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Vol. CXXIX, No. 111 ©2020 The Michigan Daily
COVER .........................1 NEWS.........................2 NEWS......................3 OPINION.....................4
DESIGN BY ALEC COHEN
ARTS.....................5 MIC.....................6 SPORTS....................7 SPORTS....................8
News
2A — Saturday, May 2, 2020
ARTS NEWS
over the over the YEARS
YEARS
2017 2013
APRIL 29: Bicentennial Commencement Bis etum il ius usaerum200 eium velicti looks back oneliquam the University’s years, comnit dunt, tota que consequo is essunture alongside celebrating Class of 2017’s future. dolor molesti beriore,ail series ea ne of plab ipsae The event included musical excero te volorepa tation re videndunt performances, multimedia presentation omnihil ipienda veliqui et laboriame and alumni awards to nobites pay tribute to the lantiossunt hil ius arumqui dentibus, qui University’s rich history. aliat pa qui simolessit, nes escilit harum que volorit eicia con plis everum fugitatur NOVEMBER 9: All University Greek life social siactivities quiae esto labo.InItatas mos venis areblaturem suspended. the midts of arumnihilla ntentotatem aut etum hil mod hazing and sexual assault allegations,ilthe quam es est as endaesc ipiendis escium National Interfraternity Council steps in. lation cupta doluptam ab ipsapicit aut optiis
2018 2014
JANUARY 26: LSA student Morgan McCaul Bis etum ilher iusinvolvement eliquam usaerum eium discusses with the Larry velicti dunt, tota queher consequo Nassarcomnit trial after delivering impact is essunture beriore, il ea ne to statementdolor at themolesti trial. Nassar is sentenced plab excero volorep tation re 40 toipsae 125 years fortesexual abuse. videndunt omnihil ipienda veliqui nobites et laboriame6:lantiossunt hil ius arumqui NOVEMBER Democrat Gretchen Whitmer dentibus, qui aliat qui simolessit, wins the election forpaGovernor of the nes state escilit harum que volorit eicia con plis of Michigan over Republican Bill Schuette. everum fugitatur si quiae esto blaturem Whitmer runs on an all-female executive labo. ticket Itatas mos venis arumnihilla in an election cycle known forntentotatem having a record aut etumofhil il modand quam es est ason endaesc number women minorities the ipiendis escium lation cupta doluptam ab ballot.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
2019
2020
APRIL 16: Campus is put on lock-down following reports of an active shooter on campus. The shot-like noise that triggered the panic is found later to be from students innocently popping balloons nearby.
MARCH 8: Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hold a rally on the Diag on the last day of Spring Break. The Democratic Primary was held two days later, and Sanders lost to Joe Biden.
NOVEMBER 6: After the University shifted towards conducting Fraternity & Sorority Life recruitment to the winter semester, it was discovered university-affiliated fraternities violated University regulations and conducted fall recruitment.
MARCH 11: The University announces that classes will be held online for the remaining of the Winter 2020 semester amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Graduation and all large events have been canceled.
Hundreds walk out to Game over: historical protest Spencer event Michigan Time eliminated COLIN BERESFORD 2018 Deputy Statement Editor Last week, the University of Michigan administration responded to Richard Spencer’s request to speak on campus, and moved forward to negotiate the event. Today, in protest of the administration refusing to deny the request, hundreds of students walked out of their classes and rallied in the Diag, then marched into other classrooms on campus. A few hundred students and community members gathered in the University of Michigan Diag at about noon on Wednesday, and after a short rally, marched to the Chemistry Building, Mason Hall and the Fish Bowl in Angell Hall. The rally is part of the #StopSpencer week of action, which includes teachins and other forms of protest. “On Wednesday, November 29 2017, Stop Spencer at the University of Michigan is organizing a student walk out at 11:45 AM in response to the failure of University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel and the Regents to deny white supremacist Richard Spencer’s request to speak on campus,” the Facebook event reads. “We cannot learn in an environment that is constantly disrupting our learning by threatening our safety and dehumanizing us.” On Nov. 21, the University said it was going to proceed with Spencer’s request to speak on campus, given the administration can ensure the safety of students. In an emergency meeting of the University’s Board of Regents, University President Mark Schlissel laid out “three components” to the decision: the safety of students, protecting free speech in a
democratic society, and that denying the request would give more attention to Spencer and his cause. Schlissel repeatedly said safety must be guaranteed in order for the event to take place. LSA senior and organizer Hoai An Pham said, however, in a speech to the protesters in the Diag, the walk-out wasn’t just in protest to the University’s response last week. “This week is not just about protesting Spencer coming here, it’s about protesting white supremacy and it’s about protesting the administration’s lackluster response, inactive, bystander response to a literal white supremacist coming on this campus,” Pham said. “The thing is here too, on this campus every single day, on a regular basis we have hate crimes that are coming.” Spencer’s representative first requested he speak on the University’s campus at the end of October. This request came after Spencer had requested to speak at several other universities, including Michigan State University and University of Florida. The University of Florida initially denied a request from Spencer, but after being threatened with a lawsuit, relented and allowed Spencer to speak in October. On Aug. 17, a statement released from the Office of the President at Michigan State University declared MSU would deny the National Policy Institute’s request to rent space on campus. The NPI is a white nationalist think tank led by Spencer. MSU now faces a lawsuit for not allowing Spencer to speak. The lawyer representing Spencer threatened to sue the University earlier in November if it did not accommodate
Spencer’s request, giving the administration a week deadline to make a decision. This deadline has since been extended until Dec. 8. Previously, University Regent Ron Weiser (R) said in an email Spencer was “a dangerous and disgusting man.” University Regent Denise Illitch (D), however, was the only regent opposing the decision last week, stating while free speech is a concern of hers, the violence that accompanies Spencer must be considered. “Unfortunately, I do not agree with the University of Michigan administration,” she said. “While I am a staunch proponent of the First Amendment, and stand firmly in support of our constitution, I remain very concerned that it is unsafe to allow him to speak at the University of Michigan. Violence follows him wherever he goes.” LSA senior Kim Truong, said free speech should not justify the administration potentially allowing space on campus for Spencer to speak. During the protest, a situation occurred in the Fishbowl where LSA junior Princess Felix challenged protesters, arguing it would not be fair to bar Spencer from speaking. If students didn’t like what he was saying, Felix said, they shouldn’t listen. “If you’re not going to listen to people, then you don’t have a right to be heard. You listen to others, and you will be heard,” she said. “If he wants to kill people, then he will get arrested when he kills someone.”
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MAYA GOLDMAN 2018 Daily News Editor LSA sophomore Lexi Michaels wasn’t expecting to be late to her Psychology 280 exam. In fact, she thought she was early. But when she walked into the testing accommodations room a few minutes after 2:30 — she’d run there right from her last class — she realized the exam was not being administered on Michigan Time, and everyone else had already started. “My expectation was that it would (start on Michigan Time), because that’s what most of my classes and exams start on, even if they’re in a testing accommodations room,” Michaels said. “And it didn’t. I walked in really flustered. I was like, ‘Are they going to let me take the exam?’” After the initial scare, everything turned out fine for Michaels. She was still given a full two hours to take her exam, and no one was angry at her for coming in late. However, start time confusion is common at the University of Michigan, and the administration has decided it’s time to take action. Starting May 1, no University classes will run on Michigan Time, the 10 minute late-start built into most undergraduate classes at the University. Michigan time is a University tradition that dates back to the 1930s. Students and professors used to time their classes according to the chimes of the Burton Tower at the beginning of each hour, and Michigan time was officially adopted to allow students to get from class to class without being late. Now, to allow for students to get to back-toback classes, all classes will stop 10 minutes before the hour. Though administrators have been talking about removing Michigan Time for many years now — University Provost Martin Philbert said there have been conversations since he came to
the University in 1995 — this is the first time anything conclusive has passed. The change will start in May for the Spring and Summer terms, so any unexpected kinks can be worked out before the Fall 2018 semester. “The freshmen will come in not knowing a time we had it,” Philbert said. According to Philbert, it was a “tradition born out of necessity.” Now, however, some see the once-crucial tradition as a hindrance. Many newer University schools never adopted it, and Patricia Hurn, dean of the School of Nursing, told The Daily in an email Michigan time was never an option for the Nursing School. Though administrators have been talking about removing Michigan time for many years now — University Provost Martin Philbert said there have been conversations since he came to the University in 1995 — this is the first time anything conclusive has passed. The change will start in May for the Spring and Summer terms, so any unexpected kinks can be worked out before the Fall 2018 semester. “The freshmen will come in not knowing a time we had it,” Philbert said. According to Philbert, it was a “tradition born out of necessity.” Now, however, some see the once-crucial tradition as a hindrance. Many newer University schools never adopted it, and Patricia Hurn, dean of the School of Nursing, told The Daily in an email Michigan time was never an option for the Nursing School. “The major reason our classes have not used Michigan Time is because we are a clinical discipline,” Hurn wrote. “So we very early on aligned our class times, specifically the on-the-hour start time, with the time of our clinical partners. None of these partners recognize or utilize ‘Michigan time.’”
Problems arise when University units aren’t operating on synchronized schedules, and because programs like Nursing don’t have the option of Michigan time, Philbert thinks going to “clock time” is the most logical course of action. One of the major issues the new system aims to fix is the shortage of classrooms. When some schools are on Michigan time and others are not, classrooms are unavailable for up to 10 minutes at the end of the hour. “We have the need for more classrooms,” Philbert said. “We have more sections, which require more rooms, and some of these rooms require specialized services. So by aligning time, we free up the number and types of classrooms available.” University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said the University is also hoping the switch will make collaboration among different schools and departments easier. “I’d say one of the hallmarks of our campus is cross-University collaboration,” Fitzgerald said. “From school and colleges and departments and different units who are constantly crosspollinating all of our efforts, and this really facilitates that… We’re just eliminating one of those stumbling blocks.” Though there are clear benefits for faculty and administrators, students are uncertain about the upcoming change. Michaels, even after her exam confusion, thinks Michigan time works well. She’s concerned professors will have a difficult time stopping 10 minutes short of the hour. “I really like Michigan time. I think it makes so much sense, especially when you have back-toback classes,” she said. “It gets your day rolling. I think that (this new system) is just a cause for disaster. I think that professors are way more aware of starting 10 minutes late because they haven’t started yet, but if they have to end 10 minutes early, they’re not going to know to stop.” While Michaels understands this could eventually be a good system, the thought of working
Former students allege 40 years of misconduct by SMTD professor SAMMY SUSSMAN 2020 Daily News Editor
The University of Michigan hired Stephen Shipps as an associate professor of music on Sept. 1, 1989. Since then, he has had a successful academic career at the University. From 2001 to 2004, he served on the Executive Committee of the School of Music, Theatre & Dance. From 2002 to 2007, he served as the associate dean for academic affairs. He is currently the chair of strings and the faculty director of the Strings Preparatory Academy, a university-affiliated pre-college music program for local middle and high school students. A Michigan Daily investigation unearthed previously undisclosed allegations of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct against Shipps. These reports span nearly 40 years, from Fall 1978 to a University-affiliated summer program in the last five years. They include accusations of unwanted touching, sexual assault, prolonged sexual relationships with teenage students, and misogynistic and sexist verbal statements. Shipps declined to comment for this article. His lawyer, David Nacht, also declined to comment. The Daily also found reports that at least one faculty member in the Music, Theatre & Dance school, Prof. Yizhak Schotten, was made aware of some of these allegations soon after Shipps’s hiring was announced and before he started teaching. It is unclear whether he communicated these concerns to the University at the time, or if the University has ever been made aware of these concerns.
