CELEBRATING OUR ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIFTH YEAR OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Friday, April 3, 2015
Ann Arbor, Michigan
michigandaily.com
ADMINISTRATION
Future of ‘U’ housing renovations uncertain
ANDREW COHEN/Daily
LEFT: Students and community members attend a candlelight vigil in the Michigan for the annual “Take Back the Night” rally. TOP RIGHT: Participants in “Take Back the Night” march down the streets of Ann Arbor to protest sexual violence. BOTTOM RIGHT: Michigan Take Back the Night arranged for a police escort.
Students rally on campus for ‘Take Back the Night’ Over 200 march from the Union to protest sexual violence By EMMA KINERY Daily Staff Reporter
Thursday’s gloomy weather did not rain on the parade of activists participating in the 37th annual Take Back the Night rally. The event was hosted by the student organization University
Students Against Rape and the Ann Arbor chapter of Michigan Takes Back the Night, and was funded and sponsored by Central Student Government. The rally began at the Michigan Union where marchers gathered to watch performances by singer Hope Thomas and the dance groups Salto Dance Company and Liem Irish Dance. Several members of the organization spoke throughout the performances before the march, and one survivor gave a testimonial. LSA freshman Hayley Walton informed attendees of the organi-
zation’s new resource on the Take Back the Night’s website, which allows survivors to share their stories with the option of anonymity. Many ralliers, like LSA freshman Rachel Beglin, noted sexual assault as a pertinent issue. “I haven’t had as horrible of an experience as some, but I have been definitely personally exposed to the way people talk on campus,” Beglin said. “It’s really not OK and that’s what we’re saying tonight.” Campus and community organizations set up tables to advocate for their causes related to sexual
assault awareness and prevention. Planned Parenthood, Students For Choice, Free Hearts, I Will Week, the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center, SafeHouse, What the F magazine, Students For Reproductive Justice and promoters of the app Companion all had tables at the event. Take Back the Night also had tables selling T-shirts and distributing wristbands and stickers. They also had a table where marchers could write a message of hope on a balloon which would be released during the march. See RALLY, Page 3
Next stage of projects could focus on North Campus facilities By GENEVIEVE HUMMER Daily Staff Reporter
Over the past decade, the University has undertaken several significant efforts to improve residential life on campus through the Residential Life Initiatives, launched by University President Emerita Mary Sue Coleman in 2004. According to University Housing, nearly 10,000 undergraduate students live in one of the University’s 18 residence halls and 1,480 individual apartments each year. When it comes to freshmen specifically, 97 percent elect to live in University housing during their first year, meaning most freshmen students eat, sleep, study and socialize in the University’s residential spaces. Since the program was launched, the Residence Life Initiative has pumped millions of dol-
lars into the University’s residence halls. West Quad Residential Hall’s reopening in the fall will mark the end of the initiative’s second phase, which included massive projects at East Quad and South Quad as well. Though the University does not currently have the funding in place for a third phase of the project, several University administrators say North Campus dorms would likely be the focus of a future project. “Now we’re doing the planning to think, well, if that ends in 2017, we have a little time now to think about what we want to do next,” Loren Rullman, associate vice president for student affairs, said in an interview with The Michigan Daily. Residential Life Initiatives Citing the connection between living and learning, Coleman consistently identified improvements to residential life as one of the cornerstones of her presidency. “I want our university to invest time, effort and funding in expanding and improving the residential experience of our students,” Coleman said in 2004. “We can find a host of new ways to provide a better environment for learning and See DORMS, Page 3
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
ANN ARBOR
CSG results in executive race certified after cases
Ward 1 Council candidates talk zoning, safety
Make Michigan retains positions after UEC resolves litigation
Ahead of primary, newcomer Will Leaf to face long-serving member Sabra Briere
By NABEEL CHOLLAMPAT
SAN PHAM/Daily
Daily Staff Reporter
U.S. House Representative Debbie Dingell discusses her experiences as a woman in politics during the “Pathway to Politics: Women in Elected Office” panel at the Ford School of Public Policy on Thursday.
After a week of litigation, LSA junior Cooper Charlton and LSA sophomore Steven Halperin, Make Michigan presidential-elect and vice presidential-elect, respectively, will hold on to their five-vote lead in this year’s Central Student Government elections. Results were previously unofficial due to several pending cases filed to the University Election Commission by The Team and Make Michigan against each other. The last of those cases were decided Wednesday evening. Both parties were found not guilty, and both chose not to appeal those decisions. Law student Paige Becker, the University’s elections director, said the results were now certified, due to the decisions. Along with the presidency and vice presidency, results for the CSG assembly were also certified. Make Michigan won 23 seats and the Department of Public Safety Oversight Committee seat. The Team won 21 seats, the Defend Affirmative See RESULTS, Page 3
Female elected officials talk experiences in office
WEATHER TOMORROW
HI: 50 LO: 30
Slate of women leaders encourage students to engage with politics By EMMA KINERY Daily Staff Reporter
Several prominent state female political leaders visited the Ford School of Public Policy on Thursday to discuss women’s experiences running for elected office. The event drew about 50 attendees, mostly female, and was hosted by Graduate Career Services and Women and Gender in Public Policy. U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D–Mich.) introduced the panel, which consisted of
Gretchen Whitmer, former Michigan Senate minority leader; Regent Kathy White (D), chair of the University’s Board of Regents; state Rep. Gretchen Driskell (D–Saline); and state Rep. Stephanie Chang (D– Detroit). Chang participated via conference call and the rest attended in person. Before the start of the panel, Public Policy Dean Susan Collins noted that each of the panelists have a connection the Public Policy School, either as students, guest lecturers or representatives of the University. In her introduction, Dingell encouraged women to run for office because of the different viewpoints she said they bring to the table. “Women bring a different perspective to the public policy arena,” Dingell said. “Women
GOT A NEWS TIP? Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail news@michigandaily.com and let us know.
are people who have to balance more balls than men. The younger generation is doing more of this than some of my generation.” Referencing a book focused on the ethics of kindness that she said influenced her in college, Dingell said she felt “care” was what women brought to public policy, and that women are better at bringing people with differing viewpoints together. Chang also noted the different approaches that women bring to the legislature. She said women tend to be more collaborative as leaders, and added that women tend to understand policies affecting families, women and children better than their male colleagues. “There have been studies and See PANEL, Page 3
NEW ON MICHIGANDAILY.COM Turkey wanders through Bursley MICHIGANDAILY.COM/BLOGS
INDEX
By ANASTASSIOS ADAMOPOULUOS Daily Staff Reporter
University alum William Leaf, a 2012 graduate, is challenging incumbent Sabra Briere (D–Ward 1) for her 1st Ward City Council seat. In anticipation of the upcoming Aug. 4 Democratic primary election, Briere and Leaf discussed their goals and oftentimes contrasting priorities. The 1st Ward divides Central Campus in half. Extending from the Law Quad to beyond North Campus, it is exemplary of the thin lines that exist between city and campus. According to a study conducted by The Michigan Daily in February, 24.54 percent of students are registered in the 1st Ward, making it the second-highest student-registered ward after the 2nd Ward. Briere, a University alum and an Ann Arbor resident since 1973, said that prior to getting involved with City Council she worked a number of jobs. Her last job was for a nonprofit organization which she lost due during the recession. “Why do I run again? Part of
Vol. CXXIV, No. 94 ©2015 The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com
that reason is that I think I am really effective in what I am doing. That feeling of effectiveness is remarkably rewarding,” she said. Briere has retained her seat since her first appointment in November 2007. Briere characterizes herself as a City Council member who acts independently — a strategy she says she tried to maintain in what she found to be a divided City Council in the past. “I don’t make decisions based on who else is supporting something, and I don’t make decisions based on personal loyalties,” she said. “I make decisions based, as much as I can, on the facts in front of me. Even when I don’t like the facts. They are still facts.” Briere said one of her main strengths is being open to listening to people’s problems and listening to all sides of an issue. Her main concerns are infrastructure changes that may be needed due to changing weather patterns, increasing pedestrian safety and reconsidering zoning rules, among others. “Sometimes it’s about being able to see results,” she said. “But sometimes it’s about being able to see the big picture. Seeing the moving parts and seeing the consequences, both the anticipated ones and the unanticipated ones that no one was expecting to see.” Briere is also on the city’s Planning Commission, the Environmental Commission, Housing and Human Services Advisory Board See COUNCIL, Page 3
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 ARTS.....................5
SPORTS......................7 SUDOKU.....................2 CLASSIFIEDS...............6
News
2 — Friday, April 3, 2015
MONDAY: This Week in History
TUESDAY: Campus Voices
WEDNESDAY: In Other Ivory Towers
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
THURSDAY: Twitter Talk
FRIDAY: Photos of the Week
420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www.michigandaily.com JENNIFER CALFAS DOUGLAS SOLOMON
Editor in Chief 734-418-4115 ext. 1251 jcalfas@michigandaily.com
Business Manager 734-418-4115 ext. 1241 dougsolo@michigandaily.com
Newsroom
News Tips
734-418-4115 opt. 3
news@michigandaily.com
Corrections
Letters to the Editor
corrections@michigandaily.com
tothedaily@michigandaily.com
Arts Section
Editorial Page
arts@michigandaily.com
opinion@michigandaily.com
Sports Section
Photography Section
sports@michigandaily.com
photo@michigandaily.com
Display Sales
Classified Sales
dailydisplay@gmail.com
classified@michigandaily.com
Online Sales
Finance
onlineads@michigandaily.com
finance@michigandaily.com
EDITORIAL STAFF Lev Facher
Managing Editor
Sam Gringlas
lfacher@michigandaily.com
Managing News Editor
gringlas@michigandaily.com
SENIOR NEWS EDITORS: Shoham Geva, Will Greenberg, Amabel Karoub, Emma Kerr, Emilie Plesset, Michael Sugerman ASSISTANT NEWS EDITORS: Anastassios Adamopoulos, Tanaz Ahmed, Neala Berkowski, Alyssa Brandon, Nabeel Chollampat, Genevieve Hummer, Emma Kinery, Lara Moehlman, Carly Noah, Irene Park
LEFT LSA sophomore Tamer Abuhalawah and LSA senior Ammarah Syed hold signs in support of the divestment resolution voted down during the Central Student Government meeting in the Rogel Ballroom at the Michigan Union on Tuesday. (Ruby Wallau/Daily) RIGHT Rapper G-Eazy performs at the Block M Party at Hill Auditorium on Saturday. (Zach Moore/Daily)
More Photos of the Week online
CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES
ON THE WEB... michigandaily.com
“Museums As Geology lecture “Why Winning WHAT: Professor Yvette D. Isn’t Everything” Knowledge” Kuiper from the Colorado WHAT: University
THE WIRE
Snyder would reject RFRA
professors and the director of the Museum Studies Program, Carla Sinopoli, will discuss how museums can function as “sites of knowledge-production.” WHO: Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies WHEN: Today at 12 p.m. WHERE: Tisch Hall
BY SHOHAM GEVA
Governor Rick Snyder (R) said that, if a Religious Freedom Restoration Act bill were to need his approval, he would reject it. The bill is currently in committee in the Michigan State senate.
“Music With Dance”
THE WIRE
Turkey runs loose in Bursley
School of Mines will explore the Nashoba Terrane in Eastern Massachusetts, and its implications for the future of the geological area. WHO: Earth and Environmental Sciences WHEN: Today at 3 p.m. WHERE: Clarence Cook Little Building
“The Cherry Orchard”
WHAT: Professor Lisa Nakamura will discuss how the world of gaming has come across a problem of gender and diversity. WHO: Computer and Video Game Archive WHEN: Today at 4 p.m. WHERE: Hatcher Graduate Library Room 100
Masters recital
WHAT: Peng-Chian Chen’s recital will play a set of WHAT: Flutist Erika WHAT: The Rude classical music, featuring Boysen’s final recital will Mechanicals present their pieces from Bach, Ravel, and consist of performances interpretation of Anton Liszt on the piano. ranging across the musical Chekhov’s play, translated WHO: School of Music, spectrum, like music with by Paul Schmidt, about an Theatre & Dance art and dance, choreography, impoverished family and the WHEN: Today at 8 p.m. original video art and plight of its beloved cherry WHERE: Walgreen Drama lighting design. orchard. Center—Stamps Auditorium WHO: University Library WHO: Michigan Union l Please report any WHEN: Today from 7 p.m. Ticket Office error in the Daily to 8:30 p.m. WHEN: Today at 8 p.m. to corrections@ WHERE: Duderstadt WHERE: Lydia michigandaily.com. Center—Video Studio Mendelssohn Theatre
BY TANAZ AHMED
Thanksgiving came early to North Campus this year. A wild turkey was found in the Bursley Residence Hall Thursday around 4 p.m., University Police spokesperson Diane brown confirmed Thursday evening.
THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW TODAY
1
Iran and the United States have reportedly come to a deal over Iran’s current nuclear program that stipulates “two-thirds of Iran’s current enrichment capacity will be suspended, monitored for 10 years, Reuters reported.
2
Michigan will play its annual Spring Game Saturday at noon in Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh’s first public appearance at Michigan Stadium since being hired on Dec. 30. A crowd of at least 35,000 is expected.
3
Republican lawmakers in Indiana are introducing a proposal to amend the “religious freedom” law by stating the law cannot be used to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity, the Indianapolis Star reported.
Aarica Marsh and Derek Wolfe Editorial Page Editors
opinioneditors@michigandaily.com
SENIOR EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS: Claire Bryan and Matt Seligman ASSISTANT EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS: Regan Detwiler, Michael Paul, Melissa Scholke, Michael Schramm, Mary Kate Winn BLOG EDITOR: Tori Noble
Max Cohen and Jake Lourim Managing Sports Editors
sportseditors@michigandaily.com
SENIOR SPORTS EDITORS: Max Bultman, Daniel Feldman, Rajat Khare, Erin Lennon, Jason Rubinstein, Jeremy Summitt ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITORS: Chloe Aubuchon, Minh Doan, Jacob Gase, Kelly Hall, Zach Shaw, Brad Whipple
Adam Depollo and Chloe Gilke Managing Arts Editors
adepollo@michigandaily.com chloeliz@michigandaily.com
SENIOR ARTS EDITORS: Jamie Bircoll, Kathleen Davis, Catherine Sulpizio, Adam Theisen ARTS BEAT EDITORS: Alex Bernard, Karen Hua, Jacob Rich, Amelia Zak
Allison Farrand and Ruby Wallau Managing Photo Editors
photo@michigandaily.com
SENIOR PHOTO EDITORS: Luna Anna Archey and James Coller ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITORS: Amanda Allen, Virginia Lozano, Paul Sherman
Emily Schumer and design@michigandaily.com Shane Achenbach Managing Design Editors Ian Dillingham Magazine Editor statement@michigandaily.com DEPUTY MAGAZINE EDITORS: Natalie Gadbois STATEMENT PHOTO EDITOR: Luna Anna Archey STATEMENT LEAD DESIGNER: Jake Wellins
Hannah Bates and Laura Schinagle Managing Copy Editors
copydesk@michigandaily.com
SENIOR COPY EDITORS: Emily Campbell and Emma Sutherland
Amrutha Sivakumar
Online Editor
amrutha@michigandaily.com
Kaylla Cantilina Managing Video Editor Carolyn Gearig Special Projects Manager
BUSINESS STAFF Madeline Lacey University Accounts Manager Ailie Steir Classified Manager Simonne Kapadia Local Accounts Manager Olivia Jones Production Managers Jason Anterasian Finance Manager
The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office for $2. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $110. Winter term (January through April) is $115, yearlong (September through April) is $195. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and The Associated Collegiate Press.
City Council to consider possible increased student waste removal Skatepark ordinace would create advisory commission
By LARA MOEHLMAN Daily Staff Reporter
The Ann Arbor City Council will meet Monday night to discuss several resolutions, including an agreement with Ann Arbor Recycle to meet student move-in needs. Council members will also discuss the establishment of the Ann Arbor Skatepark Advisory Committee and an amendment to a lease of the Longshore Park parking lot to accommodate increased popularity of the kayak and canoe rental business, Argo Canoe Livery. Resolution to increase student move-out services Sudoku Syndication Last June, City Council approved a three-year contract with Recycle Ann Arbor to pro-
vide complete solid waste services at the corner of Tappan Street and Oakland Avenue during student fall and spring move-in at the University. The $35,000 contract includes staffing the site, providing roll-off container service and reuse options. Recycle Ann Arbor is a nonprofit organization that provides education and services in recycling collection, processing and distribution within the city. Following a communityexpressed need for an extra week of services during the fall, the city proposed this increase to their original waste removal plan. If passed, the fall services will be extended to a total of 21 days. According to the contract, the city can adjust the numbers as needed. The spring move-in services will remain at 12 days. It was also discovered that there was an increase in illegal dumping of Freon-containing appliances, exceeded the original contract’s expectations. According to the
SUDOKU MEDIUM
1
5
4
3
2
4
8
9
2
9
1
7
6
2
3
5
6
2
4
7
8
7
COMPROMISE.
4
5
1
6 © sudokusolver.com. For personal use only. puzzle by sudokusyndication.com
resolution, dumping levels may remain at this higher level. This extension of services will increase the cost of the service by $15,000 per year. Resolution establishing Skatepark Advisory Committee Sponsored by councilmembers Julie Grand (D–Ward 3) and Mike Anglin (D–Ward 5), this resolution proposes to establish a Skatepark Advisory Committee to help Ann Arbor operate and maintain the Ann Arbor Skatepark, located at Veterans Memorial Park on Jackson Avenue. ZACH MOORE/Daily City Council approved an agreeWashtenaw County Commissioner Yousef Rabhi discusses the results of the JustDems’ campus-wide poverty ment between the Friends of the awareness survey in the Michigan Union on Thursday. Ann Arbor Skatepark and the City of Ann Arbor for the upkeep of the park in July 2013. If passed, the Skatepark Advisory Committee would have nine members serving two-year terms. The members would be appointed by City Council, and would include to gauge campus awareness on erty line estimate. http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ at least one person from City Park poverty. The survey included From the survey results, staff, Washtenaw County Parks & 270 University students, which Cowan said she learned a majorRecreation staff and the City Park represents about 1 percent of ity of students identified that Advisory Commission. The comBy ALLANA AKHTAR the undergraduate student pop- there is a standard of living mittee would also have at least two Daily Staff Reporter ulation. Members of JustDems below which they are not interpeople who are either director or were included in the survey ested in living, yet many Ameriofficer of the Friends of the Ann At a panel hosted by the tally. cans do live below the poverty Arbor Skatepark. University’s chapter of ColResults showed a lack of line. Resolution to amend a lease lege Democrats on Thurs- awareness about the issue “Imagine what a person with Huron River Holdings, Inc. day, community leaders from among respondents in several who’s actually impoverished is Since 2012, the parking lot at Washtenaw County discussed areas. Survey respondents iden- experiencing, it’s not a quality 416 Longshore Dr. has been used to several topics relating to income tified the minimum income a of life that any of you would be accommodate parking needs at the inequality. family of four needs to afford interested in pursuing,” Cowan Argo Livery. The event focused on several necessities for living as $58,437, said. The original lease terms stated different areas, namely poverty $34,187 under what the federal Robinson, who recently the city could use the parking lot and income inequality, as well poverty line estimates. Respon- spearheaded a report to gauge only until noon Saturdays, Sunas local policy initiatives to dents also misestimated the the state of income inequality in days and holidays between Memocombat both issues. percentage of the national pop- Washtenaw County, also highrial Day and Labor Day. However, On the panel were Yousef ulation in poverty at 22 percent, lighted several of the project’s the Huron River and Cascades are Rabhi, vice chair of the Board 7.5 percent higher than the true recommendations during his popular recreation sites for inner of Commissioners for Washt- population. comments. tubing and kayaking, resulting in enaw County, Keta Cowan, However, when asked about The report found that income the parking lot being used for overchief executive officer of Synod the survey results, Robinson inequality is growing in the flow about every day of the week. Residential Services, a nonprofit said students’ incorrect guesses area and that more than half of If passed, this resolution calls that provides services to mar- about the poverty line are not the county have seen a decline ginalized and disabled citizens entirely in touch with reality, in their pay since 2005. It sugfor the city to pay an additional $9,000 annually in response to the in Southeast Michigan, and citing the United Way’s Asset gested the creation of a local increased use of the Longshore Sociology Lecturer Ian Robin- Limited, Income Constrained, task force to combat income Drive parking lot. son, president of the Huron Val- Employed report. The study equality, which has since been The terms of the lease will ley Central Labor Council. gauged the basic minimal created. The panel followed an unveil- income for a family to live in “There is not only … growing extend from April 18, 2015, to Oct. 25, 2015, with an administrative ing of a survey disseminated by Michigan was around $60,600, inequality but a growing share renewal option for two successive the College Democrats’ social significantly closer to the surjustice committee, JustDems, vey results than the federal povone-year periods. See POVERTY, Page 3
Generate and solve Sudoku, Super Sudoku and Godoku puzzles at sudokusyndication.com!
College Democrats host panel to discuss income inequalities Student survey talks poverty
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
DORMS From Page 1 living in our residence halls.” When the plan for phase one of the RLI — titled the Comprehensive Housing Plan— was first presented to the University’s Board of Regents in September 2004, it included proposals for a new residence hall, renovations to two existing residence halls and upgrades for several campus dining facilities. Rullman said a handful of factors have allowed the University to make significant improvements to campus structures over the past decade. “We’ve had a very favorable bond market, construction market, very generous donors, very supportive regents and very supportive students who have participated,” Rullman said. “Those four factors over the last 10 years have been tremendous.” Mosher-Jordan Residence Hall was the first large renovation completed under the RLI, during the first phase. In 2008, MosherJordan reopened after a two-year, $65 million renovation. The renovation included a new, two-story dining center and set a precedent for campus dining facilities in terms of number of food options, scale and central location. In 2010, construction of the $175 million North Quad Residential and Academic Complex was completed. The dorm, which is restricted to upperclassmen, was recently named one of the 30 most luxurious student housing buildings in the country by Best College Values. Before North Quad was completed, Bursley Hall, opened in 1967, was the newest residence hall at the University. Kicking off the second phase of the project, East Quad and South Quad underwent multi-million dollar renovations, re-opening in Fall 2013 and Fall 2014, respectively. Both residence halls received refurbished community rooms, dining facilities and bathrooms. This fall, West Quad, also a part of the initiative’s second phase, will see changes as well. Originally built in 1937, it will re-open following a $114.5 million makeover. The renovation will remove the dining center to provide space for additional community rooms. The expanded South Quad dining hall was designed to provide space for the resulting influx of Central Campus diners. The RLI has been divided into distinct phases — phase one, from 2004 to 2012, included renovating the Hill Dining Center, MosherJordan Hall, Stockwell Residence Hall, North Quad, Couzens Residence Hall and Alice Lloyd Residence Hall, while phase two has included the East, West and South Quad renovations. Though Rullman said approximately one-third of the University’s housing inventory has yet to be fully renovated, the first round of improvements funded life safety systems for every residence hall.
RALLY From Page 1 Organizers signified themselves by wearing teal-colored shirts, and counselors for anyone who needed help during the event wore white armbands. Survivors were encouraged to wear teal arm bands if they felt comfortable doing so. One of the speakers on behalf of Take Back the Night noted the organization’s frustration with the lack of attention University officials have given to the prevention sexual assault. They said when they reached out to University President Mark Schlissel to speak at the event, he said he was unavailable, but would send someone else from his administration. However, they said, no one from the administration came. Members of the organization took this as the University not making sexual assault prevention a priority. Quinn Davis, organizer and community member, listed off statistics about the rate of sexual assault, as well as defining consent. She said one-fifth of women and one out of 71 men are raped in their lifetime; one-fourth of all women and one-sixth of all men experience sexual assault in their lifetime. She also said a majority of individuals are raped before they turn 24 and 42 percent are raped before they turn 18. “Are we making any progress? Yes,” Davis said. “The Rape Abuse and Incest National Network
News
“One of the things we’ve done in all of our buildings already are life safety improvements,” Rullman said. “So all of our buildings are incredibly safe, they just don’t all have brand new finishes in the bathroom and energy efficient fixtures and that kind of thing in all the bathrooms.” The construction portion of phase two will conclude with the re-opening of West Quad, but the financing for phase two will carry into 2017. Financing for phase two entails a 3-percent increase on room and board rates. “We say phasing so people understand you just can’t do it all at once,” said Rullman. “We have a commitment to make sure that all of our students over time live in good, healthy, productive facilities.” Henry Baier, associate vice president for facilities and operations, added that many external observers don’t see the extensive planning that goes into the renovations. “I think a lot of students don’t appreciate the length of time that it takes,” he said. “It’s not because we’re slow … they all take a while because you have to plan it out and get the construction underway. Even once we decide where we’re going there’s some start-up time that the public doesn’t see.” Choosing buildings for renovation Baier said the University uses a deferred maintenance program to keep up with campus renovations. Through the program, the University conducts regular surveys and tracks maintenance records to see which buildings are in need of upgrades. It is designed to include day-to-day maintenance procedures, planned renovations and major updates. Baier said though the University has used a deferred maintenance program for a while, the lack of regular upkeep in the years prior to the RLI left many University buildings in need of renovation. “What happened in residential life and housing, basically the housing system wasn’t re-investing in deferred maintenance,” Baier said. “It’s an easy thing to do, money gets tight, you don’t want to charge a student more to stay in University housing, so then the way you do that is you don’t keep it up, you just let stuff go. It just degrades, and all of a sudden you have to put a lot more money into it.” Rullman said there is a common formula used to determine which buildings should be renovated. The University conducts facility condition assessments prior to renovations to determine which buildings are in need of updates. These assessments seek to determine both the state of the building and whether or not the University should keep the building. Rullman said the buildings renovated in phases one and two of the RLI were chosen both because they were in poor condition and because the University saw them as “important, distinctive buildings.”
