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Friday, March 22, 2019
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Students, DPSS reflect on U-M Emergency Alert System service
ACADEMICS
English Dept. supports new minor for the narrative arts
False shooter reports prompt further assessment of University defense protocol
Potential program draws controversy for straying from original journalism focus DANIELLE PASEKOFF Daily Staff Reporter
Design by Roseanne Chao
ALEX HARRING, CLAIRE HAO, ZAYNA SYED & ELIZABETH LAWRENCE Daily Staff Reporters & Managing News Editor
Max Tsao, Music, Theatre & Dance junior, was working in Mason Hall with other students Saturday afternoon when the first reports of an active shooter on the University of Michigan’s Central Campus were publicized. In one of the student’s group chats, at approximately 4:44 p.m., one student alerted the group “There’s an active shooter near Mason.” Many students responded to the text in confusion, one asking “How am I supposed to get to work?” and another,
“Do you know if anyone got hurt?” One student texted, “Apparently the suspect moving towards UGLi. Please leave Central.” From there, one student shared the link to the Washtenaw Sheriff Office’s police scanner. Many students said there were reports the shooter was going toward the Brown Jug. Another said “three shooters total” with a screenshot of a different group message, while another said “two in custody.” In this group chat, there were messages of “someone got shot” and “white man holding gun.” This group chat began discussing the incident about 20 minutes before the first alert from the University’s alert system.
Saturday’s events spurred widespread confusion, and multiple students have found the experience to have exposed weaknesses in the University’s emergency protocols as well as how quickly information can spread on campus through informal channels in times of crisis. The Daily reviewed emergency protocols, University systems and training and personal experiences to look at the day’s events and what they mean in a nation plagued by gun violence. I. From DPSS’ perspective Melissa Overton, deputy chief of police and public information officer for the Division of Public Safety and
Security, said in terms of the response from local law enforcement, the situation was handled well. She commended the collaboration of the various agencies, including Ann Arbor Police and Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office, in the area and the reactions from the community. “We were very lucky that we had staff already out at the location of the incident and we were there so quickly,” Overton said. “We couldn’t be happier with the response from the community, the neighboring agencies, because if this ended up being a real situation, this is exactly what we would hope for.” See ALERT, Page 2
The University of Michigan’s English Department voted Wednesday to support the creation of a new minor focused on narrative arts and creative nonfiction. The minor was originally proposed as a journalism minor, though the final iteration includes a broader curriculum. After this initial voice of support by the English Department, the draft proposal will continue to be updated and refined, leading to an eventual viewing and consideration made by the LSA Curriculum Committee. The minor, which originated with student interest in taking more journalism and creative non-fiction courses, has caused internal debate within the English department, specifically on its disclusion of the term “journalism.” English lecturer Will Potter has been working with the
University’s Office of Academic Innovation, where he is a fellow in digital storytelling, to implement a program in journalism at the University. The Narrative Arts minor grew out of Potter and other professors’ journalism minor proposal. After working with the English Department and the Office of Academic Innovation to develop stronger journalism-related educational path at the University, Potter said he and his colleagues were shocked to hear their idea had been transformed by the department into a proposed minor in “Narrative Arts,” an ambiguous title excluding the word “journalism.” “The new minor, as presented by leadership in the English department, is explicitly rejecting even the term ‘journalism,’” Potter said. “We have all been very surprised at this change in direction … even the English Department faculty who have joined me in this conversation from the start. See MINOR, Page 3
Paani hosts ‘Ripple Effect’ event to raise Activists to RHA holds engage in awareness about water sanitation crisis discussion CLIMATE
CAMPUS LIFE
study-in at Fleming
Panel speakers Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and Dr. Adjad Saqib look at issues in U.S. and in Pakistan
Demonstrators to return to Schlissel’s office until climate demands are met
On Thursday night, Paani at the University of Michigan, a non-profit organization, hosted “Ripple Effect,” its first annual banquet and largest event yet with around 180 people in attendance. The event focused on the water and sanitation crisis in Pakistan as well as the U.S., and included speeches from Dr. Mohammed Amjad Saqib and and Abdul El-Sayed.
ALEX HARRING Daily Staff Reporter
Demonstrators, acting in solidarity with those who participated in last week’s Climate Strike and subsequent sit-in, began an indefinite study-in at 8 a.m. in the Office of the President in the Fleming Administrative Building Thursday afternoon. About 15 demonstrators were present at 2 p.m. and plan to stay until University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel commits to carbon neutrality by the year 2030. LSA sophomore Solomon Medintz, an Opinion columnist at The Daily, said this event was not a continuation of last week’s sit-in, which resulted in 10 arrests Friday night. He said protestors will come in at 8 a.m. when the building opens and leave at 5 p.m. when it closes every day until their demands are met. “We didn’t get what we asked for — at all,” Mednitz said. “We got none of it. We’re not doing anything illegal by sitting here, and we’ll leave when they ask us to, but we’ll be back in the morning, every morning.” On Friday, Climate Strike demonstrators occupied Schlissel’s office. See CLIMATE, Page 3
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The event brought in an equal mix of students and community members. Paani aimed to bring awareness to the water crisis, create a space to discuss innovative solutions and educate the attendees about how they can get involved with aiding the crisis from over 7,000 miles away. Paani’s executive board began the banquet by discussing their past initiatives to draw attention to their club. Numerous fundraising events later, they secured over $2,000 to donate
towards feminine hygiene and sanitation kits for Pakistani citizens. Since then, they’ve collaborated with several student organizations on campus to unite cultures and to expand the dialogue of their organization. Paani members also mentioned their online journal dedicated to sharing Pakistani stories of water crisis experiences. To recognize the intersectionality of the issue, they also included stories about water sanitation issues from other countries to highlight the
global emergency. Faraz Longi, Paani director of partnerships, also shared a story of his visit to Pakistan. “We are no better than the people we’re helping,” Longi said. “We are here at the University of Michigan drinking clean water only by luck. Therefore, it’s our duty to help these people. That’s why Paani strives to through events like these.”
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with DPSS on alarm
Weekly meeting focuses on addressing concerns about Saturday’s events ALYSSA MCMURTRY Daily Staff Reporter
The University of Michigan Residence Halls Association hosted their weekly meeting on Thursday evening in the Couzens Residence Hall multipurpose room. The major highlight of the night was a presentation from Bryan Baker, DPSS lieutenant and liaison to the Division of Student Life, about how to handle events similar to Saturday’s active attacker scare. Baker was originally scheduled to talk for twenty minutes, but the concerns of RHA assembly took up over ninety minutes of the meeting. One RHA member brought up her concern of not receiving information from the University. Instead, she found out most of her information through group messages and social media. Baker addressed this issue and expressed his concern over students receiving inaccurate information. “Information from unverified sources should not be shared,” Baker said.
Read more online at DANYEL THARAKAN/Daily Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, former director of the Detroit Health Department, speaks on the importance of sanitation and public health at the Ripple Effect event, hosted by Paani, an organization that focuses on constructing sanitation projects in Pakistan, in Blau Hall Thursday evening.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVIII, No. 92 ©2019 The Michigan Daily
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 CLASSIFIEDS................6
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SUDOKU.....................2 ARTS...................5 SPORTS....................7
News
2 — Friday, March 22, 2019
MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers
TUESDAY: By Design
WEDNESDAY: This Week in History
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THURSDAY: Twitter Talk
FRIDAY: Behind the Story
BE HIND THE STORY
LSA freshman Claire Hao on covering “Solidarity vigil for New Zealand mosques shooting held in Diag, interrupted early due to false active shooter threat”: “I think covering this story really made me realize that I was a guest to the event. Every event I go to I have that sensation but this one especially. For one, I knew I should not live tweet this event. I cannot live tweet somebody’s grief and somebody’s fear and somebody’s mourning. Especially then, it was important for me to be present in the moment, and to be there not only as a reporter, but to also grieve and mourn and show solidarity just like everybody else who was there.” “I think it’s such a huge shame that this event was disrupted, this event deserved coverage on its own for the event itself. I wanted to make the disruption of the event as small a part of the story as I could, because in the end, this was supposed to be a space for healing and sharing and solidarity, and that had already been interrupted once. I tried in my article to just use as many quotes as I could and to minimize summary, because I thought the speakers had beautiful things to say, and it would just be such a better reflection of the article if I did as little work as possible and let the quotes speak for themselves.” ALEC COHEN/Daily
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
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After these events, it has become clear that we need to develop direct protocols for breaking news events that potentially threaten public safety. Our promise to our readers is that we will be better prepared if another incident of this gravity occurs in the University or Ann Arbor community. The Daily has consulted other media outlets for advice and tips and will continue to discuss different facets of our new protocols with professionals and members of our community.” The Managing Editors of The Michigan Daily, in response to Saturday’s active shooter scare and a now-deleted tweet about unsubstantiated reports of wounded students
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other people, but I couldn’t connect to up to a higher University authority. receive any email notifications at all. Tabbah said she and other Muslim MGuest so I didn’t have Internet, and I “For the emails, I didn’t even get an email, which is concerning,” Tabbah leaders on campus met with University had no network… I couldn’t call anyone President Mark Schlissel Wednesday through my phone. I couldn’t even said. Overton said DPSS has received morning to discuss some of these issues. reach out to my family or anything… Overton said the main goal of officers is to get to the scene is quickly many of these complaints of people She said making the alerts an opt-out That was the scariest part.” Ashur explained she and her friends as possible and then, as soon as the receiving delayed alerts or receiving system is a question they raised. “But for the text messages, we saw police officers running nearby officers are dispatched, the emergency none, and is currently analyzing its alert is sent out. Some may have gotten system to figure out why this happened. asked Schlissel this morning why is it about one hour into hiding after they “We did receive multiple complaints an opt-in system instead of an opt-out had taken refuge in the Graduate it sooner than others — notably, doctors may have been notified prior to others on the system,” Overton said. “ … We are system,” Tabbah said. “It should be Library. The officers were responding aware that some of the alerts took a lot you’re automatically signed up for it to a false fire alarm; however, Ashur on campus. Regarding the communication of longer than they should have, and we and then if you feel like you don’t want said she and her friends had no way of to get those then you should opt-out, knowing this. Based on the alerts they different law enforcement agencies, are looking into that.” Overton urged people to download instead of putting the responsibility on had seen, Ahsur said they assumed the Overton said everyone trains together police were responding to an active for these scenarios and signs a mutual DPSS’ app, which is geared more the students.” According to Tabbah, Schlissel’s shooter. aid agreement. At a site, there is an toward alerts and push notifications. At 5:28 p.m., in a video obtained by incident commander in charge of Business senior Elizabeth Fakhoury, response was that in the past, they had all agencies helping to investigate chair of DPSS Student Advisory Board, to make it opt-in due to complications The Daily, an announcement can be the situation. Everything happens said the board has been working with with legality. Tabbah said Schlissel heard informing students of the false through this person in order to ease DPSS to promote the app and better speculated that pay-per-text phone fire alarm. The announcement also said the shooter was unconfirmed and communication and coordination, configure it for students. She noted the plans may have been the reason. II. The spread of (mis) told students they could either stay in student-DPSS disconnect has been a according to Overton. the Graduate Library or leave. Ashur information When an incident like this occurs, focus since the board’s inception. Michael Colegrove, a college safety expressed she felt the announcement “Not signing up for alerts and being DPSS utilizes their campus-wide emergency alert system. Students, in the know-how is what we were consultant, said when there is a gap in could not confirm they would be safe faculty and staff can sign up for voice tackling within the last year, and so time between an incident and when leaving, so she and her friends stayed in message and text message alerts, and in DPSS created a Facebook page to update there is official information released, the Graduate Library. “My friends and I stayed (in theory, everyone in the University email students on what’s going on and so people cling onto information, Hatcher), and