2023-02-08

President Santa Ono talks new housing, DEI plans and Pizza House The Daily sat down one-on-one with President Ono for the first time this year

The Michigan Daily sat down with University President Santa Ono Tuesday to discuss working with students and the expansion of both on-campus housing and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. He also spoke about his favorite parts of MosherJordan’s dining hall and his order at Pizza House. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

The Daily: The University of Michigan is currently in the midst of negotiations with the Graduate Employees’ Organization. How do you feel about the progress you’ve made with GEO, such as the agreements you made on meeting logistics and deciding that a mediator was no longer needed? What are your hopes for the rest of the negotiations?

Santa Ono: I’m not directly involved in the negotiations; that’s led by University Provost Laurie McCauley and Academic Human Resources. I have tremendous confidence in that team. And with any negotiation, there’s a back and forth that occurs. But I understand that things are moving in the right direction. I really want there to be a resolution and I want there to be strong support for our graduate students. They are an incredibly vital and important part of the University.

TMD: DEI 1.0 recently concluded and DEI 2.0 has begun. At the event covering the DEI 1.0 Evaluation Report, you spoke of hopes that DEI 2.0 can expand to the state level. How do you hope the University can achieve this? What are your expectations for DEI 2.0?

SO: So I want to clarify — that was in the quote from an interview with The Michigan Daily, but it was kind of taken a little bit out of context. It wasn’t that I would want to see the University’s DEI efforts go statewide. It was more that I felt that to achieve some of the objectives of the University, and also some of the objectives from the Black Student Union, that we would have to expand some of our existing Effective Pathways, like Wolverine Pathways, to

more places throughout the state and perhaps outside the state of Michigan as well. So it wasn’t so much, you know, scaling what we’re doing here to the state. We have to engage with additional schools and high schools and different cities for us to achieve the diversity that we want to see here on our campuses.

TMD: In November, you visited the Trotter Multicultural Center. How often do you plan on visiting the Multicultural Center or other spaces like this? How will you increase and support the diversity of the University community?

SO: I loved my time when I visited the Multicultural Center, and part of it has to do with how often they want to see me there. I was invited to that meeting and I was happy to go. Students are very busy and all of the different centers and organizations on campus are very busy, so I don’t want to impose myself. If I hear that they want me to come again, I would be happy to.

TMD: Will there be any collaboration between the Ann Arbor, Flint and Dearborn campuses about DEI 2.0 and future DEI initiatives?

SO: The strategic visioning process, that I hope students received an email about (on Tuesday), is meant to apply to the entire University, not just the Ann Arbor campus. I’ve had a chance to be at the Flint campus and the Dearborn campus, and they’re an important part of the University. All three campuses have a commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. And so, there are initiatives that are happening on all three campuses … So yes, the DEI 1.0 and 2.0 projects encompass all three campuses.

TMD: What are your hopes and expectations for the Flint Transformation Plan? How often do you currently visit the Flint/ Dearborn campuses?

SO: I’ve been here for three and a half months, and I’ve visited both campuses twice, so I don’t know whether I can maintain that frequency. Faculty and staff (involved with) leadership on both campuses have said that’s quite a high frequency of visitation compared to some of my peers. I love going to both campuses, so I will try my very best to continue visiting. I’m planning to go to the

Dearborn campus again pretty soon. I would say that frequent visits are important for me. I think the faculty, staff and students appreciate my presence, so I will do my very best.

TMD: In November, not long after you took office, the Black Student Union released their “More Than Four” platform, calling on the University to, one, increase Black student enrollment from its current level of 4% of the student population, two, combat anti-Blackness, three, improve DEI policies and, four, invest in K-12 education to increase equity. How do you as University president plan to address each of these points?

SO: I’m one person, and I’m very committed to and I’ve been very public that I support all sorts of those initiatives. I’ve met with the BSU and there is going to be a pretty robust and intense process for leadership within an institution. There are about 30 individuals at the University that will be engaging with the (BSU’s platform), and there will be committees that are focused on all four of those requests

First generation U-M students gather over winter dinner

Conversation and laughter filled the Michigan League Ballroom Wednesday as more than 200 students settled in for the first-generation winter dinner. The First-Generation Student Program organized the dinner for undergraduate and graduate first-generation students at the University of Michigan.

With approximately 4,000 first-generation students at the University, the program works to increase resource accessibility for first-generation students as well as build community among them.

Terra Molengraff, assistant director of First-Generation Student Program, told The Michigan Daily this was the first event the program put together for all first-generation students this academic year. She said the purpose of the event was to focus on community building among first-generation college students.

“First-generation students (are) very relationship based and, like all students, they really benefit from community,” Molengraff said. “This is a space that is dedicated to having students just get to know each other and share a

little bit about their experiences.”

At the event, attendees enjoyed provided food, participated in group discussion questions, and played a human bingo game to facilitate student connections. The dinner also showcased a presentation from FirstGeneration College Students @ Michigan, a student organization that aims to support the goals of first-generation U-M students. The presentation spread awareness for the First Generation Student Gateway, a study and meeting space located in the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives in the Student Activities

Building for all first-generation students and a place to access resources.

LSA freshman Haylie Toth told The Daily she attended the dinner to surround herself with people who have similar experiences, especially regarding acclimating to college life.

“For me, at least, I had to figure out a lot on my own,” Toth said. “It just feels like a really welcoming space and just looking around and seeing everyone together and just talking and chatting … that’s really nice.”

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

and our commitments. These committees will come back to me by the end of the semester with their recommendations on actions that we can take as a University to actually make progress toward each of those four recommendations. The collaborative approaches to each of those recommendations involve leadership and students, which is a different paradigm. It used to be that students would make requests and administration would go away, and time would pass and (administration) would come back (with recommendations). In this case, it’s a collaborative effort where students and administrators are coming together and really working together to achieve each of those objectives.

TMD: Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) has greatly altered college athletics, and Michigan’s NIL opportunities have lagged behind other universities like Texas A&M, Alabama and Ohio State, to name a few. What changes to Michigan’s NIL system would you like to see, and what role do you plan to take in making those changes?

SO: I’m not sure it’s actually true that we lag behind those schools. There is a perception among some that that’s the case, but if you actually look at the Jersey Licensing Program, the University of Michigan was at the forefront of that program, which is a big part of NIL. We’re very fortunate that there have been three or four collectives that have been involved, and we’re very grateful for the passionate support of individuals who are donating to those collectives to support our student-athletes. I’m not sure that we’re lagging — the support and donations of people who care about our student-athletes and the Wolverine teams has been very generous. You may have heard that the athletic director, Warde Manuel, sent out a communication to supporters of Wolverine Athletics, encouraging them to support student-athletes through those collectives, and that had an immediate impact. There has already been an uptick in support of our programs through those collectors and those individuals

leading those collectives are already speaking with each other. How will I personally be involved? I will be there to listen to and then to provide advice that might be helpful to (the athletic director) as they stand up those initiatives. It’s very important to the University that we do things right and we remain in compliance with the NCAA and the law. I’ll play that advisory role as they stand things up, but this is really in the domain of the athletic director, and Warde Manuel is doing a great job interfacing with the leadership of those collectives. He has my full support.

TMD: The University recently announced the construction of a new residential and dining complex on Elbel Field. What hopes do you have for this new residence hall and the improvement of student housing availability on or near Central Campus? What kind of change do you think this new residence hall will bring to campus culture?

Verbena, a local clothing store on State Street, will close its doors at the end of February after more than eight years of business. The small boutique offers unique, feminine street wear and formal wear options to their customers — many of whom are University of Michigan students. Fatherdaughter duo Bob Duerksen and Kate Ryan opened Verbena together in 2014 and announced its closing following a decrease in sales as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The store announced its closing in a Jan. 11 Instagram post, thanking customers for their support for the business.

“We are sad to announce that we will be closing Verbena by the end of February 2023,” the post reads. “We are so grateful to have been a part of so many special occasions and getting to see some of you almost every day.”

Mary Duerksen, Verbena manager and Bob Duerksen’s wife, told The Michigan Daily she is disappointed the store is closing. Duerksen said she

feels sad to leave the Ann Arbor business community, noting that the pandemic heavily impacted Verbena’s sales.

“I wasn’t surprised to hear about the store closing,” Duerksen said. “Our sales have not been very good ever since (the pandemic).”

Small businesses across the country have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent rising inflation rates and supply chain management issues. In June 2020, inflation hit 9.1% in the United States while rates rose in many other countries around the world. According to Duerksen, Verbena was affected by all of these issues in some capacity.

Verbena is currently offering discounts on all remaining items — including office fixtures — which will run until the store officially closes, or everything is cleared off the storeroom floor.

Nursing senior Hannah Park said she was surprised to walk down State Street in January and see the closing sign in Verbena’s front window. Park said the location, right next to the University’s Central Campus, was convenient and many frequent shoppers are

sad to see the store leave Ann Arbor.

“I come to shop sometimes after class,” Park said. “I had no idea about the store closing. I love how trendy their clothes are.”

LSA freshman Natalyn Kapner echoed similar sentiments, telling The Daily she had no idea Verbena was closing.

“I didn’t know it was closing until I saw the signs on the door,” Kapner said. “I was surprised because there are two stores that are so similar right next to each other; one minute I saw it open and the next it was closing.”

Kapner said she will miss the store and its offerings.

“I liked that they had a lot of casual options and it also wasn’t that expensive,” Kapner said.

Duerksen said the family is not sure what they will do next or what will replace Verbena on State Street in the future. She said while she is sad to see the store close, she remains grateful for the community of customers and employees Verbena brought together over the years.

“My favorite part of Verbena is all the people who shop here and work here,” Duerksen said.

Over 200 students celebrated their college journeys together in the League

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First generation Michigan students get food at the First Gen Winter Community Dinner at the Michigan League Ballroom Wednesday.

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January Lab Spotlight: Laboratory of Nutrigenomics

The Daily’s research beat presents their inaugural monthly lab spotlight

The Daily’s inaugural lab spotlight is the Laboratory of Nutrigenomics, established and led by Monica Dus, professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology in LSA.

The lab’s primary focus is the study of how interactions between food, genes and the brain influence health and disease.

The Lab

The Laboratory of Nutrigenomics is bright and vibrant, perched on the fourth floor of the Biological Sciences Building. The lab’s glass walls invite both sunlight and the numerous undergraduates, graduate students, post-docs and lab technicians to filter in and out of the space.

Adjacent to the wet lab is Dus’ office, the door easily identifiable by the presence of a paper unicorn.

Dus’ personality and passion for her work is exemplified by the pink, sparkly, sugar-themed decorations sprawled across her office walls. A framed photograph features the original inspiration for Dus’ research: her dogs.

“What led me to study food was my two dogs, Cupcake and Sprinkles,” Dus said in an interview with The Daily. “When I was in graduate school, they ate 10% of their body weight in chicken jerky. I left a bag of chicken jerky on top of the kitchen table. They’re little dogs, I don’t know how they got it, but they did, and they were sort of passed out in a food coma. That really struck me because I started thinking: how is it possible that these two little creatures would eat so much, and make

themselves so sick with it? That got me really interested in how the brain perceives food.”

Dus decided to apply her curiosity regarding her dogs’ food-induced lethargy to humans and founded the Laboratory of Nutrigenomics at the University in 2015, focusing on the study of food components as fuel for cells in the body via genes.

“The way cells receive information and integrate is through genes,” Dus said. “That’s how I eventually got into genomics, the connection of food and the brain and looking at what bridge is, which is these nutrient sensitive genes.”

Dus explained the subject of nutrigenomics as the interaction between food and DNA, specifically how nutrients within food are catalysts for genetic

expression in the body.

“It turns out that nutrients can essentially act on these little switches (in your DNA),” Dus said. “You can think of the genetic switches of the switches in the light switches in the room, only that instead of being next to the door, imagine they’re hidden under the bed. And so you have to do a lot of work to either turn them up or down.”

Dus isn’t the only one calling the lab home. A large research team consisting of four post-doctoral research fellows, one laboratory technician, one master’s student and five undergraduate research assistants spoke with The Daily on their work alongside Dus on the lab’s many projects.

Post-doctoral research fellow

Daniel Wilinski said his role in the lab is primarily concerned with

data collection and analysis.

“I generate lots of data,” Wilinski said. “It takes a long time to understand and generate (data) and then I think that’s kind of an undersold aspect of what we do.”

LSA senior Carina Yiu said her experience in the lab is different each day and can come with a wide variety of responsibilities. When analyzing data, she said some days are more regular. However, when she is running experiments, many days can be chaotic.

“I would say there’s not really a normal day in the lab,” Yiu said. “I think when you’re doing data analysis and just analyzing stuff that you have, that (day) is maybe more typical … but when you have ongoing experiments, your day completely revolves around them.

UMich limits Google Drive storage

part of Google.

“I honestly feel like this is a modern-day story of corporate greed in America,” Bandla said.

three core apps Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Slides,” Rahman said. “But I’m not storing like 500-page tax documents.”

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The University of Michigan announced Google Drive storage for students, faculty and staff will be decreased to 250 GB following Google’s decision to discontinue unlimited storage for all nonpaying members. Alumni will have their storage decreased to 15 GB, the standard amount provided to a Google account.

According to a statement from Information and Technology Services, the University decided providing 250 GB to each user was the best solution which balanced cost, change and finite resources.

According to ITS, the change affects less than 0.5% of students, less than 3% of active faculty and less than 10% of alumni and retirees. Though the decreased storage is projected to affect a small number of students, some are opposed to the change. LSA sophomore Ashrith Bandla told The Michigan Daily they feel the decision arose from greed on the

“I feel like it’s a real travesty and a slap in the face to students. I think it’s a horrible, horrible decision.”

In an email to The Daily, ITS affirmed they had no choice when Google discontinued unlimited storage, explaining that unlimited storage is a thing of the past.

“Unlimited storage began in 2014, before Google offered 30GB per person,” ITS wrote. “As business models in the tech world evolve, users of the technology adapt. The University of Michigan is no exception. Currently, Google no longer offers unlimited storage to any of its education customers.”

LSA freshman Tawseef Rahman told The Daily they understand the necessity for the change, and said they only use a small amount of the allotted 250 GB.

“It doesn’t really affect me that much, because I’m just writing documents, making presentations and working on sheets, with the

In order to limit data usage, the University changed the process of creating shared drives on Jan. 3, requiring users to use the shared drive manager tool on the ITS website rather than allowing creation directly within Google Drive.

“(The change to shared drives) was done to enable better data lifecycle management, therefore positioning the institution to be better prepared to adapt to future technology changes,” ITS wrote in an email to The Daily.

According to the University’s ITS website, shared drives are used to store collaborative data and “are not for personal data.”

The storage limit for U-M shared drives was also decreased to 15 GB, and most changes to shared drive administrative settings must be completed within the shared drive manager tool.

While Google Drive storage has been limited, other cloud storage

solutions for active U-M students, faculty and staff include Microsoft OneDrive and Dropbox. Though, according to ITS, these options have greater limitations on real-time collaboration than Google Drive does.

“Google Drive is recommended for collaboration within the U-M community,” ITS wrote. “It provides a secure environment within which to maintain or share the university’s sensitive unregulated data, as well as some—but not all—types of sensitive regulated data.”

As storage options change, students like Bandla view believe Google’s policies are trapping universities into using Google Suite.

“I feel like (Google) kind of trapped colleges into this mindset (of using Google) over … OneDrive by initially just keeping (unlimited storage) free,” Bandla said. “I feel like (Google) already had a plan to switch into this limited storage tier. It was just kind of like a gimmick for colleges to … switch over to Google Drive because (storage was) unlimited.”

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Ingredient Column: The forgotten, cold, leftover takeout white rice

The paper takeout pail: the compact, usable, portable romcom–iconic vessel for rice. You open the metal purse handlelike top and a plume of smoke steams out from the origami folds, revealing a poof of palatecleansing flavor and soft white morsels.

Takeout restaurants everywhere deliver rice, and only steamed rice, in a folded paper box, often featuring a red pagoda and a “thank you.” The box makes it easy to dig in with chopsticks or smoothly slip a puff of rice onto a plate to soak up the rich flavors of a main dish (this week, No Thai! green curry). Fresh white rice can also slide from its container to serve as a canvas for toppings from around the world: beans, dill, tomato and onion, sweet coconut milk and daal. And, though delicious alone, comforting, mild and filled with feel-good carbs, white rice leftovers lie lonely in the white box in the back of the fridge.

You forget the underrated (yet irreplaceable) dish as it solidifies into a grainy block, wasting money and food. But if you fry it up, you can create a special single-pan meal that is brand new every time.

Fried fresh white rice turns to mush. But when chilled, rice starches undergo a firming process called retrogradation. Frying chilled rice creates firmer, crispy morsels that are dry enough to soak in a delicious egg. The egg plumps the grains and crisps the dish on the sides of the pan.

Eggs, a golden ingredient and critical “cheap” protein, face an ongoing shortage and soaring

prices. Yet, as is typical in the pitfalls of a college kitchen, we waste precious money on favorite ingredients that we forget to use. Especially now, when they are at their most scarce and treasured, we should use eggs to reinvigorate the underappreciated golden ingredient of leftover rice.

