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FOOTBALL
AD: Ticket prices will drop nearly 40 percent In partnership with CSG, football ticket packages to be $175 for 2015 season By GREG GARNO and ALEJANDRO ZÚÑIGA Managing Sports Editors
The Michigan football team has a much stronger home schedule next season than it does this fall. And it’ll cost students a lot less to see the Wolverines play. The Athletic Department, in conjunction with the Central Student Government, announced Thursday it will lower student season ticket prices to $175 for next year’s sevengame home slate. At an average of $25 per game, the price decrease is a 37.5-percent change from this year’s cost of $280 for the season. “We listen,” Athletic Director Dave Brandon told The Michigan Daily Thursday afternoon. “We’ve been listening. … We really learned that two really important components to re-engaging with our students in trying to create a more robust, more enthusiastic
and larger student section for next year’s football season was price and strength of schedule. “A nearly 40-percent reduction in ticket prices is, I think it’s fair to say, unprecedented.” The new plan, which incorporated feedback from a CSG-conducted survey of University students, will also implement a new reducedpricing structure for students with financial need. The Athletic Department will charge a $10 processing fee for student-ticket purchases, down from $15 in 2013, and a custom T-shirt comes included in the package. The department also announced that season ticket prices will remain the same for non-students for the third consecutive year. “It’s been great working together,” said CSG President Bobby Dishell, a Public Policy senior, in an interview with the Daily. “We realized that the University takes need into account when you’re coming here, so your experiences here should also take that into account.” Dishell announced his partnership with the Athletic Department to reduce ticket prices at a meeting of the University’s Board of See FOOTBALL, Page 3
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Michigan coach John Beilein speaks to a crowd of students at the Maize Night Madness rally on the Diag Thursday night.
Students, athletes rally on Diag before MSU game Student performers and speakers aim to pump up football fans By NEALA BERKOWSKI Daily Staff Reporter
As performances, motivational speeches, slam poetry and chants filled the brisk Thursday night, a few hundred students gathered on the Diag for Maize Night Madness, an event geared toward increasing
school spirit and morale before the Michigan football team faces Michigan State this weekend in East Lansing. LSA senior John Borger, who helped organize the event along with the campus group Beat OSU, said the pep rally was designed to highlight the hard work of University students and what the school has to offer, including the work of athletes and student groups. “Whether it’s on a football field or in the classroom or in a research lab or on the stage, all these performers are doing incredible things,” Borger said.
ELECTION 2014
“We’re not the number one public institution because of the football team. We’re not the number one public institution because of any one team, or any one classroom. It’s the whole University.” Maize Night Madness included performances from several dance groups and appearances by the football, field hockey and men’s and women’s basketball teams, as well as two student poets and a variety of other groups. LSA freshman Helen Joa said she attended the event after she heard about it online and from
ANN ARBOR
Updated law widens scope of protections
Bernstein speaks with students at Union forum
Additions to nondiscrimination ordinance expand inclusivity
College Democrats host event for state Supreme Court candidate
By GENEVIEVE HUMMER
By NABEEL CHOLLAMPAT
For the Daily
For the Daily
Metro Detroit attorney Richard Bernstein, a University alum, returned to his alma mater Thursday evening to speak and field questions from a short panel hosted by the University’s chapter of the College Democrats. Bernstein is currently a Democratic candidate for a seat on the Michigan Supreme Court. He was born legally blind, and, referencing his campaign slogan of “Blind Justice,” said his campaign is founded upon fairness. “It is time for our courts to become blind. Blind to partisan politics, blind to special interests, blind to political ideology,” he said. “Fairness is really the key to justice.” Bernstein is an attorney for the Detroit-area Sam Bernstein Law Firm, where he founded and runs the firm’s Public Services Division. He previously served on the Wayne State University Board of Governors, and his brother, Mark, currently serves on the University’s Board of Regents. In 2007, Richard Bernstein See BERNSTEIN, Page 3
WEATHER TOMORROW
posters around campus. “There was a lot of hype surrounding it so I wanted to see what it was all about,” Joa said. “I really liked all the different groups that performed the dances. I thought that was really cool. I didn’t know about some of the clubs that are here so it was cool to get to learn more about them.” Borger said the rally was held Thursday to celebrate the upcoming football game against Michigan State and to kick off the basketball and hockey seasons. Organizers hosted a See MADNESS, Page 3
HI: 65 LO: 48
VICKI LIU/Daily
Slam poet Sonya Renee performs pieces exploring racism, body shaming and identity at 1 in 3’s Abortion Speakout at the Michigan Union Thursday.
Women share their stories at Abortion Speak Out Closed forum creates safe space to exchange personal experiences By AMRUTHA SIVAKUMAR Daily Staff Reporter
Developing an inclusive and supportive space for those who have had one or more abortions in their lifetime isn’t easy. But, on Thursday evening, the Abortion Speak Out did just that. The “1 in 3” Abortion Speak Out gave University students, faculty and staff the opportunity to share their personal
experiences with reproductive choices. In its second year, the gender-inclusive event allowed any speaker to either share his or her story directly or have it read anonymously during the hour. “We need a space that isn’t about shame,” said award-winning slam poet Sonya Renee as she introduced a series of performances that would transform the Michigan Union’s Pendleton Room into this venue. Renee, founder of the “The Body Is Not An Apology” movement, began the evening by relaying reproductive justice messages through spoken word and poetry. She said the goal was to create a space of “joy and acceptance for people who will
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come and share this evening.” “This is less about a show than it is about a truth-telling session, which is ritual, which is ceremony in my community,” Renee added. To maintain respect in the room throughout the event, members of Students for Choice recited rules for the audience to follow once the event began: Only those who have had an abortion were allowed to speak, and speakers were advised to avoid making generalizations about abortion. All stories were also to be kept confidential. Social work volunteers were available after the event to speak to attendees. One by one, people walked See ABORTION, Page 3
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With a new revision to Ann Arbor’s Non-Discrimination Ordinance, the City Council is aiming to extend legal protections to a broader spectrum of the city’s residents. The Council approved a revamped ordinance Monday that includes provisions for gender expression and identity, survivors of domestic violence, political beliefs, genetic information, arrest record and familial status. Councilmember Christopher Taylor (D–Ward 3) applauded the city’s Human Rights Commission for their commitment to improving the existing ordinance. “It has been an example of a commission doing right and doing good, so thank you,” Taylor said at Monday’s meeting. “These changes, I believe, reflect Ann Arbor’s values of openness and tolerance and will constitute a great step forward for us.” Councilmember Sumi Kailasapathy (D–Ward 1), the Council’s liaison on the city’s
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Human Rights Commission, said the commission was motivated to revise the existing ordinance because of a technical flaw. The city’s original NonDiscrimination Ordinance was passed in 1972 and later became one of the first in the state to include protections for sexual orientation and gender expression. The original ordinance also provided for a city director of human rights to oversee human rights investigations, but such a position doesn’t currently exist. The commission wanted to clarify the language so future investigations can be managed more efficiently. The new ordinance states that the Human Rights Commission is responsible for overseeing these investigations. Ann Arbor’s ordinance is now more comprehensive than similar legislation in Berkeley, Calif., Boulder, Colo. and Austin, Texas. The ordinances in these college towns afford protections for race, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender, age and ancestry. However, they do not include provisions for survivors of domestic violence, members of the military, an individual’s political beliefs or arrest record, and do not differentiate between gender identity and gender expression. See ORDINANCE, Page 3
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University ROTC members will be running from Ann Arbor to East Lansing for Saturday’s football game against Michigan State. The charity race has already raised $13,705 to raise awareness for people with disabilities.
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Glassbox closure BY MICHAEL SUGERMAN
Glassbox Coffee & Juice has closed its doors after primary investors called for the shop to close Wednesday night. Owner Jason Friend said the investor is no longer able to support the business.
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THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW TODAY
Summer in South Asia
Regents Translateelection forum a-thon
WHAT: Eight undergraduate students who spent a summer in India will share their projects. WHO: Center for South Asian Studies WHEN: Today from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. WHERE: School of Social Work
WHAT: The candidates for the University’s Board of Regents will answer questions from Public Policy students. WHO: School of Public Policy WHEN: Today from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. WHERE: Weill Hall
WHAT: A weekend-long event in which students can work on their translation skills. Food is provided. WHO: Language Resource Center WHEN: Today from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. WHERE: North Quad
WCBN DJ shadowing
Lou & Peter Berryman
Chicago day trip
WHAT: Students have the chance to hang out behind the scences of WCBN. Participants will see what it’s like to DJ at a local radio station. WHO: WCBN FM WHEN: Today from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. WHERE: Student Activities Building
WHAT: These musical humorists mix Midwestern culture with humor and music. They have a dozen albums and three songbooks, and have toured in the United States and Canada. WHO: Michigan Union Ticket Office WHEN: Today at 8 p.m. WHERE: The Ark, 316 S. Main St.
WHAT: Spend a day exploring the Windy City with the International Center. WHO: International Center WHEN: All day Saturday WHERE: Chicago, Ill. Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@michigandaily.com.
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Pope Francis wants to abolish life prison sentences. He called this type of punishment a “hidden death penalty,” The Guardian reported. He spoke to a delegation from the International Association of Penal Law Thursday.
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The Michigan hockey team travels to the East Coast for a two-game weekend against UMassLowell and Boston University. The Wolverines hope to rebound from last weekend’s split against New Hampshire. >> FOR MORE, SEE PAGE 7
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Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen donated $100 million to fight Ebola in West Africa, The New York Times reported. He is now one of the largest individual donors to the cause. The Bill Gates foundation will also donate $50 million.
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BUSINESS STAFF Madeline Lacey University Accounts Manager Ailie Steir Classified Manager Simonne Kapadia Local Accounts Manager Lotus An National Accounts Manager Olivia Jones Production Managers Nolan Loh Special Projects Coordinator 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.
Clery Act revisions bring GOP challenger aims to crime reporting updates take Dingell House seat Changes impact sexual assault prevention, hate crime classification By MAX RADWIN Daily Staff Reporter
College campuses should be safer come July, when new federal rules governing campus crime
reporting are set to go into effect. The U.S. Department of Education announced final rules last Friday for new provisions to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, which ensures that universities comply with certain campus safety and security policies. The revisions were enacted as part of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act in Congress, which included changes to the Clery Act.