*** Shipps taught at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts — known then as the North Carolina School of the Arts before a 2008 name change — prior to coming to the University of Michigan. The Daily spoke with a former North Carolina School of the Arts college student, who wished to remain anonymous, citing professional and privacy concerns. She currently serves as the associate principal second (the secondranked member of the second violin section) in a full-time professional orchestra. In this article, she will be referred to as Meghan. Meghan was an international student assigned to Shipps’s private studio in NCSA. By the end of her freshman year, she felt uncomfortable in Shipps’s studio. “There had been small things that I was uncomfortable with,” she said. “I had heard rumors of flirting. I had seen flirting. … He had overemphasized my talent in master classes a number of times, held me up to other students. I was a freshman, so it was awkward.” Near the end of the year, Meghan told Shipps she wanted to switch studios. Elaine Richey was the other violin teacher at the UNCSA at the time. Meghan was given the impression that she would have no trouble switching studios. She began making plans for the summer assuming she would be studying with Richey in the fall. In one of her last private lessons, Shipps requested Meghan come see him after hours for her final private lesson. She had never had a late-night lesson before, but she agreed nevertheless.
According to her account, as she walked into Shipps’s studio that evening, the lights were dimmed. After she put down her violin, she says Shipps moved behind her and locked the door to his office. “I thought that was very strange, but at that moment I didn’t feel threatened by it,” she said. “I remember thinking, ‘Oh, that’s
Casey Tin/Daily
weird,’ but I probably just cast it aside as being secure after hours. I wasn’t really thinking about it, but I remember I noticed it and it probably made me a bit uncomfortable.” She pulled out her violin and started to play. But after a little while, she remembers Shipps stopped her. He told her she wasn’t playing with enough passion — that she
needed to improve her understanding of passion in order to improve her playing. “He kept on talking, talking about this and moving closer to me and I was backing away just very subtly,” she said.
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News
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Saturday, May 2, 2020 — 3A
‘U’ feels the Bern on Diag EMMA RUBERG, JULIA FANZERES & JASMIN LEE 2020 Daily Staff Reporters
Ryan Little/Daily
Yusef Salaam opens Black History Month JASMIN LEE 2020 Daily Staff Reporter “You were born on purpose,” Yusef Salaam, public speaker and one of the Exonerated Five, said. “If you were born on purpose, then you were born with a purpose.” Salaam spoke to a crowd of more than 400 people at the Michigan Union Ballroom on February 3. Sponsors of the event included Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs, the Ford School of Public Policy and the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, among many others. The Exonerated Five, previously known as the Central Park Five, were falsely accused of rape in 1989 and sentenced for up to 13 years in prison as teenagers in New York. The defendants’ assault convictions were overturned in 2002 and the five agreed to a $40 million settlement in 2014. A Netflix series called “When They See Us” shares the true story of the Exonerated Five. Salaam was only 15 years old when he went to prison and was exonerated when the actual assailant confessed to the Central Park rape.
DAAS Program Associate Elizabeth James began the event with an acknowledgment of the Union occupying formerly tribal land. MESA staff Leslie Tetteh and Saveri Nandigama then gave the welcoming address. Three poets performed before Salaam was introduced to the audience with a standing ovation. Salaam engaged with the audience as he walked across the stage multiple times to address the large crowd. He shared stories about the effects prison had on his life and how he grew through his incarceration. Salaam said an important part of his identity is his religion and he spoke about how Islam helped him grow into a leader during and after his time in prison. The presence of his religion made others aware of his character. “Six months in jail, this officer asked me a question that seemed basic,” Salaam said. “He said ‘Hey there, who are you? I’ve been watching you. You are not supposed to be here. Who are you?’” LSA freshman Temilolu Yusuf told The Daily she enjoyed hearing Salaam talk about the role of religion in his journey through prison. “I love the fact that he
really incorporated religion and the role of religion in his incarceration process, as well as his exoneration,” Yusuf said. “He really shows that for some things in life, that you really need that belief and support system… Even in prison, where many people use religion as a way to bring themselves up and not feel like prisoners, feel like they have control over themselves. It was amazing to see that he’s telling us, as people who have never been in prison, that religion is something that you shouldn’t only have when your back is against the wall. You should have it all the time.” During his speech, Salaam also discussed how, in the 1980s, President Donald Trump, a prominent business figure in New York at the time, wanted the five teenagers to be sentenced to the death penalty only two weeks after their arrest. Salaam discussed the horrific statements Trump made about them and his reaction when Trump became president. Salaam spoke about Trump while holding up a copy of an advertisement Trump paid
In the middle of the Michigan League’s Maizie’s Kitchen & Market, a dozen undergraduate students huddled around a laptop to sign in for their canvassing shifts. The small group decided to brave the January blizzard and knock doors for Solomon Rajput, a 27-year-old Ann Arbor native who put his medical studies on hold for a year to challenge Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., for Michigan’s 12th congressional seat. Dingell has represented the district for the last four years. Previously, it was held by the late John Dingell for 59 years and, before that, by his father John Dingell Sr. for 22 years. Rajput hopes to disrupt this 85-year-old political dynasty. He said he was interested in politics as a teenager but was disenchanted with how candidates seemed to be controlled by big corporations. Still looking to make a difference, Rajput decided to enter the medical field. “I ended up in medicine because it is a way to help people in a very vulnerable moment, heal people,” Rajput said. “I was thinking maybe we can change our healthcare system from the inside out.” After Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 presidential election, Rajput’s political ambitions were reignited, leading him to found the activist organization Michigan Resistance. The goal of the group was to advocate for local progressive bills in the county and state legislature. Noting the success of progressive campaigns such as those run by U.S. Reps. Alexandria OcasioCortez, D-New York, and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., in 2018, Rajput said he became hopeful that he, too, would be able to make a
difference through politics. In September 2019, he decided to put his medical studies on the back burner and run for Dingell’s seat. “I feel like times are changing, and it’s actually really exciting because we have a new generation of leaders who are running for office. We’re saying we’re not going to be beholden to corporate interest any longer,” Rajput said. “It’s so cool to see people like Bernie Sanders and AOC and Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, and what kind of leaders they can be when they’re just unapologetic champions for what the people need. And they don’t need to get their permission slip signed from their corporate donors before they can make any statement.” In the corner of the cafe checking in volunteers was LSA freshman Gina Liu, the campaign’s campus coordinator for the University of Michigan. As more students filed into the cafe, Rajput began greeting them personally. He aims to not only campaign on a strong ideological platform but to rely on passionate grassroots volunteers while doing so. “His experience is grassroots and his experience aligns with a lot of the constituents in this district and the young people in this district,” Liu said. “Seeing someone who actually is willing to fight the issues and also just not accept corporate money, that’s inspiring to me.” Rajput’s platform is built on key policy pillars, including aggressively fighting climate change and rejecting corporate PAC money. He believes Congress needs to pass a Green New Deal. Since District 12 has six colleges and a large student population, Rajput also believes it’s necessary to make college free and eliminate student debt. He argues that Medicare for All and single-payer
1980s, Sanders endorsed Jackson for president at the Burlington Democratic presidential caucus. “When it was time for the Vermont caucuses to come around, Mayor Sanders stood up to break the common consensus and endorsed Reverend Jesse Jackson for president,” OcasioCortez said. “He stood up and delivered that speech in the Vermont caucuses. He was yelled at, he was hit, but he said this is our opportunity to bring millions of working people into our political process and transform who America can work for.” Following Ocasio-Cortez’s introduction, Sanders walked on stage as John Lennon’s “Power to the People” played in the background. Upon entering the stage, he thanked Jackson and Ocasio-Cortez for their support and public service. “What history is about is to understand that there have been extraordinarily brave people throughout history,” Sanders said. “People who’ve put their lives on the line, sometimes who have died, gone to jail in the struggle for justice. And that is what this campaign is about. That is what Jesse Jackson’s life has been about, that is what Alexandria’s life is about. And that’s what I hope all of your lives will be about.”
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Solomon Rajput is riding the socialist wave JULIA FANZERES 2020 Daily Staff Reporter
As Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., took a moment to look out onto the sea of attendees at his rally on the University of Michigan Diag, he addressed the crowd: “So right now, in this moment, we have got to look around us and what we have got to determine is whether you’re satisfied with the status quo.” On Sunday evening, more than 10,000 students, faculty and Ann Arbor residents took to the Diag, wearing Sanders’s campaign gear waving white and blue “Bernie” campaign signs. Students began lining up as many as five hours before the rally was scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. LSA senior Martha Abrams got in line at 1 p.m. and said she is voting for Sanders primarily because of his consistently held positions. She also said his positions on crime and the environment are reasons for her support. “He has a consistent record in regards to criminal justice reform and being against mass incarceration, whereas Biden definitely doesn’t,” Abrams said. “(Biden) has passed legislation (...) that really helped establish the carceral state as it exists today. With the environment, Bernie seems to be one of the frontrunners in acknowledging
how pressing that issue is.” The rally featured a spate of Michigan and national political figures including U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., former gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed and state Rep. Yousef Rabhi, D-Ann Arbor. El-Sayed rallied the crowd when he spoke before OcasioCortez and Sanders took the stage. Sanders endorsed El-Sayed during his campaign for Michigan governor, who said his previous conversation with Sanders increased his confidence in grassroots movements. “When I ran, I was lucky enough to get Bernie’s endorsement. Let me tell you about the conversation we had,” El-Sayed said. “He didn’t ask me what I stood for. He said I know what you fight for, but I want to know why you fight for it. And I told him about my grandmother, who never got the opportunity to go to school, though she was the smartest, wisest woman I have ever met. She used to remind me about when I go visit that it wasn’t about me. It was about the opportunities that I had.” Ocasio-Cortez introduced Sanders, thanking Reverend Jesse Jackson for his March 7 endorsement of the senator. She discussed Sanders’ long-standing support for marginalized groups, citing it as a reason for her support. She also noted how, as mayor of Burlington, Vt., in the
healthcare should not only be supported as an opportunistic political move, but as a steadfast Democratic ideal. “Part of the reason why I decided to run was because I was taking a look at how progressive our district actually is,” Rajput said. “Unfortunately, (Dingell’s) not the progressive champion that we need on these issues.” As Rajput recounted his experiences canvassing, he claimed voters are not necessarily excited about having Dingell as their representative, but feel like she will always hold the seat. In these instances, Rajput makes his case a viable alternative. “There’s this perception that Rep. Dingell is beloved in the community or that she is very active,” Rajput said. “(But) when we go and talk to voters, it’s remarkable how infrequently Congresswoman Dingell’s name is brought up.” However, because he is new to the political sphere, Rajput’s understanding of some of the issues important to voters in the district is less developed. One of the predominant issues in District 12 is the man-made water crisis, where toxic PFAS chemicals have seeped into Michigan’s waters. These chemicals are linked to numerous health concerns, including cancer. Dingell co-authored the bipartisan PFAS Action Act, which passed the House of Representatives on Jan. 10. While Rajput noted the work that Dingell has done to combat PFAS, he said he believes she and the Democrats are only making incremental legislation and not considering the larger issue at hand — climate change.