The earliest days of eggy

fried rice were in Emperor Yang’s ancient Sui Dynasty kitchen. The newly populated city of Yangzhou, China, crowded with recent immigrants, quickly caught on to redeeming the hardening staple starch, so as not to waste precious ingredients and to combine many flavors into a single dish.

Fried rice quickly caught on in Asian American restaurants, suiting the American-assimilated cuisine with salty, craveable flavor. And when Americans got plain white rice from their

favorite restaurants, fried rice became a staple leftover.

Since most college students can’t fit a wok in a micro-kitchen’s false wood cabinets, a fried rice feast is unfeasible. The countless ingredients, from the traditional additions of scallops or sausage to American takeout peas and corn, can hardly fit in a small frying pan. So I “recreated” a base for an untraditional, soft yet crisped leftover delicacy.

Ingredients

1 cup days-old chilled steamed white rice

1-2 eggs (if you’re feeling rich)

1 dash neutral oil or cooking spray

½ tsp garlic powder

1 ½ tbsp soy sauce or tamari

½ tsp sesame oil or sesamebased marinade

Breaking down this year’s Oscar nominations

½ tbsp chili-based hot sauce

½ tsp sweetener of choice

½ tsp acid: lemon or rice vinegar

¼ tsp ground ginger

Instructions

Put neutral oil in the pan and scramble 2 eggs with ½ tbsp soy sauce and ½ tsp garlic, fry at medium heat until eggs are just raw on the top.

Put rice into the pan with a dash more oil and scramble ingredients together, letting rice clump Whisk together remaining ingredients and spices into a sauce.

After 1 minute, pour the sauce all over the eggy rice. Reduce heat slightly and stir in the rice, let it fry for a few minutes.

Serve topped with your favorite vegetables or condiments.

SUDOKU

puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com

The final stretch of awards season is upon us as the Oscar nominations were announced last week. It’s a surprisingly good crop of nominees given the Oscars’ history of rewarding mediocre to straight-up bad movies. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences seems to have found the right balance of critical and commercial hits to recognize. Here is a breakdown of the major categories and some of the trends and narratives surrounding them:

Best Picture

The Best Picture nominations this year were fairly predictable — Gold Derby correctly predicted nine of the 10, only “The Whale” missing out in favor of Palme d’Or winner “Triangle of Sadness” — but it struck a balance of prestige and blockbuster that allows the Academy to both maintain its standing as a respectable awards body and bolster television viewership. Among the nominees are festival hits like the aforementioned “Triangle of Sadness,” Venice Film Festival debutants “Tár” and “The Banshees of Inisherin,” and Toronto International Film Festival People’s Choice Award winner, “The Fabelmans,” and runner-up, “Women Talking.” The Academy also nominated the two most successful films of the year — “Avatar: The Way of Water” and “Top Gun: Maverick” and smaller hits “Elvis” and “Everything Everywhere All At Once.” The Netflix adaptation of “All Quiet on the Western Front” rounds out the group of 10 after a big showing at the BAFTAs where it picked up 14 nominations.

This race should come down to three films: “EEAAO” is the current favorite — garnering 11 nominations, the most of any film this year, and doing well on the awards circuit so far. “Banshees” is also a contender, reaching a much wider audience after coming to HBO Max and receiving much acclaim. “The Fabelmans” could take the “CODA” path to victory, taking advantage of the ranked-choice voting system as a film universally liked.

Best Director Whether Best Picture and Best Director go to the same film is a toss-up. “Parasite” and “Nomadland” each won both awards in 2020 and 2021, but director Sian Heder (“CODA”) wasn’t even nominated last year for her Best Picture-winning film. It’s generally a good bet that the Best Picture winner will at least be nominated for Best Director, which means “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “EEAAO,” “The Fabelmans,” “Tár” or “Triangle of Sadness” will likely take home the top prize. The nominations in this category went almost completely as expected, apart from the shocking inclusion of Ruben Ӧstlund for “Triangle of Sadness.” Going into the nomination announcement, Ӧstlund was the 13th favorite to win the award, but he surged forward to steal the final slot away from more likely nominees Edward Berger (“All Quiet on the Western Front”), James Cameron (“Avatar: The Way of Water”) and Sarah Polley (“Women Talking”). The Daniels are currently favored to take home both Best Director and Best Picture for “EEAAO,” but don’t be surprised if Steven Spielberg takes this one. He has equal odds as it stands and is looking to take home his first Best Director Oscar since 1998. It would give the Academy yet another opportunity to honor Spielberg for his personal, self-reflective masterpiece, “The Fabelmans.”

Best Actor The Best Actor nominations

went chalk this year; all five actors with the best odds via Gold Derby were nominated. Paul Mescal’s nomination for his raw, touching performance in “Aftersun” is a wonderful surprise since the only potentially close replacement was Tom Cruise, who failed to secure a nomination for his fine but empty movie star acting in “Top Gun: Maverick.” However, for a while now, this category has been a three-horse race between Austin Butler (“Elvis”), Colin Farrell (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) and Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”). Fraser is currently the favorite for giving his all in one of the worst movies of the year. Butler is pulling a Rami Malek (“Bohemian Rhapsody”), keeping himself in the race by portraying an American icon. But Farrell gives by far the best performance of the three. He takes McDonagh’s remarkably complex script and bounces quickly and with great aplomb between comic and tragic tones. Farrell winning would mean the Oscars finally getting the lead actor category right, which means they’ll definitely give it to Butler.

Best Actress

This race is between two actresses: Cate Blanchett for her powerful performance in “Tár” and Michelle Yeoh for her exciting and poignant performance in “EEAAO.” But the interesting story in the Best Actress category is where the hell Andrea Riseborough came from with her performance in “To Leslie?” Her nomination wasn’t out of nowhere — she had the seventh-best odds on Gold Derby. Nor was it undeserving — the buzz from “To Leslie” viewers suggests Riseborough is fantastic in the film. But the sudden influx of passion and campaigning on her behalf was shocking because hardly anyone saw this movie. “To Leslie” made $27,000 at the box office and is currently only available to rent online in the U.S. There has been almost no marketing for this film — I vaguely remember a trailer for a single screening at the Michigan Theater last fall. But a strong, grassroots push by famous actors like Gwyneth Paltrow and Mia Farrow, manifested an Oscar nomination for Riseborough. This campaign’s success was so bizarre that the Academy investigated whether or not it broke any rules, which could potentially have meant taking the nomination back, although there was eventually no wrongdoing found. It’s an absurd situation, but in terms of the awards, it doesn’t matter much because there is no way she (or anyone who would have taken her place) will beat Blanchett or Yeoh.

Best Supporting Actor

This category was all over the place. Everyone expected Paul Dano to get the nomination for Burt Fabelman in “The Fabelmans,” but it was Judd Hirsch who got the nod with his powerful, six-minute cameo as Uncle Boris. Brian Tyree Henry also came out of nowhere with a nomination for “Causeway,” the film’s only nomination. His intimate, emotional performance seemed to have struck a chord with voters. “The Banshees of Inisherin” also came in with nominations for Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan, both worthy of every bit of praise they have received for their touching and funny performances. This category’s major narrative is the wonderful comeback story of Ke Huy Quan, who quit acting for decades after struggling to find work, but who gives an exciting, heartfelt performance in “EEAAO.” The Oscar will almost certainly go to Quan, as he has been winning at nearly every awards ceremony so far.

“More sun please.”

like the chonky squirrels!!!”

Design by Leilani Baylis-Washington and Abby Schreck

Design by Emily Schwartz

MITCHEL GREEN Daily Arts Writer

KAYA GINSKY Senior Arts Editor

KAYA GINSKY Senior Arts Editor

Hundreds of University of Michigan students and Ann Arbor community members took to the Blind Pig’s sold-out dance floor Friday night to laugh and cry, sway and mosh, bob and headbang, clap and create harmonies under a disco ball as Ann Arbor’s best bands performed for Battle of The Bands. MUSIC Matters — a student organization dedicated to showing that while igniting social change through local philanthropic endeavors — holds the Battle of The Bands every year, allowing students to vote on their favorite local band. The top act wins a cash prize, and all the acts — Cherry TV, Hemmingway Lane, VUP, Tea & Sympathy and Joe and the Ruckus — increase their rapidly growing popularity and student fanbase.

The night started with a steady roar at 8 p.m. People huddled in from the cold, grabbing drinks from the downstairs bar and sprinting up to the center of the dancefloor for Ann Arbor indie rock/funk/pop band Cherry TV. Music, Theatre & Dance

freshman Erek Mirque and LSA fifth year Trevor Soranno’s steady guitar riffs quickly melded with the soulful voice of Kiran Mangrulkar, Music, Theatre & Dance and Kinesiology senior, and smooth song of LSA/SMTD

Senior Anna Agrawal, LSA and Music, Theatre & Dance senior, to create a near-symphonic quality to the band. Agrawal belted out a reinvented rendition of Billie Eilish’s ballad “wish you were gay”; Music, Theatre & Dance junior Aidyn Connor brought a

new instrumental bassline and bluesy solo; and Music, Theatre & Dance junior Annie Hayes held a danceable rhythm on the drums.

In the final moments of the set, the whole crowd joined in as the band danced to Mangrulkar’s rendition of dance anthem

“Everybody Talks.” The band and the audience had the time of their lives; everybody was ready for the night.

The crowd hummed with restlessness as we awaited the next set. Small talk and whispers floated over a soft house-y playlist, allowing everyone to absorb the energy and rest up for the second set.

Local indie rock band

Hemmingway Lane played only original songs, but by the way the crowd reveled in their sound, you would never know they weren’t playing top hits. The band had the perfect garage-rock/surf-rock sound, with none of the cheesiness and all of the great noise and great hair. Gunther Gottschalk and Logan Floyd created catchy riffs, bringing an electric melody to the bass/guitar-heavy sound. Drummer Noah Jankowski “made as much noise as possible” for the band’s top single, “Teenage Fever Dream,” with a danceable yet moody beat. As LSA junior Oliver Satola “tickled the ivories” with a subtle melody and rocking solo, vocalist Elija Flood’s soft yet gritty voice rang out through the audience. In the final notes of the set, the audience, exhausted from thrashing their heads to the music, took out their phones to download the setlist.

The stage began to crowd as we awaited the next band, buzzing with slight drunkenness and the energy that only comes

with a disco ball and hundreds of antsy beanie- and piercing-clad students with ‘M’s on their hands (for under 21).

VUP brought a new, jazzy feel to the venue, as hundreds of people swayed to the rhythm of their original sound. LSA sophomore Ariana Kertsman’s sweet and powerful voice sang out, scatting and singing “you put a spell on me” as the audience fell for the band’s jazzy, instrumental sound. Music, Theatre & Dance sophomore Adam Hayes’s trumpet roared as Music, Theatre & Dance sophomores Darren Lee and Oh Cook kept an energetic sound on the saxophone. Every instrument made gorgeous noise while never competing for the spotlight, and the entire band quietly sang along, dancing around the stage and feeding off

of each other’s energy. The band’s cohesive sound was completed by the rhythms of Annie Hayes’s steady and powerful drumbeat, guitar and bass harmonies from Music, Theatre & Dance freshman Jackson Manfredi and Connor and a dancy rhythmic solo from Music, Theatre & Dance sophomore pianist Rowan Tucker-Meyer. The set reminded me instantly of “La La Land,” as jazz-snob protagonist Sebastian says “Jazz is conflict and it’s compromise, and it’s new every time. It’s brand new every night. It’s very, very exciting. And it’s dying.” But the last part is false; it’s alive.

VUP put the audience in a jazzy trance as we hummed all the way into the next set. Next up was Tea & Sympathy, an indie rock band with pop and punk influences and a total

funk feel. The crowd was hooked from the start as Music, Theatre & Dance senior Molly Schwall stunned us with a powerful vocal range. Music, Theatre & Dance sophomore bassist Andres Soto took over with a punk-tinged rendition of “Después de La Playa,” and incredible melodies rang from Engineering senior saxophonist Raj Koorapaty, Music, Theatre & Dance junior trombonist Thomas Hodgman and Music, Theatre & Dance junior trumpeter Eric Bressler, whose solos made the band shine. Music, Theatre & Dance sophomores Casey Cheatham and Corazon Szell created the perfect punkyfunky-rock sound on drums and guitar, respectively, and Music, Theatre & Dance sophomore Liam Charron had the perfect synth-y piano sound to round out the

performance. The band picked up energy for their final two songs with the whole audience dancing to “Rolling on a River” and belting along to Schwall’s rendition of “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” By the end of the set, as the band held the audience’s hearts, Schwall had a crowd member’s bra in hand. As the crowd prepared for wherever the night took them next, feeding off of the energy of the live music, the venue slowed down for a bit. That all changed when Joe and the Ruckus took the stage.

The band came out booming with a brassy, funk-filled noise from Music, Theatre & Dance seniors trumpeter Ryan Venora and saxophonist Sam Uribe. Vocalist (and trombonist) Joe Thomas’s powerful yet smooth voice kept the audience in a dancing trance as the band changed moods from smooth and jazzy to funky rock. Music, Theatre & Dance senior Stephen Oduro kept a powerful beat and Music, Theatre & Dance junior Jack Nissen held a funky bassline through each song, with Music, Theatre & Dance senior Mercer Patterson playing perfect piano melodies. The band had the audience wishing the night would never end, asking us “who has the best moves out there” as we danced to an energized recreation of “I Wish.” Guitarist and alum Alec Greene held catchy guitar riffs through every song, adding a special layer to “Foxy Lady” with a powerful solo and Uribe’s rasping voice. As the gig came to a close around 11 p.m., the audience seemed to beg for an encore.

We’re all at the bottom of the ‘Family Guy’ clip pyramid scheme

While scrolling through my TikTok feed in a mindless daze, I had to make myself stop. How many “Family Guy” clips had I seen at this point? By now, they were almost more frequent than the advertisements. Sure enough, as I swiped up through the 40 or so videos I had dipped in and out of in the last half hour, an overwhelming amount of them were clips from the show — a show which I have never seen a full episode of before.

If you’ve been on any videobased social media platform within the last few years, you’ll understand this scenario to some degree. Whether it be TikTok, Facebook, Instagram Reels or the god-forsaken Youtube Shorts, clips of “Family Guy” are everywhere. The show — which is now in its 21st season — has always been ingrained in internet culture, especially meme culture. But this

is something new, something that seems a bit more elaborate than a simple meme.

In trying to understand how the show had become so prevalent lately, I came across something called the “Family Guy” Funny Moments pyramid scheme. In the comments on a now-deleted channel, the owner posted a link to a website where they claimed that people could make several thousand dollars a month while only working 20 minutes a day — if they paid a $47 fee for lessons. These lessons would teach users how to build their own channels to post “Family Guy” clips to, including instructions on how to hire people to do the work for you. But how any of these tips for seemingly basic things could be worth $47 is beyond me, and the claims of how much money you’ll make from them is a bit suspicious.

Now, I’m not trying to say that every account you see clips from on social media are a part of some massive pyramid scheme. As funny as that would be, I highly

doubt that there’s that level of cooperation between the massive glut of uploaders. But in some way, this must be lucrative for them. Otherwise, who would take the time to cut, edit and post all of these videos? Sure, there might be bots behind all of it, but someone, somewhere, is profiting massively from these clips, especially on TikTok.

I totaled up the views of the last 10 videos posted by one of the accounts that popped up in my feed and, using this article for an estimate of TikTok’s payout rate, found that they would have made around $600 — and that was just within a one-month span. This is assuming that the videos aren’t being demonetized according to TikTok’s copyright guidelines, something that I’m sure isn’t an issue considering the sheer amount of copyrighted content that is being posted. This is nowhere near the thousands of dollars that you could have made by taking the class, but still — it’s never been easier to profit

off of someone else’s intellectual property.

“Family Guy” isn’t the only show to proliferate in my social media feeds. I’ve also seen countless clips from “Fleabag,”

“Big Bang Theory” (as well as its prequel spinoff “Young Sheldon”), “Rick and Morty” and “Bluey.” It is, however, the most frequent one, and the one that I’ve heard the most people commenting about

recently. It seems like everyone I know is getting funneled into the “Family Guy” pipeline, especially on TikTok.

Good movie titles, or How I learned to stop worrying and love the overly complex naming scheme

What makes a title?

Maybe it’s a quick attention grabber. A one-word sucker punch that knocks you off your feet and leaves you wondering where it came from. I’m talking about movies like “Her” (Spike Jonze) which implies some sort of a romance, “Raw” (Julia Ducournau) which evokes a … meaty (?) feeling or “Parasite”

(Bong Joon-ho), whose abstraction has the ability to evoke different thoughts in different people. What these words might refer to remains to be seen, but they light fires of intrigue in the mind.

Maybe a title is some strange phrase hitherto unheard by the audience. “The Bad Sleep Well”

(Akira Kuro-sawa), “You Were Never Really Here” (Lynne Ramsay), “Eyes Wide Shut” (Stanley Kubrick), “Man Bites Dog” (Benoît Poelvoorde), “There Will Be Blood” (Paul Thomas Anderson). These titles may lack deep meaning, yet they find the cash to lease significant mental real estate. They’re catchy, zingy and rad as hell.