I think only a couple of through all of this, they were updating regardless if it is verified or not. system receives these alerts via email. “The need for almost instantaneous people left,” Ashur said. “Because that DPSS started receiving reports of the alerts and they were saying you a potential active shooter at 4:35 p.m., can sign onto emergency alerts here,” communication is necessary, especially (announcement) was not reassuring… communication from a known source,” ‘Unconfirmed’ means they did not tell according to a statement from the Office Fakhoury said. Currently, the emergency alerts via Colegrove said. “What happens if you us whether or not there was a shooter. of Public Affairs. DPSS’ first email alert urging campus to “run, hide, fight” text are received via an opt-in system. have a gap that exists between the We stayed there, we were like we’re not Students, faculty and staff do not receive time of the incident and the time the going to risk leaving.” came at 5:06 p.m. LSA senior Brendon Cho expressed However, LSA sophomore Sumaya these unless they explicitly sign up. word gets out from an official source Tabbah, a member of the DPSS student Overton said DPSS has recommended — that vacuum is filled with a lot of confusion at this announcement. He Sudoku Syndication http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ heard people inside the Graduate advisory board and of the Muslim transitioning to an opt-out system for misinformation.” This unverified information spread Library were told to stay put, while the Students’ Association, said she did not years, but that this decision is ultimately rapidly across campus, giving police scanner speakers were saying different people unique experiences. they should evacuate. “From what I’m told there were Standing on the steps of the Graduate Library reading her conflicting reports from the police and poem at the vigil commemorating the police radio, as well as from the MEDIUM the lives of people killed in the announcement they had in Hatcher,” New Zealand mosques shooting, Cho said. “Apparently the police really Fadwa Ashur, a student at Eastern wanted everyone to clear from the Michigan University, saw the two Hatcher building, but they were told by police officers running towards the the PA system to kind of stay there and Diag before she heard them. DPSS hunker down at Hatcher, so it was kind had been at the event already, as of hard to find who was really right and organizers knew this was an event who to trust.” University alum Brittney Williams, that could potentially attract hate and violence. When the police yelled who was in town visiting on Saturday, repeatedly at the crowd to move, she voiced her disappointment with the ran with friends into the Graduate University’s communication protocol Library, where they stayed for two in a tweet that as of publication has received 200 likes and 28 retweets. In hours. Since she was not University- an interview with The Daily, Williams affiliated, she did not sign up for further questioned why certain or receive the DPSS alerts. In the staff members received phone calls Graduate Library, Ashur discovered immediately while other staff and her phone had no cell service and students didn’t. “(The University’s communication could not connect to the University’s internet network. According to protocol) was mindblowing, in Ashur, she received information particular because the people (my from a TV in the room they were in. friends and I) were checking in on “There was a TV in the middle while we were waiting for an official of the room (I was in) that showed alert were current students, who in my IT’S MY B-DAY puzzle by sudokusyndication.com © sudokusolver.com. For personal use only. the three alerts, (my friends and opinion should’ve known pretty much I) got (the alerts) through that,” immediately,” Williams said. Ashur said. “I don’t know about See ALERT, Page 3
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so common in our society, it didn’t seem outlandish, it didn’t seem like we were overreacting, it seemed — with the information we were getting — very, very real, and our fear was very real,” Lewis said. Lewis also said throughout the incident, she was receiving conflicting reports. She noted people attributing it to balloon popping, a report from The Daily Twitter account of multiple students wounded — which was later deleted and apologized for — and stories of different shooters in different places. “We started seeing things about balloons and that it wasn’t really a gun situation,” Lewis said. “These things were happening in parallel with tweets about people being wounded and stuff like that. It was very hard to know what was actually happening.” Ashur expressed the University’s alert system especially affects the Arab and Muslim community and wants the University to specifically apologize to these communities. “I want the University of Michigan just to acknowledge ‘We were not clear during this situation,’” Ashur said. “There was a general statement of ‘Everyone has suffered, here’s some counseling.’ But people who were struggling to hold onto their identity of Arab, Muslim, and American … University of Michigan is not acknowledging we are suffering the most. … There was a failure on (the University’s) part, why not just say, ‘You guys not only suffered after what happened in New Zealand, you suffered once again in this (active shooter scare) and we are so sincerely apologetic.’” III. Run, hide, fight LSA sophomore Soraya Zrikem ran from the Diag to the Law Quad when police interrupted the vigil, ultimately separating her from her mother and godmother, who had attended the vigil
with her. Once in the Law Quad, she said employees did a good job of making sure there were barricades, but were unable to answer important questions. Zrikem holds an on-campus job overseeing a study space and said she received no training for emergency events like what took place Saturday. However, she said she was aware of some faculty who did. “While most of the time when you’re monitoring those spaces, not a lot is expected of you, if there is an emergency, you are the person that needs to be able to lead that group automatically, otherwise panic will ensue,” Zrikem said. “I don’t think it should be expected of me — as a random student — to know where a safe space is in all of my school buildings. That’s just not reasonable, and it would just be a lot to expect out of students, so at least employees should have that.” An FBI study found the majority of shootings last less than five minutes. The study also exerted said civilians should be well-trained because many end before police arrive. The slogan “Run, Hide, Fight” was created as a protocol for people in active shooter situations. It is on DPSS web pages related to active shooter preparedness and was included in a message from the alert system on Saturday. This slogan is widely considered a universal practice for active shooter situations, according to Cosgrove. According to a Department of Homeland Security document, run, the first step, means flee the scene if you can. Hide, the next step, means find a place that’s out of the attacker’s sight while remaining quiet and to create a barricade if possible. The final step, fight, means to find an object to use as a weapon — such as a fire extinguisher,
backpack, book or chair — and attempt to incapacitate the attacker as the last resort. However, not everyone in the community was aware of this protocol before the incident. Williams said she thought the “Run, Hide, Fight” portion of this alert lacked clarification, especially since some students may not have understood the instructions given without context. “The (Run, Hide, Fight) notification just added to what was turning into mass hysteria in that moment,” Williams said. “People are already anxious because they don’t know what’s going on, now they receive a formal notification that there is some sort of incident, whether unconfirmed or not, and what they’re instructed to do has no clarification. … Three of the people in the room (with me) were in a group chat with a lot of students in it, and a lot of the responses in the chat were like ‘What does ‘Run, Hide, Fight’ even mean?’” Currently, DPSS requires students to watch an active shooter safety training video during orientation. Beyond that, University community members can request training workshops by going to the Presentations and Training section under Prevention and Education on DPSS’ website. Overton said the decision to make other training sessions mandatory would have to come from a higher University authority. Fakhoury said the advisory board has been discussing further mandatory training, but brought up the point that students may be less interested in required courses. She highlighted DPSS’ capable guardian course — a training meant for people who want to be able to step up in an emergency situation. “Looking into what the capable
guardian is, it really fits those people who have that vested interest, so possibly marketing it more to those freshmen and other people who have an interest is something that we can look at,” Fakhoury said. This issue of getting all students to engage with safety training is a large obstacle for DPSS, Tabbah said. “How do we get all of the students this general training, and something that they don’t forget after freshman orientation,” Tabbah said. “I think that’s in general DPSS’ biggest struggle with students — how do you get them to care about safety when it’s not usually our number one priority?” Overton acknowledged the video may not resonate with incoming freshmen who are already getting bombarded with information at orientation. However, she encouraged students and other University affiliates to sign up for training, as many officers are readily available to conduct them. Zrikem said it is important employees are ready to take action in emergencies and, depending on location, know how to get information from superiors. She also noted how DPSS was called in for the vigil because organizers knew this could be a space that could attract hate, so she hopes this is a learning experience for them. “If I was an employee in Mason, I should not be waiting to hear what higher-ups are telling me — I should know exactly how to respond in these types of emergencies,” Zrikem said. “In places that were farther away from the immediate panic zone, higher-ups should’ve been more in conversation with them, but I think that in the places close by, it was important people knew
the history, theory and craft of a variety of nonfiction narrative forms, including long-form/ literary journalism, travel writing, memoir and ethnography,” Porter wrote in an email interview with The Daily. The University’s relationship with journalism education and a curriculum surrounding the profession is long and complex. The Communication Studies Department began as “English Language and Literature” in 1869, and after multiple name changes, became “Rhetoric and Journalism” in 1921. Eight years later, the department was referred to as simply “Journalism,” but dropped the word “journalism” from its name in 1932 and has not re-adopted it since. The Communication Studies Department, as it is currently named, formed in 1995. There have been recent efforts in the English Department to enhance the journalism courses and opportunities available to students. The English Department added a new page to their website announcing their new summer internship program in journalism. According to the website, the department will offer funding for at least five applicants to complete a summer internship at a media outlet in the Detroit or Ann Arbor area. While this announcement implies support for journalism education from the English Department, Porter said including the word “journalism”
in the new minor would isolate stakeholders in the department, resulting in a rejection of the initial proposal. “A department like ours has many different constituencies and many different stakeholders, and trying to do something new requires (using rhetorical strategies) that everyone can get on board with and that try to avoid significantly antagonizing one group or another,” Porter said. “Had this proposal been pitched as primarily a journalistic undertaking, it would have deeply antagonized a significant subset of the department and the powerful subset of the department.” Discussion about the minor began when students asked their professors if more classes were available in the realms of journalism and creative nonfiction writing. According to Porter, the potential minor is geared towards students aspiring to careers in storytelling, documentary-making, podcasting and other forms of journalism. However, the interdisciplinary aspect of the proposed minor aims to attract students from other academic realms who are seeking a complementary minor to their major studies. English professor Anne Curzan, associate dean for humanities in LSA, mentioned the importance of interdisciplinary studies within LSA, as well as the
idea for a student-driven program pioneered by those interested in journalism and nonfiction writing. “We know that a good number of students are interested in journalistic writing and creative nonfiction,” Curzan wrote in an email interview with The Daily. “In LSA, we can effectively ground this kind of writing in questions that are foundational to the liberal arts. Interdisciplinarity is one of the great strengths of LSA, and we always think about how best to coordinate proposed new minors across departments, when relevant.” Courses such as English 425, and English 345 highlight conventions of nonfiction writing and their intersection with media. These classes were designed to meet the student need for creative and journalistic course work, and are some of the efforts made in recent years to include diverse journalistic classes in the English department. English Lecturer Jeremiah Chamberlin recognized students’ desire to learn more about nonfiction writing, while also echoing Curzan’s emphasis on interdisciplinarity. “Many of us began to hear from more and more of our students who wanted to continue working in the genre, but who felt like they didn’t have many options … the course offerings for nonfiction were limited,” Chamberlin wrote in an email interview with The Daily. “As more and
more of our nonfiction students go on to work in such fields as journalism, media or publishing, for example, the more they report back that they wish they’d had a more interdisciplinary approach to their education; the work they’re doing draws more across disciplines than they might have imagined.” University alum Yoshiko Iwai, currently in graduate school at Columbia University, was a dualmajor in neuroscience and dance. Iwai, who worked for The Daily while at the University, utilized some courses in the English department, especially through Chamberlin, to further explore her interest in narrative medicine and creative nonfiction, which she currently studies as a graduate student. Iwai echoed Chamberlin’s point regarding the limited amount of journalism and narrative-related courses available at the University. She explained that attaining some pitching and reporting skills to add to her repertoire while an undergraduate would have better prepared her for a post-graduate career in the field. A curriculum centered on the skills and lessons needed to succeed in journalism would allow students to explore their passion without being bound to a more general degree, Iwai said.
