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$9.7 billion and the ‘U’: Endowment explained Investments support a variety of programs By MICHAEL SUGERMAN Daily Staff Reporter
The University’s most recent Report of Investments, released at the October Board of Regents meeting to reflect numbers as of June 30, 2014, shows an all-time high level of endowment funds: $9.7 billion. That’s nearly quadruple its value 15 years ago. The annual report analyzes the University’s investments using a great deal of financial jargon that, to the finance novice, amounts to little more than gibberish. The following is a look at what exactly the endowment is, how it works and why it is important for students. The University also has a complex mechanism for how it invests its endowment funds — choices that have a direct impact on student life. The endowment As defined by Rafael Castilla, the director of investment risk
management in the University’s Investment Office, the endowment is a pool of capital that can indefinitely support the University if properly managed. “You can think of it, in a way, as this giant bond … which pays out a certain amount of interest every year to the University,” Castilla said. “It’s one of various funding sources.” The endowment’s investment return in 2014, according to the report, was 18.8 percent — meaning that the total endowment grew by 18.8 percent. It’s worth noting that the endowment does not grow alone by compounding upon itself; the University’s fundraising campaigns also play a significant role. Take the current effort, The Victors for Michigan campaign, which aims to raise $4 billion. Rather than giving gift money directly to students, the funds are generally invested. The proceeds from those investments can continue to fund scholarships for years. University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said the destination for... See ENDOWMENT, Page 2A
LUNA ANNA ARCHEY & RUBY WALLAU/Daily
Protesters gather on the Diag on Tuesday to hold a vigil for Michael Brown, a Black teenager killed by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Mo. in August, followed by a march to City Hall. On Monday, a grand jury in Ferguson decided not to indict Wilson on any charge related to Brown’s death.
After decision in Ferguson, anger and sorrow on Diag Students lead vigil and protest march after Michael Brown ruling By EMMA KERR Daily Staff Reporter
More than 1,000 students and community members gathered in solidarity on the Diag Tuesday night following a grand jury decision Monday not to charge
WA I T F O R I T. . .
a Ferguson, Missouri. police officer with the August shooting death of teenager Michael Brown. The vigil, which occurred in conjunction with events across the country, was intended to create a space for healing as well as increase awareness of the case and broader issues on race relations nationwide. Student organizers said they hoped to hold a vigil for Michael Brown and others that have been subject to police violence across the nation. Student organiza-
tions supporting the vigil included the Black Student Union, Students Allied for Freedom and Equality and the Student Union of Michigan. LSA sophomore Noor Ahmad, an event organizer, said she saw the situation as an opportunity to inspire discussion and catalyze change. “Since so many people feel so helpless in these kinds of situations, we wanted to have an open, peaceful forum for people to talk about it and to come together as a community to do something,”
STATE POLICY
Election results indicate support for legalization Marijuana was decriminalized in Ann Arbor in 1974 By EMMA KERR and JACK TURMAN ZACH MOORE/Daily
Daily Staff Reporters
LSA junior Jennifer Cusmano in a face-off against a player from Little Caesars Senior A team at Yost Arena on Tuesday.
CITY COUNCIL
Students hope to secure seats on A2 City Council No student has held a seat on the Council since the ’70s By SHOHAM GEVA Daily Staff Reporter
There were no Republicans on the ballot during last fall’s City Council elections, but several
Democratic candidates faced a challenge from another party. The Mixed Use party, comprised mostly of University students, ran two candidates for seats on the council, including then-LSA senior Conrad Brown and Eastern Michigan University student Sam DeVarti. Both lost, but were followed by several more student challengers this year — LSA sophomore
Sam McMullen, who lost in this year’s Democratic primary, and now, University alum Will Leaf, a former co-chair of the Mixed Use party who is running as a Democrat in next year’s Council race. Student City Council members have a short but interesting legacy in Ann Arbor. In 1973, University alum Kathy Kozachenko became the first openly gay or lesbian See COUNCIL, Page 3A
As more states and municipalities are voting to decriminalize recreational marijuana use, Ann Arbor could be closer to legalization. The residents of six Michigan cities voted to decriminalize the use of cannabis on election day this year. Marijuana use is legal in some form in 23 states, and was legalized for recreational use this November in Alaska and Oregon. The states are the third and fourth states to adopt such a policy. LSA senior Brian Kardell, codirector of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, said his organization is working to create a dialogue surrounding the need for marijuana legalization. “Our goal is basically have open conversations about drug
use and drug abuse,” Kardell said. “We think the war on drugs is a failed policy. It puts hundreds of thousands of people in prison for drug-related offences. Ann Arbor is considered a safe place for marijuana, but we don’t condone or condemn drug use, we just know the drug policy needs to change on a large scale.” Kardell said his organization’s support of the legalization of marijuana in the state of Michigan stems from observing what has happened in other states following cannabis legalization, considering the negative effects of keeping marijuana on black markets instead of regulating it. “All we have to do is look to Colorado and Washington to see how much money the state has made because of the legalization and regulation of marijuana,” Kardell said. The use of marijuana has been decriminalized in Ann Arbor since 1974, but the possibility of legalizing the substance in Michigan could be See MIDTERMS, Page 3A
Ahmad said. “People are so upset, and this is something to get everyone even more fired up to really want to make a change.” The grand jury’s decision not to indict Wilson followed three months of heightened tensions in Ferguson. The decision drew crowds near the city’s police station, where thousands of people gathered peacefully. Despite calls for calm by the county prosecutor and President Barack Obama, arson and looting damaged local businesses as the night See VIGIL, Page 3A
TECHNOLOGY
‘U’ looks to provide new unplugged TV options Currently in testing, Philo aims to offer cable streaming across campus By AMRUTHA SIVAKUMAR Deputy Magazine Editor
University Information and Technology Services doesn’t want students to rely on Netflix for catching up on their favorite shows. Rather, it’s ready to bring live TV on-campus — delivered directly to students laptops and smartphones. Philo is a service that allows students on campus to stream and record live TV over the web. First launched in 2011 at Harvard University, Philo now provides a way for universities with existing cable TV contracts to transmit their content online. Currently, any University affiliate with a uniqname and Kerberos password can log in to the University’s subdomain See PHILO, Page 3A
The Statement Student activism in the digital age
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2A — Wednesday, November 26, 2014
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Amid scandal, UVA students speak
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Kinesiology junior Capri’Nara Kendall soeaks at a Healing Space created by BSU to discuss issues of race in Angell Hall Tuesday.
Student leaders at the University of Virginia held a press conference Monday to address media attention that has placed the university’s sexual assault response procedures under heightened scrutiny, The Cavalier Daily reported Monday. A recent Rolling Stone article, profiling a sexual assault survivor within the school’s Greek Life community catalyzed the press conference. “We recognize that sexual violence is a problem in our fraternities and we recognize that we as students can be catalysts for the solution,” Interfraternity Council President Tommy Reid stated during the press conference.
ON THE WEB... michigandaily.com SPORTS
THE PODIUM
BY LEV FACHER
BY JACOB RICH
Basketball The 60-55 loss to Villanova wasn’t ideal for the thousands of Michigan fans who poured into Brooklyn, but they came out with signs to create a postseason atmosphere nonetheless on the road that was loud all the way until the end.
Avatar Movie
Whether you loved it or hated it, we invite you to look back at James Cameron’s “Avatar,” the movie that captivated and polarized audiences and grossed $2.79 billion worldwide in 2009 before this season’s new releases hit the screen.
NEWS
Fire’s burnin’
VIDEO
Protest report
BY WILL GREENBERG
BY KAYLLA CANTILINA
The city of Ann Arbor has filled its vacant fire chief spot with Larry Collins. He previously was the Brevard County Fire-Rescuse chief from 2009 to 2014 in Florida. He also served 30 years with the Dayton Fire Department. The position has been vacant since Jan.
Students and community members protested the grand jury’s decision on Ferguson, MO yesterday. Several student organizations and individuals gathered at the Diag and then marched to City Hall, where some advocated for peacable protests and social change.
Georgetown student organizations receive financial support
PSU senior earns Marshall Scholarship honors
Ninety-eight student organizations requested a combined $350,000 at Georgetown University’s Student Activities Commission summit, The Hoya reported Tuesday. The SAC allocated $146,000 to the groups. SAC Chair Patrick Musgrave estimated that the groups requested $300,000 at the previous summit and there was an obvious increase between the two years. “The fundamental flaw of SAC is that the more you ask for the more you get,” Musgrave said. “We’re not subjective, really, we follow very objective funding procedures.”
Ryan Henrici, a Pennsylvania State University student, is the recipient of the prestigious Marshall Scholarship, a program that allows students to study in the United Kingdom, The Penn State News reported Monday. Henrici, an Honors College senior, will study malaria at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, a subdivision of the University of London. Ruth Mendum, director of the University Fellowships Office at Penn State, stressed the value of the scholarship. — CARLY NOAH
CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES
MHealthy stressbreak
MTango beginners
WHAT: Students can take a stress break and relax by listening to music and learning about science. WHO: University Human Resources WHEN: Today from 3:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. WHERE: Museum of Natural History Planetarium
WHAT: MTango will offer beginners an intensive class in Argentine tango. No partner or prior experience is needed. WHO: MTango, Maize Pages Student Organizations WHEN: Today from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. WHERE: Mason Hall
Brown Bag recital
Workout
WHAT: Local musicians Andrew Meagher and Kathy Ball will perform organ solo music. The musicians will perform music by Bach, Purcell and Vivaldi, among others. WHO: School of Music, Theatre & Dance WHEN: Today at 12:15 p.m. WHERE: School of Public Health Building, Community Room
WHAT: Student organization REVIVE inviting students to partake in the Insanity Workout. WHO: REVIVE, Maize Pages Student Organizatoins WHEN: Today at 8:30 a.m. WHERE: Central Campus Recreation Building CORRECTIONS l Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@michigandaily.com.
THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW TODAY
1
Police arrested 61 protesters in Ferguson, Missouri last night, The St. Louis Post-Disatch reported Tuesday. Many protesters smashed windows and set buildings and police cars on fire. Police threw tear gas to disperse the crowds.
2
This week, The Statement Magazine looks at the culture of student activism as it becomes increasingly dependent on digital and social media on college campuses across the country. >> FOR MORE, SEE STATEMENT, PG. 1B
3
Florida high school student Alexa Nicole De Armas was arrested for human trafficking of minors and running a prostitution ring, The Florida HeraldTribune reported Tuesday. Police say she organized at least three prostitution deals.
Panel discusses social science research Experts talk open data, information sharing among researchers By QUAN NGUYEN Daily Staff Reporter
Emphasizing the importance of open access to data, three University professors discussed the future of social science research in a panel held in the Hatcher Graduate Library on Thursday. The panelists invited to present their suggestions included Psychology Prof. Nick Ellis, Assistant History Prof. Michelle McClellan and History Prof. George Alter. Ellis, who is also an editor for the Language Learning Journal, discussed the publication’s negotiations with Wiley, it’s publisher, to enable more non-Wiley subscribers to obtain access to research
methods and data reports of past social science research projects. “Wiley is more interested in the business model than they are in making us open around the world,” he said. “We have negotiations with them about them subsidizing republication and re-issue in China and India. It is an interesting negotiation.” Similarly, Alter concentrated on research transparency throughout the majority of his presentation due to his position as the director of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. He said promoting research transparency would resolve some of the most frequent criticisms directed toward researchers. Common problems derive from research that is difficult to replicate, fraudulent cases and projects incentivized by profit. He said the ICPR must first earn the trust of data produc-
ers and the public, and provide documentation about where and how data is created. Alter added that even though Congress and other national agencies have recently expressed support for data transparency for federally funded projects, data restrictions are still an obstacle for many researchers due to privacy concerns. He also credited the new form of data to the growing forms of technology such as Facebook, smartphones, Twitter, hospitals’ online archives of patients’ histories and even credit card transactions. Alter concluded his presentation anticipating how social research projects will search for new ways to strike a balance between private and open data. While both expressed transparency as a pillar for successful future social science research projects, McClellan targeted her speech toward transparency between professionals of different disciplines and the public. McClellan is currently collaborating with Jill Becker, professor of psychology and psychiatry, and Wom-
en’s Studies Prof. Beth Glover Reed, on gender and addiction. She specializes in alcoholism in women. As a veteran interdisciplinary researcher, McClellan advised the audience to “undo” their past understandings and avoid assumptions when teaming up with researchers from other disciplines. She humorously recalled how she once mistakenly thought the testing subjects were humans because Becker referred to lab rats as simply male and female. “Not only we did not know what we were talking about, (but) in some way, it is even more dangerous because we thought we knew what we were talking about to one another,” she said. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, McClellan said she wants to incorporate social science knowledge into natural science research to alleviate public confusion over the results scientists present in their findings. “We are trying to publish something in the scientific journal that says trying to pay attention to the context of how your ideas are being understood,” she said.