What if instead of being completely meaningless, titles hold intense meaning. I’m talking about the movies that are

ultimately spoiled by the title.

There’s “The Empire Strikes Back” (George Lucas), “Death of a Salesman” (Volker Schlöndorff), based on the famed play of the same name and the fantastic progenitor of this subgenre in 1957’s “A Man Escaped” (Robert Bresson), a movie built around the imprisonment of a prisoner of war in World War II.

Drawing on Hitchcock’s theory

of tension, these films build suspense through dramatic irony. Instead of worrying and fretting about what may happen, the viewer is left to cope with how it will happen — you learn about the bomb under the table before the movie even starts. No matter what the Rebel Alliance does, you know for a fact that Darth Vader will prevail. No matter what Willy Loman does with his life, you know

that he will die and be reduced down to a salesman. No matter what conflicts our POW hero will deal with, you know he will escape.

In these films, the creator and viewer share a twisted knowledge, allowing them to delight in a kind of horrific anxiety. When the movie begins, the director looks you in the eye and says, “Get ready. You have two hours to prepare,” knowing full well that no matter

what we do, we won’t be ready for what the title has preordained.

What if you could pack even more into a title? What if you wanted your title to not only grab one’s attention but also to stand alone as a one-line poem? To do that, you’re going to need a larger character limit. I’m not talking about one, two or three words anymore. Oh, no no no. It’s time for the big boys.

Andrew Dominik’s 2007 antiWestern “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” exemplifies the long-winded title’s majesty. The title alone gives us so much. We are again given the ending before the projector can even get warm. The title fails to provide insight on character and theme. There’s the obvious: Robert Ford is a coward. But that distinction adds an air of curiosity to the film. How could the last great American outlaw be assassinated by a coward? That seemingly oxymoronic concept serves as the seed from which this movie’s conclusions on bravery, the Western and myth grow.

Long Titles can also be used for comedy, like Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” and its sequel, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious

Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.” Both titles find humor in their own absurdity, mixing broken English and wordsalad resulting in an … *ahem*… Great Success! Titles can also be unintentionally hilarious, like the Rise of the/Dawn of the/War for the/Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes series (Matt Reeves) that seems to add an element every time you blink.

There are the long titles that opt for dual-self: the Ors. Stanley Kubrick’s raucous satire “Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb,” Alejandro González Iñárritu’s dreamlike drama, “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Innocence)” and Pier Paolo Pasolini’s wholesome, family-friendly comedy, “Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom” all serve as examples of this naming convention. These films offer the best of both worlds: You get the quirky, one-word sucker punch while gaining early exposure to the films’ themes. As cool as these titles are, I can’t help but find them a little cowardly. Instead of running full steam ahead into the land of the wordy, they chicken out and settle for compromise.

Lesson from Dr. Omar Suleiman

As-Salaam-Alaikum Wa-Alaikum-Salaam

The auditorium—recently buzzing with greetings and jovial conversations—fell pindrop silent, intent on hanging on Dr. Omar Suleiman’s words.

Imam Suleiman’s résumé is more than impressive: Muslim scholar, civil rights leader, writer and public speaker. He currently works as a professor at Southern Methodist University and founder of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research.

At a luncheon prior to his speech, Suleiman moved from table to table, taking the time to engage with each attendee in thoughtful conversation. He was taking so much time talking to each individual that I began sweating through my shirt in anticipation of our interview— the interview he graciously remained behind for, even when his schedule required him to be elsewhere. Suleiman’s powerful calmness was unmistakable during the interview as he talked so passionately while maintaining an even-keeled demeanor.

During the interview and the subsequent speaker event, Suleiman emphasized Islamic theology as a source for liberation, using the Quran as the basis for his social justice values. He pointed to many liberation movements and leaders’ attraction to Islam because of the Prophet Mouhammad’s (Peace Be Upon Him) explicit anti-racist and anti-oppression rhetoric. From Malcolm X to Angela Davis to Muhammad Ali, countless Muslim activists have led the fight for civil rights in our country.

Suleiman expressed the importance for justice movements to support all oppressed groups. He drew upon the Honorable Malcolm X’s philosophy of recognizing the Black Americans’ plight within the context of all forms of oppression worldwide, not being afraid that incorporating other movements would dilute their own. A self-described student of Malcolm X, Suleiman quoted him when exploring Islam’s focus on justice.

“The Quran compelled the Muslim to take a stand on the side of those whose human

rights are violated no matter the religious persuasion of the victims,” Suleiman said. “Islam is a religion which concerns itself with the human rights of all mankind despite race, color or creed. It recognizes all as part of one human family.” A universal struggle against oppression is embodied in Martin Luther King’s words, “oppression anywhere is a threat to freedom anywhere.”

This philosophy has played a role in many effective social rights movements, from Fred Hampton’s “Rainbow Coalition” to the Black Feminist Movement. However, Suleiman highlights this notion has been surprisingly rare in justice movements throughout the ages. From the women’s suffrage movement’s exclusion of Black Americans to the Mynmmar’s freedom movement’s oppression of Muslim minorities, many such movements ignore the plights of other marginalized groups and even support their oppression. Even today, many oppressed

groups argue over whose plight is the most important instead of viewing their oppression as a singular issue.

Coming from a Palestinian household and as a child of refugees, Suleiman grew up with a responsibility to fight against Palestinian oppression as well as a connection to other oppressed groups. His family housed refugees displaced by the Bosnian genocide and was active in local civil rights issues, building the foundation for Suleiman’s global mindset.

Working towards a universal struggle for liberation, Suleiman strives to build coalitions across religious divides. During our interview, he talked about how “polarization is one of the greatest threats to a civilization,” causing people to isolate and “work in their own corners.” Suleiman emphasized that there are issues that cut across all identities, especially around exploitation and poverty. He approaches coalition-building by bringing different groups to the table and

working together to champion commonly-held issues. He says these groups can form strong bonds by working together on these challenges.

Like Malcolm X, Suleiman emphasizes viewing oppression through a global lens. One issue he focused on during his speech was the intersectionality between climate change and oppression. Inside the United States’s privileged bubble, the connection may not be apparent, but Dr. Suleiman highlighted that climate change will continue to displace an increasing number of people around the world and create competition over increasingly scarce resources. He predicts these conditions will lead to increased oppression worldwide. His prediction aligns with the Institute for Economics & Peace’s prediction of 1.2 billion refugees by 2050 due to climate change and natural disasters. Michelle Bachelet, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, wrote: “As environmental threats

intensify, they will constitute the biggest challenge to human rights in our era.” Suleiman contextualized his claim with his personal experience during Hurricane Katrina. The New Orleans native led a group to assist with the city’s recovery and saw how the natural disaster had disproportionately affected oppressed groups in the area.

Global oppression cannot be fully encapsulated without including Palestine. Suleiman described Palestine as “a filter to test a person’s commitment to human dignity” that “many people who pontificate on every human rights issue will suddenly go silent or worse.” His speech further laid out the grim reality of the ongoing oppression.

“Ninety-seven percent of water in Gaza is undrinkable,” Suleiman said. “Seventy-five percent of its people are food insecure. An estimated 91% of its children suffer from PTSD.” These statistics don’t account for the consistent

Facing the Unfamiliar

It is interesting to think about humans existing almost robotically alongside one another, with their own stories to tell and rabbit holes to climb out of. There is something fulfilling about having an exchange with a stranger — a chance encounter that unexpectedly sparks joy in a way that takes me by surprise.

Last weekend, after leaving a friend’s house, I stepped into my Uber, ready to go home and melt into my pillow. As per normal, I immediately scanned my surroundings for anything out of the ordinary. To be on the safe side, my friend swiftly received a ‘track your ride’ notification. I always have my wits about me — it’s a feminine instinct, I guess.

It was approximately 12:30 a.m. on a Friday and I was already dozing off. Unwilling to engage in conversation and hoping for a silent car journey, I was met with an eager conversationalist.

“Where are you from?” The driver asked. Half-heartedly, I answered “London.” To which he said “Oh wow! How do you like living in Ann Arbor?” To which I said, “It’s great.” And so on.

Usually, I am wary of speaking to Uber drivers. Having lived in Pakistan, I am all too familiar with the unfortunate reality of unrelenting stares and fixations from men, a constant feeling of being watched. In Western countries, men are

more cognizant of this, and yet, existing in public spaces as a woman is frightening and I always feel the need to be one step ahead. For better or worse, I have carried this sentiment with me since I was a child. This man, to my surprise, was lovely. I told him I was originally from Pakistan, and coincidentally, he had spent four years studying in Karachi during his twenties. Driving down State Street in the middle

of Ann Arbor, I found myself discussing my hometown in great depth with someone who could actually relate. I felt a sense of warmth in being able to speak with someone who understands where I come from. From reminiscing over hours spent in Karachi traffic, with aggressive drivers and street vendors drowning out all other noises, to laughing about Sattar Buksh (Karachi’s own rendition of Starbucks),

we found unexpected commonalities in our unique experiences.

I left the car with a smile on my face and began wondering how old he was, where his accent was from and what he looked like. I realized how absorbed I was in the conversation because I had not once seen his face — just a dark but friendly silhouette. Turning on my phone, ready to stalk his Uber profile, I

stopped myself. It actually felt refreshing to speak to someone without being able to see them.

Whenever I return to school at the start of every semester, I find myself having to alternate between two very distinct mindsets: the unparalleled comforts of home versus unrestricted freedoms at college. Leaving home and coming to Michigan feels like I am stepping out of one reality and entering another. Large

acts of violence and systemic oppression Palestinians face today.

Suleiman laid out advice for students in the fight for equality. Most importantly, he emphasized the importance of courage and implored students to not be intimidated. He called on students to not only be charitable but to also challenge the underlying policies and stay steadfast when people turn against them for doing so.

While Suleiman focused mainly on how one should conduct oneself to advance justice and human rights, he did address the mindset of oppressors. I will leave you with another Malcolm X quote Suleiman shared. I think it’s incredibly pertinent to the structural and systematic inequality we see in our country, to the countless migrants displaced from their homes, as well as to countries ravaged by colonialism and imperialism. “You clip the bird’s wing and then blame it for not flying as high as you.”

gatherings overflowing with countless family members turn into lecture halls filled with unknown faces. So, rare instances such as these — where I am able to bridge the gap between these two identities — strangely reassure me.

I was a shy child, but as an adult, I like to think that I confidently push myself outside my comfort zone. Interacting with this man, how ever silly it may sound, was an example of this. I’ve discovered that engaging with strangers is invigorating. Each individual comes with their own distinct set of experiences, which in turn inform my own. Though my conversation with this Uber driver led me to no profound realizations, I was able to appreciate the encounter for what it was — a brief moment of connectivity. We are conditioned — sometimes, rightfully so — to disengage from strangers, but if we choose to share more of ourselves, I find that others are willing to do the same.

Sometimes it is easier to be honest with strangers because, to them, I am a blank slate. In our modern world, the one caveat that holds us back from such experiences is our inability to disengage from technology and social media. Not knowing the age, ethnicity or background of a person eliminates many of these selfimposed barriers and makes room for the simple pleasures that still exist around us, how ever caught up we may be in our own little world.

KUVIN SATYADEV MiC Columnist

Samin Hassan/MiC

NURAIYA MALIK MiC Columnist

From the joint desk of Michigan in Color and Groundcover News

JESSICA KWON & LINDSAY CALKA

MiC Managing Editor & Groundcover News Managing Director

One might think that a community street newspaper like Groundcover News is entirely different from Michigan in Color at The Michigan Daily, the longstanding student-run newspaper of the University of Michigan. But these two publications that seem disparate from the outside have more in common than one might think.

Groundcover News was founded in 2010 with the purpose of empowering low- to no-income people of Washtenaw County to transition from “homeless to housed, and from jobless to employed.” Groundcover News is grounded in several principles, including the beliefs that “all people have the right to dignity,” “poverty is political—systemic change is necessary,” “building community is essential to social

change” and “solutions to poverty must involve people who are directly affected.” As a street paper, Groundcover is sold by people experiencing poverty or homelessness as an immediate and dignified means of obtaining income — all while wielding journalism and advocacy to fight poverty from its roots.

Michigan in Color was founded by three women of Color in 2014 as a safe and brave space for people of Color at the University of Michigan to express themselves and their urgent needs. Since its founding, MiC has remained committed to its mission of liberation for people of Color, especially in intersection with other marginalized identities — liberation which necessitates an abolition of oppressive forces like imperialism, capitalism, colonialism, occupation, apartheid and white supremacy, which mutually reinforce one another.

Here at Groundcover News and Michigan in Color, we believe our missions are intertwined.

Movie night

I don’t wish I had never been homeless. How else would I have discovered my impeccable Scottish accent? Or how to make cheese and off-brand Ritz crackers feel gourmet? Or that the back door in the local library never got locked so you could sneak in to use Wi-Fi even in the dead of winter?

That being said, waking up the morning of your 16th birthday to put on a wrinkled, hand-washed AP Environmental Science t-shirt you got for free is not ideal. Neither is the cold.

“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” is why I have such a good Scottish accent, by the way.

I snuck back to my house (not my house) after school one day and squatted in the backyard with the clunky old laptop I had borrowed from an uncle. I connected to the Wi-Fi and held the Dell out of the snow for the 23 minutes and 16 seconds it took to download the movie. That night, I told my younger siblings, “Now we have a movie we can watch without the internet, how fun!*”

In “Pirates of the Caribbean:

At World’s End,” the squid-faced pirate (Davy Jones, apparently) spoke in a Scottish accent. I brazenly mimicked that same inflection to make my family laugh. Every time we’d watch the scene with the hordes of crabs running around every which way, I’d take in a deep breath and, channeling every single one of my Scottish ancestors (of which there are none), yell out accented, improvised dialogue. I’d shout, “What have you done to my brethren!” as they scuttled about my warped screen, rolling my r’s like any self-respecting Scotsman. My siblings would collapse in heaps of giggles, sprawled out in glee.

I’d pull the shared blanket back over them to conserve heat. I cannot count how many times I’ve seen that movie.

I was homeless and it’s fine because it happened but also it’s not fine because what did we do to deserve that? Why did that have to happen to us? Why does that have to happen to anyone? In what world is that an acceptable reality?

After some time, your brain starts to warp your perception of reality to reconcile the cognitive dissonance brought on by the whole situation. The human brain is made deeply uncomfortable by conflicting information.

“I was homeless,” you reason, “because I deserved to be. I must be a truly terrible person deep down inside. I believe I have good intentions but that must be my deceptive evil subconscious, so evil that it lies even to me. I must be a bad person and that is my explanation and now I move on with my life knowing I am, at the end of the day, no good at all. It all makes sense.”

If you believe you are a bad person for long enough, you become one. There is no use in not stealing, telling the truth or sharing a smile because you are constantly told that you are fundamentally bad and will be treated as such. Engaging in bad behavior is not just a possibility but an eventuality. So of course you stole that pen. You are bad and that is what bad people do.

It’s what you always would have done even if you want to be good because, at the end of the day, your true nature will always win out. A bad person has no business trying to be good because they will always be bad. Being good is a fruitless effort. You will always be bad because it’s the only thing that makes sense. Such is the nature of self-fulfilling prophecy. I was never able to fully convince myself of my badness.

My intentions are good and my actions minimize harm and I would rather not hand all my agency to a self-fulfilling prophecy like that.

The fight for abolition cannot be separated from the realities of racism and the stark “pileup of inequities” experienced by working class and oppressed peoples.

We are committed to publishing work that challenges traditional ways of knowing — and no, that doesn’t just mean we identify as “alternative” media.

For these reasons, Groundcover and MiC stand in solidarity with each other and proudly present this special collaborative edition. Our intentions for this issue are twofold: first, we want to build connections between the U-M community and the unhoused community of Washtenaw County. Make no mistake: the University of Michigan is a wealthy institution attended by thousands of students of financially privileged backgrounds. The students and faculty of the U-M community hold social privilege that cannot be understated — but this truth can also muddle the simultaneous reality that there are many working class students who often struggle

with feeling alone and invisible in their experiences, FGLI students who don’t enjoy the same privileges as their peers, students who have experienced homelessness themselves, students whose dire needs are seldom met by the University.

Our second intention is to raise awareness of the Washtenaw unhoused community’s circumstances, in their own words, and of the ethical responsibilities U-M students, from their positions of immeasurable relative privilege, then have to those unhoused around them — whether it be mutual aid, a Groundcover News purchase, a simple conversation or even just eye contact and a smile.