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Classes go online for rest of winter 2020 semester BARBARA COLLINS, CLAIRE HAO & EMMA STEIN 2020 Daily News Editors The University of Michigan announced on Wednesday 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 COVID19 virus. Classes on Thursday and Friday 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 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 Wednesday afternoon 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 Tuesday evening, 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 Wayne County man who has recently traveled domestically. Michigan Medicine announced Wednesday morning 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 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 today, March 11. MSU President Samuel Stanley announced in an email to MSU students this morning. 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 Wednesday afternoon it will be extending spring break until March 23 to help plan for the transition to online classes. Other universities across the United States have called off in-person classes this 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
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Opinion
4A — Saturday, May 2, 2020
ARTS OPINION
over the over the YEARS
YEARS
2017 JANUARY: University of usaerum Michigan kicksedoff Bis etumThe il ius eliquam eium its Bicentennial year with a variety of events and celebrations velicti comnit dunt, tota que consequo is across campus. essunture dolor molesti beriore, il ea ne
plab ipsae excero te volorep tation re NOVEMBER 16:omnihil With theipienda suspension of University videndunt veliqui nobites Greek Life following a slew of sexual assault et laboriame lantiossunt hil ius arumqui accusations, students across campus questioned dentibus, qui aliat pa qui simolessit, nes the University’s structureeicia and the of the escilit harum social que volorit conrole plis Interfraternity Council. Daily called on the IFClabo. to be everum fugitatur si The quiae esto blaturem more transparent andarumnihilla provide a concrete plan of action Itatas mos venis ntentotatem to combat behavior plauging the aut etumthe hilquestionable il mod quam es est as endaesc organization. ipiendis escium lation cupta doluptam ab
2018
JANUARY 25: The Michigan Daily’s Editorial Board stands in solidarity with those affected by the crimes of Larry Nassar. APRIL 16: The Daily highlights the Stop the Straw initiative in Ann Arbor. Contributors discuss their work with Grizzly Peak Brewing Company and Frita Batidos, two staple Ann Arbor establishments, to eradicate the unassuming, yet dangerous, plastic straw.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
2019
2020
MARCH: On March 16, the University of Michigan campus wasleft in confusion and distress following false reports of an active shooting. This led to outcry among students regarding personal experiences, gun policy and the University’s emergency response system. APRIL 22: The Michigan Daily’s Editorial Board evaluates the University’s hypocrisy with regards to crime, safety and inclusion. There is direct reference to the felony disclouse policy, which was announced by the University on February 4, and it’s contradictions with existing DEI initiatives.
JANUARY 22: A surprisingly transparent email was sent to students by President Schlissel announcing that Provost Martin Philbert had been placed on administrative leave after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. The Michigan Daily Editorial Board stands in solidarity with those who have come forward and those affected. MARCH 17: Students received an email from U-M Housing titled “URGENT: Petition to Remain in Housing.”The next day, Housing apologized for the confusion and clarified students did not have to move out at 8 a.m. that day in response to COVID-19.
What COVID-19 is uncovering — and what we can learn from it MARY ROLFES 2020 Columnist
Just over a month ago, I contributed to a Michigan Daily Editorial Board article on the COVID-19 outbreak, a piece which primarily warned the community not to panic. In light of recent events, it’s almost surreal to think about sitting in that room now, jokingly passing around hand sanitizer and casually discussing what I then believed to be a novel issue that would not have any major impact on life at the University of Michigan. And coverage did die down, for a time. But now, COVID-19 seems to be the only thing anyone is talking about — and for good reason. On Wednesday, March 11, University President Mark Schlissel announced on Twitter that all classes on the University’s three campuses would be canceled for March 12 and 13 and would move to an online format from March 16 through the end of the semester. Events of more than 100 people were canceled, along with all spring and summer study abroad programs. This announcement followed similar decisions by schools across the country, including the University of Washington, Harvard University and Michigan State University. Also on Wednesday, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak to be a global pandemic as it continues to spread rapidly. Sporting and cultural events — including the 2020 NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments — are continually being postponed or canceled, and on March 12 Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced all Michigan K-12 schools will close through at least April 5. All of this demonstrates how COVID-19, a story I and many others thought would be lost to the 24-hour news cycle, has rapidly developed to impact life on campus, in Ann Arbor and across the world in a massive and seemingly unprecedented way. Despite everything that’s happened in the past few days, however, I stand by the original
message the Editorial Board published in February — don’t panic. This is easier said than done when it feels like the world is crumbling around you. It certainly seems that way for me. As a junior transfer, my limited time at the University has been cut even shorter and the social network I was growing has been blunted. My spring study abroad is canceled and I won’t be spending this March making brackets or watching games. Of course, COVID-19 is much greater than any individual biography. With this outbreak playing out on such an expansive — indeed, global — scale, broad actions must be taken. Likewise, something widespread is being revealed. This viral event is highlighting the fundamental errors in the way we live and the way our societies are structured. If we pay close attention to what is being uncovered and respond with meaningful action, the COVID19 outbreak can be a learning opportunity. The development of COVID19 has coincided with the 2020 presidential primaries, and one of the key talking points in the goal to unseat President Donald Trump is health care reform. Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., argues this outbreak has shown America the necessity of adopting Medicare for All. When a health crisis has the potential to impact everyone, it becomes clear that everyone should have access to high-quality care. While some insurers have pledged to cover the cost of the coronavirus test, the expense of further testing and treatment that will accompany a positive result may prevent individuals from seeking the care they need. Moreover, not everyone has access to health insurance — in 2018, 27.5 million Americans were uninsured. And many of those with insurance have prohibitively expensive barriers to accessing coverage, such as high deductibles, copays and out-of-network costs, all factors which are especially salient given the current economic crisis that has accompanied COVID-19.
Even long before the outbreak began, the American health care structure has been shaping how this or any other public health concern would play out. Millions of Americans are denied the preventive care and knowledge that could support improved outcomes in a crisis, such as regular check-ups and diagnoses of chronic or underlying conditions. Health care is a human right and no one should be denied the opportunity to achieve their best health — or survive a pandemic — based on their socioeconomic status. COVID19 has fully exposed the flaws of a largely private insurance market and an overpriced medical system. It has given us evidence of an urgent need to entirely restructure how we design and distribute health care. Beyond treating coronavirus, the wide-scale preventative measures enacted to slow the disease’s spread provide a chance at a re-evaluation of how we work in America. Several of the world’s largest companies, including Michigan-headquartered Ford and General Motors, tech giants Amazon and Google and financial firms JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, have instituted work-from-home policies for at least some employees. Like the University, a substantial number of academic institutions are transitioning to remote learning. It seems COVID-19 has finally motivated the world’s largest and most inf luential institutions to consider policies that disability advocates have been pushing: more expansive, accessible work-from-home policies. These remote policies can spur innovation which will shape a more accessible working landscape for all people of varying abilities. We can discover that it is entirely possible to be productive from home — for some, it may be far more productive than sitting in an office. We can build a more f lexible schedule in which productivity is not limited from nine-to-five. We can even reconstruct the concept of productivity, acknowledging the importance of work across the
gamut of pay grades and pushing for living wages. Of course, not all work can realistically be done remotely — retail and customer service are notable examples. For these roles, we must mandate paid sick leave, as illness should not prevent one from making rent or putting dinner on the table. In customer-facing roles, especially those involving food, people should not be working when sick — for their own health and for the health of others. Across the board, we must normalize the often-chastised concept of taking a sick day. Our current working environment pushes for self-sacrifice for the goal of productivity, but a rapidly spreading and potentially deadly virus is a grave reminder of our limited time and the importance of prioritizing the well-being of ourselves and of others over monetary gains. This outbreak is a call to reconsider how we view work in our global society and to rediscover a healthier work-life balance. COVID-19 is having radical impacts on both local and global communities, and the ramifications will be felt for years to come, fundamentally changing the way we live. And where there is change, there is opportunity. It’s absolutely justified to feel like the world is falling apart and to have the associated panic for a period of time — my now-private Twitter feed is a primary example. But if we adopt a mindset of acknowledging the f laws of modernity which COVID-19 has brought center-stage and strive to take action in response, we may emerge from the chaos on the path to a society that is more fair and equitable than the one we had before. In this period of temporary social distancing, it’s especially critical to keep in mind that it’s not me, it’s us. Let’s capitalize on this opportunity to think and act radically for a better future. This contemplative approach is imperative to emerging successfully from COVID-19 — along with washing our hands for at least 20 seconds.
What we can learn from Korea MIN SOO KIM 2020 Columnist
As much as I would love to find a different topic to write about, the COVID-19 pandemic has been the only relevant topic that has been updating itself for the past few weeks. The University of Michigan encouraged all students to return to their permanent residence, so I left Ann Arbor to f ly back to South Korea last Saturday. When I finally stepped out of the airplane full of people sharing the same objective of reaching their homes after about 14 hours of travel, I could see that my home country was dealing with the whole pandemic situation in a radically different manner. It usually takes about 10 to 15 minutes to get through the passport control and pick up your luggage at the Incheon International Airport. However, this time it took me an hour and a half. Several teams of airport staff members and public health workers lined up the passengers where they checked if all incoming passengers had downloaded a self-diagnosis tracking application on their phones. I was given more than enough information and explanation regarding the application and the need for us to download it to keep track of our health. Then, when I finally reached the actual checkpoint, a public health official checked my temperature with a simple electronic thermometer. I recorded 98.6 degrees and was given a piece of paper that read “quarantine certificate.” I was then asked to fill out brief
paperwork that asked for my address and phone number. When I asked the officer collecting the paperwork what this was for, he kindly answered that the Korean government newly mandated all its returning citizens to practice self-quarantine for 14 days and those pieces of information were needed for the local government of my residence to check on my status. Out of curiosity, I then asked if there would be legal repercussions if I broke the selfquarantine and the answer was, as expected, yes. Noncompliance to the self-quarantine order is punishable by up to a year of imprisonment or a fine up to 10,000,000 won, which is equivalent to almost $10,000. South Korea had two unique strategies dealing with COVID19 that the United States did not. The first was testing. Korea was much quicker to react to the global health crisis when compared to many other countries, partly because of its past experience with Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2015. As soon as the first confirmed COVID-19 case from China was announced, Korean companies jumped in on developing test kits. Beginning in late February, soon after the Lunar New Year holidays, Korea started to develop the capability of testing about 20,000 people a day and now has about 10,000 tests run per one million people, which is the highest confirmed data among all affected countries. The second strategy was heightened, yet relatively well-accepted, surveillance on citizens. This does not mean that
the Korean government wiretaps phone calls or collects all private information to track certain individuals down. Rather, the government effectively utilized the recent trend of cashless transactions and spiked use of smartphones to track people who came in contact with a confirmed patient. Korea has the highest proportion of cashless transactions and one of the highest phone ownership rates in the world. In addition, the government was able to successfully trace those in mandatory 14-day selfquarantine; the application I was told to download upon arrival was not only for self-diagnosis reporting but also for location tracking to notify the designated local government official if I leave my self-quarantine spot. The designated local government official calls me every morning to check if I am still in my selfquarantine spot and asks if I am showing any symptoms. Korean citizens, including myself, do not have much problem with being possibly traced or receiving phone calls from the local government every morning. Except for some outrageous cases of noncompliance to the self-quarantine order, including a South Korean student traveling to Jeju Island with her mother a day after arriving in Korea from the U.S., most citizens are taking social distancing fairly seriously. I am certainly not an expert in biomedical industries of either country but I doubt the U.S. lacks the technology or capital to develop testing kits. One of the crucial differences between Korea and the U.S.
was the government’s attitude. President Trump dismissed the potential severity of the virus when it first emerged as a global health threat while consistently labeling it the “Chinese Virus.” President Trump had also poorly reorganized the National Security Council (NSC) so that it was not fit to react to pandemics like COVID-19. The Obama administration had done the same but restored the original NSC structure after going through the Ebola crisis in 2014. In addition, the Trump administration was recently found to have told the federal agency to classify COVID-19 deliberations, keeping crucial information like the scope of infection and quarantine restrictions from the public. While Korea learned from MERS in 2015, it seems as if the U.S. did not learn much from Ebola in 2014. I am not saying the U.S. should implement such a strict enforcement on self-quarantine and social distancing without much consideration. Americans could certainly react differently than Koreans if they were legally obligated to not leave their homes and local government agents kept track of them constantly. However, given the recent trend of ever-increasing cases, some form of mandatory social distancing does not sound too egregious. The disease is not successfully being contained, especially in Michigan where the cases only continue to rise. Maybe the society as a whole really should consider a hardhitting method like that of Korea to possibly bring the curve down.