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ENDOWMENT From Page 1A individual donations depends on the donor. “For example, having just talked with development, we know that, toward that $1 billion goal for student support, donors have given about $400 million so far, so almost halfway to that goal,” Fitzgerald said. “Most of that is donations that are gifts that will go into the endowment, so that they’ll be invested.” Donations outside that fundraising push may be invested directly into specific projects, such as University alum Charles Munger’s $110 million donation, which allocated money for the construction of graduate student housing. Castilla and Fitzgerald said, on average, the University spends 4.5 percent of investment proceeds, leaving the rest to grow the endowment. As to why the endowment has grown so quickly, even in just the last year, Castilla said it’s a matter of compensating for the decrease of public funds. “Once upon a time, many decades ago, the University of Michigan was mainly funded by the state,” Castilla said. “The composition of that funding has changed over time. Everybody knows that the state has cut back on funding over time, but the cost of giving an education has gone up also.” The state of Michigan provides 16 percent of the University’s general fund budget, according to University budget reports. In comparison, it was 78 percent in 1960, so the drop has provided the impetus for the need to expand the endowment, raise tuition and encourage donations. As recently as 1990, tuition and fees and state support provided equal contributions to the University. For this reason, expanding the endowment has been critical for funding all facets of the University. Fitzgerald said if the endowment didn’t grow, costs like tuition would increase at higher rates. Some might say the constantly expanding endowment is a sign that the University operates like a private company, rather than
a non-profit, public educational institution. Fitzgerald said the opposite is true. “It’s really acting like a prudent investor for the funds that have been provided by the donors,” Fitzgerald said. “And we want to maximize those donor dollars to do the most good across campus for the educational benefit of our students as possible.” Castilla also underlined that, while the University has the highest endowment of any public institution, it’s 94th on a per-student basis. “One thing to keep in mind, and a lot of people don’t realize, but I think it’s really important to understand … although the dollar amounts seem very large, the University is so large that if you look at it on a per student basis, we’re really only roughly speaking about the 100th largest endowment in the country,” Castilla said. The investments, Part I: Private equity and strategies Beyond the role and meaning of the endowment, a quick glance at the investment report doesn’t necessarily articulate how the University invests its money. The firms listed in the long term portfolio are scattered across the nation and globe, though many seem to be in Palo Alto, New York and China. Adding to this confusion is that the companies are all focused in capital, management and equity, not typical “stocks.” That’s because they’re not stocks at all. Castilla highlighted that the University never directly invests in individual stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other types of properties. Instead, its system of investing has numerous layers, and the easiest way to explain the format is that the Investment Office gives money to other firms to invest on the University’s behalf. “What we do is we pick managers in certain sectors,” Castilla said. “We give them pieces of the endowment, and then they make the specific investments.” “We’re saying, here’s some U of M money; you invest it in these kinds of companies that you’re really good at investing,” Fitzgerald said. “All of these companies that are listed in the report are investment companies that work See ENDOWMENT, Page 3A
News
COUNCIL From Page 1A candidate to succeed in a bid for political office in the U.S. when she was elected to a Council seat. Preceding her in 1972 were two other student councilmembers: University alums Nancy Wechsler and Jerry DeGrieck. Ann Arbor attorney Tom Wieder, who was a University student in 1972 and participated in several Democratic City Council campaigns during that time, said there was a heightened atmosphere of student involvement locally, namely because of the threat of being drafted. “In ‘72, the Vietnam War was still going on and student activism across the political spectrum was a big deal,” Wieder said. “On campuses, everybody was into politics — politics were much higher on the list of things to get involved in and think about, talk about, particularly in a town like Ann Arbor.” Mike Henry, chair of the Ann Arbor Democratic Party, also pointed to the war as a reason for the spike in student involvement, which he said contrasted with today’s climate around student activism. “I don’t think the culture or the things going in society are exactly like they were in the ’70s,” he said. “We were coming off a war where a whole lot of young people died, where a whole lot of young people were coming back to really difficult challenges they would have to deal with.” Kozachenko, Wechsler and DeGrieck all ran on the Human Rights Party ticket, a liberal and student-focused third party that emerged in the 1970s following the ratification of the 26th Amendment to the U.S Constitution in 1971, which gave 18-year-
MIDTERMS From Page 1A shifting closer to reality, given the results of the recent midterm election. “In town, it’s very prominent, mostly because it’s been decriminalized since the ‘70s,” said Samantha Anderson, member liaison at Om of Medicine, an Ann Arbor marijuana dispensary. “People are more open to it all around, whether you are an adult or you’re younger because there’s just more leeway with the different charters that the city has for cannabis use.” Anderson said Om of Medicine has 4,000 active patients, but has a total of 6,000 patients in its computer system. Of these 6,000 patients, Anderson said, around a quarter are University students or Washtenaw Community College students. Along with the service it provides to patients, Anderson added that Om of Medicine has fundraising events for politicians and political initiatives. “That definitely has stirred up a lot of different pieces of legislation that’s going all over the country,” Anderson said. “Just the acceptance of that is helping our cause because if people are going to be open to adult use, they’re definitely going to be looking into supporting medical cannabis too.”
VIGIL From Page 1A went on. By the end of the night, law enforcement reported at least 61 arrests. Movements to address race relations and campus climate are not unfamiliar to the campus community. The University’s Black Student Union and the organization By Any Means Necessary have held events and protests in recent months, largely in response to stagnant minority enrollment at the University. LSA junior Imani Gunn, BSU political actions co-chair, said the discussion of Brown’s death goes beyond issues of race. “I think it’s really important to make people aware of the Mike Brown decision,” Gunn said. “It is our goal to make sure people know we are not OK with this decision. Our voices need to be heard, and I think if you want to look at it as a race thing you can, but also as a human rights
olds the right to vote. Since then, there haven’t been students on City Council. The Human Rights Party lost its seats in the following election, and ultimately dissolved to become a part of the Socialist Party of Michigan several years later. The past few years’ involvement, both from the Mixed Use Party and from candidates like Democratic McMullen, represent some of the first instances of students participating in City Council since the ’70s. Both Wieder and Henry said they saw this resurgence in students running as different from the ’70s, drawing less on a national sense of political activism and more from a group of individuals engaged in city politics. Leaf, the former co-chair of the Mixed Use party and a 2015 Council candidate, agreed. “I think the people who are running tend to be very detailoriented, people who are doing it because they’re interested in it rather than as part of a big national plan,” he said. Several other structural changes have also occurred since the ’70s, which could impact how successful student candidates are this time around. City Council primaries are now held in August. Leaf said the timing presents a challenge when one party dominate Council; Democrats currently hold all but one seat. The election’s true competition thus occurs during the primary, when many students aren’t in town. The dividing lines of wards are also a factor. Though they’ve always been drawn out from the city center, that division is now more sharply distinguished, with the city’s 40,000 students — over a third of the city’s population — scattered throughout several wards.
Complicating matters further, many of those students also don’t vote. During the November elections this year, Michigan Daily reporters at the polls found that precincts with heavy student populations had some of the lowest vote counts in the area. Leaf also cited several other institutional issues as barriers to student voting, including the fact that absentee voters casting their vote for the first time in Michigan must submit their ballot in person. “You can say whatever you want — like, I want more student engagement, I want involvement — but if the election times are August, and you have barriers to students voting, it’s not going to happen,” Leaf said. Henry said in the current climate, a student-focused platform wasn’t a winning proposition for local elections. “I tell most candidates, you can’t just depend on your one constituency to help you win,” Henry said. “You have to speak to everybody. And to be quite frank, students have not been reliable in terms of coming out.” “I hope students prove me wrong, that in the near future they come out and are really supportive of their own demographic and their own interests … but students don’t always do that,” he added. Leaf said his experience with the Mixed Use Party demonstrated that buy-in from city residents, not just students, is key to a successful race. Unlike the student-driven wins of the ’70s, for his forthcoming campaign, he said, he would be depending on support from across the spectrum. “It’s not going to be a studentled thing,” he said. “A student might run, but they’re going to depend on other residents.”
LSA senior Justin Gehr said progressive students drive the marijuana-friendly culture, but Ann Arbor’s city laws also contribute to people’s perceptions. “I feel like a lot of it has to do with some many young forwardthinking people,” he said. “I feel like that’s where the big population of marijuana smokers are.” According to Ann Arbor’s City Charter, the penalty for possessing or using marijuana is considered a civil infraction, similar to a traffic ticket. Possessing or abusing marijuana results in a fine of $25 for the first offense, $50 for the second offense and is capped at $100 for a third or subsequent offense. Individuals who violate the city charter because of marijuana use or possession only have to pay the fine. City charter says “no incarceration, probation, nor shall any other punitive or rehabilitative measure be imposed.” However, an amendment to the City Charter on Nov. 2, 2004 allowed fines to be waived if a person has a medical identification card recommended by a physician or another health professional for medical treatment. Even with the amendment to the charter in 2004, the University has different laws pertaining to marijuana possession and abuse because it is under the jurisdiction of state laws. “Because the University is chartered through the state
legislature, our officers aren’t under the umbrella of the city,” said Diane Brown, Department of Public Safety and Security spokeswoman. “Our officers are granted their authority from the state and therefore, enforce state law.” For possession or use of marijuana on University property, the penalty is a misdemeanor, which incurs a fine of up to $1,000 and/ or imprisonment up to one year for a first offense. Even though Ann Arbor’s City Charter permits the use of marijuana for medical treatment, citizens and students cannot use marijuana on campus. Because the University receives federal funding, the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, which has been in effect since 2008, does not take precedence over federal laws regarding marijuana use. According to the Annual Security Report provided by University police, there has been a rise in drug arrests over the past three years, including marijuana. In 2013, drug law arrests, which are reported to University Police, and drug law violations, which are reported to Campus Security Authorities, decreased from 2012. Over the past three years, 2012 had 134 instances of drug law arrests, which was the highest. In regards to drug law violations, 2011 had the highest number of instances at 202 over the past three years.
thing. Someone deserves to be held responsible, so I think that’s why a lot of people are finding a personal reason to be involved in this cause, no matter their race.” Members of the BSU also painted the rock at the corner of Washtenaw Avenue and Hill Street Tuesday afternoon black with red letters reading “Black lives matter” and “Be the change.” LSA senior Geralyn Gaines, BSU vice speaker, said organizers hoped to draw attention to the Brown case. “I think our reason for painting the rock tonight was the first step in trying to raise awareness around campus and how those repercussions will effect our day to day interactions with one another on campus,” she said. “Looking back to the Trayvon Martin trial, for this to happen again is really crazy at this point.” The group later marched to Ann Arbor City Hall, blocking traffic on East Liberty Street.
Community members in attendance chanted, “Hands up, don’t shoot” and “These racists cops have got to go.” Ypsilanti resident Tony Morgan spoke to the crowd, saying justice must come from the people, and it is their voices and actions only that have the power to change institutions. “We have to get the blood off of our hands,” he said. “We have to understand that this is about human rights. It’s 2014, and we still don’t have equal rights. Some of you understand that there is a chance the system may not work for you some day, and it’s not just the cops, because they are just the ones on the ground. They are doing the dirty work, but a lot of the time, those victims look a lot like me and you. For every Mike Brown and Treyvon, there are a thousand more.” Attorney General Eric Holder has initiated a federal investigation, despite the grand jury’s decision, and the Justice Department is nearing a decision on whether to press federal charges.
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ENDOWMENT From Page 2A in a particular area.” Broadening the scope of this technique, the University chooses from five “super strategies:” Venture capital, private equity, natural resources, real estate and absolute return. Within each strategy, the University picks firms, or “managers,” that refine those areas of investment into even more specific “asset classes,” or smaller markets. Often, the larger managers will hire smaller ones within a more refined asset class, and this second set of managers will finally invest the University’s original funds in specific stocks. The goal is for managers with niche areas of expertise to use their market knowledge to invest the University’s endowment in the most efficient way possible, yielding the highest returns with the least risk. Overall, these allocations of money to private equity firms comprise the University’s long term portfolio, which makes up a large portion of endowment spending. The investments, Part II: Public equity and internal funding Castilla said the long-term port-
PHILO From Page 1A on Philo. The service is available anywhere on campus — excluding the University of Michigan Health System’s facilities — on either a desktop or a mobile device. In its trial phase that began in early November, Philo is being tested on Ann Arbor’s campus, free of charge, to determine whether students would be interested in purchasing subscription plans to the service in upcoming years. Philo CEO Andrew McCollum, a Facebook co-founder and Harvard University alum, said he predicts Philo will be popular among University students because the service provides more flexibility in how they consume television. Universities can purchase Philo for use on their campuses and offer un-plugged television programming to their students and faculty members. The service itself is based off the television subscription the University maintains with traditional content providers. McCollum said individuals not affiliated
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Current endowment at 9.7 billion has grown nearly 400% since 1999
The University makes 4.5% return on investment yearly
Endowment grew 1.3 billion dollars in the past year alone INFOGRAPHIC BY FRANCESCA KIELB
folio is often seen as synonymous with “endowment.” However, he added, a portion of the endowed funds are invested in public markets as well. These investments are liquid, and referred to as marketable securities. As indicated in the investment report, around 27.5 percent of these marketable securities are invested in the public stock market. The University’s top investment: $13 million in Apple, Inc. The University has also begun investing in itself. In November 2011, the University established the Michigan Investment in New Technology Startups program, which allows the Investment Office to invest in startups “based on technology that was licensed from the University of Michigan,” according to the MINTS website. All of the University’s investments, and those who the University hires to invest on its behalf, are held to the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act, passed in 2006. This mandates that the University can only authorize “costs that are appropriate and reasonable” associated with making these investments. “We think of it as investing for return to support the mission, which, in the case of the University of Michigan, happens to be education and research,” Castilla said.
Parameters for divestment The University also has a set of individual standards for divesting funds, which Fitzgerald said are stringent and rare in application. “The bar is set intentionally high ... to somewhat insulate the investment office from the political winds that could change from one direction to the other,” he said. “So the bar for considering divesting is set intentionally very high and requires this broad pervasive sentiment throughout University community to even be considered.” This consideration operates through the Board of Regents, Castilla said. The regents have voted to divest twice. In 1978, the University divested from South Africa during apartheid and in recent years, divested from tobacco companies. Fitzgerald added that divesting on the sole basis of political sentiment would both infringe upon the Investment Office and harm University projects. “If we were to shift our investments based on the political perspectives of this group or that group, we’d essentially be undermining the performance of the overall goal ... (to) maximize the return so that those disbursements can help pay for endowed scholarships and the operations of the University,” Fitzgerald said.
with a subscribing institution can’t access the channels. “The service is basically to get more people and more students using it because we think that once people try it, they’ll realize it’s a much better way to watch TV, and make the University make this (cable TV) service that they’re paying for more accessible to students,” he said. Philo’s main benefit to universities is that it doesn’t require a high bandwidth to operate — giving it an advantage over popular conventional services like Netflix and Hulu. However, McCollum said there are many other indirect benefits from employing Philo services on a college campus. For instance, he said, making Philo available to students might minimize Internet piracy by allowing users to record segments of television programming from any of the available channels for later viewing. Andy Palms, executive director of communications systems and data centers at the University, said ITS realized that students want an alternative to “plugging a cable
into a wall” because of the declining number of students who paid for cable TV subscriptions through University Housing. If all goes according to plan, the University will offer Philo to students on a pay-per-subscription plan starting in Fall 2015. All University students, staff members and faculty will be able to purchase individual subscriptions, though the service will only be available within the physical boundaries of the University. Pradip Patel, a data engineering manager at ITS, noted that the service would pose a change to the way cable TV is purchased in residence halls. With Philo, instead of sharing the costs of cable network between the two or three students who live together in a dorm room, individual students would be responsible for purchasing their own television service. Forty-eight channels are currently available on the University’s pilot service, but Patel estimates 96 being available once the final service is offered for subscription. Palms said ITS is not ready to release what it will charge students.