In 2020, 274 people in Washtenaw County were homeless on any given night. The Washtenaw Housing Alliance reports that same year, almost 2,800 people were literally homeless; among those literally homeless, 38% comprised families with young children and 20% experienced chronic homelessness: long-term

homelessness in conjunction with a disability. Unfortunately, Washtenaw County numbers among the most expensive housing markets in Michigan. The standard monthly rate of a twobedroom apartment in Washtenaw is more expensive than 98% of the state. The National Low-Income Housing Coalition reports that in order to afford a two-bedroom apartment in Washtenaw, a person earning minimum wage ($9.87/hour) would need to work approximately 98 hours per week, or more than two full-time positions. The greater knowledge community members have of Groundcover News, the better their street paper model works. Groundcover vendors are up against the University’s population turnover constantly, especially because they are not allowed to sell on campus. Each year, relationships are made, people move away and are replaced by 7,000—10,000 new residents who have no clue what Groundcover News is — unless, perhaps, they come from

another city with a street paper. In sharing print space with each other, we hope to expose future customers and readers to Groundcover News early, and amplify their support of its work, operations and mission. We hope that this collaboration will inspire the U-M community to develop relationships with unhoused people, carry physical dollar bills on your persons to provide financial aid to those in need and to purchase — and read — Groundcover News as often as you can. We hope you will interact with Groundcover News vendors on the streets, because even when you lack the means to lend them help monetarily, a smile or a conversation can bring them comfort and emotional support. And we hope you will learn something about the topics covered in this collaboration — anti-homeless infrastructure, the Trotter Multicultural Center and the Ann Arbor public school system, to name a few — and think about them, and the lenses through which our staff views them.

Examining Ann Arbor’s hostile and hospitality architecture My struggle with education

If you’ve ever taken a long walk through Ann Arbor, you might note that for a relatively walkable city, benches are somewhat rare. They’re a bit more common at bus stops, but there’s usually something a bit odd about them. A bar is affixed — usually welded on so removal is impossible — to the bench, dividing it into sections. It’s often cylindrical, making it difficult to use as an armrest. Smaller benches are made impossible to sit in for plussize individuals and the overall lack of benches makes it harder for those with chronic pain or fatigue to traverse the city on foot. So the question arises: Why are they built this way?

This bench division is a longstanding practice of hostile architecture, which makes cities less hospitable for those mentioned above, but that very hostility is intended toward one of the most vulnerable populations — the unhoused. Bars that divvy up benches make it more difficult for unhoused people to potentially use them to sleep.

Hostile architecture to prevent the rest of the unhoused manifests itself in many other ways all over the world: Several sharp stones placed inside structures, spikes on the ground under the pretense of modern art, benches that are fixed to tilt forward, the lack of access to public bathrooms, loud noise blaring through the speakers of local businesses — Ann Arbor being especially complicit in those last few. If you’ve ever taken a walk through downtown — especially in the winter — you might notice that many restaurants have built small huts, igloos and heated patios for diners to eat in. This hospitality architecture originally started during the COVID-19 pandemic, when restaurateurs had to figure out how to serve patrons under quarantine regulations in the cold of winter, even under risk of fire to their building. Even after things warmed up and patrons began getting vaccinated, local businesses kept this practice for the sheer novelty of the customer experience. And isn’t that just a little odd?

Groundcover Vendor No. 113

Throughout my life, I struggled with school. I got my education through the Ann Arbor School District. I attended Bach Elementary School, Slauson Middle School and Pioneer High School.

As a young lad, I first attended Mack Elementary School. Mack Elementary had a predominantly Black student body; it was where all my neighborhood friends went to school. One week into the start of my schooling, the AAPS relocated me to Bach Elementary because I lived on Ashley Street between Kingsley Street and Miller Avenue. I was outside the district and had to attend Bach Elementary, which had predominantly white students.

Every year in elementary school, at the end of the school year, I would have a one-on-one talk with the teacher about my disruptive behavior. I was simply moving to the next grade because I was too big, he explained, and was not going to let me disrupt next year’s class.

In the fifth or sixth grade the principal of Bach Elementary, my teacher and my grandmother had an IEP meeting concerning my disruptive behavior. In that meet-

ing they decided to put me in special education for the emotionally impaired. I was sent to Thurston Elementary School.

Mr. Lee was the teacher and Judy was the assistant teacher. In special education class they required two teachers per classroom. Besides Mr. Lee, in special ed., the teachers were called by their first names. The first thing I noticed was that the educational curriculum was more reflective of third-grade education. I noticed this throughout the special education system as a whole — even in middle school and high school the educational material was kept at a third- to fourth-grade level. They tended to deal with behavioral issues more than actually educating the students. For example, every day in school, the teacher, the assistant and the students would have two group meetings per day to discuss behavioral issues. The teacher and the assistant would basically engage in conversation with the students that would end with a student (or students) being put on timeout where the student would sit in a corner in a study carrel. If the disruptive behavior continued, then the student would be sent to the blue room.

Previous

Agniva Bhaumik/MiC

SAARTHAK JOHRI MiC Columnist

SHANTY WOBAGEGE ALI (MIKE JONES)

Courtesy of Shanty Wobagege Ali (Mike Jones)

Stop ignoring homeless people on State Street

grows. There is a common misconception that those who face housing insecurity or financial troubles misuse their money or “don’t spend it on the right things.”

If you ever find yourself at the University of Michigan, chances are you’ll take a trip down State Street. During the early evening hours after the last classes for the day have ended, State Street comes alive. Many of the local campus eateries, shopping and living complexes are centrally located there. Although it is a hub for college students and located in the heart of one of the country’s best college towns, Ann Arbor is still a city where individuals and families with no association with the University reside.

Recognized as the third best public university in the nation, it is no surprise to University of Michigan students and associated employees that the cost of living in downtown Ann Arbor and its surrounding neighborhoods is high. The level of prestige, elite status and innovative research tied to the Michigan name alludes to an exclusive lifestyle attainable by the average student on campus. It’s important to acknowledge that the average U-M student most likely doesn’t have an issue with meeting housing costs due to help from family members or other resources. The median student household income of a student that attends the University of Michigan is $154,000, while the average American household’s median income is $67,521.

Therefore, when apartment complexes located close to campus like Foundry Lofts, The Hub and The Varsity begin charging more than one thousand dollars per occupant in a unit, it’s no shock that other complexes in Ann Arbor have started following suit.

According to PayScale, housing costs in Ann Arbor are 16% higher than the national average. In 2023, the average Ann Arbor apartment is predicted to cost between $1,368 and $1,917 per apartment. With 47,659 students currently enrolled as either an undergraduate or graduate student at the University, there is demand for housing that needs to be met. And as recalled before, the average U-M student has the means to meet prices put in place by landlords. However, where does this leave low-income and/or unhoused residents of Ann Arbor not associated with the University? And how do they manage to survive in a town built to cater to those who come from an upper-class society?

According to the Washtenaw Housing Alliance, in 2020, 2,800 individuals experienced homelessness or sought emergency housing. More recently, at the end of 2022, the demand for a place in Ann Arbor homeless shelters rose by 30%.

During my time as a student, I’ve noticed the housing crisis gets worse on everyday walks down State Street as the population of unhoused people continuously

The unexpected valentine

(Who are we as a society to police the way people choose to spend their money? Unhoused persons may struggle with addiction and when medical resources are unavailable, treatment for substance abuse is unattainable.)

However, research shows that the average person is only one or two paychecks away from experiencing homelessness. In general, society holds extremely negative perceptions of people in poverty experiencing homelessness. It often leads to the dehumanization and criminalization of the homeless population.

Unhoused persons are more likely to be subjected to violent crimes, harassment and public degradation. There are rules present in cities across Michigan prohibiting sleeping, receiving free food or loitering, all activities unhoused persons engage in to survive.

In Ann Arbor, the Michigan State Police once threatened to evict residents of Camp Take Notice, a tent community that provides food and shelter to individuals in need. The policies established to erase Ann Arbor’s homelessness crisis continue to isolate homeless persons, restrict them from receiving help and further perpetuate the idea that an individual’s actions are what got them to that place. It fails to acknowledge other non-controllable and systemic circumstances that can cause someone to become homeless.

Furthermore, people tend to look away when they see a homeless person on State Street. For some reason, they have this elaborate fantasy that they’ll be singled out by an unhoused person, where they will then be forced to offer money. When the people of Ann Arbor turn a blind eye to the town’s homeless population, it denies their experience, ignores the realities of the Ann Arbor housing crisis and further alienates unhoused persons from society.

Extending a hand or simply smiling at someone is an act of kindness that’s often forgotten about. Walking past someone asking for food or money in front of our local Target or Starbucks is a form of dehumanization that U-M students actively participate in every single day. As another student, I understand that sometimes we can be trapped in our own world with tunnel vision, focused on being on time to the next class or meeting. However, when you consciously put in your AirPods, fake a phone call with an imaginary friend or decide to cross the street early before you are approached by a homeless person, it becomes clear that they are not seen as a person in your eyes as they become invisible to you.

Truth or Lies is an original column written by Felicia Wilbert. Every short story published under the column is either “truth” (nonfiction) or “lies” (fiction). Readers have to wait until the next issue of Groundcover News, to check if “The unexpected valentine” is truth or lies!

“Good morning! You are currently rocking with K-M Vibes of Manhattan, New York, the station that plays all your favorite hits. DJ Chopper is the greatest, chopping out hits from old to new…”

Jack Harloway, aka DJ Chopper, was a popular upcoming disc jockey. Chopper had won a five-year radio apprenticeship during his last year in college at Musicland University. All throughout school he never participated in any programs or dances, considering everyone teased him about the birthmark on his face. It spanned from the middle of his eyebrows, curving around his eyes and ending at the tip of his nose, shaped like a heart. He did ask Ashley Blake to the prom in high school; however, she shut him down, criticizing the birthmark. He had a crush on his science partner Dapheny Pager in college, but he never acted on his feelings. Ultimately, he never gave up on his DJ career and was ecstatic about his position at the local radio station.

It was his third year working at the station, and he was now working the morning shift. This position was very important to all his co-workers; everyone wanted the morning shift except Chopper. He knew the position came with a lot of public association and appearances. His co-worker, “DJ Head,” was a confident handsome man, popular with the ladies. DJ Head often teased Chopper on and off the radio about talking to women…

“Good day, ladies” — DJ Head, the smooth operator — “smooth with the ladies, playing the smooth sounds of love. Unlike Chopper, always chopping up your smoothness with his uncouth sense for love.” It was Chopper’s turn to speak. “Chopper fans, hop on to this beat!” He played “I Need Love” by LL Cool J.

Being a shy man, the evening shift was perfect for Chopper: he could express himself without being seen. Unfortunately for him, Valentine’s Day was the next holiday on the schedule. The holiday he hated the most. He often remembered the only valentine he ever received in school that read, “Be my Valentine, Scarface. Sike!”

The station decided to hold an auction at the state fair auditorium to raise money for muscular dystrophy. The winner would receive a free movie and dinner date with their favorite DJ. He was worried that once the winner saw the birthmark on his face they would be appalled. DJ Head was an arrogant man,

talking about the auction and how the ladies were going to come out and bid for him. On the other hand, Chopper was totally shy, trying to avoid his questions about who was going to bid on him. He wanted to opt out of the auction; however, it was mandatory that each DJ participate in the auction. One morning two weeks before the auction, Chopper had had enough abuse from his co-worker, and he just told his story on the radio. He expressed how he did not like Valentine’s Day due to the prank that was pulled on him in school. He also stated he was looking for a wife, not a playgirl to break his heart. How he wanted to love one woman and have children in the future.

DJ Head assumed that he had embarrassed Chopper, asking about his birthmark on the radio, and that the women would not like him or bid on him due to

his birthmark. The holiday was quickly approaching. It was four days before the auction, and Chopper got off work and went to his car in the parking lot. He could not believe his eyes — his car was covered in Valentine’s Day cards, even the roof. There was a large card signed by fans and a red bow sitting on the hood, surrounded by other pink, purple and red cards. He gathered all the cards, planning to read them once he got home, where he fixed his dinner and put on the TV. To his amazement, they were talking about the upcoming auction on the news. Just then, he remembered the cards and retrieved them from his car to read them. Reading the first three cards, he was flattered and blushing — feeling something he had not felt in all his life.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

This article is a reprint and originally appeared in Groundcover News in Issue 5, Volume 10, [May 2019].

“The Trotter Multicultural Center serves as an iconic and programmatic symbol for all students; as an open and inclusive facility that fosters intercultural engagement and strengthens connection between and among communities; as a supportive and environment to those committed to social justice and diversity; and as a space that celebrates the tradition and legacy of the Trotter Multicultural Center and the activism of students.”

– University of Michigan Vision Statement for the new Trotter Multicultural Center

In the 1960s, young Americans, especially college students, found themselves in revolt. Activism to change the world was in full effect. There was activism for women’s liberation, including reproductive rights. There was activism to protect the environment and save

the planet. There was activism for educational diversity, equity and inclusion. And of course, there was a major civil rights movement to end racial injustice, social injustice, economic injustice, healthcare disparities, racism, poverty, militarism, discrimination and inequality.

With Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s leadership and the involvement of millions of “ordinary” people, Congress passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The following year, in 1965, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act. Both were signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson. That same year, President Johnson came up with a non-discrimination executive order; it created a national office for affirmative action compliance. The key goal of this executive order was to encourage colleges, K-12 schools, state governments, local governments and businesses to take serious actions to recruit, train and retain people of Color. The federal government wanted any organization that was getting government contracts to help

promote diversity, equity and inclusion in America. The Civil Rights movement pushed for a multiracial democracy and Johnson’s administration used the compliance power of the federal government to ensure more multicolored and multi-cultural college campuses and workplaces.

The assassination of Dr. King in Memphis, on April 4, 1968 was an earthquake that shook the moral conscience of our nation. It led to riots and profound demonstrations in most of the major cities and towns. There was sadness everywhere. Dr. King’s death led to increased activism by Black students and their multiracial allies. Those activists did sit-ins, protests and even occupied buildings which housed university presidents and other administrators. There was always a list of demands.

At the University of Michigan, students demanded more students of Color be admitted, more faculty and staff of Color be hired, that a building be designated as a U-M multicultural center and that a Center for Afroamerican and

African Studies be established. The implementation of the above demands, among others, was gradual, and some have yet to be met. In the early 1970s, the William Monroe Trotter Multicultural Center was first established offcampus at the corner of Washtenaw Avenue and South University Street. The University’s community of students, administrators, faculty, staff and alumni were happy to see the relocation to a more central campus location.

Trotter’s legacy William Monroe Trotter was an African American journalist, civil rights activist and real-estate businessman in Boston. He was born on April 7, 1872 in Chillicothe, Ohio and died April 7, 1934, in Boston. After Trotter graduated Phi Kappa Beta with a distinction from Harvard University, he founded and edited The Guardian, a progressive newspaper that was published in the building that had previously housed an abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

The racialization of Washtenaw County’s unhoused population

CEDRIC McCOY

MiC Assistant Editor

This article is part of a special collaboration between Michigan in Color and Groundcover News. Read the rest of the joint issue here.

In the last decade, scholars across academia have begun to investigate the phenomenon of homelessness through contemporary, intersectional lenses. Historically, being unhoused has been understood as unimpacted by societal and systemic influences and more often interpreted as resulting from a series of an individual’s choices or circumstances. Modern studies have deemed this framework to be objectively false: homelessness is a complex issue that requires multifaceted approaches in order to determine its root causes as well as its catalysts. As Vijay Mago et al. describes in “Analyzing the impact of social factors on homelessness: a Fuzzy Cognitive Map approach”:

“Homelessness is a complex social problem with a variety of underlying economic and social factors such as poverty, lack of affordable housing, uncertain physical and mental health, addictions, and community and

family breakdown. These factors, in varying combinations, contribute to duration, frequency, and type of homelessness … Homelessness is difficult to define, thus governments struggle with uncertainty when creating and implementing policies they hope will effectively manage or eradicate this problem.”

The rise in our unhoused populations is problematized further by concurrent factors that act as limiting and oppressive, such as race, gender, ability and immigrant status. This article takes a look at the demographics of Washtenaw County’s unhoused population along one of those axes, race, in order to demonstrate the dramatic overrepresentation of People of Color in our local community.

In his article

“Racialized Homelessness: A Review of Historical and Contemporary Causes of Racial Disparities in Homelessness,” Dr. Matthew Z. Fowle describes the narratives that have formed around homelessness in the last half-century:

“Research examining the prevalence of homelessness by race and ethnicity implies that homelessness prior to the 1980s was predominantly experienced by single older White men. However,

a broader understanding of the histories of homelessness among Black, Latinx, and Native American people suggests substantial racial overrepresentation has existed for far longer than the past 40 years—in many cases, for centuries.”

Fowle goes on to identify the early manifestations of what would become “homelessness” in the colonization of America. By making connections to the forced migrations of Indigenous peoples and enslaved Africans primarily, Fowle crafts a new narrative — one in which the displacement of People

of Color in America is understood as a cultural institution that has been operating since the “conception” of this nation by Europeans. This understanding directly parallels the origins and histories of Washtenaw County and its municipalities. For example, the name “Washtenaw” is an English approximation of the Ojibwe (sometimes “Ojibwa,” “Ojibway” or “Chippewa”) word used to describe the land that various peoples inhabited prior to colonization. Not only is this land stolen and its peoples forced elsewhere, but so are its name and

Washtenaw Community College

cultural significance.