MADELYN VERCAECKE/2020 Cartoonist
FromtheDaily:Winter rush, step in the right direction 2018 MICHIGAN DAILY EDITORIAL BOARD The University of Michigan recently announced that it would transition to winter rush for social Greek organizations, starting in the 2019-2020 academic year as part of a plan to improve the first-year experience. The new plan requires students to have completed at least 12 resident credit-hours and to be in good behavioral and academic standing before they can participate in the rush process. The change will affect about 2,000 students annually according to an email sent by E. Royster Harper, vice president for Student Life on March 21st. The change comes following a two-month self-imposed ban on social activities by the Interfraternity Council after reports of hazing, drug and alcohol abuse, as well as allegations of sexual misconduct. The Zeta Beta Tau fraternity’s national organization also revoked its chapter at the University for violating multiple policies and endangering its members. We believe this policy change is a step in the right direction toward creating a Greek life system that exists to improve the university experience of students, especially freshmen, instead of detracting from it. The decision by the University will be most beneficial to the new freshmen class and allow its members more opportunities to become better acclimated to their campus community. Being a new freshman can be daunting, and the question of whether or not to join social Greek life in the first semester adds to the pressure. When freshmen arrive at college, their first friends are often those who live in the same residence halls as them. As the semester continues, students find themselves branching out and making new friends through their classes and student organizations. This allows freshmen to try various activities and find what they like best. Fraternities and sororities often sell the experience to freshmen by promising an immediate new group of friends and a great social life. Greek life, however, is an aspect of campus life that requires a large time commitment and could cause new students to insulate themselves within their fraternity or sorority. With this change, students will have more time and energ y to put towards the equally important academic transition from high school to college. This will also allow freshmen more time to find out how they want to spend their time on campus without first requiring
them to commit to a timeconsuming rush and pledge process. Additionally, the new winter rush process helps new students become acclimated to the drinking culture on campus. As most students are aware, the social atmosphere in college is usually vastly different from high school. The expectations, the amount of alcohol and other drugs available and the number of people with whom students can engage in these activities drastically increases during Welcome Week. Nowhere is this more pronounced than in fraternities, who host the majority of Welcome Week events and provide alcohol for thousands of students every weekend. There are obvious dangers associated with this newfound easy access to alcohol and other substances, as evidenced by more than 30 hospital transports during the weekend of the Michigan State game and seven during Halloween weekend. With winter rush, students will still go out and experience college life, but will be able to make better decisions about the drinking culture that comes with it, as they would have had time to acclimate in the fall. There are, however, some concerns about the new policy. Suspending fall rush for fraternities may also simply lead to an informal rushing process that may exclude some freshmen who do not have the right connections. This “underground rush” would also be completely unreg ulated by the University, though one could possibly arg ue that currently the University has very little oversight regardless. Lastly, this decision also could unfairly affect multicultural fraternities who provide a unique space for the members of their respective communities. When minority students arrive at the University’s predominantly white campus, multicultural Greek life can offer a support system that the transition to winter rush could threaten to delay. Overall, however, the change to a winter rush process is a strong step by the University to improve the first-year experience and limit the insularity of Greek life on campus. Freshmen will have an opportunity to explore their interests and make better-informed decisions about their social life and future involvement in student organizations. And, in the face of recent controversies surrounding Greek life both on campus and nationally, lifting some of the pressure to join the Greek community freshmen often face could have longlasting benefits.
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ARTS ARTS
over the over the YEARS
YEARS
2017 2013 FEBRUARY: “Moonlight” (not “La La Land”) wins
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Saturday, May 2, 2020 — 5A
2018
JANUARY: The #MeToo movement comes to a head during awards season, dominating red carpet conversation and demanding repercussions for perpetrators of sexual assault. FEBRUARY: “Black Panther” is the first Marvel movie with a predominantly Black cast. NOVEMBER: Former First Lady Michelle Obama pens her memoir “Becoming” which sells more copies in the United States than any other book in 2018 and is on its way to becoming the best-selling memoir of all time.
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
2019
FEBRUARY-MARCH: Country music moves in bold new directions: Kacey Musgraves’ Golden Hour wins the Grammy for Album of the Year, and Billy Ray Cyrus’s genre-bending collaboration with Lil Nas X stuns Billboard, the song’s position on its Hot Country Songs chart contested. APRIL: BTS becomes the first-ever Korean group to perform on “Saturday Night Live.” APRIL 14: “Game of Thrones” debuts its highlyanticipated eighth and final season.
2018 Daily Arts Writer
November has come and gone, and Yandhi left with it. Despite enthusiastic words from Kim Kardashian, it was no surprise that Kanye West’s supposed ninth studio album did not appear on streaming services this Black Friday, a fact his legions had earlier been forced to come to terms with after Mr. West took to Twitter to go back on his wife’s promise. All signs point to Yandhi being a spiritual sequel of sorts to Kanye’s 2013 output, Yeezus (the similar title and cover art are the biggest clues), but taking into account how much Kanye’s career trajectory has changed in the half decade since the release of Yeezus, this act of continuation all seems a farce. If there’s one thing Kanye has done well, it’s constantly evolving and pushing boundaries as an artist while still keeping everything precisely Kanye. Prior to this year’s ye, each of his albums ushered in a distinct era for the man: in his music, his fashion, his character. The best part of this was that Kanye always seemed to know when to pivot, when rockstar Kanye or soulful Kanye had overstayed their welcome, and to break down, rebuild and rebrand. I would argue that no Kanyealbum ever needs a sequel. (Yes, I know The College Dropout, Late Registration and Graduation form a trilogy of sorts, but while thematically and slightly musically similar, they all have their own defining sound and Kanye himself was a much different person in 2004 than he was in 2007). And therein lies the core frustration with Yandhi. Any attempt to recreate the minimalist panache of Yeezus will result in failure. Yeezus is the culmination of every Kanye West we’ve ever known and every album he has ever offered, combined and distilled to the barest form. It is Kanye at his most complete. Setting the contemporary politics of Kanye aside for the slightest moment, what little he has revealed about Yandhi spells unfulfillment. Starting with the two aforementioned chains which bind it to Yeezus, the name and the cover, one can infer the only reason for the similarity was to drive hype, in the same way that the first release date we got (“9 29 18”) turned out to be a ploy to get the Kanye faithful to tune into a “Saturday Night Live” season premiere the same day, trading high attention and ratings for a surreal performance of “I Love It” with Lil Pump. But, in order to dive into Yandhi, one first has to understand Yeezus and what it represents, and what happened to Kanye in the meantime. Yeezus’s cover, or lack thereof, is the perfect primer to the musical
equivalent of a dental drill which lies within. As noted in a phenomenal Daily article regarding the album’s relationship with architecture and an interview Kanye did with The New York Times, Yeezus was in part recorded in an acoustically terrible Paris apartment, forcing the songs “to be super simple, because if you turned up some complicated sound and a track with too much bass, it’s not going to work in that space.” The cover is perhaps the simplest it can be, and speaking about the sparse promotion of the album Kanye echoes the same sentiment: “Shit, we ain’t even got no cover. We just made some real music.” Regardless of the critical art theory lens through which the cover can be viewed, it’s clear that sound is Yeezus’s main, and perhaps only, focus. Which is almost ironic considering it came during the peak of Kanye’s arrogance: The days of VMA-interrupting Kanye, whom Barack Obama even freely called a jackass, had somehow been eclipsed, replaced with a man who appeared to have seen it all, teetering between insanity and earnestness as he drilled hours of apocalyptic gospel and sublime self-affirmation to unready radio hosts. So, when you hear this variant of Kanye is releasing an album comparing himself to a savior revered by billions of people right from the title, you can’t help but roll your eyes, all while buckling up for the absolute. And Yeezus immediately thrusts you into a car crash, as “On Sight” is every part abrasive and boundarypushing while still retaining a certain charm, everything a Kanye song should be. The industrial soundscape of this introduction is interrupted halfway by something that defined early Kanye (what is “soul,” Alex?) when the synthesizers give way to a choir chanting “He’ll give us what we need / it may not be what we want.” This austere contrast of “On Sight” is a microcosm of Yeezus in its entirety: the intersection between harsh noise and soothing melodies, Kanye honing his craft of dredging up the most obscure yet pertinent samples and music as the starkest representation of the self. There is no defining sound of Yeezus other than abstract sound itself. The sirens and distortion of “Send It Up” make it a more approachable “On Sight;” “Black Skinhead” would fit right in with Graduation and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’s stadium rap anthems, save the zealous manifesto against the establishment and its racism; and “Guilt Trip” and its Kid Cudi croons feel an extension of the love and loss present on 808s & Heartbreak. Each song starts with a single sound, be it the soft press of a piano key or a grisly drone, and then takes that sound and smashes it open, layering the space inside
with Kanye’s vocals and strippeddown drum patterns. And while Yeezus definitely pulls from the prior discography, it is as much a synthesis as it is a reconstruction. The primary instrument of the album is the voice, whether that of Kanye, a collaborating artist or a sample. The artist’s full vocal range is on display, from his booming, grumbling bars on “I Am A God” to the auto-tuned trill found late in “Blood On The Leaves.” It is underpinned by a wealth of other singers and rappers: Chief Keef, Frank Ocean and Bon Iver, to name a few. The prolific samples themselves take on a life of their own, as Kanye and his legendary production team revive everything from Nina Simone’s rendition of “Strange Fruit” to a Hungarian rock power ballad. The kicker? The only official featured artist is God himself. Kanye is at the absolute forefront, asserting himself as the divinely untouchable and smashing open the musical ore to reveal 10 disparate crystals and their translucent mystery. Yeezus is at the same time everything and nothing, an amalgamation and a destruction. I’ve talked about the progression of Kanye in a way that could make him seem like some “Split”-esque host for multiple personalities, whereas in reality all of these different Kanyes are just manifestations of some facet of his personality blown up to largerthan-life proportions. Work with me here, but consider Kanye West as a cow: Each cut of meat represents the Kanye associated with a specific album. They all vary in flavor and tenderness, but at their core they are all the same, all some sort of beef. Yeezus is the meat grinder into which everything was shoved in an attempt to make the perfect blend, employing each cut’s idiosyncratic taste and cutting out the fat. But what do you do with the sonic sausage that pops out of the grinder? In The Life of Pablo’s case, you throw it in the trash. Yeezus broke Kanye’s music down and fashioned together something more complete with the resultant shards, but Pablo shattered everything completely. It’s hard to expand on perfect, so Kanye did what any perfectionist would do. He started anew on the quest to reach perfection, again. And with this blank slate, Kanye continued to find ways to innovate, literally going beyond the boundaries of an album. While it’s completely valid to dismiss The Life of Pablo as messy and unfinished (“Ima fix wolves”), the constant updates and abstract, jagged nature of it make sense when you view it as, in Kanye’s words, “a living breathing changing creative expression.”
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
MARCH: Fiona Apple released her fifth record, Fetch The Bolt Cutters, which was met with wide critical acclaim, including a rare perfect 10 on Pitchfork. MARCH-APRIL: The COVID-19 pandemic forces live performance online, including a high-profile concert held for Stephen Sondheim’s 90th birthday that was plagued with technical problems.
Hope and regret: on Kushner’s ‘Mars Room’ 2019 Daily Books Editor
CASSANDRA DAWN
JANUARY: Jeanine Cumins’ “American Dirt” provokes backlash from Latinx writers who see her as cooping the stories of Central American immigrants.