“The West Quads and the East Quads, they are iconic, they are architecturally significant, they have been here a very long time, their location is great, it would be unlikely we would not have residence halls there for the future,” Rullman said. “So once you know the condition, then you make a set of institutional policy decisions — in this case that we’re not going to abandon our legacy buildings.” Baier added that in planning University renovations, they try to be flexible because unexpected factors such as increasing construction and bond costs or large donations often impact which buildings are chosen for renovation. He referenced in particular University alum Charles Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corporation, who has donated significantly to the school. Munger recently contributed $110 million to the construction of a new graduate residence on central campus. “Along comes Charlie Munger and he gives us $20 million to help fix up the Lawyers Club,” Baier said. “That had a $28 million deferred maintenance on our facility condition assessment and we had a donor who was interested in contributing $20 million toward an existing building to fix it up, that’s unheard of. We might have gone and done something else, whatever it might have been, but here’s $20 million and it made it a big priority.” After the plans were released, many graduate students expressed concerns related to the cost and design of the project. However, during a forum in 2013, E. Royster Harper, vice president for student life, noted the nature of the donation somewhat limits the University’s ability to make changes. “If this were ‘just us’ and the funding were ‘just us,’ we would have some different kinds of options,” Harper said. “But I think when you are in partnership … you make some agreements about what you’re going to offer, then we have to honor those agreements.” Future renovations Though Rullman said phase two of the RLI will conclude in the near future because all the allocated money has been used, the University still plans to continue renovating. Rullman said the University will conduct facility condition assessments and student satisfaction surveys, on top of evaluating the bond market and interest rates, to determine which buildings will be renovated in the next phase. “We don’t know what we’re going to renovate next, but we think all of the buildings are safe and adequate, we just need to improve the experience,” he said. Recent comments from administrators, as well as from the University’s Board of Regents, have suggested that North Campus might be the next area to undergo construction. In an October interview with The Michigan Daily, Harper said it’s likely that if a new undergradu-
ate dorm were constructed in the future, North Campus would be a potential location. She cited the decreasing availability of open Central Campus property, and the desire to improve the community on North Campus. At a fireside chat in March , University President Mark Schlissel acknowledged that the quality of life on North Campus is an issue that has been brought up at nearly every fireside chat in recent months. “The residential life is in the midst of a 10- or 15-year effort to really upgrade residential life, living and eating on campus,” he said. “The next frontier is the North Campus.” At last month’s Board of Regents meeting, the regents approved two North Campus construction proposals — schematic designs for the North Campus Grove project and a $13 million renovation of the North Campus Recreation Building. During the March event, Schlissel said the University wants to improve North Campus so that it is on par with the rest of the campus. “The ultimate goal is to make the North Campus as dense and vibrant as the Central Campus, and to have the businesses surrounding North Campus sort of grow up in a way that living up there won’t require you to be down here to socialize,” he said. Baier said the University is working on plans to increase development of North Campus. “We’ve actually done a lot of work on North Campus in terms of early planning and we have some ideas about what we’d like it to be,” he said. “It’s more of an aspiration, it’s not concrete in terms of what it would be.” Both Baier and Rullman noted that several renovations and additions have taken place on North Campus in recent years — Mitchell Field, the Fireside Café in Pierpont Commons, the Walgreen Drama Center, the Stamps Auditorium and M City, a network of roads used to test automated vehicle systems. There are also plans for several North Campus projects aside from the grove and the NCRB renovations. The construction of an addition to the School of Music, Theatre & Dance is currently underway, and there are plans to add on to the Art and Architecture Building. In addition, the Bursley Dining Hall will receive new furniture and carpet over the summer. Rullman said there has been an emphasis on improving the density of North Campus. “There’s a lot going on up there … and we need to do more, frankly, but what we’re doing now and what we’ve done over the last eight, nine, 10 years is try to make it a much more livable place for students, for faculty, for staff,” Rullman said. “I think when you look at all the improvements on balance, it’s doing that. The challenge is it is such a big campus and until you get this density you sort of can’t notice it.”
estimates that the rate of sexual assault has fallen by more than 50 percent in recent years.” Before the march, Gretchen Whitmer, former Michigan Senate minority leader, expressed her experiences in combating sexual assault. Whitmer is an advocate of speaking against sexual assault. During debates in the Michigan Senate in December 2013 when a proposed healthcare law would not cover abortions for rape victims and the legislature would not allow anyone to be brought in to testify, she did. Whitmer discussed her decision to break her silence as a survivor at 42 after being raped her freshman year of college. She recalled the frightening decision to finally speak about her experience after years keeping it private. Whitmer was upset when her testimony did not sway any votes and characterized it as the worst time while she was in office. However, her outlook changed when she realized how important the moment was for her when she went to her office to find her e-mail inbox and voicemail full with messages from other survivors thanking her. “That’s when I realized it did have value to talk about it,” Whitmer said. “It added to the conversation that is long overdue in our state and in our country, long overdue. To the extent that I was involved in to encourage someone, anyone, to share their story, it was worth talking about. It’s at events like these that help women like us
to know we are not alone, that we do not have to be silent. We are not alone. And we do not have to be silent.” After she spoke, organizers asked men to sign a poster pledging to stand against sexual assault. About 50 men signed the pledge. LSA freshman Yong-Joon Kim said she believes sexual assault affects everyone on campus. “Sexual assault and the problems that this culture faces with rape and the gender gap really drove me to come because it’s a really important issue for me,” Kim said “I have a younger sister and I want the best for her. This isn’t just an issue that affects women, it’s an issue that affects every gender on campus. I feel this is a really big thing, and with the University of Michigan still on Title IX’s watch list ... it’s just something I feel has to be changed.” Organizers took turns reading demands from a list of initiatives they hope will result from the night’s events. Their demands included: a call for the end to sexual assault and violence, acknowledgement that “no means no,” that consent is only active and sober, that domestic violence and assault be considered human problems instead of women’s issues and for recognition that victims are never responsible. Throughout the past week, there have been demonstrations against sexual assault on campus in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Tuesday, there was a Sharing with Survivors Speakout
in the Michigan League hosted by Michigan Takes Back the Night, and a Diag Day on Wednesday hosted by SAPAC to inform students on consent. The ralliers left the Union at 8:30 p.m. and marched approximately 1.6 miles for one hour around Ann Arbor to Liberty Street before returning back to have an electric-candlelight vigil in the Union to the song “Lean on Me.” Armed with makeshift drums, signs, and a handout of chants, approximately 200 people of all ages took to the streets. Organizers led chants such as, “We have the power. We have the right. The streets are ours! Take Back the Night,” and “Hey hey, ho ho, sexual assault has got to go!” On Thompson Street, marchers were asked to be silent and link arms to honor those who have died as a result of sexual assault, as well as release the balloons. Ann Arbor residents left their homes and apartments, and diners and restaurant staff left businesses to watch the ralliers go by. People in cars and on buses took photos, honked and chanted along with the group in support. The march was not only attended by University students — Washtenaw Community College junior Michelle Smolarski said her girlfriend encouraged her to attend the event and that she felt powerful during the march. “I felt very amazing and brave and very uplifted,” Smolarski said.
Friday, April 3, 2015 — 3
From Page 1 Action Party won one seat and 14 seats were awarded to independent or write-in candidates. In an interview Thursday afternoon, Charlton, the newly elected CSG president, said he was looking forward to beginning his role. “It’s nice to finally come up for air,” Charlton said. “It’s a long process. Unfortunately it felt like it got a little political towards the end, which I don’t think is fair to the students, and I apologize we were going back and forth. But at the end of the day I think both The Team, the DAAP party and Make Michigan all are highly qualified and genuinely beautiful people that are all trying to make a difference and Steven and I are just honored we have this opportunity.” Discussing the litigation process, which has delayed results in CSG elections several times in recent years, Charlton said it should be a balance of promoting fairness while not misusing the process. “It’s one of those things where we need to have it in a case where there’s been blatant cheating, but we also have to hold ourselves accountable,” he said. “We can’t just use this resource to drag out the process or to try to find the loophole. It’s meant to specifically target blatant and provable cheating. At the end of the day, everyone wanted to win, but it’s a very hard question to answer.” LSA senior Annie Pidgeon, Make Michigan party chair, said the next step in the process is bringing CSG together. “I think a lot of times what happens when you get elected to
PANEL From Page 1 articles that show women tend to be more collaborative leaders, to be very thorough, to work with people and solve problems, and those are things that women tend to do on a day-to-day basis,” Chang said. “Ultimately the goal is not just to get more people into office, but one of the results of that is better policy — better policy making especially for families, for children, for women.” White said for many of the positions she has held, she was the first Black female to assume that role. She echoed Chang’s sentiments on the importance of increased representation in government roles. “Men have the same interest as women do — we want to have representative government that represents all,” White said. “It’s just a better way to have great democracy: by not excluding 50 percent of the population.” Whitmer agreed, emphasizing the importance of diversity in the legislature. “The beauty of our system is it is diverse, and it works best when all voices are heard,” Whitmer said. “You can be a farmer or a pharmacist in the legislature, and (that) works better when we have many different voices that are part of the debate.” Questions from the audience were taken throughout the event. Attendees asked what made each woman want to run for office, what advice the panelists would give for women interested in running for
POVERTY From Page 2 of the unequal are below the poverty line,” Robinson said. Along with directly addressing the monetary inequities, Rahbi said an additional way to combat inequality within the community was to remove barriers that could prevent impoverished citizens from living a comfortable life. He mentioned, in particular, the City Council’s plan to distribute Washtenaw County ID cards
CSG, especially when there’s two big parties, is there’s not enough collaboration,” Pidgeon said. “I think the next step for Make Michigan is to unify CSG.” Charlton said he had already collected descriptions of what each representative, regardless of party affiliation, wanted to do with their term. He added that he and Halperin hadn’t yet selected other members of the executive team, and planned to invite members from all parties to compete for selection. LSA junior Jacob Abudaram, the campaign manager for The Team, said though he disagrees with University Elections Commission’s decision, he still respects the committee and the election process. He said members of The Team are looking forward to keep working on the party’s initiatives. “Will and Matt will continue to do their work,” he said. “Will is bringing in 42 students from underrepresented high schools in Kalamazoo next week. We’re excited to see what The Team representatives will do and the work they’ll do with the Make Michigan reps.” In a Facebook post Thursday morning, LSA sophomore Matt Fidel, vice presidential candidate for The Team, called the experience of running difficult, but rewarding. “It wasn’t always easy, but this election has been quite a valuable learning experience,” Fidel said. “I am humbled and honored to have been given the opportunity to run for vice president of the student body of the greatest university in the world.” Daily News Editor Shoham Geva and Daily Staff Reporter Tanaz Ahmed contributed to this report.
office and what they wished someone would have told them when they were starting their career. The panelists also discussed their experiences campaigning and in elected office, encouraging interested students to follow in their footsteps. Many of the panelists said they didn’t think they would ever run for office and had to be pushed by their friends and mentors to do so, or ran only after they saw an issue not being addressed. Whitmer noted that when she entered Michigan’s state Senate the ratio between men and women was at its historic height — 12 women to 38 men — which she called both an accomplishment, but also a sign that there was still a ways to go. The current ratio is at four women to 46 men. “In the last session, there were more men named John in the Michigan Senate than women,” Whitmer said. “It’s really important that our voices are heard. I’ve said it once and have repeated many times: if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.” Dingell said she thought the current low representation stemmed equally from gender as from disinterest and distrust in government in this generation. “I’m actually going to say: I don’t think this is a gender issue,” Dingell said. “I think we’ve got a problem in this country that people feel disconnected from the government. Voting is at an all time low, people don’t think that they matter and that they can make a difference, and we need to get people engaged.”
for citizens who do not have proof of documentation — usually undocumented immigrants, the elderly and those under the poverty line. “All the people that live in our county are people, and they all deserve to be treated equally when it comes to government services or even just when you go to get your birthday dinner and they ask for your driver’s license,” he said. “Your ID helps you to be human, and so we dehumanize a lot of our citizens by not providing that.”