The Detroit metropolitan area became one of the larger centers of trade and commerce in the late 18th–19th century for the early Midwest. Originally colonized by the French, Indigenous peoples were the first to be enslaved and used in the fur trade industry.

These Indigenous slaves were the primary labor force of the area, until wealthy French slave owners and their African slaves began to settle in the region soon after.

Harvard professor Dr. Tiya Miles describes these early enslavement

practices and demographics in her 2017 book “The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits” as well as her U-M UROP program Mapping Slavery in Detroit. Immigration to (as well as migrations from) Detroit, located in modern neighboring Wayne County, had a significant impact on the racial demographics of surrounding areas in the coming centuries. By the peak of American industrialization and the subsequent Great Migration in the 20th century, Black Americans as well as Latine and Indigenous peoples began to constitute significant portions of the regional population. Upon the collapses of major American manufacturing industries and factories in the Midwest during the mid-20th century, however, newly immigrated populations lacked the social and economic capital to relocate again; thus, many of these communities have remained a part of the makeup of the region. People of Color in the state of Michigan in general, but Washtenaw County specifically, are demographically underrepresented in the population when compared to the national average.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Amy Deng/MiC

Trotter Multicultural Center: the legacy of Black student activists and their vision for a multiracial University of Michigan

Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building

St. Ann Arbor,

From The Daily: How should we let ChatGPT change education?

THE MICHIGAN DAILY EDITORIAL BOARD

VERKLAN MALONEY AND ZOE STORER Managing Editors

In Michigan, bipartisanship is not the answer

Last Wednesday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer endorsed a series of policy proposals in the first State of the State address of her second term. Underlying the speech, and many of the policy proposals, was a continued emphasis on bipartisanship — that is, on policy expected to receive support from members of both parties. Whitmer relied on bipartisanship during her first term, when Michigan’s state legislature was controlled by Republicans. In her first term, bipartisanship worked — it brought about many of the successes she mentioned in her speech while bolstering her reelection prospects; from those successes came the first Democratic trifecta since 1982 and a $9.2 billion budget surplus. But, with those in hand, Whitmer and Michigan Democrats must not waste these increasingly rare opportunities (the surplus and the majority) on moderate policies they think will draw in some bipartisan support.

Whitmer’s first set of policy proposals, as laid out in the State of the State, centered on supporting working Michiganders. It included two tax cuts, one for the working poor and one for seniors, and an endorsement of universal prekindergarten for 4 year olds.

Whitmer began the address with a swipe at the “retirement tax,” a 4.25% tax on retirement savings, including pensions, 401(k) plans and IRAs that she has been denouncing for 12 years. The governor’s office has estimated this tax cut will cost the state $350 million to $500 million and will save 700,000 seniors $1,000 a year. This tax cut, though, will only benefit seniors and those who have retirement savings.

In the past 40 years, traditional pension plans — in which employers save money for their employees’ retirement — have been largely replaced with 401(k) accounts, placing the onus of saving for retirement on individual workers. At the same time, the rate of retirement savings has stagnated for all but the older generations, leaving many younger generations underprepared for retirement.

In other words, eliminating the retirement tax would squander some of the budget surplus on those fortunate enough to have retirement savings. Instead, funding could be put toward a safety net for seniors who lack adequate savings — something that would benefit younger generations struggling to prepare for retirement and seniors struggling to make ends meet.

Whitmer also endorsed expanding the Working Families Tax Credit, a statelevel version of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, which allows families with low incomes to receive a large tax refund. While Whitmer notes that increasing the WFTC would give “$3,000 to 730,000 working people” it is important to note that the majority of that — around $2,500 — comes

from the federal government. In other words, Whitmer’s proposed policy would increase the WFTC from around $150 to $450 and give working families only a few extra hundred dollars a year.

Though giving hardworking families any extra assistance is a worthy cause, expanding only the WFTC excludes a significant portion of families experiencing poverty: those that do not have income. The unemployment rate is one of the strongest correlates with the poverty rate. Many people in poverty are not required to (and therefore do not) file taxes, because their income is too low. But the EITC only helps people who both have an income and file taxes. It is ironic that, when speaking on policy intended to help households in poverty,

Whitmer decided to quote President Ronald Reagan, who referred to the EITC as “the best anti-poverty, the best profamily, the best job creation measure.” It was Reagan and President Bill Clinton — whose campaign was quoted later in the speech — who dismantled cash welfare, adding in work requirements that virtually excluded those who could not find work from receiving aid.

Whitmer’s two main tax proposals target benefits at groups that independent voters might believe deserve them — the working poor and retirees.

The proposals are moderate, and Whitmer first endorsed both of them years ago, when unified Democratic control of Michigan seemed impossible. That is no longer the case. Democrats have an opportunity to use their majority and the budget surplus to build a more inclusive social safety net and address social issues that may be less directly related to economics.

On the few social issues Whitmer did discuss, the Republican response was negative. When Whitmer endorsed state-subsidized universal pre-kindergarten for 4 year olds, she was met with strong applause from her Democratic colleagues and silence from Republicans. The same happened when she touched on repealing Michigan’s archaic 1931 abortion law (at 27:44) and expanding the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (at 29:28) — even when framing the latter issue as a means to bolster job creation (“bigotry is bad for business”). These are the sort of issues Whitmer should be focusing on: more partisan policies that will only be addressed when Democrats hold power.

To make matters worse, the Republican response to the State of the State was quite negative, despite Whitmer avoiding overt partisanship.

House Minority Leader Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, criticized the content of Whitmer’s speech, specifically the lack of attention paid to infrastructure: “She still has no real plan to fix the roads,” Hall said in a press release. Whitmer had an entire section of her speech dedicated to infrastructure, in which she noted the success

her administration has had in repairing Michigan roads. Hall himself has already assembled a team “to evaluate Republican losses in November and get the caucus in a position to regain the majority.”

In making efforts to appeal to Republican priorities, Whitmer barely touched on key Democratic planks, including issues many young voters came out to vote for. The phrase “climate change” was uttered a total of one time, relegated to a single paragraph at the very end of her speech. Whitmer did not mention her intention to repeal Michigan’s Right-to-Work law, something she campaigned on and which has supposedly been a key priority for state Democrats in the decade since its passage. It wasn’t just Rightto-Work, she avoided workers’ rights issues entirely — even failing to mention the ongoing fight over whether Michigan’s minimum wage would increase from $10.10 to $13.03 (which will likely move to the Michigan Supreme Court). It was the Republican-led legislature that adopted a petition initiative to increase the minimum wage to $12 by 2022 and then amended it to push the wage to 2030.

In his response to the State of the State, Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt focused on Whitmer’s apparent lack of bipartisanship in her first term.

“Time and again, this governor has vetoed bipartisan proposals to provide real relief for those in need,” Nesbitt said. Despite Whitmer almost entirely avoiding controversial policies, Nesbitt portrayed Whitmer as a partisan and hoped that “the governor will realize that she was wrong and finally be a part of bipartisan efforts.”

State Republicans do not want to pass Whitmer’s proposals, as moderate as they may be. If Republicans wanted to expand the WFTC or eliminate the pension tax, they would have done it when they controlled the legislature. Today, with thin Democratic majorities, Republicans see an opportunity to stall legislation for two years. They see the same thing Republicans in the 117th U.S. Congress saw: the opportunity to prevent Democratic majorities from bringing about extensive, meaningful change.

Michigan Democrats have comparably slim majorities as national Democrats did in 2021. What they don’t have is a 60% threshold to end a filibuster; only a simple majority is required to end discussion on a particular law. With a bit of party unity, state Democrats can pass just about any piece of legislation they want, in spite of Republican obstinance. Democrats need to act early in the term, before the next election season, before contentious, polarizing national campaigns make their way to Michigan. They have the institutional power and money to legislate on issues voters waited in lines for — climate change, labor rights, abortion rights, gun safety and more — regardless of how partisan they may appear. All they need is the political will.

Over the past few months, ChatGPT has dominated the conversation around artificial intelligence and machine learning. The model comes close to, and in some cases surpasses, the capabilities of humans to communicate and produce high-quality writing. Much of the debate around ChatGPT is focused on how it will impact university students and professors. With the benefits of AI, though, come the risk that ChatGPT will be used for cheating — something professors and University administrators are already moving to address. It is incumbent on the University of Michigan to take steps now to maintain the ability of professors to evaluate students, while ensuring that graduates are not left behind their AI-familiar peers.

It should be noted that ChatGPT has many practical uses for both students and instructors that remain outside the realm of cheating. As the model is still occasionally prone to giving incorrect answers to tests of reasoning, tasking students to correct the mistakes made by ChatGPT allows them to understand common errors that even a chatbot may make.

Students can also use ChatGPT to better comprehend their assignments. When it comes to long, dense readings where didactic jargon abounds, the chatbot can help summarize and explain concepts to the student. This can also be applied to code, where a student can ask ChatGPT to explain a certain chunk of code or where an error was made.

ChatGPT’s usefulness is not limited to tests of reason or code; it can also be a helpful resource for writing and discussion without doing all the student’s work. OpenAI’s essay outline feature provides topics of discussion and counterargument, as well as a structure a student may not consider. Simply chatting with the bot can even act as a jumping off point for inspiration and creation. With ChatGPT’s ability to generate prompts, debate ideas and give suggestions, there is certainly no shortage of positive aspects to this technology that we can embrace in the classroom.

Though ChatGPT can be a helpful tool in assisting students with their schoolwork, some of the tasks that it can help with go beyond assistance, such as writing full essays and solving schoolwork. This capability of ChatGPT creates

complications for professors to ensure academic integrity on the assignments they task students with.

If students misuse ChatGPT as a means to cheat, rather than as an educational aid, the integrity and meaning of work assigned by professors can become compromised.

ChatGPT, while being a very valuable tool in learning, begins to diminish some of the key aspects of learning by completing tasks intended to be completed solely by students.

Alongside its ability to complete tasks for students, ChatGPT also creates problems as a continuously evolving AI model. Although it is currently still being officially updated by its developers, OpenAI’s goal for the AI in its public testing is to train it to update its own policies, making it selfupdating to an extent.

ChatGPT’s continuous updates create new problems for educational institutions, including the University of

remote learning. Regardless, it isn’t too far-fetched to suggest that an over-reliance on technology and the increased difficulty of professors to keep students engaged during remote learning has led to a learning loss.

In what could be a pivotal moment in the education industry, teachers are being challenged to combat this phenomenon while technology, especially EdTech, grows at an exponential rate. However, it is crucial to emphasize here that there is no one right solution. Whether instructors want to incorporate ChatGPT, and technologies of a similar ilk, within their syllabi or discourage their usage, there are multiple avenues to explore, each with its own pros and cons.

We believe that frequent, low-stakes, in-person tests, in the form of short quizzes or assignments at the end of every class or week is a good way to keep students in the classroom and attentive. That way, even if students are using ChatGPT to assist them with their assignments, they are still held responsible for understanding the most important concepts. Coupling that with courses that are more discussion and participation based might further encourage students to interact with the material in a meaningful way.

Michigan. At the forefront of these problems is how the University can keep up with an AI that is continuously evolving at a rate that may be difficult to keep up with. To do this, changes must be made to the way classes are structured.

The drawbacks and benefits of ChatGPT aside, it is clear that the growth and development of AI technology is unlikely to slow down anytime soon. So, where does that leave educational institutions, and more importantly, professors, for whom the task of genuine work grows bigger everyday?

Interestingly, with the pandemic leading to an unprecedented rise in the use of digital resources inside and outside the classroom, there is a belief that people are simply learning at a slower rate than before. Although not the most robust piece of evidence, a decrease in the average score of standardized tests since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and subsequent increased use of remote learning, could be an example of the inverse relationship between learning outcomes and

Furthermore, in order to harness the advantages of having such technology at our disposal, universities could consider having more courses catered towards the ethics of AI and AI literacy, as the key to avoiding the pitfalls of a resource like ChatGPT is knowing how to use it. Those pursuing majors like computer science could potentially have a required class addressing such topics to ensure that colleges are handing degrees to students who are not only capable, but also responsible in the fields in which this technology is most prominent.

Regardless of how all the potential advantages and complications this technology will bring to the classroom balance out — or don’t balance out — the onus of using it responsibly will be on students. Software and applications that can help students sidestep the honor code or find the easy way out in a class have always existed, such as translators for foreign language classes or just a simple Google search. The choice of whether or not to use them, however, has always been with students — and that was true long before ChatGPT. What it comes down to, as it always has, is how we want to shape our educational journey. AI technology has the ability to expand our knowledge and skill sets, but only if we use it correctly and with integrity.

Regardless of how all the potential advantages and complications this technology will bring to the classroom balance out — or don’t balance out — the onus of using it responsibly will be on students.

Snow reason not to: Embrace your inner child

come along with its associated actions.

ZHANE YAMIN Senior Opinion Editor

Five inches can mean a lot. For some, it can mean an extra layer of warm clothing, a longer drive to work or a trip to get some gas for the snow plow that’s gone unused for suspiciously long.

For students at the University of Michigan, it meant assembling on the Diag for a snowball fight of spectacular proportions.

I happened to join the snowy spectacle after an hour and a half of Calc II. As I exited Mason Hall, students suffused the Diag from corner to corner, laughing, smiling and hurling snowballs of all shapes and sizes into the air.

Two opposing walls of students, having formed near the north end, engrossed themselves in endless, lighthearted combat.

For me, the scene was similar to elementary school recess. No one was preoccupied with who they were playing with, nor with what happened and what didn’t. Almost nothing mattered, except one thing: the ephemeral pursuit of happiness.

Hundreds of students put aside the looming responsibilities of school, work and their future to just have fun, like children do.

Oftentimes we spend our whole lives doing our best to grow up as fast as possible.

Rituals, calendars, clothes and sometimes the occasional piercing or tattoo have readied people for their entrance into adulthood throughout human history. We reject our perceived immaturity in pursuit of adulthood, abandoning our childlike tendencies in pursuit of our desired destination in the social structure.

Sometimes, though, acting “like a child” is not a bad thing. The commonly-held connection between childlike actions and immaturity is grounded in weak foundations and completely undermines any benefits that

Someone might tell their friend who just made a dick joke to “stop being so immature.” On the other hand, another person might tell their significant other who repeatedly refuses to leave the toilet seat down the same thing. Despite being two completely different situations, immaturity as a concept is used to hurl insults and invalidate the opinions and credibility of others.

In addition to the negative

wide spectrum, ranging from benign to objectively harmful, rendering this umbrella definition useless.

On the more good-natured side of the spectrum exists the tendency for children and younger people to humorize situations that might not always be overtly humorous. An example of this could be seen in any sex education course in middle school or high school, where laughter and humor is often conjoined with education. Adults who might exhibit the

connotation. Egocentricity, behavior that is inherently selfish, is a trait often seen in children and adolescents. If egocentric behavior continues throughout adolescence and adulthood, the lack of empathy can lead to an array of adverse consequences. The connection between the concept of immaturity and childlike behavior is grounded in the idea that, as we grow older, we grow out of our childlike behavior in order to contribute positively to society.

The telephone poles next to a highway, someone in a poorlymade costume of a superhero and a heavy snowfall are all things that most older people wouldn’t bat an eye at, but to a child it fosters wonder and curiosity. Similarly, this interest extends to the tasks they want to accomplish. A child could care less about how it might be impossible to build a 7-foottall sandcastle, so long as the water from the shoreline falls short of attempting to sabotage their efforts. They are only

and problems, no matter how numerous or stressful, one at a time. These actions, that fall under the colloquially understood idea of immaturity, make us forget, even if temporarily, some of the more stressful tasks of adulthood.

The snowball fight in the Diag wasn’t just a case of students finding something to do in spite of the harsh weather conditions. It was a microcosm of the potential good that embracing the wondrous nature of your inner child can give you. When you only focus on the task ahead of you, even if it’s as menial as aiming your snowball at just the right angle, you find yourself in a world where only that task exists, which allows you to approach it as if it was the only thing that truly mattered in the world.

When applied to other areas of our life, this “immature” tunnel vision can give us the power and courage to face life headon. It can range from focusing on one step of one problem of one homework assignment, to focusing on one sentence of one text to one person. Either way, allowing yourself to focus on nothing but the goal ahead of you can help you feel free from all else that might be weighing on you.

It’s still true, though, that this tunnel vision is inherently immature. But, this facet of immaturity is a strength. Immaturity itself can be harmful at times, but at other times it can provide a helpful, optimistic approach to life and its tasks.

air surrounding the concept, there exists a commonly-held connection between immaturity and certain childlike actions. In the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, for example, immaturity is defined as behavior “typical of people who are much younger.” However, the actions and behavior of young people exist on a very

same behaviors are scolded for their “lack of maturity” when dealing with the topic. While this behavior might be childlike, it’s not inherently bad and doesn’t deserve the negative connotation that comes with the label of immaturity.

However, there definitely are childlike behaviors that rightfully carry a negative

In this way, a negative attitude is attached to all childlike behavior because it is seen as something that should not persist into adulthood, even when there are clear benefits to those behaviors. As children, we often find ourselves ceaselessly enamored with things that, to an adult, might seem trivial or worthless.