“I am proud to say that now, teens and young adults will have better access to prevention and intervention programs to help break the cycle of violence around the country,” said Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser and assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs and public engagement and chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls, on the White House Blog. The Clery Act requires universities that receive financial aid funding from the federal government to create and follow a set of policies regarding student safety. For example, a university must publish an annual security report, keep a public crime log, post crime statistics, develop procedures for emergency situations and prepare to handle reports of missing students, among other policies laid out in an almost 300page Clery Act handbook. Effective July 1, 2015, the changes include five additions to the law. Universities will be required to: record incidents of stalking based on the location where stalking took place or the location where the victim first realized he or she was being stalked; include gender identity and national origin as categories of bias that serve as hate crimes; describe the type of disciplinary action taken against people who have allegedly committed domestic and dating violence, sexual assault or stalking; include policies for preventing dating violence in their annual safety reports; and provide the accuser and the accused with the same opportunities during disciplinary committees. Diane Brown, spokeswoman for the University’s Division of Public Safety and Security, said it won’t be difficult for the University to make some of these changes since it already had many of the new requirements in place as recently as Fall 2013, when the University’s sexual misconduct policy was updated — includSee CLEARY, Page 3
Terry Bowman focuses on health care, energy policy By SHOHAM GEVA Daily Staff Reporter
In February, U.S. Rep. John Dingell (D–Mich.) announced his retirement, leaving his seat open after 58 years of service. Vying to replace him are two candidates — Democrat Debbie Dingell, his wife, and Republican Terry Bowman. Bowman, though never an elected official, has been involved in several statewide policy issues as the founder of Union Conservatives, a group that seeks to promote conservative values among union members. He is currently employed as an assembly line worker at a Ford Motor Company plant, where he has worked for most of his career. ‘Not a Dingell’ The first thing Bowman wants to make clear is he’s not a Dingell. Collectively, the Dingells have held a seat in the House for the past 81 years, through John Dingell’s service and through his father, John D. Dingell, Sr., before him. Bowman has run on the platform of ending the “Dingell dynasty” and bringing a fresh perspective to Washington. “It’s no fault of the individual, but I think that if you’re in Congress for a long time you completely lose the ability to connect with what goes on each and every day,” he said. He added that his campaign is not about partisanship in general. He said he’s against family legacies in politics, whether it’s a Clinton, a Dingell or a Bush.
Right to work In 2012, Michigan passed right-to-work legislation, which prohibits unions from requiring employees to join or pay dues in workplaces. The issue proved divisive, with unions arguing that the policy would take away their ability to effectively bargain. Bowman, a member of the United Automobile Workers union, was influential in the passage of the legislation through his role with the Union Conservatives. “Union officials don’t like right-to-work because it holds them answerable and accountable to their membership,” Bowman said. “But for the rank and file it’s different. What rightto-work does is it holds their union officials answerable and accountable, and it forces those union officials to start focusing on them in their day-to-day work instead of being focused on politics on a national level. Right to work is pro-union worker, even though you hear from the other side that it’s anti-union.” Health care Bowman has also made health care, specifically his opposition to the Affordable Care Act, a policy focus. He pointed an economic issue — the requirement for businesses with 50 or more employees to offer health insurance to their workers if they work 30 or more hours per week — as the basis for his concern. “For the first time in history, the Affordable Care Act designates full-time employment as 30 hours a week or more,” he said. “And so businesses are not willing to work their employees more than 29 hours a week. So this is a law, a bill, that actually encourages unemployment, and it encourages part-time employment, which is not beneficial to the middle-income people in the United States, or the working families in the United States.”
Energy Bowman characterized energy prices as one of the most important policy issues for the United States because of its significance to the economy both for families and businesses. “What people need to understand is that if your businesses are paying a high amount for energy, they have less money to grow, to hire new people and to give the existing employees wages and benefits,” he said. “Energy policy is our lifeblood.” Bowman added that he’s not opposed to exploring and supporting wind and solar energy, but decried a focus on switching to them entirely. He also said to keep prices down he would look to coal as well as hydroelectric and nuclear energy sources. “There’s no reason to demonize the existing energy plants today, like the coalburning plants,” Bowman said. “I think we’ve been very blessed in this country with an incredible amount of coal.” Tough race to win No formal polls have been conducted for the race, but most predict Dingell will win due to her position as the Democratic nominee in a historically blue district. Bowman’s campaign does not have the money or the name recognition to match his opponent, a fact he has acknowledged. “We know the district is very Democrat,” he said. “But what we had said from the beginning is that what we have to do is make sure we have the ability — meaning the funds, the donations, the support of people in the district — we have enough in order to get our message out to the people in the district. And, we’ve been See BOWMAN, Page 3
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FOOTBALL From Page 1 Regents Oct. 16. The number of student ticket sales dropped from about 19,000 in 2013 to about 12,000 in 2014, creating a noticeably smaller student section. As has been the policy in previous years, the Athletic Department will sell season ticket packages to every student who requests one for the upcoming season. Citing the lower prices and a home schedule that includes games against Ohio State and Michigan State, Hunter Lochmann, Athletic Department chief marketing officer, said he hopes the student section will rebound to between 18,000 and 20,000 people next fall. “The wrestling about this issue started when we got 12,000 student tickets sold for this season, and we
ORDINANCE From Page 1 During the public hearing at Monday’s meeting, local organizations voiced their support for the new ordinance. A representative from SafeHouse, a group that provides support for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, was among those in attendance. Barbara Niess-May, executive director of SafeHouse, said she was thrilled with the new ordinance. Victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking are often dismissed from jobs, restaurants and businesses because of their attacker’s behavior, Niess-May said in an interview with The Michigan Daily. The wider impact of the ordinance is also important to the organization, which works closely with the local LGBTQ community. “It’s not just about one sliver of society, it’s about its entirety,” Niess-May said. Kailasapathy said Ann Arbor is hoping to set an example for the state of Michigan through the revised ordinance. The state’s anti-discrimination leg-
ABORTION From Page 1 either to the microphone set up in front of the stage or the one at the other end of the room and facing the backs of the audience, to tell their first-person experiences. Last year, abortion opponents protested the event on social media in the hours leading up to last year’s event. LSA senior Emma Maniere said in an interview following Thursday’s event that she was appreciative of the peaceful nature of this year’s Speak Out. “We’re very pleased with the
BERNSTEIN From Page 1 represented the Paralyzed Veterans of America in a case against the University for failing to provide necessary facilities for disabled spectators. The case resulted in the University spending an estimated $2 million to add wheelchair-accessible seats to Michigan Stadium. During the hour-long session Thursday, Bernstein highlighted how he would add diversity to the Supreme Court Justice panel if elected. “When you have a multi-judge panel, you want to have as much unique life experience as possible,” he said. “I think mine will be an asset when we’re having those conversations and making those decisions.” He added that his experience as a lawyer would be beneficial as a justice. “The law is a great vehicle for change,” he said. “You can see how law gives a voice to folks who otherwise don’t have one.” LSA senior Trevor Dolan, chair of the College Democrats, said the group hosted Bernstein
saw that significant dropoff from the previous year,” Brandon said. “Clearly, that was a strong message to us that, ‘Hey, something is amiss that we need to address.’” Student seating will be assigned based on attendance at this season’s games, as was announced this spring. The policy rewards students who attend at least six games this fall and arrive more than 20 minutes before kickoff with better seats in 2015. The policy change comes after a shift to a General Admission model prior to the 2013 season, which was met with uproar by the student body. The remainder of the students will be organized based on class ranking. Dishell said he and Brandon, along with Lochmann and CSG Vice President Emily Lustig, an LSA senior, have been in talks for the past “two or three weeks” about improving the student section.
Dishell, who originally developed the CSG survey, worked to add questions and feedback from Brandon before sending it out to students Oct. 10. According to Dishell, 5,802 individuals — roughly 12 percent of the student body — filled out the survey. And since then, the group has worked “night and day” to implement a new policy. “This was strictly (in conjunction) with students,” Dishell said. “This is really us being us. I don’t know of another school who’s lowering ticket prices 40 percent,” Brandon added. The plan also plans to lower the ticket processing fee from $15 to $10 while including the T-shirt for students in the cost of the ticket package — a $15 value. “Michigan football is such a core component (of the University experience) because there’s no other experience on campus that more students participate in at one time,” Dishell said.
islation, the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, does not include protections for sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. However, it was amended in 2009 to increase protections for pregnant employees. State Rep. Adam Zemke (D– Ann Arbor) acknowledged the state’s shortcomings in a statement read by Taylor at Monday’s meeting. “I would love to stand before you today and say that a comprehensive local ordinance is unnecessary because the state has included all persons regardless of sexual orientation, gender expression or identity under the protection afforded by the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act,” Zemke wrote. “That would be the right thing to do for all Michiganders, however, that is not yet the case.” Political beliefs are another protection many would like to see added to state legislation. In an interview with the Daily, Michael Steinberg, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union in Michigan, said an Ann Arbor doctor was fired a few years ago because she was an activist for Palestinian rights. Steinberg said he hopes
state lawmakers will realize the importance of protecting people of all political views. “Ann Arbor is not alone; several states have political beliefs protected in their civil rights laws — California, Colorado, Connecticut, South Dakota and Louisiana, just to name a few,” Steinberg said. “It isn’t radical or out of the ordinary.” He added that the ordinance is especially relevant to Ann Arbor. Because the town is home to one of the nation’s preeminent universities, the right to freely exchange ideas is important. William Hampton, president of the Ann Arbor chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, praised the Council for the work they did to improve the ordinance and noted Ann Arbor’s longstanding tradition of social progress. “It showed a lot of courage to have a human rights ordinance in the 1970s, and we did,” he said. However, Hampton added that without enforcement, the new ordinance will be meaningless. He hopes that if it is enforced it will encourage community members to value and celebrate diversity.
turnout overall of the event, and we got a good, diverse array of experience,” Maniere said. “That’s something that’s motivated our decision to host this event and has proved that abortion stories are not black and white, they’re not always shameful, they’re not always empowering; I’m glad we got to capture that.” For the remainder of the year, Students for Choice will host events focused on spreading sexual health information. Next month the organization will host a panel on coercive sterilization and its effect on women of color. In March, the group will bring back their performance of the play “The Vagina Monologues.”
