taught at the University of California, Los Angeles, Syracuse University, Vassar College, Stanford University and others. Davis is also the author of novels such as “Are Prisons Obsolete?” and a collection of essays called “The Meaning of Freedom.” Davis was once on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Ten MostWanted Fugitives list and a registered member of the Communist Party for over 30 years. She was also involved with the Black Panther Party and feminist movements. The anticipated turnout was accounted for by overflow rooms in the Michigan League and Hatcher Auditorium. Robert M. Sellers, vice provost for Equity and Inclusion, and University President Mark Schissel provided opening remarks before Davis took the stage. Jeryne Fish, Business graduate student and student-athlete, introduced Davis by talking about Davis’ life as an activist and how that has affected her work. The Guild, a poetry collective, kicked off the event with a skit and poem about highlighting narratives often overlooked in American classrooms. Guild member Candace Jackson, Rackham student, told The Daily the message of the performance was to show different perspectives in history that have been sugarcoated. “A lot of the events that happened throughout the Civil Rights Movement and beyond with indigenous people are usually sugarcoated, they’re not usually the truth,” Jackson said. “They’re typically skewed to favor the dominant, white, upper-class perspective. So we’re just trying to

shed light on that perspective.” Davis was welcomed onto the stage with a standing ovation. She started her speech speaking about King, mentioning the fact that King spoke at the University in 1962. She noted having seen King, Rosa Parks and Malcolm X in her youth, adding that elementary students even asked her if she had met Harriet Tubman. In her talk, Davis emphasized celebrating King’s birthday as a symbol of achievement after the struggle for Black freedom. “With MLK Day, not only do we celebrate the spirit of a Civil Rights Movement, but also the fact that the declaration of King’s birthday as an official holiday,” Davis said. “Because this is the outcome of a very long struggle.” Sellers recognized that the land the University campus resides on belonged to indigenous people. Davis said other universities she’s spoken at have not made that same acknowledgement. Davis also discussed the role indigenous people played in helping the Black struggle for freedom, referencing slave rebellions in South Carolina and Hispaniola. “In each of those uprisings, African people were assisted by indigenous people,” Davis said. “You can not accurately narrate the history of the Black struggle for freedom without taking into account the pivotal role that the indigenous people played in that struggle.” LSA freshman Clara Paz NúñezRegueiro said she felt it was important that Davis acknowledged the connection between the struggles of indigenous people and Black people. “One of the things that really stood out to me, especially as a woman of indigenous descent, is the fact that she spoke about the solidarity between Black and indigenous people and how our struggle for liberation and for equality is so much more than that,” Núñez-Regueiro said. “It’s so intertwined and intrinsically connected, and that was incredible. I feel so cleansed after seeing that.” One of Davis’ passions is prison reform, as she spent 18 months in jail and on trial during the 1970s. She touched on the issues of the prison system and how companies are making profits from deportations and building larger prisons. Davis shared an example of how the company G4S is making a profit from the prison system and deportation services. “One of the largest corporations in the world, G4S, is self-identified as the world’s leading global integrated, security company … G4S has owned for-profit prisons all over the country and all over the world,” Davis said. “Most of its custodial, education services, immigration and border

services and its rehabilitation services … are services for profit.” Davis spoke about abolishing the prison system, linking it to the system of slavery. “Abolition is not simply about abolishing the institution of the prison as a discrete institution,” Davis said. “It is not enough to focus on abolition in the narrow sense and this we learned as lessons from the so-called abolition of slavery.” LSA freshman Binta Wilson told The Daily Davis’ words on incarceration changed her perspective on the government’s role within the prison system. “I resonated with (her talk) because it just changed my viewpoint on a lot of things in the government, in the country as a whole and other countries,” Wilson said. “She basically alluded that the prison system was like modern-day slavery and that is true. I do believe that and that touched me.” Davis also emphasized that many progressive achievements get universalized, implying more change than what actually occurred. She used women gaining the right to vote as an example — this historic achievement only granted white women the vote. “This is the year 2020,” Davis said. “What significant centennial anniversary are we observing this year? … White women got the vote in 1920. That is what we should acknowledge, and that is very important, and I applaud that. But all women did not get the vote in 1920. Black women did not legally acquire the right to vote until 1965, with the passage of the Voting Rights Act.” In her ending remarks, Davis also discussed respecting those who identify with the LGTBQ+ movement and their contributions to the Civil Rights Movement. “Feminism is important not simply to acknowledge that women are affected by the prison system, (but) trans people and gender nonconforming people,” Davis said. LSA freshman Mahnoor Imran said she admired how Davis spoke about multiple issues to show the audience how they are all interconnected. “She really hit every single point,” Imran said. “She brought up pretty much every marginalized and disenfranchised group. I thought it was a really powerful lecture. I feel like it’s difficult to pinpoint one thing because I think that the struggle for liberation is very interconnected.” Davis reiterated that with the upcoming election, people have the power to make a change. “We all need to participate in the electoral,” Davis said. “So what we need now is to generate hope.”

News

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

NEWS BRIEFS

Classes go online due to COVID-19 BARBARA COLLINS, CLAIRE HAO & EMMA STEIN 2020 Daily News Editors

The University of Michigan announced on March 11 all classes on all three campuses will be held online beginning March 16 through the end of the semester, April 21, in response to the COVID-19 virus. Classes on March 12 and 13 will be canceled. However, the University will remain open, including dorms and dining halls. In a statement shared on Twitter, University President Mark Schlissel wrote the changes are meant to maximize the safety of the campus communities. “To protect the health and safety of our communities and minimize the spread of #COVID19, @UMich is making changes to classes, travel, study abroad and large events on our Ann Arbor, @UM_Dearborn and @ UMFlint campuses,” Schlissel wrote. Events expected to attract more than 100 people will also be canceled, including Honors Convocation. According to the statement, updates about plans for commencement will be provided when more information is available. On-campus sporting events will be limited to parents and members of the press. All 2020 spring and summer study abroad programs through the University will be canceled, given the severity of the outbreak. All other University international travel will also be suspended, except under rare circumstances requiring approval. The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic the afternoon of March 11 as the virus continues to spread globally. The move to online classes comes a day after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency following the diagnosis of the first two cases of the COVID-19 virus in Michigan. In a press conference the evening of March 10, Whitmer said she declared the state of emergency to maximize efforts and to assist local governments and officials in slowing the spread of COVID-19. “We’re taking every step that we can to mitigate the virus spread and keep Michiganders safe,” Whitmer said in the press conference. The two diagnosed cases in Michigan include a middle-aged Oakland County woman who has recently traveled internationally and a middle-aged

ANN ARBOR

Hundreds march for justice

CALDER LEWIS & JULIANNA MORANO 2020 Daily Staff Reporters

Wayne County man who has recently traveled domestically. Michigan Medicine announced the morning of March 11 the hospital is treating one of the two confirmed Michigan coronavirus cases. According to the University’s webpage on COVID-19, individuals should wash their hands often with soap for 20 seconds, avoid close contact with those who are sick and to stay home when sick to prevent the spread of the virus. Prior to the University’s decision to move classes online, universities across the state had already suspended in-person classes. Michigan State University suspended all face-to-face classes beginning at noon March 11, MSU President Samuel Stanley announced in an email to MSU students earlier that day. Online class instruction will last until April 20. Central Michigan University also asked students not to return to campus after spring break and announced they will be moving their classes online through March 20. CMU will make a decision on whether to continue online classes on March 19. Wayne State University announced afternoon of March 11 it will be extending spring break until March 23 to help plan for the transition to online classes. Other universities across the United States called off in-person classes the same week, including Harvard University and Ohio State University. As classes have been canceled across the country, some on social media have noted the sudden requests for students to leave campus may be harder to adjust to for students who may rely on university housing or meal plans. Additionally, they said some students may depend on workstudy as a source of income. Others have noted students may not be able to go home because of transportation costs or travel restrictions, or because coronavirus may be more widespread in that location. Before the University announced the cancellation of classes, students on campus began creating a spreadsheet of resources to help students who may be disproportionately impacted by the changes. Michigan Dining sent an email to MDining employees the afternoon of March 11 letting students know they plan to continue having food available. The email stated MDining is increasing their sanitation processes – including the back of the house and some spaces leading up to the dining hall. Additionally, greeters are no longer swiping M-Cards and students swipe their own.

Graduation Edition 2021 — 3

The afternoon of May 30, hundreds of community members gathered at the University of Michigan Diag and marched through Ann Arbor in protest of recent incidents of police brutality against Black Americans that shook the nation. In his opening address to the crowd, Ann Arbor resident Myles McGuire, the sole organizer of the event, called it a “civil rights protest.” “Here we are, putting our lives in danger during a pandemic to protest civil rights,” McGuire said. “Not equal — civil. We’re asking people to be civil. Asking. We should not have to ask for civil fucking rights. We should not have to fear that our brothers and our sisters and our mothers and our fathers are going to be slaughtered by the ones meant to protect us and save us and help govern our communities.” McGuire commented on the diversity of the crowd gathered before him, which was predominantly young and multiracial. “We have to be in this together,” McGuire said. “This is not going to start and end with Black people. It’s not going to start and end with cops. It has to be done together.” After asking the crowd “Are you with me?” McGuire invited protesters to follow him across the Diag towards the State Street shopping area. Protesters marched throughout the downtown streets, holding signs and chanting, “Hands up, don’t shoot,” “Black lives matter” and “No justice, no peace.” Ann Arbor resident Kash Rai held up a sign reading, “Our skin color is not a crime.” He said he wanted to send a message that law enforcement should treat all citizens equally, regardless of race. “It’s mostly about white cops treating colored people less than they would treat another white person, such as a noise complaint,” Rai said. “It’s ‘Hey, shut this party down,’ to a Black person versus, ‘Can you just turn it down?’ to a white person, which I’ve experienced personally.” Rasem Piromarm, a recent graduate of Caledonia High School, said he found out about the protest from his cousin who lives in Ann Arbor. Having grown up facing discrimination in his predominantly white township, Piromarm said he came as a show of solidarity. “All I grew up hearing was, ‘You’re a terrorist. You’re a bomber,’ because I’m Muslim,” Piromarm said. “It was like it was me against the world … And I relate so much to what’s going on. Just everything about what the cops are doing right now — I don’t understand

how we even have to protest.” After marching through downtown, protesters reconvened in a circle around the Diag. McGuire called for a moment of silence, then invited those present to take the megaphone and share their stories. A Ypsilanti native and recent graduate of Grand Valley State University spoke first. The speaker has requested anonymity in fear of retaliation. He shared that, while his family has had positive experiences with officers in the past, he was disturbed to see a video of a Black woman, Sha’Teina Grady El, being punched in the head by a white Washtenaw County sheriff’s deputy in Ypsilanti Township last week.

studied racial disparities in the School of Public Health. She said coming to the protest was her way of viscerally supporting marginalized communities instead of just writing about them. “To show up, especially in the middle of a pandemic, knowing the risk that I’m taking, these are minimal risks compared to what Black and brown folks go through every single day,” Cruz said. “Not being able to go on runs, not being able to do anything. So me putting myself at risk, being in a big crowd of people, not necessarily social distancing is like the bare minimum of what I could do.” The second time protesters marched through the streets, additional cries of “Say his name” rang out from

because there’s riots going on across the entire world. This is what our second pandemic is.” Medical student Solomon Rajput — who is currently challenging U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., for Michigan’s 12th congressional seat — said the support of people who were risking their health and safety to attend the protest demonstrated the strength of the movement. “Think about how much larger this crowd could be if we were not in the middle of a pandemic, and marvel at how large it currently is,” Rajput said. “The size of this crowd says that we are done waiting on our politicians and our structures in this society that keep insisting there’s nothing that can be done, that Black people who

ANNIE KLUSENDORF/Daily

“I woke up at 8 a.m. like I do regularly … (went) on Twitter and I saw that woman getting beat by the same cops that have saved me and my family,” the speaker said. “For me, that’s scary. I live in Grand Rapids. I’m not here in Ypsilanti all the time. So if something happens to my mom and I catch word of that on Twitter or something like that, I’m not gonna lie, I’m going crazy. I’m showing out. I’m doing whatever I can to show those cops, straight up, you’re not gonna do that to people who look like me, you’re not doing that to my mom. So now I’m proud to say, ‘Fuck cops.’ I’m saying that straight up.” Eastern Michigan University student Dayvon Steen attended protests in Ypsilanti the week before after the incident involving Grady El. He commented on the significance of a large protest focused on racial justice in the heart of Ann Arbor, which has a much smaller Black population than Ypsilanti. “In places like a suburban area in general, it’s cool when you get to see a lot of people that aren’t Black— like white people— come out and support the Black community, cause there’s not much of a Black community in areas like this,” Steen said. University alum Jennifer Cruz

protesters, followed by “George Floyd” as well as “Trayvon Martin.” Several drivers temporarily slowed by the protesters’ route could be seen taking out their phones to capture images and recordings of the protest, with some honking their horns in unison with the protesters’ chants. Officers from the Ann Arbor Police Department were also present along the routes. McGuire said AAPD officers spoke with him before the event, offering to help him direct the march through traffic and check in at every intersection. “I was fortunate enough to have them show that courtesy, and that willingness, and, you know, just stand with us because they’re also affected by this,” McGuire said. “They have families as well and they don’t want to have their jobs demonized or, you know, have their badges revoked.” Rackham student Travis Jones III said the large show of support during the pandemic indicates a sense of urgency for the movement against police brutality and a chance to break the cycle of anger followed by inaction. “A lot of times it’s like, we’re serious, but then we’ll go back to our regular lives because we have obligations,” Jones III said. “With the pandemic going on, this is another pandemic

just died at the hands of brutality are just collateral damage in the fabric of American life.” The size of the protest grew steadily as the afternoon went on. The marchers passed by Engineering senior Marlon Green’s home as he was leaving to workout and he changed his plans to join in. “I couldn’t have timed it any better,” Green said. “ I literally walked out and everybody was coming through. I was on my way to keep going, but eventually I was like, ‘Let me go ahead and join this.’ Why not?” Earlier, McGuire emphasized the need for sustained energy in movements that normally die out. “I think a lot of people may assume that this is just something that will blow over after a few protests, a few monologues, a few riots,” McGuire said. “We have to challenge legislation. We have to challenge local officials. We have to vote. We have to vote.” Jones III said that given the “crazy” events of 2020, there is no such thing as normal anymore. “We knew stuff was gonna be different once we got out of the quarantine, and this is obviously different,” Jones III said. “Change is coming, or rather, change is already here.”