Meaningful DEI must include affordability and dignity for all grad workers for Michigan

On Jan. 10, University of Michigan President Santa Ono held a talk to discuss the University’s record on and aspirations for the ideals of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Members of the Graduate Employees’ Organization were outside holding a picket to call attention to how the University has created a crisis of affordability and unsafe working conditions for graduate workers. This situation disproportionately affects graduate workers from marginalized backgrounds and is directly counter to the University’s crucial commitment to DEI. Graduate workers have been fighting for months for a contract that would hold the University accountable to that commitment and ensure affordability and dignity for all graduate workers.

Our bargaining platform is motivated by one transformative idea: Being a graduate student at the University should be possible for everyone, not just those who have access to generational wealth. That’s why dozens of graduate students spent hundreds of hours putting together a set of demands that would make life as a graduate student here in Ann Arbor both affordable and dignified for all of us. Our platform would guarantee a baseline living wage for graduate student workers while also providing additional support to certain groups of workers, such as parents and international students, whose cost of living can be much higher. We’re also calling for policies that would reduce vulnerability to harassment, including a transitional funding program for graduate students to escape abusive advisors (and other relationships) and funding for a communitybased, non-police, unarmed

response program. These are common-sense reforms that the University can implement by using a tiny fraction of its vast material resources.

The centerpiece of our platform — a living wage of $38,838 a year — would make life as a graduate student in Ann Arbor livable for those who are not independently wealthy. The gap between the cost of living in Ann Arbor and what graduate student instructors typically make in a year has been growing ever since the pandemic. While GSIs were “only” facing a deficit of $5,240 when our current contract came into force in 2020, now — at the end of our contract’s lifecycle — we’re facing a gap of $14,484, more than 60% of our total salary.

For many graduate students, the $24,053 we currently get for teaching in the fall and winter semesters is all we have to live on for the entire year. The vast majority of us — fully 80% — pay more than 30% of our salaries in rent each month, meaning our rent burdens are unaffordable according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. A graduate student paying the average Ann Arbor rent of $1,912 a month would have only $1,109 left over for the entire year. For graduate students who can’t rely on family wealth for support — and especially for those graduate students who have to support their families themselves — the current salary is barely even enough to scrape by. The 2% annual raise proposed by the University in the most recent bargaining session — which represents an effective wage cut in real terms given current levels of inflation — does not even come close to addressing the serious financial shortfall grad students are facing.

For large sections of our membership, however, even that living wage is not enough. Equity means giving additional support to those whose cost of living

is higher. Disabled graduate students shouldn’t have to risk going into overdraft to pay for treatment for chronic health conditions. Similarly, given the well-documented mental health crisis among graduate students, we should have access to vital mental health care without onerous copays. An emergency fund for international graduate student workers (something already available at Harvard) would mean that international graduate students wouldn’t have to worry about covering unexpected visa costs or purchasing an expensive plane ticket home in case of a family emergency. Breaking down barriers to accessing transgender health care would reduce the financial and emotional costs that trans graduate students have to bear if they are to avail themselves of this lifesaving care. And a centralized, common application would make GSI positions and their accompanying tuition waivers — a crucial lifeline that can make increasingly expensive Master’s degrees possible for those who aren’t independently wealthy — more accessible. If the University wants people from marginalized social positions to be part of this community, it needs to make graduate school work for everyone.

Getting serious about equity also means addressing the way the University currently undervalues “feminized labor”

— care work that is traditionally (though not exclusively) done by women. Activists and scholars have long argued that such work is underpaid, if it is compensated at all. Indeed, a big part of the struggle is getting those in power to even acknowledge that this kind of labor is work, and therefore worthy of compensation. Our platform addresses this issue in two important ways.

First, we’re demanding a minimum wage of $20 per hour

for the mandatory, unpaid, field placement internships that Master of Social Work students must do as part of their degrees. Social workers as a whole are already underpaid and overworked, and according to Aerie Davey, a former U-M MSW student, “it sends a message that the work we do is not valuable, which is a lie. And I would also say … it’s misogynistic, as well, in this predominantly womandominated field.” Unlike in the woman-dominated School of Social Work, mandatory internships in the Ross School of Business and the Ford School of Public Policy are typically compensated. The second way our platform addresses the University’s undervaluing of “feminized labor” is through our childcare demands. Right now, the childcare subsidy eligibility requirements exclude any care that is not done by a licensed childcare provider. The work of childcare does not stop being work if it is done by a family member, a neighbor or a nanny. All childcare labor is work and deserves to be compensated as such. That’s why we’re calling for the University to remove the licensed care requirement, as it did during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even the loftiest speech about equity counts for nothing if the University refuses to compensate care workers.

Our platform would also make campus more inclusive by addressing the widespread harassment, discrimination and abuse that disproportionately targets the most marginalized people at the University. Highprofile cases of harassment and assault are only the most prominent indicators of the University’s culture of harassment. Our 2021 membership survey found that up to 29% of female graduate students had been sexually harassed at the University, and at least one in four grad students

Jenna Hickey/Daily

occupied with the task in front of them and the pursuit of its completion.

When we embrace this part of our inner child, we find ourselves in a headspace that puts us in a position intentionality free from the stress of outside forces. Honing in on this mindset can allow us to approach all of our tasks

Embracing your inner child can mean a lot. For some, it can be making a phallic joke at the beginning of an article, marveling at the simple beauty of the world or carrying a youthful optimism despite the harshness of reality.

For University of Michigan Students on Jan. 25, it was assembling in the Diag for a snowball fight of spectacular proportions.

Alarming

of color had experienced racism, with even higher rates among disabled, Black, LGBTQIA+ and economically disadvantaged graduate students. We propose a no-questions-asked transitional funding program that would provide at least one semester of funding so that graduate students could escape abusive advisor (and other) relationships. This would build on a similar but limited program already established by LSA.

For too many, police are also a source of harassment, discrimination and abuse. Our membership survey showed that over a quarter of students had negative interactions with DPSS, with higher rates among Black graduates. The vast majority of DPSS activity is not in response to violence but rather to situations that do not require armed police officers. There is an urgent need for a non-police, unarmed alternative to police to address public safety needs — and the community-based Coalition for Re-envisioning

Our Safety has been doing just that for over a year; CROS received endorsements from GEO and more than 40 other

organizations. CROS’ evidencebased public safety program would serve all of Washtenaw County, including the Ann Arbor campus, so we’re calling on the University to pay its fair share to support this innovative and exciting new initiative.

Taken together, these proposals would make graduate school significantly more inclusive and equitable by the beginning of the 2023-24 academic year. As graduate workers, we recognize that our struggles are interconnected and that we must fight for a campus and community in which people from all backgrounds can not only survive but thrive.

The common-sense reforms in our platform would support the greater diversity on campus that is so urgently needed.

In setting out the University’s new workplace values, President Ono said, “words are not enough — our behaviors matter.” We couldn’t agree more and hope that his administration will stay true to its commitments to DEI and work with us to make these proposals a reality.

Design by Edith Hanlon

‘A scary sight’: Hunter Dickinson delivers against Ohio State

JACK GLANVILLE Daily Sports Editor

Up just five points with 13 minutes left, junior center Hunter Dickinson caught the ball in the high post while turning to face up Ohio State center Felix Okpara — no double team in sight. Sweeping the ball low to his left hand, Dickinson dribbled left. Bumped once off of Okpara, almost to the low block. Bumped twice off of Okpara, at the rim. Dickinson layed it up and in.

Sauntering down the floor, he celebrated with an arm stretched downward and a hand parallel with the hardwood. His message was clear:

The 6-foot-11 Okpara was too small.

Dickinson notched a signature performance — finishing with 26 points and 11 rebounds — against the Buckeyes at Crisler Center on Sunday. That performance was, in part, due to Dickinson’s ability to exploit mismatches in the post.

“Hunter recognizes, as well as his teammates, when the big fella had it going on the inside,”

WOMEN’S TENNIS

Michigan coach Juwan Howard said. “We had to continue to keep feeding him the ball. I’ll never forget, on a timeout, Terrance Williams was like, ‘Let’s keep going to Hunter.’ And I said, ‘You know what, I agree. We’re going to keep going to Hunter.’ ”

Matched up with either Okpara or forward Zed Key, Dickinson handled both of Ohio State’s defensive options with ease.

Okpara proved too skinny, and Dickinson simply went through him. Key proved too short at 6-foot-8, and the towering 7-foot1 Dickinson went over him — unleashing a barrage of hook shots that the forward never had a chance of contesting.

“(Dickinson) reads the defense,” Howard said. “When he’s not doubled, he’s going to make his move one-on-one. If he gets doubled, he’s going to throw the ball out.”

That ability to read the defense made Dickinson’s performance against the Buckeyes so impressive. Staying calm under pressure and demonstrating a knack for making the right plays, Dickinson remained poised throughout the

contest. That showed as he played all but four minutes yet finished with only one turnover. And the way he facilitated the Wolverines’ offense from the post made that statistic all the more impressive.

That ability to facilitate was on display when, with seven minutes left, freshman guard Dug

Jaedan Brown rebounds, feeding off energy in win against Kristina Novak

JACK TIRSCH

For The Daily

Jaedan Brown closed out the first set of her singles match against No. 19 Oklahoma State’s Kristina Novak with an emphatic ace, adorning her serve with a yell towards the crowd.

The junior was dominant in her match, defeating Novak in straight sets by the score of 6-2, 6-1. Brown tallied another singles win against an opponent from a ranked team while improving her individual record to 3-1 on Saturday.

After an agonizing loss in her singles match last weekend amid a Michigan victory over the Cowgirls, Brown came out with a different mindset for the rematch. She looked to sharpen

the fundamentals in her game to rebound from the loss. She was promoted to No. 1 singles this weekend in a rematch between the two teams.

“I think I went in really loose,” Brown said. “Coming off of a big win against them last week helped me take all the pressure off, so I was just swinging and hitting it really well. The energy was great.”

Michigan fed off of the energy from the crowd at the Varsity Tennis Center and maintained the competitive atmosphere as crowd chants rained down over the Wolverines. Brown clearly absorbed the vibrancy throughout her match, generating great momentum in her favor.

“When you have your teammates around you constantly encouraging you, that makes it a

lot easier,” Brown said.

Brown preserved this liveliness throughout her match with a powerful shot down the line to break Novak and secure a commanding 5-2 lead in the first set. Brown continued her strong level of play into the second set by breaking Novak’s serve yet again, this time with a deep cross-court shot to take a commanding 3-0 lead.

“You can’t give up when knowing that (opponents) aren’t going to give you errors,” Brown said. “I felt like my serve was pretty on today.

I also mixed it up using my slice a couple of times, coming into the net, just to throw them off.”

Steamrolling her way to victory, Brown held nearly every serve and broke most of the opposing serving opportunities. Consistency was key for Brown as she only conceded three games to Novak’s effort. Brown continuously moved Novak around the court by utilizing both her backhand and forehand shots, as well as coming up to the net when necessary.

Brown was also able to use her teammate Kari Miller’s match against Novak last weekend to her advantage, trying to replicate how her teammate emerged victorious.

“I was just trying to take what Kari did,” Brown said. “She had a successful weekend last time against (Novak), so I just tried to take what she said about her and what the coaches said and treat it as a new match.”

Jaedan Brown’s effort was essential en route to Michigan’s 6-1 win over Oklahoma State, capturing victories in back-to-back meetings against the Cowgirls.

McDaniel fed Dickinson in the high post. Turning to survey the court, Dickinson found himself in a familiar position. This time, instead of releasing a mid-range jumper or taking his defender off the bounce, he zipped a skip pass to graduate guard Joey Baker in the opposite corner. Baker

knocked down the three, giving Michigan a 12-point cushion with the momentum-boosting shot.

“There were times late in the second half when (Dickinson) had a chance to go one-on-one, but he still was throwing it out to the perimeter,” Howard said.

“That’s just the nature of being an

unselfish player, wanting to make the right play. That just gives a lot of credit to the kind of competitor that Hunter is, but he’s also dialed into team, team, team.”

Just two minutes later Dickinson flashed that unselfishness again, throwing an almost identical pass, this time to sophomore guard Kobe Bufkin. Bufkin missed the wide-open 3-pointer, but it was the right pass and the right shot — textbook basketball.

“When a guy like Hunter plays his best it’s a scary sight,” Bufkin said. “It’s always huge for us when he plays great.”

After failing to effectively lead a younger Michigan squad early in the year, Dickinson is turning a corner. Sure, he still averages 18.1 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, but only recently — against Northwestern and Ohio State — has he put together the performances that Michigan needs to make a tournament push and flip the script on its lackluster season. At his best, Dickinson is one of college basketball’s elites. One of the Big Ten’s bonafide stars. And Sunday against Ohio State, one scary sight, indeed.

Michigan serves revenge to Harvard at home

KENDALL MCCASKILL Daily Sports Writer

Following the No. 4 Michigan men’s tennis team’s loss in the doubles point against the Harvard men’s tennis team, the Wolverines found themselves in an unfamiliar place.

Looking to redeem their 4-3 loss from last season against No. 18 Harvard and its subsequent defeat in doubles play, Michigan was ravenous for the win. But its appetite was only satiated when it clinched a home win over the Crimson.

“Especially early in the season, it’s huge for us against a team like Harvard,” fifth-year Patrick Maloney said. “We lost 4-3 to them last year, so we kind of came into that match looking for revenge, losing the doubles point even added on to that and made it even tougher.

Maloney and senior Ondrej Styler entered the court as an undefeated doubles pairing hoping to continue their five-set streak. Instead, aces and tough servereceive from Harvard startled the pair, losing both their match and the team’s double’s point, the latter for the first time all season.

“We didn’t play well. At all,” Michigan coach Adam Steinberg said. “It was the worst doubles we’ve played all year and the guys know it.”

Based on their last meeting’s performance and without the cushion of doubles point, Michigan knew it needed to show improvement given their point deficit.

It did just that.

By extending their rallies and aggressive singles play, Michigan put itself back into the competition. The Wolverines entered into three-set matches in four out-of-six of their singles. Junior Jacob Bickersteth dropped the

first set against Harvard’s Mark Ktiri, but with great determination to avenge his losses against the Crimson, he pushed for a third set. With crafty line shots and continued grit from Bickersteth, he secured the match for the Wolverines.

“Sometimes it’s a hard lesson but it’s one that we needed,” Steinberg said. “I told them that after the doubles, listen ‘you’re 7-0, you’ve won every doubles point, but now you’re going to be challenged, and they did great.’ ”

Fifth-year Andrew Fenty similarly served up his revenge following his singles loss in his meeting last year with Harvard. Fenty quelled out his opponent with quickness, winning the match 6-4, 6-1, giving another win to the Wolverines.

“It was a character win today,”

Steinberg said. “We have to find ways to win when we lose doubles point too. They can lean on it just like this, and think hey, we’ve done it before against a really good team.”

Despite the adversity Michigan faced early in the match it was able to take command of the match, fueled by the team’s grit and determination to take back the win.

“Getting dug into that hole early on but it tested us mentally and physically,” Maloney said. “And we’ll look back into this match a couple of months from now and be happy it happened.”

As the Wolverines continue their undefeated campaign in the weeks to come, they will need to lead with the same mentality they used to secure revenge over Harvard.

Michigan upsets field to win Big Ten Match Play title

Ranked eighth out of nine teams in the field, the Michigan men’s golf team entered the Big Ten Match Play Championship with a slim chance of winning. Playing at the Hammock Beach Ocean Course in Florida, the Wolverines faced a steep uphill climb, with matches against No. 7 Penn State, No. 2 Michigan State, No. 3 Indiana and No. 1 Northwestern.

Led by a clutch performance from sophomore Hunter Thomson, Michigan stunned the competition, knocking off each of the top three seeds to win its first Big Ten Match Play title since 2014.

Play began Friday morning against Penn State but was delayed due to weather, resulting in the match being reduced to nine holes. Following the resumption of play, Penn State’s James Allen put the Nittany Lions ahead

with a comfortable 3-and-1 win over Michigan junior Jude Kim.

The Wolverines fought back, however, erasing the deficit as Thomson and junior Will Anderson both grinded out late-match comebacks. Thomson won his match while Anderson tied his.

A halved point between junior Ben Hoagland and Penn State’s Morgan Lofland left the overall score at 2-2, putting Michigan’s fate in the hands of sophomore Yuqi Liu. He stepped up in a big way, winning a narrow 1-up match that came down to the wire and advancing his team to the next round.

After a short turnaround, the Wolverines took on rival Michigan State, ranked second in the field. Michigan got off to a hot start behind Thomson, who dominated 6-and-4. Andersen added to the momentum as he cruised to victory, 4-and-3.

Needing one more point to clinch the win over the Spartans, Kim found himself down three

with only seven holes to play. He turned the tide at the right time, winning six holes in a row to claim a point to upset Michigan State 3.5-1.5.

“Anytime you play Michigan State, obviously, we get their best and they get our best,” Michigan coach Zach Barlow said. “It was nice to finally come out on top this time. … The guys were fired up for it and honestly we just played really good golf.”