Demonstrators had no plan to leave until Schlissel agreed to a one-hour public meeting in which questions regarding the University’s plan to address climate change and carbon neutrality were not screened beforehand. Medintz noted they changed their demand from the public meeting to a full commitment to a transition to carbon neutrality by 2030. After seven and a half hours in and around the Administration Building, Washtenaw County Climate Strike demonstrators left the area at approximately 9:30 p.m. Friday. Melissa Overton, deputy chief of police and public information officer for the Division of Public Safety and Security, wrote in a message to The Daily stating 10 demonstrators — including two minors — chose to remain in the building after multiple warnings. The 10 were arrested and given citations for trespassing, and the minors were held inside until their guardians arrived, Overton wrote. Along with issues regarding citations, students have also voiced concern over the composition of the President’s Commission on Carbon Neutrality. However, Schlissel addressed this matter. In a monthly interview with The Daily last week, Schlissel said this person is one of two members from major energy corporations, making them a minority on the 16-person commission. Schlissel also said the two corporations, DTE and Consumers Energy, have a personal incentive to improve their sustainability practices. “I quite purposefully asked those two major energy companies to suggest someone they thought would be helpful, and the reason why is they provide the overwhelming amount of energy throughout our state and region and to say we don’t want to hear their thoughts and learn their plans because of their emissions of greenhouse gas,” Schlissel said. “They’re not going away, they are the major suppliers of electricity for the University, the city of Ann Arbor, et cetera., so ignoring them because of past behavior, I don’t think that serves any purpose.” The Climate Strike was part of a youth-led global movement calling for action on climate change. Organizers estimated 2,500 to 3,000 attended the Washtenaw County rally in the Diag at noon, which led to a march to the Administration Building and the sit-in. In a statement about last Friday’s events, University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald wrote that Schlissel shares students’ concerns and encouraged anyone interested to attend the Commission on Carbon Neutrality’s town hall meetings. “We appreciate the urgency our students feel regarding climate change,” Fitzgerald wrote. “President Mark Schlissel shares that sense of urgency. President Schlissel has committed the campus to carbon neutrality and has appointed a special commission to explore a pathway to achieving that goal including solutions to climate change that go well beyond the borders of the campus. That critical work is now under way.” As a University with a lot of resources, Taubman sophomore Josh Kuh said it is important to keep pressure on the administration because climate change and carbon neutrality are major issues. He also said he came to the study-in to show support of the demonstrators’ requests. Kuh said it’s time for the University to “walk the walk” and events like the study-in are ways to create change. “Events like marches and strikes are really good — they’re powerful in the moment — but they don’t always have a lasting impact,” Kuh said. “It’s not always the flashiest thing and the most exciting thing in the moment that ends up having the most change or the biggest effect, so I think something like this … and that continued pressure might be more important in the long run.” In a statement Thursday evening to The Daily, Fitzgerald wrote that Schlissel met with several Climate Action Movement members and discussed their concerns during his open student office hours on Feb. 28. Fitzgerald also noted the president’s commission co-chairs met with Climate Action Committee members on Feb. 27.
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The Michigan Daily men’s basketball beat walks back to the car after practice and availability before the first round of the NCAA tournament in Des Moines, Iowa Wednesday.
ALERT From Page 2
“And also staff who work directly with students in res (sic) life… especially directors of halls close to the incident, they didn’t receive those calls. But the (IT employee) I know on staff doesn’t work directly with students at all and they received that phone call. That was upsetting for me.” On North Campus, LSA freshman Alexandra Dortzbach was in Bursley Residence Hall when text messages started streaming in. Dortzbach said she heard about the potential active shooter situation through multiple group chats about 30 minutes before receiving a push notification alert through the University of Michigan app. Dortzbach expressed activity on North Campus seemed minimally affected by the active shooter threat. “I’d say it was business as normal,” Dortzbach said. “We felt pretty removed. There was just a lot of talk and speculation about what was going on … all panic I saw was on behalf of people on Central Campus and their friends. None of it was about something actually occurring on North Campus.” Sonya Lewis, Medical School instructor and member of the executive committee of Physicians for the Prevention of Gun Violence, was in the Diag just before the incident, attending the Women’s March. She said people got alerts before she did and she did not know what was going on until her daughter’s friend told her, and the misinformation being spread contributed to her confusion and fear. “Because these mass shootings are
MINOR From Page 1 Journalism is not a dirty word, period.” English Department Chair David Porter made it clear the potential new minor would not be a journalism program, even though the descriptions of the potential minor provided to The Daily include such terminology. According to Porter, efforts have not been made to rejuvenate the journalism program that closed nearly 90 years ago. “Michigan used to have a journalism program that closed decades ago and there really hasn’t been any effort to replace that,” Porter said. “What we’re talking about is not intended to, by any means, replicate or duplicate or replace something like a traditional journalism program … in fact, we’ve largely avoided the use of the term ‘journalism’ and sought to think about the program more capaciously.” Instead of being explicitly about journalism, Porter wrote that the Narrative Arts minor, if conceived, is intended to be interdepartmental, echoing the structural goals of the Social Class and Inequality Studies minor as well as the Digital Studies minor. “(The minor is) designed to provide students interested in careers involving journalism (and story-making more broadly) structured opportunities to study
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Opinion
4 — Friday, March 22, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ABBIE BERRINGER | COLUMN
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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.
RAMISA ROB | COLUMN
T
Time to confront far-right terrorism
he deadly attacks on two New Zealand mosques that massacred more than 50 people is a gruesome reminder that far-right terrorism is a rising threat. In light of the havoc that shook the world to its core, we are now mourning innocent lives that have been lost, once again carried out by a white supremacist aiming to extinguish immigrants — whom they refer to as the “invaders of the West.” Just five months ago, in October 2018, another depraved white supremacist in Pittsburgh fired hate-fueled bullets on 11 Jews at the Tree of Life synagogue. This extremist violence is becoming increasingly common and to let the perpetrators monopolize the discussion surrounding the vile level of carnage would be a huge mistake. It is urgent to analyze the source of such violence. The gunman of the New Zealand terror attack left a 74-page online manifesto, titled “The Great Replacement,” highlighting xenophobic fantasies that describe Muslim immigrants as the “most despised group of invaders in the West.” The shooter also said his inspiration was the Norwegian terrorist who killed 77 people in 2011 and shared the same vitriolic agenda: to eliminate Muslim immigrants. The extremists’ hateful screed encapsulates the growth of Islamophobia. We must recognize that vilification of the Muslim community has been standardized for a long time by various politicians around the world. Australian Sen. Fraser Anning is proof that far-right extremism can be validated by those seated in parliament. At the aftermath of the tragedy, as Muslims lay dead in mosques, he released a public statement justifying the mass murder of Muslims and replicating the virulent ideology of the terrorist. He wrote: “the real cause of bloodshed on New Zealand streets today is the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place.” If we extend powerful positions to such racist individuals, it should come as no surprise when hatred spills among ordinary citizens. But Anning is not the only one who has made blatantly racist comments. In October 2018, President Donald Trump tweeted the phrase “unknown Middle Easterners” to instill fear regarding the “caravan” of immigrants from Central America crossing the southern border. In an interview in 2016, Trump said, “I think Islam hates us. … We can’t allow people coming into this country who have this hatred for the United States.” When will we admit that such attitudes toward Muslims, who currently comprise 1.1 percent of the American population, empowers far-right groups and fosters Islamophobia? And let’s not dismiss the complicity of the international media for disproportionately reporting Muslim terror attacks with fallacious headlines, like “Violent Islam terror attack strikes …” Labelling an entire religion as “violent” is an undoubtedly racist generalization and frankly deserves criticism for its gross lack of empiricism. How can one surmise Islam breeds violence without examining the religious texts? While Trump is quick to blame Muslims for terrorism, he is much more lethargic when Muslims are
actually the victims of Islamic terrorism. In a study published in Justice Quarterly, researchers at Georgia State University and the University of Alabama found that terror attacks by Muslims receive an average of 357 percent more media coverage than those by other groups. The team studied 136 terrorist attacks in the U.S. between 2006 and 2015 using the Global Terrorism Database and concluded that 12.5 percent of these incidents were committed by Muslims, yet they received half of all news coverage. After the New Zealand shooting, many journalists have been examining the terrorist’s manifesto and tracing the genesis of far-right terrorism back to the words and actions of rightwing leaders. But right-wing supporters on YouTube and Twitter are rather offended and suggest the “fake media” always misconstrues horrific events to attack right-wing U.S. politics. Yet, “blame the hammer, not the hand” is a narrative that has been instilled by the right wing themselves ever since the attacks.