ACADEMICS

Graduate students to strike in protest of fall reopening DOMINIC COLETTI

2020 Daily Staff Reporter

The Graduate Employees’ Organization, which represents more than 2,000 graduate student instructors and graduate student staff assistants, announced Sept. 7 that its members have voted to strike in response to the University of Michigan’s fall reopening plans. The move could substantially disrupt academic operations in the following week. In a press release announcing the strike, which is set to begin Sept. 8, GEO noted the gravity of the decision. According to the release, 79 percent of GEO voters supported the work stoppage. “This is an historic moment; GEO membership has voted to strike in the middle of a pandemic at the beginning of the academic year, and is prepared to withhold our labor in pursuit of a safe and just campus for all,” the statement read. In a Twitter thread outlining its plans, GEO said the union will hold an emergency virtual general membership meeting the night of Sept. 7 ahead of the strike, which will feature both in-person and remote components. “Much of our picketing will be in person, and we’ll make sure that safety is paramount. Masks are required, and we’ll be physically distant on the picket line,” one tweet read. The strike will be time-limited and run until Sept. 11, with the potential for reauthorization if the University does not meet the organization’s demands. GEO is asking for the diversion of funds from the Division of Public Safety and Security and more COVID19 protections, such as the right to

work remotely for all graduate student instructors, more transparency in opening plans and protection from hiring discrimination for those who wish to work remotely amid the pandemic. GEO’s press release said policing and COVID-19 are closely linked. “We highlight that GEO views our anti-policing demands as inseparable from our COVID demands,” the release read. “They are linked explicitly, through the University’s decision to expand the policing of our community in a perverse effort to enforce social distancing, and implicitly, through the ways the crises of the pandemic and racist policing both disproportionately affect the most vulnerable among us.” GEO has called for a “safe and just” response to the pandemic and held a “die-in” the week before to protest the in-residence semester. Local leadership came to the decision to hold a strike vote amid concerns the University was not adequately responding to their demands. GEO Secretary Amir Fleischmann, a Rackham student, told The Daily the organization’s bargaining team felt continued negotiation would be futile. “It’s the feeling of our bargaining team that there was not much more progress to be made at the bargaining table,” Fleischmann said. “And that’s why we feel it’s necessary to resort to these tactics. Because the University has shown that it’s not really been willing to compromise on a lot of these issues.” GEO’s announcement comes on Labor Day, a federal holiday in honor of American workers. The strike follows the ratification of the union’s new three-year contract with the University in April. In an email to The Daily, University spokesperson Rick Fitzgerald pointed

out that GEO striking violates both the union’s contract and state law. “The state of Michigan prohibits public employees from striking,” Fitzgerald wrote. “GEO’s contract with U-M also prohibits the union and GSIs and GSSAs from taking part in any action or interference with the operations of the university, such as failing to report for duty or the failure to perform their employment duties.” Fitzgerald said GEO had raised a variety of issues that “cannot be resolved as a matter of their contract or through a collective bargaining procedure.” He added that the University still intends to move forward with classes despite the strike. GEO’s press release accused the University of failing to discuss their members’ concerns about policing in tandem with demands involving the school’s response to COVID-19. “The University has again refused to bargain over these policing-related demands in our current impact bargaining negotiations, claiming that they are not relevant to University COVID-19 policies,” the release read. “GEO membership’s commitment to including anti-policing demands in our current stoppage platform demonstrates how urgent and linked our membership’s priorities are. The university administration has run roughshod over the lives of the community’s most vulnerable.” Some members of the University community have taken issue with the use of police officers to monitor student behavior for violations of social distancing guidelines as part of its Ambassador Program. Others worried the program didn’t have strong enough enforcement mechanisms. The University reversed course in response to the criticism. On Aug. 30, the University confirmed the program

will no longer have sworn officers in patrolling teams. The teams still include unarmed members of the Division of Public Safety and Security. “As always, police may be called to activities that present a safety risk or are in violation of the law, but the idea is for Michigan Ambassadors to first proactively provide outreach in the community to communicate and remind students about public health best practices,” University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel wrote in a Sept. 3 email to students. Fleischmann said members are particularly frustrated by the University’s hesitance to address issues where it would not have to spend any additional money. “And in particular, some of these things are issues that would not cost the University a dime to implement,” Fleischmann said. “In particular, like the changes to the childcare subsidies that we’re asking for, or demilitarizing DPSS, that’s not something that would come out of the University’s budget. So there’s not really a good reason we can see for why they would do this aside from obstinacy.” GEO is associated with the American Federation for Teachers, which announced in July it will support “local and/or state affiliate safety strikes on a case-by-case basis as a last resort.” The Lecturers Employee Organization, a union representing non-tenure track faculty at the University, expressed support for GEO’s decision, claiming similar frustrations with the administration in a statement. “Like our graduate student colleagues, LEO condemns the way the Administration has mismanaged the return to classes this Fall: employees, including Lecturers, were not properly

consulted; information about the Fall plan, and internal disagreements over it, have been withheld; and the testing regime in place appears inadequate to the task of keeping students and employees safe,” the statement reads. “We stand in solidarity with GEO and all of the graduate student workers concerned for their lives and livelihoods, and encourage Lecturers to support their efforts.” The University of Michigan’s chapter of the College Democrats also rallied behind GEO, issuing a statement in support of the union and encouraging their members to sign up for picket shifts. “Unlike University ‘leaders,’ we are proud to stand behind GEO as they take the bold leadership required to protect the safety and well-being of our fellow students and the broader Washtenaw County community,” the statement read. Ryan Glauser, a member of GEO, took to Twitter on Sept. 5 to express his frustration with the University for not meeting graduate students’ demands. “… Grad students have asked for help for months!” Glauser wrote. “When we asked for emergency funding, we were denied. When we asked for pay raises that match (University) documentation on living standard, we were given an inflation rate increase.” Glauser was not alone in using social media to promote the strike vote. Several GSIs spoke out in favor of the strike and encouraged their colleagues to participate. Former GEO member Jean Hardy, previously a PhD candidate in the School of Information and now an assistant professor at Michigan State University, described the strike as a question of protecting the University

community. “My former union @UMich is voting on a strike in response to the university’s inability to protect its students, faculty, staff, and community members during the pandemic,” Hardy wrote on Twitter. “As an alum (because I can say that now), the way the university is handling this crisis is deplorable.” This isn’t GEO’s first time taking action against the University. In 2008, members called for a two-day walkout. According to GEO’s website, the first day “saw large crowds and some of the University construction sites were shut down when workers refused to cross the GEO picket line.” The effort was “so effective that UM ultimately agreed to a 13.2% increase in wages over 3 years for its GSIs, healthcare for all fractions, and domestic partner coverage,” the website reads. This time around, other members of the University community are again pledging not to cross GEO’s picket line. Fleischmann said LEO members have agreed to refrain from punishing graduate students for their role in the strike. The union is also asking undergraduate students not to attend class, virtually or in person, as a show of solidarity. “I would say that GEO is fighting for everybody on campus with this work stoppage,” Fleischmann said. “Our policing demands in particular affect undergrads of color, who are harassed by DPSS and threatened physically by the presence of police on and around campus. And I would also add that having a more robust testing policy from the University, which is one of our demands, is something that would protect the safety of everybody on campus, (and) also everybody in the Washtenaw County community.”

Opinion

4 — Graduation Edition 2021

MIN SOO KIM | 2020 COLUMNIST

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From The Daily: We must support impeachment

How is my English?

ne of my graduate student instructors last semester was Asian. Her English was not necessarily perfect, as she carried a little bit of an accent, but I never had trouble understanding what she was saying during discussions. Every now and then, she would get ahead of herself — as we all do — trying to answer questions. One day, from the back of the room, I heard someone say, “I have no idea what she’s saying.” I thought him speaking over her was disruptive, but decided not to bring it up at that moment and instead settled with giving him “a look.” The discussion ended some 20 minutes afterward, and as we were all getting ready to leave the room, I heard the same guy jokingly ask his friend if they should switch to a different section, where the GSI could speak better English. I’m an international student from Korea who first came to the United States as a high school freshman. Trying to adjust to a completely new environment, I had one major concern: my English. I started learning English at the early age of five, thanks to my wise and perceptive parents. Somehow, I was able to speak the language without much accentuation, and as the years went by, I improved. At one point, I was asked by one of the teachers in my school, a native English speaker, if I was born in an English-speaking country. That felt good. For someone traveling all the way to the other side of the globe for the first time, by himself, as a 15-year-old, I was confident about my language skills and knew I wouldn’t have any problem communicating with the people I was going to meet. High school was great. Although it was one of the most stressful times in my life, it still remains one of my dearest memories. But there was one thing: I, who spoke almost perfect English, was accepted more as a friend and a student, when compared to my best friend who had a slight Korean accent. This dynamic made me think an American accent was an important distinction that made someone’s English more acceptable

than another’s. I luckily never lost the confidence I carried with me to the U.S., a confidence I developed from the validation I felt by not having an accent. Speaking without an accent nearly became an innate quality of mine: I did not have to constantly remind myself that I was not a native speaker. College is also great. By the time I got to Ann Arbor, I had already forgotten about the whole accent issue. And then I was unexpectedly reminded of the whole thing from that disruptive classmate. Following that day, I was more selfconscious about my near-perfect English. I had to think twice before I opened my mouth. I was afraid I might stumble through words or occasionally mess up the Ls and Rs, as they are sounds often fumbled by Koreans. I hesitated before saying the word “parallel.” An upcoming impromptu speech in my public speaking class suddenly felt like a nightmare. After spending a couple of days unnecessarily stressing myself out, I began to question the importance of an accent in speaking English. Is it really important or is it just another distinguishing factor that makes certain people sound better than others and nothing more? There was a brief experiment about the importance of an accent in English, conducted in Korea. Two groups of people, Koreans who only spoke limited English and native English speakers, listened to a speech delivered in English by Ban Ki-moon, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations. After the speech, both groups were asked to give remarks and assess the quality of the speech. Ban Ki-moon’s speech was targeted to a group of diplomats, so it was very eloquent and formal in manner and delivery, with an appropriate level of vocabulary used. The result of the study was interesting. Koreans who only spoke limited English generally thought the speech was a relatively poor one. Given Ban’s accent, they said it was hard for them to make out what he was saying. However, native English speakers responded by saying they did not have too

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

much trouble understanding him and were very impressed by the quality of the speech in general. So, the experiment — at least to a certain degree — proved the accent is of minor concern in evaluating a speech. The experiment also proved that native speakers tend to focus more on the content, not the accent, as much as those who don’t speak the language. Theclassmatewhomadethosecomments is an American and a native English speaker, I assume. What compelled him to make such comments? Of course, we must be wary when it comes to generalizations. In this case, I cannot assume that my classmate is like the native English speakers from the experiment who did not consider an accent to be of much importance. But the joke toward the end of the class made me think again. It made me reminisce about my high school experience and forced me to be conscious of my English for a while. What is clear, though, is that the comments made by my classmate were completely unnecessary. My classmate never switched to a different section after all. I don’t want to shed my classmate in a negative light per se. Nor am I writing this piece out of emotional reaction. The University is becoming more inclusive and diverse regarding students and faculty alike. There are a lot of international students like me, as well as professors and instructors from all around the world. Maybe some of them have such unique accents that they can’t go unnoticed. However, whether they have an accent shouldn’t be a central question or focal point. The question should always be how we can be considerate of one another and understand that we come from different backgrounds. As brightminded young adults, we should all work towards a more inclusive and welcoming environment. To do this, I politely ask that next time you see or talk to someone who has an accent, listen to what the person is saying, not to how the person sounds when they’re saying it. Min Soo Kim can be reached at kiminsoo@umich.edu.

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early a month after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced an official impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, the House of Representatives voted Oct. 31, 2019, to endorse a resolution outlining the parameters for the impeachment process. In light of these disturbing allegations, The Michigan Daily Editorial Board commends Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic leadership for moving forward with an impeachment inquiry. While it is unclear how the impeachment proceedings will unfold, and how an impeachment might affect the outcome of the 2020 election, it is vitally important that Congress continues to hold President Trump accountable for his actions — especially those which endanger national security and violate his oath of office. For many, Pelosi’s Sept. 24 announcement of an official impeachment inquiry seemed long overdue. During his tenure, Trump has committed several acts that may qualify as impeachable offenses. In his March report, Special Counsel Robert Mueller identified several instances of obstruction of justice during the burgeoning investigation into his ties to Russian foreign interference. The news that Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Former Vice President Joe Biden and his son represents the latest in a series of offenses that have endangered national security. For many who were unconvinced by the results of Mueller’s investigation, Trump’s badgering of a foreign leader to investigate a domestic political opponent is a more convincing argument for impeachment, especially when there seems to have been an implied quid pro quo for Ukraine to receive Congressionally-appropriated aid. In early September, a whistleblower echoed these allegations in a complaint which Michael Atkinson, the Intelligence Community Inspector General, claimed includes “serious or flagrant problem, abuse or violation of the law.” In a Sept. 17 letter, Atkinson expressed frustration that the Justice Department and the Director of National Intelligence withheld the complaint from Congress. The declassified complaint was made public on Sept. 26. Since then, six other officials have testified that a trade-off existed between Zelensky and Trump. Since its release, few Republicans have commented on the whistleblower complaint. Even with claims that 30 Republican senators would be willing to impeach Trump in a “secret vote,” Republicans who openly speak out against

Trump face severe political repercussions. With 23 Republican senators up for reelection in 2020, few have openly entertained the idea of impeachment, though cracks are starting to show in Senate Republican support for the president. With the 2020 election on the horizon, it would be a mistake to treat this impeachment inquiry as an issue central to the election cycle. While the effects of the impeachment process will certainly have farreaching ramifications, members of Congress and the public should remember that the impeachment process is a constitutional obligation, not a ploy to leverage political power. Elected representatives are bound by their oaths of office to protect and defend the Constitution. The 232 members of Congress who voted in favor of the House Democrats’ resolution demonstrated a strong commitment to upholding both the law and democratic principles, though that commitment does not exist on both sides of the aisle. Following the House’s vote on Oct. 31, it is more important than ever that the Democratic leadership moves forward dutifully and strategically in laying out the case for impeachment. The quality of messaging is crucial as the House aims to sway public opinion. Democrats ought to make clear that this impeachment process is not about revenge for the 2016 election, nor is it a behind-closeddoors violation of due process against an unpopular president. Instead, they need to emphasize Trump’s actions demonstrably violated his oath of office and endangered national security. This impeachment process is not politicking-as-usual, but a necessary defense of the Constitution and our republic. While the process may hinder some sitting senators’ campaign schedules, the responsibility of our elected officials to uphold justice should take precedence despite the impeachment inquiry occurring in tandem with the 2020 election. While trust in the government varies between parties, this public faith is currently at a historic low. Democrats have the opportunity to help restore public faith in government officials. The House’s vote to move forward with impeachment proceedings began a new chapter in the Trump presidency. As more and more public officials — such as the Republican governor of Vermont — begin to openly favor moving forward with the impeachment process, it becomes increasingly apparent that this administration’s days may be numbered.

From The Daily: The history of policing and the power of protesting

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n Monday, May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer. This incident was a final breaking point and has galvanized outrage from communities all over the country, sparking protests and calls for justice across the United States. The unjust death of Floyd is not an isolated incident by any means, nor is it unprecedented, nor should it be a surprise to anyone who has access to news and media outlets — this is a tale as old as time, one that has happened to an unfathomable number of intersectional Black citizens. Closer to the University of Michigan’s campus, in Ypsilanti, Mich., protesters gathered on the afternoon of Tuesday, May 26, after a video was circulated showing a white police officer punching Sha’Teina Grady El, a Black woman, in the head multiple times. Building awareness about and a consensus against these horrific, racist acts of violence has to be a priority. But doing so safely and effectively is important as a pandemic rages on and police departments continue to aggressively crackdown on those who speak truth to their power. First, it is imperative to offer a historical context into the nature of policing agencies in America when wanting to approach conversations about the current Black Lives Matter protests occurring across America and around the world. The birth of modernday police officers in America can be traced to a multitude of political, economic, legal and historical conditions. Most importantly, perhaps, modern policing departments can be traced to slave patrols and night watch groups, which were both maliciously designed to control the behaviors and freedoms of minorities — most notably Black and Native Americans. In the southern colonies of the United States especially, origins of policing were rooted in racialized social orders and in the economy that so heavily depended on individuals that were enslaved. Slave patrols and night watches assisted wealthy landowners and maintained economic order by recovering and punishing both enslaved and freed Black individuals who did not adhere to white societal standards. The vicious and abhorrent rationalizations of slavery and racism did not end after the 13th amendment abolished slavery in the U.S. With the rise of so-called vigilante groups who resisted abolition and Reconstruction after the Civil War, America continued to perpetuate deep racism, oppression and injustice toward Black Americans. Due to the traditions of slavery and racism that are, unfortunately,

so deeply embedded within this country’s history, these vigilante groups felt it their duty to uphold the narrative that Black individuals were sub-human. Coinciding with the onset of the second phase of post-Civil War Reconstruction, the most infamous vigilante group, the Ku Klux Klan, was founded. Notorious for brutal campaigns of violence against Black individuals, “local law enforcement officials either belonged to the Klan or declined to take action against it.” Due to law enforcement’s involvement with the infamous group, Congress eventually passed the Enforcement Act of May 1870 and two more Force acts — also known as the Ku Klux Klan acts — which acted to prohibit the assembly of groups with the intention of violating constitutional rights of minority groups. However, this legislation, along with many more legal events, has not suppressed the inhumane practices of racial abuse and oppression that have persisted in America. Today, we are witnessing the continued perpetuation of racial injustices and violence from modern-day institutions against Black Americans. From being disproportionately affected by health inequalities that have been made most apparent during COVID-19 to repetitive injustices perpetuated by the criminal justice systems in America, it is clear that what has been done so far is not nearly enough. During this global pandemic, many disparities and corrupt systems have come to light — ranging from the exploitations of essential workers who are primarily POC to healthcare inequalities and biases to precariously unfair shortages of protective equipment for frontline workers — which has undeniably showcased where the values of our country’s leaders lie. While our healthcare workers are “at war with no ammo” — forced to use expired masks and perform invasive procedures on COVID-19 patients without any personal protective equipment — local police forces tout a saturation of protective gear and riot gear when confronting protesters. This disparity forces the financial hypocrisy of this country to light. In response to the jarring lack of PPE for healthcare workers, President Donald Trump stated, “the Federal government is not supposed to be out there buying vast amounts of items and then shipping … we’re not a shipping clerk.” However, he quickly changed tune when American citizens took to the streets to protest, mobilizing nearly a dozen federal agencies to “dominate” protesters. Right now, it is most important to stay safe and keep friends, community members

ALEC COHEN/Daily A crowd stands on a hill holding signs during the Black Lives Matter protest in Troy, Michigan in early June 2020.