Semifinal play against Indiana saw more polar scoring across the board, with no ties. Kim and Liu both lost, but Anderson and Hoagland grabbed crucial wins to keep the Wolverines in contention. With the score sitting at an even 2-2, the outcome of the match fell on Thomson’s shoulders.

Although only a sophomore, Thomson is Michigan’s highestranked player and led the team in scoring average last year as a freshman. He had his hands full against the Hoosiers, winning two of the last three holes and

still needing a huge putt on the last hole to close out his opponent. Reliably, Thomson held his nerve, finding the bottom of the hole and winning 1-up to send his team to the finals.

With a Big Ten Match Play title on the line, Northwestern awaited Michigan on Saturday afternoon. Despite having played three rounds in the last 36 hours, the Wolverines put their heads down and jumped out to a lead behind wins from Liu and Kim, who redeemed their semifinal defeats.

Unsurprisingly, the Wildcats didn’t go quietly. Anderson and Hoagland’s matches both came down to the final hole but neither came out on top. Northwestern’s late comeback brought the score to 2-2, once again putting Thomson in the spotlight as he squared up against the Wildcats’ James Imai.

The final match went back and forth. Thomson and Imai traded blows across the front nine, with neither ever leading by more

than a hole. The match was all square heading into the turn, and remained unchanged until the 15th hole, when Thomson took the lead with three holes to play. He demonstrated solid composure, staving off Imai on holes 16 and 17 before sinking a must-have putt on 18 to win the championship for the Wolverines.

“(Thomson’s) ranking hasn’t quite caught up to who he truly is yet,” Barlow said. “He’s got a lot of big time tournaments, a lot of big time years ahead for Michigan. … For it to come down to that and especially a putt, he’s worked on putting so much lately it’s crazy.”

Thomson is currently ranked 309th in college golf. And yet, he won all four of his matches this weekend and propelled his team to victory. His underdog status is mirrored by the Wolverines and their low ranking coming into this weekend.

Michigan’s underdog status doesn’t come as a surprise consid-

ering its best performance last fall was a third-out-of-13 finish at the Island Resort Invitational in September. They played consistently lukewarm golf throughout the fall, leading many to believe the same would remain true in 2023.

“It was a total team effort,” Barlow said. “We have worked so hard this offseason. … They got stronger and everything from lifting to cardio to their short game, they’ve really put in the work this offseason, and I couldn’t be more proud.”

Evidently, the Wolverines have more potential than was thought prior to this weekend. They dominated MSU and earned gritty wins over Penn State and Northwestern to win a title that few people foresaw them claiming. Though the consistency of Michigan’s play remains to be seen, this weekend definitively proves that it has both the firepower and the mental strength needed to win against heavilyfavored opponents.

JULIANNE YOON/Daily

MEN’S TENNIS

MEN’S GOLF

PETER HAGAN For The Daily

ANNA FUDER/Daily

RILEY NIEBOER/Daily

NICHOLAS STOLL Daily Sports Writer

Do you feel that?

That little glimmer of hope you have in your chest. Those images of tournament dreams and March Madness magic dancing in front of your eyes. Is the Michigan men’s basketball team making you feel something again?

Don’t.

For your own sake, I’m begging you not to believe in this Michigan team. The Wolverines might be fun to watch — and feel free to continue to enjoy watching them — but expecting some last leg sprint-to-the-finish that ends with a berth in the NCAA Tournament will only set you up to get hurt.

Even after rattling off two straight wins against Northwestern and Ohio State, the numbers are objectively not in Michigan’s favor. As it stands, the Wolverines have a measly two Quad 1 wins — the holy grails when it comes to making the tournament — against Maryland and at Northwestern.

ICE HOCKEY

SportsMonday: Don’t get your hopes up

Looking across the rest of Michigan’s schedule, it has four opportunities for nearguaranteed Quad 1 games (vs Indiana, at Rutgers, at Illinois, at Indiana), and one that could potentially be a Quad 1 game (at Wisconsin). Then, of course, the Big Ten Tournament, which for the sake of argument let’s assume every game is Quad 1 (top 50 in the NET at a neutral site).

It seems like ample opportunities await. But opportunities are just that — opportunities.

The Wolverines need to actually capitalize on those chances to add Quad 1 wins to their resume. So far, they haven’t shown the capacity to do so.

Think of all the squandered “almosts”: Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Iowa, Purdue — all possible Quad 1 wins. What has Michigan done recently that makes you think it will be different?

Was it the win over a skidding Buckeyes squad that’s lost nine out of their past 10 games? Or a win over a 57th-in-the-NET Wildcats group? Or was it the blowout, downright embarrass -

ing loss to Penn State? There’s just not enough substance there to show the Wolverines are any different than before.

Now, here’s where the numbers get worse. Suppose Michigan has changed, and it can

T.J. Hughes’ smart play fuels Michigan against Wisconsin

CHARLIE PAPPALARDO Daily Sports Writer

In T.J. Hughes’ press conference following the Michigan hockey team’s 7-4 victory over Wisconsin, the freshman forward was in the middle of talking when Michigan coach Brandon Naurato walked out of his office and interrupted him.

“Four points,” Naurato exclaimed, chuckling. “I found out after the game. That was great.”

And while Naurato being unaware of Hughes’ team-leading total until looking at a stat sheet may seem like an oversight on his part, it fit perfectly with the type of game that Hughes played. Because despite totaling a goal and three assists, Hughes’ play wasn’t particularly flashy or exceptionally dynamic. But what it was, the entire night, was incredibly effective.

On his very first shift, centering sophomore forwards Dylan Duke and Mackie Samoskevich, Hughes made a textbook play. He received a pass from Samoskevich, and immediately swung it to Duke on the far side for a tic-tac-toe, tap-in goal. That play set the tone for his night. He didn’t demand the puck or turn heads with solo plays, but he made simple and effective plays, over and over again.

“He’s not maybe the fastest guy, but he’s just so smart out there and makes plays all the time,” senior forward Eric Ciccolini said. “Always making the right decisions, taking shots, making passes. … That’s why he had four points tonight.”

Ciccolini’s words ring true. Because Hughes’ play against Wisconsin can best be described as smart. Every Wolverine player could have physically made the passes and taken the shots that defined Hughes’ night, but far fewer would’ve had the vision to get the puck where it needed to go. And perpetually when Hughes was on the ice, the puck went where it needed to go. His second assist came on a power play when Hughes collected a pass, pressed forward and fired a slapshot from the circles. The shot was saved, but the rebound wasn’t. Minutes later — again on the power play —Hughes crashed the net before Samoskevich had even shot, and was in perfect position for a rebound goal. Hughes’ last assist was a generic point-to-point pass that sophomore defenseman Ethan Edwards buried. It wasn’t a thrilling or difficult play, but it was the smart play.

“He puts up points,” Naurato said. “He’s a goal scorer, he’s a threat every time he’s around the

net, and he has grown a ton as a player.”

So far this season, Hughes has had remarkable success. Coming in as an undrafted prospect, he has shattered expectations in his freshman year, scoring over a point per game with the fourth most on his team. But at the same time, similar to Saturday’s performance, a lot of it has flown under the radar. Because what he does isn’t always eye-catching, but a lot of the time it results in a puck hitting the back of the net.

Against Wisconsin, that’s exactly what happened. He crashed the net, he made smart passes, and he put the puck exactly where it needed to be for those around him to be effective. As a result, he doubled the point totals of anyone else on his team, and set a new career high for points in a game.

But in Naurato’s view, Hughes’ growth can’t stagnate — for his own sake.

“The evolution of him to be like an NHL prospect — he’ll always get points, he’ll get a lot at Michigan — will be what he does away from the puck and his compete level,” Naurato said. “It’s not that he’s not good away from the puck, it’s just that they’re learning you have to defend for the first time.”

Hughes has found a playstyle that works for him, but he now has to translate it to his defensive game. For the past few weeks, and especially against Wisconsin it translated well. And when it translates, the Wolverines are better because of it.

For that reason, when Naurato was asked if he had any advice for Hughes, he answered simply.

“Ehh, just keep doing what he’s doing,” Naurato said.

And if Hughes keeps doing what he’s doing, that bodes well for both him and Michigan.

string a few wins together, and even beat some of the teams it needs to beat. The number of Quad 1 notches it’s going to need on its belt to make the NCAA Tournament will still be, in all likelihood, out of reach.

There’s no specific number, per se, but it’s safe to say the Wolverines will need at least five to punch their ticket to the Big Dance — at least.

That’s less a result of the Wolverines’ lack of Quad 1 wins, and more the result of their greatest blemish — an abysmal Quad 4 loss to No. 319 NET-ranked Central Michigan. While Quad 1 wins are holy grails, Quad 4 losses are eternal damnations.

They float over teams like giant neon signs that say “Not a tournament team” in blaring red light.

While the teams carrying Quad 4 losses might not be inherently bad, it takes a lot to overcome those dings on the resume.

Last year, for example, Rutgers punched their ticket by the skin of their teeth. Making the play-in, the Scarlet Knights willed themselves to seven Quad 1 wins to overcome their season low-points. In a less extreme case, North Carolina needed five Quad 1 wins, and went undefeated in Quad 2 and 3, to make the tournament in spite of its Quad 4 loss. The

Wolverines, too, were on bubble watch and needed five Quad 1 wins to book their trip to the tournament, even without a Quad 4 loss.

So theoretically, Michigan could reach that threshold of five coveted Quad 1 wins if it went on a tear to end the season. The Wolverines could even chain enough wins in a row in the Big Ten Tournament to take home the trophy and be an autobid team. But currently, Michigan is given a 16.7% chance to make the NCAA Tournament by TeamRankings.

Mathematically, the Wolverines aren’t eliminated. But let’s take a step back and be realistic: Michigan hasn’t shown you anything that proves it will do what it takes to make it. There’s no signature win yet. There’s no consistency. And there’s no efficiency metrics that show Michigan is actually a good team behind a bad record.

There’s no real reason to have optimism.

So do yourself a favor and don’t get your hopes up. Because you’re just setting yourself up to get hurt.

‘I feel like a little kid again’: Steven Holtz returns from life-threatening illness

CONNOR EAREGOOD Managing Sports Editor

In another world, Steven Holtz might not be back here. After contracting adenovirus during an outbreak in November, the junior defenseman battled for survival. Complications from the illness put him in the ICU and nearly claimed his life, let alone his hockey career.

But that’s not how this story goes.

Because on Friday night against Wisconsin, Holtz made his triumphant return to the Michigan hockey team. Playing on the third pairing in a 6-2 win, his performance was the capstone of more than 11 weeks of difficult recovery.

“I feel like a little kid again, playing in my first game, you get the jitters when they call your name for the starting lineup,” Holtz said. “It’s surreal, right. It’s hard to take it all in.”

Surreal because his illness left him debilitated. His muscle memory disappeared. He struggled to even speak like his usual self.

When he skated his first strides after the illness, Holtz joked that he looked like he was just learning to skate on double-bladed skates. Everything was awkward for him, even choosing the words to articulate his experience. At times, he didn’t know if he’d ever take the ice again.

That made his presence all the more impressive. With all his usual intensity flaring behind his eyes, Holtz delivered a solid night on the ice for Michigan. He blocked a pair of shots to the delight of his hollering teammates, and he got into two fights to protect them — living up to the “Protect the Goalie” wristband he wore on his right hand.

“It brings a tear to our eyes just to see him out there and do his thing again, and we missed him so much,” freshman forward Gavin Brindley

said. “So it just shows how tight this group is and it’s like a dream come true for us to see him out there.”

That tight group got Holtz through a near tragedy. Whether it was director of hockey operations Topher Scott helping him relearn his skating stride or teammates spending quality time with him, Holtz found plenty of support from his team. Soon, he worked his way closer to normal.

“That muscle memory, it just clicked at one point,” Holtz said. “I was fighting the puck a little bit in practice. I was kind of being the drill ruiner again. But I think over time I just gained a little confidence.”

And that confidence only grew as he got his legs under him. Soon, he started hitting teammates in practice — despite being in a non-contact jersey. He returned to playing shape despite all the obstacles the illness dealt him.

But in order to play an actual game, he still needed to overcome NCAA eligibility rules. A mechanical engineering student stuck with multiple incomplete courses, he had to battle in the classroom too.

“I think these guys have it hard enough just being a college student,” Michigan coach Brandon Naurato said. “And being a college student athlete then going through something like that, where you just

don’t know at the time what it may be. … That made us stronger.”

By Wednesday of this week, Holtz still didn’t know when he would make the leap from practice ice to that of a game. He set a goal to play in the upcoming outdoor game against Ohio State, but he still needed to overcome NCAA redtape to make that happen. Walking into the training room Wednesday, though, Naurato delivered the words Holtz longed to hear. A phrase Holtz quoted with a slight grin:

“You’re f-ing playing.”

And he did so immediately, skating out with the starting lineup to take his first shift. Under the lights of Yost Ice Arena, you’d never know the battle Holtz endured. But you could see what it meant in the faces of his teammates, who watched him make the ultimate comeback just by being there.

“Everything that he’s gone through — we’re in it with him but you still don’t appreciate what him and his family have gone through,” Naurato said. “… But it’s awesome, man. It’s just awesome to have him back.”

Because just a short time ago, none of that was guaranteed. And that makes Holtz’s return against Wisconsin that much sweeter.

Liza Cushnir: Despite storied history, Michigan now controls rivalry with Michigan State

EAST LAN-

SING — For years, the premiere women’s basketball team in the state of Michigan was Michigan State.

Not anymore. After the No. 18 Michigan women’s basketball team pulled off a comeback win Sunday in East Lansing, the Wolverines have proven they are firmly in the driver’s seat of the rivalry.

Yes, the Spartans dominate the history of the series. They have 73 wins to Michigan’s 25 — nearly triple — and boast 18 NCAA Tournament appearances to the Wolverines’ 10. Michigan State also carries five combined Big Ten Titles. Michigan is still looking for its first.

But with the Wolverines in possession of six out of the last seven

games in the series, Michigan State’s reign over the rivalry is in the past.

“Michigan State has always been the program in the state, but why not Michigan?” Michigan coach

Kim Barnes Arico said Jan. 14 after defeating the Spartans at Crisler.

“The University of Michigan is great at everything. Why not women’s basketball, why not us?”

But still, after that game nearly a month ago, the Wolverines needed more to truly claim to be the state’s premiere program. They needed another win on the road, especially after being upset at Breslin Center last season.

That loss — the Spartans’ sole win in the series since 2020 — was a massive upset that contributed to Michigan’s failure to secure the regular season Big Ten title.

It was a game that delivered painful reminders of the history of the rivalry. Because for all of their success, the Wolverines weren’t out of the woods yet. They suffered a

shocking upset at the hands of their rivals, in a blast from the past.

And for the first 25 minutes of play on Sunday, history threatened to repeat itself. Michigan quickly found itself in a 10-0 hole and headed into the locker room at halftime facing a seven-point deficit.

But then, it flipped the script on the game with its 44-27 second half. And in doing so — even without its second-leading scorer and best defender in sophomore guard Laila Phelia — it flipped the script on the rivalry too.

The Wolverines could have crumbled without one of their best players, just as they crumbled with little depth last year. They didn’t. Michigan could have crumbled facing a halftime deficit. It didn’t. Instead, it pulled off the comeback win, its first victory of the season after trailing at halftime. And because of that — history aside — the Wolverines have proven that their time watching the state’s best basketball from the sidelines

is over. Michigan’s the one on the court now.

“A coach said one time, they said if you’re in this long enough, winning is a relief and losing feels like death,” Michigan State interim coach Dean Lockwood said. “And I will tell you, it does no matter what, but particularly in a rivalry game. We had tears in that locker room after the game, we had players that were so invested in this game and just wanted to bring this home.”

Last year, it was the Wolverines who were experiencing that pain, crying those tears.

“It’s always big, especially to beat Michigan State,” senior guard Maddie Nolan said. “… This time last year, competing for the Big Ten Title, I remember coming out after losing it and I was in tears.”

This year, there were no distraught tears in the locker room for Michigan. Instead, there were celebrations. Celebrations that began in earnest in the fourth quarter. When Nolan hit a 3-pointer to

extend the Wolverines’ lead to 11 points early in the quarter, Michigan’s bench erupted as the Spartans called timeout.

And as the upset win began to fully slip out of Michigan State’s grasp, it felt like the air was sucked out of Breslin, which quickly went from raucous to restrained. The corner had been turned, that hill finally summited.

So when fans started leaving minutes before the final buzzer, they weren’t just leaving the site of a deflating defeat. They were leaving behind years of dominance in the rivalry.

Sunday’s victory is only the Wolverines’ second in East Lansing since the 2015-16 season. But right now, when Michigan walks into Breslin, it’s expected to win. That never used to be the case.

“There’s always a celebratory feeling when you win any game,” fifth-year wing Leigha Brown said.

“But like coach (Barnes Arico) said earlier, when you’re in this kind

of hostile environment, I think it means a little bit more.”