Extremists’ hateful screed encapsulates the growth of Islamophobia We’ve been reading that ideology matters, which emphasizes the need to study how non-violent Islam supposedly harvests radicalism and violence. Conservatives have promoted the discourse that violence does not exist in some sort of a vacuum while largely ignoring statistics from the FBI that hate crimes against American Muslims sharply increased after the Sept. 11 attacks. While the media generally views jihadist attacks more newsworthy, it is worth noting that the Anti-Defamation League, an internation Jewish non-governmental group, finds that “domestic right-wing extremism” was responsible for 73.3 percent of extremistrelated killings in the U.S. from 2009 to 2018 whereas “Islamist extremism” accounted for 23.4 percent. But conservatives such as the incomparable Ben Shapiro condemn the media for “rushing” to express that radical Islamic terrorism has no connection to actual Islam. In a 2017 article, Mr. Shapiro wrote: “Imagine that a white supremacist had driven a truck onto a bike path filled with minority innocents. Imagine that the white supremacist had emerged from his truck carrying aloft a Confederate flag. Imagine that the media had leapt to the defense of those flying the Confederate flag, explaining that only a tiny minority of those who did so had engaged in any sort of racist violence. … Hard to imagine, isn’t it?” Well Mr. Shapiro, it was hard to imagine when the media failed to properly report the fact that “the FBI and the Homeland Security warned in a 2017 intelligence bulletin that white supremacist groups had carried out more attacks in the U.S. than any other domestic extremist
over the past 16 years.” So, logically speaking, why isn’t Ben Shapiro connecting the recent New Zealand attack to rightwing theories as he did with Islamic terrorism? Where are his “intelligent” tweets insisting that “Facts don’t care about your feelings” now? Similarly, in 2014, Ben Shapiro released a video to conclude that terrorists find “moral, financial and religious support from those who are not terrorists themselves.” If we follow his logic, we could conclude that the warmongering far-right gains its ideological assistance from those in the right wing who aren’t terrorists themselves, including conservative commentators, like Ben Shapiro. So it’s time for the right to be consistent with their own sayings and counter the “roots” of the surge in far-right terrorism. In February 2019, a Coast Guard lieutenant and selfdescribed white nationalist was arrested in Maryland for plotting to kill a long list of prominent journalists and Democratic politicians, in an effort to eliminate leftists in general. So it’s time for the right to start re-evaluating what they stand for and why their ideologies are increasingly warped to wage violence against minorities. The president especially needs to address this challenge instead of downplaying the scale of the threat as “a small group of people” with “very, very serious problems.” Every Muslim’s act of violence is immediately framed as “violent Islamic terrorism” but as white males continue to wage terror, we report the atrocities as “hate crimes” caused by their “mental disorders.” This fact is the biggest double standard of international politics. It’s time to change this racist way of dealing with massacres. We must understand that terrorism is generated by extremism and deconstruct the deceptive public perception that terrorism is inherently Islamic. In reality, right-wing extremism follows the same model as Islamic extremism. They are two sides of the same coin: the ethnonationalist clash of civilizations between the West and the Muslim world. In my lived reality, the Muslim community where I was raised fears Islamic terrorism as much as they fear rising right-wing terrorism. In what I’ve personally witnessed in the three years I have lived in the U.S., there is barely any difference between how a Muslim American acts compared to how a white American acts. People have to stop hating each other and treating each other as enemies. Rather, we must work together in countering extremist violence of all kinds. We have to eradicate fear-mongering narratives that only serve to pit groups against each other. In other words, politicians and pundits, especially those on the right wing, ought to stop propagating anti-Muslim rhetoric — before more innocent people lose their lives. Journalists have been pushing for policy shifts to counter domestic terrorism and so it’s crucial that we all sustain the momentum.
Ramisa Rob can be reached at rfrob@umich.edu.
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Keeping up with politics
ow many of you can name the winner of this year’s “The Bachelor”? How many of you are aware who the next “Bachelorette” will be? Who can give an in-depth analysis of the Jordyn Woods and Tristan Thompson cheating scandal that has yet again thrust the Kardashians and their endless drama to the top of our social media timelines? I know all of my friends can answer these three questions, as well as many questions related to pop culture and the entertainment industry. Yet while the world obsesses over whether Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga are falling in love, we are seemingly asleep at the wheel when it comes to the major political issues of the day. How many of you know who has announced their candidacies for a presidential run in 2020? How many of you can name both of your state’s senators or the elected representative from your district? While many college-aged youths are plugged into the latest political scandals or tragedies via the news on smartphones and via social media, it seems that other important aspects of politics are slipping through the cracks. While college may be a time when some become more politically active, it is also a time of infinite busyness and distraction. Between the hours of studying, extracurriculars and attempting to make time for a social life, it often seems understandable to not want to fill one’s few free hours a week with the latest report on the more mundane aspects of politics. But what if much like showering, eating or sleeping, keeping up to date on politics was viewed as an integral part of one’s weekly routine? Apathy is a dangerous thing. Even those of us who do not find enjoyment or interest in the political realm have a responsibility to remain aware and civically active. This isn’t a new sentiment either. Most have probably heard it at one time or another, yet it still seems to fall on deaf ears. However,
JULIAN HANSEN | OP-ED
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in a world of big government and globalization, almost every aspect of our lives is touched by politics whether we like it or not. For example, the access of our search histories and social media profiles that corporations and the government have is something that affects nearly every single one of us. It is something that, if asked, I’m sure most would have some opinion on — but how many of us remain aware of the government regulations surrounding this issue? Mark Zuckerberg’s hearing may have been meme-worthy on Twitter, but I do not know many people who actually watched it in its entirety. Or what about government regulations surrounding trade, tariffs and subsidies? While the mere mention of these words may make some want to fall asleep, these issues affect the price of almost every good available to us daily. From the prices of our produce to the price of gas, the way our government handles international trade affects us intimately. There are so many issues affecting our nation’s people as well as the rest of the world every day that most think little about and may have never even heard of. Here are just a few examples. There are currently about 437,500 children in foster care in the U.S., living their lives within a broken system that shifts them from home to home with minimal protection from mistreatment and abuse. On average, 130 Americans die every day from opioid overdoses, and the number of yearly opioid deaths was six times higher in 2017 than in 1999. The largest agricultural corporation in the U.S., Monsanto (which was recently bought out by Bayer, providing a timely name change in light of negative press), was responsible for the creation of Agent Orange, many genetically modified seed strains, as well as the common herbicide Roundup. Monsanto was recently sued on a claim that Roundup may have active chemicals that can be linked
to cancer. There are endless examples such as these, some with higher stakes than others, yet it seems that only the most clickbaitworthy, scandalous or tragic political stories garner any sort of mainstream media buzz and catch the eye of the general public. If I were to ask my friends if they want our country and world to be a better place and if they think we have room to improve, they would undoubtedly all say yes. Yet how are we supposed to improve our world when we are more obsessed with immediate entertainment value than issues that truly impact us on a daily basis? It is not enough to simply say one will plug into politics when they are older. We will never again have more time on our hands to enact substantive change as activists, intellectuals and young people full of the sort of hope and vigor for life that fades over time. Now is the time in our lives when we can dedicate ourselves to enacting change. We don’t have mortgages, careers or families yet. We may have classes and social lives but these are small fish compared to all that will take up our time in the near future. The task may seem daunting, but it is really as simple as closing out of the latest article about Kylie Jenner and opening up a tab to one of this nation’s many news outlets, most of which provide at least some level of free access. Even 15 minutes a day of research on a new issue that is affecting our state, country or world may open your eyes to an issue that profoundly impacts the way you view the world or inspires you to try and enact change. We will not create a better future for our children by “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.” We will create a better future for them by keeping up with the world of politics and current events in a proactive and responsible fashion.
Abbie Berringer can be reached at abbierbe@umich.edu.
A day of juxtapositon
n Friday, March 15, one week ago today, I participated in the Washtenaw County Climate Strike, one of more than 2,000 global climate strikes across more than 125 countries with an estimated 1.4 million people. It was a day that touched every part of the emotional spectrum — eliciting hope, frustration, inspiration, anxiety, compassion and fear. It was a day that started with more than 2,500 high schoolers, college students and community members walking out of their classes and obligations to demand real climate action for a livable future. These demonstrators stood in the rain and the cold, clinging to every word of nationally-known politicians like Abdul El-Sayed to 12-year-old students from a local middle school. The passion of the speakers was met unbroken and undimmed, even as the rain started. Demonstrators held umbrellas right along with signs reading, “My future is not for sale, why go to class when the world is burning?” and “Carbon neutrality by 2030.” It was a day that brought the streets of downtown Ann Arbor to a halt as hundreds marched through them. It was a day that packed the University of Michigan’s Fleming Administration Building with protesters demanding climate action and transparency. And it was a day that ended with the arrests of 10 individuals, including two high school students, who sat peacefully in University President Mark Schlissel’s office, asking only for a public and unfiltered meeting between the president and his community. Walking home at 10 p.m. after the walk-out, rally, march and sit-in, I realized that above all, it was a day of stark juxtaposition between the undeterred passion of everyone involved in the day-long event and the refusal of the administration to grant the simplest of requests. It was a split between the peaceful protests of brave individuals and the escalation to arrests by the administration. It was divided between the fury of the generation who will live their lives in a world forever altered by climate change
and the disrespect and disinterest of the generation in power. At 1:30 p.m., the sit-in began with the reading of our demands, which we had reduced to a single phrase: “a just transition to true carbon neutrality by 2030.” The request was ignored — Schlissel was “out of town,” something that I found out is not uncommon when his students are demanding change. At 4 p.m., we presented our immediate ask to the administration: an agreement to schedule a public, one hour, unfiltered, student-moderated, open-to-the-press meeting between the community and Schlissel. We agreed to leave if we got it. I thought we would be out by 4:15 p.m., but the administration refused to commit to a meeting. They even refused to tell us whether or not Schlissel had been spoken to. At 5 p.m., the building closed and we were threatened with arrest if we stayed. At 7:45 p.m., after over six hours of peacefully sitting-in, a University police sergeant came in and threatened arrest to whoever remained inside the building at 8 p.m. As about 50 young people filed out of the office, a contingent of 10 remained, standing silently. At 8 p.m., the police arrested them, one by one, including two high school aged minors, whom the police detained and illegally questioned until their parents arrived. Not willing to risk arrest, I walked down the stairs of the Administration Building and outside into the cold Friday night. I felt incredibly defeated. If the University of Michigan — one of the top, most forward thinking and leading research universities in the world — cannot agree to a one-hour, transparent meeting to openly discuss its current climate policies, how will we ever fix our current climate crisis? If the University of Michigan escalates to arrest when its students voice their opinion, how can we inspire action? My sense of defeat began to recede, however, as I saw those
who chose not to get arrested standing in the cold Friday night air and cheering in support until every individual was released. The longer I watched this group of strangers waiting in solidarity outside the Administration Building with undimmed and infinite optimism and compassion, the more my sense of defeat yielded to stronger feelings of hope, vigor and renewed energy. It was inspiring being surrounded by those willing to risk the repercussions of walking out of class and work, by those willing to give up their day and night to sit in the president’s office for six and a half hours and by those were willing to put their bodies, their safety and their futures on the line to demonstrate their frustration with the utter inadequacy of the University’s climate action. It was inspiring to join a long history of sit-ins and direct action, particularly by indigenous people and people of color. If you feel defeated, inspired, invigorated or scared, please reach out to me and see how you can get involved. We need everyone. We are the generation that will live with the detrimental effects of climate change. We are the generation that will have to tell our kids what coral reefs used to look like and explain that many of the animals seen in children’s books have disappeared. We will be the generation who will see the alreadyexisting systems of inequality exacerbated by climate change. We are the generation that will see the cities we’ve grown up in slowly washed away by the rising seas. We are also the generation that will not sit quietly and wait until this future becomes the present. We will fight with the compassion, the perseverance, the solidarity, the love and the desire that carried us through this entire day. We will continue to sit in the president’s office until we ensure that the University does its part in creating a clean and just future for all. Join us. Julian Hansen is a member of the Climate Action Movement at the University of Michigan, and part of the organizing team for the Washtenaw County Climate Strike. He can be reached at hansju@umich.edu.