and loved ones safe as well. However, The Michigan Daily Editorial Board understands the boundless difficulties of doing just that when our country is fighting both the COVID-19 pandemic and racism. The fact that Black communities are having to gather in large numbers during a pandemic to protest their right to stay alive, all the while being disproportionately disposed to having higher rates of non-communicable diseases is not lost on us. This is why we, as an editorial board, encourage resourceful, respectful and safe protesting. Social media right now is a huge platform for activism, information and resources. It is imperative, however, to utilize these platforms to the best of our abilities. This includes active interactions with the media while trying to educate yourself and/or others about current events and how we can move forward. It is very easy to be passive when dealing with social media activism, a term designated “slacktivism,” which can, unfortunately, block access to important, helpful information. Consider the recent event of #blackouttuesday, where millions of Instagram users reposted a black square with the hashtags #blacklivesmatter, #blm or the aforementioned #blackouttuesday. This quickly clogged the media platform, which is an essential space for many individuals across the country to access real-time updates about protests or from friends or acquaintances, as well as spreading information about resources, safety and what changes are being demanded. While anyone is free to post what they want, within guidelines, on social media platforms, it is important to pay attention to what Black

individuals are saying during this time. If you sincerely want to support protesters and the Black community, it is necessary to examine your role in society and dig deeper into why these racial injustices continue to persist. On social media platforms right now, there are many resources made available and accessible for individuals looking to expand their understanding of topics of anti-racism. This includes education about the differences between structural vs. individual racism; a graphic about how the murder of George Floyd was just the tip of the iceberg; “how to donate to BLM when you have no money;” and comprehensive lists of books, films and podcasts you can invest in for the sake of your own consciousness on the systemic issue and millions of other resources. While the previous examples were all thought-provoking or called for active participation while channeling support (even if that means you just have to go to YouTube or Google and type in the link), many posts are much more performative and allow passive, non-productive activism. While flooding feeds with trending posts may feel necessary to fit in or show your support for the movement, consider the content and the information that you are reposting and whether or not it is helpful to the audience you have on social media platforms. Protesting, showing support and activism can all be done in many different ways, especially because of the methods of organizing and communication we have that past generations have not had access to. Some are protesting in the streets, some are educating themselves, some are donating, some are having conversations with family

members and friends. Now, we must begin to think about what we can all do moving forward and how we can channel productivity out of all forms of protest. How can we inspire those who are still opposed to the movement to join in? Can we have documented motives going into each protest? What elected officials can we contact to demand reforms? How can we incite change in our communities? These are all valid questions that constitute an institutionally complex, 400-year issue. Every successful protest and resistance movement must adapt to address the unique circumstances into which it develops. Today that means meeting the demands of a pandemic that impacts everyone, but particularly exploits and ravages America’s most vulnerable communities. This means continuing to leverage social media campaigns, defunding corporations and communities that are against the cause — a cause that is simply justice and a recognition of humanity in those who built our nation. This means fundraising for organizations that fight for protesters and supplying resources to those who need it most. As we build-up to the 2020 election, that also means registering as many people to vote as possible and encouraging people to vote not just in a presidential election, but in their state and local ones as well. Galvanizing the spirit and power of the protests and converting them into political capital is crucial to passing progressive laws and policies that target corruption in law enforcement. Finally, speaking up about racial injustice, with friends, family and in every community is a must if America is to even begin to purge racism from its ranks.

Opinion

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From The Daily: The University needs to stop dragging its feet

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n June 13, 2019, University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel was due in U.S. District Court in Detroit to explain the University’s sexual misconduct policy in a settlement conference for the ongoing Doe v. University of Michigan lawsuit. On June 12, this hearing was delayed until further notice. The stay, prompted by an emergency petition sent by University lawyers, was the latest in a set of actions by the University to keep Schlissel from testifying publicly on the matter. We as an Editorial Board feel that the University should stop delaying the case and encourage President Schlissel to appear before the court; furthermore, we find the University’s lack of clarity surrounding the policy in question to be extremely disconcerting, and it should be actively working to remedy this issue. The lack of adequate reasoning for Schlissel’s abstention from testifying, especially in a situation where he is not intended to be cross-examined, is concerning. It is clear that President Schlissel’s position grants him oversight over the University as a whole, but it remains worrisome that he is uncomfortable or incapable of publicly explaining the intricacies of the University’s sexual misconduct policy; a policy that is integral to student safety and rights. These sentiments were publicly supported by Judge Arthur Tarnow, who criticized Schlissel for his and the University’s unwillingness to streamline the case proceedings, writing, “The University’s attorneys appear to be more concerned with keeping the President out of the public eye than with prompt resolution of this case and providing a fair process for adjudicating sexual misconduct claims.” The lack of definitive public figures surrounding the University’s sexual misconduct policy points to broader confusion surrounding the foundation of the policy itself. When legal representatives for the University offered to bring in a different spokesperson to testify about the sexual assault policy, they were unable to identify who that would be when prompted by the judge. This begs the question: Who is the authority who can be held accountable for the policy and its implementations, if not President Schlissel? It is evident that the University does not have a clear person in charge and is hoping to merely avoid confrontation about this lack of leadership. This is unacceptable, and we implore the University to point to a clear and reliable source on the matter. Considering the current social climate regarding sexual misconduct, especially within institutions of higher education across the country, we feel that President Schlissel and the University should be considering a settlement meeting regarding these University policies to be a top priority. Delaying the process more will ultimately only serve to undermine the University’s authority on the subject going forward. The University’s President should have a clear idea of the direction we are moving in terms of our treatment of accusations and cases of sexual misconduct, and avoiding policy discussions like this is only counter-productive to the creation of a fair and safe school environment. Clarification: In the time since legal representatives had asked to bring an unspecified official to the case proceedings, the University has named the General Counsel as the point person on the policy. The lack of immediate response to the question is what prompted student concern.

Graduation Edition 2021 — 5

From The Daily: The dangers of social media, even in the age of fact-checking

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n June 23, 2020, Twitter censored President Donald Trump’s tweets by attaching warning labels, including one about protesters in Portland and another tweet which said, “There will never be an ‘Autonomous Zone’ in Washington, D.C., as long as I’m your President. If they try they will be met with serious force!” This move comes after Twitter flagged two of Trump’s tweets on May 27 for violating their misinformation policies. Twitter and Facebook began censoring posts or notifying viewers if they spread egregiously false information, particularly pertaining to voting procedures for the upcoming 2020 general election. Though it is good that social media sites, particularly Twitter, are finally working to prevent the rampant spread of misinformation on their platforms, this alone is not enough. These fact-checking provisions are limited in scope, and thus do not absolve social media users of responsibility for verifying that content they consume or amplify is factually accurate, especially when it relates to topics as paramount as the upcoming election. First, it is important for social media users to understand the limited reach of Twitter and Facebook’s new social media fact-checking policies, both in terms of the types of posts they cover and the impact they have on online discourse. Even Twitter, the most proactive social media network with regard to misinformation, only flags and censors a small portion of false political claims, specifically ones that violate its “civic integrity policy.” This policy only covers tweets which are aimed at “manipulating or interfering in elections or other civic processes,” and does not extend to general political falsehoods. This is why only a small subsection of Trump’s lies, including his assertion that mail-in voting is inherently fraudulent, are flagged, while the vast majority, such as his oft-repeated claim that the U.S. only has the most COVID-19 cases in the world because of the nation’s widespread testing, remain on Twitter unimpeded. In practical terms, this means that the vast majority of false or misleading tweets go unflagged, severely limiting the impact that Twitter’s fact-checking procedures have on Trump. Considering that, the

onus is still largely on Twitter users to think critically, and they cannot rely on Twitter’s narrow fact-checking policies to do that for them. It is important to consider how much of an impact Twitter’s fact-checking policies actually have on online political discourse. With regard to Trump in particular, Twitter’s efforts to call out his political falsehoods have only a marginal impact — at best — on the national political conversation, for several reasons. First, even on tweets that Twitter flagged as false and provided fact-checking for, Trump still received a large number of reactions, indicating that his opinions were still widely shared and publicized. For instance, his tweet declaring that mail-in voting could not be “anything less than substantially fraudulent” has more than 35,000 retweets and 125,000 likes as of Sept. 27. In tandem with that, fact-checking Trump’s blatant falsehoods do little to actually regulate the political climate. People who do not support Trump already know that many of his claims are false, while his supporters are exceedingly unlikely to change their views based on fact-checking, especially provided by a site that Trump claims is biased against Republicans. Ultimately, while Twitter’s fact-checking policies help improve political discourse and call out falsehoods in theory, their impact on the president’s social media presence is effectively null. While Twitter’s approach to Trump has been widely discussed, less-publicized causes and groups can still easily manipulate Twitter users, providing a reminder that the responsibility for verifying information found on the site still resides with the users themselves. The Black Lives Matter Foundation in Santa Clarita, Calif., supports bridging the silos between the local community and the police. However, the foundation’s misnomer led people to believe it was associated with the Black Lives Matter movement, which was founded to end violence against Black communities. As a result, many looking to financially aid the social justice movement donated, or almost donated, to the Santa Clarita foundation: According to Buzzfeed News, Apple, Google and Microsoft almost

Design courtesy of Yassmine El-Rewini

donated a combined $4 million to the foundation in the wake of George Floyd’s murder before realizing that they almost donated to a foundation that encourages communities’ relationship with the police — which directly contradicts the Black Lives Matter movement’s call to defund the police. This case highlights how while misinformation is a problem, an unwillingness to fact check or research claims contributes to how people uncritically take information at face value. Major corporations, like Apple, have the resources to look into the foundations they associate with. However, their failure to do research before nearly making a multimilliondollar donation suggests that failing to investigate or verify things sourced from Twitter is common not only among social media users but the populace at large. Major social media platforms indicate their focus is primarily on aiding the spread of factual information, as demonstrated through mission statements and corporate social responsibility initiatives. For example,

in 2018, Twitter supported Reporters Without Borders and celebrated World Press Freedom Day with multilingual hashtags and global events. Events like this demonstrate Twitter’s focus on press freedom, an admirable initiative which occasionally is misconstrued as open dialogue without a focus on factchecking and ensuring truthfulness. To emphasize that, on June 2, Twitter stated that its “focus is on providing context, not fact-checking,” a reminder that the website is first and foremost a conversational outlet. While Facebook has a third-party fact-checking program founded in 2016, Twitter’s approach to handling misinformation shows that it is largely up to social media users to validate claims they see online. While this can come in many forms, such as cross-checking facts with those of other sources and seeking the opinion of reputable publications and journalists, recognizing dangerous misinformation ploys on social media is essential in ethical and productive news and information consumption.

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6 — Graduation Edition 2021

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I saw Christopher Nolan’s ‘Tenet.’ Here’s why you shouldn’t ANDREW WARRICK 2020 Daily Arts Writer

Content warning: gun violence. They say not to yell “fire” in a crowded movie theater. Why? Are we so gullible that anyone who hears the forbidden word will throw their popcorn and sprint down the aisles like a re-showing of “Cats” has just begun? I don’t buy it. People aren’t that easy to scare. How many of us have grown up having class interrupted by fire, tornado and lockdown sirens, and barely batted our eyes as we walked outside, hid under tables, barricaded doors or grabbed classroom items to use against a shooter? It’s something about the movie theater, specifically. We’re used to bullets flying through classrooms like spitballs, just like we’re used to sitting on airplanes, and wondering if maybe, just maybe, it’ll happen again. These spaces have been under attack for decades — from hijackings in the ’70s to 9/11, from Columbine to Newtown. However traumatized, we’ve learned to live with these threats, and American culture has warped around them. But movie theaters were safe. With a sip of soda, a bite of popcorn and the hum of a projector, we could fall into a story and leave the real world and its real terrors behind. We could lean back in those red seats, stretch out our legs and feel safe opposite the silver screen. I’ve been wondering, lately, if that was what people did in Aurora before their midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” on July 20, 2012. It was a sold out show on opening night, full of kids, tweens, teens and adults ready to see the most anticipated movie of the year. I wonder what the pre-show bustle sounded like. The shuffling of seats as someone with an armful of wrinkling Twizzlers passed fans debating whether Batman would survive Bane, or if Hathaway’s Catwoman would be any good. The excitement of a blockbuster, a real tentpole event of a film, is infectious no matter who you are. I can feel their excitement as the movie began, because I’ve felt it myself, year after year, through blockbusters good and bad, memorable and disposable. But, that night in July 2012, around the point where an injured Bruce Wayne finally returns as Batman for a police chase, a door next to the screen opened. A man walked into the theater, and started shooting. Movie theaters didn’t feel safe anymore. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’ve given

arbitrary value to some walls, a giant piece of plastic, strips of celluloid and a concession stand. That might be true, because the movies have always been a deeply personal comfort. When I first found out I was gay, or, more accurately, admitted it to myself, one of the first things I did was go and see “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.” Not a perfect movie, but a perfect escape. Immersed in Middle Earth for those two and a half hours, I didn’t think about what it would be like going through life differently from my friends and family, in a place where (at the time) I couldn’t legally marry, and where (in my state) it was still legal to deny me service or the adoption of a child because of my sexual orientation. For those two and a half hours, I just thought about a particularly officious Hobbit, some obnoxious dwarves and a familiar wizard. Still, this was mere months after Aurora. Before the lights went out and I chowed down on buttery popcorn, I checked the exits and made a plan, just in case. I’ve done that at the movies ever since. The theater, while still offering escape beneath the flickering beams of a projector, had become somewhere to look over my shoulder every once in a while. It wasn’t too scary, because I’d gotten used to it. For the most part, so did everyone else. Like with schools and airplanes, American culture warped around the threat to movie theaters, and soldiered on. Despite the subliminal fear, my imagination remained wide open. I accepted whatever appeared on the screen, even a CGI creature named Smeagol, as emotional fact. By doing so, though, wasn’t I making myself vulnerable? Is that why someone can’t yell “fire” in a movie theater, because everyone, their disbelief suspended, would believe them? *** That was my attempt to explain why I drove almost 100 miles and donned a face shield, N95 mask, gloves and plastic poncho to see “Tenet” in a movie theatre. The state government has shuttered cinemas across most of Michigan since March. For good reason, too. Yet part of me thought that, as a movie critic, I needed to capture what going to the movies looked and felt like during the coronavirus pandemic. More honestly, I was scared. I have been, constantly, since March. Throughout my life, whenever things have scared me, I have seen a movie. After the past six months, I desperately craved the escape that only the cinema gave me. “Tenet,” directed by Christopher Nolan (“Dunkirk”) and starring John David

Washington (“BlacKkKlansman”) and Robert Pattinson (“The Lighthouse”), has been the most anticipated film of 2020. The teasers promised a mind-bending thriller that would take my mind off the virus, November’s election and the University’s terrible reopening plans. It seemed perfect. When I entered the Findley AMC 12, the lobby was empty. Caution tape hung limp over arcade machines that once flashed bright red and yellow. The concession stand was barren, blocked off by towering plastic spit shields on the counter. Two people in masks and gloves took my ticket, and pointed me to my theater. It wasn’t any better. Large swaths of the empty, opening night auditorium were roped off by yellow caution tape, like something terrible had already happened. When I sat down, I looked for the exits and made a plan, just in case. The ads dazzled against my face shield. Smiling M&M’S appeared, and said something like “We’re so glad you’re back! Thank you!” Just as they said this, two people entered the theater and sat on the opposite end of my row. They promptly removed their masks, and one of them, I kid you not, coughed into their popcorn. My poncho crinkled against the seat when I shivered. Then the previews began: “007: No Time To Die,” “Wonder Woman 1984,” “Murder on the Nile” and “Dune.” While these trailers normally would’ve been exciting, especially that last one, it was hard to focus on the screen. It wasn’t just because my glasses kept fogging up behind my face shield; I had already decided that, until a vaccine was widely distributed, I was never doing this again. The magic of the cinema was choked to death by the yards of caution tape and the smell of cleaning fluid that radiated from the tile beneath my feet. Its replacement was a constant, piercing anxiety. My imagination could withstand the threat of a mass shooting (I’m American, after all), but COVID-19 has stolen everything that made movie theaters so warm. The other people in the audience, not to mention the smorgasbord of snacks, are both invitations to the virus. Even breathing feels dangerous. Seeing a movie in September 2020 feels like watching a film while the theater burns down around you. It was nearly impossible to suspend my disbelief and use my imagination, because it was already totally occupied thinking about all the horrors, microbial, economic and political, that the starkly different theaters implied. Still, as “Tenet” began, I had hope. This was 2020’s “The Hobbit: An Unexpected

Lana Del Rey wore a mesh mask. What now? MADELEINE VIRGINIA GANNON 2020 Daily Arts Writer

It all started at a book signing in Los Angeles, Calif., where pop icon Lana Del Rey read passages of her new poetry book, “Violets Bent Backwards Over the Grass.” In a move surprising to none, criticism from fans came down hard and fast. Most (if not all) of the comments emphasized the irresponsibility of Del Rey’s choice of mask during a global pandemic. The nature of the event made the incident more incriminating –– a book signing by nature involves intimate one-on-one social interaction, and multiple photos of Del Rey posing with fans only added fuel to the fire. Swift as a California forest fire, Del Rey’s Twitter fans tore her down. Here, a familiar pattern breaks out: cancel culture. Social media has allowed a system of extremes to develop, an environment where declarations of allegiance are a necessity to claim “citizenship” of “woke culture.” If you don’t love somebody, you have to hate somebody –– the middle ground is no longer acceptable. Judgement calls can be made by anyone, anywhere, anytime. Online platforms act as personal megaphones. Often, the loudest voices are not the most accurate voices. And when it comes time to bring the gavel down and mete out justice, it becomes the shot heard around the world.