@michigandaily
Opinion
4 — Friday, April 3, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Examinng race-based attraction
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com JENNIFER CALFAS EDITOR IN CHIEF
AARICA MARSH and DEREK WOLFE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS
LEV FACHER MANAGING EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
UNITED COALITION FOR RACIAL JUSTICE | VIEWPOINT
Take a stand Dear Michigan Law School community, The #BlackLivesMatter movement does not represent a new fight or a novel message. #BlackLivesMatter is only the current name on an ever-present struggle. The University, in its own right, has struggled with race since this law school was founded, since Gabriel Franklin Hargo received his diploma, since we fought in our nation’s highest court to protect our commitment to diversity. The core message of the #BlackLivesMatter movement has always existed in different forms, under different banners, calling attention to the continued racial oppression of minorities in American society. In its most recent iteration, the movement grew in response to the posthumous trial of Trayvon Martin for his own murder. #BlackLivesMatter, per its website, is “Rooted in the experiences of Black people in this country who actively resist our de-humanization, #BlackLivesMatter is a call to action and a response to the virulent anti-Black racism that permeates our society.” This letter is the University of Michigan Law School community’s contribution to the #BlackLivesMatter National Law Student Day of Action that occurred on April 2, 2015. It cannot be overstated that critical race and economic discourses in higher education — especially law school — are at best overlooked and at worst invalidated and misrepresented. Support from faculty and administration is an important institutional validation of students’ desire to self-educate about the legal hardships burdening racial minorities in this country. Law schools have an imperative to take this movement seriously, and to reflect on our own role in perpetuating systems of racial oppression. Beyond reflection, we also have an obligation to take action. The law, truthfully, is both part of the problem and part of the solution. Here, at the University, many student organizations and professors have responded to recent events through activism at the Law School. But we can and must do more. *** We call on our Michigan Law community to achieve the following: First, we ask students to recognize their own power to change the classroom discourse on race and the law; To demand race-conscious, intersectional conversations in classrooms from professors and each other; To push for a curriculum that challenges students to think creatively about the law, so as to advance color-conscious claims on behalf of clients; To continue to work with one another to shift the collective consciousness of the Law School beyond acknowledgment of racial inequality and toward tangible solutions; To include people of color in student-led programming; and, To remember that as law students, we are entering a space of privilege and power, and it is our obligation, regardless of our future career paths, to continue to check our own biases and role in perpetuating inequality and oppression. All students, regardless of career path, seek acknowledgement and meaningful inclusivity by students, faculty and administration. As peers, we have an obligation to pursue honest conversations with one another about race and other marginalized identities. Next, we call on faculty to actively take on the challenge of incorporating discussions of race into their classrooms and curriculums; To nurture passionate and conscientious students, who respect each others’ diverse backgrounds and experiences; To talk about race, recognize that the facts of cases matter, especially those involving race, and to include them in discussion. In taking the safest route toward teaching the cases, by avoiding such facts, professors are implicitly teaching students to accept the cases as they stand. Professors control the dialogue, and fear of losing control is not a sufficient justification for ignoring these demands;
“
To reevaluate their pedagogy, regardless of tenure, and incorporate social justice dialogues along the way, not just while discussing Goetz or Dred Scott; To, with administration, recruit and tenure minority faculty, both in gender and race; and, To question the status quo, give historical context to the casebook, and confront the realities of social inequality and injustice head on. The law does not stand separate from the society and history from which it is produced. If these demands seem shortsighted or too burdensome, we pose these questions to the faculty: If these difficult conversations do not occur during law school, when are students to learn the practical consequences of the cases we study and ultimately litigate? If not now, then at what stage in our legal careers should we open our eyes to the social, political and historical realities that perpetuate racial and class hierarchies? Finally, we call on the Law School administration to support students and faculty in accomplishing these goals. It is an obvious reality that there are significant hurdles facing minority law school applicants. From the outset, minorities must overcome a variety of economic, educational, social and political hurdles just to get their foot in the door. The racial composition of our Law School, and the legal field at large, unequivocally demonstrates this fact. Because of these realities, we ask that the administration continue to recruit minority applicants to our Law School, intentionally providing a culture and classroom that is supportive and welcoming to all students, for the benefit of all students. We ask everyone to take a stand. Students, faculty and administrators should be an active voice in the local and national movement — host events, contribute to scholarship, make public statements of support. Keep the momentum alive. Injustice remains. We must act — today. Take a picture of yourself holding a sign that says, “MLaw believes #BlackLiveMatter” and post to social media with the #BlackLivesMatter and #MLaw. *** The University has always taken a leadership role in addressing longstanding racial inequalities. In casebooks, we are remembered for resolutely defending affirmative action in Grutter v. Bollinger — and we must continue to protect such important principles. Michigan Law is an undeniably special place. Our aim in this letter is to show support for the #BlackLivesMatter movement and improve race-based dialogues and practices within our community. We believe that though much been done already, there is much more that we can do. The following individuals and organizations have endorsed the aforementioned goals: From Michigan Law: Black Law Students Association National Lawyers Guild United Coalition for Racial Justice Michigan Journal of Law Reform Student Rights Project Law Students for Reproductive Justice Michigan Immigration and Labor Law Association Michigan Journal of Race & Law Asian Pacific American Law Students Association Human Rights Advocates Latino Law Student Association ACLU Student Chapter Other legal organizations and firms: Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice Julie Hurwitz (’82), Partner, Goodman & Hurwitz, P.C. Marilyn Mullane, Director, Michigan Legal Services. John F. Royal, President, National Lawyers Guild, Michigan/Detroit Chapter Written by Law students Meredith Osborne, Miriam Schachter, Sophie Wolman, Jessica Gingold, Amina Kirk, Divya Taneja, Peter Calloway, Jim Thurman and Nick Kabat.
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
I am confident that we can show that this deal is good for the security of the United States, for our allies and for the world.”
— President Barack Obama said of the nuclear deal struck with Iran on April 2. In exchange for loosened economic sanctions, Iran agreed to reduce its nuclear program.
I
have often found myself drawn to men of color. In high school, a handsome, Black athlete made my body feel something that no white boy in high socks had ever been able to do. My attraction to him was magnetic — and I justified it as such to my white girlfriends ABBY who just “weren’t TASKIER into Black guys.” Being a student at a majority-white high school, I shamefully felt the need to justify my attraction to a minority student by referring to it as “carnal.” It couldn’t just be attraction. It couldn’t avoid explanation. It had to be because my body was heavy with desire, or because he was a great guy. It had to be because of something, because we were different, and because otherwise, to my peers, to this world, it wouldn’t make sense. My oldest sister, a college student at the time, proposed a biological explanation: “You’re probably attracted to Black guys because biologically you want to diversify your gene pool for your offspring.” Freshly immersed in evolutionary anthropology classes, she tended to overanalyze situations that required no analysis. There was the opposing argument that same-race preferences in sexual relationships actually benefitted the biological fitness of one’s offspring. The latter argument, the racist argument, was the one the majority of our white bodies abided by. As I experienced it, conversations on race-based attraction occurred all too much. Over cafeteria lunches, we talked about hook-ups — ones that had happened the weekend before, ones that would happen the following weekend, ones that we wished would happen but never would due to the ever-present, very unscathed social hierarchy of high school. A boy might have said something like, “There’s no one in school that I want to hook up with,” and if on the rare occasion someone proposed the option of hooking up with a Black girl, he might have said, “I’m not attracted to Black girls.” Then, directed at the one Black person sitting at the table, he might have added, “No offense.” “No offense” was a phrase used so often, uttered so reflexively, and yet was so overtly offensive. It was said with the ingrained belief that no matter what came before it, as long as it was followed by “no offense,” the person saying something objectionable would be absolved. I can’t know what it must have felt like to be a person of color in that situation, lis-
tening to an ignorant white kid deem your whole race unattractive, but I can only imagine that it was painful. I won’t deny the fact that like many of my peers, my sexual preferences have at times been reduced to specific racial groups. It’s a deeply concerning reality that no matter the person, no matter how kind or goodlooking or smart they are, if they fall into a certain racial category that has been routinely associated with physical dislike, they’re not then considered to be the most “viable mate.” Over Spring Break, my housemates and I traveled to Naples, Florida, for the week. It’s a small town — expensive, well manicured, brimming with rich, old white people. We downloaded Tinder for the occasion, having little intention of utilizing it for its intended purpose: a meet-up. One of my housemates, my good friend — a beautiful Indian woman — swiped her fingers across the screen of her phone, sifting through the mounds of Florida preps who had “just moved to Naples, looking for a good time.” After a little while and only a few matches, she set the phone down. “I miss Ann Arbor,” she sighed. “People here are so racist.” It was true. A platform like Tinder, a dating app governed by the laws of attraction, fosters racism. A person’s face comes into focus on the screen, and if it’s not the color of your liking, you swipe left. No consequences. No one judging you for your “inherent” sexual preferences. There’s no need to justify why you did or didn’t swipe left as it applies to race. And this is arguably a more concerning form of racism, the kind hidden behind a screen, the kind that holds no one accountable. So, here is the pivotal question: Is race-based attraction inherent, or is it informed by the racial associations that permeate our culture so deeply? When, during my semester spent abroad, I strolled the streets of Havana and received cat calls that often began with hola blanca, “hey white girl,” was I in part being targeted due to my whiteness? Absolutely, because a country so polluted by slavery and racial inequality can only construct a reality in which a white person, the former imperialist, is associated with superiority. And that is only talking about Cuba, not America, where racial inequality exists not only because of our past history, but also because of our present history. It would absolve us of any social responsibility if we denied the fact that attraction is informed by implicit racial biases, because to do so would deny the complex systems of racial inequality and racial control that America has created. For instance, our knowledge of the fact that the majority of incarcerated
people in this country are minorities does permit us to form a racist association: If you are a person of color, you are more likely to be a criminal. To deny this association is to deny the fact that we are racist because of the complicated racially advised context in which we live. And to deny that is to deny that racism can and should be unlearned. There are arguments suggesting that same-race preference is, in fact, inherent. It’s thought that we are intrinsically attracted to ourselves, and that in unfamiliar situations, we gravitate toward those who look the same as us. This is corroborated by the clumps of people seen walking together on campus, categorized by their skin color, and occasionally sporting their token friend of color. While this might be argued as biological, it doesn’t really matter if it is or isn’t. Same-race-based attraction manifests the assumption that racial difference indicates cultural and economic difference, thus making integration uncomfortable. Our society has surpassed the need to explain or justify things biologically because we negate our biological needs every day due to technological progress. In which case, it doesn’t matter if there is an innateness to same-race preference — that preference, regardless of its foundation, has been dramatically shaped by racism. We’re used to relying on our attraction in order to dictate our sexual and romantic pursuits. Attraction feels chemical, and it is, so we go along with it. If it says, “You only like white guys,” then that’s who we seek out — white guys. However, as we abide by what our bodies might tell us without challenging why, in fact, we feel that way, we negate the possibility for our preferences to expand. There’s no use in pretending that we wear no racial lens when at a party, when on a dating app or when we’re noticing someone on the street. But to recognize that lens as problematic is to recognize race-based preference as a problem. This acknowledgment is not intended to instill guilt. Guilt, at its core, is useless. It’s meant to call into question whether or not “just not being into” a specific race is OK. It’s meant to seek an answer as to why we are willing to justify racism on the basis of physical attraction. It’s meant to propel the shedding of certain associations that may have caused you to consider an entire group of people unattractive. Identify those associations. Feed them to yourself. Remember that attraction is based upon so much more than skin. I’ll remember this, too. — Abby Taskier can be reached at ataskier@umich.edu.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Ben Keller, Payton Luokkala, Aarica Marsh, Victoria Noble, Michael Paul, Anna Polumbo-Levy, Allison Raeck, Melissa Scholke, Michael Schramm, Matthew Seligman, Linh Vu, Mary Kate Winn, Jenny Wang, Derek Wolfe