BOOK REVIEW
VERITY STURM
Surely the second coming of ‘Yeezus’ is at hand
2020
I have a crush on Rachel Kushner — everything about her. I was initially turned on by her debut novel “The Flamethrowers,” a smart and stylish sojourn from the dirty art hoes of 1970s Soho to the political underground of Italy, complete with glamorous touches of DMT churches, performance art and street violence. Swoon. “The Flamethrowers” is so vivid, so bitingly electric and feminist-without-the-word that I got curious about the woman behind the pen and slipped into a forty minute biographical research bender. Rachel Kushner is a San Francisco native, the certain spawn of beatnik scientists that lands a gig at a feminist bookstore at the ripe age of five, does the Berkeley thing and bools around the SF nightclub scene on her Moto Guzzi before casually saucing over to Columbia for her MFA. In author imagery, she often appears in front of cars, behind Wayfarers and/or clad in leather. She’s got three critically acclaimed blockbuster novels, a Guggenheim, an honorary PhD from Kalamazoo and now a spot on the Man Booker shortlist with her latest book, “The Mars Room.” I repeat: swoon. “The Mars Room” reads much like “The Flamethrowers” in its
grunge-glamor. Our femme fatale, Romy Hall, grew up hard and fast in San Francisco, getting into catfights and PCP on the weekends before working at The Mars Room, a low-fi but high-cred strip club in the gritty Tenderloin district. It’s not a stereotypically secure gig, but Romy enjoys the power she wields at the club and a steady source of income to support herself and her son. She’s smart, pragmatic and tough (“Every stripper I know is clever. Some are practically geniuses.”), but she doesn’t have the ability to prevent or outrun a customer-turned-stalker, and she really doesn’t have the cultural capital or capital-capital to defend herself at court when an encounter with the creep turns violent. But this is all delivered to us through sporadic flashbacks. The novel opens in the thick of consequence: Romy shackled chattel-style to a prison bus, careening nebulously into two consecutive life sentences in the Central Valley. “The Mars Room” unfolds like this, unsticking and resticking in time between its present (2003 at the Stanville Women’s Correctional Facility) and Romy’s shrouded past on the streets of SF. Structurally, this can be unpopular territory: Novels that nix the frameworks of time and place run the risk of bleeding out into disorganized and disorienting masses of detail. Kushner,
however, is a seasoned rebel. She manipulates the timeline so deftly that these scenes slide into each other with a dreamlike logic. Romy’s GED prep session at Stanville summons an anecdote of teaching her son to count, a memory that morphs into musing on how counting functions “like prison, from a name to a number.” This brings us back to Stanville where the women on death row are sewing sandbags for “five cents an hour, minus fifty-five percent restitution.” The narrative is a ride on Romy’s train of thought, a psychological portrait made vivid by its very meandering. Between the hustle for shampoo and tampons, hazy recollections of bad lap dances and dehumanizing treatment from prison guards and public defenders alike, Kushner captures the indefinite restlessness of a mind pinned between past and future, time and place, hope and regret. That being said, “The Mars Room” sprawls. Those who value plot will be frustrated with the way this one constantly wavers between absent and forced. Those who enjoy form and detail will revel in Kushner’s obsession with it, a highly visual approach to storytelling singular enough to land her on the Man Booker shortlist.
FILM NOTEBOOK
Love and ambivalence in Gerwig’s ‘Lady Bird’ MADELEINE GAULDIN 2017 Senior Arts Editor
“Lady Bird” is now the highest rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes. Ever. It’s also quite possibly the most wonderful movie. Ever. But universal acclaim hasn’t saved Greta Gerwig’s masterpiece from a serving of hot (and very bad) takes. Recently, an article popped up on my Twitter: “’Lady Bird’ and Cycles of Abuse,” in which the writer poses an argument that “Lady Bird” is not a careful portrait of the complexities of a mother-daughter relationship, but in fact a story about maternal abuse. This is, of course, wrong. And I won’t dedicate much more space to the ways in which someone named “Jim” missed the nuances and complexities of the motherdaughter relationship in “Lady Bird” (except to say that he missed them all). But his misstep did get me thinking about everything “Lady Bird” gets right. Gerwig gets all the details of semi-suburban adolescence correct: the defiant rejection of Catholic school communion, the popular girl’s Range Rover, the sensitive (and closeted) heartthrob’s puka shell necklace. Justin Timberlake plays at a party where the parents are upstairs, but “they don’t care if we drink.” All those little, carefully chosen details create a world that is both factually and emotionally real. The emotional reality comes from the delicacy and honesty with which Gerwig handles her character’s relationships. There is no “good” and “bad” in “Lady Bird.” We don’t want Lady Bird to win against (or despite of) her mother or Danny or even Kyle or Jenna. Because none of those characters, though they make life harder for our heroine, are bad. And even Lady Bird can fluctuate between cruelty and compassion,
often within the same scene. Lady Bird and Marion’s relationship is built on this duality. In one scene, Lady Bird can grab a notepad and demand her mother tell her how much it costs to raise her so she can one day pay her back and “never have to see her again,” and in another see Marion pick up that same pad and struggle to write a letter to her daughter as she gets ready to leave for college. And we can understand that those actions are both attempts at the impossible but inevitable process of separation. Lady Bird will leave Marion, and sometime in the distant but approaching future, Marion will leave Lady Bird. And neither one of them can be ready for either departure. Before Lady Bird leaves, Marion scrambles to prepare her for the unknowable beast that is the world outside her home. And through that rushed preparation, “You’re dragging your feet” becomes a different way of saying “I love you.” That moment — which comes up twice during the course of the film — as the two shop for dresses, is one of the most obviously recognizable for any mother or daughter. I went to prom in 2015 as opposed to 2002, so after my mom and I fought in a department store I went home and bought my dress online. That act — choosing a dress without my mom — is in the same family as Lady Bird choosing to go to Danny’s Thanksgiving or hiding her college process from her mother. It’s a conscious act of exclusion that serves as preparation for a time in the near future when that type of inclusion won’t always be an option. Lady Bird and her mother spend the movie creating space between each other. They push each other away, but they rarely — save Lady Bird’s dramatic exit in the first scene — try to escape each other. They fight, but stay in the same room after. That’s why Marion’s silence isn’t
abusive and her criticism isn’t cruel. It must be a complicated brand of love to prepare your child to leave you. Marion wants Lady Bird to be the best version of herself she can be so she tells her to stand up straight and hang up her uniform and apply to in-state colleges. What it takes for Marion’s wish to be fulfilled is for Lady Bird to fly the nest. I talk about my mother now in a way my 18 or even 20-year-old self could never imagine. With a kind of love and reverence and frequency that I didn’t realize was in such opposition to the way I used to talk about her until I saw the movie. I talk about her the way Lady Bird starts to at the end of the film. She spends the film rejecting everything her mother has given her—her name, her hair color—and then finally, miles away from her mother, she starts taking them back. And that concession of guilt, that apology, is an impossible one to articulate. So, when she calls Marion at the end of the film all she can say is: “Did you get emotional the first time you drove in Sacramento?” And we get it. That in itself is a kind of apology for a kind of cruelty that doesn’t always warrant one. It’s a reconnection that tries to do yet another impossible thing: make up for lost time. Now, older and wiser, I look back on the anger my high school self spit at my mother and I regret it. I regret all the hours of silence and fights in the car and times I slammed my door. But I know I couldn’t change it. The stage after teen angst doesn’t have a good name. Existential dread, maybe? My twenties? Whatever this thing is called, I’m in it. And, at the end of the movie, “Lady Bird” is entering it. Picking up the pieces of the things our mothers gave us that we threw away and trying to say sorry, without being able — of course — to actually say it.
Michigan in Color
6A — Saturday, May 2, 2020
ARTS MiC
over the over the YEARS
YEARS
2017 2013
AUGUST Violent rallyusaerum in Charlottesville leads Bis etum 12: il ius eliquam eium velicti to civil unrest comnit dunt, tota que consequo is essunture dolor molesti beriore, il ea ne plab ipsae SEPTEMBER 17: Twotation student tags are excero te volorep re name videndunt defiled onipienda the doors of their dormet rooms with omnihil veliqui nobites laboriame racial slurs. hil ius arumqui dentibus, qui lantiossunt aliat pa qui simolessit, nes escilit harum SEPTEMBER 25:con Dana Greene Jr. kneels on que volorit eicia plis everum fugitatur Diag’s protest. labo. Itatas mos venis si quiae “M” estotoblaturem arumnihilla ntentotatem aut etum hil il mod NOVEMBER #StopSpencer andescium the quam es est 28: as endaesc ipiendis U’s response jeopardizing lation cupta doluptam abmarginalized ipsapicit aut optiis communities on campus
2018 2014
FEBRUARY: La Casa makes headway on demands, calls for further faculty representation, and Demands of Me/Na boxes was added MARCH: Emily Lawson Protests for renewal of teaching contract APRIL 29: First A/PI graduation held on campus OCTOBER 2: Jamal Khashoggi, well-known American journalist and activist, murdered at Saudi Arabia consulate.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
2019
2020
MARCH 15: New Zealand Christchurch mosque shooting and false alarm at vigil on campus
FEBRUARY 3: Dr. Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five kickstarts Black History Month with a keynote adress.
APRIL: Sudan Revolution overthrows the Al-Bashir regime APRIL 7: Trotter Multicultural Center opening on State Street
MARCH 11: Department of Homeland Security allows international students to continue online classes without jeapardizing their immigration status. APRIL 23: The community gathering at Ramadan Suhoor Festival is canceled due to COVID-19.
‘The white rice was excellent. Followed the directions on the bag perfectly. Way to go.’ HUNTER ZHAO
2017 MiC Contributor
Four years ago, I had assumed that my parents were complete animal enthusiasts. They came home every night after long shifts at our restaurant seemingly eager to turn on Animal Planet. My mom would call me over to watch, giggling at the frenzied yet astute organization of meerkat manors. My dad would gawk at the ferocious pace of lionesses chasing zebras across the Serengeti. At garage sales, he could never resist bringing home a stack of National Geographic magazines. We’ve housed nearly every animal allowed as a pet by the state of Michigan. I was obviously wrong. It’s clear today that they could not care less. My parents cheer enthusiastically at “Sing! China” and other knock-off music competitions. The browsing history of our home computer is filled with 2000s-esque online tabloids divulging the latest Asian celebrity scandal. Their smartphones constantly blow up with WeChat pings from their friends across the world. There are no more Discovery Channel specials documenting the inscrutable beauty of wild dolphins; instead, now my parents only discover the “unbelievable” talent of the Dolphin Princess. They spend hours glued to a screen, eyes welling up when prompted and laughing exactly as scripted. It’s the mindless media every baby boomer life coach warns against. But this was exactly what I wanted. There’s a charming simplicity and boredom to life in the American Midwest. It’s the birthplace of the five-day work week, the 9 to 5 shift and church on Sunday. My parents, however, were never part of this simple life. They arrived by boat, uneducated, unskilled and unable to speak a lick of English. They opened a small takeout restaurant in western Michigan, where they worked endless hours to support our family in the New World. Our restaurant is among the oldest in the city; my grandma’s garden in the front earned it a mention in the Muskegon Chronicle. My parents’ unmistakable effort and spirit of entrepreneurship fits neatly into the myth of the American Dream. It’s exactly the false consciousness surrounding upward mobility — their success obscures how so many others are failed by the invisible hand, how we lived anxiously without health insurance, how we became too accustomed to armed robberies. I could count the number of
Chinese families I know living back home with one hand. Though it’s a cliché in the coming-of-age stories of other Asian/Pacific Islander American kids from small-town America, I wrestled with the sense of “otherness” and assimilation. But it was during my senior year of high school when I began to think, what about my parents? While I could easily Facetime people on the other side of the planet, they were still buying international calling cards to reconnect for mere minutes with their friends back home. In 2013, my parents had never logged onto a computer; they had never sent a text message over the phone. To be frank, they were ignorant, but perhaps not in bliss. Were they bored? Were they lonely these last 20-or-so years? Maybe my dad kept replaying the same CDs because he had no idea where to find new Chinese music. Maybe they spent so much time watching wildlife because those programs didn’t require English comprehension. After lobbying my parents for months, they finally bought a computer. I sought their digital enlightenment. They could chat instantly with their friends across the world. With Google Maps, they could retrace their old neighborhoods back in China. Though they were comfortable with the fact that my brother and I had been surfing the internet for years, they were ferociously resistant to idea that they do the same. “We’re too old for this!” they’d complain — an excuse too common in immigrant households. From the mundane like translating during grocery trips to the complex like explaining tax forms, there are numerous moments where immigrant children become the parents. It was humiliating for my parents to have established a thriving business, only to struggle to use a keyboard. I’d sit with them for hours at a time, guiding their mouse across the browser. Sometimes when they got it (the red “x” means exit), I’d see a childlike sense of accomplishment spread across their faces. But, inevitably, we’d get frustrated. We’d argue. They’d call me a si zai (Guangdong Province insult of a person who should’ve died when they were born). I’d tell them “I can’t do this anymore!” We’d storm off, only later to return — no apologies — and simply try again. Soon, they became semiproficient. They could turn the computer on and off and learned to open Google Chrome. It was good enough. Understanding how to browse the internet was their watershed moment. And before I left for Ann Arbor, they wanted
smartphones with WeChat and Weibo, a way to stream Chinese cable, and instructions on how to download music. I have a disdain for mass media, but when my mother received her first WeChat voicemails from childhood friends who asked, “Yan Li! What took you so long???” and I saw the excitement and joy that raced through her existence, I decided I’ll always put aside my thoughts for them. One day, my mom caught me off guard while I was home for Fall Break. She had prepared a simple, nostalgic lunch for my return: steamed rice with la chang (Chinese sausage). As she watched me eat, she remarked, “They gave our restaurant four out of five stars.” The reviews. Who told her? For every one bad review, there are 20 other to drown them out, but everyone, my parents included, wants to hear criticism. I was annoyed and surprised that she had discovered the online reviews of our restaurant on her own. Perhaps her friend Rose from Milwaukee told her about it. We chatted about how our competitors were only three stars and how some restaurants didn’t even show up. She was surprised that people even liked the food in the first place and then joked about how funny life was where two Chinese “peasants” could become successful in America. Playing into her humble boast, I pretended to be delightfully shocked. “Hunter, can you translate the reviews for me?”