Design by Emily Gordon

Can we still love our icons when they become “problematic?” This is often asked in a global culture which is increasingly black-and-white when it comes to identifying what behavior is right and what behavior is wrong. Questions whispered in layered guilt by fans who have found their favorite icons suddenly struck from favor. In a way, online justice feels as fickle and unyielding as that of an emperor or king. Now, Del Rey stands before the chopping block, and her legions of fans watch in fear and anticipation to see if her “head

will roll” next. Does a mesh mask disqualify her from our love? It seems such an insignificant misstep for an idol who the world has cherished for so long. But the pandemic has killed hundreds of thousands of people –– a number so large, it seems unfathomable. Mask etiquette has become synonymous with compassion, intelligence and human decency. Del Rey’s fashion choice feels like a slap in the face for those who have been intimately hurt by COVID-19 and for those who wear their masks without issue. Celebrity status does not exclude Del Rey from responsibility. Other whispers online have suggested that Del Rey glamorizes abusive and toxic relationships; some have accused the artist of being a secret “Trump supporter,” going so far as to say that Del Rey’s American vintage style is indicative of her personal politics (“Harken, ye old glory days”). However, all of these accusations and musings on the internet are just that –– whispers. One can’t help but wonder if fans and critics alike are simply fishing for some fresh meat to bite. With tensions high and safety protocols demanding frequent isolation, the spotlight turned towards the internet. Everyone loves a good Twitter fight, too. Should Del Rey be deemed “problematic” by the “high courts” of the internet? Do we abandon her completely? Do we shun her music and her poetry? Does this become a hard break-up, with deleted phone numbers and zero contact? Or is it a cowardly retreat, where Del Rey is publicly shamed and ostracized in daylight while the world continues to indulge in her music as a guilty pleasure. This article poses a lot of questions, I know. Cancel culture paints itself as progressive and self-reflective: On the positive side, society has learned to hold the powerful accountable, to critique the heroes and reflect on how their larger-than-life reputations actively shape reality; on the other hand, cancel culture can be trigger-happy, overeager to place blame while enabling (sometimes anonymous) individuals to boost their own egos by tearing others down. In the spirit of modernity, then, I pose these questions to urge this type of reflection as well. So, what’s left? A music icon who made a bad decision, a bad tweet. Excitement has soured, but has it gone rotten? Not just yet. It feels too early to call the shots on where Lana Del Rey is heading; popular opinion sways too easily to know with any certainty. By the time this article is published, there might be a new Twitter fight, Reddit post or Instagram reel thrusting Del Rey back into the harsh spotlight of fame. In one of her first breakout songs from 2013, “Young and Beautiful,” Del Rey once asked us in that trademark glamorous lament: “Will you still love me / When I’m no longer young and beautiful?” It feels like only months ago, the answer would have been a confident “Yes.” Now? It seems fans are not so sure.

Journey.’” I could leap into one of Christopher Nolan’s finely-crafted, riveting dreamscapes. I could, finally, forget the world for a few hours in the darkness of a movie theater. Boy, was I wrong. *** There’s a great movie buried deep within “Tenet.” But it would take a team of skilled special agents, much like those in the film, to remove it without being pulverized by the movie’s sheer excesses. “Tenet” begins with a pulse-pounding scene that rivals even the bank heist opening of “The Dark Knight.” One isn’t entirely sure what is going on, but it doesn’t matter because the action is so riveting, propelled by wonderful cinematography and an intense score. The viewer assumes that, however confusing the opening scene is, answers will come later. They don’t. Nolan maintains this high-speed, chaotic energy for the rest of the movie, but never bothers to slow down and explain any of it, which amplifies the worst qualities of his previous films. He is so concerned with his frantic pace, and showing off his intelligence by referencing entropy, paradoxes, inversion, nuclear science and whatever a “temporal pincer movement” is, that he forgoes almost all resolution, character development and cinematic structure. He yanks his cardboard cutout characters from hyperbolic set-piece to hyperbolic set-piece, spewing out incoherent science fiction world-building as he goes along. The first few scenes are fascinating, because you think it’s all going somewhere. But, as the plot becomes increasingly convoluted, even doubling back on itself, my brain shut off. At one point, a character tells the protagonist “Don’t try and understand it.” This seemed like a message to the viewer, meaning one of two things: This film is intentionally inexplicable, or you’re too stupid to understand this complex cinematic masterpiece. Unfortunately, though, beneath all the pretentious scientific esoterica and (perhaps intentionally) confusing plot, “Tenet” is just a glorified, multi-million dollar episode of “Doctor Who” (so much so, that anyone who has seen the latter will probably guess some of the movie’s biggest twists). Deep down, it’s an incredibly flat science-fiction spy story shot with a drab industrial palette of greys, blacks and whites that do little to make the onslaught of plot more appealing. On top of all this, the characters are dimensionless. When your protagonist is literally called “The Protagonist,” and that’s about the extent the viewer knows about

him, it’s hard to care. Why struggle to follow the convoluted story-line when you don’t empathize with those who inhabit it? The characters that are given a bit of personality are either enormously melodramatic, enormously problematic or both. Kenneth Branagh (“Dunkirk”), a gem of British acting, is little more than a Bond villain parody here, bad Russian accent and all. His role would’ve been better in the experienced hands of Nick Cage. The film’s only prominent women are both shot. One is needlessly terrorized and beaten, to add some appearance of depth. Watching “Tenet” is like watching a RollsRoyce drive, at high speed, straight into a brick wall. If the car is headed nowhere, who cares how fast it’s going, and how many times it spins around? When the credits rolled, no matter how exciting and visually inventive “Tenet” occasionally was, how bopping a soundtrack it had and how good Washington and Pattinson were, it felt like a complete waste of time. I have no desire to see it again, even without the threat of contracting a deadly respiratory disease. It’s a waste of both talent and a potentially strong premise. A dangerous one, too. This isn’t a film worth suiting up in a plague outfit for or, God forbid, getting sick. Yet I can’t help but feel that even if “Tenet” had been any better, this was doomed from the start. First Aurora poked some holes, and now COVID-19 has ripped the floodgates from their hinges and made going to the cinema an exercise in sheer terror. To find true joyful escape within a film, you need to at least feel like there is no direct and present danger to your life. What happens when it’s not just airplanes, classrooms or movie theaters that aren’t safe from brutal, inexplicable tragedy? What happens when nowhere is? Where do you escape to when it’s the entire world that’s on fire? I don’t have any answers. America has been steaming toward chaos for years now, and the cinema is just another casualty. Those previews keep gnawing at me, though. Who’s to say that “No Time To Die,” “Wonder Woman 1984,” “Murder on The Nile” or, God help us, “Dune” will be any better than “Tenet?” Can you justify risking people’s lives for an almost certainly futile attempt at finding escape through the silver screen? The studios see everything in shades of green, so their answer is obvious. Our patronage shouldn’t be. The days of refuge at the cinema are, if not over, at least on an indefinite hiatus. Wait for a vaccine.

We may have missed the point about the boy who dances in the rain ZOE PHILLIPS

2020 Senior Arts Editor

The world first saw Anthony Mmesoma Madu dance back in June — his teacher and studio-founder Daniel Owoseni Ajala posted a video of the 11-year-old student turning and leaping in the rainy outdoors of his native Nigeria. The boy’s bare feet propelled him off the muddy ground through an impressive combination of classical ballet, and the clip soon went viral. In the United States and Europe, professional dancers with large followings on social media reposted the video and offered words of admiration for Madu’s tenacity. New York City Ballet superstar Tiler Peck invited him to join her as a guest on her daily IGTV ballet classes. Viola Davis posted the video to her Instagram, and Nigerian journalist Fade Ogunuro announced over Twitter that she planned to pay for the rest of Madu’s academic expenses through the end of college. Earlier this month, the American Ballet Theatre Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School offered him a full scholarship to their virtual summer program, including additional funding for his internet. The news coverage started quickly. BBC, NPR, Washington Post, Good Morning America, Reuters, People Magazine and TIME make up only a partial list of publications that covered the story. This attention makes sense; Madu’s is a tale of opportunity in a world currently stricken by loss. The dance industry in particular has already hemorrhaged millions, if not billions, of dollars in the wake of waves of COVID-19 and there continues to be no clear date for the safe reopening of theaters and performance spaces. When the ABT JKO School’s director Cynthia Harvey announced Madu’s scholarship, she touched on this context. “Here, we’re complaining about not being able to open our buildings,” she told the The Cincinnati Enquirer. “But in that video, I saw a boy who was a perfect example of the tenacity someone can have when they have love and a dream. It was immediately obvious how much determination he had.” Madu’s work ethic can indeed feel humbling in an environment stricken with complaints surrounding the discomfort of dancing in one’s own air-conditioned living room. The imagery of his dancing in the rain seems to have rekindled the dwindling motivation of many dancers currently training at home while living on tiny unemployment checks. Nevertheless, all of

this attention feels narrow: If this student is truly the world’s paragon of tenacity, why did he have to become a viral sensation to even be noticed? Socioeconomic accessibility in ballet became a revitalized conversation topic this summer. In the wake of a global reckoning with systemic racism, activists continue to push ballet’s leadership to acknowledge and rectify the deep roots of elitism and white supremacy upon which this art form was built. Even today, FiveThirtyEight predicts that a ballerina in training may spend up to $100,000 before landing a professional contract (minus the female-only pointe shoe category, the number is still close to $70,000). As the pressure mounts for rich, white dance institutions to increase their support for communities cut off by such insurmountable price tags, Madu’s story offers a dangerously easy narrative of change — a young prodigy finally given the opportunity his talent deserves. But this narrative only includes the story of one student; the story would be exponentially more powerful if we sought to include the empowerment of Madu’s classmates as well as other underserved communities across the globe. Madu’s studio, the Leap of Dance Academy, is a prime example of organizations deserving of such financial support and community validation. The founder, Daniel Owoseni Ajala, is a self-taught dancer with a dream of expanding dance education for his own community. He teaches his students from his own apartment and doesn’t charge for lessons. In addition to dance, he provides academic tutoring and a weekly meal. As Madu’s video made the rounds on social media, Ajala received an influx of donations and an invitation to ABT’s two-week teacher training program, but these parts of the story were left out of the vast majority of coverage. Instead, the articles and video featurettes focused solely on Madu’s talented turns and jumps — almost all of them mentioned the boy’s talent as a motivational symbol for a world crushed by an ongoing pandemic. Apparently, students and communities like Madu’s only become relevant with a global health crisis as the backdrop. These last weeks of summer mark the beginning of many first-of-their kind programming for ballet schools and companies. Digital learning, filmed performances and a terrifying uncertainty of artistic survival will test even the best in our field. Nevertheless, such hardship should not be our only reason to applaud Madu and his teacher. They will still be dancing when this pandemic is over — I hope we will still be willing to support them.

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Arts

Graduation Edition 2021 — 7

Harry Potter and the Canceled Author M. DEITZ

2020 Daily Arts Writer

I grew up in a house in the middle of the woods, surrounded by deer and trees and friendly small-town neighbors, but I spent a lot of my childhood immersed in books instead. Something about the allure of a different world enthralled me; magical, fantastical or realistic, I wanted the adventure that novels promised to take me on. Joanne (Jo) Rowling dreamed of escaping her troubled marriage. A school teacher who thought herself a failure, Rowling left with her child and scouted for somewhere safe, somewhere she could truly get more out of the life she desired for herself. At the same time, she put pencil to paper and began to sketch out the story of a young wizard boy, which had miraculously come to her, fully-formed, while on a train. Fully shaped by her mother’s death and own mental health struggles, Rowling finished her manuscript and two years later saw “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” become a smash hit. Long before I was able to read on my own, my father would sit in a white rocking chair and, with my chubby little body on his lap, read to me. I can’t remember every book we read, though we definitely worked through Dr. Seuss and wore down my copy of “Felix Travels Back In Time,” and I vividly recall us reading through the entire Harry Potter series one chapter at a time. The world of Harry Potter seemed vast and alluring, that of a young mistreated boy becoming the chosen one in a world full of magic and magical creatures. The adventures were grandiose and epic, a battle of good versus evil wickedly waged with wands and incantations. I loved it. I wanted to taste a chocolate frog, a barf-flavored Bertie Bott’s bean and feel the warmth of a freshly brewed Butterbeer. I wanted to live among the characters, who even at the height of their angst embarked on daring adventures while attending the coolest boarding school imaginable. The series of seven bestselling books and eight blockbuster films became a pop culture staple throughout the world. As I got older, I found myself returning to Harry Potter during times of comfort and hardship. The first film premiere I ever attended was “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.” My friend and I were two of the only non-costumed people in line. I saw the play “Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic” off-Broadway twice and am dying to see both parts of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” on the Great White Way. During a difficult year, I completed a whole re-read of the entire saga and watched all the films again. What started as a silly children’s series became a cultural touchstone for many people’s adolescence. I know that my friend is clearly a Slytherin in all the best ways possible, or how to pick on someone because they’re a Hufflepuff to a tee. Playground talk about our dream houses — I’m a Ravenclaw obviously — became a real discussion of how our personality traits fit into these fictional constraints. Our generation didn’t just grow up with Harry Potter, Harry Potter grew up with us. My Dad used to hold me as I nodded off, lids heavy with the magic sleep of a child’s day gone by. As I got older and bigger, I would lay down in my racecar bed and listen to him preach the exploits of Harry, Ron and Hermione. The chair older than I was would always squeak. After each chapter was done, he would close the book — he magically always knew where we were in it — and come over and kiss me goodnight. Things started to get weird after the series was done. Rowling, rather than letting everything sit pretty and untouched, started to mess with the status quo in a hasty attempt to answer questions. Sure, there was a Jewish wizard, his name was Anthony Goldstein and he was a Ravenclaw, next. Oh no, wizards absolutely do not take off their entire robe to use the bathroom, they simply shit into

their pants and wave it away with magic, duh. There were LGBTQ+ students at Hogwarts, you just never saw them. WAIT, now Dumbledore is gay. How’s that for representation? It would be comical if it wasn’t so pathetic. But the slope of Rowling’s quick retcons soon became slippery. Suddenly all the malicious subtext hiding within the books became prominent once people bothered to go below the surface. Why did these wizards exist only in England? Why was the history of magic so whitecentric? How come Cho Chang and Dean Thomas were the only two prominent people of color in an entire school of students? The faults crumbled into fissures and soon working through the world of Hogwarts became a game of dodging potholes. Then … the infamous Pottermore post about magic in early, pre-colonized North America. The history was not only horribly inaccurate but insensitive and white-washed, constantly comparing these Native American wizards to their European counterparts in disgusting ways. The feedback was loud and angry. This wasn’t some little joke Rowling could get away with on Twitter, it was a targeted attack against an entire people, a slight against all Indigenous American tribes that only furthered their erasure in history. Jo Rowling began to play the offensive. Her Twitter was used for responding to any and all criticisms of her which she completely ignored while working on the new, glitzy “Fantastic Beasts” series. When people questioned why the goblins were so reminiscent of Jewish stereotypes or why lycanthropy, otherwise known as the process of turning into a werewolf, is a metaphor for HIV/AIDS, they were met with a wall of silence. Even when Rowling did something progressive, such as cast Black actress Noma Dumezweni (“The Undoing”) as Hermione in the original London production of “Cursed Child,” she backed it up with questionable quotes about Hermione’s unruly curly hair and brown eyes. Rowling constantly showed that she was not only out of touch but unable to recognize her problems and change. Some people, even those whose lives had been changed by Rowling’s work, made the decision to cut her out of their lives and stop supporting her and her work. Things were quiet for a little while. “The Crimes of Grindelwald” was a critical flop and Rowling was getting along fine writing her Cormoran Strike detective novels. Frankly, no one cared about either of those projects. But on June 6, 2020, the sixth day of Pride month, Rowling responded to an op-ed’s use of the phrase “people who menstruate” by joking about the word woman being erased, effectively negating the trans safe space the original wording created. She received backlash but kept at it, demanding that sex and gender be connected and continuing to demean the transgender community. She was speaking and acting like a trans-exclusionary radical feminist, or TERF, something a later blog post of hers originally titled “TERF Wars” only continued to prove. Rowling wrote that being transgender was a mental disorder, that it encouraged children to change their gender before they could change their minds and other demoralizing reasons to be worried about new trans activism. The mask was off, the convertible top down — Rowling finally stepped into the light as the bigoted woman she was. No more pretenses or quick retcons to calm fans, Rowling nearly shouted, “I’m transphobic and I’m proud of it!” Responses flooded the internet, with Harry and Hermione themselves, actors Daniel Radcliffe (“Swiss Army Man”) and Emma Watson (“Little Women”), decrying the statements and standing alongside the trans community. Rowling continued her shitstorm, continually denouncing hormone therapy and possibly even suggesting that people who take medication for mental health issues are simply “lazy.” The

launch of her next book, “Trouble Blood,” only worsened the issue by having the villain be a — and I absolutely wish I was joking — cisgendered man who dresses as a woman in order to kill other women. Rowling hates transfolk for simply trying to live their lives and feel comfortable in their own skin. She had picked a hill to die on, but it was turning out more like Custer’s Last Stand than the Alamo.