Opinion
Page 4A — Wednesday, November 26, 2014
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
The story about the elephant
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
B
Major improvement
New minor increases diversity education on campus eginning in Winter 2015, University students will have the opportunity to minor in Intergroup Relations. The new minor takes a variety of courses already offered to students and formalizes them into a defined program. Courses emphasize students exploring a variety of social injustices stemming from race, sexuality, gender, socioeconomic status and (dis)ability. The University should be commended for expanding academics to include studies of different identities and it should find more ways to encourage students to take these classes. Students in the minor must finish between 19 and 22 credits and the program requires two intergroup dialogue courses that emphasize open discussions about a variety of topics. Students fill out their identifications for race, sexuality, (dis)ability, socioeconomic status and gender prior to receiving an override for courses. Then, applicants are sorted into groups on a specific topic to allow for diverse backgrounds in each space. Providing these courses helps students tackle tough conversations about diversity issues that are pertinent to the University. Students can become more aware of oppression, gain communication skills among those of different backgrounds and learn the fundamentals for exploring these conversations outside of the classroom. After enrolling in the intergroup dialogues, students choose one of two tracks: facilitating or research. Facilitating teaches students to lead similar conversations in a group setting, and research seeks to explore and provide information on different prejudices. Either pathway leads students to recognize and challenge issues of oppression through a medium relevant to their future career. Without the minor, it may not be feasible for students to take so many classes to develop these skills. However, formalizing these classes into a program allows students to engage with relevant topics while receiving a
certification that demonstrates their strength in dealing with these issues. With the positive experiences that can come from enrolling in these classes, the University should work to expand these courses. First, the University could allow relevant majors to accept these dialogues as cognates, so more students would be able to fit these courses into their schedule. Second, with the creation of this minor, the University should create an initiative to raise awareness for these courses. Many students may not know about these classes simply because they aren’t heavily promoted, and their successes could grow with increased attention. Third, work should be done to separate students by level of knowledge on a subject. While those of a minority or underrepresented group will naturally be more familiar with certain concepts, work should be done to ensure the room isn’t an even divide of informed and uninformed participants. Rather, people’s knowledge of a topic should be on a spectrum to maximize the best possible education. Providing students a formalized education in these social injustice issues shows strides by the University to spread awareness about prejudice. However, this is only the first step. While students are expanding their knowledge of diversity, the University must work to find additional ways to expand diversity on this campus.
BAMN’s betrayal of sexual assault survivors
L
ast week, affirmative action group By Any Means Necessary shut down what’s usually a humdrum monthly Board of Regents meeting and pressured administrators to flee behind campus police escorts. It was an unruly outburst even by the group’s spirited standards. BAMN had wanted to pack this last meeting; specifically, by mobilizing activists passionate about YARDAIN ending rampant sexual AMRON assault on campus. So two weeks prior to the meeting, Kate Stenvig, a BAMN lead organizer, attended the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center 28th Annual Speak Out along with 300 other people. The space had been pre-declared safe and confidential for survivors of sexual violence to share their personal, traumatic stories. Stenvig spoke briefly about her personal experience dealing with sexual abuse, and mostly about BAMN. She appealed to the audience to join her group in protest at the upcoming regents meeting. At the end of the event, a second BAMN member positioned at the door, flyered the exiting attendees with BAMN materials. The promotional move irked many, but would have remained a small blip in what otherwise was a powerful night for victims — if not for what BAMN did next. In an open letter SAPAC published Monday in The Michigan Daily, the activist group claimed BAMN members had been speaking in classrooms “retelling stories shared at Speak Out without the consent or knowledge of survivors.” If true, this would be an egregious violation for multiple reasons. First off, for many victims of sexual assault, their stories are the one power they can still claim over their rapists, who have already violated their bodies. For another, you never know who’s listening; whether the rapist himself, or his friend who knows the story is in the room. If you still don’t see why this is a big deal, it might be as helpful to you as it was to me, to read the first few graphs of the Rolling Stone piece about rape at University of Virginia (warning: extreme trigger warning). I interviewed Stenvig and asked her if SAPAC’s allegations that BAMN had violated anyone’s privacy or confidentiality were true. “ ... Completely false,” she said. “We have never used anyone’s name or specific story.” A part of me was skeptical, so I tracked down students who were in those classrooms and a different story quickly emerged. LSA
senior Sarah Goomar, a SAPAC member, wrote to me that two male BAMN members gave a presentation in her International Studies 401 class and “one of the men retold a story shared at SAPAC’s Speak Out.” In a separate interview, LSA senior Lydia Lopez, a classmate of Goomar’s, corroborated the story. Lopez is unaffiliated with SAPAC and did not attend the Speak Out, but recalled that two men, one of whom “was talking about how he went to the Speak Out and one of the survivors said X, Y and Z.” In a separate art history class, LSA senior Bianca Wilson, a SAPAC member, wrote to me that BAMN members used a couple of examples from the speak out to both talk about the outrageous way the University handles sexual assault and incite students to help them “pack the regents meeting.” Wilson also sent me a photo she snapped of the presenters, and I’ve confirmed one of the faces as Stenvig. At this pivotal moment, with sexual assault and racial diversity finally in the spotlight, I cannot reiterate enough just how unfortunate this situation is. We need groups like SAPAC and BAMN fighting for these issues, but we need them doing it thoughtfully. BAMN’s tactics were uneducated, insensitive, and hurtful. And it makes sense: the group only this year added sexual assault prevention to their list of demands. Historically, their focus has been almost exclusively on minority enrollment. Stenvig and BAMN may have had good intentions. But in the end, intentions matter little next to results. And at this moment, the result is that survivors feel betrayed by BAMN. Instead of support, BAMN knowingly or unknowingly tried to incite passion using pain that they have no right to and that they clearly don’t understand. In an attempt to push an agenda and fix an institutional pandemic, BAMN forgot the most fundamental piece of the reality: the human beings. You can’t fix a problem by disrespecting the very people whose problem you say you’re trying to fix. Stenvig had multiple opportunities to admit her and BAMN’s error, and to apologize to the survivors whose stories the group co-opted. Unfortunately, the most she could muster was “I have no problem apologizing if I’ve hurt someone, but I don’t think that’s the case.” If you are a survivor of sexual assault that spoke at the Speak Out and feel hurt by BAMN’s actions, I ask that you help me convince Stenvig and BAMN of the damage they’ve done. Send me your feelings, and I will pass them along. An apology can’t take back the betrayal, but it’s a better first step than pervasive hatred. Yardain Amron can be reached at amron@umich.edu.
D
rew Simon told me this one at the pachyderm exhibit in the Denver Zoo, and I told it to Spencer Dodge at the edge of a ramshackle cemetery in Santiago, Chile. That’s a better place to tell it, and where I’d tell it to you if you and I were there together. Walking AVERY through the DIUBALDO graveyard slums where the poor are marked with wooden crosses, I’d ask you if you knew the story about the elephant, and when you’d say “no,” I’d begin like this: So, a young American zoologist is doing field research in Africa, and at dusk he sees, at the bottom of a huge yellow valley, an elephant. This is unusual. Firstly, because, while elephants are herd animals, this elephant is alone; and secondly, because this elephant is standing on only three legs. The elephant holds its fourth leg in the air, bending it at the knee. The zoologist carefully approaches the elephant, examining the underside of its foot, and sees that a shard of rusty scrap metal has been jammed into the fleshy part of the hoof behind the toes. He grips the metal with his bare hands and yanks it out. He steps back a couple of feet and the elephant looks at him. Not through the side of its head, like you’d think it would, not as a cow might look, but dead-on, like a dog, or a person. The zoologist looks back. They share something: a moment. And then the elephant walks away. Years pass. One day, while he and his family are vacationing on the West Coast, the zoologist goes off to a local zoo and peeks into the elephant exhibit. There’s a little waist-high fence and a steep concrete slope, at the bottom of which there is, of course, an elephant. And the zoologist thinks, I
recognize that elephant, but he doesn’t know how, or from where, and as he walks further along the fence to get a better look, the elephant sees him, they lock eyes, and the elephant raises its hoof. Just like the one in Africa. As if it remembers him. He figures it’s just a coincidence, so he leaves. But he returns again the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that. Every day, the elephant gives him the same signal. One day, when the zoo is mostly empty and nobody is watching, he flips his leg over the fence, slides down the concrete slope, and walks to the elephant. The elephant raises its foot, just like he thought it would, and the zoologist puts his hand on the underside of the hoof. The elephant looks at him, just as before, and they have it again: this moment, an understanding. And then the elephant reaches out with his trunk and tears off the zoologist’s head. And that’s the end of the story. This ending can be explained in two ways: The first explanation is that the elephant in the zoo and the elephant in the savanna are two different elephants. The zoologist, in a momentary lapse of professional judgment, has forgotten just how easy it is to confuse one elephant for another, and has transposed the image of an elephant from the past onto the image of an elephant in the present. Perhaps a recent, unresolved tragedy has addled his mind, sent him reeling, and now he looks for meaning where none exists. And if the two elephants are the same elephant, he reasons, then it cannot be so by mere coincidence. It must be, somehow, fated. In the whirling, kaleidoscopic torment of the universe, he and the elephant are fixed points, two particles tied together by some unknowable, supernatural bond. Theirs is not a meaningless reunion. The two of them have met again not by chance, but by fate — it is meant to be. But it is not meant to be. The elephant is the wrong elephant, the
zoologist will be killed, and the world spins on. The second explanation is that the elephant in the zoo and the elephant in the savanna are the same elephant. At first, this seems impossible. What are the odds that the zoologist and the injured elephant would meet again, years later, on the other side of the earth? Or that the elephant would even recognize him? All elephants look the same, we think. Why should an elephant feel any different about us? But what cannot be ignored is the fact of the elephant’s signal, the raising of its foot. The odds that any other elephant should learn this gesture — and that this gesture should only be made in the presence of a specific person — are so astronomically low that one might be led to conclude that the two elephants are one and the same. To accept this conclusion, as the zoologist does in his final moments, is to choose to believe that reality is, at some fundamental level, an ordered thing, with purpose, meaning and a design. Of the two explanations offered above, both are valid, but it’s the second that makes for the better story. Storytelling (and the same can be said for the study of history, although I’m sure there are plenty of historians who would disagree) is the conversion of unstructured experience into structured narrative. In short, meaning is discovered — or invented — where it could not be seen before. And so when we think of the zoologist standing at the edge of the enclosure, gripping the iron fence and tensing his legs, we prefer to imagine that he’s been right all along, that the past and future are conjoined by more than the sequence of events between them, and that all this is happening for a reason. He stares at the elephant. The elephant stares back. And behind its flat black eyes is not the dumb curiosity of a beast, but the silent recognition of Death. Avery DiUbaldo can be reached at diubaldo@umich.edu.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Edvinas Berzanskis, Devin Eggert, David Harris, Rachel John, Jordyn Kay, Aarica Marsh, Megan McDonald, Victoria Noble, Michael Paul, Allison Raeck, Melissa Scholke, Michael Schramm, Matthew Seligman, Mary Kate Winn, Jenny Wang, Daniel Wang, Derek Wolfe
RYAN MOODY | MICHIGAN IN COLOR
Rules to live by Don’t ring, text. I hovered my hand above the doorbell, poised to ring it. As my fingers stretched, approaching the button, I remembered the pact we’d made. I quickly adjusted my motion, sliding my hand into my pocket to pull out my Blackberry. A few seconds later my phone vibrated in response, affirmation that my friend was coming to get me. She slowly creaked open the front door of her house and ushered me inside. We crept upstairs, anxious to begin our sleepover. When we finally entered the privacy of her room, we breathed a collective sigh of relief and grinned at the heist we had just pulled. Get out before her dad wakes up. The next morning, sunlight spilling through the windows reminded me of our agreement. I crept downstairs and out the front door, dialing my mom’s phone number. Embarrassed about the real reason for my early departure, I would tell her half-truths about why I had to be picked up at 8 a.m. on Saturday mornings. “I just wake up so much earlier than my friends and I don’t want to sit around and be bored.” In reality, this arrangement was the result of a humiliating conversation. “My dad is racist,” she apologized. “He just doesn’t want me hanging out with you.” When faced with racist comments, don’t show your hurt or anger. People won’t take you seriously. Though I would like to say that I grew up with a strong sense of self and pride in my people, I was taught the difference between white and wrong at a very young age. I learned not to get in the water at pool parties, so I could keep my stiff hair hidden under the heat of my flat iron. I learned to research and memorize the lyrics of John Mayer and The Red Hot Chili Peppers so I could appear knowledgeable about the “acceptable” music preferences. I learned that “for a black girl” was a necessary qualifier for compliments
that passed my way. Pretty for a black girl. Smart for a black girl. Articulate for a black girl. Little by little, I was socialized to believe in a shameful “truth,” that Black is an inherently negative descriptor. An ugliness I would need to overcome to be respected, valued, worthy. So I started to compensate. I began to distill the things that I wanted to do into the things I was allowed to do, given my Blackness and how I thought others would perceive me. As I had more experiences with racism my filter became more refined, and I added new constraints to my growing list. When faced with a difficult class in college, never, ever drop it. Especially when you are the only Black person in the class. You don’t want to give credence to the belief that you were accepted solely because of your race and you can’t handle the challenge. When applying for a job, remove any race-related organization from your resume that a white person could read as radical or self-serving. Black Volunteer Network may stay, but the Women of Color Collective must go. When cat-called or harassed on the street; just say nothing and keep your head down. You don’t want to be seen as the scary, angry Black woman. When going out with your Black friends don’t walk together in a large group. Make sure there are several feet between every pair of people so others don’t feel threatened. When an officer of the law asks to see your license, “accidentally” hand them your school ID first, so they know you are getting an education and will treat you better. When shopping, always carry the items you are considering purchasing far away from your body, so salespeople won’t think you might steal them and have you arrested, or worse. My whole life I have been indoctrinated into playing by the rules. I truly believed that as long as we all mastered living within the arbitrary boundaries of what a Black
person “could” be, we would be protected because of it. But that just isn’t true. These white lies just try to hide the fact that under white lies one thing: fear for white lives. But instead of challenging this pervasive, irrational reaction, we systematically assuage it at the expense of my people. I saw this in President Obama’s speech after the Ferguson verdict, when he said “the law feels as if it’s been applied in a discriminatory fashion, but I don’t think that’s the norm.” I saw it in the words of the St. Louis County Executive, as he pleaded for people to “think with their heads and not their emotions.” Both men trying to restore a narrative in which the predictable, state-supported murder of Blacks isn’t a big deal. I see it right here, in this article, knowing that the way in which I have chosen to write will make me eligible for compassion and understanding from white readers that I wouldn’t have been privy to otherwise. Whenever talking about how you’ve been impacted by with racism, only share the most overt, irrefutable examples so you will be seen as logical instead of over-sensitive. Explain racial oppression through an unemotional lens so white people will take notice and care. You may think I’m a hypocrite, but within that tension is the only place my Black experience is allowed to exist. Wanting to show that there many different ways to be Black, but knowing society will only reward and accept me for one of them. Trying to live in America like the rules don’t apply, but also trying to just live. Waiting outside in the darkness for her message that will finally tell me I am welcome to come in. Michigan in Color is the Daily’s opinion section designated as a space for and by students of color at the University of Michigan. To contribute your voice or find out more about MiC, e-mail michiganincolor@umich.edu.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
PROFILE
Wednesday, November 26, 2014 — 5A
TV REVIEW
Hip Hop Congress ‘Grey’s’ heart is still a ‘U’ music forum beating after 11 seasons Student organization explores all facets of the genre By CAROLINE FILIPS Daily Arts Writer
At the intersection of hip hop and social action lies the University’s Hip Hop Congress, an organization focusing on the sociocultural, political and artistic impacts of hip-hop culture. Since the national organization reestablished its chapter on campus in 2010 after a twoyear hiatus brought on by a decline in membership, the congress has continued to boast a strong following and promote positivity. As a good kid in this m.A.A.d city himself, LSA senior Joe Hermann serves as the organization’s president. Often drawing inspiration from his favorite rappers such as Kendrick Lamar and their tales of triumph against gang violence and drug use, Hermann believes there is an empathetic aspect of the congress’ namesake genre. “That’s what I think has stuck with me most about hip hop, opening me up to how people are more products of social conditions than they are necessarily poor choices,” Hermann said. “I just gained greater empathy for people of all backgrounds because of hip hop.” This empathy and acceptance drawn from hip hop fuels the organization’s positive impact across campus. With 30-40 active members, the congress is a diverse group, yet all are bound together by their love of the music. “When we have our meetings and we’re talking about a new album, so many people from different backgrounds think it’s dope and they can all relate to it in different ways and for different reasons,” Hermann said. “I think that’s one thing I really appreciate about our organization, how it draws together people from different backgrounds to have conversations about
something they love.” Meetings are really in-depth discussions, with topics ranging from Kanye’s latest shenanigans to the prejudices stemming from the hip-hop stereotypes. The congress serves to explore issues of race, class and the prison-industrial complex, all while striving to uphold the positive aspects of hiphop culture’s history and significance. “We’ll watch one or two music videos, we’ll talk about what we thought about it. I usually try to bring one or two topics of relevant hip hop news,” Hermann said. “There’s a real sense of community and we just try to have good discussions and try and create a little bit too while we’re there.” Along with dropping beats (the organization is currently in the process of creating a mixtape), the congress attempts to educate its followers on the roots of hip-hop culture’s negative connotations. “A lot of hip hop is very misogynistic and that comes out of other conditions, you know,‘what are the social conditions that produce misogyny?’ and often times its poverty, lack of access to equitable housing, lack of access to jobs, poor education,” Hermann said. “So when I think about music that has those negative qualities, I don’t blame the artist, but I blame the social conditions that it comes out of.” Due to the equal focus on arts and social justice, the group includes an eclectic mix of members — complete with aspiring rappers, clothing designers and writers. “People are both extremely knowledgeable about politics and social conditions, but they’re also extremely creative, so they’re thinking of creative ways to approach problems,” Hermann said. The creative minded organization hosts annual events, often boasting noteworthy speakers. During last fall’s presentation by Kanye West affiliate, Rhymefest, the rapper spoke of his Chicagobased poetry workshop
collaboration with West, designed to stem youth violence and foster greater political participation. During the second half of the year, the congress hosted an Immortal Technique concert at the Michigan Union. The group also works to falsify unfavorable reputations of gang culture in various cities such as Detroit and Pittsburgh, with the help of guest hip-hop activists Piper Carter and rapper GsiriX, each from the aforementioned cities, respectively. Events usually attract a crowd of about 200 and aim to encourage a stronger following of the University chapter. In terms of localizing the breadth of the national organization, Hermann believes in the preservation of the national organization’s ideals regarding respect and political activism and connecting these to local issues. “For example, last year we did an event called Hip Hop Made Me Do It, which was held at Rackham and sort of around the time BBUM was happening, we tried to gather students and local leaders to talk about the actual issues related to race on our campus and in the Ann Arbor community,” Hermann said. “We tried to take the tradition and spirit of the national organization and apply it to local issues, and also just show love to local hip hop artists.” In accordance with the goals of their predecessor rapicons, the congress strives to eradicate the common misconception that hip hop and social justice are mutually exclusive. Hermann is hopeful that the group will continue to showcase collections of music that are neither misogynistic nor violent. “Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Kendrick Lamar … there’s all sorts of rappers who are making music that has a positive message as well and are aware of the platform that they’re on as pop culture figures,” Hermann said. “I like that our organization has been able to facilitate meaningful conversations and left an impact on people where they’re legitimately pursuing things that aren’t necessarily hip hop related.”