Hannah Le, founder of blog “STFU, Pro-Lifers” attended the event as well. Le said the event resonated with her personal experience with seeing a family member effectively rise above abortion stigmas and her personal views on bodily autonomy. LSA freshman Cora Sharp said she attended the event to support those who have had abortions, as she believes she would have made the same choice had she been pregnant in similar situations. “I want people to understand that you’re not being a selfish person just because you’re trying to choose your life, because I know I wouldn’t have been able to raise a kid,” she said.
because they wanted to help enhance his public presence, among other reasons. “He’s a really fantastic speaker and he’s also in an incredibly important race that doesn’t get a lot of attention because it is a nonpartisan race and on the back of the ballot,” he said. Bernstein said a major problem facing the Democratic Party in Michigan is the fact that 35 percent of Democratic voters do not complete the entire ballot. The Supreme Court race is a “downballot issue,” Bernstein said, and appears on the back of the physical ballot. Bernstein also referenced his experience finishing 18 marathons and an Ironman Triathlon. “Athletics helps to shatter a lot of stereotypes and change a lot of perceptions people have of people with disabilities and special needs,” he said. Music, Theatre & Dance freshman Samuel Koeppe attended the event to support Bernstein’s efforts on behalf of the disabled. “Both of my parents work for kids with disabilities, so activism for disabilities has always been present in my life and I think it’s a very important topic to be dis-
cussed,” he said. “So many people with disabilities have a hard time finding good education and hopefully he can open up doors to make it more accessible.” Bernstein discussed the Supreme Court justice election process, generally voicing his support for it but identifying one main flaw. Candidates are nominated by their respective parties, but the race is billed as non-partisan and candidates are elected rather than appointed. He said the blurred partisan lines in the election can lead to impropriety in the campaign process. “It is critical that you go out and spend time with voters,” he said. “The one problem that has to be changed is dark money. PACs can pour tremendous amounts of money into these races and you don’t know where that money is coming from.” Bernstein also added that social media will be the party’s greatest asset. “Social media changes how these elections are fought,” he said. “The one chance that we have as Democrats is the fact that even though we’re going to get outspent, we have energy and spirit, and we are going to outwork them.”
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MADNESS From Page 1 similar event last year, Maize Out, Lights On, before Michigan played against Notre Dame. “We got kind of lucky with the timing with there being a dip in school spirit so we can help pick that up,” Borger said. “It’s still early in the semester so kids can still get involved and raise that morale and get them excited to be at Michigan. It’s still a time where you can jump into a new organization. You can see some-
CLEARY From Page 1 ing stalking provisions and the inclusion of gender identity and national origin as classifications for hate crimes. She added that there would be more training regarding sexual misconduct for students,
BOWMAN From Page 1 very successful in doing that.” He added that he would not have entered the race if he didn’t think winning was a
Friday, October 24, 2014 — 3 one on stage and say, ‘I want to do that.’ ” Though the event was focused in part on Michigan’s upcoming game against Michigan State and included a speech from Michigan football coach Brady Hoke, the Athletic Department has been subject to vocal criticism in recent weeks. Many students railed against Hoke for putting sophomore quarterback Shane Morris back in Michigan’s Sept. 27 football game against Minnesota after he sustained a “probable, mild concussion,” and later against Athletic Department officials
for failing to provide adequate communication about the incident. Borger said he hopes the rally will take place again next year and continue increasing morale and pride at the University. “We’ve been working so hard just for tonight so we always hope someone will carry it forward,” Borger said. “We felt that this year was particularly important to get people to step up and increase University morale and take pride to be here. Yesterday, the block ‘M’ got painted green, and we can’t let that happen. Not here, not at my University.”
faculty and staff coming this fall. Representatives from the University’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center, including Director Holly RiderMilkovich, who was involved with a committee that developed the new policies, could not be reached for comment. Brown said she and Universi-
ty Police will be working for the next several months to ensure that their policy is up to date. “We certainly embrace the spirit of creating avenues to help our community members be informed about crime and safety issues reported to authorities, and if this is deemed helpful in that regard, so much the better,” she said.
possibility, and he thought his message was something that would resonate with the district. “Even before we were able to get out there and start campaigning full-time, while I’m working on the assembly line at
Ford, people would walk up to me and say — it’s kind of loud in there — but they would kind of yell ‘Hey Bowman, are you running for Congress?’” he said. “And I would say ‘Yeah,’ and they’d say, ‘Alright, you’ve got my vote.’”
Missouri police prepare for Michael Brown ruling Authorities stock riot gear in anticipation of civil unrest FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — Missouri police have been brushing up on constitutional rights and stocking up on riot gear to prepare for a grand jury’s decision about whether to charge a white police officer who fatally shot a black 18-year-old in suburban St. Louis. The preparations are aimed at avoiding a renewed outbreak of violence during the potentially large demonstrations that could follow an announcement of whether Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson will face a criminal trial for the Aug. 9 death of Michael Brown. Police and protesters have repeatedly clashed since the shooting, which prompted a national conversation about race and police tactics. Images of officers in riot gear and armored vehicles confronting protesters have drawn widespread criticism. Many protesters want Darren Wilson indicted for murder. Grand jury proceedings are secret, but legal analysts
say recently leaked information about Wilson’s testimony to investigators may be an attempt to prepare the public for the possibility that he might not be charged. The decision could be made public within the next month. In the meantime, law officers have adjusted their tactics for interacting more peacefully with protesters while also honing their procedures for quick, widespread arrests. They plan to have a large contingent of officers at the ready, but have been meeting with clergy, community leaders and students in hopes of building relationships that could ease tensions on the streets. “I know there’s a lot of anxiety, there’s a lot of fear, anticipation” about that announcement, said Missouri State Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson, who was put in charge of security in Ferguson in the days after Brown was killed and is now part of a coordinated command with local police. But “I have a lot of hope.” Law enforcement officers expect to receive at least a day’s notice before a grand jury announcement. That should provide time for them to execute security plans but may also allow demonstrators to prepare.
“The moment I learn that there is, in fact, a non-indictment, then there’s going to be an organized protest,” said Eric Vickers, a black St. Louis attorney and civil rights activist. Brown was unarmed when Wilson encountered him walking in the street with a friend. A scuffle ensued and Brown was shot multiple times. Witness accounts of what happened varied, with some people saying they saw Brown raise his hands as if in surrender. Wilson told investigators he felt threatened while fighting with Brown from inside a police SUV, where an initial gunshot was fired, according to information provided to several news outlets by people described as familiar with the investigation, but otherwise not identified. After Brown fled the vehicle, Wilson said Brown turned around in threatening manner, prompting the officer to fire the fatal shots, according to those accounts of his testimony. Wilson’s description of events was leaked recently, as was an autopsy report that showed Brown had marijuana in his system and was shot in the hand at close range. Wilson has alleged Brown was trying to grab his gun in the SUV.
Opinion
Page 4 — Friday, October 24, 2014
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Unified by faith or bound by obligation? Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com PETER SHAHIN EDITOR IN CHIEF
MEGAN MCDONALD and DANIEL WANG EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS
KATIE BURKE 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.
FROM THE DAILY
Stressing the small stuff
O
Basic mental health services can help the ‘U’ prevent future crises
n Oct. 15, University Health Service published the National Health Assessment Survey, a study that looks at general health indicators of the student body. The results of this survey provide a useful tool for identifying positive and negative health trends of University students. The Michigan Daily Editorial Board has isolated three main topics for analysis: Alcohol and drug abuse, mental health, and sexual health and relationships. This editorial focuses on the mental health of the student body. The University used the NCHA guidelines to survey students covering about 30 different factors affecting academic performance. Results indicated that stress and anxiety were the two leading factors that impeded students’ academic performances. Among undergraduate students, 31 percent of respondents indicated stress as a factor affecting their academic performance, and 22 percent reported being affected by anxiety. These results show a growth from 2010 numbers of 25 and 17 percent, respectively. Eighteen and 14 percent of graduate student respondents said stress and anxiety affected their academic performance. While these statistics are near the American College Health Association’s 2013 national averages of 27.9 percent and 19.7 percent for stress and anxiety, these concerning numbers suggest the start of an upward trend and and should be taken seriously by University administrators. The University can begin by further promoting the tuition-funded services offered through Counseling and Psychological Services, located on the third floor of the Michigan Union. Though CAPS has faced criticism from students in the past, CAPS administrators have revamped its services in order to better accommodate students. Most commendably, the wait time for an appointment decreased from a period of one to three weeks to a period of one to three days.
“What we, as a staff, listened to was this critique that the wait for CAPS was too long. We overhauled the old system in response. We had to completely change our mindset,” CAPS Director Todd Sevig said in an interview with the Daily. With the consideration of student input in its expansion and the implementation of innovative programs, such as the awareness events at the Michigan Theater, other University units must actively help promote CAPS’ endeavors and help students become more aware of its services. Furthermore, University promotion of student-led initiatives on campus in support of mental health will encourage students to take advantage of available services by spreading awareness and destigmatizing their use. For example, the Central Student Government’s Wolverine Support Network is an initiative in which student mentors, who are trained by CAPS in a three-day retreat, will meet weekly to help students work through their issues beginning in January 2015. Reports of stress and anxiety may appear to be common, everyday challenges, and thus undeserving of such attention. But willful disregard for basic mental health will certainly lead to larger and more serious disorders that can have devastating effects. By working to lower the stress and anxiety levels of its students, the University can prevent future cost and illness while improving students’ daily lives.