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Arts
Friday, March 22, 2019 — 5
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
TV REVIEW
Hip hop’s best plot twist: The saga that is 21 Savage DYLAN YONO Daily Arts Writer
NETFLIX
‘Queer Eye’ just gets better allowing the Fab Five to be equal-opportunity transformers. And in fact, the most affecting Daily Arts Writer episodes this season center around women — “Jones BBQ,” about the owners of a Kansas City takeout “All things keep getting better,” goes the “Queer spot, and “Black Girl Magic,” about Jess, a gay Black Eye” theme song, a pulsing, techno-dance anthem woman disowned by her adoptive parents. The show reaches graceful, emotional heights that always manages to get the dopamine factories churning. This is a show about striving toward self- when the Fab Five let on that they didn’t spring from improvement and recognizing betterment not as a the earth fully self-assured, that they have their own vulnerabilities and stopping point, but traumas to grapple as a way forward. with too. Bobby, And against the who often alludes backdrop of a to his difficulties world decidedly growing up gay not getting better, in an evangelical there’s something Missouri about that conceit household, is that makes it the remarkably wellmost uplifting positioned to thing on television. Season Three comfort Jess. The third Netflix Jonathan, running season of “Queer a comb through the Eye,” Netflix’s hair of a recently rebooted version widowed single of the 2000s father, recalls the Bravo reality hit depressive episode “Queer Eye for the he endured Straight Guy,” was following his released quickly mother’s cancer after the second, diagnosis. which aired in In previous June. The Fab Five — the diverse, gregarious team of lifestyle seasons, the show struggled to reconcile its feelexperts unleashed upon average Joes — are back, good energies with its risky ambitions to heal and it’s almost like they never left. (Almost being divides and bring people together. That often the operative word here: There are the requisite resulted in tone-deaf moments: Karamo’s clash number of French tucks, but *gasp!* not a single with the Trump-supporting cop made over in the first season is a little too neatly resolved. Bobby’s avocado to be found.) What makes “Queer Eye” so fun to watch is discomfort with the church last season — borne that it’s a perfect combination of all the best, most of his childhood trauma — is chalked up to a mere cathartic pop culture tropes: part talk-therapy and cultural difference. They seem to have abandoned part movie-makeover scene with a little HGTV that clumsiness this season. But it is frustrating sprinkled in. Each episode follows the Fab Five — that the show has continued to ignore the elephant Antoni, Tan, Karamo, Bobby and Jonathan — as in the room: The time and means required to have they tackle new “projects,” well-meaning people a tailored wardrobe and a grooming routine are out whose friends and family members have nominated of reach for a lot of people. To its credit, though, “Queer Eye” is already them for life overhauls. By the end, not only do the clients look better operating under a premise fraught with racial and and dress better, but they also communicate more class politics of its own. The idea that everyone is effectively and sincerely. The Netflix version has deserving of love and self-care and acceptance — shuffled off the “for the Straight Guy” suffix, what’s more radical than that? MAITREYI ANANTHARAMAN
Queer Eye
The headlines about 21 Savage’s arrest and deportation proceedings last month seemed straight out of an Onion article. The whole thing has been surreal for fans: One of Atlanta’s posterboy rappers, alongside artists like Gucci Mane, Future, Young Thug and 2 Chainz … was born in London? On the morning of Feb. 3, rapper 21 Savage was arrested and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE released a statement that day saying 21 Savage, real name She’yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, is an “unlawfully present United Kingdom national” who came to the U.S. in 2005 and overstayed his visa that expired a year later. A CNN reporter quoted an ICE spokesman who claimed “His whole public persona is false. He actually came to the U.S. from the U.K. as a teen and overstayed his visa.” The most bizarre part? According to ICE, 21 Savage first came in 2005 — when he was already twelve years old. That’s too old to get rid of an accent, right? (I happen to know someone personally who also came to the U.S. from London at twelve and can testify to his thick British accent.) Combined with zero public knowledge of 21 Savage’s birthplace, it reeks of an intentional coverup. A plot twist, if you will. In the next few days, his lawyers followed up with a statement that countered ICE’s accusations. According to his legal team, 21 Savage came to the United States at seven years old (which would
much better explain him losing his accent), went to the UK for one month in 2005, then returned on a visa that expired in 2006, leaving him without citizenship. They also alleged that his immigration status was not hidden from officials as he applied for a special type of visa in 2017 granted to crime victims and could help with ongoing investigations. Like a coping mechanism to deal with the unexpected, the hip-hop community
opened up to many media outlets about his ten-day detainment and experience growing up without legal status. But there’s one thing that’s stayed on my mind after the whole ordeal. 21 Savage went lyrically conscious about immigration politics prior to his arrest. Most notably, during his performance of “A Lot” at the “Tonight Show ” days before his arrest, he added new lyrics: “I can’t imagine my kids stuck at the border / Flint still need water / People was innocent, couldn’t get lawyers.” It’s not like 21 Savage has been dropping conscious lyrics for years. Even just a couple years ago on Issa Album, his raps were chief ly about trap music’s lyrical holy trinity: sex, drugs and money. So when he was arrested days after he criticized ICE for their (mis) handling of children at the U.S./ Mexican border on national television, an alarm should’ve gone off in everybody’s head. By all measures aside from citizenship, 21 Savage is an American. That much is clear. He may have a felony drug charge under his belt, but that was expunged and sealed, and he’s been a positive inf luence on his community since then. So why would ICE suddenly pursue him, when the Trump administration’s priorities are on criminal illegal immigrants? It’s funny and surprising to learn that he’s from the UK. But there is more to 21 Savage’s arrest than meets the eye.
By all measures aside from citizenship, 21 Savage is an American. That much is clear. He may have a felony drug charge under his belt, but that was expunged and sealed, and he’s been a positive influence on his community since then.
began chugging out memes the moment Twitter got word of his arrest. In an interview with The New York Times, 21 Savage said of the memes: “I been shot — what is a meme? A meme is nothing … I look at bullet scars every day, so it’s like, a meme, bro?” Something I unironically find highly eloquent. 21 Savage was granted an expedited hearing on Feb. 12 and released on $100,000 bond the next day. The 21 Savage saga is still ongoing — an immigration court hearing is set for April 11, and it looks like it might come to an uneventful close. He has since
BOOK REVIEW
‘Rag’ is unsettling, compelling and so simmeringly sexy EMILY YANG
Daily Arts Writer
The 15 stories in Maryse Meijer’s second collection, “Rag,” frequently begin with chance encounters — a high school-aged boy working at a pizza parlor has a strange series of interactions with a girl who has a miscarriage in the bathroom, a man befriends a woman he meets during jury duty for a murder case and becomes fascinated with the scars on her arms, a lifeguard saves a boy from drowning and feels an attachment to him indistinguishable from the visceral memory of the incident. The plots of these stories stay in this space of plausible chance encounter for as long as they possibly can, teetering in the space right before decisive, concrete action. In the meantime, Meijer recounts the often subliminal reactions her main characters have on what’s unfolding in front of them, as they reckon with what they want out of the situation and what’s possible for them. Meijer has written that “while I consume — and seek out — quite a lot of explicitly violent and sexual work, I don’t write it.” This statement might seem odd in relation to a collection
Meijer’s style is one that reads like it’s designed to disguise hidden depths, and in a story like “The Lover” in which the awfulness is on the surface, it comes across as a kind of melodrama.