Mid-season finale prepares viewers for saga’s end By SOPHIA KAUFMAN Daily Arts Writer
The “Grey’s Anatomy” midseason finale, “Risk,” premiered Nov. 21. While the episode was slightly less B dramatic than fans have grown accustomed to, leaving Season Eleven only two real Mid-Season cliffhangers instead of Finale the usual Thursdays at 8 p.m. five or six, it ABC was no less satisfying. The weaker parts of the episode — including the fact that its goal seemed to be to force the break up of every single couple — were compensated for by the last two minutes, which forcefully reminded audiences of what this show can be like at its strongest, and what makes it so addictingly heartbreaking without compromising the integrity of its characters. Fans of “Grey’s Anatomy” entered this season skeptical, wondering if the long-running drama could maintain its momentum for yet another season — and one without Cristina (Sandra Oh, “Sideways”), one of the show’s central characters since the beginning. The season feels slightly drawn out, but while Cristina’s absence has been sorely felt — especially within Meredith (Ellen Pompeo, “Life of the Party”) and Derek’s (Patrick Dempsey, “Enchanted”) relationship, in which Cristina had been a fundamental third party, the show surprisingly functions without her. One of the plot drivers of this episode — the reveal that Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams, “The Cabin in the Woods”) and April
Grey’s Anatomy
ABC
‘Yes, that’s right, we’re all actually doctors.”
Kepner’s (Sarah Drew, “Moms’ Night Out”) baby possibly has fatal complications — adds unneeded drama to a storyline that’s already interesting enough: seeing if their relationship can survive the trials of caring for a newborn on top of the problems already posed by their different views on religion. The fact that Jackson’s ex-girlfriend diagnoses these complications isn’t ironic or a source of comic relief, but just uncomfortable. Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez, “Chicago”) and Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw, “Minority Report”) finally have a scene together without one of them ending up in a rage; the lack of jaw-dropping drama in favor of unobtrusive displays of quiet emotion is a welcome change and gives the audience a moment to breathe. Justin Chambers (“The Wedding Planner”) continues to give a stellar performance as Alex Karev, the original black sheep of the family who is finally coming into his own as a mature adult. The scenes in which he bluntly gives Meredith and Arizona the advice they need subtly hint that he’s ready to take over as the flawed yet true moral compass of the group. Of course, the show’s most dynamic couple continues to be Meredith and Derek, who seem to be heading towards their deepest divide yet. In the finale, Meredith’s newfound half-sister Maggie (Kelly McCreary, “Being Flynn”) acts as a catalyst for the
couple to fight until they reach a breaking point. The final — and by far the best — scene of the episode is between the two of them and features some of writer Shonda Rhimes’s most impressive work. Derek makes a phone call accepting a job offer that will take him away from his family, never breaking eye contact with Meredith. She tells him to go, and go now, her current reality of watching Derek walk away from her blended with dim childhood flashbacks of watching her own mother call after the love of her life. Derek and Meredith’s pain is palpable without being pushy. It’s impossible to watch them arguing without remembering where they came from and what they’ve been through, and both Pompeo and Dempsey bring nuances to their performances that remind audiences of how much they’ve grown and fleshed out their characters over the years. The way that season 11 is going so far, every poignant scene holds elements reminiscent of years past; the last seconds of the finale do so overtly, featuring a chilling montage of the most poignant turning points of Meredith’s life in Seattle. This collection of snippets from every season, more than anything else in the episode, reminds the audience of what “Grey’s” used to be and could return to, while also seeming to gently prepare the audience for the inevitable close of this longrunning saga.
FILM NOTEBOOK
The lasting legacy of ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ By BRIAN BURLAGE Daily Arts Writer
COMMUNITY & CULTURE NOTEBOOK
Students should support student art, shows at ‘U’ By REBECCA GODWIN Daily Arts Writer
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to see an entirely student-created piece of theatre. Skylar Tarnas, a sophomore in the Residential College, wrote the show, entitled “Breaking News,” and it was produced and performed by the RC Players. It was tremendous, in terms of acting and writing, and the message the audience was left with was incredibly powerful. But as I was sitting in the audience, what struck me most was the fact that everything I was seeing was created by students. The words were written by a student, the play was directed by a student, even the set was made by students. Of course Tarnas isn’t the only student on campus creating top-notch original art. Throughout the University, individuals are creating new works all the time, in dance, photography, music, painting or poetry. And as fellow students, it’s our job to support them. University sponsored events receive the best publicity, the best venues and usually the largest audiences.
Student-created art isn’t usually that lucky, often debuting wherever they can find space, whether that’s in empty classrooms or a rented conference room. That’s why it’s so important to attend as many events as possible, not only to support the student artists, but also simply to absorb as much original work as you can. You’ll never be in a place where so much new art is being made so frequently and is so easily accessible ever again. Just this last weekend, students had the ability to see a play, an a cappella concert, a musical, a quirky percussion group and an orchestra perform, all of which were made up of, run by and performed by students. Access to all of these events was either free or significantly discounted for students. The level of variety and abundance of art events wasn’t a one-time coincidence: every weekend there are just as many, sometimes even more, student art events happening. To not take advantage of as many as possible would just be a waste of amazing resources. But by attending student art events,
you’re not only increasing your own appreciation of various art mediums, you’re also encouraging student artists to keep creating, to keep experimenting and to keep inspiring. Eventually these student artists will leave the University, and they may go on to become critically-acclaimed artists in whichever field they choose, but their start will always be at Michigan, and you can say you were a part of it. Wherever your interests lie in the arts, there are students producing new pieces in that field. If you’re a fan of comedy, check out Comco or any of the other student improv groups on campus. If you like theatre, the RC Players and Basement Arts put on various original student pieces throughout the year. If you’re really into a cappella, there are dozens of groups to choose from, including the very popular G-Men. And if full orchestra performances are your thing, then you may want to go see a Michigan Pops concert. But don’t get overwhelmed by all the choices, because it doesn’t really matter what you go and see as long as you see something. Just get out and support student art.
With October done and gone, November dreary as ever and December waiting with its handful of frost just around the corner, we have entered into the period at the end of the year when holiday spirit changes from frightful to plentiful to delightful in a matter of weeks. While for many people this excitement evokes a festive cheer, for some it delivers a keen melancholy, a ghoulish sadness exacerbated by the weather, the shortened days, a falsity of spirit or recognition of missed opportunities throughout the year. The holidays have this kind of polarizing effect. For me, one movie has always captured the whole spectrum of holiday emotion. Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” touches on everything from fear to elation to confusion, and it does so with wonderful imagination. It’s a film of stark originality and creation — irreplaceable by any standard. The darkness of its story lends the whole project a necessary realism, which, taken in effect, mirrors the little windows of sobering reality we glance through between bouts of holiday folly and festivity. In his 1993 feature about “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” Blaise Simpson described Burton as a lonely child who would often look to the holidays as escape. As Burton recalled in their discussion, “Anytime there was Christmas or Halloween … it was great. It gave you some sort of texture all of a sudden that wasn’t there before.” After completing “Vincent” in 1982, Burton drew from such holiday-film inspiration as “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “How the Grinch
DISNEY
The Grinch’s skinny, crackhead cousin.
Stole Christmas!” to write a three-page poem called “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” As new ideas came to him, he would add to or adjust the poem. Eventually, with the help of craftgenius Rick Heinrichs, he started to storyboard and tinker with concept art. He and Heinrichs went to director Henry Selick, also a famous animator, to gauge studio interest. Though Selick was impressed, the project stalled. According to Pat H. Broeske in her 1991 piece “Dusting Off Burton,” “‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ was originally deemed ‘too weird’ and put on the back burner by the studio.” So in 1984, Burton left the project alone. In the years following, Burton’s offbeat, slightly macabre style became enormously popular. As he added part of the “Batman” series, “Beetlejuice” and “Edward Scissorhands” to his repertoire, the movie-going public had developed a strong affinity for his bizarre and creative visions. In 1990, Burton returned to Disney and was given the rights to produce a full-length feature version of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” along with Selick as
director. They began production in the summer of 1991. It would take them two full years to complete. Over 120 workers used 20 different stages to create the accurate stop-motion filming. They used 227 unique puppet characters to capture a total of 109,440 frames. Composer Danny Elfman penned and scored 10 original songs. The film grossed more than 4.5 times the original $18 million budget. The numbers are staggering, the results more staggering still. “The Nightmare Before Christmas” takes viewers to a familiar but indistinct part of their imagination, and like a dream they’ve had throughout their lives without really knowing what it meant or what happened, they wander through the spectral territory in a wash of perplexity and awe. Every detail is thoroughly imagined, every nook and every crevice holds a rightful place, and if all the scenery and shadowy portraits of a not-so-scary nightmare point to one thing, it would be this: that sometimes, dwelling in the spooky, fantastical parts of our mind isn’t all that bad.
Arts
6A — Wednesday, November 26, 2014
TV REVIEW
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
ABC
I’m actually Two-Face.
Olivia Pope evolves ‘Scandal’ midseason finale brings core characters to forefront By HAILEY MIDDLEBROOK Daily Arts Writer
If there’s anything more indulgent than getting in on a secret, it’s finding out how the secret stayed hidden for so long. In A1998, when Bill Clinton’s Lewinsky scandal leaked, Season Four the real dirt Mid-Season wasn’t found Finale on his intern’s Thursdays at 9 p.m. infamous blue ABC dress, but on the hands of those who covered up the mess — the staffers who quietly moved Lewinsky from the White House to the Pentagon when they saw she was getting a little too cozy with the president. In ABC’s “Scandal,” Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington, “Django Unchained”) combines these two roles — the president’s mistress and the head of Olivia Pope & Associates, a high-profile crisis management team — and the result is nothing short of a smoking time bomb, in the best way possible. After debuting in the spring of 2012, the political thriller’s first three seasons were a sudsy whirlwind of action: Season one introduced Olivia and her steamy
Scandal
relationship with President Fitz Grant (Tony Goldwyn, “Ghost”), as well as the members of her brilliant team as they tried to crack the mystery of Amanda Tanner; season two focused on Fitz’s nail-biting run for reelection and introduced his wife, Mellie (Bellamy Young, “CSI: Miami”) as a central character to clash with Pope; season three brought Olivia’s powerful father, Rowan Pope (Joe Morton, “The Good Wife”), into the picture when he revealed incriminating war details involving Fitz, adding to the leaked details of the President’s relationship with Olivia. The third season concluded with Olivia following her father’s advice to board a plane with her partner-with-benefits, Jake (Scott Foley, “Grey’s Anatomy”), leaving Fitz alone to face the wrath of Papa Pope. Season four, which premiered this September and recently aired its mid-season finale, brings the show’s core characters to the forefront. After hiding away with Jake for two months on an island off the coast of Zanzibar, Olivia returns to a very different D.C. than the one she left behind. Jerry Grant, Fitz’s son, has died and Jake is arrested based on Rowan’s accusation that Jake was behind the murder. Torn between loyalty to both her father and Jake, Olivia doesn’t know whom to trust. Her lingering feelings for Fitz complicate matters as well, because the president is at once grieving for his lost son and seeking revenge on Jake, whom he believes stole not only Jerry, but also Olivia’s heart.