LISA PAPPAS | VIEWPOINT
Actions not keeping up with awareness According to findings from a new U-M Sustainability Cultural Indicators Program report, most U-M faculty, students, and staff have boosted their knowledge about how to be more sustainable, particularly in the areas of foods and waste prevention. However, behavior in these areas has remained essentially the same. SCIP is a collaborative effort between U-M’s Graham Sustainability Institute and the Institute for Social Research, with support from the Office of the Provost. Launched in 2012 to track “sustainability culture” on the Ann Arbor campus, SCIP uses annual surveys to measure and evaluate changes and progress over time. The survey data inform a set of sustainability indicators in four key categories: climate action, waste prevention, healthy environments and community awareness — aligning directly with the University’s campus sustainability goal areas. The secondyear SCIP report reflects responses from 4,700 faculty, students, and staff in 2013, and compares those results to benchmarks established in 2012. “To achieve its ambitious campus goals, the University prioritized stakeholder engagement, education, and evaluation strategies toward a campus-wide ethic of sustainability”, said Professor Don Scavia, special counsel to the U-M president for sustainability and director of the Graham Institute. “SCIP is a critical tool to assess sustainability behaviors throughout our campus community, and to inform strategies for improving them over time.” The 105-page SCIP report covers findings on people’s levels of awareness, behaviors, and commitment to sustainability, and an easy-toread “Sustainability Indicators Highlights” sheet outlines statistically significant increases and decreases between 2012 and 2013. A promising outcome is that more indicators went up than down from 2012 to 2013, particularly in the area of community awareness. However, while most people on campus said they were committed to sustainability in both years, key sustainability behavior indicators for climate action, waste prevention, and healthy environments all remained unchanged. “It’s an important stride that people know more about sustainability, and that shows success in terms of on-campus education and outreach programs,” said the Graham Institute’s John Callewaert, co-principal
investigator on the initiative with Robert W. Marans from ISR. “Now, we just need to see higher levels of awareness translated into more sustainable behaviors.” To ensure the SCIP findings are put to good use, the co-PI’s are distributing and discussing the data and results with multiple units on campus. For example, they have met with U-M’s Office of Campus Sustainability, Sustainable Computing, Athletics, the North Campus Sustainability Initiative, Parking & Transportation Services, and several others. They’re also collaborating with the Planet Blue Ambassador Program, which educates and engages U-M faculty, students, and staff in sustainability on campus. “SCIP has brought people together in ways never seen before,” said Kevin Morgan, regional energy manager for U-M Planet Blue Operations Team, who is using the SCIP data to plan energy conservation efforts across campus. “To meet campus goals, it’s important to have those conversations.” Callewaert elaborates: “The main goal of SCIP is to inform U-M administrators and others responsible for day-to-day operations of the University. So it’s wonderful to see so many decision makers across campus already starting to put the data to good use.” With an invitation letter from U-M President Mark Schlissel, ISR will send thirdyear surveys to a cross-section of the campus community in October and November. For the SCIP effort to be most impactful, data must be collected over several years to effectively assess changes and trends over time. “The web survey takes only about 15 minutes to complete,” said Marans. “I urge everyone who receives it through e-mail to complete it right away. Sustainability is a top priority for the University, and the survey feedback we receive from our students, staff, and faculty is critical in understanding how we’re doing and where we should be going.” To learn more, and to access the SCIP reports or highlights, visit sustainability.umich.edu/about/analysis. If you want to do more to help the University to meet its campus sustainability goals, become a Planet Blue Ambassador. Online training is available at sustainability.umich.edu/pba. Lisa Pappas is the Communications Manager for the Graham Sustainability Institute. This article was originally published on the Graham Sustainability Institute’s website.
O
ver the summer, as I attempted to clean out my room and sift through the multitude of half-scribbledin journals I’ve kept from my early years, I found one from the year 2000. In simple phrasing and rudimentary words, my 7-yearold self detailed the ABBY trip my family took TASKIER to Israel. “Me and my sisters got off the plane and then we kissed the ground,” it reads. “My dad says it is holy.” What I remember now from that trip is not that it was holy, but rather that I enjoyed picking oranges from trees and eating my distant Aunt Shoshi’s Israeli cheesecake. I haven’t been back since, and frankly, the main reason I would return is to claim my free Birthright trip. I’ve struggled with my Judaism for a long time. Growing up, instead of joining the recreational soccer team that met on Saturdays, I went to synagogue. My dad, after many years of attending the tightly knit prayer group called Havurah, became central to the community. Every other Saturday, my sisters and I joined him to sing and chant antiquated Hebrew words. No prayer ever resonated with me, and during the silent portion of the service, when Jews individually spoke to God, I watched the clock tick and imagined the mounds of bagels that awaited me at the post-service reception. During the sermon portion of the service, where one person led a discussion about that week’s biblical text, I’d sometimes raise my hand to ask a question or provide an insight. My participation was purely motivated by the desire to intellectually impress my father and his peers, rather than comment on the text at large. Despite my inability to connect with Judaism spiritually, at the age of eight I started attending Camp Ramah, a summer camp with conservative Jewish values. While many of my strongest friendships were formed during my summers at camp, I never felt particularly attached to the praying, the Jewish learning or the Jewish-themed activities I was forced to partake in. A fun free-time activity like jazzercise turned into Jewish jazzercise, and games in the lake were labeled along the lines of, take a splash in Moses’ parted sea! It felt almost cultish. Still, I held hands with my friends
on Friday nights, singing songs that welcomed the Sabbath, and acknowledged the fact that our culture brought us together in a meaningful way. But, when campers’ eyes welled up with tears as we sang the solemn Hebrew melodies, I felt absolutely nothing. Coming to college, I felt liberated in that I could begin to formulate my own Jewish identity without my family’s influence. I remember that at 16, one of my sisters told me she’d be extremely disappointed in me if I didn’t marry someone Jewish. Recently, when I posed the question to my dad whether or not he’d prefer me to marry a Jewish woman or a Christian man, he responded, “Jewish woman. Ha! Look at how progressive I am.” As an incoming freshman, however, the only people I knew were, unsurprisingly, Jewish kids from Camp Ramah. While I endlessly appreciate the guidance they gave me as a stumbling, clueless freshman, they themselves prescribed to the life of the typical Jewish student. Following in their footsteps alongside other freshmen I knew from the Ramah sphere, I attended Friday night dinners at Hillel and joined a Jewish sorority. The only way I justified it was by repeating to myself and everyone around me that Friday night dinner at Hillel was free, and my sorority was made up of the “chill” Jewish girls. But after a month’s deliberation and a night with my head buried in the toilet during a sorority event, I quit and stopped attending Jewish events entirely. My rejection of the mainstream Jewish institutions at the University, which are by no means the only Jewish institutions, was perceived as a rejection of my Judaism altogether. When I admitted to not having attended High Holy Day services at Hillel, my dad replied with a sigh and said, “I’ve failed you as a Jewish educator.” Last fall, I ran into a kid I’d known during my freshman year, another Camp Ramah alum, and he asked, “So you’re basically not into being Jewish anymore, right?” Even more problematic was that as I drifted away from the social institutions that were so inextricably linked to Judaism, I began to drift toward very left-wing thinkers who perceived religious Jews to be Zionists, and Zionists to be oppressors. Last December, when the pro-Palestinian student group, Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, put mock eviction notices in residence halls in order to highlight the evictions of Palestinians from their homes, I was outraged
— not because of their radical performance of activism, but because of the attitude members of Hillel took. Jewish students felt personally victimized, which I’m not discrediting, but suddenly the situation took a complete 180. No longer was the conversation centered around the Palestinian refugee situation, but on how Jewish kids attending the University of Michigan felt uncomfortable. Well, wasn’t that the point? When Jews dip parsley into salt water during Passover to symbolically taste our enslaved ancestors’ tears, isn’t the point to feel sad and uncomfortable? Or do Jews only sympathize with our own kind? This summer, during Israel’s ground assault in Gaza following the discovery of Hamas’ tunnels, a Jewish student at the University published an article challenging the intentions of left-leaning Jews, arguing that all Jews should without question support Israel in its time of need. But, by that same logic, Palestinians should blindly follow Hamas, a definitive terrorist group, because they are the authority in power. The point is not to not support Israel, because in reality, in this case I believe the military action taken by Israel was warranted. Instead, the point is to think critically and never blindly follow something because of your hereditary, religious or cultural roots. A unifying culture can’t justify perpetuated sameness. I am Jewish. Although I don’t feel spiritually connected to prayer, have never spoken with God other than during a shroom trip, and don’t feel a deep bond to Israel, I am Jewish. I am proud of the culture Judaism has created and developed, the moral code it promotes, the level of perseverance amidst endless persecution that Jews have endured. But I am both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine. I am disturbed by the homogeneity of Jewish institutions, especially those here on campus, that subsequently produce homogenous, uncontested thought. I am unwilling to subscribe to the archaic belief that marrying within my tribe is the only way for marital success. But most importantly, as a Jew, I will never let my religion identify me too completely, so much so as to isolate me from the amazing souls that don’t happen to be Jewish. And, as I continue forward, I will try to stop rejecting aspects of my Judaism, but rather use them in a way that religion should be used: as a guide to becoming a better person. — Abby Taskier can be reached at ataskier@umich.edu.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Devin Eggert, David Harris, Rachel John, Jordyn Kay, Aarica Marsh, Megan McDonald, Victoria Noble, Allison Raeck, Melissa Scholke, Michael Schramm, Matthew Seligman, Mary Kate Winn, Daniel Wang, Derek Wolfe SUNDAI JOHNSON | MICHIGAN IN COLOR
Taking back my black
“I got 99 problems and my race and gender are among them,” said a friend of mine to me and another friend over our sushi date near the end of this past summer. We, three young Black women, sat with partially fearful and painfully uncomfortable eyes, peering curiously at our backs as we sat, talking about what it means to be Black and what it means to be women. And how for us, those two identities cannot live separately, hence their presence — and great presence at that — is among our 99 problems. A familiar part of me felt a tinge of guilt about our not so quiet declarations that were clearly encroaching on the comfort zone of the predominantly White diners. Then I remembered that discomfort was something I had an incredibly intimate relationship with and had begun long before I could articulate it with words. I conquered discomfort at a very young age — cradled it, nursed and nurtured it and navigated its complex twists and turns with ease, if for nothing more than for survival. And so with this realization, I admit that I spoke a little louder. Not with malicious intent, but simply because the little capacity I had left for silence was rapidly diminishing. At dinner that night, from a dormant place inside of me, arose this feeling of not wanting to offend white people by talking about being Black. I had, at one time in my life, been afraid to be “too Black” in fear of offending the group of people I was surrounded by in academic and social settings. I cautioned my Blackness so as not to elicit any discomfort in those that were, as a dominant group, responsible for my own discomfort. This was something I had faced as a child and as a young teen that I believed I had obliterated long ago. The turning point was the day one of my closest middle school friends referred to me as an “Oreo,” as the
whitest Black girl she knew. First of all, I am not a cookie. Please do not diminish my identity and experiences to your trivial understandings of them, simply because I do not comply with what you have been taught or assume to be “Black.” I was a token. A spectacle. “You’re the prettiest Black girl I know” became the anthem of my adolescence and never ceased to sound like a surprise. But I was the <em>only</em> Black girl they knew and their so-called compliment was rooted in the racist belief that my brown was inherently un-beautiful and undesirable and if it happened to be, was only rarely so. They carved for me an identity that I had wrestled with since elementary school upon the realization that my hair wasn’t like theirs. A sense of self that had been dictated by the white girls that told me what colors looked good on my skin, what lipstick shades and nail polish I shouldn’t wear and the white boys that “preferred” my hair straight and only liked me when their friends didn’t know. I had only been able to see myself through eyes that didn’t look like mine and through opinions about who I was that I had never asked for. They chewed me, spit me out and molded me in their saliva into what they wanted — needed — me to be. But I grew up and out of their constraints, as it became imperative to me that I for one was the agent and master of my own identity. Praise be to the good Lord above for my mother who scolded my milkyfleshed grandmother for calling me in from under the summer sun. Who taught me that beauty is colorful and expansive and transformative and is not fixed to the limitations they gave that I could not fit into. Who spelled beautiful with the letters in my name and told me my existence need not be apologetic. She cradled but never coddled and raised me up a warrior.