where sexuality and violence proliferate fungally in nearly every story, but in truth, very little actual violence and sex happens in Meijer’s stories. She is instead interested in exploring the psychological tendencies that lead up to violence, suspending her stories in a space just adjacent of horror. Her stories tend to end right at the point where something is about to happen, leaving any conf licts unresolved, the plot abandoned at its point of maximum tension. In the process, Meijer fuses sex and violence into an almost singular entity, and uses attraction and repulsion as a pair of emotions that fuel each other. In her story “The Brother,” a teenage boy at once desperately wants to be his stepbrother and feels a seething, jealous hatred for him. Other stories often track the progression of a dreadful longing right up to the point of unspeakable action. “Francis” sketches an uneasy juxtaposition between a protagonist’s job euthanizing dogs and his taking care of his deaf brother: “The needles rattle in my bag. One full dose and they’re done. No convulsions. No knowledge. Just the eyes turning to glass. My brother is asleep on the couch, the blanket half slipped from his hip.” It’s a situation full of the tense potential for violence, but that’s all it ever is. The story ends without anything definite happening, and we get the impression that things could just as easily slip into violence as they could dim back into nothing. Part of what makes these stories so effective is Meijer’s striking prose style. She alternates long, tumbling sentences with short, clipped ones, like someone desperately trying to avoid thinking about what they’re recounting. It resembles a kind of oral storytelling in its simplicity, albeit maybe one performed under interrogation lights. The opener, “Her Blood,” is particularly terse, the language an integral part of the story’s sense of mounting dread: “There’d been a trail of blood from the bathroom to the counter to the booth to the door, blood on the medics’ blue suits as they carried her out. I imagined having what she had, a place in my body that could splash an entire room with my insides and then let me walk away. I got an erection though I didn’t mean to. I pushed my hands into the front pocket of my hoodie and rubbed them against my crotch, grimacing, not feeling good at all.” Her clipped and to-the-point sentences are bolstered by her breathtakingly precise word choice. The word “splash” in the passage above is a fulcrum around which the rest of it revolves; the word “blue” emits a garish, clinical color against the goriness of its content. Meijer’s virtuosic use of language can work against her at
Rag Maryse Meijer FSG Originals Feb. 12, 2019
times, especially when her stories are less than compelling in premise or plot. When she abandons the dread that fuels the best stories of the collection, I was left with the sense that nothing is really being communicated. The rather tedious story “The Lover,” which tracks the progression of a relationship between a young orphan girl and a pedophile, is a good example of this. Meijer’s style is one that reads like it’s designed to disguise hidden depths, and in a story like “The Lover” in which the awfulness is on the surface, it comes across as a kind of melodrama. “It was important to the Dane that no one see her come into his house, so she came only at night, through the back door, with a key he’d given her, worn always around her neck. After he fell asleep she would go out into the garden to pull weeds or pick snails off the vegetable beds, his garden more beautiful than any place she had ever been, even in the dark.” The hyperbole of the story is certainly justified given its subject matter, but it sticks out in comparison to how meticulously restrained Meijer is elsewhere in the collection. “The Lover” is also one of the only stories in the collection where the lines of desire Meijer cultivates intersect in a meaningful way, and thus it feels like a wholly different animal than the more open-ended, bristling stories that make this collection a definite standout.
Arts
6 — Friday, March 22, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
COMMUNITY CULTURE NOTEBOOK
FILM REVIEW
What Frida Kahlo taught ‘Inhuman’ is 15 minutes me about myself over time topped with satisfaction TRINA PAL
Senior Arts Editor
Here’s how I know that the word “feminism” is stigmatized. Until recently, I’ve said the words “I’m a feminist” selfconsciously. I’ve gotten some uncomfortable laughter, quick looks downward and blank stares. Encouraging smiles have been few and far between, especially when talking to people of the opposite sex. So, why the stigma? As a 20-year old female of color, I’ve come to realize that a lot of the problem stems from feminists being labeled as “aggressive.” This isn’t unique to those courageous enough to openly fight for feminism; numerous studies have shown that women who are seen as forceful are also seen as less competent. People take women less seriously if they seem angry or frustrated about an issue, and many label them as the infamous “sensitive.” There’s nothing worse than letting your passion for something show only to be told to “calm down.” Not surprisingly, no one knew this better than Frida Kahlo. And no one defied the notion that women should fit a carefully-constructed mold more than she did. I remember seeing one of Kahlo’s self-portraits as a child and thinking: How did she have the courage to look like that? Her eyebrows seemed to inch closer to each other with
every passing second and her moustache was accentuated by the bright light shining from the museum display. Her eyes stared back at me defiantly,
Originally commissioned to commemorate the life of a young minor actress, Kahlo instead painted the scene depicting Hale’s actual suicide. Hale’s body lies beautifully on the ground, immaculately dressed in a black evening dress but surrounded by blood. The white towering building looms over her, but it’s clear where the focus of the painting lies. Kahlo chose to bring her audiences faceto-face with suicide instead of celebrating a life. Why? Because she could. And she did. Most of Kahlo’s works are filled with intimate symbolism, and nothing sings symbolism than “My Birth,” in which Kahlo imagines the birth of herself. The graphic painting hints at Kahlo’s struggles with infertility after a nearfatal bus crash at 18 years old. Infertility is stigmatized even today, but Kahlo had no issues letting the public know about her problems. Nothing was too gruesome to be painted in Kahlo’s mind. Kahlo was revolutionary beyond her times, but she taught me very little about myself five years ago. Now, I’ve come to realize how extraordinary a feminist she was. Today, she teaches me that it’s OK to be weird and different if it’s you. Kahlo’s bold spirit may have been seen as “forward,” her appearance may have been seen as untidy, but she was utterly content with being herself. That’s a lesson I believe all of us can learn from.
At the time, she was in stark contrast to myself — a sophomore in high-school growing into accepting myself, but still largely self-conscious of my body and appearance.
daring me to ask the question on my lips. “Yes, this is me,” she seemed to say. “Deal with it.” Kahlo was unapologetically herself; this is easy to see in any of her self-portraits. At the time, she was in stark contrast to myself — a sophomore in high-school growing into accepting myself, but still largely self-conscious of my body and appearance. Kahlo had reached this level of understanding already, and left her public image up for scrutiny in the late 1930s, a time when women were treated much differently then they are today. You have to admire her level of consistently not giving a damn. Take, for example, Kahlo’s “The Suicide of Dorothy Hale.”
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Release Date: Friday, March 22, 2019
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
FOR RENT
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Foretold 9 Biblical spy 14 California resort island 15 Let up 17 Embattled World War II city 18 Lady of Las Palmas 19 Absolutely bonkers 21 Source of a mole poblano ingredient 24 “Now, where __?” 25 Spans often presidentially named 26 ’60s Hagman co-star 28 Turn 33 Rapper __ Wayne 34 Marble piece 35 Czech currency 36 Capital ESE of Kabul 38 College student 39 Partner of Marcus 40 Zeno’s home 41 Just out 42 Log 43 Deal preceder 44 Place to nosh on a knish 45 Musician Rundgren 47 Braves slugger 48 Nation of Islam leader who was a mentor to Malcolm X 54 Edible oil 55 Online annoyances needed to complete five puzzle answers 59 More disturbing, as details 60 Licorice-flavored brew 61 Because 62 Demoted to the minors DOWN 1 Many Chrome runners 2 Muppet Rizzo, e.g. 3 Greek vowel
4 Burrito seller’s array 5 Ginsburg associate 6 Actress Gershon 7 Many an RPI grad 8 Limited-access internet area 9 Honduran homes 10 He played Fish on “Barney Miller” 11 Legal scholar Guinier 12 “The most private of private schools”: Hugh Laurie 13 Marine threat 16 It holds water 20 Bled 21 2010s Caesars Palace regular, familiarly 22 Out of the sack 23 “Heads or tails” 26 Vigorous spirit 27 Pat 29 Claim discovery, perhaps 30 Phone in crime shows 31 San __, Texas
32 Tongue-in-cheek award eponym 34 Wisenheimer 35 Proposal support? 37 __ Zion Church 38 Last: Abbr. 40 Turn into 43 Naval brass: Abbr. 44 Stifled 46 Orchard Field, today 47 Not to be missed
48 Cardio readout 49 Indochinese Peninsula nation 50 Cross letters 51 Become part of 52 Refine 53 Could hear __ drop 56 Volume One words, perhaps 57 Morning coat? 58 Title of respect, in Tokyo
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03/22/19
ROSS ORGIEFSKY Daily Arts Writer
On Tuesday I was fortunate to attend the world premiere of “Inhuman,” a short f ilm by Haley Tibbenham, a junior in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance. Ten other members of the cast and crew were present at the premiere, including director of photog raphy Joshua Knoller ( his “Talk to Me” was an Off icial Selection at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016). “Inhuman” is “not your average high school RomCom,” according to the f ilm’s Facebook page. For a no-spoilers plot rundown: The f ilm follows Alice, her “friends” who think she should be thinner and Elliot, the nice g uy with a romantic interest in our teenage lead. Alice isn’t too keen on Elliot, for a reason which will be made clear in the f inal scene. (A hint to keep you engaged: pay attention to the books mentioned during the beg inning of the f ilm.) Partially shot in Holland, Michigan, the beach scenes are beautif ul — the f ilm makes use of a relatively cool color palette throughout, with a few intentional bursts of crimson. The iconic Holland lighthouse is one of these cochineal punctuations. The framing of this particular scene
echoes Wes Anderson, in the best possible way. By the time the credits roll, you get a sense that this is a f ilm complete in its entiret y. By this, I mean to say it reaches its f ull potential only by the end of its f inal scene. Independent of the exciting plot-t wisting at the end, the f ilm has a certain superf icialit y.
Inhuman Mar. 12, 2019
Initially, the subject matter and dialog ue lack depth, and ask little of the viewer. I enjoy being absorbed and interrogated by a f ilm. Inhuman doesn’t interrogate or challenge, until the last moment. That being said, watching the credits appear brought a smirk to my face. The foreshadowing and cinematog raphic hints began to make sense. What appeared initially superf icial became multidimensional. In a short Q& A af ter the premiere, Tibbenham (director, writer and star) said she wanted her f ilm to be viewed not as an identit y
piece. She believes labelling a work of art an “identit y piece” can be patronizing, and only applies to underrepresented g roups. This is part-rom-com, partfantasy. Tibbenham wanted to make a f ilm in which someone “different” could be the star, someone outside the visually homogeneous batter y of A-list actors and actresses. For a f ilm that deals with self-image and selfconf idence, it takes a novel approach and encourages the viewer to question all sides of the debate. Not only should we not force ourselves and our friends to f it a certain mold, but we should also not expect those who don’t f it to feel a certain way. To broaden the arg ument, being an ally means different things in different situations. “Inhuman,” in the most fantastical way, reminds the viewer that you may not always know what someone is going through. Calling the f ilm an identit y piece is an “injustice to how interesting this content is,” Tibbenham said. That content, about what it means to be a woman today, under pressure for societ y and peers, is important. “Inhuman” puts a novel spin on commonly used themes, a refreshing take on genres which can of ten feel limp.
DAILY GENDER & MEDIA COLUMN
Beef with Woodstock 50 I would be one of many classic rock fans to be elated in the wake of another Woodstock. The age in which it fell is a period of time I’ve always been obsessed with, in a way that has greatly colored my understanding of modern pop culture. Everything I listen to or watch is immediately compared to the media of the ’60s and ’70s, the media that I was raised on and developed my own love for as I grew up. I am the poster child for that languid teenager self-proclaimed to be “born in the wrong decade.” Yet despite that love for the Aquarian age, 2019’s upcoming 50th anniversary celebration of the first, most famous Woodstock festival stings more than expected. It makes me wonder if we will ever have something truly like Woodstock ’69 again. Let’s first understand the context in which the original Woodstock came to fruition: a small festival was planned to be held in upstate New York in the blazing heat of August. They expected 50,000 people — 400,000 came. From those conditions and the social revolution of America’s hippie golden years, Woodstock ’69 became a lasting memory in the consciousness of music lovers and pop culture aficionados alike. People (literally) broke down barriers to enter. It was a magical, if not chaotic,three days in a time full of creation and destruction set against the war in Vietnam. You get the jist: the festival would be hard to replicate in any era, even its own. Everyone knows the name Woodstock. In this recognition and respect for the original shows my problem with Woodstock’s 50th.