Olivia must also deal with the consequences of abandoning her friends, since Olivia Pope & Associates has been shut down and her coworkers have jumped ship. Abby (Darby Stanchfield, “NCIS”) is the new White House Press Secretary, battling to earn respect in the Oval Office, where Fitz and his Chief of Staff, Cyrus (Jeff Perry, “Grey’s Anatomy”) refer to her as “Red” instead of Abby. She holds her own, but when her abusive ex-husband, Chip, is nominated for Virginia State Senator, Abby concedes to ask for Olivia’s help to stop the election by taking charge of Chip’s opponent’s campaign. Huck (Guillermo Diaz, “Weeds”) now works in an electronics shop, but spends most of his time obsessively trying to connect with his young son, Javi, via video games, because his estranged wife has forbidden all contact between the two. Quinn (Katie Lowes, “Super 8”) stays in touch with Abby and Huck while working on a case with Catherine, Olivia’s friend from law school, involving Catherine’s daughter’s murder. In typical “Scandal” fashion, the mid-season finale was TV’s equivalent of a D.C. Fourth of July firework display: big, bright and banging. Olivia teams up “Twilight”-style with Fitz and Jake to take down her father, who was revealed to be behind Jerry’s murder and has his sights set on killing the rest of Liv’s posse. This season marks the end of daddy’s little girl — a new, tougher, even more badass Olivia has taken over, and she wants the kill shot.
Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
BIG MACHINE
A nightmare dressed as a nightmare.
Spotify, streaming and Taylor Swift Music streaming services yield meager profits for many artists By AMELIA ZAK Daily Arts Writer
It’s the dark cloud looming over the 21st century music industry: streaming music, digital downloads and piracy. With record sales at an alltime low, the problem is a spreading plague on music’s changing landscape. Taylor Swift’s recent decision to remove her complete discography from Spotify last week drew great attention to the problem. Referring
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to Spotify as a “grand experiment” that she wishes to distance herself and her music from, Swift garnered waves of criticism. Her decampment was stunningly abrupt, especially following her achievement of the most successful album release of 2014. Critics lambasted her for being condescending and ignorant. But her reasoning is not without merit, nor is Swift alone in her rebellion. In one short decade, from 2003 to 2013, the way in which we buy and circulate music has changed immensely. In 2003, the music industry made 94.8% of its $15 billion revenue from compact disc sales. Ten years later this same industry’s annual revenue has been reduced to $7 billion and is split fairly evenly between compact discs, digital downloads and subscription or streaming services. Pandora, Rhapsody and Spotify remain top contenders for music streaming subscriptions, and all have publicly defended themselves throughout this global discussion. They argue for their legitimacy based on their promise of monetary compensation for artists. Spotify released a statement following Swift’s exit, pointing out that they “already paid more than $2 billion in royalties to the music industry” and “if that money is not f lowing to the creative community in a timely and transparent way, that’s a big problem.” Many have found f laws in the new music system Spotify provides: stars as big as David Byrne and Jason Aldean have spoken out against Spotify as an entity working to cheapen the music industry. Thom Yorke and his Radiohead producer, Nigel Godrich, similarly decided to pull their newest albums from Spotify. In his explanation of the band’s decision, Godrich described their actions as a “small, meaningless rebellion” against a system that is so wretchedly myopic, especially for new music. Slowly suffocating the ebb and f low of the creative music industry, this “big problem” undoubtedly exists. All of these stars have valid complaints against streaming services. Put simply, streaming subscriptions are organized so that artists receive a monetary compensation that is equated to the amount their song is actually streamed by listeners of the website. The $2 billion dollars that Spotify pays in royalties is divided up by the percentage of total streams. This lets the big labels disproportionately benefit from this system. With older and more extensive
back catalogs, a 40-year-old record like The Doors’ “Light My Fire” will earn the same amount of money or more for their record label than a track by a new artist like King Krule and his “The Noose of Jah City.” In a worst-case scenario, the larger labels with their massive catalogs are guaranteed a far more substantial portion of Spotify or Pandora’s promised artist royalities while the smaller labels and up-and-coming artists struggle to produce streams. This issue was brought to the forefront most recently by the 1990’s alternative rock band Galaxie 500. Drummer Damon Krukowski and bassist Naomi Young publicly addressed the looming issue in a Pitchfork article published in late 2012. Krukowski explained and provided specific numerical information about the little money they received in the first quarter of 2012 for the online streaming of one of the band’s biggest hits, “Tugboat.” The song was played a total of 7,800 times from January to March of 2012 on Pandora, and as a result earned the band a total of 21 cents. And on Spotif y, the song earned $1.50 in the first quarter of 2012, which is then divided up into 35 cents per song writer. Other artists like Foo Fighter’s Dave Grohl have taken more blasé positions in the fight against music streaming sites. In answering recent questions by Digital Spy, Grohl gave his expletiveadorned opinion, stating “You want people to fucking listen to your music? Give them your music, and then go play a show. They like hearing your music? They’ll go see a show. To me it’s that simple, and I think it used to work that way.” Grohl is right: you love the music and you buy tickets to the show. But the Internet cannot be ignored, nor can the paralyzing ubiquity of piracy. Grohl’s response was more correct when Nirvana was still around. The answer, in my opinion, lies in a redistribution of the royalties given out by the streaming services. If more money were given to newer artists, there would be less difficulty in funding record production, merchandising and touring of new and upcoming artists. The benefits between music streaming sites and the artist will be unshared, but this change is not only necessary, it’s moral. Until these changes arrive, the world will be experiencing a little less of that sappy, heartbreakhelping Taylor Swift music.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts & Sports
Wednesday, November 26, 2014 — 7A
’Nova blocks ‘M’
FILM NOTEBOOK
By JAKE LOURIM Daily Sports Editor
IFC
Friends don’t let friends make fools of themselves.
Friendship in film There’s much to learn about bonding in ‘Frances Ha’ By ANDREW MCCLURE Daily Arts Writer
It’s that wave of warmth that washes over you when you spot them unexpectedly. Or that smile you can’t refuse as your front teeth peel back the curtain of your lips. It’s friends, man. As our clickbait generation bungles through isn’t-there-anapp-for-this Xerox printers and boss subservience during our “yo-pro” years, the one thing we shouldn’t discard is having good, bulletproof friendships. Longtime SNL stalwart Ana Gasteyer surely put it best: A friend is someone you can be weird with. And that’s why Noah Baumbach’s “Frances Ha” is the best, most realized friendship movie in the better part of three decades. (Because digging back further would make me an anachronistic, boomer-thinking hipster, right kids?) But let’s first pay homage to a couple predecessors that also got it right. Based on a novella by Stephen King, Rob Reiner’s 1986 “Stand by Me” likely didn’t jar audiences then as it does me now. What seems so (pathetically) foreign to me is the sheer amount of touching, of rough-housing, that goes on between the little punks onscreen. There’s overwhelming science contending that touching another person accelerates and amplifies bond-building. I couldn’t help but recall, back in middle school, my best buddy’s big bro blowing a gasket when, unbeknownst to me, my leg
touched his for, like, five seconds uninterrupted. That’s the culture we live in now — one that claims “Siri wouldn’t ever touch my leg!” And that’s why this film packs a huge punch. Just four dusty denim-wearing explorerboys searching for a dead body, peregrinating across deep wood, prairie and stream. No Google Maps, just a clean haircut and unabashed brotherly love. It makes me wish I used my bike more and not that fucking Razor scooter. I hope everyone currently has a friend whom they, at some earlier time, hated. Be it their cooler clothes, cooler mom, or their inexplicable magnetism for the other sex, you wanted them deleted. Maybe from a distance, maybe in a confrontation. No film better portrayed this envyturned-enchantment than Pixar’s 1995 “Toy Story.” Woody and Buzz were engineered to be homies: both possessed demonstrable leadership traits and killed the ladies with a scything wit. In the beginning, though, they’re both at fault: Woody is a human who feels emotions like jealousy, and Buzz is the outsider with inchoate emotional IQ. That these two ultimately link together teaches us that friendship can arise from disharmony, as long as you look up from the screen in time to see the potential. It makes me want to tell strangers that I actually sleep with a stuffed Boo from “Monsters Inc.” Every night. I could go on and engross you in my musings on “Wizard of Oz,” “Mean Girls” and “The Trip” but, at the end of the day, this isn’t some genteel New Yorker piece people pretend to have read. Let’s get to the main event, then. Our leading lady, a poor and
open-book dancer named Frances (played with bravura by Greta Gerwig, “Greenberg”) is not a real dancer. She hesitates to tell others she dances for a living, “because I don’t really do it.” She is the 11th man on a dance company whose impresario has no room for naive, little Frances — who, by the way, is well into her midtwenties. There is, however, one thing that buoys her from the heavyweights of pennilessness and dancing dreams quashed: Sophie, her best friend (played with enviable charm by Mickey Sumner, “Girl Most Likely”). Sophie and Frances, together, embody everything any person wants to share with another: the liberty to be foolish. From the way Sophie maternally cradles Frances as she tells her “The Story of Us,” their idyllic life scenario in which Frances is an estimable dancer, to their all-hands, hair-pulling wrestling match in Central Park, the two form a youthful synergy. Imagine your best friendship’s top moments — the times your wild side won’t soon forget and your shy side might regret. Frances and Sophie share these vulnerable, fuck ’em memories all the time because they make each other braver, more willing to risk ephemeral shame to strangers whose opinions, in their minds, don’t matter. That, my friends, is what friends do. The best friendship flicks declare that your friends should make you want to be a weirder person, explore weirder spaces, try weirder stuff. Hunter S. Thompson once said, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” So, friends, sip the Kool-Aid and I’ll see you on the other side.
COMMUNITY & CULTURE NOTEBOOK
It could be a problem if you still think museums are boring ... By GRACE HAMILTON Daily Arts Writer
There is something about the silence, the slow walking, the pacing security officers and endless hallways in many museums that repel children. Still working on acquiring the virtue of patience, most cannot understand the solitary intimacy of having a relationship with a painting, sculpture, artifact or any other inanimate mass of material. My own relationship with museums followed a predictable series of phases. Before the age of seven or so, it was torture. I did not realize my fortune growing up in New York City, rich with craft, a museum itself of world-wide art. A fieldtrip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art did little to capture my interest. Guided worksheets and treasure hunts at the Brooklyn Museum were motivated mainly by a race to the free chocolate milk at lunchtime. The next turning point I can remember was my two-week family vacation to Sicily during December of 2004 — I was eight. We rented a car and traveled through four cities, living out my parents’ guidebook fantasies. Of course, this turned out to be an average of three museums or historical sites a day. I have to believe this would be tiring for anyone. I whined, I cried, I complained about the “rock piles” we drove
miles to see, rock piles like the Temple of Concord in Agrigento which appeared later in my textbooks and lecture slides. I was a buzzkill. That being said, despite my nagging and with some time, some of the things began to gain a little allure. Jewelry over a thousand years old, vases with strange paintings on the side, cooking tools. My imagination was stronger than my patience, and I had begun to see the fun in dreaming about the past. I tap-danced in a theater at Taormina with hundreds of imaginary patrons watching on. By the time I had studied Ancient Rome in sixth grade, and took our next big vacation there the same year, I had abandoned the complaints. It was amazing: I asked questions, read the tour books and stayed with the artwork. Three years later, I spent 15 minutes with a painting in Paris by Hieronymus Bosch, a fifteenth century painter from the Netherlands, known for his intricate, fantastical and frighteningly bizarre work. By the end of high school, I occasionally used off days to explore New York’s famous museums I had neglected as a child. In my English class about Horror, an extra credit assignment was offered to check out several paintings at UMMA, a collection specifically put together for our course. In a class of about 35, I’d
say no more than five made the trip. And I have to admit, without a good excuse, myself included. What does this say about my generation’s appreciation for museums? It seems as though our childhood aversions are hard to overcome in our later years. Let’s be honest, we’re hardly able to sit through movies anymore without the pausing and starting again. What do we expect from any millennials left with two hours and no cell phone in the UMMA? Though this may appear to be an overly cynical concern, it is one worth considering. How can we change this trajectory? How can this kind of learning be introduced into classes? An appreciation for museums ensures that learning doesn’t stop the second the class period ends, when we graduate from college or after we get a job. There is always more to be seen, more histories to be opened up, more piles of rock to stand on. And it certainly does not need to involve travel or spending. I’m no expert: I have no exceptional interpretative abilities, knowledge of art history, or special artistic talents myself (my brother the architect got them). But I do have curiosity, I have imagination and, regardless of my patience, I have appreciation. These faculties aren’t so hard to come by. So go explore, take a trip to the museum and see what you can do without a hand dragging you along.
NEW YORK — Villanova attacked, and Michigan countered. Then MICHIGAN 55 VILLANOVA 60 Michigan attacked, and Villanova countered. With 30 seconds left, they found themselves in a one-point game, and it wasn’t clear which attack came first. But it was Villanova’s that came last — a stone-cold block of sophomore forward Zak Irvin at the rim with four seconds left to help lead the Wildcats to a 60-55 win in the Legends Classic championship game Monday night. Villanova took its first lead in more than 10 minutes with forward JayVaughn Pinkston’s dunk with 1:09 to play, but Michigan had an answer when junior guard Caris LeVert drove for a layup with 50 seconds left. The Wildcats retook the lead with Pinkston’s jumper with 13 seconds to go. And then it came down to Michigan junior guard Spike Albrecht on the baseline
with 7.8 seconds to play. Albrecht found Irvin wide open under the basket, but Pinkston rose up and blocked him. “They had three or four of those rim-protecting type of plays today, three big blocks where I think we had really good leverage,” said Michigan coach John Beilein. “We had the basket, but their guys came out of nowhere to take it away from us.” Villanova guard Ryan Arcidiacono hit two free throws with four seconds left, and Michigan senior forward Max Bielfeldt overthrew the ensuing inbounds pass to allow the Wildcats to ice the game. Early in the second half, nothing came easily for Michigan. First, it got trapped in the corner with 17:25 left, so the Wolverines called timeout. Then, freshman forward Kameron Chatman couldn’t get the ball in, so Michigan called timeout again. And even then, it almost turned the ball over, as Villanova tipped the inbounds pass out of bounds. “When it was 33-20 — actually, at the end of the first half — I
sensed at that time we had doubts whether we could win the game,” Beilein said. “I’m really proud of how their spirit changed.” Michigan’s big men — usually either Bielfeldt, redshirt freshman Mark Donnal or freshman Ricky Doyle — gave away five of its seven first-half turnovers. Sophomore guards Derrick Walton Jr. and Zak Irvin had trouble shooting early on, going a combined 2-for-11 before the break. “In the first half, they really did a good job defensively, getting into us a little bit and trying to take us out of what we wanted to do,” Albrecht said. “But at halftime, we made some adjustments, and I thought we were running the offense really good in the second half.” After LeVert hit two 3-pointers in a one-minute span, Michigan led, 20-18, with seven minutes left in the first half. Those would be the last points it would get before the break. All that mattered, though, were the last points of the second half. Those went to Villanova. And for the first time all night, the Wolverines had no answer.