heart. I can say I never went back to finish “Return of the King” either, it just never felt right. Time has allowed me to keep the memories close to me, but has also allowed enough distance for me to see that I made the right decision. My dad and I formed a different relationship, not one out of him reading to me but us reading as equals. He started choosing books specifically for me. I still do the same for

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One day, for whatever reason, as my Dad and I were at the tail end of “Return of the King” (we had moved onto Middle Earth at that point) I looked him in the eyes and said, “I don’t want you to read to me anymore. I can do it.” Looking back now, it was heartbreaking. From that day on I’ve read books alone, because I felt it was time to move on. So the rocking chair sat quiet and untouched, until one day I decided it was time to move on, get rid of it and put a desk in its place instead. As I sit here and type this, my Ravenclaw bracelet constantly catches my eye. I struggle to reconcile this modern Rowling with the woman who wrote such a beloved, important series of books. I can’t whisk away my enjoyment of them in the past: There are still a good 15 years of Harry Potter affection that remain in my memory. But as a non-binary human being, I cannot simply sit here and take Rowling’s comments as comments. They are hateful and demeaning stances that hurt deeply to hear. This isn’t an issue for everyone. For some people, doing something famed literary critic Roland Barthes calls “Death of the Author” (summarized and contextualized brilliantly here by critic Lindsay Ellis), can work. The concept is that one should divorce the personal views and actions of an author from their work, stating that their view is simply one of many interpretations possible. This may work for some people, likely the same ones who pay full price to see the new Mel Gibson movie and are ecstatic to see Felicity Huffman acting again, but it’s incredibly difficult for others. Rowling’s hate and prejudices are baked into the text of Harry Potter; there is simply no way around that. I am not trying to discount any single person’s interpretation because if you got something out of this series, nothing Rowling or anyone else says can ever take that away from you. But I find it difficult to think about supporting this series the way I once did. I hide away my Harry Potter socks and feel a pang of guilt each time I think about the Friday Forty and how I would probably spend a ridiculous amount of money to see “Cursed Child.” With a new Harry Potter video game set to come out next year, Avalanche Studios’s “Hogwarts Legacy,” and the third Fantastic Beasts film in production, people are going to need to take a stance on Rowling sooner rather than later. Either they boycott her or support her. Now as an adult, I wonder why I ever asked my father to stop reading to me. I always feel guilty about it, like I broke his

him. We manage to find time to talk about whatever he chose to borrow from the library this week. As heart-wrenching as it is, sometimes moving on is the right thing in the end. Personally, I say it’s time to move on from Rowling and her TERFy shenanigans. Just like with storytime and my racecar bed, it’s time to take Rowling and put her to the curb. No more chances, no more last

second sways of the heart due to nostalgia, no more “but one more butterbeer,” which frankly was never that good to begin with. Let’s hang up our brooms, put our wands in storage and stand firm together and affirm that Rowling doesn’t get another pass. We will always have our fond memories. The siren calls toward a comfortable but now tainted land, and that’s enough for me. It’s time to put down Harry Potter. But if you want another series about a chosen hero with fantastic representation, witty writing and supremely likeable characters, may I introduce you to Rick Riordan and his series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.” Hear me out. The Greek gods are real, as are the Roman and Norse and Egyptians gods, and it’s up to their halfgod, half-human children to save the world. The main meat of Riordan’s writing is the character of Percy Jackson, with three five book series dedicated to him and his misadventures with the Greek and Roman gods. There are also two trilogies, “The Red Pyramid” and “Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard,” dedicated to the Egyptian and Norse gods respectively. All the books are chock-full of diverse and memorable characters, from Leo Valdez, the flaming mechanic son of Hephestus, to Frank Zhang, the Canadian Asian son of Mars, to Nico DiAngelo, the gay, lost-in-time son of Hades, all the way back to Percy Jackson himself. Riordan prides himself on not only caring about telling these diverse stories, but also caring deeply about his fans. All of his 21 mythological books are crafted with care, humor and so much heart that Aphrodite is probably jealous. The stories have the same stakes, i.e. the end of the world, and even more compelling villains, as the heroes travel around America and Europe on various quests. He does his research and carefully

represents people from varying communities, even recently including a genderfluid son of Loki in his Stonewall Awardwinning Magnus Chase series. For diversity he can’t write, Riordan publishes a line of books called “Rick Riordan Presents,” which is dedicated to helping underrepresented authors have their voices heard. This has led to the lauded books “Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky” by Kwame Mbalia and “Sal and Gabi Break the Universe” by Carlos Hernandez. Other authors published under the label represent myth and folklore from Mayan, Korean and Navajo cultures, all of which are needed voices in our modern, multicultural world. Riordan does not only care about himself and his work, he cares what his fans think and how they feel. He wants everyone to be able to see a place for themselves not only in his stories but in literature as a whole. He is in nearly every capacity the antiJK Rowling, and we desperately need more of him. I look over my bookshelf now and see what a difference the past few months have made. As a middle-class white reader, there was nary an author of color represented, and that was something I changed immediately. While bigger than before, my collection of diverse authors must continue to grow; an understanding reader evolves into an empathetic reader evolves into an empathic and understanding person. The time for singular viewpoints is long gone, the world exists now for diversity of thought and diversity within life. It cannot simply go away. I hope that as we come to terms with that now, many more people like me will expand their bookshelves so that when it comes time to read to their kids, to sit in their creaky old rocking chair with the child already so tired on their lap, the world will finally be a different place.

8 — Graduation Edition 2021

Michigan in Color

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Seeing through myself MAYA MOKH

2021 MiC Contributor

The first time I became aware of my body, I was 12 years old at an outdoor water park. I sat in an inflated tube, swaying back and forth in an obnoxiously loud wave pool with my sister and friends. It was a perfect day until it wasn’t. At one moment, my sister and friends had been taken elsewhere by the manufactured tide and I sat swaying along, enjoying the blazing sun on my face and the cool of the water on my feet. I was then approached by two white teenage boys, who I first thought were mistaking me for someone else. One of them looks at me, stifles a chuckle and eloquently slurs: “Hey, I just wanted to let you know my boy over here thinks you’re hot.” The boys erupted into a fit of laughter and swam away, likely never to think of that moment again. They were to move on in the world, unaware of the effect of their words on the women they encounter, unaware of its effects on me. But I sat there, suddenly aware of the layers of extra fabric clinging to my skin, embarrassed and choked by the polyester hijab that circled my face; suddenly aware of how ridiculous I must have looked for two white boys to approach me and jokingly tell me they thought I looked “hot.” In that moment, what was a perfect day turned into a demarcation of when I first became uncomfortable being a visibly Muslim woman in a country that valued women based on their appearance. I didn’t tell anyone about this — not my sisters, not my friends. I just wanted to shrivel up like my pruned feet in that wave pool, never to be seen again by anyone. Since then, I’ve always known my body, a woman’s body, a Muslim woman’s body, to be a complicated thing. And I don’t mean that in a feminist, body-positive way, though I am both of those things. What I mean is, a woman’s body sometimes feels like a free-for-all, a legislated playground that starts to feel like less of a body and more of a foreign object that does not feel in line with the rest of one’s being. After that moment, I tried to minimize the parts of me that made me visibly Muslim. I no longer prayed in public and sometimes opted for a hoodie instead of a hijab. When I was in high school, I became obsessed with makeup because it was the only part of my appearance that I could control. Every paycheck that I got from my cashier job at the dreaded local supermarket went straight to Ulta and Sephora. I would watch tutorials and wake up two hours early for school just to cover my face in extravagant paints and powders, to look like someone I wanted to present to the world. When my mom criticized my makeup addiction and questioned who I was putting in all that extra effort for, I shot back with the quintessential response: “I’m doing it for me.” And like many women, I think I started to believe it. I started to believe that my desire to make myself more desirable stemmed from myself and was uninfluenced by external factors and opinions. To an extent, women do perform these things for themselves. It is a form of self-preservation to take care of oneself, to put meticulous care and effort into carefully coordinated outfits, perfectly manicured nails, curled and coated eyelashes. But I couldn’t help but wonder if at some point, for some women, did this desire stop being a form of selfpreservation and become a manifestation of social expectations? Some time in high school I was introduced to white feminism, which at the time I thought was just feminism, not thinking about the ways it often excluded women who looked like me. Feminism told me I should wear what I want, date who I want, do what I want and I loved it. I championed the agenda to my Arab and Muslim family, who told me not to be like those Godless Amerkaan who showed their bodies and slept around and didn’t care about their family’s reputation. Feminism told me all women were equal and that our choices were only ours to make. It talked about freeing the nipple and empowering women to strip down, but did nothing to empower women who chose to cover up. It talked about free access to abortion in America, but not about forced sterilizations and sexual assault in refugee camps. It talked down on women I knew and loved, women like my mother and my aunts and my grandmother who chose to stay at home and raise children, raise villages, which was a world of work in itself. It told me to make my own choices, but didn’t tell me what to make of the women who did not have access to the same choices. It didn’t tell me how to balance expressing my individuality and owning my body while remaining respectful to my culture and true to my faith. Becoming comfortable in my skin is a process. For Muslim women, expectations of what one should be are drastically different for women who choose to wear the hijab versus those who don’t. In the Muslim faith, hijab is a commandment of God when a girl comes of age, as are praying, fasting, giving to charity, etc. However, like everything else in life and

religion, every choice is a personal one and everyone’s journey is different. Nonetheless, by putting themselves on display, women who choose to wear the hijab are exposing themselves to the unwarranted and relentless ideals imposed on them by two competing sides — Western society and the Muslim community. On one end, we are being told by Western society: You are oppressed, and in order to liberate yourself, you must reject the restrictive notions imposed upon you by your community. But this liberation comes at a price: We will set you free, but at the same time, we will make you want to change everything about yourself that makes you “other.” Your Arab nose, your thick curly hair. We will eat up the parts of your culture we deem worthy. Your delicious food, your exotic dancing. We will don hijabs on scantily clad models on runways but scoff in pity when it’s a part of your everyday life. Almost every Arab woman I know has either gotten or talked about getting plastic surgery. Nose jobs and face lifts, keratin hair treatments, thinned and tattooed eyebrows. And the discourse surrounding these treatments is mostly positive and uplifting. It is a woman’s choice what to do with her body. Yes, but to what extent is it really that woman’s choice when notions of what she should look like are ingrained into her from the moment she is old enough to switch on the television? On the other end, our body is an openended discussion for Muslim and Arab men, who drown out the sound of their own shortcomings with the sound of us messing up. They tell us our clothes are not modest enough and simultaneously shame us for not being “open-minded enough” and willing to bend our rules for their own pleasure. Elder women look at you in disgust in the grocery line because the strands falling out of your loosened silk hijab tell them I am American before I am Muslim, before I am Arab, before I am anything. I’ll give you an example. Last summer, after returning from my study abroad program, I was working at a small Yemeni restaurant near my house. One day, I was serving a table of older men, dressed in abayas and turbans who looked at me a little too long when I brought them their appetizers. I ignored the feeling I got — that pit-in-the-bottom-of-your-stomach feeling that makes you feel like you are on display, that sudden awareness of body — and continued doing my job, even when I saw the men stop my coworker to whisper something in her ear as she walked by. Later on that night, my sister, who is closer friends with my coworker, told me what those men said: They wanted my coworker to tell me that my shirt was too short, that a hijabi like me should dress better in a place like this where men come and are free to look. She was too shy to tell me in the restaurant and I’m glad she didn’t. When I first put on my hijab at 9 years old,

with discrimination in America; at this point these instances have blended into a myriad of little moments, microaggressions and blatant remarks, but I can tell you about the first time I became aware that my body was not always something that would feel like mine. When I got to college, it occurred to me that I could remove my hijab. The thoughts began as creeping little nudges, which my mom wrote off as “devil whispers” when I told her, advising me to just pray them away. I could not even count on my two hands how many girls from my youth were removing their hijabs. In some way, it empowered me. In another way, I resented them because they were doing what I did not have the courage to. I meditated on the idea for months and months. I came up with a list of reasons. I watched too many videos and talked to too many people. I talked to girls who did take it off, why they did and how they felt before and how they felt now. Most of the girls described a feeling of disconnect with who they felt they were on the inside and how they presented themselves on the outside. I resonated with this. One of my friends, though, said something to me that I still think about. She said, “Usually, when you are putting this much weight and stress on something physical, there is something much deeper going on. I think there is a disconnect somewhere in your life, or between you and God, and a physical change is the only way you feel you can take control of it.” I thought about this a lot. Since coming to college, I definitely did not feel as “Muslim” as I used to. I still prayed five times a day, but most of the time it was out of a force of habit, not something I felt connected to. Then it was summer and this internal conflict still did not go away. I decided that this summer, since I would be on a study abroad trip alone in Greece, I would finally be away from the opinions of everyone and I could make the decision for myself. My mind was mostly made up. On one of our weekends, my new friends and I took a trip to a nearby lake in Athens, and I decided that would be the day. We arrived at the beach, and the sparkling blue water looked so inviting in the scorching heat. There was no sand in sight, only vast stretches of various rocks, but nonetheless we settled down and my friends immediately plunged in, swimming away to the far end of the shore. I took this as my chance, removing my hijab and the long sleeve shirt I had on over my swimsuit. I scurried down the rocky path to the water, ignoring the sharp pains that ensued with every step, ignoring the lump in my throat caused by guilt. As soon as I jumped in, feeling the cold and salty embrace of seawater flooding all my senses, I was interrupted by a sharp stinging pain in my left foot. It felt like I stepped in a pile of needles, and I climbed back out onto the rocky platform to assess the damage. My foot

walking tours, a mosque that had been through many phases and served as many different things. A church, a school, a military bakery. Still it stood, as an emblem of the past and hope for the future, and it reminded me that wherever I was and whatever I looked like, my identity would always be mine. It was something more than skin deep, something I defined and redefined for myself, day in and day out. When I was walking home late one night, I was greeted in Arabic twice by kind strangers on the street, and the next day I even received the Islamic greeting, “Salam’alaykum,” meaning “peace be upon you.” During one of our first few nights staying on a little island, our Egyptian waiter, upon seeing my hijab, asked me where I was from. When I told him I was from America but that I was Lebanese, his eyes lit up and his tongue quickly switched to Arabic as if it had been waiting years to be able to. I could tell that for him, I represented a piece of home that he was missing here on this island. For me, he represented a connection that I wouldn’t have had had I not been wearing my faith on my sleeve that particular day. We still keep in contact. I realized what sometimes alienates me the most is also what connects me the most, wherever I am in the world, and I was not ready to give that up. After that trip, I happened upon a Washington Post article by Saba Ali in which she describes the moment she decided to try life without her hijab, which she had worn for decades. She writes: “I don’t know what I expected that morning, my trial run at life without the scarf. Would I get struck down by lightning? Would there be applause? Would I be any less Muslim? Or just more me?” Like me, Saba had become bogged down by the expectations and baggage that come with being a visibly Muslim woman, and decided to see what it felt like to be free from them. She walked down a busy street, expecting a monumental moment of clarity. Like me, she put her hijab back on after that stroll. I am still learning how to be okay with not having all the answers, how to make something resembling clarity out of little signs, gut feelings, moments of realization and even anticlimactic un-realization. I realize now that I have never written about my relationship with my hijab or my body, and this is probably because I have never given myself permission to. Because writing about it meant thinking about how moments of oscillation between self-confidence and hyperawareness of physicality permeated and shaped every aspect of my life. This ever-present dichotomy is what it means to be a MuslimAmerican. Speaking about my experiences was never just speaking about my experiences — I carried with me the experiences of so many