She melted hard kisses in my cheeks and taught me to shine something fierce — to be something fierce. So that night at dinner, as that silencing tried to move its way back in, I pushed it aside because I had fought this battle once and won. I should not have to yell for my voice to be heard, but I will. Because while we Black women have fought to forge our own identities, everybody still seems to have their hands on us, and the incessant need of ownership over who we are persists. I know that appropriating and praising historically criticized aspects of Black female identity, when it’s on bodies other than their own, is trendy, but I am not an accessory you can put on your keychain and tote around. I still get angry with the white and Black boys who ask if I can twerk and frustrated when they assume I can and expect me to, because hypersexualizing Black women’s bodies is still a thing. Every single day I simultaneously navigate the complexities of these two identities that I hold. Yes, I get tired, but I am not defeated. Because despite popular belief, I cannot be consumed. My skin is not edible like the deserts you compare it to. My living is not performance for you to watch and applaud or condemn. I grew up as a victim of thievery of my identity and I have spent years taking it back — peeling away the fingers that grasped it so tightly. And I refuse to let go. My Blackness, my Black Womanhood, the whole of my identity, is mine. It belongs to me and I carry it in calloused hands. I do not tiptoe, I stomp. I rumble and shake and move the ground like earthquakes. And I conquer victoriously — with my crown made of black gold. Michigan in Color is the Daily’s opinion section designated as a space for and by students of color at the University of Michigan.
Arts
5 — Friday, October 24, 2014
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
MOVIE REVIEW
TV NOTEBOOK
FOCUS
“I gotta make a call.”
ABC
“I’ve been drinking.’’
The trouble with Olivia and Fitz The confusing politcs of ABC’s hot drama, ‘Scandal’ By CHLOE GILKE Daily TV/New Media Editor
“Scandal” is the most confusing show on television. I’m not talking about the constant plot twists, the characters’ ever-changing moral standing (White hat’s off! White hat’s back on!) or even about whatever’s going on in the inscrutable mind of Mellie Grant. The most confusing thing about “Scandal” is how one little musical motif makes me accept (hell, even actively love) an abusive and dangerous relationship. As soon as those first notes of “The Light” by The Album Leaf play, all bets are off for me. I can go from a discerning and classy critic lady to a full-blown Fitz and Olivia shipper in the blink of a teary eye. Something about the minimalist, somber piano and the romantic melody perfectly captures a love that isn’t meant to be, the notes somehow communicating the love between a man who’s emotionally unavailable and the woman who didn’t mean to fall for him. Every time it plays, the tune brings with it the memory of all the other times it’s been played, the cadence of their entire relationship since that time on the campaign bus. It’s powerful stuff, the kind that makes you stop thinking about the toxic codependency that serves as the foundation of their love and just revel in the beauty of “one minute” of a gorgeous song and a pairing that appears just as gorgeous. But the thing is, Olitz isn’t gorgeous. While the first and second seasons built Fitz and Olivia up as some idyllic dream couple, the more recent seasons have been all about breaking the illusion that Olitz is meant to be. Fitz is no longer the sensitive, misguided man we met in the first episode. He’s a scotch-guzzling, snarling, volatile man who grabs and pushes and insults the women in his life. While
the Fitz of the past maintained some idealism (before he knew his presidency was built on a lie and a rigged election), that innocence is long gone ever since he, you know, smothered an elderly Supreme Court justice to death with a pillow. I do appreciate a good antihero, so this moral ambiguity alone isn’t a problem. But what is troubling is that Fitz lets this violence bleed into his relationship with Olivia. Fitz makes romantic promises — he vows to move to Vermont and leave Mellie and start a beautiful, low-profile life with Olivia as soon as his term is over — but his kind gestures stop as soon as “The Light” turns off. He’s got an ugly sense of possession for Olivia, and hires a professional spy to keep tabs on her while he pouts and pours himself another scotch. He tries to break up every relationship between Olivia and another man, with no concern for whether she’s happy or consents to dragged back home by her concerned lover. In the latest episode, “Like Father, Like Daughter,” Olitz finally reunites after months apart while she was in hiding with Jake. Their meeting goes exactly how one would expect from Fitz and Olivia. He starts by saying, “I’m the most powerful man in the world,” a reminder to Liv (and the audience) that he’s a president not to be fucked with. To boot, all the doors in the room are closed, and he’s circling around Olivia like a hungry piranha. He eventually goes up to her and grabs her by the ass, pushing his body against hers with zero regard for consent. After a summer’s vacation from Olitz, I almost forgot that an integral part of their relationship is based on nonconsensual physical contact, but this scene is a great reminder of what we’re in for. He augments the implication of physical abuse by saying “Don’t ever leave me again,” suggesting to Olivia that her purpose is only to serve his wants and needs and to ignore her own personal safety. To say the least, it’s not a romantic moment. I feel physically sick watching the
scene, but then “Scandal” goes ahead and fucks everything up and turns me into a shameful, Olitz-loving puddle of tears. Yup, “The Light” again. In a sequence that’s otherwise chilling in its portrayal of emotional manipulation and dysfunction, one musical piece transforms the whole thing into pure romance. One minute he’s unbuttoning her jacket while she looks on helplessly, and the next their bodies are close, the passion no longer one-sided. Olivia is the one true love of Fitz’s life, and he’s not exaggerating when he says that he’d die if she ever went away from him again. She’s the one thing that’s keeping him sane in his insane and tragic life. The song brings with it the memory of the “one minute” scene from season one’s “The Trail,” in which Fitz requests a single untainted minute in which he could enjoy Olivia’s company before he had to go back to the White House. In these sixty seconds, he could pretend he wasn’t the President and Olivia’s apartment was theirs, he could put his arms around her and lean in and dream of a life where they could actually be together. “Scandal” plays a cruel and confusing trick on fans now. “The Light” still plays during every Fitz and Olivia scene, but the nature of their relationship isn’t as pure and idyllic as it was for that “one minute.” Somehow, their relationship has transitioned to the point where Fitz can grab Liv by the shoulders and push her toward a wall, and “The Light” still soars as a cue for us to see this as another stolen, perfect Olitz moment. It’s especially problematic, because as much as I despise Fitz’s entitlement and rudeness and abuse, I’m put right into Olivia’s shoes, and for one minute he becomes Prince Charming again. Romanticizing abuse is particularly disturbing, but even more so when the audience is duped into their relationship just as much as the victim is. But let me just sit down, listen to “The Light” and stop thinking about all this. Just for one minute.
OUR TWEETS ARE SO GOOD THEY MAKE BIRDS JEALOUS!
@MICHIGANDAILY
Thrills over facts in ‘Kill the Messenger’ By KARSTEN SMOLINSKI Daily Arts Writer
The title “Kill the Messenger” should strike audiences as an inadequate description of the problem facing investigative B journalist Gary Webb. Kill the More than just a messenger, Messenger Webb Rave and uncovered and Quality 16 wrote a story Focus about the CIA’s protection of known drug traffickers who supplied money for the Nicaraguan Contras. Also, neither the CIA nor the American media killed Webb – they just ruined his life. Jeremy Renner (“The Hurt Locker”) delivers a solid performance as Webb, who is reporting for the San Jose Mercury News when a source leads him to Danilo Blandón, the Nicaraguan “Santa Claus” of cocaine. Blandón leads Webb to a Nicaraguan prison where the journalist bribes his way in to see Norwin Meneses, a major drug trafficker who attests to receiving CIA protection in exchange for his contributions to
the Contras. Webb concludes that when Congress blocked the direct funding of the Nicaraguan rebels in the 1980s, part of the Reagan administration’s secret plan to fund the group included using profits from Nicaraguan cocaine sold in major American cities such as Los Angeles. However, when Webb ignores CIA pressure and publishes his findings with the provocative title “Dark Alliances,” many major newspapers seek to discredit him. Webb fails to find a CIA staffer who will talk, one source disappears and another rescinds his statements. Webb and his family grow apart. San Jose Mercury News publishes an apology for the story and Webb has to quit his job after they reassign him to the Cupertino desk, a 150-mile commute meant to keep him out of trouble. The only problem with the film is that the government conspiracy detailed in the first half of the plot description proves more interesting than the media conspiracy in the second. While the price Webb paid for his investigative journalism serves as an integral part of the story, it fails to match up to the scandal of a vocally anti-drug
administration that knowingly allowed the sale of cocaine in the United States. Simply put, the film loses momentum instead of gaining it. While the many scenes of Webb with his wife and children build sympathy for the character, they aren’t poignant enough to push ‘CIA cocaine scandal’ from the viewer’s mind. “Kill the Messenger” even throws in a ‘based on a true story’ scene where Ray Liotta (“The Place Beyond the Pines”) plays an ex-CIA spook who breaks into Webb’s apartment to confirm the story off the record. Unfortunately, it just feels forced. While Webb certainly deserves the redemption “Kill the Messenger” provides him, I don’t think he deserves the ‘based on a true story’ character flaws meant to make the film more entertaining. He exposed a true CIA scandal, confirmed in 1998 by released CIA documents, and the larger newspapers flogged him for it. Sadly, it may be a little late for redemption: in 2004, Gary Webb was found with two bullet wounds in his head. The coroner’s office ruled it a suicide. Despite excellent reporting, Webb had never found another job at a daily newspaper.
TV REVIEW
NBC
Bubble wrap is the new black.