T
All you need is a chance
here may be three games left to go, and the month of March has already come and gone, but without a doubt, I was not a winner of March Madness. Of course, I can take solace in the fact that I have lost along with every single other DAVID person who filled HARRIS out a bracket. Rarely do perfect brackets last beyond the first day of games, and this year was no different. And for part of the first round, my bracket was about as accurate as a coin flip. A few rounds later, and I can safely say that the $10 I spent on my pool is no more, and such is the punishment for my illegal gambling escapades — and also for my poor bracket choices. Since I refuse to blame my own knowledge for my incorrect selections — because why would I ever do that — I’m choosing to blame math instead. Picking blindly from a field of 64 teams, there is roughly a one in 9.2 quintillion chance of picking a perfect bracket. That’s a really big number, and I’m forced to round it because the AP Stylebook probably doesn’t cover what to do with numbers that take three lines of text to print. If you really wanted to win a billion dollars, you’re better off trying to do it by play-
ing the Mega Millions lottery over and over instead of winning Warren Buffett’s perfect bracket challenge. Even according to the best of C-3P0’s calculations, picking a perfect bracket is two and a half quadrillion times more unlikely than navigating the asteroid field. I know, I know, never tell you the odds. After all, a little bit of basketball knowledge is better than blind picking, and there is the wealth of an entire Internet of statistics and research in your arsenal. FiveThirtyEight calculated its bracket predictions this year using every statistical source at their disposal, so surely they have a chance at getting it right. And well, they do: by their estimations, they have a one in 1,610,543,269 chance. So, you’re telling me there’s a chance? Probably not. That friend in your pool who picked teams by the ferocity of their mascots and was sitting in a cool third place after the first round is proof enough — yes, University of Alabama at Birmingham Blazers, I’m looking at your first-round upset and your dragon mascot. Meanwhile, the hour I spent looking up team research, log5 analyses and statistics galore might as well have been spent watching Jimmy Fallon lipsync videos. Yet it’s the same cruel element of chance that makes March Madness, well, mad. It’s looking up in the lecture hall and seeing all the computers throughout the audito-
rium watching Georgia Tech come back and upset Baylor. Excitement brought from the same mechanics as picking a card from a deck or rolling the dice, realized in the extravagance of a sporting event. The numbers and formulas become irrelevant, replaced with the reality they tried to describe. Chance is the drive of the thrill of everyday life. We’re all Charlie Bucket, asking, “I’ve got the same chance as anybody else, haven’t I?” Chance itself is the Golden Ticket, the device that takes the ordinary and gives it a chance to be extraordinary. It takes the monotony and makes it into something undeterminable. Sometimes the only certainty is the existence of inevitable uncertainty, the anticipation of not knowing what lies behind the chocolate bar wrapper. This principle of uncertainty governs everything around us, to the point where we conclude that Schrodinger’s cat is both alive and dead, and that’s somehow OK. You can continue spinning the wheel, around and around, knowing that in the moment you’re spinning it you are in control, and the moment you let go you relinquish it all. So you roll the dice, pick up whatever card is on top of the deck, pass Go, collect your $200 and go at it again. Because all you really need is a chance. — David Harris can be reached at daharr@umich.edu.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
FILM NOTEBOOK
Friday, April 3, 2015 — 5
ALBUM REVIEW
Why ‘Vertigo’ is the ‘Jenny’ is damn good best film of all time By DANIEL SAFFRON For The Daily
Hichcock’s masterpiece is a complex vortex worth falling for By CHLOE GILKE Managing Arts Editor
When I tell people “Vertigo” is my favorite film, their immediate reaction is to look at me like I’m the world’s most pretentious asshole. They are probably right. As a film major and general purveyor of taste, I favor movies that are sublimely written and directed, and “Vertigo” is about as complex and masterful as film can get. It’s objectively perfect in every way, every flower and green neon sign and mirror hanging on the wall imbued with endless meaning and psychological underpinnings. But none of this is why “Vertigo” is my favorite movie. “Vertigo” is mostly analyzed as a collection of discrete parts — little pieces like a word or an image or a single symbol. These elements are fascinating, and the technicalities alone are enough to merit being called the Greatest Film of All Time, but it’s the black reality buried under all the layers of analysis that make “Vertigo” so transcendent. It’s about deadly relationships; within the overblown and lurid story of Scottie and Madeleine is a devastating truism about what it means to fall in love. “Vertigo” is about a man who can’t fucking get over a woman he fell for who didn’t reciprocate, and that man’s endless, tragic chasing of a girl who might come close to filling her shoes. The film speaks to the universalities of heartbreak, painting a portrait of deceitful and one-sided love in a way no other film could or has. Scottie Ferguson spies her from across the bar at a restaurant. Clad in royal green and standing against a passionate red background, she is the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen. She is stunning, and I do not blame him for chasing her. But what Scottie doesn’t know is that the stunning Madeleine Elster he falls for is a construction. Gavin Elster, an old college friend of Scottie’s, hired a woman to impersonate his wife in order to distract Scottie, to be a beautiful diversion to cover up Gavin’s premeditated murder of his actual wife. Madeleine appears to be a sad case: She’s acting strangely, and she may be in danger of harming herself, so Gavin sets his buddy Scottie on the quest to save her life. Though Scottie maintains his distance for most of the first half of the movie, and Madeleine’s generally aloof attitude keeps any of Scottie’s advances at bay, he falls for her while he’s a few feet away. Scottie is a former cop, with his heroism dimmed after a vertigorelated failure on the job. He lives in an apartment with his friend Midge, who has always been more like a mother or a therapist than a romantic partner. In short, Scottie is down on his luck, what a
PARAMOUNT PICTURES
I’d like that profile picture.
film scholar might call “symbolically castrated” but which I’ll call just “sad and pathetic.” Madeleine could be the redemption act he’s looking for. If anyone is more hopeless than Scottie, it’s this woman: She stands in a graveyard, stares lifelessly at a painting and wanders through the city without any lucid information as to where she’s going. She senses some strange connection between herself and a painting in the museum, a lady who died too young and whose hair and accessory choices are uncannily similar to Madeleine’s own. Madeleine needs Scotty, or at least pretends to. With a look of helplessness in her eyes, she seems to say, “I’m your depressive pixie dream girl, and you’re the only guy who’s man enough to save me.” Scottie doesn’t save her. In a fit of passion, Madeleine throws herself off a tower and falls to her death, forever out of Scottie’s life before he could marry her, fix her or fuck her. Scottie falls into a deep depression, the kind that can only be possible for men who lose the woman they love. He goes through the motions: He talks to Midge, goes to the flower shop, waits around the streets for his ephemeron of a woman to appear and tell him she’s sorry and she loves him and she didn’t mean to hurt him so. But while he’s standing there in front of the flower shop, Scottie spots a woman who looks mysteriously like his beloved Madeleine. Well, not really. Her hair is darker, her eyebrows filled in and lips rouged; she is a vulgar and less refined version of Madeleine. Scottie doesn’t care. He’ll make of her what he wants. The last third of the film, when Scottie decides to mold Judy into this fiction of a woman, is one of the most tragic stories I’ve seen on film. The horror is detailed from both perspectives. Scottie is blinded by his unrequited love for Madeleine, a love that was impossible from the start because she was a fiction. Judy inexplicably pines for Scottie, having fallen for him while playing the part of Madeleine in the first half of the movie. But she knows he’ll never take her the way she is, the whole appeal of Madeleine was her coldness, distance and impossibility. Her only hope of catching his attention again is to let him dye her hair, pick out her clothes and transform her into the woman he really loves. It’s agonizing to watch, because
the film shoves your face into the tragedy and makes you feel every sting of each new gray garment and plucked eyebrow. It’s so affecting because this situation is all too common. To some degree, in order to find common ground for a relationship, you have to play Judy. You have to erode your edges, become a blank slate so the other person can project the person they need upon your empty, eager visage. You allow yourself to occupy the space of another woman and let someone construct you into what he wants and needs — until he remembers that you’re not her, and never will be. The most brutal feeling in the world is knowing that your own looks, interests and hobbies will never be enough for the person you love. They’ll always be chasing the ghost of that ideal person they could never have. All that’s left to do is be the cool girl and wait for the inevitable fall. “Vertigo” is so brilliant because it realizes that this situation is fucked for every party involved. Scottie is a pawn in Gavin Elster’s plot to murder the real Madeleine, a silly fool who was sucked into Judy’s vortex of lies. He loses every drop of composure and power associated with being a cop, or even just a man. Judy plays the role of another woman twice over, first impersonating Madeleine and watching the man she grew to love fall for this falsified version of herself. After Madeleine’s death, Judy lets her hair out of its knot and takes off the disguise, but only for a moment — Scottie takes her over, dresses her up again and promises his love only for this flat sketch of a woman. “Vertigo” is probably at the top of all those Greatest Film polls because of its narrative and symbolic complexity, but for me, the real marker of a great film is that gut punch of truth it delivers. Nothing can top “Vertigo.” I know. I’m pretentious as hell. But please, try to find me another movie that comments this viscerally about the tragic trickery of mismatched love. Please find me another movie so rich in cinematographic style that I could write another 1,000 words on its use of color alone. Collect your recommendations. Email them to me. I’ll be the judge of whether they live up to “Vertigo” ’s delicious inscrutability and challenge, though I predict nothing will ever reach the heights of my true love.
STYLE NOTEBOOK
Europe’s best dressed By MARIAM SHEIKH Daily Arts Writer
I heard many different things before coming to Europe, specifically Italy. Watch out for the pickpocketers. Don’t talk to strangers. Be careful traveling. Don’t walk around at night alone. So on and so forth. But perhaps the most repeated warning was to beware of European men. We’ve all heard the stereotypes. They are in books, movies, songs, television, etc. I mean, I’ve seen the episode of “Full House” with Uncle Jesse’s (not so) distant relative Stavros from Greece. He was creepy. And OK, there are creepy European men lurking the streets catcalling and hissing (yup) at girls, but creepy people are everywhere. What’s not everywhere is men who look like they
came straight out of a Gucci ad. You have to look at the glass half full and look at the positive, because the number of good-looking guys definitely outweighs the creeps. Now I know some people antiquate “hipster” style with Goodwill and garage sales, but I associate it with an urban coffee-lover type of vibe, and so to me the European man is the original hipster. Before being hipster was even a term, before it got twisted into becoming an excuse to hate everyone, everything mainstream and brand name soap. Men here walk around with a certain vibe to them. They take care of their appearance but not in a vain or outrageous way, like an episode of “Jersey Shore.” They never look like they spent two hours perfecting their perfectly coiffed hair, but they prob-
ably did (how else can one attain that level of perfection?!). And their style is a unique expression of their character and personality. It’s also somewhat of a game. Young people our age in Italy are more than often still living with their parents, most of them won’t even move out and get jobs until their late 20s to early 30s. So the hot guy you see roaming the streets in his perfectly fitted suit with his perfectly coiffed hair, who basically looks like a million bucks, is probably home by 8:00 every night for his mamma’s homemade pasta. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are still some guys around Europe who would never stand out in a crowd, speaking strictly in terms of fashion, of course. However, there’s just something about the European man that makes them far superior to any other.