I was not thinking about these things. I was not thinking about my physical appearance or how I would go on to be perceived in the world. I wasn’t thinking about how the deliberate covering of my body would lead to an undeliberate uncovering of my identity in every room I walked through — that I would be judged as Muslim first, human second. I didn’t think about the humiliation I would feel at that waterpark and how subsequently, swimming — something I used to love and enjoy— would become something I dreaded and avoided. I was thinking: My mom and my sister wear it. I love my mom and my sister. I love God, and he wants me to wear it. And I never regretted it, never saw it as anything other than an extension of my identity, a testament to my faith in God, until that day at the waterpark. After that, it became something that clearly announced me as “other,” something boys would never find attractive, something my American peers would never understand or accept. I worried they would think I was somehow less educated, somehow less American than them, somehow more docile and less assertive and more passive. I don’t remember my first experience

was littered with black spikes and red scratches, and when I tried to pull one out, a trickle of blood ran from my toe to my heel. Being a big believer in signs and superstitions, I took this as a sign, and I sat to think about how I felt. And how I felt was stupid. I thought this moment would be this big liberating experience, feeling the sun on my skin, feeling the wind in my hair for the first time in ages, being alone, finally swimming again supposedly free of baggage, taking control over my body. And what did my body do? It failed me. I left the beach that day in my hijab. Over the next few days in Greece, I made an effort to care a little bit less about myself and more about the world around me. Maybe in doing so I could discover a sliver of who “me” was, devoid of the existential questions that tainted what was supposed to be the trip of my lifetime. I kept my eyes open to little details and tried to imprint them into my memory. Stray cats nestled on sidewalks, yellow and peach pastelcolored houses with blue shutters, snippets of conversations in a language I could not understand, graffiti painted onto white walls in alleyways. We visited a mosque during one of our

women like me. I carried the experiences and traumas of my family. I carried secrets that were not mine to tell. Even secrets that were mine to tell were not mine to tell, because some aspects of them felt like airing out dirty laundry that best remained hidden. I carried things that risked painting me as a “bad Muslim,” as if there was a binary that one had to exist on either end of, as if an entire religion was gatekept by someone determining who gets and does not get to call themself a Muslim. What I was struggling with the most was why a decision about what to do or not to do with my body was attached to so much stigma, so much shame, so many opinions that, when examined, were not my own. Where did this shame, this stigma come from? For so long, I attributed it to religion. Then I attributed it to culture, Arab culture in particular. In our culture, so much pain, trauma and necessary conversations are buried under the word aayb, which means shameful, wrong, and is so often weaponized against women when doing things that are deemed out of line with one’s cultural and moral obligations. This stigma runs deep; it costs lives. In my little enclave of a

Design by Ahmad Kady

community, we do not talk about mental health, or the underlying causes of the young lives that are being lost to substance abuse and suicide. Families of teens who have overdosed cover up the incident, writing “car accident” on the obituary. Arab and/or Muslim girls like myself never talk about their heartbreaks or sexual health or their pain because aayb, they should not have been romantically involved before marriage anyway. As a result, this pain gets buried deep inside, and it gets passed on and no one knows what to do with it. There must be a way to dig this pain out, to hold the fragments up to the sun and allow them to catch light without exploiting my community. There must be a way to do this without subscribing to purely Western notions of what it means to be free. Pressure to subscribe to the Western feminism that reverberated in every corner from my college classrooms to my Instagram feed allowed me to neglect to see how the women in my life embodied feminism, in every essence of the word, without even knowing it. My mother, covered from head to toe, raising five children, working a minimum wage job, pushing through cultural taboo to get a long-overdue divorce. My friends who felt judged for choosing not to drink in college or participate in hook-up culture, my friends who felt judged back home for exactly the opposite. The pressure allowed me to neglect seeing through myself, reconciling the parts of me that often seemed at odds with each other. When I had my own “trial run” at a life of not wearing my hijab, there was no lightning, no applause, no epiphany. In life there seldom is. There are just the decisions you make and what comes after. I wish I could say that here I am, older, wiser, with my mind made up. Will I end up taking off my hijab? Who knows! The point is, the decision to wear your faith on your sleeve is a deeply personal one, and it would be a lot easier without the shame and judgment that often accompanies it. On countless occasions, I have received comments from friends and family alike, joking about my “commitment issues,” saying “Either wear the scarf right or don’t wear it. Why wear it halfway?” This used to enrage me. Now I just say, because I exist halfway. Halfway between Arab and American, halfway between pious and sinful. My faith in God is the one thing that I have been able to hold on to throughout my life, but it is indeed a shaky one. In college, I have done my obligatory night prayers before going out to a party on Friday night, asking for forgiveness on my way out. The hair peeking from the front of my hijab does not say I am rebelling against the oppression my religion and family inflict upon me. To some people, it does. Some women are unfortunately forced to wear it or forced not to for safety reasons. For me, though, it says I am trying. *** Today, sitting here writing this, I flip through pages of my travel journal from my time in Greece. On one of our walking tours, my professor took us to the Temple of Poseidon, told us to look over at the sea and mountains in our horizon, and to write what we saw and felt. After the sensory details, my entry reads: Somewhere, beyond these blue waters and shadow islands, beyond the blanket of sky, is a world I’ll never in this lifetime be able to fathom. Will I taste it? Will the road there ever get easier? If I could speak to God, I would ask him to free my mind. I would ask him what he wants of me. Except I can speak to him, and I can hear his answers. In the lump in my chest, in the lingering feelings upon waking from my dreams. In a perfect world I am twirling in a sundress, my hair dancing in ringlets around me. I’m not afraid of anything — not the sun, not the stares, not the torment of the afterlife. I’m not seen and I don’t see anyone. In a perfect world my body finally feels like mine, my skin, my mind. They welcome me home. I feel God within me, not disapproving from afar. *** I think back to what my friend said, about it being deeper than the physicality of it. In my journey to find God and myself, I am learning to drown out the noise of what everyone thinks my relationship with my religion should be, what my relationship with my body should be. I am learning to see my body as mine to love and adorn, and as a vessel to walk me home, simultaneously. There is a poem I love by Mohja Kahf, called “My body is not your battleground” in which she says, “My body is not your battleground / My hair is neither sacred nor cheap / neither the cause of your disarray / nor the path to your liberation. My hair will not bring progress and clean water / if it flies unbraided in the breeze / It will not save us from our attackers / if it is wrapped and shielded from the sun.” Maybe one day I’ll cover entirely, maybe one day I won’t at all. Maybe I’ll change my mind multiple times. This morning I wrap my hijab, apply a coat of lipstick and do my eyeliner. I call my family overseas; I speak to them in Arabic and then open up my computer to keep up with American politics. On my way to welcoming myself home, I embrace the space in between.

Michigan in Color

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Graduation Edition 2021 — 9

Sankofa: Trotter Multicultural Center looks towards new beginnings NA’KIA CHANNEY & DIERRA BARLOW 2019 MiC Editors

On April 11, generations of students and alumni joined in unity to welcome the grand opening of the new Trotter Multicultural Center on Central Campus. Forged from decades’ worth of student activism, largely spearheaded by the Black Student Union, Trotter opened its doors to the public and community during a historic community gathering. Students, alumni, faculty and staff lined the basement from wall-to-wall, nearly reaching capacity. The space, amalgamating the past and the present, produced a tangible reward for all the blood, sweat and tears poured into making the new Trotter Center a reality. The Trotter Center’s new space, placed on Central Campus’ South State Street, is a direct result of Black student activism on campus, dating all the way back to the 1970s with the Black Action Movement . Since then, the Black Student Union has continued these efforts with various social movements, a focal point being its 2013 #BBUM (Being Black at the University of Michigan) Twitter movement. In addition to launching the viral social media campaign, BSU released a list of demands, one of them being an opportunity to congregate at a new Trotter Center on Central Campus. Tyrell Collier, speaker of Black Student Union during #BBUM, spoke at the ribboncutting about the persistence of Black student activists on campus and paid homage to organizations like BAM and the Students of Color Coalition that came before him.

Beyond “the Most Searched” CAMILLE MOORE 2020 MiC Columnist

During the television airing of the 2020 Grammy Awards Ceremony, Google released its new Black History Month advertisement. The 1-minute commercial titled, “The Most Searched: A Celebration of Black History Makers” demonstrates the amazing feats Black people have accomplished throughout history based on how many people have looked them up on the search engine. The Civil Rights Movement holds the spot of the “most searched movement,” Maya Angelou is the “most searched female poet,” and so on. I personally enjoyed the video. It reinforces the fact that Black people have been vital to American culture and history since the creation of our country. It is a small but powerful way of getting the recognition we, as a community, deserve. However, it had me and other Black folks wondering about the integrity of companies who use Black History Month as a marketing tool. This isn’t a new suspicion. People are often wary of the motivations of companies who use Black History Month and Pride Month to appeal to those communities and sell them products. This is because once the month is over, the support is wiped away along with the exclusive merchandise that comes along with it. While it is nice that big companies like Google celebrate Black culture, they are not successful in supporting their Black employees. In 2018, Black people made up a disappointing 4.8% of Google’s workforce, while the population of Black people in the United States is 13%. In addition, multiple former Google employees have released memos expressing the hardships they faced while working there. One former employee has even said they, “never stopped feeling the burden of being Black at Google.” This situation opens up a major conversation about companies, institutions and people adoring Black culture while neglecting and marginalizing Black people. Black History Month is important, no one is denying that. Year after year, people take the time during Black History Month to look further than the prominent figures like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., uplifting Black people from our past that have done great things to make a better future. It’s a time of reflection and celebration. Further, there are calls for Google to include “the good and the bad” experiences of being Black in America. While many Black people excel in their respected fields, this does not mean that the racism, discrimination and violence our group faces has magically disappeared. While we celebrate the greats, we need to acknowledge that there are systemic disadvantages Black people face that stop them from being able to become the next great judge or heart surgeon. But Black people deserve more. We deserve to be hired at companies that are making strides to be anti-racist and have equitable hiring practices that eliminate racial biases in the employment process. We deserve to be present and represented in history books but also lecture in classrooms, in front of and behind the camera, serve on city councils, and act as CEO at our dream jobs. We are more than the entertainment, scientific advancements and political quotes we give to the world. So this Black History Month, if you plan on creating an advertisement, program or event celebrating Black culture, make sure you move beyond that and uplift Black people too.

“It really started decades and decades ago when folks were calling for a new Trotter to recognize Black student rights in general, since the ’70s and ’80s and ’90s,” he said. Collier earned his Bachelor of Arts in Afroamerican and African Studies and Sociology from the University in 2014. He currently serves as the senior coordinator of operations for Relay Graduate School of Education in New York City. At the Trotter Center, Collier remarked on the palpable energy surrounding the groundbreaking day and spoke of his hopes for the future. “Walking through this building, I got emotional. Going into the Sankofa Lounge, seeing all those photos, it means a lot. I just hope from here on out that history isn’t lost and that this still remains a beacon and a sanctuary for students of color. But, like I said, I always mention the Black student organizations because Trotter started off as the Black house and then it moved to the multicultural center. I just want to make sure that this remains a house and a safe space for Black students here on campus.” This sentiment of paying homage to those who came before was a common thread in many of the words orated by the other speakers at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The Honorable Cynthia D. Stephens, the 1st District Court of Appeals judge and a University alum, made sure to give thanks to Thaddeus R. Harrison, the only student activist with a criminal conviction for his role in BAM that has not been overturned. Student activism has been a driving force for the prosperity of these movements, and these efforts are apparent in the construction of the Trotter Center’s space. During all steps

in the process of the Trotter Center’s design and planning of its architecture, student input was prioritized and integrated into the edification. Notably, the new Trotter Center features a community lounge titled Sankofa on the first floor, a name advocated by BSU Speaker Kayla McKinney and Secretary Camyrea Barnes. Barnes spoke of the tireless, accumulative efforts of Black students who have fought for a space to share their experiences. “I’m speechless. My heart is full right now. Just knowing the work and the efforts that many of the Black students on this campus have been putting into for 50 years now, and now that it’s being fulfilled, it’s like a full circle of life. It’s up for the future generation of Black students to keep the momentum going.” E. Royster Harper, vice president for student life, reiterated this in her speech to the packed room in her anecdote concerning the significance of the Sankofa Lounge. Sankofa, originating from the Twi language of Ghana, is stylized by a bird with its head turned backward while its feet face forward. Like its symbol, Royster Harper urged community onlookers to acknowledge history and the efforts of the past while pursuing initiative for the future. “In some ways, it really is Sankofa. It really is this idea of looking back and remembering your past and seeing what’s possible for the future. And that’s what it means to me, a combination of all of that, and to see all of the students and all of the work that has caused this to happen over time.” Elizabeth James, adviser for BSU, reflected on the deep significance of the Trotter Center’s revitalization of community on campus. James’ roots in the University span

COURTESY OF NA’KIA CHANNEY

across generations, — both she and her mother attended the University, in addition to her 27 years of working for U-M. “For me, it’s really surreal to see a dream come true — (it) means more than I can even express in words. It’s the people, not the facility. We could meet at Angell Hall, but we would still be a community.” Robert Sellers, vice provost for equity and inclusion and chief diversity officer, talked about the Trotter Center’s importance to the institution and its catalytic role in creating a brighter future. “I am deeply touched, deeply moved. The fact that we, as an institution, are able to mark this moment in time as a way of both symbolizing the incredible work that the BSU and many students before the current BSU (have done) in terms of trying to move the University forward to become the institution that it can be, it should be, and that it needs to be, I think this is one more milestone, but it is

not the endpoint, and in many ways, it is a new beginning.” Michigan in Color commends the continuous efforts of students of color on campus and the plethora of community members and alumni that have supported these initiatives throughout the years. We hope that students of color will feel empowered, represented and grounded in their rightful place at this University and institutions like it. We welcome students of color from all backgrounds to revel in this space explicitly grounded in intercultural engagement, inclusivity and activism. But while the center is a positive step in the right direction, it is only one step in a larger journey. As the new Trotter Center begins to solidify its place on campus, students will continue to make strides in current and novel initiatives towards equity, inclusion, representation and unity at the University’s campus and beyond.

Winter wonderland ANDY NAKAMURA 2021 MiC Columnist

As I traveled from the Detroit Metropolitan Airport back to campus in January, I peered out the window of my cab with utter amazement. The sapphire sky and soft glow of the afternoon sun looked exactly as I had remembered it, but this time, the world was coated with snow. I come from a tropical climate, so the idea of a cold winter was totally foreign to me. The world cloaked in white looked so beautiful, just as I had imagined it in my head. I had spent years fantasizing about building a snowman and getting into snowball fights, so the brightness of the snow as it fell from the sky made me look forward to those new experiences that lay before me. This winter semester would finally allow me the opportunity to see and touch real snow for the very first time. Even though all of my classes were online and many of my friends had moved back home, I was determined to remain optimistic about this coming semester. After all, it’s college. I had spent years imagining late night adventures, striking up conversations with complete strangers and shouting the lyrics to trashy pop songs into the void of the

night. Here, I could do anything I ever wanted, right? Snow gently wafted in the calm breeze sweeping through campus when I stepped out of my cab in front of East Quad Residence Hall building. I reached my hands out to catch the delicately hovering snowflakes, but their frigid tendrils stung my hands. Over the next several weeks, the sky lost its vibrance. The uniformly gray clouds filled the sky with their emptiness. The days blended together as the winter nights devoured the afternoon sun. The dreariness of winter seeped through my window. My empty cans of energy drinks, all neatly stacked like legos in my overflowing recycling bin, were the most vibrant decor I owned. Even when I consumed 600mg of caffeine a day (halfway to risking seizures according to the Food and Drug Administration), I still couldn’t bring myself to make the arduous trek down the hall to the trash closet. The mess in my room held little importance since I was my only company anyway. I barely had the energy to walk downstairs to the dining hall, never mind my dreams of exploring the city around me. On a particularly gloomy morning, desperate to rediscover the warmth I felt when I saw snow outside of my cab window for the first time, I ventured out into the cold. I circled

the campus aimlessly as if I was waiting for some divine inspiration to strike me. I stared up into the colorless sky, waiting for fresh snow to fall and posing for what I imagined to be a beautiful cinematic shot in the imaginary movie of my life. Meanwhile, my feet trudged along the earth. The grime of the sidewalk fused with the slush of the trodden snow left behind a brown, misshapen depression in the wake of each step. It felt as though I was sinking into the ground itself. With each step my feet felt heavier and heavier. Eventually I dragged myself over the empty Diag, dusted off a snowcovered bench and let myself slouch over in my seat. In high school, I used to dream of escaping my mundane yet stressful life. I wanted to build a snowman, get into snowball fights and skate on the surface of a frozen lake. Yet between the cold, my coursework and COVID-19, I still had little control. The fantasy world I built was toppling down before my eyes, and I just had to accept it. The life I had imagined was not one that I could live. A cold anger ran through my veins. What use are dreams if they never materialize? Frustration mounted inside me, but I didn’t drink enough caffeine that morning to have the energy to be upset. My eyes drifted from the gray sky to the uneven frost-covered

ground, while I just sat frozen in place. Then I noticed the footprints left by each passerby filled the whole sidewalk. Who were they? Where were they going? Why? I could never know the answers to these questions, and I realized that I didn’t need to know. I had spent so much time constructing intricate fantasies about my future that I couldn’t be satisfied with just not knowing something. Every raindrop, every snowflake, every dust particle had to be a metaphor. I had to be in control. Each time reality didn’t serve me, it felt as though the entire world was collapsing. But, my lack of control was relieving. I couldn’t control the weather or predict the future, and I realized that I could be just fine with that. Instead of hiding from anything that threatened my fantasy worldview, I chose to embrace the unpredictable and the unknown. I pushed myself back up from the bench and balanced on my own two feet again. Who am I? Where was I going? Why? It was all up for me to decide. I chose to walk away from my past idealizations and learn how to accept my lack of agency. I looked neither up at the sky nor down at the ground but forward. I set my sights on the horizon and started walking back to my residence hall, letting the stray snowflakes fall on my face.