‘About’ an OK show By MATTHEW BARNAUSKAS For The Daily
There is a general necessity in many comedies to use the status quo. It’s what characters live in and try to restore when B mishaps occur, and usually About when the episode ends A Boy the characters Tuesdays, more or less 9:30p.m. return to this NBC default and reset for the next episode. In its Season Two premiere “About a Vasectomy,” the Jason Katims (“Friday Night Lights”)-created comedy “About a Boy” explores this common exercise of the sitcom and what happens when a character wants to return to the status quo when others have moved on. Opening a few months after where season one left off, “About a Boy” finds protagonist Will Freeman (David Walton, “New Girl”) living in New York with his girlfriend Sam (Adrianne Palicki, “Friday Night Lights”). Will still struggles to adjust to life in the city. Director Adam Davidson (“Community”) shows his troubles in an opening montage as Will spends his day trying to find the perfect asiago bagel. However, Will’s current situation of
spending his days doing whatever he wants is interrupted as his only source of income (royalties from a song written 10 years ago) is taken away. To work out this situation, Will goes on a brief visit to his San Francisco home and reunites with his neighbor, Fiona (Minnie Driver, “Good Will Hunting”) and her son Marcus (Benjamin Stockham, “1600 Penn”). Will attempts to jump right back into routine, giving Marcus a conventional (albeit older) male friend who lets him do things his mother wouldn’t let him. However, the pair seem to have accepted a reality without Will while Will tries to go back to his previous position by extending his visit. Will’s need to return to the default is projected onto the two as Will looks for problems to solve and Fiona compares him to an “arsonist firefighter.” Will’s discomfort with moving on with his life is a universal issue that people face. Applying that problem to a sitcom — where the return to the norm is almost always embraced — is effective, but there are times when “About a Boy” sells itself short. At points Will is rectified: Marcus’s new friends, who he’s replaced Will with, are just jerks taking advantage of the well-meaning social outcast and Fiona still suffers from over attachment to
her son. Marcus’s awkwardness and Fiona’s over-mothering are common plot points from “About a Boy” ’s first season. Although it’s enjoyable to see Will help out the two again it would have been far more provocative to see more evidence that the mother and son had moved on and Will was in denial. The destruction of the status quo is effectively explored in the short subplot Will shares with his friend Andy (Al Madrigal, “Gary Unmarried”). In the first season, Will convinced Andy to not receive the episode’s title vasectomy. Andy, after taking his friend’s advice, has now accidentally impregnated his wife Laurie (Annie Mumolo, “This is 40”) with another child without her knowing he did not have the vasectomy. Andy tried to maintain his old reality but now is faced with a new one. Meanwhile, Will and Andy’s struggle to break the news to an unsuspecting Laurie plays like a comedic time bomb. The uncertainty about Will’s income and future are intimidating for the character, and Walton does a strong job of portraying the character’s frustrations in his current situation. Will is a character stuck at a crossroads, and the way “About a Boy” steers him in its second season may lead to an exploration not often seen in the sitcom genre.
Arts
6 — Friday, October 24, 2014
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
BOOK REVIEW
EVENT PREVIEW
‘Hang Out’ with a fun new memoir By ALEX BERNARD Daily Arts Writer
COURTESY OF STEVEN WRIGHT
Stephen Wright was a consulting producer on the fourth season of ‘Louie’
Wright discusses Royal Oak show Academy Award winning comedian talks storied career By ERIKA HARWOOD Senior Arts Editor
The story of Steven Wright’s rise to success is one of almost comedy cliché. Back during a time when landing a gig Steven on late night could turn Wright someone into Royal Oak an overnight Music success, Theatre Wright got his big break on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.” This would have been a careeraltering performance for any up and coming comedian. One filled with high stakes, sweatinducing lights and nerves — not whimsical butterflies flitting around in your stomach, but cold, unforgiving nerves. Wright’s comedy dreams started when he was a teenager watching Carson, and despite his anxiety and the inherent stress that comes with performing on television for the first time, he managed to stake his claim as a late night mainstay. His deadpan delivery and bizarre non sequiturs were a refreshing contrast against the brash vulgarity of predecessors like George Carlin and Richard Pryor. Since his crucial set, Wright has gone on to release Grammy-nominated comedy albums (I Have a Pony, I Still Have a Pony), create an Academy Award-winning short film (“The Appointments of Dennis Jennings”) and most recently, serve as a producer
on the Emmy Award-winning “Louie.” Wright recently sat down for a phone interview with The Michigan Daily to discuss his life in comedy and his upcoming performance at the Royal Oak Music Theatre this Saturday. “I got so nervous that I wasn’t nervous anymore,” Wright said about his first set on “The Tonight Show.” “I got numb. When I watched it, when I was 14 or 15, it became my fantasy, like, ‘If I could go on (“The Tonight Show”), that would be amazing.’ That was the only thing I wanted to do was to go on there ... It’s still the highlight of my career.” Decades later, Wright is still making the rounds on late night television. He’s a frequent guest on “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,” which provides Wright with a platform to exercise his not-sooften-used improv skills. “I never did that on the other shows,” he said. “It’s very interesting for me. It’s fun and it’s different. (Ferguson) is very trusting. He doesn’t want it to be set up ... He’s one of the fastest comedy minds I’ve ever seen.” When Wright isn’t seated next to suited up talk show hosts, he’s traveling around the country to perform stand up, usually going a few weeks at a time then returning home for a break, which is much different from the schedule he maintained when he was starting out. “When I started in the clubs, I would do it Thursday through Sunday in Boston,” he recalls. “Then when I went on TV I started traveling around the country. I would be in comedy clubs for weeks at a time, then I went to theaters ... two weeks,
three weeks all in a row. I did that for years and years and years.” This isn’t to say that Wright has slowed down. While living in New York, Wright became friends with fellow stand up, Louis C.K., who unexpectedly asked him to be a consulting producer for season four of “Louie.” “It would be like if you asked me if I wanted to open a bakery in China with you,” Wright said. “You’re not going to ask me that are you?” While he’s not committed to working on the next season of “Louie,” he’d love the chance to work on the show again. “It’s amazing just using your comedy mind in that way,” he said. “Because usually I do write my own stand up and perform it, I don’t talk about it with anyone. I just go out and do it ... so it was interesting to discuss all these things with another comedian, a brilliant comedian.” Regardless of whether he continues to produce, Wright will stick with what he knows and loves best — stand up. And for fans coming to the Royal Oak show, they can expect the same dry, nonsensical oneliners that brought him there all way from “The Tonight Show” in 1982. After decades in comedy with more accomplishments than most can dream of, it’s hard to imagine that there’s much territory left for Wright to conquer. But in the midst of his stand up, late night appearances and potential producing, he may have finally found something he hasn’t done yet. “I’d like to join the Air Force.” Let’s just hope he’s as good a pilot as he is a comic.
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The story has been told a million times. Boy meets girl(s). Boy falls for girl(s). Boy overthinks the situation We Should and Hang Out misinterprets dozens of Sometime signals Josh eventually leading to Sundquist the bitter Little, Brown demise of his romantic options and ruining any prospective opportunities with the girl(s). Really, a million times. Well, make it a million and one. In Josh Sundquist’s (“Just Don’t Fall”) upcoming book of true stories — “We Should Hang Out Sometime” — he revisits his failed relationships, or rather, nearrelationships. From eighth grade to high school to his twenties, Sundquist — a cancer survivor, amputee, Paralympic skier, motivational speaker and YouTube star — guides the reader through the face-in-hand awkwardness of adolescence to the head-banging-againstwall awkwardness of early adulthood. The title comes from Sundquist’s own playful observation that, to avoid rejection, you should never ask anyone “out.” Just say, “we should hang out sometime.” “We should hang out sometime is so perfect because it’s nearly impossible to say no to.” For the remainder of the book, whenever Sundquist is interested in a girl, he uses this move. The book operates as a collection of quasiexperiments Sundquist conducts to find out why he is so unequivocally single. “I would go back in time and examine the events of my failed relationships through the lens of graphs and charts. I would then hypothesize and investigate, tracking down the girls I had tried to date and asking them, straight up: What went wrong? Why didn’t you like me? Why did you reject me?” As he said, interspersed throughout the chapters are his quirky graphs — the likes of which he uses so often on his YouTube channel. A bar graph comparing the usefulness of “Getting A’s” vs. “Getting Girls.” A Venn diagram concluding that the perfect combination of Danger and Romance is a Rooftop Picnic. A line graph arguing that the stupidity of popularity contests is directly correlated with losing the contest. The graphs, though charming and half-witty at first, seem forced and gimmicky by the final few chapters. They drag and break Sundquist’s f low and feel like an obligation rather than a treat. When I wanted to hear more about Sarah Stevens or Evelyn Williamson, a graph would interrupt me with something that could just as
LITTLE, BROWN
She’s just not that into you.
easily be explained in prose (and often was). There is something to be said for Sundquist’s graphs though. Days after finishing his book, the charts and visuals lingered in my mind when much of the story didn’t. Notably, I remembered two pie charts comparing frequency of marriage ceremony objections in real life versus in movies. I wondered to myself, “Where did I see that? Was that on Tumblr?” No, not Tumblr, Bernard. Sundquist. So be assured: while, upon first reading, the graphs seem like a waste of space and a halfhearted attempt at originality, there is some real, lasting value to their simplicity and accessibility.
Sundquist writes a simple book with simple sentences. Likewise, Sundquist’s style and storytelling is quick, selfdeprecating, and a pleasure to read. He just makes it look easy. The results are technically simple prose, but its air of effortlessness matches the book’s juvenile topics and lets the reader devour page after silly page. Even as he tackles rejection after rejection, Sundquist retains his optimism and refuses to sway from the book’s generally light-hearted tone. The final product is an easy-to-read set of tales that doesn’t beat you over the head with morals or cute, but inapplicable, quotes about love. Every story feels like it’s being told by that one kind of awkward guy at Pizza House who you keep forgetting is a math geek (and an amputee
and a Paralympic skier and a YouTube sensation). “If I really want to find you on Facebook, no number of privacy settings is going to stop me.” Out of context, that’s really creepy. But we’re so close to Sundquist at this point in the book (Chapter 17) that we just accept it and read on, especially since the footnote associated with it says, “Creepiest sentence in this book?” Sundquist could so easily dip into exhausting frustration, bitter nostalgia or insipid self-pampering, but his tone remains modest, downto-earth and refreshingly unrefined. The same goes for his prose. Oftentimes, the book falls victim to worn-out clichés and dim attempts at humor, but as a whole, “We Should Hang Out Sometime” lives up to the casualness of its title. It’s not trying to be the next great collection of memoirs or dazzle book critics who use words like “verisimilitude” and “muse.” In a book with a defined ceiling, it’s refreshing to find an author accepting his limitations who only delivers where he can. Sundquist writes a simple book with simple sentences, but stories produce an unexpected sincerity and depth. Sundquist’s newest set of memoirs comes out Dec. 23. If you’re looking for a book to surprise you or just a way to tell your significant other that you’re “awkward like this guy,” pick up this coming-ofage story. It might not be your favorite book, but “We Should Hang Out Sometime” is that little paperback you keep under the bed for those rainy nights, alone in your room, without a girlfriend/ boyfriend. Simple, quick and pretty funny, it’s a breath of fresh air in the mugg y air of assigned readings and dense textbooks.