You know that spot on your knee that hurts when you push it? It’s not bruised or anything, but it hurts. You press on Ait anyway. You silently hope Jenny the pain’s not Death going be there on the next Death Grips press, but it is Harvest and, somehow, you relish in the pain that you just wished wasn’t there. It’s not bad after all, the pain, but it’s noticeable. You begin to bargain with yourself, once more, then you’re done, you tell yourself. You give it one last push, harder and more painful than all of the ones before. Of course you don’t stop pushing after the final push. Eventually you find yourself going from your spot-pushed knees to fetal position caught in a meta-existential crisis over why you can’t abide by evolution’s kindly-gifted, longevity-producing aversion to pain. This is Death Grips. This March, Death Grips released the two disced, posthumous album Powers That B, coming after their controversial disbandment-by-napkin-note in early July. Disc one, titled Niggas on the Moon, was released for free download last summer and faced generally positive reviews. All of Niggas’s tracks feature vocal samples of Norwegian musician Björk, an avid Death Grips fan. Her distinct voice loses its recognizability, but complements Death Grips’s experimental soundscape. Jenny Death, the second disc of Powers That B, is slightly longer than Niggas on the Moon, and definitely harnesses a different energy. While Niggas on the Moon is heavily digital and relatively calmed, to accommodate Björk’s vocals, Jenny Death is energetically voluminous and unexpectedly rock-influenced; Jenny is the stronger of the two. Death Grips’s rock-incorporative approach to this second disc proves to lend something interesting to their sound. Jenny Death opens with previously released “I Break Mirrors With My Face In The United States.” A music video for “IBMWMYITUS” made its way to YouTube a couple days before the release of Jenny Death. The video, shot from the perspective of various, instrument-mounted, fisheye cameras, fits the disorienting music well. The album starts in the expected Death Grips style: sledgehammer vocals, heavy handed drums and aggressive lawnmower synths. The implications of the track’s title are rather obvious, and repetitive lyrics intone the track’s theme. Moving on, “Inanimate Sensation” begins with pitch-climbing vocal samples that remind
of the “Hustle Bones” intro. The vocal rhythms in the first verse are playfully sing-songy in the way a shotgun would sing a nursery rhyme and the inflamed synths throb along with a pulse. The song is full of pop culture references. In the last verse, MC Ride, the bands singer, references Guns ‘n’ Roses frontmen, possibly relating Death Grip’s sound to “Axl Rose in a blender” and “Slash on Satan’s Fender,” foreshadowing rock ‘n’ roll themes that come to dominate the latter half of the disc. For a short while, “Turned Off” gives the listener time to cool off after “Inanimate Sensation.” A tasteful, solo guitar opens the disc’s third track, but when the verse drops, Andy Morin (producer/keyboards) trades his lawnmower for a jet engine and Zach Hill (drums) whales on his crash cymbal. The aforementioned rock themes begin to surface in “Turned Off.” The first verse is perhaps the most interesting part of the song. It deviates away from rap’s overwhelming preference for a four four time signature and opts for a fatal six feel — a nice musical choice that intrigues the time signature savvy and also showcases the musicianship and versatility of the genre defying group. With a Yeezus-reminiscent vocal sample intro, “Why A Bitch Gotta Lie” picks up right where “Turned Off” ends. The two tracks seem to grapple with the similar musical ideas. “Pss Pss” and “Powers That B” backpedal along the Death Grips spectrum to find the familiar, vibrant, electronic wavelengths. Hill uses an electronic drumset in both tracks and Ride showcases the versatility of his vocals, with a sinister, cynosural whisper during the chorus. The verses are rife with drug references; one verse poetically compares his lyrics to heroin: “These are my gold bars melted on spoons / My junk hits like martial law / You nod like true.” “Powers That B,” the title track, relates what appears to be a form of enlightenment that has come from Ride’s finding “the powers that b” — whatever they happened to “b.” The songs last verse blames the “bads” (misfortunes) that come from critics’ expectations of the group and relates the “price tag” that comes with these so-called bads. Subtle compositional flourishes à la Andy Morin put the cherry atop of this Himalayan, sonic clusterfuck. “Beyond Alive” goes the wrong direction with the album’s new sound. A brow furling amalgam of sounds, “Beyond Alive” has vacuous System Of A Down style guitar riffs which clash with the track’s industrial components. Thankfully, track seven finds salvation in the last 30 seconds’ brief electronic vignette. This break from chaos can even be described
as beautiful — a Death Grip’s rarity. Next, “Centuries Of Damn” does what “Beyond Alive” tries to do, but does it better. The guitar tracks in “Centuries Of Damn” provide a recurring melodic hook that sends the abused listener Blue Öyster Cult vibes and a much-needed melodic foothold. “On GP” is far and away the strongest track on all of Powers That B. Like the group does on “Turned Off,” “On GP” makes use of time signatures uncommon to rap. “On GP” (general principle) starts big with blaring guitars, but eventually finds itself in many different places, all varying in energy. An intimate ride cymbal and gloomy organ pads set the stage for the first verse, where Ride’s dark lyrics tell of a “nosy bitch” who notices Ride and wants to know what’s up with him. He tells her to “listen close,” because he just bought an “old black rope / Gonna learn how to tie it (and) hang (it) in (his) chamber.” The verse ends with the personification of Death on Ride’s front porch, “itching to take (him).” Finally, Death hands Ride a weapon and “slurs, ‘use at your discretion, its been a pleasure, Stefan,’” referring to Ride by his given name. The verse is heartfelt in a Death Grips kind of way; it’s about as touching as Death Grips gets. Considering the band’s recent decision to break up, these self-destructive words accrue some serious weight. The outro references the song’s title and continues to touch on Ride’s self-destructive tendencies: “All the nights I don’t die for you / Wouldn’t believe how many nights I ain’t die for you on GP.” These provocative words suggest that some general principle indoctrinated their break-up. If Death Grips has been doing anything well lately, its been their incredible ability to piss people off. Their sudden disbandment, cancellation of future shows and no-show gigs have made the group pretty high on several people’s shit lists. The final track’s title doesn’t help their cause, as it tempts us with a new version something we just lost. “Death Grips 2.0” is instrumental and jarring — a deviation from their usual industrial sound. Abandoning all hip-hop influence, “Death Grips 2.0” sounds like something off Drukqs. Jenny Death is good. Damn good. While not likely to be their largest commercial success, it is innovative and conceptually dense. Jenny Death serves as something of a eulogy for the band, if the band does really stay broken up. The band will be touring this summer to promote the release of The Powers That B. All things considered, it is questionable as to whether or not The Powers That B will be Death Grips’s final album – I have strong doubts. If it is their last album, it’s a fine note to leave on.
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
The timeless Sinatra By CLAIRE WOOD Daily Arts Writer
All girls dig a classy man. It’s no lie. Bow ties, shiny shoes, fine wine and holding the door are the key to any girl’s heart. Frank Sinatra came into our world in 1915. Arguably America’s most romantic serenader, the chap is, indeed, the picture of “classy.” His look is a sharp one — suede coat and tie, all below a signature, charming grin. And let’s not forget the finishing touch: the hat. Guaranteed to melt the hearts of any sweetie in the mid 20th centrury, the Sinatra topper defines the man: handsome, sophisticated and indubitably audacious. Despite this charm, modern pop stars reject Sinatra’s style, gripping the gazes of today’s teens with anything but class. Iggy Azalea beckons viewers in her music video “Fancy” with a precariously thigh-exposing mini-skirt and knee-high stockings in a teasing schoolgirl seduction. Lil Wayne sports
bright red short and full-body tattoos in his video for “A Milli.” “Burnin’ Up” features Jessie J, complete with golden talons and intentionally ripped sleeves, chewing a man’s ear between glossy purple lips — making everybody mildly uncomfortable. So, unless skimpy garb and chaotic hair have been recently proclaimed as sophisticated wear, these stars are certainly evading even remote hints of intellect. Despite this, their fame is tremendous — fans across the world obsess over videos, play albums on repeat and flock to concerts. These guys are renowned, rocking looks that teens love. But will they last? The song content of these recent artists begs the same question, as lyrics parallel the moderately trashy vibes of popstar dress. Today’s R&B and pop talk about a few core things — parties, sex, drugs and alcohol. Adam Levine recalls how “I get so high when I’m inside you,” as Miley Cyrus sings of “dancing with Molly,” and Flo Rida belts out his inflamed desires to take
“a freak” home. It’s what teens want to talk about in this day and age. Sinatra, however, rocks a different vibe. He sings of true, unadulterated romance rather than one-night lovers. “Lovely, don’t you ever change,” Sinatra sings out in the top hit, “Just the Way You Look Tonight.” “Fly Me to the Moon” (a personal favorite of mine — and everyone, let’s be real) captures listeners hearts with a smooth combination of vocals and jazzy instrumentals. It’s genuine passion, distant from the constant references to curvaceous bodies and fickle fornication in today’s hits — and it never gets old. Sinatra isn’t at the top of the charts. He’s not on the Top 40, blasting from speakers or jammed out to by the collegiate body. This man beckons us with a different kind of allure, rejecting the hyper-sexualized, fratparty, bass-drop heat of teenage pop and sporting a classic, romantic mood that’s everlasting. This man is classic. Frank is still fresh.
Arts & News
6 — Friday, April 3, 2015
EVENT PREVIEW
‘Orchard’ ponders existential queries Chekhov classic still relevant for 21st-century audiences By GRACE HAMILTON Daily Arts Writer
Anton Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” raises many questions for its audiences each performance. But for millennials, per- The Cherry haps those questions are more Orchard existential. April 3rd and “Every single 4th: 8 p.m.; April day, we are met 5th, 2 p.m., with this endless stream of Lydia horrible things Mendelssohn in the world: Theater Ebola, Ferguson, rights being Students: $5 taken away in Adults: $8 Indiana,” said SMTD senior Ellie Todd. “But we also have BuzzFeed; we have cat pictures; we have The Next 21 Ways to Fry an Egg.” Todd is directing Anton Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard,” produced by student group Rude Mechanicals. So what do any of these millennial symptoms Todd describes have to do with Chekhov’s famous play? They represent forms of distraction, forms of denial. Finding out, “What Pizza Topping Are You?” allows us to avoid confronting other problems. This tendency to avoid difficult realities by constructing alternate realities was part of Russian early 20th century culture as well. The play follows widow Lyuba Ranevsky and her household as she comes to terms with the approaching auction date of the family’s cherry orchard. Left with few other options for paying their debt, the orchard is ultimately sold to the son of a peasant, Yermolay Lopakhin. For a drama that is profoundly historical and locked in a unique
time, its themes remain remarkably pertinent. Instead of BuzzFeed as distraction, the pervasive coping mechanism of the time was, simply, denial. “They are constantly going into town, spending money and lending money. If you are talking about selling the orchard, I’m gong to talk louder about whose smoking those cheap cigars over there,” Todd said describing the parallel. This production aims to draw out parallels like these by taking the play out of the time and place of 19th-century Russia. “The set is just trees and basically this bowl that’s painted like a giant tree ring. So we’re quite literally in one of the trees,” Todd said. “We’re going for a very timeless feel, our soundscape is ethereal and timeless and so are the costumes.” There are other, deeper universal challenges of the human condition that the play explores. “At every level, there’s a microcosm of the macrocosm. There’s the issue of wealth and big social change, but the metaphors get smaller and smaller until you’re left with very human truths,” Todd said. “It’s about a feeling of value. At its very core, you can link all questions of wealth and status and such to a very simple feeling of fear. Fear that you are irrelevant.” Lyuba’s relevance comes from the orchard. The prospect of its sale and destruction is about her own sense of losing standing in the world. The play is brilliant in its many petals of symbolism, held together neatly by lively characters and subtle comedy. Chekhov’s unique sense of comedy is something Todd found captivating as she continued her reading and research process. Although Chekhov’s work is often seen as gloomy and sad, the playwright himself had very different intentions. Todd recited a quote of his addressing this: “You tell me that people cry at my plays. I’ve heard others say the same. But that’s not why I wrote them … All I wanted was to say
truthfully to people: ‘Have a look at yourselves and see how bad and dreary your lives are!’ The important thing is that people should realize that, since when they do, they will most certainly create another, better life for themselves. And so long as this different life does not exist, I shall continue to say to people again and again: ‘Please understand that your life is bad and dreary.’ What is there to cry about in this?” Amid the metaphor, scattered laughter and bits of tragedy, Chekhov’s ask is for self-reflection, as is Todd’s. “I can’t change everything in the world, but I can create something that will spark an idea in somebody’s mind. Success to me is that people in the audience go home and spend time in reflection, that the themes of the play inspire them to look at those themes in their own lives,” Todd said. With a cast of 14, teams of costume and set designers, producers through the Rude Mechanicals, Todd, and her assistant Wygodny (who acts in the play as well), it will be clear to audience members that an enormous amount of work went into the production, both on and off the stage. “Sometimes I think to myself, ‘I’ll just never be as smart as Chekhov,’” Todd said. Understanding the play in the first place takes a commitment. The production is an accomplishment. “The word that we feel the most is ‘devoted.’ A lot of people have passion, but the difference between a lot of people and those few that make amazing things is devotion. That’s what we’ve tried to be,” she said. “We eat, sleep and breathe the cherry orchard.” Tears? Laughter? Existential Crisis? It is hard to say what audience members will feel after “The Cherry Orchard.” Whatever your reaction, prepare to set aside some time to figuring it out.
Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Friday, April 3, 2015
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
MICHIGAN From Page 1 and the school-city committee, which she joined in December 2014. Challenger Leaf said he is looking for his first break into political office. After graduating from the University in 2012, the 24-year-old launched Neutral Skin and Hair, a
2 “Dies __” 3 Spotted aquarium dweller 4 Film estate with a championship golf course 5 “Avian” for whom flight is often futile 6 __ Reader 7 It may be hammered out 8 Help providers 9 Stain 10 European attraction 11 Independent country since 2011 12 When Hamlet says, “The play’s the thing ... ” 13 Dickinson output 19 “Amen!” 24 Trivia Crack, e.g. 26 Mind 27 Horrified reaction 28 One of the Ringling brothers 29 Drowns in the garden 30 __ Star 31 Circular
32 Chevy’s “American Pie” destination 36 Woolen yarn 37 Socket set 39 Review target 41 Newly formed 44 Joe sans jolt 46 Take on moguls 49 The Cat in the Hat’s numbered cohorts 50 Visuals
51 Word with tooth or saw 52 Año starter 56 Repeated word in “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” 57 Do a new mom’s job 58 On a cruise 60 Gave notice 61 Radius neighbor 62 Pinnacle 64 ’40s spy org.