How four men fill the racial gap where the institution fails GABRIJELA SKOKO

2020 Summer Managing MiC Editor

Societal consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have entirely altered the world of academia. This speaks to the way of life for all students, but particularly students of color and underrepresented students with fewer resources to accomplish their educational goals, or even go to class. However, these racial and class disparities in education are present throughout all of history, and yet there exists no functioning resolution within the institution. “Those that have raised graduation rates for low-income students have often relied on wraparound services, addressing the needs of the whole student,” Vimal Patel, senior reporter for The Chronicle of Higher Education, wrote “That includes caring for their financial and mental health, and creating a network of support with cohorts, early interventions and extra counseling. A ‘high touch’ learning environment, as many advocates call it.” On March 20th, local organization Building Successful Bridges announced on Instagram a project in which they would offer $200 to 5 different University of Michigan students to aid their transition back home amidst the hectic rise of the COVID-19 pandemic. The genesis of Building Successful Bridges first began in 2016 when incoming freshmen Kingsley Enechukwu, Darrell Tubbs and Nando Felten and nearly ten other young black men connected over their noticeable detachment from the educational and professional development which had been abundantly provided to their new peers. Soon after, the official team and founders would be LSA students Tubbs and Felten, and Ross students Enechukwu and Kendall Van Allen. “We all had similar experiences in the sense that our school didn’t really prepare us for college and the transition to college, or [teach us] ultimately how to be successful there,” Enechukwu said. “This was the beginning of Boys Seeking Billions which sought to provide success coaching to underrepresented minorities and communities to ultimately

give them the tool kit to enter high paying industries.” Felten and friend Kendall Van Allen also took note of the lack of diversity in fields of entrepreneurship and business. Eventually, the four men realized the power of merging into one organization, now called Building Successful Bridges, which provides service to students of color spanning ages sixteen to twenty-one. “Our goal is to offer young students contemporary life and professional skill sets which enable them to harness their full potential. These young men and women have been historically behind in graduation rates, wealth accumulation, leadership roles and we wanna reverse this trend of inequality and increase diverse success,” Van Allen said. “You see a lot of academic initiatives, or like basically tutorship, but not something that’s more encompassing than that. So we’re more like life coaches, really mentorship in all aspects.” Tubbs disclosed that being a student of color has created barriers for making these resources accessible. He believes Building Successful Bridges acknowledges these barriers with a focus on structure at an institutional level. “There’s a reason why we don’t necessarily get [what] we’re supposed to get because there are barriers within the institution that people don’t often identify or talk about,” Tubbs said. “The idea is creating spaces which aren’t traditional educational settings,” Van Allen said, “so not the traditional charter school, but they are like educational empowerment systems.” Building Successful Bridges tackles the idea of life-encompassing mentorship through a variety of platforms. Earlier this year, Van Allen and Felten worked with Improve Your Tomorrow, an established pre-college program for young men of color based in Sacramento, California. At a conference on identity, they were able to reach students from across the nation, teaching workshops on imposter syndrome and how to overcome it. Felten also spoke on his current project with the University, where he is working to create a course with the School of Education. “We’re trying to make a community engagement class. So that’s taking not just

students who are focusing their studies in education, but students who are majoring in, you know, business, engineering, psychology, architecture,” Felten said. “And using these students to be facilitators in the classroom so we can have a more community-engaged learning experience at the University of Michigan.” Tubbs spoke on their current work to engage with the incoming freshmen, particularly those who intended on partaking in the summer enrichment programs that the University offers. “Our most immediate goal amidst the pandemic is to launch an online platform for us to better engage with students and faculty members and help aid them through this tough time,” Tubbs said. “However, this is not enough, because an important sector we’re trying to hit is the people who don’t have technology”. Tubbs said that projects like these, their wellness challenge — which spread through Instagram promoting different habits to enrich physical, mental and spiritual health — and the money that they have been able to donate to students is how he defines success. Kingsley and him believe they have touched more than one person and they attributed this development to their own mutual connections. Each person that they met provided them with another key network to then have more conversation with. Enechukwu believes the key to the program is to meet students where they are, in both their personal and educational journeys. And then from there, it is integral to establish psychological safety for the student to then be able to open up and share what is going on in their personal lives or at school. After doing that, they create a game plan on how to get to that next step. Regardless of each student’s differences, that three-prong approach allows them to hit all the key aspects of a student and see them progress and grow. “We’re never (going to) get to a point where one size fits all,” Tubbs said. “We will always base it on the individual because we recognize the difference in personal experience.” The young men mentioned that aside from their immediate goals, they have a much larger vision for the future which includes expanding

to a national level of outreach. They plan on establishing hubs in most, if not all, cities and at most universities. These expansions surely cannot be done without help from mentors, partner organizations, grants or other funding opportunities such as scholarships and donations. “If this type of program existed, a lot of the mistakes I made in my journey I probably could have avoided. I wasn’t at all sure how to navigate college correctly or obtain goals,” Tubbs said. “So if I had this guidance it would have been easier for me to stay on track and accomplish a lot more.” In short, Felten encompassed the group’s belief of the huge need for responsive traumainformed advocates, interventionists and mentors who can connect with these students. Most importantly, ones who look like them and share their same experience. He explained that what’s missing is the actual engagement, interaction and execution of trauma-informed practice. “There is this cultural competency that comes into place and without that competency, the impact [of mentorship and guidance] is not as effective,” Felten said. “So we believe that this aspect is incredibly important.” Building Successful Bridges exists to address, heal and grow. One must address the personal afflictions that have created trauma for a student, the institutional barriers that have limited one’s academic success and the merging of the two that have prevented professional achievement. But BSB is more than this — it is a space to connect and develop with oneself and those who acknowledge that self. It is unique in its foundation, its accomplishments and its goals. It is life-encompassing to the core. We must look to organizations and efforts such as this, and look to men such as Kendall Van Allen, Kingsley Enechukwu, Darrell Tubbs and Nando Felten, support them, donate to them and share their story to get involved. Building Successful Bridges can be contacted and donations can be received through email: buildingsuccessfulbridges@gmail.com. Social media: @buildingsuccessfulbridges. Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/buildingsuccessful-bridges/.

Sports

10 — Graduation Edition 2021

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Michigan secures spot in National Championship with 69-57 win over Loyola-Chicago ETHAN WOLFE

2018 Daily Sports Writer

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Down 10 with 14 minutes to go, John Beilein scooped his jawline and paced the sidelines with his head down, overlooking his bench. What happened to his team? He knew not to take No. 11-seeded Loyola-Chicago lightly. In his eyes, the Ramblers weren’t a Cinderella anymore after they made it to the Sweet Sixteen two weeks ago. But his Wolverines? After all they’d been through, they weren’t supposed to be down double-digits, struggling to buy a bucket in the Final Four. “We’re not like that where we can go and just school anybody,” Beilein said. “We’ve got really good players, don’t get me wrong, but every team that’s playing right now is playing because they play great defense.” It wasn’t until eight minutes later that Moritz Wagner converted a putback and-one and flexed his muscles towards his bench that Beilein griped at. What happened to his team? Wagner’s and-one — three of his 24 total points, and one of his 15 total rebounds — was the nightcap to a 17-2 run and a 53-47 lead. It was as good of a spurt as they’ve had all year. That is what a Beilein-led, March team looks like. It’s a resiliency that found its footing and persisted. Michigan (33-7 overall) willed its way over Loyola (32-6) in front of nearly 70,000 people at the Alamodome, 69-57. What

KATELYN MULACHY/Daily Michigan junior guard Charles Matthews scores 17 points in the Final Four victory.

once seemed an impossibility is now reality — the Wolverines are playing in the National Championship against Villanova on Monday. The high stakes of the contest — and the nerves coupled with it — were evident from the get-go. By the under-eight media timeout in the first half, sophomore point guard Zavier Simpson, who has a 2.69 assist-turnover ratio, coughed it up three times without scoring. AbdurRahkman — who finished 2-for-11 — also felt the pressure, forcing up seven

errant, unfruitful attempts in the first half. Their efforts headlined one of the Wolverines worst first half outputs of the season. “We had eight turnovers in the first half. We were one (assist) and eight,” Beilein said. “I don’t think you’ve ever seen one of our teams ever be one assist to eight turnovers. … We had to adjust to how quickly they were rotating to some of our action, because they were switching so much.” Wagner and redshirt sophomore Charles Matthews were the lone

Wolverines to impress in the first 20 minutes. Wagner was nearly unstoppable on the boards, collecting a double-double at the 3:08 mark of the first frame. Matthews’ eight points and four rebounds also made up for an otherwise-abysmal 9-for-31 first-half display by Michigan. The Ramblers were able to capitalize marginally through center Cameron Krutwig, who met Wagner in kind. Krutwig bullied his way for eight of his 17 total points in the paint in the first half.

His performance highlighted the Ramblers’ quiet 10-for-24 first-half shooting performance from the field, as well as 9-for-10 from the free throw line. The defensive dogfight, a 29-22 halftime advantage for Loyola, was a snoozer with a Final Four sticker slapped on top of it. “I knew they were trying to punch us,” Wagner said. “First of all, you’ve got to give them a lot of credit; their set plays are incredible. Tough to guard. And their big man does an incredible job down there as a freshman. So we had to cover that somehow defensively. “And I tried to do my job, tried not to foul and stay solid, build walls and grab rebounds. And it worked out.” The second half began as a mirror opposite to the previous half. Michigan and Loyola exchanged baskets, with the Wolverines unable to carve into the deficit. Then Wagner went to work. He continued his impressive play with a dunk to open Michigan’s scoring and two steals from telegraphed passes that led to baskets. But this time, Wagner was no longer the only life raft in the Wolverines’ 17-2 run. Fifth-year senior point guard Jaaron Simmons hit a corner trey — his first since the first round matchup against Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament. Then freshman guard Jordan Poole, who played just two minutes against Florida State in the Elite Eight, drove to the hoop for an unexpected two points. Fifth-year senior forward Duncan Robinson followed with a long 3-pointer. The Wolverines were down just three points with building momentum.

“I just knew it, it had that feeling,” Abdur-Rahkman said. “One of these times down we were gonna get a stop, turn it into offense and keep going and going. We just needed that spark plug.” And the run that Michigan needed so badly became legitimate. Down 47-44 with 6:05 remaining, Wagner calmly corralled a low-post pass, dribbled to the corner and knocked down a triple. Tie game. Wagner’s villainy wasn’t finished, of course. He had his and-one putback and his flex — an exclamation point on the best game of his life. “I mean, 24 and 15 — If I need to explain anything more than that, it’s a problem,” Simpson said. “That’s what a leader does.” A poster reading “Bye Bye Sista” — a dig at Loyola’s team chaplain and media sensation, Sister Jean — flashed to the camera. The Wolverines’ stout defense made sure it really was goodbye. “They did what great teams do,” said Ramblers coach Porter Moser. “They capitalized on that run where we made six turnovers in a row.” It was enough to put Cinderella — or whoever they are, if you’re Beilein — to bed and secure a spot in the championship. Maybe you could go back to March 17 and credit Poole’s buzzerbeater against Houston to Michigan’s success. But when the Wolverines had to show up, they did. It’s equally plausible that they were meant to be here the whole time.

Michigan puts away Terriers for first Frozen Don’t let the end distract from Michigan’s run Four berth since 2011 JACOB SHAMES

2018 Daily Sports Writer

WORCESTER, Mass. — When Mel Pearson was introduced as the coach of the Michigan hockey team on April 24, 2017, he compared it to being given the keys to the prized family car. “The car is in great shape,” Pearson said then. “It’s got a great engine, the body looks fantastic. We might have to make a couple of repairs here this summer — minor, minor repairs. And then we’re going to get that car ready to go on the road. “And come September, that car is headed in one direction. And that direction is St. Paul, Minnesota.” Prior to the 2017-2018 season, St. Paul — the location of the 2018 Frozen Four — might as well have been the moon for the Wolverines. They had won just 13 games in Red Berenson’s final year and were preparing to go into the year with the third-youngest roster in the nation. Their predicted finish of sixth, via the Big Ten Preseason Coaches’ Poll, was a product of those factors. Boston University, on the other hand, received a No. 2 ranking in the USCHO preseason poll and possessed a deep, talent-loaded roster with 12 NHL draftees. So you’d be hard-pressed to find anybody at that point who thought that these two teams would be meeting on Sunday in Worcester, Mass., with a spot in the Frozen Four on the line. And yet, with a 6-3 win over the Terriers (22-14-4 overall) at the DCU Center, Michigan clinched its 25th all-time appearance in the national semifinal, and first since 2011. Much of the game was marked by alternating stretches of dominant and embarrassing play for Michigan (22-14-3) — the Wolverines would play to the fullest of their potential before committing just about every gaffe in the book. “We got lucky, we got lucky,” Pearson said. “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good, but we were good and lucky. We were fortunate, but we’ll take it.” This theme began right after the initial face-off, which junior forward

Cooper Marody won from Jordan Greenway. Marody’s “DMC” line with senior forwards Tony Calderone and Dexter Dancs then controlled the puck in the Boston zone for the entirety of the game’s first minute. Five minutes in, however, Michigan had yet to register a shot. Quinn Hughes would change that in a hurry. Taking possession in his defensive zone, he broke across center-ice and dashed through multiple Terriers before being stripped. The Wolverines regained the puck, however, and worked it back around to the freshman defenseman, who caught twine with a laser from the high slot area. But Michigan let the Terriers right back into the game thanks to a turnover at the edge of its defensive zone, which Boston forward Brady Tkachuk grabbed. Tkachuk laid the puck off to Greenway, whose shot snuck just under the bar with 7:43 left in the period. Three minutes later, the Wolverines took advantage of a Terrier interference penalty with a well-worked power play, which culminated in Calderone’s wideopen shot from the right slot beating Jake Oettinger. But just as soon after, Michigan nearly gave it right back. Sophomore forward Jake Slaker took down a Terrier from behind with an arm tackle, but instead, it was Boston’s Logan Cockerill who went to the box for holding. Maybe the Wolverines felt guilty about taking advantage of an apparently obvious missed call, or maybe they felt it wasn’t quite time to pull away. Whatever it was, the Terriers dominated Michigan with their penalty kill, and nearly scored themselves when Greenway forced a neutral-zone turnover and forced Lavigne into making a save on the breakaway. All in all, though, the Wolverines surely couldn’t complain with a onegoal lead at the first intermission. But they wasted no time in adding to it. Two minutes into the second period, freshman forward Josh Norris fired a cannon from outside the slot, ramming the puck off the back wall. However, the rebound bounced off of Oettinger’s pads and bounced from one side of the net to the other, giving junior forward Brendan Warren a

KENT SCHWARTZ

2019 Daily Sports Writer

ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily Michigan hockey captured lightning and rode it to the Frozen Four in victory over Boston.

point-blank tap-in and Michigan a 3-1 lead. Halfway through the period, the tide began to turn, thanks to both Boston’s supreme talent and the Wolverines’ mistakes. Lavigne was late in moving from his left post to his right, and Patrick Curry snuck a wraparound goal behind him, a rare soft goal for Michigan’s normally solid netminder. A flood of Wolverine turnovers and close shaves followed. If the previous ten minutes displayed a well-oiled, cohesive outfit, what ensued was Michigan at its shakiest — desperate, undisciplined and errorprone. The Wolverines escaped the period up 3-2. But the shakiness that plagued them reared its ugly head once again with 16:30 to play. Greenway intercepted junior defenseman Joseph Cecconi’s absentminded pass right in front of the crease, and Drew Melanson jumped on the loose puck and deked out Lavigne to the right to tie the game. Michigan was bailed out three minutes later — by a Boston blunder, of all things. Brandon Hickey whiffed on a pass on the edge of the defensive zone and fell backwards. On the forecheck, Slaker picked up the puck, skated into the middle of the zone and zipped one into the nylon to push the Wolverines back in front. “It was at the end of the shift so I was pretty tired, I was kind of looking for a change and I saw the puck squirt free kind of in the slot,” Slaker said. “I

saw that (Boston) was kind of out of reach of it, so I just tried to push it past them and shoot cross-body… Coach reiterated, get pucks on net all year and good things happen.” With just under four minutes to play, Dancs carried the puck down the right flank with Nicholas Boka streaking into the slot. Dancs took his time and beat the Terrier defenders with his centering pass. Boka caught the puck on his left, swerved his stick around Oettinger and deposited it into the back of the net. The all-important insurance goal — the junior defenseman’s first of the season — put Michigan up 5-3. Shortly after, sophomore forward Nick Pastujov fired from his own zone toward the recently-emptied Boston net for a three-goal lead. “We’ve seen some crazy stuff happen,” Calderone said. “We’ve come back from four-goal deficits, so I think we just needed to play until we heard that buzzer.” One minute and 40 seconds later, the Wolverines heard that buzzer, and it all set in. “Things went in for us tonight,” Pearson said. “But you have to be ready and you have to play and we were very fortunate and we got some bounces. The hockey gods were looking down on us tonight, no doubt about it.” Michigan needed its share of lucky bounces and fortunate breaks on Sunday. Pearson said it himself. But the prized family car has reached its destination.