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Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Friday, October 24, 2014 — 7
Wolverines set Michigan battles Hockey East for big fixture By JEREMY SUMMITT Daily Sports Editor
By SYED FAHD AHSAN For the Daily
In what could prove to be a turning point in the Big Ten race, the Michigan men’s soccer team hosts No. 8 Indiana this Sunday. October has proved to be a Indiana at great month for Michigan the Wolverines Matchup: who have won Indiana 9-2three games 3; Michigan out of five, 4-6-3 including a 3-2 When: Sunvictory over day 12 P.M. No. 6 Notre Dame. They Where: U-M Soccer will be hoping Stadium to end the month on a positive note after failing to score in their last two fixtures. The Hoosiers (2-2-1 Big Ten, 9-2-3 overall) have had an almost identical last 30 days which have also seen them win three games out of five, including a 1-0 win over the Fighting Irish as well. In a conference where the difference between second and sixth place is a mere two points, a lot can change over one weekend. “It’s exciting to play in such an excellent and competitive league,” said Michigan coach Chaka Daley. With a rough start to the season, Michigan (2-1-2 Big Ten, 4-6-3 overall) finds itself one point above seventh-place Indiana, but a win could very well set them up for a title charge. “We shouldn’t look too much at the record,” Daley said. “We need to keep our minds right and look at what we can still achieve.” Having moved to a new
possession-based style of play this season, it has taken time for the players to grow into the new system. But after a rough first month, the team has shown signs of improvement as it grows into its new soccer philosophy. With a 1-1-1 record against ranked teams, Michigan has fared much better against opponents that try to win the ball back as soon as possible, and look to attack regularly. It struggles against teams that sit back and “park the bus.” The Wolverines press high up the pitch and almost always have the lion’s share of possession. For all their dominance in the middle of the pitch, they struggle to create chances. And when these chances do come, they fail to find the net. Michigan has scored 12 goals in 14 games — the only team scoring less than a goal a game in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers, on the other hand, have no problem scoring goals, and have already bagged 21 this season — one behind league-leader Penn State. Indiana’s top scorer is Femi Hollinger-Janzen with four goals, but it has three more players with three goals each, highlighting the Hoosiers’ flexibility and depth. The Wolverines, in contrast, have had half their goals scored by redshirt junior forward Colin McAtee, who stands third in the scoring charts having played one game fewer than the players in second and first. Provided other results go its way, Michigan could find itself in third place by the end of the weekend. Sunday afternoon promises 90 minutes of suspense and action.
The Michigan hockey team’s first weekend-long road trip of the year won’t be to an unfamiliar location. As the 14th-ranked Wolverines (1-2) head to Massachusetts this weekend, Michigan coach Red Berenson and associate coach Billy Powers will find themselves immersed in nostalgia. Berenson played his first NHL game at the old Boston Garden on St. Patrick’s Day in 1962. Powers spent his childhood and adolescence just outside Boston in Somerville, Massachusetts. While the memories of trips to Boston will resonate in both Berenson and Powers’ minds, there won’t be much time to reminisce about the past as Michigan will be tested against a pair of ranked foes. Friday’s game pits the Wolverines against No. 7 UMass-Lowell (2-0-1) before they travel to No. 12 Boston University (1-0) on Saturday. “We’re looking to make some memories rather than look back on memories,” Berenson said. Just traveling to UMassLowell will be a new experience, as Friday’s matchup marks the first time Michigan will play the River Hawks on the road. The Wolverines are expecting a raucous crowd at the Paul E. Tsongas Center with homecoming weekend looming. “They’ve got everything set up for them to have a great crowd and a great environment,” Berenson said. “And we’ve got to go in and be a spoiler.” Michigan leads the all-time series against UMass-Lowell, 2-1, with the most recent defeat coming in a 2-1 loss at Yost Ice Arena in 2013. In a weekend split against New Hampshire last weekend, Michigan allowed 67 shots on
‘M’ ready for PSU, OSU Second half of B1G schedule begins with tough foes By SERENA SAAKE For the Daily
Michigan volleyball coach Mark Rosen starts every practice by reminding his players to “keep getting better every day.” If their performance over the past weeks is any indicator, they’ve Michigan at certainly been taking that PSU, OSU message to Matchup: OSU 14-6; heart. PSU 18-3; Michigan Michigan 10-8 has high hopes to continue When: Friday its four-game 7 P.M.; Saturday winning 5:30 P.M. streak as the team heads on the road to face No. 7 Penn State on Friday and No. 20 Ohio State on Saturday. A win at Penn State would crack a historic 21-game losing streak against
the Nittany Lions. The Wolverines swept Rutgers and Maryland last weekend on the road. Prior to those wins, they defeated No. 8 Nebraska and Iowa. “Getting better is a constant focus,” said sophomore middle blocker Abby Cole. “We just want to be the best team we can be.” Both Rosen and Cole credit newfound cohesion on the offense for the team’s recent success. Freshmen Adeja Lambert, Claire KiefferWright and Caroline Knop have been instrumental in creating balance on the court and freeing up Cole and junior middle blocker Krystalyn Goode to score. Knop especially had an impressive showing during the recent victories, leading the team with 13 kills versus Maryland. Trailing her by only
one point was Cole, who was awarded the Big Ten Athlete of the Week for the second week in a row on Monday, a feat that hadn’t been achieved by a Wolverine since Katie Brudzinki in 2006. “It’s very humbling,” Cole said. “I really credit my teammates because if we weren’t playing as well as we are, I definitely wouldn’t have received this honor.” KiefferWright also played one of her best matches to date against Maryland, tallying four blocks. Rosen hopes to utilize her skill this weekend by getting her more involved in the threemiddle system to counter Penn State’s offense. Rosen said the Nittany Lions are a more formidable opponent than either Maryland or Rutgers, both of which are ranked at the bottom of the Big Ten. Penn State is known for a very physical style of volleyball and is traditionally very low-air. With this knowledge, Rosen has been focusing on pushing the team toward aggressive play and exploiting weaknesses in the center during practice. But the Nittany Lions are coming off a 3-0 sweep against Indiana last weekend, with junior Megan Courtney leading the team with nine kills and hitting .500. Senior Micha Hancock was also critical to their offense, hitting .500 and completing 32 assists and five kills. The Nittany Lions outhit Indiana by almost double. “It’s a very similar type team, very physical but young,” Rosen said. “If you can affect them in some ways then hopefully you can kind of get them helping you out a bit. We can’t be passive or expect them to lose the game for us. We need to go aggressive at them.”
“Hopefully you can get them helping you out a bit.”
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Sophomore Abby Cole is the two-time reigning Big Ten Player of the Week.
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
The Michigan hockey team hopes to correct several kinks when it travels to the East Coast for a two-game weekend.
goal and struggled to get pucks through to the net from the blue line. Cleaning up those components and improving a struggling special teams unit will be of the utmost importance if the Wolverines are to return home unscathed. Michigan is 0-for-9 on the power play in three games, and it has conceded a shorthanded goal in two of those. Meanwhile, the penalty-killing unit hasn’t shined either. It has allowed two goals in nine opportunities, despite going a perfect 4-for-4 in a 2-1 win over New Hampshire on Saturday. “Our special teams should be plus for us to be playing well, and right now they’re a big negative, so we’ve got to get that fixed,” Berenson said. Added senior forward Zach Hyman: “I think we need to start
getting the pucks in the net, start shooting more, start sticking with our high-percentage plays. I think you’ll see a big improvement this weekend.” Boston University was perfect on the penalty kill in its 5-3 win over then-No. 3 Boston College. But UMass-Lowell’s shorthanded performance has been suspect at times, allowing opponents to score with the man advantage three of 10 times this season. While looking to iron out the bulky wrinkles on the special teams units, even-strength play hasn’t been perfect either. In the 5-1 drubbing that Michigan suffered against New Hampshire, it struggled to consistently enter the offensive zone with ease. Puck possession has been largely emphasized in practice this week.
“We’re focusing on eliminating our blue-line turnovers,” Hyman said. “That’s been a big focus this week, is just getting the puck deep and not turning it over on our blue line or their blue line.” It’s early in the season and there are few, if any, teams in the country with no concerns about their performances. The Wolverines responded to a lopsided loss to the Wildcats with enthusiasm during last Saturday’s narrow victory. Hoping to ride that small wave of momentum, Michigan understands the importance of winning big games like those slated for this weekend. A critical boost in RPI, even this early in the season, will provide a firm foundation to build its case for earning a position in the NCAA Tournament this spring.
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BEAT STATE NEWS BEAT STATE NEWS BEAT STATE NEWS BEAT STATE NEWS BEAT STATE NEWS BEAT STATE NEWS BEAT STATE NEWS
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Sports
8 — Friday, October 24, 2014
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
History not on Michigan’s side ‘M’ needs season’s FOOTBALL
best performance
By ALEXA DETTELBACH Daily Sports Editor
Add Vegas to the list of Michigan doubters. In a year with far more valleys than peaks, the Michigan football team faces its biggest challenge of the season — a road game against No. 8 Michigan State (3-0 Big Ten, 6-1 overall). Very few, if any, outside of Michigan’s locker room think the Wolverines can pull off the biggest upset of Michigan coach Brady Hoke’s four-year tenure. Many analysts picked the Wolverines to lose this game before the season started. Michigan would need an outstanding performance from fifth-year senior quarterback Devin Gardner, Heisman-like showings from running backs sophomore De’Veon Smith and redshirt junior Justice Hayes or a 2013-Michigan State-esque dominance by the defense. So, to put it mildly, the Spartans are favorites in this one. The Wolverines (1-2, 3-4) opened the week as 15-point underdogs, and since then, Vegas’ line has moved to 17. It’s the largest spread in the Spartans’ favor in the history of the rivalry. “Look, the only people who really care about that are gamblers. I don’t gamble,” Hoke said Monday. “That being said, we’ve been the underdogs before, and for us, it’s just going out there and playing football.” And he’s right. Michigan has been an underdog before, but the team’s performances in those situations doesn’t help his cause. Since Hoke took over in 2011, the Wolverines have been underdogs 14 times, winning just three of those games. Of those 14 games, eight of them had Michigan as more than threepoint underdogs, and the team came up short all eight times. The Wolverines’ best chance to change that narrative came
By ALEJANDRO ZÚÑIGA Managing Sports Editor
PAUL SHERMAN/Daily
Michigan is a 17-point underdog to Michigan State, the largest spread against the Wolverines in the rivalry’s history.
last year when they were fivepoint underdogs on the road against Iowa. But they lost, 24-21, and their fight against the spread produced more of the same. Another opportunity arose last season when Michigan hosted 15.5-point favorite Ohio State. but it fell short on a last-second two-point conversion, losing, 42-41. “You can talk about underdogs and those things, (but) when you start talking about rivalry games, things change a little bit to some degree,” Hoke said. “Everybody talks about how this week is different.” In this rivalry, Michigan has been the underdog just four times in the last 17 years, with
two coming in the last three matchups. But three of the four times when the Spartans were favored, the Wolverines were unable to pull the upset. The lone victory came in 2005 when Michigan was a 4.5-point underdog on the road, but won, 34-31. While it’s not news that the Wolverines are struggling this season, the Vegas line makes it look historically bad. But the assessment makes sense. Over the last four years, Hoke’s biggest road win came last season over Northwestern. It was a triple-overtime affair where Michigan was the underdog for the first time ever against the Wildcats. Hoke
“Who wouldn’t want to play a game like this?”
has never beaten Notre Dame, Michigan State or Ohio State on the road. And after laying an egg in South Bend earlier this season, Hoke has yet another chance to fix that trend. “Who wouldn’t want to play a game like this?” Hoke said. “Who wouldn’t want to get ready to prepare to go play your best football? … It’s a daggone important game because it’s a great rivalry game.” This is just the fifth time since 1997 that the Wolverines are more than 14-point underdogs. The previous times came in 2008 against Penn State, and 2008, 2010 and 2013 against the Buckeyes. Michigan’s closest opportunity for the upset was last year against then-No. 3 Ohio State. It’s clear that neither history nor Vegas are on the Wolverines’ side, so all that’s left is to just play the game and see. There’s a first time for everything.
Brady Hoke had to correct himself during Monday’s press conference ahead of the Michigan football team’s game against Michigan State. “This is a great rivalry and a great rivalry in a lot of ways,” he said. “Obviously, we have three great rivalries — two great rivalries.” Since Notre Dame opted out of its annual series with them, the Wolverines have been left with just two yearly rivalry games. You can’t avoid it now, Michigan fans: Michigan State is now undeniably one of the biggest games of the year. But the series has been a little lopsided lately — and not in the way it has been historically. The Spartans have won five of the last six. The Wolverines’ point totals have dropped in every year since 2004. (The trend will continue if Michigan scores fewer than six points Saturday.) And Michigan State won the Rose Bowl last season, while the Wolverines haven’t won the “Grandaddy of Them All” since Jan. 1, 1998. Michigan is a 17-point underdog in Saturday’s game, the biggest spread against it in the rivalry’s history. If the Wolverines want to snap their Spartan skid, a lot needs to go right. “We’ve been the underdogs before, and for us, it’s just going out there and playing football each week,” Hoke said. “We’ve obviously got to play our best football Saturday.” This isn’t the same Michigan State squad that manhandled Michigan last year, holding it to minus-48 yards rushing. The Spartans have looked vulnerable defensively, allowing an average of 29 points against
Power 5 opponents. But the Wolverines haven’t exactly been an offensive juggernaut. The unit has reached the end zone just three times in five games against Power 5 opposition. A single touchdown was enough in an 18-13 victory Oct. 11 against Penn State. The Michigan defense shut down the Nittany Lions in the second half, and senior Matt Wile kicked the Wolverines to a win under the Big House lights. But the Wolverines might not be able to rely on such a strong defensive performance Saturday. Unlike in previous years, the Spartans boast plenty of offensive weapons. There’s quarterback Connor Cook, whom Hoke called “one of the better quarterbacks in this league,” and there’s receiver Tony Lippett, whom Hoke said “has played like the best receiver in this conference.” “We are playing the defending Big Ten champs, who deserve that and have played very good football during the year on both sides of the ball,” Hoke added. The Spartans remain undefeated in the Big Ten and have a legitimate chance to claim back-to-back conference titles for the first time since 196566. Meanwhile, the Wolverines haven’t finished atop the league since sharing the honor with Iowa in 2004. “It’s not about us ruining their season; it’s about us,” said fifthyear senior quarterback Devin Gardner on Monday. But if Michigan were to ruin Michigan State’s season, it would require an inspired performance by the offense coupled with another strong game from the defense. Otherwise, the Wolverines’ second-biggest rival could dominate Michigan once again.
Dueling columns: The Daily vs. The State News I E feel bad for my past State News colleagues. The yearly rivalry columns used to be harder to write I’m sure. But we don’t live in that world anymore. Writing this is as easy as grabbing a maize and blue shirt off the clearance rack at Walmart. The dominance that MSU GEOFF has exerted in my time PRESTON on campus over the little sister down the road is almost hard to watch. And I always thought it was the Wolverines who were supposed to feel sorry for us Spartans. We’re here for you, Ann Arbor. Seriously, we’re here for you. The phrase “Not our real rival” is thrown around with an ease among Wolverines, an ease that reflects the delusional nature that those people live with every day. Ohio State is going to beat you too, I know, but we’re not our rival? Come on. But hey, I’m not here to fight. Let’s entertain your notion of this not really being much a rivalry. MSU has won five of the past six years in football and beat U-M for the Big Ten title in basketball. Outside of sports, our parties are louder, our women are prettier and The State News actually gets nominated for national awards and not just regional ones. You know, come to think of it, “not our rival” might be the most inarticulate rubbish to spew from the arrogant, entitled countryclub Michigan fan’s mouth since the 1999 Rose Bowl.
So what does the poor Michigan fan do? Well, if you work at The Michigan Daily, you’ll probably resort back to attacking the quality of our student publications, because there’s really no ammunition left. But we can look at that too, and this’ll be fun for the Michigan fan because we know you guys love to talk about the past. The State News has won 14 Pacemaker awards for the print publication, the highest prize in college journalism. The Michigan Daily has not. Not even close. The Michigan fan will probably talk about their winning streak against The State News in the two-hand shove football game we hold once a uear. When we take that from you, the way that MSU has taken everything from U-M in this rivalry, you will literally have nothing left. MSU will win on Saturday. Period. To pile anything else on your pathetic, kale-eating, Prius-driving town would be like putting a kid in a football game when he had a concussion. Oh, still too soon? You can call us “little brother” all you want, but after The State News beats the Michigan Daily this weekend, I suspect you’ll have run out of things to say. And that dueling column next year? It’ll be even easier for the guy who comes after me. Preston is a State News football reporter. He can be reached at gpreston@msu.edu.
Editors’s note: This column was subject to the editing team and style guide of The State News. The Daily has published it as presented.
very year, we trade these columns back and forth, and every year, we debate the same talking points. The Daily will inevitably cover Michigan State’s inferiority complex, how Michigan has the tradition of success on its side and that it’s only GREG a matter of time until it GARNO gets back to winning. Naturally, The State News will claim Michigan is entitled and arrogant, its fanbase consists of “Wal-Mart Wolverines” and for the past six years, the Spartans have been the better team on the field. But no matter how much we debated, we were only talking in circles. That is, until you finally provided something original in last year’s column. The one that said,“The faux aura around the U-M football program is as big a sham as a newspaper staffed by kids that don’t even major in journalism.” You were right; Michigan students can’t get a degree in journalism. I major in communication studies and minor in writing. So allow me to change the script. I’m going to do what you think you inherently do better: journalism. I reached out to students at Michigan State University, people from different years and programs, to ask them
about their news reading habits. But I know not everyone reads the news often (we can agree that’s a shame). Which is why I also posed a hypothetical: if they were to read one news outlet on campus, which would they choose, Paper A or Paper B? Imagine both papers are on the same campus covering the same events, but staffed and run differently. Paper A is a large paper with an active staff of more than 100 students and provides coverage on news, sports, arts and campus life. The Society of Professional Journalists nominated Paper A for two reporting awards in its region just last year. It placed second in best all-around newspaper category. Paper A is sourced by larger, non-campus papers in the local area when it shares news. It has a credible reputation among other news organizations. Paper A’s sports section, in particular, provides coverage from both home and away football games with stories on volleyball and soccer amongst others, but nothing as extensive as the bigger sports. Within the past three years, Paper A has produced reporters who write at small, to mid-level newspapers. And lastly, Paper A staffs writers from a journalism program.
Meanwhile, Paper B also has an active staff that covers the covers the same topics, but does so with a bigger staff that produces a wider range of content in any given week. Paper B was nominated for six reporting awards by the SPJ in its region and took first place in two of them (including sports writing). Paper B was declared not only the best paper in the region, but also a finalist in the entire nation. National outlets such as The New York Times, ESPN and CBS Sports have sourced or cited Paper B in its reporting of events. So have local outlets. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart did a five-minute segment featuring Paper B. Paper B’s sports staff covers every athletic team on campus in some capacity, but provided more stories per team, even the smaller ones. Alumni from Paper B, in the last three years alone, have gone to work full-time at The New York Times, Pittsburgh PostGazette, Sports Illustrated, Sporting News, Los Angeles Times and The Tennessean. Paper B’s staff doesn’t learn at a journalism program. Yet Michigan State students, after I went through the list one-by-one, picked Paper B. In this case, of course, Paper A is The State News and Paper B is The Michigan Daily. The superiority of one over the other is so obvious. But don’t
Students prefer the work done by a paper like The Michigan Daily
WHICH STUDENT NEWSPAPER IS BETTER?
The Michigan Daily
let me do that talking. There’s Marshall W, a senior, who said, “If I wasn’t affiliated with Michigan State, and I was presented with both facts, I would stick by my answer.” And Sara S, a junior, said, “Based off those conditions, I would say B.” Stephen P, also a senior, said, “I think each paper has its own reputation, and I think that carries more weight than anything else.” I used a small sample size — only six people — but not a single one picked The State News. And it shouldn’t take more than them to tell you: If they didn’t go to Michigan State, students would prefer the work done by a paper like The Michigan Daily. I won’t pretend the Michigan football team will win on Saturday. It’s a team with an offense that can’t stay on the field and a defense that can’t record turnovers. I won’t try to stick up for a coach and athletic director who risked a player’s safety by putting him back out with a concussion. But I do know that the school without a journalism program kicked your ass in the very subject within the last year alone. And after we beat you in football on Friday, for the 10th year in a row, we’ll return to the newsroom and continue to do our job better than you. Just as we always have. And that’s not up for debate. Garno is the Co-Managing Sports Editor and a football beat writer at the Michigan Daily. He can be reached at ggarno@umich. edu or on Twitter: @G_Garno.