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
xwordeditor@aol.com
04/03/15
BRIAN BECKWITH/Daily
City Council candidate Sabre Brierre.
able housing, conserving forestry and making transportation easier for citizens of Ann Arbor. He also advocates for changing election dates, which he argues would allow more citizens to participate in elections, as many people are not in Ann Arbor in August when the Democratic primary happens. Leaf acknowledged some of the disadvantages of running against an experienced candidate like Briere. He said he doesn’t know as many people and does not have the access to the city or media attention that Briere has. However he believes he has a better-articulated platform and clearer goals, and overall feels confident
FOR RENT
SERVICES
! NORTH CAMPUS 1-2 Bdrm. ! ! Riverfront/Heat/Water/Parking. ! ! www.HRPAA.com !
I EDIT THESES & ACADEMIC papers. OntheMarkEditing.com or loismah@comcast.net. Modest rates
2 & 3 BDRM APTS IN A HOUSE South Campus Fall 2015-16 1015 Packard - $1370-$1930 + Utilities Call 734-996-1991 to sched a viewing
STUDENT SUMMER STORAGE Specials - Closest to campus - Indoor Clean - Safe - Reserve online now annarborstorage.com call 734-663-0690
2 BED. AVAIL. April 1st-August 21st Furnished, Heat & Water & Free Internet 734-761-8000 primesh.com
THESIS EDITING. LANGUAGE, organization, format. All Disciplines. 734/996-0566 or writeon@iserv.net
4 BEDROOM HOUSE Fall 2015-16 North Campus: Off Fuller by UM Hospital 2 Baths, Wshr./Dryer, 3 Prkg spaces, Pet & Smoke free. $2300 + utilities 1010 Cedar Bend Dr. 734-996-1991
SUMMER EMPLOYMENT
ARBOR PROPERTIES Award-Winning Rentals in Kerrytown, Central Campus, Old West Side, Burns Park. Now Renting for 2015. 734-649-8637. www.arborprops.com
WORK ON MACKINAC Island This Summer – Make lifelong friends. The Island House Hotel and Ryba’s Fudge Shops are looking for help in all areas beginning in early May: Front Desk, Bell Staff, Wait Staff, Sales Clerks, Kitchen, Baristas. Housing, bonus, and discounted meals. (906) 847-7196. www.theislandhouse.com
NOW AVAIL. FOR FALL 2015! Spacious fully furnished 1 & 2 bdrm aptsheat, water, and parking included. A/C and laundry avail. Contact 734-904-6735. ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT now available close to Ross & Law School 1 year lease May 2015 - April 2016 $875 utilities included. Call: (734)834-5021
HELP WANTED
DOWN 1 Now hyphen-less By Jim Quinlan rapper
©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
ESPERANCE IN BEAUTIFUL Charlevoix, MI is hiring staff at $10-$20 per hour for May-Aug employment at its 04/03/15
Email-suzanne@esperancewine.com
“I’ve always been interested in politics and I hope to transition into being a politician,” Leaf said. “I like making policy, and to me that’s what’s interesting about politics. It’s the policy. It’s the power of legislation. And making rules and anticipating how they are going to affect people, and trying to make fair and good rules.” Among Leaf’s priorities are increasing infrastructure, afford-
LUNA ANA ARCHEY/Daily
Call: #734-418-4115 Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com
EFF, 1 & 2 Bedrooms Avail Fall 2015-16 $750 - $1420. Most include Heat and Water. Parking where avail: $50-80/mo. Coin Laundry access on site/nearby. www.cappomanagement.com Call 734-996-1991
company that produces and sells mineral sunscreen. This bid for candidacy is not Leaf’s first run-in with Ann Arbor politics. When he was 18, he wrote a proposed ordinance to limit the city’s installation of police surveillance cameras. In 2013 he was co-chair of the Mixed-Use Party, which ran University student candidates and focused on zoning reforms around the city.
City Council candidate Will Leaf.
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Spell 5 Traitor 10 Letters causing a rush 14 Property measurement 15 Flopped financially 16 Bonkers 17 Response to a drone 18 Quibble about accommodations? 20 Zeus’ beginning? 21 Forgives 22 Director Burton 23 Little bit 25 “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late” duettist 27 Marshmallow that’s been toasted too long? 33 4x4, e.g. 34 “1984” worker 35 Get used (to) 38 Assembly stage 40 Hit from a tee 42 Start of Operation Overlord 43 Scrutinized, with “over” 45 Abounds 47 Generation 48 Small group of tiny monarchs? 51 Google, say 53 Canyon part 54 “A Bug’s Life” extra 55 It might blow up in a crash 59 Shade at the shore 63 Worthless buzzer? 65 [I’m doomed] 66 Goes wrong 67 Bridge expert on some “Sports Illustrated” covers 68 Mozart’s “a” 69 Soft-spoken painter Bob 70 Irish hero, briefly 71 Pringles competitor
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
LOST & FOUND LOSTLIVESCRIBE PEN in MI Union.Reward for its return 734-649-6698.
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER
NOW. @michigandaily
about his chances. “I don’t get angry very easily. I think that is important. I am very level headed, even-tempered I think. I am very determined, very tenacious,” he said. “I think I criticize myself and my own ideas and try to improve them that way. I analyze things to death and I think that is important on City Council right now.” Briere said it’s easy for someone to have the kind of platform Leaf has when they do not know what it is like to be in government and found his approach to be much more black and white compared to her own nuanced style. “Everybody has a personality trait,” she said. “I am extraordinarily realistic. I am not idealistic at all. I probably never have been. Someone asked me recently what I thought about Will and I said, ‘You know, even if Will and I were the same age we would disagree on the way to get anything done.’ ” Leaf does not believe Briere’s “black and white” evaluation of him to be true and added that City Council often avoids making hard decisions. “There is a big difference between seeing both sides of an issue and listening and getting lots of different perspectives, which is critical and really important, to not having convictions and not having an opinion,” he said. “To me, not taking action is itself an action.” Leaf said he is aware that being elected would not garner him everyone’s support, but thinks that City Council members are able to frame discussions. “I think it’s not just saying, like, ‘I’m going to be one vote on this pre-existing slate of issues.’ It’s that any individual on council is in a good position to frame the way the issues are,” he said. An important point for both candidates is zoning reconsiderations. “I would love to see that we were making changes to our zoning to really encourage more solar alternative power by setting our premiums so that someone is expected to put a green roof or a solar roof on any building above a certain height,” Briere said. She also called on the city to rezone certain sites in accordance with the city’s master plan. “The incentives were built into the zoning and now it’s time to reevaluate the incentives because they did not result in giving us the housing variety and other tangibles like greener buildings and more pedestrian amenities that we had wanted.” For Leaf, zoning is an issue that will directly affect another significant concern for the city: affordable housing. Affordable housing and fos-
tering conditions for its development in Ann Arbor have been recurring themes in this year’s City Council meetings. City Council adopted the Housing Affordability Equity and Analysis, which proposes the construction of 3,139 affordable homes in Ann Arbor and 4,178 new middles class homes in Ypsilanti by 2035. Leaf found the report to be unrealistic because of the costs associated with implementing the proposals. He added that affordable housing will have to be facilitated through market mechanisms, which the government can help create through zoning reforms. He believes current zoning rules restrict the supply of housing, which leads to continually high prices. He said removing or reducing minimum lot sizes and eliminating parking requirements and floor area requirements would allow for more houses and therefore prices to drop. Leaf recognized potential resistance against proposed changes and supports two ways to make it an easy transition. The first is to establish performance zoning, a type of zoning based on the effects of the development. “One is to carefully regulate physical effects of developments like the noise, odor, light shining into houses and thing like that, and to focus more on performance standards rather than zoning,” he said. The second is changing the city’s Master Plan such that the planning commission could be able to allow property owners to opt in to mixed use neighborhoods. This could be done in concert with establishing effective buffer zones. Briere also recognized the high levels of housing costs, including rising taxes and housing prices. She said City Council is currently considering two options. One is to allow the creation of accessory dwelling units, which contain two units in a house, and the second is to decrease the frontage requirement to allow for the creation of duplex apartments that would have the option of renting. Briere identifies the problem of affordable housing as being regional, as it includes Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township, and thinks it should be addressed in that context. “We talk about affordable housing in Ann Arbor,” she said. “But we really need to be addressing the income and race and opportunity and education divide between Ypsilanti, Ypsilanti Township and Pittsfield Township.”
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Friday, April 3, 2015 — 7
Wolverines routed by Wildcats Coughlan keeps WOMEN’S LACROSSE
By KEVIN SANTO
racking up goals
Daily Sports Writer
Another ranked opponent lined up across from the Michigan women’s lacrosse team. It was the fourth opportunity for the Wolverines to prove themselves against a lacrosse powerhouse this season, but N’WESTERN 17 it became 8 MICHIGAN apparent early on that this game would be no different than the others. No. 6 Northwestern removed all hopes of an upset, defeating Michigan (0-2 Big Ten, 5-6 overall), 17-8, on Thursday. The Wildcats (1-1, 7-3) quickly and consistently broke down the Wolverines’ defense throughout the first half, establishing position just outside the crease and punishing Michigan with a slew of goals. With 11 minutes left in the first half, Northwestern put together a string of five unanswered goals to put the Wildcats up, 11-3. Leading their scoring barrage was midfielder Selena Lasota, who tallied a total of six goals. “Our only fault was that Northwestern had possession for most of the game,” said sophomore defender Brooke Pancoast. “So we were tired, naturally. (Clearing) is something that we have to work on as a team and that we will work on the next couple practices. We haven’t capitalized on turnovers, and we (need) to take care of the ball.” Michigan didn’t do itself any favors, either, committing 40 fouls, allowing five freeposition goals and allowing itself to be outshot, 32-13, in the game. The Wolverines’ setbacks weren’t just on the defensive end. They struggled to possess
By LELAND MITCHINSON Daily Sports Writer
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Sophomore defender Brooke Pancoast was part of a Michigan unit that allowed Northwestern to control possession.
the ball in their scoring third and never managed to claim a lead. Northwestern perfectly executed a defensive trap in the first half, forcing 11 turnovers. But after the Wildcats removed the trap in the second half and replaced goalie Bridget Bianco with Brooke Jones, Michigan showed glimpses of offensive success. “They were double-teaming the ball and getting out on the adjacents,” said Michigan coach Jennifer Ulehla. “(With) that much pressure on us, we struggle. The best way to get shots off was in transition. In the second half, I think we were
able to run more of our offense. We did a better job (breaking the trap) in the second half.” When the Wolverines were able to run their offense effectively, there were rare glimpses of grace around the net. With 23:11 left in the first half, after breaking the trap, sophomore attacker Jess Angerman received a pass left of the crease from sophomore attacker Tess Korten. Angerman then buried a shot into the net with a defender riding her left shoulder. Her goal was the first of Michigan’s eight goals. The Wolverines’ offensive effort also featured four goals from sophomore midfielder
“So we were tired, naturally.”