Thank God I never taught her how to use Google Translate. If you’ve interpreted languages before, you know the three most important things are syntax, meaning and context. But it only matters if you’re trying to be truthful. I, like other children of immigrants, chose to lie to my parents. The language barrier that had been the root of so much childhood self-hatred and embarrassment became my saving grace. I never thought that teaching my parents to use a computer could ever backfire. Right now, my mom doesn’t know how to translate and read the reviews, but eventually she will. She’ll get better on the computer. She’ll discover that she doesn’t need me. And she’ll read them. My parents didn’t come here to run a Michelin-starred restaurant; they came here to give their children a better chance at life. Leaving their dreams behind, they provided me the ultimate opportunity to pursue mine: a life free from poverty and oppression. I can never fully describe the sacrifices they made, the barriers
Courtesy of Hunter Zhao they overcame. Even if hot vegetable oil burns and blisters my arms — just like my father’s — from stir-frying “cheap” takeout food for self-proclaimed Chinese culinary experts, my life is still better than it would have been. Instead of a conspiracy of ripping off customers with “garbage food,” maybe we don’t accept credit cards because my parents don’t know how to use them. Maybe the girl who “is a complete moron” struggles on the phone because we didn’t have money for English lessons. Maybe it “is not Chinese at all” because actual Chinese people don’t eat General Tso’s Chicken as their plat principal with a fortune cookie as dessert. Maybe the reason why our white rice is “excellent” isn’t because we followed the directions on some bag. It’s because my parents learned to cook it perfectly when it was the only thing their families could afford. That every last morsel mattered back then. That even when you burned it, you scraped the charred bottom crust and ate it to ease the pain of hunger. That before my dad was even a teenager — his house stripped bare by the government, his parents sent to labor camps, his older sisters deported for “reeducation,” his family blacklisted by the
community and the survival of two siblings left in his hands alone — he would wait outside homes in the middle of the night to wait his turn to dig through their trash and find smashed remnants of soured, rotten white rice, bring it home to soak it in water so that the ants would float up top to be poured away, and fed to his younger brother and sister so they wouldn’t starve. He’d eagerly eat what was left of the rancid slurry. How can a single comment so effectively, so easily erase the histories of my family? In this digital age, anonymity begets such cold cruelty. And in truth, I can’t bring myself to blame them. It’d be unrealistic to demand that customers censor their thoughts — they have the right to express a bad experience. Honestly, the comments people leave for our restaurant are hilariously creative. Nevertheless, as the restaurant owners’ son, I can’t help but overreact at the ignorance and insensitivity of these comments. I can’t help but be defensive. They probably wrote those reviews in less than two minutes, mindlessly thumbing characters, uncaring about who the audience was and what the impact would be. Four out of five stars doesn’t just represent the success of our restaurant; it’s validation of my
parents’ lives — their journey, their challenge, their success. I know I shouldn’t be worked up. I know these comments mean nothing. I know my mom is a lion, strongest among beasts and turns away from no one. Even if I translated them faithfully, she’d probably be fine; but I have a brutal sense of protection towards my family. I would never let anything, not even the minutiae of online restaurant reviews, come close or even attempt to chip away at their accomplishments. I will never. “Mom, they love the food. They said everything was affordable and delicious.” Her ears perk up. She sets her eyes on me, her subtle smile clear. She’s proud — a pride distinct from reading any kind of review. She’s proud to have kept her end of the immigrant bargain and prouder that I’m about to keep mine. Come April, I will no longer be a first-generation college student; I’ll be an alum. After my graduation, our restaurant will finally close its doors having achieved its purpose. I wish I didn’t have to lie, but then again, I am her stubborn and selfish American son. No more translations of reviews. “There’s no need,” I constantly assure her. “Nothing has changed.” Because
The Neutral White Population CYDNEY GARDNER-BROWN 2017 MiC Contributor
Following the Black Lives Matter protests and demonstrations of the past few weeks, my African American studies professor gave students the platform to have a discussion in class about how the racial tension on campus has been affecting our lives. After many of the Black students bravely shared their stories aloud, shed tears and expressed how dehumanizing and degrading being called a racial slur can make a person, better yet, a community feel, a white female student decided to speak up. She said (roughly quoting):
“It breaks my heart to hear that when stuff like this happens it can remain on the backs of the Black students for the remainder of their day or week or even for years. It breaks my heart because I know that even though I am sad about it, I can leave today and remain totally unaffected and continue with my day. That is due in part to the privilege that I have as a white person. It allows me to remain unaffected and ignorant to what is going on with other people in my own community.” Her statement shook me to the core. For the first time since I have been on campus, I heard a white person admit to the privilege of indifference. The privilege of neutrality in times of
racial crisis. This mindset of neutrality is one that privileged whites tend to have in the United States (and on this campus) regarding race. White people who choose not to be a part of the conversation of racial tension and who would rather “not take a side” perpetuate an endless cycle of aggression and attack. From a distance, it may seem as if most of the white students do not see what is happening on campus. It seems that they are totally oblivious to our struggle. However, I have found that the issues we as people of color face are in fact being seen by white students on campus but it seems that they are only seeing
us through a TV screen — as if these racial attacks are a natural disaster occurring in some foreign land leaving them totally unaffected. Black students feel as if they are isolated on an island experiencing a calamity and all the complacent white students act as if all they can do is watch. They are not seeing our anguish through their own eyes, in their own halls, buildings and front lawns. They are not feeling our pain in their own bodies because even hundreds of years after being brought to this land, Black people still are only seen as visitors. As the girl in my class said, many white people don’t feel personally affected or attacked
when a Black man is called “n*****” because they do not view said Black man as a member of their community but another community completely separate. We as Black people are only tolerated as guests on a campus we have worked equally as hard to reside upon. Therefore, when something happens to us, the urgency of the matter is only our issue and no one else’s. It is not that these white people are evil or would ever themselves attempt to dehumanize a person of color, it is that they choose to remain ignorant to the issues affecting people of color and therefore choose to remain neutral to any remedies. The only way we can fix what
is going on here is if we somehow make the complacent white students, who have no inclination toward either side, feel obligated to defend the identities of students of color. They have to know that what is happening is not fiction. It’s not alien. It’s not happening on a TV screen! It’s occurring right here and right now. The neutral white students have to feel personally affected when their Black neighbors are being attacked and they have to view an attack on a person of color in this community as an attack on everyone. We can only move forward if they know their participation is integral to our movement for positive social change on campus.
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ARTS
SPORTS over the over the YEARS
YEARS
2017
MARCH 12: Eight seed Michigan men’s
2018 2014
Bis etum il ius usaerum eium velicti basketball winseliquam the Big Ten Tournament, 71-56, comnit dunt, tota que consequo is essunture over No. 23 Wisconsin, its first non-vacated dolor molestitournament beriore, il ea ne plab ipsae conference win. excero te volorep tation re videndunt omnihil veliqui nobites et laboriame APRIL ipienda 1: Michigan women’s basketball wins lantiossunt iusbeating arumqui dentibus, its first everhil title, Georgia Tech qui after aliat pa qui simolessit, nes escilit harum three overtimes in the championship of the que volorit eicia con plis everum fugitatur WNIT. si quiae esto blaturem labo. Itatas mos venis arumnihilla ntentotatem autField etum hil il mod NOVEMBER 17: Michigan Hockey’s quam as endaesc run toes theest Final Four endsipiendis in a lossescium to No. 9 lation cupta ab ipsapicit aut optiis Maryland, itsdoluptam first loss since September.
MARCH 17: Freshman guard Jordan Poole’s buzzerBis etum il ius eliquam usaerum eium beater caps off a comeback against Houston, continuing velicti comnit dunt, tota que consequo is the momentum from a Big Ten Tournament title two essunture dolor molesti beriore, il ea ne weeks prior in one of the most iconic shots of Wolverine plab ipsae excero te volorep tation re men’s basketball and leading to a run that ended in videndunt omnihil ipienda veliqui nobites the championship game of the NCAA Tournament in a et laboriame lantiossunt hil ius arumqui 79-62 loss against No. 2 Villanova.
dentibus, qui aliat pa qui simolessit, nes escilit harum que volorit eicia con plis NOVEMBER 3: Michigan football caps off a 3 game everum fugitatur si quiae esto blaturem labo. stretch of top-25 victories over No. 15 Wisconsin, No. Itatas mos venis arumnihilla ntentotatem 24 Michigan State and No. 14 Penn State, efforts that aut etum hil il mod quam es est as endaesc eventuall resulted in a loss to No. 10 Ohio State, 62-39, ipiendis escium lation cupta doluptam ab that ended all hopes of a playoff berth.
Saturday, May 2, 2020 — 7A
2019
MAY 22: Former Michigan basketball player and member of the Fab Five, Juwan Howard, is hired to be the next head men’s basketball coach following John Beilein’s departure to be the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers. JUNE 9: The Wolverines stun No. 1 UCLA, sending Michigan baseball to its first Men’s College World Series since 1984 where the team finished as the runner-up to champion Vanderbilt. NOVEMBER 30: Michigan football loses its eighth straight rrivalry game against No. 1 Ohio State, 56-27.
2020
FEBRUARY 29: The Wolverine men’s swimming and diving team wins the Big Ten Championships, an effort that included seven individual events won across the four day competition. MARCH 5: Michigan basketball’s winningest two players, Zavier Simpson and Jon Teske, play their final game in Ann Arbor in a 82-58 win over Nebraska. MARCH 13: Due to COVID-19, all sporting events are cancelled, ending both winter and spring sports seasons shockingly and prematurely.