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Villanova took advantage of its size inside when Michigan’s big men, Ricky Doyle and Mark Donnal, got into foul trouble.
FOOTBALL
Mattison still backs Hoke By GREG GARNO Managing Sports Editor
Michigan football coach Brady Hoke and defensive coordinator Greg Mattison are close friends. They always have been, really. The two, as strange as it is, used to wrestle each other while coaching at Western Michigan. They had spent years together before Hoke brought Mattison to Ann Arbor in 2011. And even in a year full of distractions and struggles, the pair remains close during practices and games. Tuesday, junior linebacker Joe Bolden said of their relationship, “Imagine your best friend.” Fifth-year senior linebacker Jake Ryan added: “You can just tell, when they come in the meeting room, they can just joke around with each other, but they can also be serious.” So as Hoke faces criticism over his job and the speculation swirls faster than the Michigan wind, Mattison has been the first to come to the head coach’s defense. He has been there before, but Monday, he laid out his most extensive list of reasons for support of what Hoke has done for the program. But not all of his arguments hold up, based on the results they’ve produced. “Well, first of all, because the way he put together these players,” Mattison said. “I believe our seniors are 100 percent — 100 percent graduation rate. Now, I’m not being sarcastic. This is what they told me when I came from the NFL back to college, that this is what you’re supposed to be doing.” Yes, under Hoke, the Wolverines have improved their graduation rate, but his tenure
has also seen 10 off-the-field incidents in which players have had a run-in with the law. “Second thing, I’ve been with a lot of head coaches, this guy here truly, truly takes kids from down here to here,” he said, motioning his hands from below the podium to above it. “I’ll tell you, if you don’t believe anything I’ve ever said, just look at what’s coming back. I mean, look at what we came in with, and look at what’s coming back. My goodness. “I mean, I can go on and on, and these are all the young kids that you say, ‘Why do you get excited about coaching?’ Because these are the young kids that we’ve seen as puppies.” Mattison cited players such as redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Chris Wormley, a 280pound basketball player who became “a 300-pound man,” according to Mattison. There’s Willie Henry, who was a raw talent out of high school, now playing as one of the Wolverines’ best defensive linemen. There are also instances of recruits who have struggled, including redshirt sophomore Terry Richardson, a touted defensive back who hasn’t seen the field. Fifth-year senior quarterback Devin Gardner hasn’t played like the star he was projected to be. And junior linebacker Royce Jenkins-Stone has made just two tackles this season after playing in the Under Armour All-America game in high school. “If you saw what we do in recruiting,” Mattison said, “when you recruit a kid, you’re really his parent, and you’re saying to them, ‘Please give him to me, and I promise you, when he’s done, I’m going to give him back to you as a great student. He’s going to have
“You don’t know how lucky you are here.”
his degree, and he’s also going to be a great football player.” The 2015 recruiting class hasn’t fully embraced that sentiment. The Wolverines have lost seven verbal commits from that group, leaving five remaining as the season comes to a close. Last year’s recruiting class was the seventh-best in the nation, featuring the No. 2 player in the nation, defensive back Jabrill Peppers. And the 2012 class was ranked sixth. And as for what happens after players leave Ann Arbor? “How many guys have been drafted here?” Mattison said. “When I was here five years ago, I mean, it was seven (or) eight a year. Now, somebody said, ‘Well, you don’t develop ‘em.’ Develop them? You’ll see development. When I talk to these pro people right now and they start saying, ‘Who’s that kid? Who’s that kid?’ Well, these are the guys we recruited.” It was just this year the Wolverines had a player taken in the opening round of the NFL Draft for the first time since 2010. Michigan hasn’t had more than three players drafted since 2008, before the Rodriguez era. And yet, the season will be judged heavily on Hoke’s 5-6 record before Ohio State, and the possibility of missing out on a bowl game for the first time since 2010. “He’s a winner,” Mattison said. “He’s won everywhere he’s been. The guy’s a winner. Now what’s the timetable? We win our first year? How’d that happen? Man. I don’t know. Something right happened. Now, was it loaded that first year? What, we have two guys drafted? That wasn’t a mirage. That was Brady Hoke who did that. I mean, let’s be really, really honest. “I’ve done this a long time. I’ve been with a lot of head coaches. I’ve seen a lot of them. You don’t know how lucky you are here.”
Sports
8A — Wednesday, November 26, 2014
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wolverines ink five-man recruiting class USHL forward Kyle Connor headlines 2015-16 class
28 games with Muskegon last season.
By JASON RUBINSTEIN
Though Warren was held largely in check against the Wolverines earlier this season, the forward has been on a tear since. The 6-foot, 191-pound forward has notched 18 points — 11 goals and seven assists — in 21 games this season and, like Cecconi, was designated a “B” skater for the upcoming draft. Warren is a versatile forward, someone the Michigan coaching staff hopes will become a playmaker. Warren’s 11 goals for the NTDP this season are good for fourth on the team. He was previously a teammate of freshman defenseman Zach Werenski and said earlier this year that they’re still “good buddies.”
Brendan Warren, forward (U.S. NTDP)
Daily Sports Writer
As if its 8-1 thrashing of Penn State on Saturday weren’t enough, the Michigan hockey team’s week just got even better. Monday, the Wolverines announced the signing of five players to National Letters of Intent for the 2015-16 season — an expectedly strong class that the Michigan coaching staff is thrilled to welcome. “These classes are years in the making, but it’s nice to finally get them on paper,” said associate head coach Billy Powers in a press release. “On defense, we feel really good about getting two right-handed shots. Up front, we have players that are coming from the (United States National Team Development Program) and the (United States Hockey League), and we’ve found that those two leagues do a great job in getting guys ready to show something early in their college careers.” Here‘s the Daily’s breakdown of Michigan‘s five-player class. Kyle Connor, Forward, Youngstown Phantoms (United States Hockey League) The headliner of the class, Connor is a natural playmaker who fits in at any of the forward positions. The Shelby Township native is in his third season with the Phantoms and leads the team in scoring — with seven goals and 10 assists — through its first 14 games. This season’s scoring barrage comes after he registered 74 points in 56 games last season.
JAMES COLLER/Daily
Michigan hockey coach Red Berenson should have plenty of incoming talent at his disposal next winter as the Wolverines’ five recruits arrive for the 2015-16 season.
The 6-foot-1, 182-pound forward was labeled an “A” skater in the NHL Central Scouting Preliminary 2015 Players to Watch list. An “A” rating designates a probable first-round NHL draft pick. In an interview earlier this month, Connor expressed his excitement to join the Wolverines, the team he grew up supporting. “I think they do a really good job developing players, getting them to the next level,” Connor told the Daily. “Obviously, being from Michigan, I was a Wolverine fan growing up. So it was a no-brainer. I always followed Michigan and wanted to go there my whole life.” Youngstown Phantoms coach Anthony Noreen, though, will surely miss coaching Connor.
“I’ve been fortunate to be around him every day,” Noreen said. “There are no red flags. There’s not a day that goes by where you don’t shake your head at something he does and just realize how lucky you are to be a part of it and help his development. “If you took some of the best characteristics of some of the guys we’ve had here and put them together, there’s no one that I can say, ‘Kyle’s like that guy.’ ”
Though Boka didn’t face off against the Wolverines earlier this season in the NTDP’s annual game at Yost Ice Arena due to an illness, the Michigan coaching staff will surely welcome the strong, versatile righthanded blue liner. The 6-foot-1, 197-pound defenseman has recorded a goal and assist in the 13 games he has played in this season and was named a “C” skater on the NHL Central Scouting Preliminary 2015 Players to Watch list — a
“Those two leagues do a great job in getting guys ready.”
Nicholas Boka, defenseman (U.S. NTDP)
designation given to probable fourth- to sixth-round draft picks. Joseph Cecconi, defenseman, Muskegon Lumberjacks (USHL) Cecconi, like Boka, is a welcomed right-handed defenseman who was given a “B” skater rating on the NHL Central Scouting Preliminary 2015 Players to Watch list — a designation given to probable second- or third-round draft picks. More notably, Cecconi was the highest-rated USHL defenseman on that list. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound defenseman has tallied a goal and four assists in 16 games so far this season and registered two goals and four assists in
Connor Murphy, forward, Chicago Steel (USHL) Murphy is the smallest player by frame in this class at 5-foot-9 and 168 pounds but has filled the stat sheet enough this season to please his current and future coaches. Murphy has used his speed and grittiness to notch seven goals and five assists through 15 games in his first season with the Steel. Prior to the USHL, Murphy played for the Caledonia Corvairs of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, where he tallied 96 points — 32 goals and 64 assists — in just 49 games. Those 96 points led Murphy to be named the GOJHL Player of the Year.
Happy Thanksgiving!
We’ll have content throughout the break at MichiganDaily.com
Michigan to compete in San Juan ‘M’ announces six MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING
By KELLY HALL
recruits to fill gaps
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan women’s basketball team won’t be enjoying any turkey for Thanksgiving this week — but they‘ll be all right without it. The Wolverines are flying from Ann Arbor to Puerto Rico on Wednesday night for the San Juan Shootout, and, “Golly, in Puerto Rico, they’re not doing the traditional Thanksgiving dinner” said Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico. There are seven Division I teams participating in this year’s tournament, and the Wolverines will face Washington State and San Diego State on Friday and Saturday afternoon, respectively. Though Michigan will be focused on winning, the trip will also serve as an important team-bonding experience. “I think any time we have an opportunity to take them away, it’s a great experience for the kids who might not ever get to do that,” Barnes Arico said. “It’s also a great opportunity for us as a team to really connect.” Added senior forward Cyesha Goree: “We show (the freshmen) that we’re a home away from home. Even though they’re not spending time with their family on Thanksgiving, they have family here, and we’re their family.” Michigan has a few longstanding traditions it practices every Thanksgiving, but one stands out. After everyone on the team talks about what they’re thankful for, the Wolverines bring out baby pictures of themselves. A teammate will pick up a picture and write a story about that player and why she’s thankful for her teammate. The stories are shared among the team and allow the players
By TED JANES Daily Sports Writer
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Senior forward Cyesha Goree said part of her Thanksgiving tradition is teaching the freshmen that the team is family.
to bond over things other than basketball. “Our chemistry is so good because we connect off the court as well as on the court,” Barnes Arico said. “I think it’s going to be a great opportunity for us to spend some quality time together without classes and the structure of a regular day.” Though the sunshine will offer a welcome distraction from the frigid Michigan weather, the Wolverines will have to find a way to stay focused in their
two tournament games. Washington State (4-1) is coming off a 17-17 season, but lost only one starter to graduation. And the seasoned starters have been effective so far this season, leading the Cougars to four wins by large margins. Coach June Daugherty is in her seventh season with Washington State, and her experience is another advantage for the Cougars. The day after playing Washington State, Michigan
“It’s also a great opportunity for us as a team to connect.”
will face San Diego State, which will be recovering from their 89-38 loss Sunday to No. 1 South Carolina. The Aztecs (1-3) are currently in a rebuilding phase under second-year coach Stacie Terry after a 13-17 record last season. While the Wolverines will inevitably grow individually from the two contests, it’s what they gain as a team off the court that will be much more significant. “There is a balance between letting them enjoy the experience while at the same time focusing on our task at hand,” Barnes Arico said. “I don’t want to keep them in a hotel room and worry about the games ... because that’s not the reason we’re going.”
TWEET US PICTURES FROM COLUMBUS @theblockm
With holes to fill, the Michigan men’s swimming and diving coach Mike Bottom recently welcomed a six-man class to Ann Arbor for the fall of 2015. The recruits hail from all across the country, including two from outside the United States. Though signing six recruits is unusually low for a team that currently has between 10 and 13 swimmers in each class, the Wolverines will lose just five seniors to eligibility next season. The most notable loss on paper will be in the breaststroke competitions. Seniors Richard Funk and Bruno Ortiz have been the top swimmers in this event for the Wolverines, and Bottom will have to move others around to fill the gap. While the recruits weren’t the most highly touted bunch, Bottom expects they will grow immensely in their time at Michigan. “Our expectation for them is that they’re going to come in, and they’re going to be good,” Bottom said. “This is not a class of great swimmers. This is a class of good swimmers, but that’s what we like. We like good swimmers that want to get better.” One of these swimmers is Stephen Holmquist, a distance swimmer from Connecticut. Holmquist swims for the same club that produced current freshman Ian Rainey. The two know each other well, as Holmquist came in second to Rainey in the 1,500-meter freestyle at the 2013 YMCA Long Course National Championships. Blake Maczka, another distance swimmer, hails from Richardson, Texas. Maczka, who finished fourth in the 1,650-yard freestyle at the 2014 NCSA Junior National Championships, will look to continue the long tradition of
success that Michigan has in the distance events, made notable by former Wolverine and current Olympian Connor Jaeger. Another swimmer, Jordan Ross, comes from Roswell, Georgia. Especially strong at the backstroke, Ross competes for Swim Atlanta as a multievent swimmer. The sole diver on the signing list is Collin DeShaw, who is from Holland, Michigan. The men’s program currently has just four divers, and will lose two next year to eligibility. Diving coach Mike Hilde joined the program just two months ago and wasn’t able to recruit for next year. As a result, there will be just three divers on the squad next season. DeShaw was recruited before Hilde came to Michigan. The recruiting class also sports two internationals: Mokhtar Al-Yamani and Javier Barrena, from Tokyo and Madrid, respectively. Al-Yamani swims for St. Mary’s International School, the same school that brought Ortiz and his older brother and former Wolverine, Miguel. Barrena currently attends The Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida, but competes internationally for Spain. Recruiting on the international level has been hugely beneficial for the Wolverines. Junior Anders Nielsen and senior Claudia Lau both came to Michigan as solid swimmers and developed into some of the team’s best assets. Both have competed for their countries, Denmark and Hong Kong, respectively. “They find us,” Bottom said. “Look at the success that we’ve had with good swimmers coming into our program and then leaving as great swimmers.” No matter how they arrive, or where they come from, you can bet this year’s recruits will do just as well.