SOFTBALL
Michigan ready for tough Big Ten weekend matchup The Wolverines will play Minnesota for early-season bragging rights By CHRIS CROWDER Daily Sports Writer
If a wolverine and a gopher stood side to side, it would be easy to distinguish between the two. The wolverine is around the Michigan at size of an Minnesota average dog, Matchup: possessing Michigan 31-5; menacing Minnesota teeth and 29-5 sharp claws. When: FridayThe gopher is Sunday much smaller, Where: Jane with furry Sage Cowles hide and long, Stadium narrow teeth. But in regards to the fourth-ranked Wolverines and the 19th-ranked Golden Gophers softball teams, it’s much harder to pick out distinct differences. The teams are almost mirror images of one another. When Michigan heads to Minneapolis this weekend, it’ll be the most anticipated Big Ten softball series of the season. The teams are first- and second-ranked in the Big Ten in hits, runs scored, slugging percentage, runs batted in, home runs and total bases. Michigan (5-1 Big Ten, 31-5 overall) is first in every category, but Minnesota (5-1, 29-5) isn’t too far behind. The Wolverines are also a little better in regards to pitching, boasting a 0.65 lower earnedrun average. They have allowed 35 fewer runs and 32 fewer hits than the Golden Gophers. In fact, Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said that Minnesota is essentially the same team as
the Wolverines. “This is a battle of who is mentally toughest, and regardless of what we talk about, you have all these people talking about the implications of this particular series,” Hutchins said. “I don’t see it that way. We could come out of there with no wins or all wins and we haven’t accomplished any of our goals yet. Our goal is just to play good softball against a good team.” With some of the top talent in the country throughout its lineup, including junior second baseman Sierra Romero and sophomore right-hander Megan Betsa, Michigan’s star power is well known. Romero leads the Big Ten in nearly every major hitting category, having an astounding slugging percentage of 1.101 and an on-base percentage of .688. Betsa continues to mow down batters, having tallied 143 strikeouts to go with 14 wins. The Golden Gophers may have the front-runner for Big Ten Player of the Year in pitcher Sara Groenewegen. The right-hander is arguably the most dominant pitcher in the Big Ten, racking up a leaguebest 18 wins, 190 strikeouts and a .169 opposing batting average. “We’re trying to get to contact better,” Hutchins said. “(Groenewegen) is a strikeout artist, so we gotta try to counter that.” Groenewegen is also dangerous at the plate, twice compiling 11 total bases in a game. But Groenewegen isn’t Minnesota’s only standout. Infielder Tyler Walker is one of the best hitters in the
Minnesota batting order, with 33 runs scored, 40 RBI and nine home runs. But Michigan hasn’t withered on the road this year, as home-field advantage hasn’t lived up to expectations in giving the team a leg up at all. If Michigan is perfect at anything so far, it’s raining on other teams’ parades. The Wolverines are undefeated (11-0) in true away games — defeating top teams like No. 10 Arizona State, No. 5 Florida State and No. 6 Alabama — accumulating the secondmost wins on the road in the country, trailing only Minnesota. Michigan has three losses on top of the two suffered at Alumni Field, but those losses have only come at neutral sites. This weekend, the Wolverines will play the Golden Gophers in another tough away series, Minnesota’s first home series of the year. Michigan feels up to the task, “I think we’re really prepared,” said freshman infielder Amanda Vargas. “It’s good that we’ve played a lot of harder games just for this exposure and for this type of weekend where we get to play Minnesota and compete.” Added freshman catcher Aidan Falk: “We adapt really well, so it’s going to be fun to rise to the occasion. I’m really excited, and I think we’re going to fight really well out there.” The wolverine may look much more intimidating than a gopher in nature. But this weekend, the question of who would win in a battle between a Gopher and a Wolverine has never been so uncertain.
“This is a battle of who is mentally toughest.”
Kim Coughlan. Sophomore midfielders Anna Schueler and Madeline Dion and sophomore attackman Lauren Oberlander contributed one goal each. But unfortunately for Michigan, the Wildcats’ mantra for the night appeared to be “anything you can do, I can do better.” Though the Wolverines improved their scoring efficiency in the second half, scoring five goals on 10 shots, it simply wasn’t enough. With the exception of one pair of consecutive goals for Michigan, the Wildcats didn’t allow a single unanswered goal. Thursday night began as an opportunity for the Wolverines to make a statement. But it ended much worse: a lopsided defeat, a third straight loss and another reminder that Michigan can’t keep up with ranked opponents.
It was a bittersweet night for sophomore midfielder Kim Coughlan as the Michigan women’s lacrosse team took on No. 6 Northwestern Thursday. Despite Coughlan’s efficient four goals on four shots, her team fell 17-8 to the Wildcats. The first half of the game gave no indication that Coughlan’s night would be anything out of the ordinary, though she did tally her first goal of the night and 23rd goal of the season with 11:24 remaining in the first half, giving the Wolverines their third goal of the contest. Given an eight-meter freeposition shot, Coughlin faked low and shot high to convert the open opportunity. “Their defense in the first half was pretty hard to beat,” Coughlin said. “We just needed to see what they were doing and adjust to it. We started communicating more, spreading it out and passing the ball and moving it fast, that helped a lot, working as a team and seeing the open person right away.” With Michigan trailing, 11-3, at the end of the first half, Northwestern seemed to have the game well under control, though Coughlin did her best to make it difficult for the Wildcats. Coughlan had back-to-back goals in the middle of the second half to complete her hat trick and slow down the four-goal run from Northwestern. “Kim is one of our more explosive players,” said Michigan coach Jennifer Ulehla. “When they backed off of the double-teaming defense, that high-pressure defense,
she was able to really use her athleticism.” The first of the two came off another free-position shot where she once again faked out the goaltender and scored from eight meters out. “We work a lot on (freeposition shots) in practice,” Coughlan said. “The more practice you get the better you get at them.” Though Michigan had just three opportunities from the eight-meter all game, Coughlan’s two successful attempts made sure the Wolverines did not squander those advantages. She created her next goal by dodging a Northwestern defender and giving herself enough space to get the shot off just in front of the crease. Though the game was already in the bag for the Wildcats, Coughlan refused to give up, scoring for a fourth time with 6:38 left in the game. Creating space for herself, once more, she put one past the goalie while surrounded by Northwestern defenders. “She is very explosive,” Ulehla said. “Whether or not she actually got the shot off or she ended up getting fouled and then scoring off of the eightmeter, it just opened up more opportunities for her.” Coughlan’s four goals bring her total on the season to 26, making her the Wolverines’ leading scorer. She will look to take her momentum from this game and turn it into a win for her team this Saturday, when Michigan takes on Duquesne. “She continues to get better every single game, and this was one of her best,” Ulehla said.
‘M’ faces another test By DANNY VARGOVICK Daily Sports Writer
This weekend, the Michigan baseball team travels to Bloomington to take on the defending Big Ten champions. It’s an important series for the Wolverines if they want to prove capable of realizing their goals of making the NCAA Michigan Tournament. After winning at Indiana five of their Matchup: last six games, Michigan which included 16-12; Indiana taking the 17-8 series against When: Fridaythen-No. 20 Sunday Maryland, Where: Bart the preseason Kaufman Field favorite in the Big Ten, Michigan will try to continue its momentum against the Hoosiers. Last year, Indiana was a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament after reaching the College World Series in 2013. But the Hoosiers (1-4 Big Ten, 17-8 overall) might be having an off year. They were just swept at Iowa last weekend, but they still have had a number of impressive wins in non-conference play. They opened the year winning two of three at Stanford, and have since swept Cal State Fullerton and beaten both Louisville and Kentucky. But, perhaps more importantly, they have experience. “They’re a tough team at home,” said Michigan coach Erik Bakich. “They’ve got a lot of the veterans back from the teams from the last two years that went to the World Series. They lost a few, but they’ve got a nucleus back. They can certainly hold their own.” Offensively, Indiana is No. 6 in the Big Ten in runs scored at 141, just 16 runs behind third-place Michigan. The Hoosiers are led by first baseman Craig Dedelow, who leads the team in hitting at .330, and third baseman Austin Cangelosi, who leads the team in slugging at .545. Both were parttime contributors last year, but
have recently had the opportunity for more playing time this year with teammates graduating and leaving early for the MLB Draft. Friday, Michigan (2-4, 16-12) will start junior right-hander Jacob Cronenworth, who started the season as the team’s closer but has moved to the rotation in part due to his effectiveness and in part due to injuries. Cronenworth has a 3.07 earned-run average on the year to go with a 0.89 WHIP. Cronenworth will be going up against left-hander Caleb Baragar, arguably Indiana’s best pitcher, who has a 0.79 ERA on the season. In his last start, he went seven innings against Iowa, allowing only one run on four hits and a walk. Baragar should prove to be a challenge for the Wolverines. Saturday and Sunday, Michigan will use freshman right-hander Ryan Nutof and sophomore left-hander Brett Adcock, respectively. Nutof earned Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week honors for his start last week against Maryland where he went 7.1 innings, allowing five hits, one walk and no runs. The
freshman, who sports a 2.92 ERA on the season, has pitched nine more innings than anyone else on the team and has recently cut down on his walks. Finally, Adcock will start for the Wolverines in the final game of the series. Adcock is coming off a taxing start last weekend when he threw 95 pitches in just four innings due to a large number of walks and strikeouts, but he kept the Terrapins to just two runs over those four innings. He has been both Michigan’s best and worst starter at times this year. He has given up 28 walks and struck out 30 batters in 30.2 innings this year. This weekend series is another test in a long season of challenges for the Wolverines. It will be a good indicator of whether or not the Maryland series win was just a fluke or a true indicator of talent level. Though Michigan and Indiana are trending in opposite directions, they appear to have a similar talent level. “They’re a team that doesn’t beat themselves,” Bakich said. “It’s gonna be a good challenge.”
GRANT HARDY/Daily
Brett Adcock will look to rebound from his four-inning start last weekend.
Sports
8 — Friday, April 3, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Harbaugh brings new excitement to Spring Game By MAX COHEN Managing Sports Editor
Since Jim Harbaugh was hired as Michigan’s football coach
Dec. 30, there has been constant excitement surrounding his every action. There he was one day, helping two women after a car crash.
There he was on another, coaching first base for the Oakland Athletics. Even his presence online has Maize vs. been a point of Blue captivation — When: Harbaugh has Saturday amassed more 12 P.M. than 200,000 Where: followers on Michigan Twitter in Stadium less than four TV/Radio: months. BTN But Saturday will be the first time that attention will be turned to the football field, when Harbaugh will coach Michigan’s Spring Game. With his arrival, the excitement for the game around campus is more palpable than in years past. Associate Athletic Director Dave Ablauf estimated that there could be between 35,000 and 50,000 fans in attendance depending upon the weather, a sizable increase from the 15,000 fans who attended last year’s Spring Game. Ablauf said a crowd of 75,000 fans wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. That can be attributed to Harbaugh. Even Michigan’s students, known for their relative indifference toward attending football games in recent years, have made the game a point of discussion on campus. Fraternities have planned tailgates for the morning of the game, and talk on campus indicates that the Spring Game could overtake the annual citywide marijuana celebration, known as “Hash Bash,” as the go-to weekend event for students. The format of the Spring Game will only help matters. In recent years, the game has served as little more than an opportunity for the public to watch the team practice. Last season, the team spent a large portion of the afternoon warming up and running drills that were not reminiscent of a football game. That won’t be the case Saturday.
RUBY WALLAU/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh’s presence will bring an added layer of excitement to this year’s Spring Game.
The Wolverines will play four 10-minute quarters of football. Last Saturday, Harbaugh held a draft to determine rosters for the game. Michigan’s players will be split up into two teams, one maize and the other blue. Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach D.J. Durkin drafted and will coach the maize team, while offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Tim Drevno will have the same role for the blue team. The Athletic Department released the rosters Wednesday afternoon, though the order the players were picked is unknown. The main point of interest for fans in attendance will likely be the quarterback battle. The returning quarterbacks have seen little game action, and Saturday could provide a glimpse into their development. As expected, the three scholarship quarterbacks on the spring roster were split up between the teams. Early enrollee Alex Malzone is a member of the maize team, while junior Shane Morris and redshirt freshman
Wilton Speight will play for the blue team. Members of the coaching staff have claimed on numerous occasions throughout the spring that no quarterback has separated himself from the rest of the group by a margin worthy of the starting job. The Spring Game will be the last opportunity for the trio of quarterbacks to impress the coaching staff on the field until new competition arrives on campus over the summer. ESPN reported Wednesday that Iowa graduate transfer Jake Rudock plans to enroll at Michigan and play for the Wolverines in the fall. Rudock was a two-year starter for the Hawkeyes, and threw for 2,436 yards last season to go along with 16 touchdowns and five interceptions. Also arriving on campus this summer will be highly touted prospect Zach Gentry, a fourstar recruit from New Mexico. Participating in spring practice won’t be a prerequisite for winning the starting job. Drevno
believes practicing in fall camp will give the newcomers enough time to come in and potentially earn a starting role, even at the game’s most important position. Other Michigan players possibly competing for time were not listed on the Spring Game roster, perhaps the result of injury. This group includes junior linebacker Mike McCray, senior linebacker James Ross III, junior defensive end Taco Charlton, senior running back Drake Johnson, senior fullback Sione Houma, senior defensive end Mario Ojemudia, senior defensive tackle Ondre Pipkins and junior tight end Khalid Hill. Despite the division of the Wolverines’ squad, Drevno laughed when asked if there would be trash-talking between him and Durkin. He said there wouldn’t be. Still, a victory will be his goal. “We’re competitive, which is fun,” Drevno said. For the first time in recent memory, the Spring Game could be, too.