OMAHA, Neb — In February, no one thought Michigan’s season would end on June 26th. No one thought it would get its first 50-win season since 1987 and beat the No. 1 team in the country twice on the road to go to its first College World Series since 1984. And most of all, no one thought that the feeling of losing in game three of the College World Series final against the No. 2 team in the country would be disappointing. But it is. On Wednesday, the Wolverines watched Vanderbilt storm the field and celebrate its second national title in five years, coming back to win the last two games in a three-game series for the championship. They were as close as it gets. A team that squeaked into the NCAA tournament as one of the “Last Four In”, and that was discounted in Corvallis, Los Angeles and Omaha, shocked college baseball. Since the walkoff win against Illinois, Michigan went 12-5 against some of the best teams in the country. A hit that lit a flame inside the hearts of the Wolverines propelled them to simply be better than all but one team. They showed how much they had improved by crushing Texas Tech, a team that dominated them in March. They showed they could bounce back from crushing losses against Creighton and UCLA with win-or-gohome victories.

Junior left-hander Tommy Henry dominated on the mound in his last two starts, throwing a complete game shutout and a game one win, respectively. Senior first baseman Jimmy Kerr turned red hot, launching seven of his 15 home runs in the NCAA tournament while capturing the attention of baseball with the story of his father and grandfather. Coach Erik Bakich beat possibly the most storied coach of college baseball, Mike Martin, in his last year, when the world was on Martin’s side. In the meantime, Bakich made tough calls that paid off, such as moving Jeff Criswell to the bullpen and dropping closer Willie Weiss. Over and over, interview after interview in Omaha, Bakich was asked what this meant for Big Ten baseball — for northern baseball. “The more we can do this, I think the more the Big Ten in baseball can continue to grow and be perceived as a major sport on par with some of the other major conferences in baseball,” Bakich said. In disbelief, reporters would ask how the team got here, how Michigan beat the teams that it did. The focus was on how excited they were, not how good they were. Bakich never once said, “We’re just happy to be here.” As improbable as it was, the Wolverines won their way to Omaha. They were playing better than every team they faced along the way. Michigan made it. It was a long, uneven road but the eyes of college baseball might have finally turned north.

ALEC COHEN/Daily Michigan coach Erik Bakich brought the Wolverines to their first men’s college World Series since 1984.

Sports

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Michigan’s season ends in 51-49 Elite Eight defeat against UCLA can really either help you or hurt you, and for us, we came up short.” 2021 Daily Sports Writer On its final possession, sophomore wing Franz Wagner airballed a INDIANAPOLIS — The Michigan 3-pointer before senior guard Eli men’s basketball team held aspirations Brooks failed to score on an offensive of playing in the Final Four. On rebound. After Juzang split a pair Tuesday night, it came up just short. of free throws, Smith missed on a In a stunning upset, the Wolverines pull-up 3-pointer. Michigan retained (23-5) fell to the East Region’s 11-seed possession, but a shot from Wagner at UCLA (22-9), 51-49. The Bruins’ the horn clanked off the rim, sealing Johnny Juzang proved to be the the Wolverines’ fate. By the time the night’s star, scoring 27 points en route final buzzer sounded, Michigan had to winning the East region’s Most missed its final eight shots. “We got the look, got the shot Outstanding Player Award. The Wolverines had chances to take that we wanted,” Howard said. the lead late, but two close misses from “Unfortunately there’s not much you freshman center Hunter Dickinson can do with 0:05, but that shot was and graduate transfer guard Mike a nice little heave. Unfortunately, it Smith came up short. Ultimately, just didn’t go in. Before that, we got Michigan had several chances to an open look and just fell short but clinch a spot in the Final Four, but its overall, I love the fact how our guys executed down the stretch.” own errors acted as the impediment. Turnovers proved to be Michigan’s undoing, committing 14 to UCLA’s eight and routinely coughing up the ball on possessions just when it appeared to finally be gaining momentum. From the line, the Wolverines struggled as well, shooting an uncharacteristic 6-for11 after coming into the game shooting 77.8% from the charity stripe. After halftime, ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily the Bruins started Michigan freshman center Hunter Dickinson’s impressive first season hot. UCLA’s Tyger ended one game short of the Final Four. Campbell scored two “It’s very disappointing for our quick makes before Juzang knocked guys, working extremely hard this down three free throws to give the year, coming down to, you know, one Bruins a game-high nine-point possession,” Michigan coach Juwan advantage. After Michigan’s 10th Howard said. “And that’s how it goes turnover of the game, the reality of a sometimes. In the game of basketball, season-ending defeat just shy of the there’s one or two possessions that Final Four’s doorstep began to set in. TEDDY GUTKIN

Then, Michigan’s offense woke up. Dickinson went to work down low for the Wolverines, scoring on two straight possessions to help pull Michigan within five. On the ensuing possessions, Brooks followed with two layups to cap an 8-0 run and force Bruins coach Mick Cronin to burn a timeout. The previously dormant Michigan offense was suddenly injected with life. UCLA, though, was ready with an answer. The Bruins’ Cody Riley backed Dickinson down and finished inside before Dickinson was called for an illegal screen. Just minutes after it appeared the Wolverines were ready to retake the lead, UCLA once again answered. Even when a Dickinson free throw put Michigan up by one up with four minutes to play, a floater by the Bruins’ Jules Bernard gave UCLA the lead back. “They played extremely, extremely hard,” Brooks said. “They earned that win. We’re not going to take anything away from them. But they made everything challenging, yeah.” Wagner noticeably struggled, scoring just four points on 1-for-10 shooting and 0-for-4 from 3-point range, including two misses in the final seconds. Wagner, who has arguably been Michigan’s best allaround player in this postseason, struggled to make a dent in its most important contest of the year. “Franz is one of the reasons why we’re here in this position,” Howard said. “I always have trust in all my players, and it’s never one guy’s fault because he doesn’t shoot the ball well. Together as a team, you win together and you lose together.” Ultimately, the Wolverines’ storybook season ended just short of their lofty goals. And while nets were cut and confetti rained down, they watched.

Graduation Edition 2021 — 11

Against Florida, Poole gets one step closer to shedding the stigma of the shot ETHAN SEARS

2020 Managing Sports Editor

DES MOINES, Iowa — Jordan Poole walked to the bench. DeAndre Haynes had a message. In the midst of a first half that defined the two-sidedness of Poole’s game and his season, the sophomore guard had just driven the lane, shot-faked, then thrown up a floater with no chance of hitting. Earlier, he hit two 3-pointers with hands in his face, one of them while falling to the floor, helping Michigan to an early lead against Florida. Now, that lead was in jeopardy. “Hey, take a deep breath. Breathe,” Haynes, an assistant coach, recalled telling Poole. “Just slow down, take the easy shots that they give you. When they close out hard, just drive past, to either take a shot or make somebody else better.” So, when the Wolverines came out in the second half, Poole looked for Jon Teske down low, found the right angle on an entry pass and picked up an assist. Next time down, with the lane open, he drove, winding his body and finishing through contact. Then, he swished a stepback three. Poole, all told, scored 19 points, shot 4-of-9 from 3-point range and buoyed Michigan to a 64-49 win over the Gators and its third-straight Sweet Sixteen. Last year, it was Poole who sent them there. The questions about the shot against Houston flowed towards Poole on Saturday. Inevitably, they always will. Jordan Poole will never escape it. One day after the season, Poole was working with Isaiah Livers in the gym and stopped to take a picture. Livers made fun, saying something to the effect of, “You made the big shots, Mr. Big Shots.” Poole snarled. “I don’t wanna be known for only just the shot,” Poole said. “Know what I’m saying? Being able to put all the hard work that I have in, being able to start, get the opportunity. Last year I think I only played 11 minutes, something like that, in that game.” On Saturday, Poole played 33 minutes. He took some bad shots, a whole lot more good shots, played strong defense and helped his team win. The shot against Houston was great. But performances like Saturday’s are what Poole cares about. He has put in extra time, over the summer and during the season, as coaches have stressed time and time again to keep things simple, let the game come to him. Those clichés, for Poole, represent consistency. Just last week, on an equally big stage against Michigan State, Poole tried to force up shots and went 3-for-7 from beyond the arc, missing a potential game-tying shot. Consistency is an elusive ideal — and it’s one Poole has

worked towards in the good times and bad. “He just doesn’t show up, enjoy the bright lights,” said assistant coach Luke Yaklich. “He works for the bright lights.” Poole will always be recognized for the shot. It will be on every highlight, every pregame video at Crisler Center, every YouTube compilation of March buzzer-beaters. Poole is just fine with that. But the rest is what matters. “Obviously it’s an amazing opportunity to make a 3-point shot, and advance us to the Sweet Sixteen as a freshmen,” Poole said. “But I’ve worked so hard and have so much more to my game that I’m not able to show. I am able to show — to be in a position like this, spending days, countless hours and summers in the gym is just something that I feel like I work on.”

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily Michigan sophomore guard Jordan Poole spent his season trying to make his legacy more than one shot.

Games like Saturday, where Poole leads his team to its biggest win of the season, staying alive and getting one step closer to the ultimate goal of a national title, are the reward for those hours, that time. He’s had games like this during the regular season, of course, and proved himself beyond the shot before. But this is on a bigger stage, with brighter lights and bigger stakes. To shed that image, at least as much as history will allow, these are the types of games Poole must have. After the reporters had cleared out of Michigan’s locker room and John Beilein was ready to hop on a plane, the grace of home beckoning, he leaned in close with a final point to make about Poole and about that goal. “We’re all working really hard with him to become a basketball player,” Beilein told The Daily. “A really good basketball player. Not just play basketball. Become a basketball player.” On Saturday, that’s what Poole was. He’d like you to remember it.

NCAA Tournament, all spring and winter competition canceled amid COVID-19 pandemic DANIEL DASH

2020 Daily Sports Writer

INDIANAPOLIS — Unlike previous years, this March has been defined by the madness taking place off the hardwood. Amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 NCAA Tournament has been cancelled, according to a release from the NCAA. All spring and winter competitions are cancelled as well. “This decision is based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to spread of the pandemic, and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions

by other entities,” NCAA President Mark Emmert said in a statement. The decision comes mere hours after each major Division I conference pulled the plug on their conference tournaments. The Ivy League — which canceled its conference tournament on Wednesday — was the first domino to fall, and the rest of the country followed suit shortly after. Less than 20 minutes before the beginning of Thursday’s four-game Big Ten Tournament slate, conference commissioner Kevin Warren called off the tournament. Michigan and Rutgers were finishing pregame warmups when he made the final call. Michigan will cease all athletic events — including offseason practices and spring

recruiting — through the remainder of the 2019-20 academic year as part of a Big Tenwide decision. The Wolverines will also forbid coaches from off-campus recruiting and hosting recruits on official or unofficial campus visits during the time period. “Today, we took the unprecedented and proactive decision to suspend intercollegiate activities to protect the health and wellbeing of our student-athletes, staff and community members,” Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said in a statement. “This decision, reached in collaboration with the Big Ten Conference and campus leaders, was reached after thorough discussion and was necessary given the magnitude of this global issue. “The hard work and dedication of our

student-athletes, coaches and staff is a source of inspiration for so many. So, too, will be our response as we confront the spread of this global pandemic. On behalf of our entire department, I thank the Big Ten Conference, presidents and athletic directors, our head coaches and community partners who have offered input and unwavering support.” For the Wolverines, the cancellation brings an abrupt end to a time of year brimming with promise. During the first few weeks of the spring season, Michigan established itself as a national contender in baseball, softball, tennis and gymnastics, among other sports. For basketball in particular, cancellations snowballed quickly. Shortly after the

Big Ten canceled its men’s basketball tournament, a mass cancellation of other conference tournaments ensued. Among the leaders of the movement was Duke athletic director Kevin White, who made waves by suspending all Blue Devil teams from competition indefinitely. As the chair of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Committee, White’s decision was the writing on the wall for national-level cancellations. “Some things are bigger than basketball,” Wolverines’ coach Juwan Howard said in a statement. “This is a global situation and we need to make sure we follow the guidance and direction of the experts and health officials. … We want everyone to stay safe and take precautions to protect yourselves and loved ones.”

Michigan falls to Baylor in overtime, 78-75 NICK MOEN

2021 Daily Sports Writer

In a last ditch effort to tie up the game, junior guard Danielle Rauch inbounded the ball to junior guard Leigha Brown. Deep on the right side of the arc, Brown heaved the ball up to the basket as the buzzer went off.

forward NaLyssa Smith threatened the Wolverine’s defense. She couldn’t miss, going 6-for-6 in the field and adding a 3-pointer — the third she’s made all season. It was no surprise junior forward Naz Hillmon kept Michigan in the game, going 4-for-5 and ending the first half with eight points. By the end of the second quarter, the Wolverines shifted

MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily Michigan senior forward Hailey Brown’s hot shooting streak ended in the Wolverines’ first-ever Sweet Sixteen game.

It fell short, and the Wolverines’ (16-6 overall, 9-5 Big Ten) run in the NCAA Tournament ended in overtime against Baylor (28-2 overall, 17-1 Big 12), 78-75. Michigan made an effort to find senior forward Hailey Brown early, but after missing three early shots behind the arc, Brown finally made her first 3-pointer at the end of the first quarter. A dead stare in her eyes, the Wolverine bench went off as the score read 13-14. Baylor responded, going to the line with one second left and making both free throws. Michigan ended the quarter down 13-16. Neither side scored in the first three minutes of the second quarter. After a Lady Bears turnover, Leigha Brown cut inside and drained the jumper. Baylor continued to pound the paint as junior

the momentum in their favor. Graduate guard Akienreh Johnson started the second half where she left off, scoring a 3-pointer within the first 30 seconds. Rauch followed her lead, scoring a triple herself. Michigan fought against the Lady Bears’ transition offense, defending hard in the paint and fighting for every rebound. Thesecondhalfalsosawtheresurgence of Leigha Brown, who became the main weapon alongside Hillmon. “She wants to be a winner,” Hillmon said. “She’s a tough matchup for anybody and I’ve seen it all year long. Three level scorer, defender, trying to get in there for rebounds. She brought a lot to our team.” Baylor went on an 8-0 run at the end of the third quarter, led by senior guard

Moon Ursin. Leigha Brown took over, scoring a layup and stripping the ball from Ursin. Going coast to coast, she drew a foul and scored two free throws. Down 40-47 going into the fourth quarter, a Michigan victory remained in reach. Brown was the heart of the Wolverines’ offense, scoring a crucial 3-pointer and shortening its deficit to four points. Brown’s form continued into the final moments of regulation. Scoring two jumpers, she gave Michigan a point game. With 15 seconds to go, Hillmon tied it up and the Wolverines went to overtime. Hailey Brown gave the Wolverines their first lead of the game with a pullup jumper in overtime. A back and forth affair, Hailey Brown’s turnover in the final minute gave the Lady Bears the edge after the ball was taken back for a quick bucket. The Wolverines ended with 18 turnovers on the night. “I definitely think (turnovers) played a part,” Hillmon said. “Some of our turnovers led to their easy transition. Definitely something we wanted to limit, not in this game, but we’ve been trying to limit our turnovers all year.” Down by three, Johnson dribbled past half-court and threw the ball from deep with a few seconds left, trying to avoid a traveling violation. Rimming out, guard DiJonai Carrington stepped out of bounds with 0.9 seconds left to give Michigan one last chance. Leigha Brown received the inbound pass four feet behind the arc and launched a shot, but missed short. “We ran a stagger screen, Leigha got a shot,” Michigan Coach Kim Barnes Arico said. “She had a look. Obviously it was short, it was deep. The game didn’t come down to that second.” The Wolverines lead never lasted long. Michigan’s performance leaves room to build on for next season as its historic run would end in the Sweet Sixteen.

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12 — Graduation Edition 2021

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