CLARA SCOTT Although 2019 is a year of similar revolution, for rights and positive change in the entertainment industries, it is disheartening to know that we are fighting for the same things now that we did then. The Gloria Steinems and Marvin Gayes of yesterday’s pop cultural landscape are ref lected in figures we know and love today. In that way, this year would be a perfect time for a remembrance of Woodstock, to think about the things we have done and still have yet to accomplish for rights and the progression of artistic freedom. I acknowledge this, and understand its inf luence on the decision to have a memorial festival in the first place. No, my issue is not with that aspect of the 50th it is with the music. The final lineup released this week was, to say the least, disappointing. It is not all bad, and serves as an eclectic mix of today’s artists, old and young. With Imagine Dragons headlining
the third day, the focus on the mainstream acts of music today waters down the spectacular returns of performers like Santana, who memorably played at the original festival, and those who never got a chance to in 1969, like Dead & Company, Grateful Dead’s modern iteration including John Mayer. Maggie Rogers is great, sure, so is Greta Van Fleet. But these acts fail to capture the unmatchable feeling conjured by the original Woodstock. And herein lies the crux of the situation: the majority of today’s music does not have the raw, revolutionary quality of many of the acts included in the initial festival. Maybe it is the time we live in, maybe it is the fact that fame and success are very different beasts than they used to be. Maybe it is because the acts that are pushing the envelope on musical innovation are equaled in the lineup by ones that are just OK. Nonetheless, regardless of the music’s quality in general, I genuinely don’t believe any other time could capture the magic of Woodstock better than 1969 could. The 25th anniversary festival in 1994 didn’t, so why do people believe that 2019 can? Part of why the original Woodstock remains in our memory today is its accidental nature no one expected those three days to become as much of a cultural touchstone as they are. It was a wild world then, and it is now. But I don’t know whether that’s worth replicating the same serendipitous genius that produced Woodstock. And I believe that it is foolish to even try.
The final lineup released this week was, to say the least, disappointing.
By Peter Koetters ©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
03/22/19
Raise the ruff! It’s Friday!!!
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Friday, March 22, 2019 — 7
A Perfect 10: Natalie Wojcik and the joy of gymnastics SHIRA ZISHOLTZ Daily Sports Writer
In observance of Women’s History Month, The Daily’s sports section is launching its second annual series aimed at telling the stories of female athletes, coaches and teams at the University from the perspective of the female sports writers on staff. We continue the series with this story from Shira Zisholtz. It was 2002. A young, blonde, wide-eyed three-year-old girl sat in front of the TV watching professional athletes in sparkly leotards defy gravity as they threw themselves into the air, flipped, twisted and landed perfectly on two feet. The girl, ambitious and intrigued, figured, “Why shouldn’t I try that?” She took a cushion off her sofa, took a breath and threw herself into a back handspring. She landed on her head, assured her mom she was OK, and shortly thereafter, her mom enrolled her in gymnastics classes. And, as they say, the rest is history. Fast forward to Feb. 23, 2019. The Michigan women’s gymnastics team is competing at the Big Five Meet to claim the regular-season title. That young, blonde, wide-eyed girl is standing in front of thousands, donning her own sparkly leotard of maize and blue. She mentally reviewed her routine “key words,” took a breath and took off. She ran, propelled herself onto the vault, pushed off to complete a Yurchenko 1 ½ — and stuck the landing. The crowd went crazy. Her team ran to her with tears of joy. The last time the Wolverines performed to this caliber on vault was in 2011. The score flashed. 10.000.
Natalie Wojcik, the freshman phenomenon, had her first career perfect 10. Wojcik has had an incredible career at Michigan thus far, with 31 career event and all-around victories, earned Freshman of the Week honors five times and Gymnast of the Week eight. When she was being recruited, she visited only one school – the University of Michigan – fell in love and never looked back. And it’s safe to say the Wolverines haven’t looked back, either. “Natalie is really the whole package,” said Michigan coach Bev Plocki. “People always ask you the question, ‘Have they lived up to your expectations? Or, did you expect her to be this good? And my sense when I get asked that question is that it’s kind of a loaded question … but this is a case, with her, where we expected her to be outstanding, and she even exceeded the outstanding expectations that we had for her.” Wojcik has proven her excellence in her individual performances. But to her, competing as a Wolverine means so much more – it means being part of a team. “The team honestly gives me so much energy and just helps me feel confident knowing that I have them behind me,” she explains. “When it’s a tough day they cheer you on and when it’s a good day they cheer you on, too. So just being able to have each other’s backs and being there for each other day in and day out has been really special.” Despite her stellar record, it isn’t always perfect 10s for Natalie. She falls in practices, she won’t stick her landings at meets, she’ll hyperextend her knees after a challenging floor pass. She will spend hours in practice trying to perfect a new routine, a new skill, and will push herself until she gets it right. And yet, with all of the
frustration, challenges and push to perfection, Wojcik still wants to do what she does. In doing so, she follows sound advice that she would give to others. “You have to do it for the pure joy of the sport, not just what you are trying to get out of it,” Wojcik said. “You have to enjoy every single day and be able to pour your passion into it. And if you’re focused on attaining one goal that’s great, but you also have to remember to have fun and enjoy it.” *** Like Natalie, one of the greatest pieces of advice I have
ever gotten is “If you don’t wake up every day excited that you do what you do, you’re not doing the right thing.” That piece of advice has stuck with me, lingering in the back of my mind when someone inevitably questions what I could possibly want to do in sports, if I have a backup plan in case it doesn’t work out, what studying “sport management” even means. Plocki, who is in her 29th season as head coach for the Wolverines, gives the same advice to her athletes. “Understand that there will be days that you don’t enjoy it, and
so never base any decision off of a bad day,” Plocki said. “You have to enjoy what you’re doing every day to be able to put the kind of passion and work ethic into it. And to somebody like Natalie, or anybody that’s on our team, I tell my athletes all the time that you’re here because you have a passion to want to do this, and part of that passion is continuing to grow and excel.” This advice, though simple and pretty common-sensical, has gotten me, an excessively ambitious and optimistic student and sports fan, through barrages of skepticism and doubt. It has also gotten an extremely
accomplished gymnast through the days of failure, of injury, of uncertainty. As women pursuing careers in sports, be it as an athlete, a journalist, a CEO of a franchise, an analyst, a broadcaster, we have gone through years of questions, the metaphorical falls and hyperextensions. So, if you are a Natalie Wojcik — an aspiring athlete — or someone who is pushing for that proverbial perfect 10, Plocki has one last piece of advice for you: “Go after your dream. If you want to do something in your heart, then find a way to go do it.”
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Freshman Natalie Wojcik posted a perfect ‘10’, the 28th on vault in Michigan program history and the first such accomplishment since the 2011 season.
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Friday, March 22, 2019 — 8
For Charles Matthews, it’s back to normal
‘M’ relishes ‘boring’ win in Tourney opener
ETHAN SEARS
THEO MACKIE
DES MOINES, Iowa — Charles Matthews ran down the floor with some urgency, shooting the moment the ball came to him. He heard the buzzer sound, saw the basket light up red and the ball roll around the rim with the guise of a shooter’s bounce, before falling out. Then he smiled. There was no reason for frustration. Matthews, at that point, already had 11 points on the night, more than he scored in the last two combined. He finished with 22 on 8-of-12 shooting with 10 rebounds, which wouldn’t be particularly notable for him in a 74-59 win over Montana that defined routine, if the redshirt junior’s last month had gone normally. But 25 days ago against Michigan State, Matthews got hurt and decided to play the second half through it. He finished that game with four points on 1-of-8 shooting, too hobbled to guard Cassius Winston or Matt McQuaid. Then he sat the next three. “Dumb,” Matthews said of that decision last week in Chicago. “But you just get lost in the game sometimes. And I know I’m a competitor. I don’t think I’m much like no macho man or anything like that. I’ve got some toughness to me. It wasn’t the best decision at the time.” When he said that, it was in Michigan’s locker room after a similarly nonchalant Big Ten Tournament win over Iowa. Matthews donned a brace in his first game back, played well enough on defense to mask any hurt but shot 1-of-9 from the field. That would have been an admission that he wasn’t 100 percent if Matthews didn’t make the confession himself. Instead of being a part of the stretch run, and a second loss to the Spartans in which the Big Ten title was in the balance, Matthews sat on the bench. Instead of being able to give his best in the Big Ten Tournament, Matthews played with that brace, struggled, and the Wolverines lost to the Spartans again. This came after a period in which Matthews played some of his best basketball and spoke at his loudest, publicly admonishing his team after a loss at Penn State and earning the full trust of his coaches in the process. “When you got a player-led team this time of year, they’ve been through the ways,” said assistant coach DeAndre Haynes. “They’ve been on the floor. So they see some things that we don’t see. I was like that as a player, too. You see things like, ‘Hey, coach, we should do this.’ And if they feel like it’s gonna work, we trust them that it’s gonna be the right thing.” On Thursday night, the brace was off and Matthews was every bit himself, and maybe a little more. “I was happy just to be out there the last few games,” Matthews said. “It’s still a different atmosphere when you go, feel like yourself a little.” Early in the game, as Grizzlies point guard Timmy Falls took what appeared to be an uncontested layup, Matthews swooped in over him, forcing a miss and prompting one member of Montana’s traveling party sitting on press row to exclaim, “Jesus.” The lone time the Grizzlies seemed to pull themselves within arms length, cutting the Wolverines’ lead to eight early in the second half, Matthews followed a Jordan Poole 3-pointer with a long two from the corner. Then he drifted into space beyond the arc off a Zavier Simpson drive and found bottom on a three. Michigan’s lead never dipped below 14 again. And if the Wolverines are to do more this month than beat up on a 15-seed, that’s the type of game they need from Matthews. “It means everything for us, because when he’s able to play at this level, it opens up so much more for us offensively,” said assistant coach Saddi Washington. “Because it’s another guy in our arsenal to have to take account for.” It’s more than that, though. Matthews is one of the most forceful voices in the locker room, one of the driving forces behind this team’s success on both sides of the floor. He and John Beilein agreed that they wouldn’t go over the top in rehabbing to get back for the postseason. Matthews was, by all accounts, as much a coach on the bench as any of the actual coaches. He still hated sitting. Through all of that, though, the goal stayed the same. It still does. Matthews remembers the feeling of sitting in the locker room last year as Villanova celebrated down the hall. He wants to avoid it. “We really just, will feel empty if we don’t take it all this year,” he said. So, as Matthews walked through the tunnel, slapping hands and signing autographs after an NCAA Tournament game in which he was the star — a moment in which he could have revelled — he had just three words. “Let’s get it.”