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Wednesday, November 26, 2014 // The Statement
T H E L I S T B U Z Z F E E D, B U T B E T T E R FIVE WAYS TO BUILD AN EFFECTIVE TEAM Whether for a class project or a student organization, team management is elemental.
1 . CO L L A B O R AT E
Teamwork is collaboration, but so is team building. When forming the perfect team, take the input of as many stakeholders as possible to make as unbiased of a decision as you can.
2. BALANCE
Find people with skills that balance your weaknesses. It’s the only way to make sure that no matter what problem you face, your team will have the resources to tackle it.
3. DEFINE ROLES
What is each person’s expectations, and does every member understand what they’re responsible for? Set the ground rules early on in order to avoid conflict later.
4. HONEST Y
People like other people that are easy to work with, so make sure that’s the environment that you create for your team. Be honest about your problems, and seek solutions fairly.
5 . B U I L D R E L AT I O N S H I P S
Make the team building fun by fostering relationships that go beyond work. Find social events that your team can attend together to make the work environment more enjoyable.
THE WEEKLY REEL
Fraternities play football for awareness
THE
statement
Magazine Editor: Carlina Duan Deputy Editors: Max Radwin Amrutha Sivakumar Design Editor:
Photo Editor: Ruby Wallau Illustrator: Megan Mulholland Editor in Chief: Peter Shahin
Amy Mackens
COVER BY AMY MACKENS
Managing Editor: Katie Burke Copy Editors: Mark Ossolinski Meaghan Thompson
ann arbor affairs: why i’m smitten with ‘SNL’ BY ERIK A HARWOOD
I
can’t really recall the specif- labeled “Lucy’s Predicamints.” He ics of my first time — but I do was two years old and up until that remember loving it. It happened point in my life, his death was the in the middle of the day, around 1 biggest predicament I had faced, so p.m. I was perched on the edge of it seemed like the right move. my couch, dazed with anticipation “I Love Lucy” was my gateway because it was finally, after all those drug into a dangerous addiction to years, happening. comedy. I’m thankful to this day that My parents — in an attempt at I grew up admiring funny women “parenting” — never let me watch because now I have a very who“Saturday Night Live” when I was gives-a-shit attitude toward the “are a kid. I’m an only child and they women funny” debate. There’s no had me at a rather ripe age, so while they were pretty lax about most things, they liked to crack down on my TV habits. Up until third or fourth grade, I almost exclusively watched TV Land — not because they made me, but because I genuinely and wholeheartedly loved it. My biggest only-child quirk is that I was basiILLUSTRATIONS BY MEGAN MULHOLLAND cally raised to be someone who was born in 1955, which may also account for question — just look at Lucille Ball. my typically grumpy disposition. Also, this is 2014 — get it together. At the age of six, I could give you a I spent the next formative years season-by-season account of “The of my life reveling in anything that Brady Bunch,” sing the theme song made me laugh, even if I didn’t get it. to “Green Acres” on cue and go on I would watch movies like “Tommy for hours about why Eddie Haskell Boy,” “Groundhog Day” and “Cadwas a real piece of shit. dyshack” with my dad, echoing his The one show that trumped them cackles with added confusion. all though was “I Love Lucy” — and As my love for comedy developed, I didn’t have to explicitly tell you “Saturday Night Live” was always that to make it clear. I watched it in the back of my mind. My dad with psychopathic intensity and would constantly reference old skits collected any and all paraphernalia from the ’70s and ’80s and mention I came across. I had books, orna- names I’d be familiar with like Steve ments that lit up and a VHS tape I Martin and John Belushi. Yet every took almost everywhere with me time I brought it up, he’d shut down on the off chance there would be a my wishes to watch it, telling me it VCR around (you know the ’90s). I wasn’t appropriate for someone my even buried my pet goldfish Lucky age. There was no way around this. in an “I Love Lucy” themed mint tin Our house was very open and I was afraid he’d hear the TV in the living room late at night. Also, I didn’t really know how to operate the remote. It was mainly the latter holding me back. But then my parents got divorced and my dad had almost zero authority over me. OK, that’s not true at all, but it was definitely a lot easier to peruse NBC’s listings when I was only confronted with his television restrictions every other weekend, and my mom’s attitude toward my pop culture interests became increasingly blasé.
So then it happened. The first time I watched “Saturday Night Live” was directly after I got home from seventh grade camp, which was a winter hellscape I thought I’d never return from. My mom bought me lunch and I parked my butt squarely in front of a TV tray and the E! network. It was a rerun airing in the middle of the day — a shortened, hour-long version of an episode from the ’90s. I don’t remember the specifics; I don’t know who the host was or the musical guest, but I remember being completely engrossed by the cast. People like Will Ferrell, Rachel Dratch and Molly Shannon. From that point, I was all in. I watched every rerun on E! that I could, quoting sketches at every opportune (and inopportune) moment and citing Chris Kattan as my middle school crush — yes, the guy who played Mango. I started staying up until 11:30 p.m. each Saturday night in order to finally watch episodes in real time. This was the era of Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig — I undoubtedly picked the right time to get into it. I would record each episode and rewatch them as often as I could, memorizing lines and analyzing Weekend Update jokes — still not fully understanding all of them. I’d make friends reenact my favorite skits (which were recorded on home videos I’m afraid to revisit) and embark on what I assume were excruciatingly long discussions on the past week’s show. I was in love and Lorne Michaels was cupid. The affair accompanied me to college, where I would frequently opt out of healthy social interactions in order to stay in and watch TV on Saturday nights. I was miserable — as most bratty 18 year olds are — for the bulk of my freshman year, and would relish in the moments I got to be by myself and watch “SNL.” The show has changed a lot since I started watching, and at times, I’m critical of it, but in the way a high school football coach from Texas is critical of his star quarterback. “SNL” is the reason I started writing and the reason I wasn’t a bigger pain in the ass as a teenager. It’s the reason I fell so deeply in love with comedy — a feeling I’ve yet to shake years and years after that one afternoon on my couch.
Wednesday, November 26, 2014 // The Statement 3B
ON THE RECORD
WRESTLING WITH THE HARD QUESTIONS
“I’m really proud of us for taking time to talk about something we care about, to do it collectively and to wrestle with what are really hard questions not only with what’s happening in Ferguson, but what this says about the country and where we should go.” — MARTHA JONES, co-director of the University Law School’s Program in Race, Law & History, on student activism around a grand jury’s decision to not indict Ferguson, Mo. police officer Darren Wilson.
THE THOUGHT BUBBLE RUBY WALLAU/Daily
“I’m specializing in archives and records management. I want to be an archivist. Archives are relevant to every single person. There is some way that their lives connect to records and the past. Without the past, we don’t really have context for our current situation in the present.” –SHAE RAFFERTY, INFORMATION GRADUATE STUDENT
famous by association: this isn’t about beyoncé BY MARIAM SHEIKH
A
s you have probably guessed, to seeing. A wedding event that is this column isn’t about Beyon- low key and more intimate is startcé. However, it is about her ing to make a comeback. Now, forget newly married sister, Solange. She’s about the anomalies. Kim Kardashiinfamous (to me anyway) for her role an’s outrageous (third) wedding in “Johnson’s Family Vacation” (an that sprawled nearly all of Europe, underrated classic), and infamous to George Clooney’s “go big or go home” the world for her elevator brawl with mentality with (my girl crush) Amal, Jay Z. Solthe $34 million ange has Royal Wednever fully ding (seriously, existed $34 million on outside of a wedding and her sister’s Prince William omnipresis still balding?). ent shadWhether you ow. chalk it up to Howsaving money, ever, on people getting Nov. 17, married at an coming older age, the out of economy, Ebola, nowhere whatever, I am ILLUSTRATION BY KARA ARGUE for the fully supportive masses of people who don’t quite of this trend. There is less pressure have Solange on their radar, she mar- on the bride to be perfect and less ried her longtime love Alan Ferguson. pressure on the groom to do any And she looked #flawless. Simply legitimate work. I mean, you’ve seen choosing to ignore the old-school the great “Sex and the City” wedtradition of the bride only wear- ding walkout; the “Friends” episode ing white, Solange’s entire wedding wedding panic that Chandler had to party donned the color. However, endure. Poor Lady Edith was left at not even Bey could take away the the altar by a man twice her age in spotlight from Sol. Dressed in a fully “Downton Abbey.” Kim Kardashicaped gown from Humberto Leon an’s (second) wedding was insane by Kenzo, paired with gold cuffs, she and her marriage to Kris Humphries looked nothing short of regal and lasted a cool 72 days. high fashion. Small weddings are back, Sol is the Her nuptials reflect a trend in new queen and just remember, it is weddings as of late, a reinvention of the Tumblrs of teenage girls around the big, chaotic types we are used the globe that dictate the world.
PRINTS: FIVE
BY ANDREW FULLER
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Wednesday, November 26, 2014 // The Statement
Wednesday, November 26, 2014 // The Statement
H O S O M E I S C H S T A C
A
W C I A L D I A
t the end of the summer, as students were finishing internships or returning from traveling abroad and they were hit with a deluge of ice water — the ALS ice bucket challenge. This was an Internet challenge in support of the ALS Association, which raises money for research for the debilitating motor neuron disease, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Participants around the world were challenged to pour buckets full of ice water on their heads and then donate to the organization, raising both awareness of and contributions to ALS research. Since the challenge was launched on July 29, the foundation has collected more than $115 million in donations, with over 28 million social media posts, comments or likes on ice bucket videos, according to BBC News Magazine. Celebrities, athletes, politicians and regular people all participated, building into a “Have you done it? Have you?” mania.
This was 21st century activism in all its Internet-driven glory. While there were many concerns raised about the challenge, the impact is undeniable, and speaks to a momentous change in the way activism functions in our highly interconnected world. This manifests itself through major campaigns like the Ice Bucket Challenge, and also within activist groups at the University of Michigan. The University has always had a reputation for grassroots activism — ever since President John F. Kennedy chose to announce the plans for the Peace Corps on the steps of the Student Union in 1960, Ann Arbor has been an unofficial center for liberalism and social justice, a role that stretched through the Vietnam protests of 1969 and the anti-apartheid movement that took over campus in the late ‘80s. This culture of activism is still very much present on campus, but admittedly can look a bit different from the sign-toting hippies of yesteryear. Hashtag activism is the new norm at the University, with social media taking the forefront in student social justice movements.
A N G I N G U D E N T T I V I S M
A new platform
“Social media and information communication technology, that’s the infrastructure that we now have, that people have access to,” said Scott Campbell, the Pohs professor of Telecommunications and associate professor within the Communication Studies department. “That’s the platform upon which activism takes place.” Social media’s impact can be seen in multiple student movements over the past year. The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter quickly gained traction this week on social media in response to the grand jury decision not to charge Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting of Ferguson teenager Michael Brown, resulting in protests and vigils around the country.