When Barnes Arico was hired, Michigan State had won 11 straight games in the rivalry — and 20 out of the past 21. Since then, the Wolverines have won 10 out of 22. That’s still a losing record, but it doesn’t matter. Because despite the Spartans’ historic dominance in this series, right now, Michigan is in control, and it has been since 2020.

By winning in East Lansing, the Wolverines didn’t just sweep their rival. They delivered a performance that turned the tables on a history nearly 100 games long.

Because with six wins in seven games, Michigan isn’t the same program that saw multiple doubledigit losing streaks to Michigan State. It’s no longer the program that’s forced to live in the shadow of its in-state rival.

The Wolverines are now the best women’s basketball team in the state — and they proved it Sunday.

SARAH BOEKE/Daily

ICE HOCKEY

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL MARIA DECKMANN/Daily HANNAH TORRES/Daily

LIZA CUSHNIR

Michigan tops Ohio State, 77-69, for back-to-back wins

ABBIE TELGENHOF Daily Sports Editor

Sprawled on the floor underneath the basket, sophomore guard Kobe Bufkin should’ve been out of the offensive possession. After his jumper in the lane bounced around the rim and ultimately fell to the floor, Bufkin too fell to the ground looking for a foul call.

But in the absence of a whistle, Bufkin jumped up, grabbed his own rebound off a bounce, and tossed it back up for a put-back layup.

That moment was emblematic of Bufkin’s whole performance. Looking for back-to-back wins for the first time since early January, the Michigan men’s basketball team (13-11 overall, 7-5 Big Ten) dominated Ohio State (11-12, 3-9), 77-69, on the shoulders of Bufkin’s effort.

Despite being the Wolverines’ third-highest scorer behind junior center Hunter Dickinson and freshman wing Jett Howard, Bufkin’s 13 points, eight rebounds and five assists was the difference maker in Sunday afternoon’s tilt. Showcasing all the intangibles, communicating on defense and facilitating game play, Bufkin was irreplaceable against the Buckeyes.

“(The win) means a lot, it means that we’re on the right track hopefully,” Howard said. “That was a really good team. So we just had to come out early to bring that energy.”

From the tipoff, the Wolverines controlled all facets of the game. Draining back-to-back 3-pointers on the first two offensive possessions — one off an assist from Bufkin and one from his own hand. Michigan capitalized on its deep shooting to sustain early offensive momentum. The Wolverines scored from all three levels by finding their consistent scorers — Bufkin, Howard and Dickinson. Michigan quickly gained an early lead that it didn’t relinquish.

On the defensive end, in large part due to a major contribution from Bufkin, the Wolverines prevailed against the third-ranked offense in the country by capitalizing on their defensive advantages. Bufkin proved the most advantageous, contesting shots on the wing and playing elite pick-and-roll defense, keeping Ohio State from easy buckets.

“Kobe is huge to our team’s success,” Michigan coach Juwan Howard said. “We’re going to need him and there are going to be times when we go through him. But offensively he’s a guy that has really embraced becoming a two-way player.”

Even when the Buckeyes strung together a run after the under-8 timeout — cutting Michigan’s once 10-point lead to just three — the Wolverines found a way to keep it together, something they haven’t been able to do in the past. On the back of a made layup from Bufkin, Michigan kept hold of its lead. Fending off Ohio State for the remainder of the half, the Wolverines entered the locker room up 41-36.

And the Wolverines’ strong narrative only continued out of the break.

Coming out of halftime, the Buckeyes once again tried to claw their way back into the game. But Bufkin helped silence that hope with a clutch 3-pointer, stemming the bleeding from Ohio State’s quick offensive barrage and once again putting the game just out of reach.

“(Bufkin’s) just someone you love competing with,” graduate guard Joey Baker said. “He’s gonna give it everything he’s got and works his butt off and he’s a really good player. We’re happy to have him on our team and I think he’s just going to continue to get better and better.”

After a single-handed offensive run from

UN

Michigan beats

Michigan State, 77-67, completes series sweep

LYS GOLDMAN Daily Sports Writer

EAST LANSING — Until Sunday, the No. 18 Michigan women’s basketball team had never won a game in which it trailed at halftime.

Despite heading into the locker room down 40-33 against in-state rival Michigan State, the Wolverines rewrote that narrative and completed their first season series with a sweep. Coming from behind in the second half, Michigan (19-5 overall, 9-4 Big Ten) ultimately overpowered Michigan State (11-12, 3-9) en route to a statement 77-67 victory.

“(Fifth-year wing) Leigha (Brown) says her heart is still racing because of the intensity at which (the Spartans) started the game,” Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said. “They came out just on fire and intense and playing hard. And it took us a minute, but thankfully we were able to adjust and finish really strong.”

That intensity was evident as Michigan State jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead. Only after junior forward Cameron Williams notched a put-back layup in the fourth minute of play did the Wolverines get on the board. From there, the game was a battle of intensity and aggressiveness from both sides — a display that lived up to the rivalry hype.

However, in the second half and especially the final quarter, Michigan found its footing on both ends of the floor while the Spartans struggled to keep pace and sustain their first-half performance.

MICHIGAN 77 | OSU 69 MICHIGAN 77 | MSU 67

RIVAL ED

“We really emphasized defense (at halftime),” Brown said. “We weren’t really following our principles a lot in the first half. … Just really locking in and trying to get the people that we wanted to take shots, especially the threes, I think definitely helped our success.”

As the Wolverines tightened up on the defensive end, they simultaneously found their offensive stride.

Key to that offensive success was the Wolverines’ neutralization of Michigan State’s aggressive full court press after the Spartans successfully trapped players, intercepted passes and deflected loose balls throughout the first half.

“We didn’t get stops early and that allowed them to get full court pressure,” Barnes Arico said. “Once we got some stops, they weren’t able to do that as much and we settled down a little bit, but they got up in us and were super physical and super aggressive.”

The Spartans looked like the more aggressive team throughout the first quarter and parts of the second, feeding off the energy in a packed Breslin Center. As the game wore on into the second half, however, the Wolverines made adjustments that allowed them to take control when it mattered most.

Michigan flipped the script and achieved its first comeback victory of the season in sweeping fashion.

Those adjustments were facilitated by the usual suspects — Brown and senior guard Maddie Nolan. The duo led the charge for the Wolverines on offense. Brown finished with a double-double, notching 29 points and 12 rebounds along with eight assists — all team-highs. She served as a complete leader, facilitator and scorer on the floor throughout the matchup.

Nolan knocked down five of the team’s seven total 3-pointers, many of them coming in crucial moments. Her shots helped keep Michigan within striking distance in the first half and contributed to extending the comeback lead in the second.

“When (Nolan is) hitting shots like that, it’s really really hard to guard us,” Brown said. “She was shooting with a lot of confidence today.”

Dickinson, the Wolverines built their lead back up to seven points midway through the half. The small lead, boosted by defensive stops, was the final nail in the coffin for the Buckeyes down the stretch. Continuing to go with what it knows, Michigan dug deep on defense and utilized its trio of scorers — Dickinson, Bufkin and Jett — to maintain that small lead.

Continuing their prowess on the defensive end throughout the remainder of the half, the Wolverines held Ohio State to 69 points — under the Buckeyes’ average of 76 points per game. Locking down the paint and contesting every shot from behind the arc, Michigan made scoring increasingly difficult.

And as the clock ticked down on Sunday afternoon, the Wolverines — riding the high of Bufkin’s stellar performance and back-to-back wins for the first time since early January — headed to the locker room. This time, to celebrate.

JULIANNE YOON & LILA TURNER/Daily

Graduate forward Emily Kiser also contributed to the Wolverines’ turnaround performance after the halftime break. Despite being held scoreless in the first half, she finished the game with eight points, increasing her involvement in the second half and allowing the Wolverines to effectively open up the floor.

“We couldn’t really establish Emily in the first half because she was guarded by a guard,” Barnes Arico said. “She was getting double teamed on the other side, so the players were able to make some adjustments and really get Emily going a little bit more (in the second half).”

Although Michigan eventually pulled away in the fourth quarter, the game was still up for grabs heading into the final 10 minutes and neither team’s intensity let up until the final buzzer.

The Spartans refused to go down easy, but Michigan’s momentum proved too much to keep up with down the stretch. The Wolverines looked firmly in control throughout the final quarter, holding Michigan State scoreless for over five minutes towards the end of the game.

In the process, Michigan flipped the script and achieved its first comeback victory of the season in sweeping fashion.

Design by Lys Goldman

Showcasing all the intangibles, communicating on defense and facilitating game play, Bufkin was irreplaceable against the Buckeyes.

Designed by Leyla Dumke

Illustrated by Sara Fang

On a Wednesday in a cafe: Meet-cutes & the complicated art of college dating

REESE MARTIN Statement Deputy Editor

On a snowy Wednesday afternoon in January, I’m curled up in the corner of a coffee shop with an open book and shivering hands. As I sip on a steaming latte to recover from Ann Arbor’s arctic wind chill, my trembling fingers turn the page under the furled sleeves of my winter sweater. The main characters of my latest romcom novel meet for the first time, and Emily Henry choreographs an awkward, yet charming, conversation between two freshmen at the University of Chicago. Though the pair couldn’t be more different, they embark on a classic friends-to-lovers plot as they carpool home together at the end of the semester. Of course, the two just happen to be from the same town in middle-of-nowhere Ohio — consistent with a wholesome love trope inspired by innocent midwestern roots.

Like many modern-day romances, Henry’s “People We Meet on Vacation” exists within the confines of realistic fiction: A world just similar enough to our own so readers believe that they, too, will find their soulmate whilst loitering in a cafe on a Wednesday afternoon — much like I am now. Whether the characters meet by a fated book dropped in the hallway or a mistakenly swapped order at the local coffee shop, the formula for most rom-coms require a “meet-cute” scenario to launch the romance. As defined by Merriam-Webster, the term “meet-cute” refers to any “cute, charming, or amusing first encounter between romantic partners.” Ac-

cording to rom-com lore, the concept was born from the 1938 film “Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife,” describing the scene in which the main characters met as they shopped for pajamas and shared witty, spark-fueled banter. The meet-cute garnered more popularity as its role solidified in cheesy movies and romance novels of the ’90s and early 2000s. Now, as love-story classics like “The Notebook” and “When Harry Met Sally” are succeeded by the Colleen Hoovers and Emily Henrys of the literary world, today’s young adults are still conditioned to expect a meet-cute of their own. Like many of my peers, I too hope the realistic part of the rom-com fiction genre exists in more than just on-screen, on-page chemistry.

Yet, as Gen Z is subjected to the social landscapes of online dating, frat parties and nights out at bars, are the meet-cutes that inspire our favorite romances even a possibility on a college campus?

As readily detailed in The Michigan Daily’s Opinion column “Modern romance is dead, and Tinder killed it,” research suggests that apps like Tinder and Hinge impede on our ability to make genuine romantic connections. Not only are we faced with surface-level information about the individuals we encounter online, but also the option-abundant nature of the apps can turn users’ dating experiences into sites of instant gratification; thus, fueling the addictive minds these companies prey upon. Moreover, I personally can’t bring myself to download Bumble or Tinder when there’s a distinct possibility I meet someone I actually like on there. What if we start dating and then I have to tell people that we met because, one Sunday night at 2:00 a.m., he decided to swipe right on a photo I took two years ago? As a guilty-ascharged rom-com lover, I’d prefer to lie and make up my own meet-cute story rather than expose that particular truth. However, despite my personal preferences on the subject,

many have, and continue to meet, their significant others online. In fact, your profile’s existence on such apps can act as a flag of singledom to other users. On a college campus, where the 5-mile radius setting on Tinder includes people you already know from class and student orgs, a profile can simply let interested acquaintances know you’re available.

Outside the digital world, many university students rely on the campus party scene to meet one another. But, like any seasoned upperclassman or graduate would say, you’re not going to meet your future spouse in the basement of a frat house. While our wise elders may be on to something there, how are we supposed to meet anyone when our social settings are dominated by frat-like events, where a booming bass and an open bar often impede our more rational selves?

As anticipated, students who were taught to expect organic encounters with romantic partners are thoroughly disenchanted with the realities of dating on a college campus. Business sophomore, Meha Nagireddy, describes the challenges of developing authentic connections at the University of Michigan.

“Unfortunately, I feel like people are primarily establishing relationships online,” Nagireddy said. “It sucks because I hate Snapchat. I think it’s the worst thing. I’ve just stopped giving people my Snap at this point.”

Rather than experience the inperson, hopefully witty banter of firsttime encounters, college students have grown accustomed to conversations mitigated by smart-device features.

“A lot of the time people communicate over text messages. FaceTime is like the big jump indicating that they are getting a little more serious,” Nagrieddy said. “It’s become like a game … timing your texts so you’re not responding too fast and coming across desperate.”

IRENA TUTUNARI Statement Columnist

I, self-proclaimed, am a hopeless romantic. Far too much of my free time has been spent overindulging in the typical rom-com movie fantasies. Two strangers meet, perhaps stumble into each other in that oh-so-whimsical way, fall in love, have the inevitable misunderstanding that leaves us (or maybe just me) screaming into pillows and waving fists in the air,

Rom-coms: a distorted reality

followed by the long-awaited but never-doubted happily ever after. Bonus points if there’s rain. I’m looking at you, “The Notebook.” Ever since I had braces and hair that frizzed in a way that Rachel McAdams’ never would, I’ve been completely enamored by the romantic comedy.

This falsified idea of love being the happy, rose-tinted “after” to contrast a dismal “before” characterized by microwaveable meals for one was completely ingrained

in the way I thought about relationships. Rom-coms taught me, if anything, that a life without allconsuming romance is one inherently lacking something. Until we find this romance that sweeps us off of our feet to the non-diegetic voice of Céline Dion, we are painfully unfulfilled and subject to aimless waiting. Yet I still choose to consume these movies, again and again, knowing they completely skew my perception of realistic love. What other option is there?

There are hardly any movies about self-love — women who focus on themselves and don’t have a yearning for romance, or women who simply live without some sort of romantic pursuit. Sure, there are movies about empowered women who take charge of their lives and chase after their ambitions, but they are still portrayed as lacking something within themselves — in blunt terms — lacking a heart. They need the love and all too subtle “handling” of a man

to knock some sense into them, transforming them from robot to woman. This is a misleading example to follow, and has conditioned me to believe that if I lack aweinspiring romance in my life, then there is an inherent dissatisfaction within me propagating this sense of “unfulfillment.” Or rather, my life is an example of pure normalcy that rom-coms purposely disguise as unfulfillment.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Lots of love: a reflection on the relationship between culture and love

ZHANE YAMIN Statement Contributor

One of the first concepts introduced in Physics 240 at the University of Michigan — Coulomb’s Law — has a lot more to offer than just a description of the physical world. The law, critical to the understanding of all concepts under electricity and magnetism, helps quantify the electrostatic force of attraction between two charged objects.

While people aren’t exactly charges floating around the vacuum of space, the attraction and connection felt between two people is, without a doubt, one of the strongest forces within our observable universe. But what bonds people together — love, as it’s commonly called — does not act independently from other forces that are at play, forces like weight.

As a Pakistani-American, I’ve felt my culture, background and family weigh on my love life constantly. Undeniably, I’ve always found my culture to be a great power, one that can offer purpose and guidance in times of need. With great power, though, comes great

responsibility — a responsibility to carry culture with you always, lest you let it become diluted. And, for the most part, it’s doable, albeit extremely difficult while immersed in a culture that is fundamentally different from your own. The problem becomes infinitely harder when dealing with love. I can turn away from pork and alcohol, speak Urdu and arrive late to parties — all pivotal aspects of Pakistani culture — much easier than I can turn away from love. Because I lacked the freedom to experience love much elsewhere, I often found myself in parking lots: an in-between, neither an origin nor a destination. To be stuck in between love and culture is to inhabit these liminal spaces, both voluntarily and not.

Target

Errands, as it turns out, are one of the easiest ways to get an excuse to go somewhere. Since my only available method to develop a meaningful romantic relationship with anyone centered around excuses, I found myself partaking in them often. I would go to many different places — Target being one of the most frequented — just to

spend time with someone I loved. I walked through countless aisles, looked through countless items, but bought absolutely nothing. After all, I was only there to spend time, not money.

Being a Pakistani-American college student in a predominantly white institution like the University of Michigan’s is a weird feeling. It’s as though everyone around you is either talking about love, in love or dealing with the repercussions of love. The collective mood that results from the culture of date parties, marriage pacts and Tinder almost makes me forget that there was ever a point where I wasn’t able to love freely. That is, until I actually think about loving someone.

I don’t want to frame the problem of cultural pressure surrounding love as a challenge that others inflict upon me. It’s really an internal struggle, a voice in the back of my mind that seems to feed off of the impossibility of my fantasies. I tell myself that we’re too different, or that our parents wouldn’t get along or that they wouldn’t understand certain traditions in an attempt to undermine my own ability to love.

I found myself window shop-

ping. Looking endlessly through many different aisles filled with different things, but being unable to buy anything. In an at-

tempt to stalwart my own sabotage, I defer to the parking lot.

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