Michigan advances to Sweet 16 on Jordan Poole buzzer-beating prayer MAX MARCOVITCH 2018 Daily Sports Editor
Somehow, some way. His legs flailing each and every direction and a defender square in his face, Jordan Poole caught a pass on the right wing from Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman and hoisted a prayer. And as the ball found sweet nylon, the prayer was granted — somehow, some way — in the wee hours of Sunday morning. The freshman guard darted to the opposite side of the court, greeted by the rest of his jubialant team as they celebrated an astonishing 64-63 win. It was a miracle on the Great Plains the likes of which will live in Michigan lore right alongside the Trey Burke shot and the ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily Denard Robinson pass at Under the Lights Freshman guard Jordan Poole celebrates after hitting the game-winning shot over Houston that sent the Wolverines on to the Sweet 16 I. “I was thirsty,” Poole told a swath of “I don’t have any words for that one,” Gray offensively — coming off a 39-point things that aren’t winning basketball today reporters after the game. “Definitely said fifth-year senior Duncan Robinson. performance against San Diego State — just a few, but just enough,” said Michigan thirsty. Because I’ve been hitting shots “It’s incredible. That’s all I got.” — it was the defense on both ends that coach John Beilein. “But credit Houston. like that in practice all year. I just felt like I Somehow, some way. controlled the game. They made us make some of those plays.” always wanted to be in a situation like that For much of the game, though, there Gray, the alpha and omega of Houston’s At half, the game was tied at 28, those at the end in the game, and my teammates appeared to be no way. offense, couldn’t find his rhythm in the first struggles leaving the game back where it constantly tell me that I’ve got ice in my For the second consecutive game, half, thanks to a swarming defensive effort started, just with a few more bumps and veins. Michigan’s offense fell victim to offensive from Michigan guards Zavier Simpson and bruises. “I definitely dreamed about this a long lulls that threatened its survival in the Abdur-Rahkman. Gray finished with 23, And while the bumps and bruises didn’t time. Actually, before I went out there on NCAA Tournament. The Wolverines went but on 8-of-22 shooting. subside, the lid on the buckets slowly did. there, I thought, ‘What if I hit this shot right to the first TV timeout once again without a “We just tried to limit his threes, make Then, it was game on. now as a freshman?’ ” made field goal, this time trailing 6-1, having him score tough twos,” Abdur-Rahkman With 17 lead changes and 12 ties in total, And that he did. On this stage. With missed their first seven shots including six said. “He made a lot of them, but that’s all neither team took firm control until Gray these implications. Somehow, some way, threes. you can really do, is try to force him into began to come to life midway through the the only player with the personality to Robinson broke the seal nearly six contested shots.” half. He scored eight of his team’s 10 points match the grand moment found the ball minutes in, nailing a deep three with a On the flip side, a physical Houston at one point, nabbing a six point lead with with 0.8 seconds and a season teetering in hand in his face. He did it again on the next man defense held the Wolverines in check, 10:43 left on an inexplicably wide-open the balance. possession, pumping up his bench on the stifling Michigan’s pick-and-roll action three. Now Michigan will head to Los Angeles gallop back down the court. with athleticism, holding it so just 30 But the see-saw swung right back. next weekend to play its fourth Sweet That was the tone all night, on both sides percent from the field. By the end of the Michigan fought through recurring Sixteen game in six years on the back of — a tough, physical street fight. It’s a style game, a dejected Wolverines bench thought offensive demons, finishing the game with a monstrous defense and one lucky St. Michigan has come to relish this season. that would be the culprit of its dying season. just 36 percent shooting. Patrick’s Day heave. For all the talk about Cougars guard Rob “They were down because we did some And it has more than just one fortuitous
bounce to thank for the escape. Down 51-46 with just over five minutes left, Matthews shot a 3-pointer off the back of the rim. It careened high into the air and through the hoop just as a Houston forward was whistled for a foul. Teske made both free throws, and suddenly a 51-46 game became 51-51 in only a single possession. The teams traded blows from there, with the Cougars grabbing what seemed to be the final lead with 44 seconds left on two free-throws from forward Devin Davis. But that wasn’t the last of Michigan’s season. It just couldn’t be. There was a little more than a strong breeze flowing through Intrust Bank Arena on Saturday night. Sophomore center Jon Teske could just feel it. “I actually told CJ (Baird), I didn’t think we were gonna go home,” Teske said. “I felt something special was going to happen and I’m just glad he knocked that down. … It’s something I will always remember.” And in a wild back and forth affair, it all came down to a howling freshman, with the confidence to belt “Ham” — the team’s nickname for Abdur-Rahkman — with the season on the line. The call was “Tennessee,” the same full-court inbound play run to beat Maryland early in the season as time expired. The senior caught the pass at midcourt and then put his season and career in the handwwwwwwws of Poole, who answered the faith with one of the most historic shots in program history. “I knew they were not going to let me shoot the ball. So I was looking for JP,” Abdur-Rahkman said. “I knew he could knock it down. “Literally, he makes it all the time in practice.” And as the entire team piled on Poole under the hoop, cheers reigned down from the traveling Michigan crowd and band. “It’s great to be a Michigan Wolverine.”
The wins that shaped Michigan’s run Hutchins reacts to season cut short
ALEC COHEN/Daily
The Wolverines made an improbable run to the national championship
ABBY SNYDER
2019 Daily Sports Writer
Behind every deep tournament run are the wins that shaped the team. It was no different for the Michigan baseball team’s historic – and, at times, improbable – run. They don’t tell this team’s whole story. Nothing could. But they’re a good place to start. The Daily takes a look back of some of this season’s defining wins. March 8 – Michigan 7, No. 2 UCLA 5 There’s a lot of talk in sports about “statement wins.” That’s what this was. In a tough road environment against then-No. 2 UCLA, which spent most of the season as the best team in the country, junior left-hander Tommy Henry struck out ten over six innings of two-run baseball. Michigan scored four runs in the first inning, tacking on two in the third and one more in the eighth for insurance. This was the win that showed a flash of what this team could become, what they would become: a national contender. In the face and on the home turf of arguably the toughest competition the Wolverines faced all season, Michigan dominated the game. They never trailed. It wasn’t the last time the two teams met this season either. May 23 – Michigan 5, Illinois 4 One strike away. Team 153 was one strike away from an early end to its season, one strike away from not making a postseason appearance at all, one strike away from this magical run. Luckily, sophomore designated
hitter Jordan Nwogu had other ideas. Michigan was down, 4-3, to Illinois in the bottom of the ninth inning. A loss to Ohio State the day before meant that falling to the Fighting Illini would send the Wolverines home for good. Nwogu stepped up to the plate with two on and two out. With Michigan’s season on the line, he launched a two-run double to left center, and the Wolverines walked off with a 5-4 victory. It was exactly the catalyst they needed. Since that win, the Wolverines have been hot. But it’s more than that. That was the win that introduced them to what Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin called their “playing personality”: free and loose, having fun, and playing to win – not just playing not to lose. “We saw the end of our season right in front of us,” said senior first baseman Jimmy Kerr during the College World Series. “That kind of made the whole team appreciate every single game that we’ve had together since then. And that’s kind of the bigger picture. It’s not that we’re playing in a Regional, Super Regional, College World Series championship; it’s just that we get another game with each other.” June 9 – Michigan 4, No. 1 UCLA 2 UCLA’s lineup was the best in the country. No one had been able to stop them all season. Michigan had as good as lost the game already. Instead, the Wolverines pulled out a 4-2 victory to head to the College World Series. Henry, sick with the flu and pneumonia, and still recovering
from the biceps tendonitis that rendered him inconsistent throughout much of the second half of the season, pitched seven innings of two run-baseball — containing a Bruins batting order that seemed practically unstoppable. Sound familiar? The first time Michigan played UCLA, it was just a flash of the team they could be. Three months later, they had gone even further. June 15 – Michigan 5, Texas Tech 3 The first time Michigan and Texas Tech met, it was proof of how far the Wolverines still had to go to be an Omaha contender. They were swept and outscored 29-10 over three games. Three months later, the Wolverines were an entirely different team — their bats hot, their pitchers cool and their defense firing on all cylinders. The Red Raiders provided the perfect litmus test: had Michigan really learned from its mistakes, and could it really compete at the highest stage in collegiate baseball? The answer to both questions was an emphatic yes. The Wolverines got off to a quick start as a sacrifice fly from junior right fielder Jordan Brewer scored Nwogu in the top of the first. They tacked on three more in the third as Kerr launched a two-RBI triple down the right field line and scored on a single from senior third baseman Blake Nelson. Texas Tech made it close, scoring two runs in the bottom of the third and adding another in the bottom of the sixth, but Michigan was unshaken. They added a run in the top of the seventh when sophomore center fielder Jesse Franklin scored on an error for insurance, then cruised to a 5-3 victory on the backs of solid pitching from junior right-hander Karl Kauffmann (7 innings, 8 hits, 3 runs) and sophomore right-hander Jeff Criswell (two solid innings of one-hit relief). The Wolverines had made a statement: they were more than just a Cinderella team, and their run amounted to more than just luck. Michigan, at long last, was a national contender again.
JARED GREENSPAN 2020 Daily Sports Writer
In the middle of Thursday’s practice, Carol Hutchins’s phone rang. It was Michigan Athletic Director Warde Manuel. Right away, Hutchins knew the phone call wouldn’t be an easy one. She was cognizant of the other mandates that had trickled in across the collegiate landscape throughout the day — the PAC-12 and ACC had both cancelled all sporting events until further notice. So when Manuel called, Hutchins knew what was coming. Manuel’s words, a message relayed from NCAA President Mark Emmert, only confirmed what had grown to be the inevitable. Due to the COVID19 pandemic, all remaining NCAA winter and spring championships were cancelled — softball included. Her players, in an act of blissful ignorance, continued practice as Hutchins digested the news. It was her job to break it to them. The news that this would be their last gathering, that their season was over 23 games in and at least 30 short. She stopped practice and pulled her team into their home dugout, symbolically a place of comfort and unity amidst the trying times. A dugout that Hutchins calls “her favorite place in the world,” a dugout those same players wouldn’t be able to convene in as one ever again. It was an all-too fitting place to cling to whatever last semblance of normalcy was left. The team was ready for her. And so Hutchins embarked on what she described as the hardest thing she’s ever had to do as a coach. “It’s just the worst day of every coach’s career right now, telling their student athletes that they’re done,” Hutchins told The Daily. “Probably the hardest day is the last day of
the year and you close your last game. But all 36 of my last days have never compared to this. “And it’s for every student athlete in the country. Every student athlete is affected, all the support people. Even my managers were crying. They’ve worked so hard. Everybody’s in this together. It’s really hard to put in perspective. Today’s a tragedy, in another day this will be a new normal.”
It’s just the worst day of every coach’s career For the seniors, the news rung especially harrowing. Two days before Saturday, what was meant to be their final home opener, their days as collegiate athletes have been cut short. Outfielder Haley Hoogenraad, outfielder Thais Gonzalez, infielder Madison Uden and catcher Abby Skvarce are finished donning the maize and blue for Michigan softball. “I just hugged them and told them and that I was proud of them,” Hutchins said. “They were a great senior class. They came a long way from being freshmen and that’s ultimately
how you judge people. I’m very proud of those four. They were doing a great job leading us, getting through our ups and downs. I was really proud of them and that’s all I can tell them. My heart breaks most for them.” For the players, uncertainty lies ahead. Hutchins doesn’t know how much longer they will be on campus. No one knows much about anything in a situation so fluid and unparalleled. So, as Thursday’s practice culminated and the news reverberated in shockwaves, the team did all they could in such an overwhelming moment — rely on each other. “I know my team will be together,” Hutchins said. “I’m most concerned for those kids right now. What they need more than anything is to be with each other. We need to be together, that’s what we can do in times of grief.” While the situation is unprecedented, Hutchins has no doubt her team will handle it with grace. “Our kids are well-equipped. They deal with adversity all the time. They deal with loss, they deal with failure. The most important thing they’ve learned is it’s not if you fall down, it’s if you get up. Our kids will get up. “They’ll be strong.” Managing Sports Editor Ethan Sears also contributed to the reporting of this story.
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Michigan coach Carol Hutchins details the pain of a cancelled season
Sports
8A — Saturday, May 2, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Beilein leaves ‘M’ for Cleveland with an unmistakable legacy ARIA GERSON & THEO MACKIE
2019 Daily Sports Editors
The last time the Michigan had to replace its head coach, the program was unrecognizable to those familiar with the current Wolverines. Michigan in 2007 had barely scraped relevance since the breakup of the Fab Five in 1993. It hadn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 1998 — an appearance later vacated by NCAA sanctions. It lived under the shadow of the football team and a group of recruits who had since been banned from the program. CJ Lee, a Michigan guard from 2006-09 and current director of program personnel, was there when then-coach Tommy Amaker was fired. Even with Amaker’s uninspiring record, his firing still incited some disappointment. After all, he had helped drag the program out of its sanction-induced low point in the early 2000s. Lee, though, knew the Wolverines were getting someone good in John Beilein. Lee went to high school in western New York, where Beilein recruited some of his AAU teammates and had seen Beilein’s success at West Virginia. The Beilein he knew of back then was a coach who ran a unique offense and a 1-3-1 zone, a coach with a good reputation but questions about whether he could stick at a high-major program like Michigan. Twelve years later, when Beilein left the Wolverines to take the helm of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday morning, he was a coach who still ran a unique offense, albeit one of a different vein, but had ditched the zone — and ditched
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Coach John Beilein left for a head coaching position in the NBA, leaving Michigan as the all-time leader in wins
control over his defense, hiring assistants with greater expertise in the area. He was a coach whose reputation had exploded, who hadn’t just succeeded at a highmajor program but taken it from no-man’s-land to consistent contender. He was a coach who had become, in some ways, impossible to replace — the unenviable task that now falls on the shoulders of athletic director Warde Manuel. “The first couple years, people were kinda wondering, does (Beilein) have what it takes?” Lee told The Daily. “And it just shows that his ability to morph, his ability to adapt, his ability to change, his ability to figure out that place and figure out his way of doing things here — it was incredible. And it worked.” Beilein got Michigan back to the
NCAA Tournament in his second year, and the Wolverines have made it in eight of the past nine years — with five Sweet Sixteens and two appearances in the national title game. His performance surpassed even what could have been considered the best-case scenario. “It goes without saying, he brought Michigan basketball back to prominence,” Lee said. “I would say he restored the image in the hearts and minds of a lot of people, probably in the court of public opinion. Certainly, coach Amaker did a great job in his time, coming out of the sanctions, and then coach Beilein took it to a level where you’re back in the Final Four.” Zack Novak, a Michigan guard from 2008-12, joined the program in Beilein’s early days. Back then, the team was filled with Amaker
holdovers, and Beilein was tasked with not only developing his young players, but getting buyin from his older ones — a test he passed with flying colors. Then, he began to build the foundation of the Wolverines’ new identity. Novak saw the beginning of that foundation, with Michigan’s NCAA Tournament appearance in 2009. By the time he left in 2012 — with a Big Ten regular-season title and a No. 4 seed in the tournament — he saw a program that finally stood on solid ground. “From day one, when (Beilein started) recruiting me, the first step was, get back to the NCAA Tournament,” Novak told The Daily on April 13. “But he was very firm that Michigan should be a premier program and we needed to build the foundation to get back to where it
should be. And so, I think from day one, he had a vision and he had his guys that bought into the vision. “And I think you gotta give credit to a lot of the guys who came from coach Amaker, who rolled over. Kind of a difficult situation, right? Two very different styles of playing. And those guys easily could have been cancers on the team and not bought into the vision, and instead they did the opposite. And really set the foundation for what was to come. Now, with that being said, I’m not gonna lie to you and say that I thought we’d be in two national title games in the next 10 years. I think it’s gone a bit beyond what the original vision was.” From there, Beilein built Michigan into what it is now, all with the perception that he runs a clean program. Beilein is one of the few high-major coaches who is widely believed not to cheat. He instilled his values in every player, from Lee and Novak until now. Former Michigan sports information director Bruce Madej remembered Beilein as someone who always talked about family and community. Even as Beilein began to crave the greater challenge that the NBA would bring, that community was what the Wolverines were to him. In a way, the NBA is a culmination for Beilein. This is someone who has never held a permanent position as an assistant coach, instead climbing the ladder from high school JV to community college to Division II to mid-major to Michigan. Professional basketball was the one step he had never taken. “What has happened to John Beilein in his life and in his coaching career has been miraculous, it’s really been magical,” said Jeff Neubauer, the current Fordham coach and a former Beilein assistant
at Richmond and West Virginia from 1996-2005. “... Who he has been throughout his life is to take on a massive challenge — most of them were places where people didn’t think he could succeed. So he’s gone to different schools throughout his career and done amazing things over and over. So my speculation would be that this is his opportunity to take on another huge challenge, climb another mountain.” Now, Beilein is firmly entrenched as a Michigan legend. No matter who you talk to, former players, assistants and people around the program have nary a bad word to say about him — as a person or a coach. And regardless of what the future holds, Beilein will always be remembered as the coach who brought Michigan back to soaring heights, the coach who firmly implanted a new culture and the coach who did things the right way — in every sense of the word. “I tell people all the time when they ask me about playing for, working for coach Beilein, is that as good of a basketball coach as he is, he’s a better person,” Lee said. “And I think that, over the last 12 years, the fan base and college basketball in general has got to witness an incredible, incredible human being who happens to be a basketball coach on the sidelines, in Ann Arbor. “And I really hope that they cherish that. I hope they recognize how special that is to have the human being, the coach, the man, the success. How rare that is, for it all to come together like that. So I just hope that people are appreciative and he is honored for his time, because he did a tremendous job.” Additional reporting by Ethan Sears
Manuel’s gamble is the right one to make Wolverines’ playoff hopes die in Ohio ETHAN SEARS
2019 Managing Sports Editor
Warde Manuel spoke directly, with certainty and confidence. “We looked at many,” Manuel said. “Broad scope. I stand here ETHAN today with SEARS my choice.” ALEC COHEN/Daily Before Athletic Director Warde Manuel announced Juwan Howard as the new coach Juwan Howard had stepped Beilein left the Wolverines anyway when they didn’t. to the podium as Michigan’s new basketball coach and with little warning in mid- Howard was a repeated before a question had been May — when the coaching candidate for NBA job openings had already for a reason — he’s developed asked, Manuel answered the carousel day’s biggest one. Since John slowed. The candidate pool, a well-earned reputation as Beilein left, a coaching search inherently, was thinner than a good basketball mind, and it might have someone who connects with unfolded and been a month players. ended last There’s also the intangible or two earlier. week with And, even if — which was on full display Howard, there when Howard Manuel had Thursday has been a his pick of the stepped to the podium and not-so subtle lot, it would be wiped tears from his eyes, implication of impossible to needing to gather himself nepotism that hire another before he started speaking. has come with Yes, it’s concerning that Beilein. the discussion The best it may take some time for of Howard. coach in the Howard to get a grasp on the Howard has history of NCAA’s rulebook. And yes, it the requisite the program should raise eyebrows that he qualifications, it starts, but would he be in doesn’t come around often. answered a question about his this position if not for his Particularly not when that basketball philosophy with, association with the Fab Five? coach is Beilein, who ran things “Well, it remains to be seen, Manuel, who has never had in a way unique throughout fellas, right?” The rest of his answer, a hiring of this magnitude college basketball. Howard hasn’t been in though, speaks to the qualities in his hands completely, must be under pressure from college basketball. He isn’t that got him hired. “But I can tell you this,” donors. From regents. From familiar with a world where Jalen Rose and Chris Webber; a slip of the tongue can be Howard said. “One thing LeBron James and Dwyane a recruiting violation, and about me, I’m humble. And admitted as much on Thursday. I don’t have all the answers. Wade. The athletic director Even without his ties to the We’re gonna try to figure out acknowledged as much Fab Five, the likelihood that solutions together. … Players seconds later, noting Howard’s he recruits programs like have to be active participants resonance with the university, Mac Irvin Fire, the way his in finding solutions. We will name alone makes heads turn create this identity together. its fans and its donors. But, outside pressures being — that makes him inherently And we will have fun doing it, too.” as they may, this decision was antithetical to Beilein. All that — the emotion And that is fine. Manuel’s to make. His choice. the attitude, the Juwan Howard isn’t here and His gamble. that “There’s a whole lot of to build on John Beilein’s acknowledgements bunch of adjectives like that, legacy. He’s here to make his he isn’t perfect and the that have already been used, own. There are no shortage of willingness to work on it and that’s fine,” Manuel basketball reasons to think he — makes it believable that Howard will put in the hours said. “If I’m gonna take a can. Howard comes with to fill the gaps. This is no risk for somebody, they’ll see why I took the risk and the endorsements from Pat Riley reunion tour or nostalgia trip, gamble — and all the things and Erik Spoelstra, two names nice as those side benefits may you all say about what could that should carry more weight be. Howard was hired because possibly happen — with Juwan than his former teammates. Warde Manuel thinks he can He succeeded as an assistant win basketball games, first Howard.” To be clear, it is a gamble in Miami, unequivocally so. and foremost. But don’t get it wrong. This and it does run a risk of The Heat won titles when they failure. So would any other. had the requisite talent, and is Manuel’s gamble. The right outperformed expectation gamble. That is beside the point.
“We looked at many. I stand here with my choice.”
MIKE PERSAK
2018 Managing Sports Editor
COLUMBUS — The No. 4 Michigan football team was just hanging on. Even when the Wolverines went down two touchdowns in the first half, and even when momentum favored Ohio State to begin the second half, they hung perilously within reaching distance. But with just under five minutes left in the third quarter, the floodgates broke open. It came on a punt, just after Michigan had gone down, 27-19, on a Buckeye field goal. Ohio State receiver Chris Olave took a free run at junior punter Will Hart and blocked Hart’s kick. The ball deflected high into the air and directly into the outstretched arms of Buckeye cornerback Sevyn Banks, who took it untouched to the house. The Wolverines had finally wilted, like they have against Ohio State in 14 of the teams’ last 15 matchups, and from there they could do nothing right, losing, 62-39. “It was tough,” said senior safety Tyree Kinnel. “We try to stay upbeat throughout the whole game and trust each other and stay in the fight. But I remember a point where it just got out of hand. Slowly devastated us throughout the game. All the yards they were putting up, how easily they were scoring, it was tough. Extremely tough.” The out-of-hand point may have been the punt, or really any point after that, but the sings of
impending trouble were present from the beginning. Michigan started the game with the ball and a three-and-out, and the Buckeyes promptly drove 43 yards for a score immediately afterward, finishing it off with a touchdown to Olave. Olave, who entered the game with four catches all season, tacked on another score with 9:08 left in the second quarter, and Ohio State threatened to break the game open when wide receiver Johnnie Dixon III caught a wide-open touchdown to extend the Buckeye lead to 21-6 minutes later. To these opening blows, the Wolverines had answers. They scored back with a fade-route touchdown from sophomore wide receiver Nico Collins. Then, on the ensuing kickoff, Ohio State kick returner Demario McCall simply dropped the ball and Michigan recovered on the Buckeyes’ nine-yard line. Junior running back Chris Evans caught a wheel route for a touchdown on the next snap, and despite failing to convert on the two-point conversion attempt, the Wolverines were suddenly down just two. Ohio State drove down to Michigan’s two-yard line twice in its next three offensive possessions, but had to settle for field goals both times. “We had our opportunities offensively, and you know, the defense started the second half good and held them to a field goal and got a stop, and we had a chance,” Patterson said.
That’s when Olave broke through the Wolverines’ punt protection, and Banks went dancing into the endzone. Junior quarterback Shea Patterson threw an interception three plays later, and the Buckeyes scored two snaps after that. As Kinnel put it, things were out of hand. “You know, sometimes you get desperate in those types of situations,” Patterson said of his interception. “Wasn’t really trying to force it, I was actually trying to throw the ball out of bounds. Whoever made that play made a good play and hit my elbow.” One last time, Michigan drove down the field in an effort to battle back, and Collins secured another fade route to chop the deficit back to two scores. And then Ohio State wide receiver Parris Campell Jr., took the first play on the Buckeyes’ next drive 78 yards to the endzone. In the end, the statistics are hideous for the Wolverines. They gave up the most points of any regulation game in program history. Ever. They allowed the most yards (567) since coach Jim Harbaugh and defensive coordinator Don Brown have taken over. They gave it all up in their biggest game of the year. After Campbell’s run, the metaphorical floodgates were completely obliterated. Ohio State spent the rest of the game scoring and breaking records offensively, while pumping up the crowd and dancing on graves defensively.
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Senior defensive back Tyree Kinnel had eight tackles, four solo, against Ohio State on November 24th, 2018.