DES MOINES, Iowa — As Michigan stormed out to an early but indestructible lead Thursday night against Montana, the word of choice across social media was “boring.” By the time the Wolverines jogged down the tunnel at halftime with a 34-21 advantage that felt more comfortable than that, many back at home had already flipped to the evening’s more competitive action. Those inside Wells Fargo Arena surely wished they could do the same. But in the moments after the eventual 74-55 win, when a reporter began to relay that description to assistant coach Luke Yaklich, he interrupted midway through the question: “Nah, I freaking loved it.” The thing is, Michigan likes it this way. Eventually, the reporter finished his question. Yaklich, in typical form, followed with a minute-long response detailing the minutiae of the Wolverines’ defensive performance — a smile glued to his face the entire time. Eventually, he got to his defense’s contest rate — 90 percent — and had to pause. His smile had become too wide to speak through. Elsewhere in the Michigan locker room, Yaklich’s energy wasn’t quite mirrored, but the attitude was. No one, not even this Wolverines team that ranks second in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency, shares Yaklich’s childlike joy for defense, but they respect it. Even if that means winning “boring.” “I don’t take this as a boring win,” said junior guard Zavier Simpson. “I actually take this as an exciting win. We got an opportunity to win the first game. That’s something that can be hard, especially with a team that doesn’t have as much hype that can be difficult to play.” Throughout the locker room, the mood wasn’t celebratory as it was after blowout wins over Iowa and Minnesota in Michigan’s first two games of the Big Ten tournament. There was no distracting players as they answered questions or posing for triumphant pictures. But, unlike Sunday in Chicago, there were smiles and chatter. It may not be an attitude that feels befitting of an NCAA Tournament win, but these Wolverines don’t need it to be. They know what comes next. Last year’s second-round matchup with Houston earned thousands of adjectives; boring was not among them. They also know what came before — a titanic, back-and-forth Big Ten championship game against Michigan State — and how that one ended. “The Michigan State game was the Michigan State game,” Yakich said. “It was over. The NCAA Tournament for our guys who are used to making deep runs and having success in these type of games. It’s kind of tabula rasa there and we wiped the slate clean.” This, a 15 vs. 2 game whose biggest storyline was that the same matchup happened last year, didn’t need any extraneous excitement. Within minutes, Michigan raced out to a 10-2 lead. By the 8:25 mark, it was 21-6. Montana didn’t hit double digits until 6:09 remained. So when the Wolverines re-emerged from halftime, there was no need for a spirited team talk. Jordan Poole and Jon Teske shared a relaxed smile before dapping up and going to defend their respective assignments. Beilein paced the Michigan sideline, arms crossed, before clapping in his team’s direction. “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go.” For a few minutes, the Wolverines failed to heed their coach’s advice. Montana, on a pair of baskets that were far easier than Beilein would have liked, cut the lead to eight. Then, the Michigan team of the first half returned. On a quarter of unanswered Simpson assists, the lead was back to 18. “When you got a point guard who can just find your shooters, like (sophomore guard Jordan Poole), who, he didn’t have it going,” said assistant coach DeAndre Haynes. “So (Simpson) will tell him, ‘Hey, be ready, I’m gonna find you.’ And then those guys are locked in, ready to shoot. Same thing with (sophomore forward Isaiah Livers). Isaiah was open in the corner, he said, ‘Hey, be ready, I’m gonna find you.’ And that’s the type of point guard you want to play for.” The rest of the night was back to boring, even if the Wolverines’ coaching staff refuses to view any game that way. On offense, coach John Beilein aired frustration. But on defense, it was Yaklich’s voice filling the air. But back in the locker room, there was no displeasure to be found. This — a win, regardless of style points — was all that the Wolverines wanted. “We’re trying to do something a lot bigger than just the first game,” Simpson said. “But we can’t accomplish that without winning the game in front of us.”
Managing Sports Editor
Daily Sports Editor
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Redshirt junior wing Charles Matthews scored a team-high 22 points and 10 rebounds in Thursday night’s opening round win over Montana.
taking care of Grizz-ness Michigan jumps all over Montana, advances to round of 32 ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer
DES MOINES, Iowa — Last year, when Michigan played Montana in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Grizzlies got out to a quick 10-0 lead before the Wolverines found a groove and won. Watching film of that game ahead of the rematch, Michigan players cringed. This time, they knew they would allow no such thing. Sure enough, this time it was the Wolverines (29-6) who started the game off on a 10-2 run. It seemed that every shot Montana took — threes, layups, even a fast-break dunk attempt — missed. The Wolverines’ shooting wasn’t particularly potent, either, but their defense clamped down, holding the Grizzlies to 33 percent from the field. “We were really ready for them,” said freshman forward Ignas Brazdeikis. “And our intensity — I felt like we were really connected.” Montana (26-9), a No. 15 seed out of the Big Sky Conference that doesn’t start anyone taller than 6-foot-7, had no answer for Michigan’s relentlessness. It was a microcosm of everything Michigan has been all season. Lots of defense, just enough offense,
loads of personality and — when all was said and done — a 74-55 win. “It’s a lot of fun,” said freshman forward Ignas Brazdeikis. “When we play good defense it turns into offense for us I feel like. When we’re playing on defense then offensively we play good and we made stops, we got rebounds, we went out and run, we just had a lot of fun out there and I think it showed.” Montana, which won the Big Sky thanks in large part to its 3-point shooting, missed its first nine attempts from deep, clanking shot after shot. The Wolverines struggled from three, too, hitting just 5-for-17. But the difference was that they found passing lanes and got to the basket. Michigan had four dunks in the first half alone — including one where Brazdeikis knocked the ball away from Montana guard Donaven Dorsey and took it down the court for the slam, drawing a foul in the process. Junior guard Zavier Simpson finished with 10 assists, creating looks for the offense all night. He frequently found Brazdeikis and junior center Jon Teske for open alley-oop layups and dunks, introducing a new hook shot-style pass in the process. And in a size mismatch, the Wolverines’ forwards shined.
When we play good defense it turns into offense for us...
Redshirt junior wing Charles Matthews got a double-double — scoring 22 points with 10 rebounds. Teske finished with double digits with 11 points and nine rebounds. Brazdeikis and sophomore guard Jordan Poole were also in double digits, with 14 and 10 points, respectively. At the beginning of the second half, Montana briefly cut its deficit to eight with buckets on two consecutive possessions — including just its second three of the game — but Michigan responded with a 10-0 run spurred by two consecutive Matthews triples and an alley-oop dunk by Teske. “Right away, we responded,” said Michigan coach John Beilein. “So it was huge. Some of those points, if I recall, were not pretty points. We just got points.” From there, the Wolverines kept rolling. They took a 20-point lead with 8:29 remaining and led by at least that much until the final seconds, when the freshmen and walk-ons got their time on the court. As with many of their previous games against inferior opponents, the Wolverines didn’t always look their best, shooting 49 percent from the field and committing 10 turnovers. But every time one of the Grizzlies tried to wiggle his way around a much bigger and more physical Michigan player, it was clear that Montana was overmatched.
Wolverines’ size overwhelms Montana JACOB SHAMES Daily Sports Editor
DES MOINES, Iowa — Jon Teske crashed to the floor under the basket, hit from behind by a Montana defender. On the Michigan sideline, John Beilein turned to assistant coach Luke Yaklich. “That’s a cheap shot!” Beilein exclaimed in disbelief. If Beilein was right, maybe the Grizzlies just didn’t have another choice. If that’s the conclusion they came to, no one could really blame them. Basketball, in its crudest form, is a game of height, and the Wolverines’ NCAA Tournament opener against Montana on Thursday was far from the most refined version of the sport. Michigan committed 12 turnovers and shot 29 percent from 3-point range. Montana was even worse, hitting just 20 of 60 field goals and scoring 0.81 points per possession. Ultimately, what gave the Wolverines a 74-55 win was just enough scoring and a defense as stingy it has been all season. And as usual, the defensive performance was anchored down low with Teske. Teams from the Big Sky don’t usually match up physically with No. 2 seeds from the Big Ten. The Grizzlies are no exception — and that was before their regular starting center, Jamar Akoh,
was lost for the season due to injury. In Akoh’s place, they’ve been forced to start Bobby Moorhead, a 6-foot-7, 192-pound shooting guard by trade, in the middle. Against the 7-foot-1 Teske, this went about how you would expect. Teske had 11 points and nine rebounds in his 23 minutes on the court, Michigan outscored Montana by 25 points. The junior center constantly impacted shots around the rim, and on offense, the Grizzlies simply couldn’t deny him. “He’s a mismatch problem,” said freshman forward Ignas Brazdeikis. “They’re all really short, so just get him the ball. He can make plays, he can kick out, he can score.” While the Big Ten has no shortage of physical beasts down low, the Wolverines spent most of nonconference play dealing with smaller teams — Teske said Thursday reminded him of Michigan’s 56-37 win over Holy Cross in November, in which the Crusaders caught the Wolverines offguard at first with a series of small-ball centers. This time, Michigan was ready. “Just throw it up top,” Zavier Simpson told The Daily. “This guy is big — go up top and have him go get it. They wanna score, make a play, he’s gonna get it.” Montana threw a twist in, however. It knew the Wolverines would be able to
easily run offense through Teske, so its defensive strategy focused on denying him the ball in the first place. The Grizzlies tried to trap Simpson on the perimeter and switch on screens, just as many of Michigan’s Big Ten opponents have done. Simpson said that he was impressed with Montana’s ball-screen coverage. But in a manner exemplary of the mismatch in sheer talent and physicality, the junior point guard still ended up with 10 assists — four of which Teske finished off. “In the Big Ten, any time a team switches, now you got a 6-7, 6-8 guy switching on (Simpson), which makes that post entry pass a little bit tougher,” said assistant coach Saddi Washington. “They were 6-(foot)-3, 6-4, 6-5, and so we just basically had a jump ball-type pass that only Jon can get.” Defensively, Teske although he didn’t record a blocked shot — altered the flow of the Grizzlies’ normally effective downhill penetration. Montana’s guards found their lanes to the basket completely shut off. As a result, the Grizzlies’ outside shooting suffered — they hit just five of 19 from beyond the arc.
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