B Y N ATA L I E G A D B O I S , S E N I O R A R T S E D I T O R
One such vigil occurred on campus this Tuesday at 6 p.m. Over 1,200 users said they were attending the event on Facebook, which saw a large gathering on the Diag by students and community members that featured five speakers, and then a march to the Ann Arbor City Council Building. Another student movement occurred when The Black Student Union led the nationallyrecognized campaign, Being Black at U of M, which started in fall 2013, and led to further action in January. The campaign garnered millions of impressions online and over 500,00 tweets containing the hashtag #BBUM, sharing the experiences and challenges of Black students on campus. Representatives from the BSU were featured on national news platforms like CNN and in the New York Times, and their widespread success propelled them topropose seven demands of the University, ranging from a more welcoming multicultural center to a mandated 10 percent representation of Black students on campus as a proportion of the overall student body. Engineering senior Robert Greenfield, BSU treasurer, said that the immediate success of the campaign took the group by surprise, and demonstrated the power of social media efforts. “BBUM was a very volatile time for the Black community,” Greenfield said. “Trayvon Martin happened that summer, there was the Theta Xi incident and a lot of incidents like that around the nation.” The Theta Xi incident, which was an impetus for the BSU’s campaign and their seven demands, refers to a frat party invitation sent out on Facebook in Nov. 2013. The party was entitled “Hood Ratchet Thursday” and the invitation featured racially offensive and appropriating depictions of Black culture. “We just needed to get people together, get over these grudges, maybe get 200 tweets and that will be that,” Greenfield said. “Obviously, we were kind of blindsided.” Mere months after BBUM went viral, another protest rocked the University, as Students Allied for Freedom and Equality launched
the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement at the University, a campaign demanding the University divest from companies allegedly providing services to the Israeli government that support their actions in Palestine. This movement came with its own hashtag, #UMDivest, and discussion of the protest took over campus and other campuses around the country. While SAFE emphasized physical presence over online campaigning, they used social media to bypass rules in Central Student Government meetings that do not allow any speaking during official proceedings. “Our frustrations (were) with the things that were said (during the CSG meetings), we couldn’t keep talking to the person next to us, so we went to Twitter and posted stuff like ‘This was what was just said,’ ” said LSA sophomore Mekarem Eljamal, current SAFE spokesperson and Outreach chair. Not all social media-based moments of activism on campus have received such levels of attention as BBUM or BDS — which is not to say other groups haven’t used social media to make a positive impact. LSA senior Meera Desai, a member of the Vietnamese Student Association, recalls an event that occurred last November while University students were visiting Michigan State University for a football game, in which they were called raciallyoffensive terms by MSU students. In protest, the group posted a letter to their Tumblr page, addressing the prevalence of anti-Asian racism at Midwestern as well as national universities. The letter received responses of support from across the country, reaching diverse communities in ways only possible through the Internet. “Social media has definitely helped my organization realize that it’s a message that can get to a lot of people on a national level,” Desai said. “It’s not a singular event, it’s not random encounter, it’s part of something bigger.” Building a network While the ubiquity of social media in our lives and in social justice is evident, the ultimate impact of the use of technology within
activism is still hotly debated. However, both academics and students agree that social media has created a new space for marginalized groups, bridging gaps in unprecedented ways. Information graduate student Jean Hardy specializes in the ways social media and new information systems impact those with oppressed identities, particularly within the LBGTQ community. “People who may have feelings about their sexuality or their gender at a younger age now find ways to find community online, in places like Twitter or Tumblr,” Hardy said. “They kind of build a network of support that way without actually having to be physically located in an epicenter of gay or trans life, like Chicago or Seattle or San Francisco.” Desai also believes that social media has contributed to community building, citing her own mixed ethnicity as a catalyst for finding a community with shared experiences online. “I think social media has helped a lot,” Desai said. “It has helped people meet each other, people who are invested in the same causes and have the same identities and experiences.” Just as websites like Twitter and Tumblr have the ability to connect those who may have been adrift before, the advent of messaging technology also allows groups to mobilize quicker than ever. In October, more than 1,000 students, in one of the largest on-campus protests in years, rallied at the University President’s house, demanding that he fire now-former Athletic Director Dave Brandon. The protest was organized in less than two days, mobilizing participants through a widely shared Facebook event and cell phone communication. While this protest drew ire from many students — even prompting a viewpoint in The Michigan Daily questioning the turn out to protest Brandon in response to a football game rather than the Brendan Gibbons sexual assault case — it also was a compelling demonstration of our generation’s ability to use technology to organize in ways unheard of before. “(The Dave Brandon protest) is a great example of how (students) were able to mobi-
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lize so nimbly with each other, getting the word out through text messaging and social media to raise awareness about this protest,” said Campbell, who focuses on emerging media and mobile communications. “I think that kind of thing absolutely was possible in the past, but I don’t think it would have been pulled together as quickly as it was in this particular case.” Grounding a movement Social media allows information about physical events to have a greater reach at a much faster pace, connecting individuals with an ease very different from the grassroots movements of decades ago. However, social media can also breed a culture of laziness in activism — wider reach sometimes means the dissolution or misrepresentation of a cause or identity. This phenomenon goes under multiple names — slacktivism, keyboard courage, click activism, armchair activism — but they all encompass the idea that it’s easy to “like” a social issue without really investing in it. “Social media, for all causes, can bastardize the cause if there is no materialistic effort that extends outside the Internet ethos into what is reality,” Greenfield said. “For us, (the materialistic effort) was blacking out the wall in Angell Hall.” After the BBUM hastag went viral, the Black Student Union covered a wall in Angell Hall in black paper and had students write anecdotes and phrases regarding their experiences as Black students at the University. The action did not go unnoticed on campus. “I feel like (for) so many white students at U of M, that was their first exposure to institutional racism just being talked about in general,” Hardy said. The success of the BBUM campaign required the BSU to step back and reevaluate its demands — with great reach comes great responsibility. “It really forced us to do a lot of research and put in a lot of time, not only to come up with what would then be the seven demands, but to See ACTIVISM, Page 6B
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Wednesday, November 26, 2014 // The Statement
ACTIVISM From Page 5B make sure that there was a communal agreement about what those things would be,” Greenfield said. This represents the difficult conflation in activism between online success and actual change, an issue activists from all movements continually face. Eljamal believes it was critical that the BDS movement had tangible events and presence outside of social media. While they posted photos and updates alongside hashtags on social media sites, especially during the silent CSG meetings and their sitin, SAFE placed a strong emphasis on inciting students to actually participate in these events rather than just liking a post online. “We know you read it — great. We know you watched it — great,” Eljamal said. “What are you going to do about it now? Go to events, make sure your thoughts and actions reflect what you are learning on social media.” Despite these movements’ efforts to connect the intangible with the tangible, it’s still easy for people to hide behind their computer screens; given the “trendiness” of activism on college campuses, especially liberal ones like the University, there is a certain social cache in proving your social justice background online. “It’s always been trendy to be a social justice person at college,” Desai said. “The people who do decide to join (social justice) because it is trendy, it’s problematic for them to do it for that reason alone, because they aren’t taking the steps necessary to work through their own privilege and their own identities, and starting to engage in a way that is respectful of other people’s experiences.” This “keyboard courage” can also have a darker, more subversive side. Internet “trolls,” or people who use social media to limit or abuse communities and identities, are an unfortunate side effect of the advent of social media. These aggressors can hide behind screen names, granting them nearly untouchable privacy and power. One on-campus example occurred during the BDS campaign. A Facebook picture of Former SAFE member Yazan Kherallah, now a University alum, featured him holding a pineapple and a knife. The photo was picked up by a Washington Free Beacon staffer who wrote a vitriolic, hyperbolic piece, attacking Kherallah as an individual and the Islamic community as a whole. Despite the negative emotional and structural consequences these “trolls” can have, Hardy doesn’t necessarily believe that the access they or even conservative outlets have to social networks is completely negative. “Those horrible people are going to be out there either way, and I think it’s really important that both views are presented,” Hardy said with a laugh. “Not because of freedom or whatever, but just so people can see what a fucking joke a lot of that other stuff is.” This “other stuff” can also refer to a recent Fox news clip that came out in response to
a video showing the prevalence of street harassment in New York City, which garnered over 36 million YouTube views. In the Fox news clip, commentators belittled the actions of those fighting against street harassment — one commentator even objectified the woman in the original video, saying “Damn, baby, you’re a piece of woman.” Media clips such as this are a fitting reminder for activists that the “other side” has
cisco’s subway system, shutdown cell phone service in order to curtail involvement in a possible protest. While aggressive actions such as this have yet to be taken against protests at the University, it shows the delicate balance activists face between utilizing social media and having it be used against them. Moreover, in the flurry of discussion surrounding technology and how it’s rapidly RUBY WALLAU/Daily
“The ubiquity of smart phones, especially smart phones that come free with a phone plan, is changing the game in a lot of ways,” Hardy said. “But I still think there is a digital divide, and there is a lot of work being done right now to increase literacy in underserved populations and to try to ramp up access.” This once again reinforces for activists how imperative physical impact is in a movement — not only does it demonstrate a truly dedicated base, it allows oppressed populations to be reached out to through multiple avenues. An evolving campus, an uncertain future
access too; this means detractors and trolls, but also institutions of power. “The thing that is the other side of this coin, is that technology is used to empower the establishments to, in some cases, squelch protests,” Campbell said. “Although I don’t think that’s what we are seeing here on this campus.” Examples of this range from governmental social media shutdowns within the Arab Spring movement, to closer-to-home acts of institutional interference. Campbell recalls a recent event in which the BART, San Fran-
altering most aspects of life, it can be easy to forget that access to technology is not universal. This holds true for online activism, as often groups that are marginalized — and most in need of social advocacy — don’t have access to emerging media, like smart phones or Twitter. “It’s hard because when you do something around technology, you make a lot of assumptions, and the first is that people are economically able to afford to use the technology that you are associating that activism with,” Greenfield said.
Walking across the Diag on a Tuesday in November, campus seems busy. Students scuttle to class, wrapped in parkas and oversized scarfs. A tent to one side promotes Blood Battle and a large group of students stand over the block ‘M,’ encouraging those who pass to join the student organization optiMize. Written on one wall of the Hatcher Graduate Library is the phrase “Save the Lost 43,” a reference to the tragic abduction of 43 college students in Mexico. Spray-paint on the Diag reads “EXPEL RAPISTS” and “ADMINS DEFEND RAPISTS.” University students are not, and probably will never be, complacent when it comes to issues of social justice. A quick survey of the physical center of our campus is evidence of that. However, as social media continues to expand and change the course of society, activism changes along with it. Despite the setbacks that come with a less physically engaged community base, both Hardy and Greenfield believe that social media is ultimately beneficial for furthering social change. “Someone is always going to capitalize on it,” Greenfield said. “You are always going to have something that’s trendy, but I have faith that that wouldn’t overcome good intentions.” “I feel like the amount of people being reached by social media is exponentially larger than the amount of people that you can meet door-knocking in a neighborhood about a certain issue,” Hardy said. Ultimately, Campbell argues that the individual will always be the most critical part of successful activism. “I think when we are trying to explain and understand activism today and how it’s changed, we need to be careful not to overlook the social component of this, because the technology by itself doesn’t do anything at all,” Campbell said. “It’s highly dependent on individual users, and what they bring to the table in terms of their motivations and their skills and their desire to maximize the capabilities of the technology — to make them better informed citizens, to make them more effective activists, and without that, the technology on its own isn’t going to do anything.”
Wednesday, November 26, 2014 // The Statement
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Personal Statement: What it really means to be gone
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village means to not be alone, to know that there’s something of you in the people, in the plants, and in the soil, that even when you are not there it waits to welcome you.” — Cesare Pavese, “The Moon and the Bonfires” *** My grandmother died this year on a Monday night in September. My brother called me at work that night and told me she had been admitted to the University Hospital. He said it was serious, so I left work, got on my bike and frantically pedaled over to the emergency room. She was already unconscious when I arrived, a respirator keeping her alive as the doctors and my aunts and uncles decided whether to turn off the machine. The aneurysm resting near her heart had finally burst, and there was nothing left to be done. They turned off the respirator. I watched her heart rate slowly drop to zero on the monitor. I held her hand as the doctor felt for a missing pulse. In a way, it seemed fitting that she should go on a Monday. Every week from when I was about five years old, I had spent Monday evenings sitting in the armchair on the left side of her living room, “America’s Funniest Home Videos” playing on the TV while I ate bowls of strawberry JellO and butter pecan ice cream. Monday nights didn’t vary too much from week to week. They started with opening the sliding door to her condo, being greeted by the smell of rosemary, the warmth of the stove, the pitcher of mint iced tea ready to be poured and she, looking very much like a little Italian grandma in her purple blouse, pearl necklace and glasses, waiting for me to hand her the mail. In the evening, while I ate my Jell-O, she would sit in her recliner on the other side of the room, thumbing through a magazine or looking at old pictures. Between commercials, when both my brother and my dad had dozed off in their chairs, we would talk about her friends Rose and Diana, her latest
by Adam DePollo bingo winnings at the senior center and about the new Spanish mass at her church. We would say goodbye at around 10 — a kiss for my dad, a hug for my brother and I — and as we pulled away she stood behind the glass of her sliding door, waving until we were out of view. When she died, I didn’t have any regrets. Having spent four or five hours with her every week for the better part of 15 years, it wasn’t like there was any dinner we could have had together, but didn’t; any words we never got the chance to say.
disjointed phrases, the faint residue of smells and sounds, a missing feeling of home. She was fading into the background of faces from my childhood, becoming another one of the dead relatives lining the pages of our photo albums, turning into a set of anecdotal stories. She seemed, with each day, less and less like the person I knew, with all her affectations and complexities, and more like an ossified, idealized caricature of herself. This was what it really meant for her to be gone. ***
If anything, it had seemed in recent years that we were running out of things to say. She was 94 and it was getting harder for her to stay up talking until 10 o’clock. She started repeating the same stories week after week, the TV filled up longer and longer silences. I hadn’t spoken to her in three weeks before that last Monday night in September. In hindsight, she seemed to be slowly fading away. And after the funeral, after the out-of-town relatives had returned home, after the tearful remembrances and divvied up assets, she was gone. What bothered me was how different this type of “gone” felt from simple absence. Even when I think of her now, I don’t hear her voice or see her face. I remember the smell of warm rosemary, Tom Bergeron narrating crotch shots, tears dropping on a wrinkled hand hanging off the side of a hospital bed. A set of
Three weeks before she died, I was driving with two friends on narrow mountain roads, listening to Biggie Smalls and eating almond brittle. We were 3,100 feet above sea level in Davis, West Virginia, the tiny coal mining town where my grandma grew up and where her younger sister Lucy retired after a long career sewing car seats at a Ford Motor Company factory in Detroit. Their parents had immigrated to Davis from Sulmona, a small city in Italy’s mountainous Abruzzo region, to join the community of expatriate Italians digging tunnels into the peaks around the town. Aunt Lucy had moved back into her parents’ house in the ’80s, but she died last spring and, since then, the precariously perched, sheet metal-encased building was sitting empty, waiting to be used as a vaca-
tion home by any of the Michigan DePollos willing to make the eighthour drive. My friends and I stayed in her house for a few days, cooking pierogies on her stove and watching her DVDs of “The Andy Griffith Show.” My aunt used to call TV the “idiot box,” which sounded more like “ijit box” in her West Virginia twang. She thought it was an unnecessary waste of time, which she preferred to spend spying on the neighbors through her windows and listening for the slightest crackle coming from her police scanner.
As I buttoned my pants and dried my hands, the uncle I never met smiling back at me through the glass, I felt myself trying to stifle a chuckle. It was a funny scene, after all. Here we were, the only DePollos left in DePollo’s Store, having a wordless conversation over a toilet. Maybe he was a pretty charming guy. *** Following the calendar, it was still summer when I was in Davis. But fall comes early in West Virginia. At night, cool, moist air blows down from the mountaintop, condensing into a thick fog when it meets the treelined roads warmed by the August sunshine. Our last night on the mountain was one of those foggy nights, when the air is thick and the houses are out of focus. Looking down into the mist from a window in my Aunt Lucy’s bedroom, I thought about what I would tell my grandmother when I got back to Michigan. I thought I would tell her about meeting my uncle in the bathroom at DePollo’s Store, about watching the “ijit box” in her sister’s house, about the fog on the mountain, about the pierogies and almond ILLUSTRATION BY MEGAN MULHOLLAND brittle. I knew the stories As I lay in her old bed, watch- she would tell me about her brothing a young Ron Howard cavort er-in-law John. I could see the bitacross the screen, I remembered tersweet smile that would come that she had been learning to play across her face when I told her the piano in her old age. She wasn’t about watching Aunt Lucy’s TV. done being a person. I wondered if I could hear her laugh when she she had changed her mind about the tried to picture me, the grandson “ijit box.” that never learned to cook, burnOn our last night in West Vir- ing pierogies and setting off smoke ginia, we went to watch a five-piece detectors in her sister’s kitchen. band from Alabama play rockabilly I didn’t get to tell her about at the Purple Fiddle, a café built in West Virginia before she died but, what was once my family’s general in a way, it didn’t matter. store. I paid the $10 cover charge In that moment, though she was while looking at a sign resting over 400 miles away, watching her last the hostess’s shoulder, mixed in few episodes of “Dancing with the with the other antique odds and Stars” in a condo in Novi, I could ends lining the café’s shelves. It read picture her with as much clarity as “DePollo’s Store.” if she were in Lucy’s bedroom with An obituary for my great uncle me, looking down into the fog-filled John, the last DePollo to own the streets. family store, was hanging in the In that mountaintop town in café’s bathroom. I never knew him, West Virginia, there’s something of but my aunts and uncles always told her that’s much more real than an me that he was a real lady-killer. old face in a photo album.
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Wednesday, November 26, 2014 // The Statement
T H E V I S U A L S TAT E M E N T:
KATHERINE PEKALA/Daily
B E S T O F FA L L S P O R T S When turning on the television to watch the weekly fall football game, you probably don’t think of the photographers walking through the tunnel alongside the team and the band. You don’t often notice the photographers stationed underneath the net as the layups and the dunks add-up. Nor do you consider those right next to the action of the school’s best athletes. But you do notice the photos from the next day, the iconic shots that spread on Twitter and the ones that grace the covers of the paper. These photographers have stood through unrelenting rain and spent hours on one knee just to capture the one image for an event, so here are some of the best from this fall semester. ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily