2020-07-23

Thursday, July June23, 11, 2020

ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

inside

Face masks required by ‘U’ on campus

NEWS

Telemedicine The COVID-19 pandemic has allowed telemedicine to flourish. Is this the future of healthcare? >> SEE PAGE 3

Coverings mandatory in outside settings in addition to inside public buildings

OPINION

CALDER LEWIS

Continuing the fight for racial justice

Summer News Editor

How students continue Rep. John Lewis’ fight for social justice. >> SEE PAGE 4

OIE Director accused of wrongfully handling cases at Nebraska-Lincoln

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ARTS

The Chicks’ ‘Gaslighter’ The band’s new album details Natalie Maines’s messy divorce and future >> SEE PAGE 6 hopes.

MICHIGAN IN COLOR

Kellon Yaani Kellon

Staff writer Maya Kadouh redirects our attention to the pressing crises occurring in Lebanon. >> SEE PAGE 9

SPORTS

Flexibility

Amidst the ever-changing circumstances surrounding the return of sports, coaches emphasize flexibility. >> SEE PAGE 11

INDEX Vol. CXXIX, No. 123 © 2020 The Michigan Daily

NEWS .................................... 2 OPINION ............................... 4 ARTS/NEWS..........................6 MiC......................................... 8 SPORTS................................ 10

michigandaily.com michigandaily.com

CALDER LEWIS

Summer News Editor

A lawsuit filed in the District Court of Nebraska Monday alleges Tamiko Strickman, director the University of Michigan’s Office of Institutional Equity, mishandled student reports of sexual assault and violated sex discrimination and civil rights laws at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Nine current or former UNL students are named plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Strickland served as an investigator, deputy Title IX coordinator, Title IX coordinator and director of the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance at UNL from 2015 to 2019.

The lawsuit states Strickman was terminated from UNL in December 2019.

University of Michigan spokesman Rick Fitzgerald and UNL spokesperson Leslie Reed both told The Daily in emails Strickman was not terminated from UNL. Reed said Strickman is highly qualified and UNL would have “liked very much to keep her.” The University of Michigan announced Strickman’s hiring in December 2019 and became OIE Director

effective in January 2020.

Fitzgerald said the University is aware of the lawsuit, but declined to comment as the complaint was not filed against the University.

Miranda Melson, a former UNL student, was raped by a male student in July 2016 after explicitly telling him she did not want a “one-night stand,” the lawsuit says. When the male student allegedly undressed and began touching Melson sexually, she was frozen and unable to verbalize her objection. The male student continued to contact Melson against her wishes until she reported the rape and stalking to the UNL IEC in September 2016, the lawsuit says.

Strickman was allegedly assigned to Melson’s case. Melson asked Strickman to record their interviews, the lawsuit says, but Strickman refused and only recorded the male student’s interviews. IEC interviewed the male student’s witness, but not Melson’s witness, according to the lawsuit.

During one meeting, Strickman allegedly told Melson, “This would be different if I were your parent, but I’m not your parent.”

In a November 2016 letter to Melson, Strickman wrote that

no findings were made about Melson’s stalking or assault claims, the lawsuit says.

“During the parties’ sexual interaction, you did not inform Respondent through words or actions [that] you did not consent to the sexual activity,” Strickman allegedly wrote. “Therefore, no sanction is deemed to be appropriate or necessary.”

The lawsuit alleges a requirement for an affirmative rejection contradicts the UNL Student Code of Conduct’s definition of consent. “‘Consent’ means agreement, approval or permission as to some act or purpose, given voluntarily by a competent person,” the Code of Conduct reads. “A person need not resist verbally or physically where it would be useless or futile to do so.”

The lawsuit also alleges a requirement for an affirmative rejection contradicts the definition of consent on IEC’s website.

“Consent is an affirmative decision to engage in mutually acceptable sexual activity by clear actions and words,” the website reads. “Silence does not equal consent. Moreover,

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Effective immediately, the University of Michigan will require all students, staff, faculty and visitors to wear a face covering while anywhere on campus grounds, University President Mark Schlissel wrote in an email to the campus community Wednesday afternoon.

“This includes when inside buildings, outdoors and on U-M transportation on all of our campuses,” Schlissel wrote. “It is difficult on a busy university campus to maintain distance from groups even while outdoors, so requiring face coverings outdoors will help slow the spread of the virus.”

Schlissel’s announcement is his first communication with the broader University community since announcing a “public health-informed in-residence” fall semester on June 22.

The new policy will apply to community members inside buildings, outdoors and on University transportation.

While homemade masks, scarves, bandanas and handkerchiefs are acceptable, the policy recommends face coverings that seal as tightly as possible to the face.

However, there are a dozen exceptions to the face covering rule, including when one is in a private office or dorm room, eating or drinking while maintaining social distance and engaging in recreation while maintaining social distance. Medical exemptions are also noted in the policy.

According to the policy, transmission of COVID-19 is greatly reduced and lives are saved when all people wear face coverings in public.

“Because many cases of COVID19 are mild or asymptomatic and

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2 NEWS

Thursday, July 23, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

VP for government relations retires After 22 years of service, Cynthia Wilbanks announces her leave JULIA RUBIN

Summer News Editor

Cynthia Wilbanks, University of Michigan vice president for government relations, announced her plans to retire in December 2020. She served as the vice president at the University for 22 years, and is the longest-serving executive officer.

In her tenure as vice president, Wilbanks worked to develop University responses to proposed local, state and federal legislation. She also worked with government officials at all levels and oversaw several state outreach programs.

In a statement, University President Mark Schlissel praised Wilbanks for her deep knowledge and tireless work ethic.

“In my view, her vast knowledge of our state, its issues, history, people and, of course, those elected to serve is unparalleled,” Schlissel said. “Cynthia has always applied her keen understanding when advocating for our students, faculty and staff in city hall, Lansing, Congress or the White House.”

Beyond her role as vice president, Wilbanks served in a leadership capacity in many other University programs and projects including the Bentley Historical Library Executive Committee, Bicentennial Planning Committee 2011-12, Ginsberg Center Board, Hospital and Health Centers Executive Board, Honorary Degree Committee, Michigan in Washington Program Faculty Advisory Committee and the Residency Appeals Committee.

In an interview with The Daily, Wilbanks cited the power and strength of her relationships with colleagues, elected officials and organizations near and far as the hallmark of her role.

“The key to me, and it’s always been this, is the value of strong relationships,” Wilbanks said.

“Fundamentally, this work isn’t

possible without a commitment to building strong relationships.”

LSA alum Nadav Neuman, who worked as a Government Relations Intern in the Office of the Vice President for Government Relations, told The Daily Wilbanks is a leader who commands respect and recognizes the power in cultivating relationships.

“Everyone in the office has nothing but good to say about her,” Neuman said. “She’s an amazing person and she’s definitely served the University very well over her 20-plus years.”

Though Neuman worked under the State Relations Office, a subsidiary of the Government Relations Office, he told The Daily Wilbanks made sure to recognize and give attention to employees at all levels of the organization.

“She really showed a keen interest in students and helping them develop,” Neuman said.

“When you’re working at any place, having the head boss come in and ask you what you’re doing is always an awesome experience and it makes you feel good.”

Wilbanks served as an advisor to Schlissel on the University Research Corridor, a project linking the state of Michigan’s three research universities: the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University. She said the project was born out of the desire to showcase Michigan’s research universities as an economic powerhouse and beneficial for the state. “(The University Research Corridor) was born out of the strong belief that the state of Michigan was among just a handful of states where there were three very strong research universities,” Wilbanks said.

“We believe that the asset that it represents for the state is an enormously powerful asset.”

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Wilbanks said the universities have collaborated in the fields of epidemiology, public health and education.

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Racism declared a public health crisis

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Washtenaw County community discusses impacts of decision DOMINIC COLETTI Daily Staff Reporter

The Washtenaw County Board of Health declared racism a public health crisis in a resolution passed in a June 30 meeting. The move follows numerous other states and cities, including Ypsilanti, which passed its own resolution on June 2. In a press release, James Carty, the chair of the Board of Health, explained the rationale behind this decision.

“We know that racism has helped drive unequal economic, cultural, and medical circumstances that each, and in concert, lead to poorer health outcomes for people of color throughout America,” Carty said.

“The only way to change this is to acknowledge it and center it as we try to learn from the mistakes of our past and build a better community where all residents of Washtenaw County are served fairly and equally.”

The move follows several highprofile cases of police brutality, which have sparked protests and outrage nationwide all in the midst of a pandemic that disproportionately impacts African Americans in Washtenaw County and around the country. Felicia Brabec, a member of the Board of Health, made it clear that solving the inequities in health care requires more than words.

“This declaration and commitment to health equity – as well as the expected action from the Board of Commissioners are

critical to our ability to move forward together,” Brabec said in the press release. “Naming racism and truly working together are vital steps, but we must commit to doing more. We must show our commitment at every level, put resources behind our intentions and work collectively to see meaningful and lasting change.”

Brabec also sits on the Board of Commissioners for Washtenaw County, which is expected to pass a similar resolution at its next meeting on August 5.

Washtenaw County ranked 81st out of 83 Michigan counties for income inequality in 2018, which prompted the Board of Commissioners to unanimously pass a new equity policy for the county. The policy created a Racial Equity Office and required departments to draft Racial Equity Action Plans. Despite these efforts, 32% of COVID-19 cases are Black residents, who make up 12.3% of Washtenaw County. Zip codes 48197 and 49198 in Ypsilanti, whose population is 27.3 percent Black residents, have over 800 combined cases of COVID-19. By contrast, the four zip codes encompassing Ann Arbor, which is only 6.5 percent Black, have over 500 cases combined. Black residents have cited numerous factors, including poverty and housing instability, as contributing to the disparate impact of COVID-19 on their communities.

Belinda Needham, Public Health associate professor, said she felt this resolution was a start towards mending the inequalities in the community in an email to The Daily.

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Thursday, July 23, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

NEWS 3

Public commenters call ‘U’ to action Regents listen to concerns about funding, testing capabilities and student representation.

ARJUN THAKKAR & LEXIE GREENBERG Daily Staff Reporters

Health clinicians discuss future of telemedicine

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The pandemic opens up new possibilities of virtual doctor visits MICHAL RUPRECHT Daily Staff Reporter

Adrienne Lapidos commuted to her office for work before the COVID-19 pandemic began in Michigan. But like many others over the past several months, she transitioned to working from home. As a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Michigan, Lapidos now primarily sees her patients via video visits instead of in-person.

Though urgent cases are still seen in-person, Lapidos’ department shifted to majority telemedicine in late March. She told The Daily the change was unexpected.

“It pretty much caught all of us by surprise how quickly the transition happened from in-person to video visits,” Lapidos said. “It had been a really major goal to increase uptake of video visits this year, but adoption was not widespread until after COVID started.”

Steven Leber, Medical Doctor and professor of pediatrics and neurology, said video visits are advantageous to patients in selective cases where transportation is a barrier. Leber added moving to video visits also helps with social

distancing guidelines.

“Because of social distancing, we’re really limiting how many patients come into the clinic,” Leber said.

Medical School student Lauren Gaston-Hawkins said since medical students were given a directive from the Association of American Medical Colleges in mid-March to pause clinical rotations, the transition to telemedicine was a great idea but difficult to implement.

“At the beginning, I was somewhat neutral about the change,” Gaston-Hawkins said. “I thought it was a great opportunity to propel the use of telemedicine forward, but the transition was difficult since we didn’t have the infrastructure in place previously.”

Gaston-Hawkins noted that even though medical students weren’t incorporated in telemedicine visits until June 8, she’s had the opportunity to help transition prenatal patient visits to video in her department since mid-March.

Although telemedicine was fairly new to many clinicians, including Leber and Lapidos, the concept was pioneered by Rashid Bashshur, head of telemedicine and professor emeritus of health management and policy at the School of Public Health.

According to Bashshur, telemedicine was first used in 1905 by a Dutch physician to transmit EKG

sounds via a telephone. Bashshur was commissioned by the National Science Foundation in the early 1970s to research the capabilities and viability of telemedicine.

“Interest was very meager at that time,” Bashshur said. “But I thought the idea had merit and we had to investigate it to find out what that merit was and (to) see if we want to proceed on that basis.”

Bashshur said inefficient and expensive technology initially made telemedicine difficult to use.

However, once technology began to develop, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services began to place constraints on the new concept. Insurance companies did the same. Some restrictions, including only allowing patients from rural zip codes to use telemedicine, were overturned due to COVID19. As the pandemic began to unravel, Bashshur said there was a wave of new regulations that made it easier for patients to access telemedicine resources.

“The pandemic opened the floodgates of telemedicine because we had to implement mitigation efforts to slow the rate of infection and the separation of people became critical,” Bashshur said. “In addition, keeping health care workers safe from the infection was important.”

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The Board of Regents held its sixth meeting of the year Thursday afternoon to hear from public commenters urging the University of Michigan to consider student input on administrative decisions and to continue expanding plans for an inresidence academic year.

All Regents, except Regent Katherine White (D), and University executive officers were present for the meeting. This was the first meeting in which Regents Denise Ilitch (D) and Jordan Acker (D) served as chair and vice chair of the board.

During the regular agenda, University President Mark Schlissel announced he was appointing Susan M. Collins to the position of University Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. Collins began serving as acting Provost, and later interim Provost, shortly after former Provost Martin Philbert was placed on administrative leave and later removed amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

Schlissel also commented on the recently mandated facemask policy, which requires everyone on campus grounds to wear a face covering.

“The research is clear that wearing a face covering is one of the most effective tools we have for preventing the spread of COVID19 and saving lives,” Schlissel said.

“It’s difficult to maintain distance from groups even when outdoors on a busy University campus, and so, face coverings outdoors will help slow the spread of the virus as well.”

Schlissel said he was pleased to hear the Department of Homeland Security policy that required international students taking exclusively online classes to leave the U.S. was revoked, meaning international students will be permitted to remain in the country if their classes are all remote. He referenced the amicus brief the University filed in support of Harvard University and Massa-

chusetts Institute of Technology’s lawsuit to block the regulation.

“International students are core members of our institutions,” Schlissel said. “They make valuable contributions in our classrooms, campuses and communities, contributions that have helped make American education the envy of the world. International students contribute to a diversity of thought background and experience that promotes learning outcomes and better prepares students for an increasingly diverse workforce and society. We strongly disagree with arbitrary restrictions on international students that might force them to risk their health in order to continue their studies.”

Twelve members from the University community were permitted to address the regents during the public comment portion of the event. The speakers discussed the idea of student representation on the board, plans for the upcoming in-person semester and efforts to provide adequate funding to the Flint and Dearborn campuses.

During the June 29 special Regents meeting, University President Mark Schlissel announced the Flint and Dearborn campuses would receive a shared $20 million fund, double the $10 million that was previously allocated in the budget presented at the June 25 meeting.

Engineering Junior Labiba Qazi, vice president of Dearborn Student Government and member of One University, an organization advocating for equitable funding at the University’s three campuses, argued for transparency with the designated resources. Qazi emphasized the University should use the funding to prioritize students’ needs. She referred to a May 2020 proposal published by 1U that called on the administration to extend the Go Blue Guarantee and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives to Dearborn and Flint.

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4 OPINION

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FROM THE DAILY

John Lewis’ legacy and voter suppression in America

O

n July 17, U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., and Rev. C.T. Vivian, both giants in the fight for fairness and freedom, passed away. Lewis, a breathtakingly powerful figure of the Civil Rights Movement, spent his entire life fighting for humanity and civil rights, making voting rights a key part of his activism. He risked his life countless times in an effort to enfranchise voters.

E

ventually, public pressure evoked by media circulation of police brutality in America led to the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a step that empowered Black voters and ultimately led to Lewis’s informal title — “conscience of the U.S. Congress.” In a 1971 House testimony, Lewis stated, “We have to look beyond the glowing reports of a new South. We have to recognize the fallacies of those who would tell us that Federal registrars and observers are no longer needed. We cannot allow ourselves to be duped into believing that, in these so-called new and changing times, the Voting Rights Act is no longer needed.”

Fervently, Lewis continued with, “There are fewer violent tactics, but the subtle and more sophisticated forms of intimidation are still being devised and are quite prevalent.” Today, nearly half a century later, Americans are still fighting for the same freedoms.

In light of recent voter suppression cases worsened by the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the spirit of Lewis and Vivian’s lifelong work, we as college students and as a broader community of young people need to prioritize and

take advantage of our right to vote, especially at this moment.

The University of Michigan has resources for educating students about where and how to vote, but these resources need to be more widely advertised and accessible. In June 2019, Lewis stated, “I have said this before, and I will say it again. The vote is precious. It is almost sacred. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democracy.”

Unfortunately, the ability to vote historically has been and continues to be difficult for many across the United States. In 1980, Paul Weyrich, an influential conservative, stated, “I don’t want everybody to vote ... As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”

Most unfortunately, and thanks in part to a conservative advocacy group founded by Weyrich, the GOP’s efforts to disenfranchise voters have been more widespread and effective since the 2010 elections. The American Legislative Exchange Council — funded in part by the billionaire Koch brothers who also bankrolled the Tea Party — has been a key part in the systematic campaign to impede voters in

nearly every step of the electoral process, and has done so successfully with 38 states introducing legislation designed to do just that.

One of the most notable and recent changes to overload the system came in the form of requiring a government-issued photo ID. This mandate disenfranchises hundreds of thousands of voters, the methodology of which being dependent on specific state legislation. For example, up until June 2017, Texas accepted concealed-weapon permits at polls, but not student IDs. Similarly, in Wisconsin, a state with roughly 340,000 college students, student IDs are not sufficient for voting, requiring students to make multiple additional steps in order to cast their ballot. After Wisconsin implemented its new voter ID law in 2011, which required students to provide multiple forms of identification, it became one of the strictest states for voting and it was estimated that some 242,000 students may have lacked the documentation required to vote — something that was unheard of even two years previously. Analiese Eicher, a Dane County, Wis., board supervisor, commented, “It’s like creating a second class of citizens in terms of who gets to vote.”

In the fall of 1918, as midterm elections approached during the end of World War I and the second wave of the Spanish flu emerged in September, voters witnessed “the first masked ballot ever known in the history of America.” Today, as history so often likes to repeat itself, Americans are enduring similar situations. In the midst of the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, paired with a deadly pandemic that has taken the lives of over 143,000 individuals in the U.S. and a presidential election on the horizon, the country is scrambling for ways to uphold the constructs of constitutional democracy while fighting for the lives of their neighbors, brothers and sisters.

Some states, such as Michigan, have recently adopted new voting laws where anyone can now choose to vote via absentee ballot without requiring a reason. On March 10, 2020, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said that “all of Michigan’s 7.7 million registered voters will be mailed absentee ballot applications so they can take part in elections in August and November without the risk of inperson voting if they choose to do so.” Benson’s office also “reported a surge in new voter registration after seeing numbers drop off sharply during the height of the coronavirus outbreak in Michigan.”

As people across the nation fear for their health, many are choosing socially-distanced voting options, if at all possible. Unfortunately, mailin voting is not a feasible option in many states, and Americans have witnessed countless individuals jeopardize their health in order to fulfill their democratic duties.

On June 9, Georgia held its primary election with 214 fewer polling places than it had in 2013, largely due to the Supreme Court’s gutting of significant parts of the Voting Rights Act, which allowed nine states to modify their election laws without seeking approval from the federal government. The state also introduced over $100 million worth of new electronic voting machines.

Through a combination of machine malfunction, poor planning and a lack of poll workers, these machines did not work, leading many voters to wait in line for hours. In addition, not enough absentee ballots were distributed, leading to many registered voters finding themselves unable to vote despite having requested a mail-in ballot on time.

Georgia’s disastrous primary resulted in a textbook case of voter suppression, a complex, undemocratic political strategy to create barriers or ultimately prevent eligible voters from exercising their right to vote. Required photo ID and most anti-voter fraud legislation are forms of voter suppression.

This tactic often targets people of color and low-income individuals.

Many of Georgia’s polling station closures, as well as most of their machine errors on June 9, were in counties with large Black populations. Majority-white areas had notably fewer problems voting.

Some argue that modern voter suppression is not an intentional or malicious act. Ill will is difficult to prove. However, voting security measures and poorly-managed elections today continue to impact those who have already been disproportionately affected by systemic oppression, further obstructing their ability to exercise fundamental democratic rights and freedoms.

These consequences should not be excusable. As Lewis himself put it in July 2011, “Voting rights are under attack in America ... There’s a deliberate and systematic attempt to prevent millions of elderly voters, young voters, students, minority and low-income voters from exercising their constitutional right to engage in the democratic process.”

As the Michigan primaries approach, the University can also do more to make sure students have the necessary resources to exercise their right to vote. There is a voter registration button on Wolverine Access, for example, but it is at the bottom of the page and only exists as a button on the old version of the site — one has to search for “voter registration” directly to find this information on the new interface.

In a December 2019 interview from The Daily with University President Mark Schlissel, when asked if he would consider automatically registering students to vote, he responded, “I’d want to think about it more. My goal alternatively is to make it as easy as possible for people to register and that as easy as possible for people to vote, but you still have to take personal responsibility.” Organizations such as the Ginsberg Center can promote civic engagement on campus, but that information is clearly not being disseminated well if students were still having trouble voting as recently as the March presidential primary. Barriers to students voting are likely to worsen as the COVID19 pandemic continues. Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., said, “I know that if he was still with us, he would be leading that fight. What we have to do is live up to his legacy. We need to continue that fight for social justice. And again, the first thing we need to do is pass the Voting Rights Act and get it signed.” Lewis — along with countless other selfless, empowering leaders today — have left roadmaps for us to follow in the fight for social justice and freedom.

The state of Michigan’s primary is on Aug. 4. You have until 5 p.m. on July 31 to request an absentee ballot.

Thursday, July 23, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

MADELEINE LAPIERRE | COLUMNIST

I

One nation, two histories

f you’re anything like me, the Black Lives Matter movement has caused you to second guess everything you thought you knew about our country’s controversial history. I went to a small high school that had little to no diversity from students to staff, which is reflected in the gaps in my education. Personally, Juneteenth was a major awakening for me.

Though June 19 was the day that the last enslaved people were emancipated in Texas, I had never heard about it before. I was always taught that President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, along with the passage of the 13th amendment, ushered in a new era of liberty. This is just one example of the palpable bias that shadows modern history curriculum. The United States history curriculum is long overdue for an overhaul that accurately portrays our country’s history.

In my small high school, however, this controversy seemed far away.

In fact, it wasn’t uncommon to see someone sporting clothing that featured the Confederate flag, ignorant to the deeper meaning of that symbol. Recently, however, a debate has sparked regarding the display of Confederate flags and Confederate monuments. In cities across the country, Confederate statues have been removed, and NASCAR officially banned the Confederate flag at all of its events. Still, those opposed to the departure of this iconography remain adamant, urging that displaying Confederate symbols only memorializes history and ensures it doesn’t repeat itself.

The origin of these symbols seems to contradict this notion, as many Confederate statues were erected during the Jim Crow and Civil Rights movement era, in direct response to the tidings of Black equality in America. Furthermore, the Confederate flag — a modern day symbol of white supremacy defended as a piece of history — was never the official flag of the Confederacy. It was just the battle flag. In addition, the flag wasn’t widely used until the 1940s in response to the emergence of ideas that would guide the Civil Rights Movement.

But we were never taught this. We were never taught that the flag was a direct symbol of hate utilized as a response to the Civil Rights movement. We were never taught that many Confederate statues were similarly erected as symbols of inequality and intimidation. It is because we never learned these precious facets of history that the gravity of these symbols has been lost. Unfor-

tunately, this appears to be a trend: White authors of history curriculum paint the tale of this country in black and white — leaving gaps on the canvas where the grey of our ancestors’ immorality should lie. Instead, we are taught to revere the Founding Fathers, many of whom owned slaves, and that, while wrong, slavery was simply the answer to an inevitable need for labor in the colonies.

While our textbooks may include a very basic telling of events, this telling is incredibly one-sided and fails to include a fuller, complex version of history wherein minorities perished at the hands of white men we have been taught to glorify like modernday gods.

This is due in part to textbook information disparity created by partisan politics. In a phenomenon known as “The Texas Effect,” many publishers have historically based curriculum off of Texas standards because Texas has a large number of public schools, equating to higher profits for these publishers. This curriculum tends to highlight Christianity, downplay slavery and celebrate the Founding Fathers — omitting or manipulating vital chunks of our nation’s controversial history.

When compared to California history textbooks, these inconspicuous differences are very telling of the motivations behind this twisted narrative of history. These textbooks are intended to indoctrinate students, as many of these policymakers want to influence the upcoming generation, and the best way to do so is through education.

The actual events of our nation’s past and the history we were taught are two very different tales. While the names and dates may be the same, the narrative diverges significantly, glazing over horrific atrocities while glorifying immoral men. The only cure for ignorance is education, and the only remedy for manipulation is honesty. We need a comprehensive reform of the curriculum to illustrate a candid portrait of history. Though it may be uncomfortable at times, it was Meghan Markle who said, “We’re going to have to be a little uncomfortable right now, because it’s only in pushing through that discomfort that we get to the other side of this and find the place where a high tide raises all ships.” After all, teaching an honest and accurate version of history is the only way we can make sure that this history never repeats itself again.

Madeleine LaPierre can be reached at madlapi@umich.edu.

OP OPIINION 5

TUHIN CHAKRABORTY | COLUMNIST

The kind of person who needs a statue: John Lewis

L

ast Friday, the nation mourned the loss of one of the greatest American civil rights leaders of all time. U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., passed away after a battle with stage four pancreatic cancer at the age of 80. Before his election to Congress in 1986, Lewis had previously distinguished himself as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and a member of the “Big Six,” an elite group of civil rights icons that included Martin Luther King Jr. In 1963, Lewis spoke at the March on Washington, where King gave his globally famous “I Have a Dream” speech. From organizing protests nationwide and marching with Dr. King in the 1960s, to leading a sit-in on the U.S. House floor advocating for gun control legislation in 2016, Lewis is a giant whose shadow spans many eras in U.S. history and whose legacy will no doubt shine far into the future.

Lewis passed away as the U.S. is grappling with one of the greatest civil rights struggles in recent memory: the widespread protests following the George Floyd killing. It is widely known that one of the consequences of this fallout has been the renewed debate regarding the removal of statues of Confederate or otherwise racist historical figures across the country. However, with the debate around statue removal still raging, it is equally important to consider which statues we should keep and which statues we should build.

All throughout his life, Lewis fought for racial equality in a way consistent with the values of today’s Black Lives Matter movement, and now that he has left us, it is time to immortalize him in marble or metal like we have done for so many less-deserving Americans. Specifically, a good place to start would be having a statue of Lewis replace the statue of Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens as one of Georgia’s statues in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall.

Championed by the late 19th century Vermont senator Justin Morrill, who is better known for the Morrill Land Grant Act which helped establish public universities like Michigan State, the legislation calling for a Statuary Hall commemorating American heroes was passed into law in 1864.

The criteria for memorializing statues according to Morrill’s proposal is as follows: “deceased persons who have been citizens thereof, and illustrious for their historic renown or for distinguished civic or military services such as each State may deem to be worthy of this national commemoration.”

Currently, Georgia’s two statues are

Crawford Long, a 19th-century physician who invented the use of anesthetic substances during surgery, and the far more controversial Stephens who, in addition to being a leader in the Confederacy, was the owner of 30+ slaves before the Civil War. Since John Lewis has, to the great sadness of so many Americans, passed away, it is time to remove the statue of Stephens and erect one that commemorates Lewis in the Capitol. This is more than a fitting proposition, as Lewis was known during his life as “the Conscience of the Congress” for his calm but principled leadership. In addition to the aforementioned gun control sit-in, some of Lewis’s greatest accomplishments in Congress include helping to pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019 through the House of Representatives, which holds individual states accountable for restrictive voter registration and voting practices, and co-sponsoring the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act of 2016, which devotes FBI and DOJ resources to solving civil rights-related cold cases for hate crimes like lynchings.

Meanwhile, one of Stephens’s greatest “accomplishments” is his fiery Cornerstone Speech, which he delivered in Georgia in the weeks before the attack of Fort Sumter.

This speech is credited as one of the clearest explanations of the Confederate system of government, and a key factor behind the galvanization of pro-Confederate sentiment heading into the Civil War. In this speech, Stephens declared that slavery — i.e. the “great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man” — was the “cornerstone” (hence the oration’s nickname) of the Confederate States of America and that the “natural and moral condition” of Black enslavement was what made the Confederacy truly great. These are the horrifying words of the kind of man who would have been Lewis’s worst enemy. The fact that Georgia believes that someone who would say this is “worthy of national commemoration” is simply nauseating and in desperate need of rectification.

As previously stated, even as a young man, Lewis was constantly fighting for improving the treatment of his own community. In Morrill’s own words, one of the most important factors behind whether a statue should be enshrined in Statuary Hall is their commitment to improving our democracy in the form of “distinguished civic … services.” What bigger civic duty

is there than getting Americans to vote? Lewis spent much of his time with SNCC attempting to have Black Americans registered to vote in spite of racist poll taxes and literacy tests, and his skull was even fractured by Alabama police while he was protesting for the original 1965 Voting Rights Act in Selma, Ala., near the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

In Lewis’s own words, “the right to vote is precious … the vote is the most powerful, non-violent tool we have in a democratic society.”

On the other hand, and this should not be surprising at this point, Stephens continued to be a callous racist after the Civil War ended. He was elected to Congress representing Georgia from 1873 to 1882 and then became the governor of Georgia from 1882 until his death in 1883. He was influential in Georgia politics during a postReconstruction period that saw a resurgence of white supremacy and a litany of Black voting restrictions, such as the 1877 poll tax requirement which, although abolished in 1945, was similar to the one Lewis fought against decades later.

This article does not even begin to cover how incredible and effective John Lewis was as an activist and legislator. In addition to his voting rights and congressional work, he led legendary sit-ins against segregation across the country, and was one of the original Freedom Riders protesting the segregation of bus stations in the South. After Lewis’s death, current Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp related a statement praising him as a “Civil Rights hero, freedom fighter, devoted public servant, and beloved Georgian who changed our world in a profound way.”

However, while many members of Congress are trying to get rid of Confederate statues in the Capitol, currently only a state’s government can officially remove and replace that state’s statue.

With that in mind, everything Kemp said about Lewis would be utterly hypocritical if he continued to allow Stephens — the anti-Lewis if there ever was one — to represent Georgia in the Capitol. If Georgians really believe that Lewis was a beloved member of their state, they need to act as soon as possible and purge the stain of the Confederacy from their public memorials, starting with Stephens, and end this purge with new memorials to the right people, like Congressman John Lewis.

Tuhin Chakraborty can be reached at tchakra@umich.edu.

6 ARTS

Thursday, July 23, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

MUSIC REVIEW

DIGITAL CULTURE

Politics and TikToks GRACE TUCKER Daily Arts Writer

The Chicks’ return with ‘Gaslighter’ KATIE BEEKMAN Daily Arts Writer

A lot has changed since the last time we heard from The Chicks. They had a different name, different marital statuses and George W. Bush was still the president. The same president who lead singer Natalie Maines claimed she was “ashamed” of in 2003 — immediately sparking the trio’s fall from country music grace. Still, the group’s 2006 release Taking the Long Way offered no apologies for being outspoken. “I’ve paid a price and I’ll keep paying” Maines halfvowed, half-predicted on the aptly titled track “Not Ready to Make Nice.”

Fourteen years later, Gaslighter proves Maines right. In detailing her tumultuous divorce, the album displays the personal costs of a commitment to candor. “My husband’s girlfriend’s husband just called me up / how messed up is that?” Maines winces on “Sleep at Night.” This kind of unswerving dedication to cataloguing the extent of Maines’s pain is what holds Gaslighter together. And at the same time, it’s what allows The Chicks to deliver the most scathing one-liners of their career.

“I hope you die peacefully in your sleep / just kidding, I hope it hurts like you hurt me” Maines taunts on “Tights On My Boat.” If there’s one image that will now forever haunt Chicks fans, it’s those horrid tights on her boat — Gaslighter’s recurring motif and the damning evidence of Maines’s ex-husband’s infidelity. Bouncing between jabs and sucker punches — “Will your dad pay your taxes now that I’m done?” — the laid-back but ominous “Tights On My Boat” is a deliciously petty tell-all that contextualizes Gaslighter’s arc. And, knowing that the divorce proceedings were drawn out over the prenup and a “confidentiality clause,” maybe Maines figured it was time for her ex to pay up too — in details.

It’s telling then, that the loneliest moment on the album is a cover. Originally recorded by singer-songwriter Charlotte Lawrence, “Every-

body Loves You” anchors Gaslighter in chilling disbelief. The listener gets the sense that even Maines couldn’t quite articulate how betrayed she felt — so she had to use someone else’s words. The song captures Maines’s recognition of a shade of hurt that isn’t found anywhere else on the record — confusion. “Why does everybody love you? / They don’t know enough about you” she sighs. Her delivery is brutal.

There’s something special about seeing yourself in a song that frees Maines to be vulnerable.

But what about their new sound? Known — and loved — for Maines’s rich harmonies with sisters Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire alongside a generous helping of banjo and fiddle, The Chicks have enlisted artists to help launch their comeback who would make any country purist groan. Names include producer Jack Antonoff, known for his work on Taylor Swift’s and Lorde’s recent projects, as well as an assortment of pop-oriented songwriters like Julia Michaels and Anne Clark, who is professionally known as St. Vincent. But it works. The slick, sparse production matches the anger that pulses through the album and heightens its biting lyrics. Genre squabbles aside, banjo licks and studio-bred percussion are equally central to etching out Gaslighter’s narrative.

From the rollicking, finger-pointing title track to the swampy battle cry “March March,” this beat-driven alteration to The Chicks’ signature sound helps keep them steady. Moreover, it’s a teaching tool. In “Julianna Calm Down” The Chicks coach their daughters and nieces through heartbreak. “Just put on, put on, put on your best shoes / and strut the fuck around like you have nothing to lose,” Maines instructs “Harper,” “Eva” and about a dozen other names. What starts slow and somber grows celebratory as the beat pushes the listener to dance.

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On July 9, the world came tumbling down for TikTok fanatics and Gen Zers alike. The app experienced an hour-long glitch causing the short-form videos to appear like-less and view-less, with users’ For You Pages displaying arbitrary content as opposed to the personalized stuff the algorithm usually generates. Before app representatives could assure that the outage was just a temporary disruption, TikTok devotees hysterically flooded Twitter with hashtags like #RipTikTok and #tiktokshutdown anticipating the app’s demise. Severely ill-timed, the glitch occurred just three days following Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s alleged threat to ban the app due to security concerns.

In some sort of doomsday scenario where the government threatens app prohibition on Monday and the application stops functioning on Thursday, TikTokers launched into survival mode and pivoted their focus to other platforms.

LSA junior Ari Elkins, who has accumulated a following of more than 246.7 thousand on the app making themed music listicles, spent the outage trying to direct his followers to his Instagram account. Nick Daly, a Music, Theatre & Dance sophomore who has gained TikTok popularity by posting musical theatre covers, did the same as he encouraged his 71.4 thousand followers to find him on Instagram instead.

In an interview with the Daily, Elkins remembered thinking “Everything I’ve put in is about to disappear” during the infamous glitch. Hannah Stater, a Music, Theatre & Dance student pursuing a master’s in harp performance, has earned over 378.4 thousand followers and 9.1 million likes posting covers under the name “hannah_ harpist.” Stater told the Daily she recalled a wave of #RIP messages during the glitch as creators in her multiple group chats immediately declared the app dead. Within an hour, TikTok’s bug was sorted out, but content creators were still shaken by the malfunction and left uncertain about the app’s fate. Elkins admitted, “I did not really feel relieved when it got fixed. There’s always an idea in my head that I could wake up tomorrow and (TikTok) could be gone.”

A platform that has fostered political mobilization and given a voice to a new generation of activists, artists and business owners, the ban could mean a lot more than just an end to viral dances and unfortunate “thirst traps.” To users like Elkins, who views his content as a supplement to a career in music curation, the ban could translate to a severe professional setback. And to those like Stater or Daly, who are using their platforms to amplify Black and indigenous creators and distribute anti-racist resources, the ban could serve as a threat to free speech. So what is really behind the Trump administration’s supposed ban on the app? Are Gen Z voices at stake?

TikTok, which has experienced a surge of success in recent months, currently entertains 800 million monthly users — exceeding other popular platforms like Snapchat and Twitter.

The majority of these users are between the ages of 16 and 24, allowing the platform to catapult the voices of Gen Z into the national dialogue in unprecedented ways. The generation’s impact via TikTok reached political bounds last month when users banded together to botch attendance of Trump’s Tulsa rally through phony ticket sales. The app has also allowed Black Lives Matter protesters to push first-hand footage that challenges the way the protests are illustrated by mainstream media.

In an interview with the Daily, Stater spoke on TikTok’s role in the Black Lives Matter movement and highlighted the generational discrepancy between mainstream and social media protest coverage. She observed that, “Most Millennials and most Gen Z people don’t have cable, therefore they’re not watching the (same) news … that most Gen Xers and Boomers watch. In the wake of Breonna Taylor’s murderers still not having been arrested, people on the news … are not covering that any more. But TikTok is showing videos of protests still going on … enabling people to question the media and question traditional news.”

Secretary of State Pompeo initially positioned the TikTok ban as a means of safeguarding data, accusing the app, currently operating under an American CEO, of sharing information with the “Chinese Communist Party.” In his proposition, Pompeo essentially posed all Chinese apps as a security threat due to the Chinese internet security law, which would allow the Chinese government to request access to TikTok user data.

However, many creators interpret the Trump administration’s TikTok ban as a way to hinder the work of Gen Zers and counteract the political mobilization the app has stimulated.

Ari Elkins expanded on this belief, saying “I think the ban is a political tactic by the administration to censor the Gen Z voices at the height of an election year, which ultimately I find to be a threat to our democracy. While, of course, you should definitely take safeguards on our privacy and data, this is a bigger issue beyond TikTok that should be dealt with.”

Stater shared a similar concern, stating the ban “will speak volumes to … where the allegiances of our government are in regards to … free speech. If they were to ever ban TikTok and yet they still haven’t declared the KKK as a terrorist group, it just really speaks volumes to the government and the corruption that is at play.”

Daly believed that the ban could be working as both a political tactic and a genuine means of protecting users. He told the Daily, “I think that it is definitely possible that the motive behind the ban would be to push that anti-Chinese narrative that the Trump Administration has been spewing. But, I also do think that it is very possible that it could be due to security reasons, which is also valid. It can be both, unfortunately.”

Read more at michigandaily.com

Thursday, July 23, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

SUMMER SERIES

SUMMER SERIES

Arts organizations face a looming crisis ZOE PHILLIPS Managing Arts Editor

In late May, superstar ballerina Maria Kochetkova posted a ghostly photo of the Berliner Ensemble theatre on her Instagram: An aerial shot of what was supposed to be the audience’s thicket of red velvet seats was now an otherworldly scene of deforestation. Every third or fourth seat had been unbolted and ripped from the ground, leaving socially distant pods of one and two-seat arrangements scattered across the floor. The photo was originally posted on the Berliner’s Instagram account with a caption that translated to “the new normal,” but Kochetkova’s thoughts proved more striking: “Why are the theaters forced to do this,” she wrote, “and not the airlines?”

The controversy began immediately: Some praised Kochetkova for making a political statement, others accused her of advocating for the violation of health codes. In reality, her question fell into neither category and the curiosity was well-founded. Like in theatres, airplane passengers sit in seats next to each other, wrestling over elbow room and breathing each other’s exhales. While the similarities may end there, it’s an experience with substantial physical crossover, much of which bodes poorly for the prevention of virus transmission. In response to the looming pandemic, most airlines limited their seating capacities, and most theatres faced complete shutdowns. This disparity was borne less out of malice and more out of our evaluation of what is and is not essential during a health crisis. At the crest of COVID-19’s wave, these questions about essentialness are fairly easy to assess: No one needs a night at the ballet, though some may still need to fly.

As we attempt to surf the wave’s crash, however, these evaluations of essentialness ripple and foam in a long series of complications.

Kochetkova’s question may have appeared oversimplified because she posted it while we were at the undulation’s crest — I’d argue she was actually trying to ride the wave all the way to shore.

The Arts and Culture sector of the United States employs more than five million people and adds $877 billion to the economy every year. Wrapped up in this are the millions of dancers, performing artists and backstage workers that continue to live without paychecks. The Transportation and Warehousing sector adds only $612 billion. Wrapped up in this are the airline crews that continue to fly planes. Together, the two sectors make up half of the top four most profitable industries in America — on the eve of a global economic meltdown, it should seem obvious that our survival thus relies on the support of both

groups.

Our government recognized only half of this argument: In March, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act allocated $50 billion in 11 major U.S. Airlines. The money allowed planes to continue facilitating travel at socially-distanced seating capacities. Broadly, it allowed the Transportation and Warehousing sector to continue serving our economy. The same legislation allocated only $75 million (not billion) to the thousands of arts organizations in need. In June, New York City Ballet canceled “The Nutcracker” because it was not financially feasible for them to stage a production at socially-distanced seating capacity. Broadly, they do not have the support to continue serving our economy. Come December, there will be no audiences buying tickets. No families will splurge on merchandise and no couples will buy food at nearby restaurants before the show. NYCB will lose millions — the city and country will lose even more.

In response to this danger, the Be An Arts Hero campaign began advocating for the U.S. Senate to pass Arts relief by August 1. Their website makes six main demands: extend unemployment through December, provide subsidies to arts workers for COBRA health insurance, dedicate stimulus packages that are proportional to the economic contributions of the Arts and Culture sector, distribute that relief as quickly as possible, extend paycheck protection to government nonprofits and update the tax deduction laws for creative professionals. The August deadline is not arbitrary — the last week of July marks the last week of federal unemployment checks provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, a lifeline that has kept tens of millions of Americans alive for the past four months. As we surf into the end of summer, Congress appears depressingly confused about the danger of ending such support: Our country is not reopening; the places that have tried now face deadly new spikes of virus transmission.

Artists — especially performing artists — are still out of work. So are retail workers, restaurant waiters and even many transportation employees. In many ways, the United States is no safer than we were in March. This is especially true for creative professionals, many of whom belong to companies who have already announced complete shutdowns until at least January. Ending federal support now is not only misguided, it adds fuel to an already blazing false narrative about this country’s ability to safely reopen.

Read more at michigandaily.com

ARTS 7

‘Mansfield Park’ and the lessons of reading LILLY PIERCE Daily Arts Writer

Jane Austen’s “Mansfield Park” is one of the last books remaining from the selection my mother left me. Without having read an Austen novel prior to “Mansfield Park,” Austen has already held an influential role in my life. When I was little, I remember curling up to my mother on rainy days as we watched the BBC “Pride and Prejudice” series. I was too young to comprehend the intricacies of the story, yet I was able to find comfort in the quiet ambiance the episodes would bring about as well as the calm sense of safety I felt in my mother’s arms.

Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility” and “Emma” were also familiar stories in my household; I still have short, but vivid, recollections of specific moments in each of those film adaptations after peeking into my mother’s room on serene summer or still winter days. More recently, my mother and I bonded over Austen’s stories as we attended the University of Michigan Department of Theatre & Drama’s beautiful production of “Sense and Sensibility” this past fall, and again as we critiqued the 2020 remake of “Emma” during the early springtime.

The reason I share these anecdotes is not to describe my pre-established relationship with Jane Austen, but rather to emphasize the fact that I was not aware of Austen’s “Mansfield Park” until I started reading it two weeks ago. I knew I had an Austen novel in my mother’s passed down collection, but I had assumed that it was “Pride and Prejudice” due to my mother’s particular fondness for the story. When I asked her why she left “Mansfield” instead, she promptly denied it. After I showed her proof of my copy, she then remembered why she chose it: “I

thought it was prettier than the “Pride and Prejudice” copy I found.” She also revealed that “Mansfield” was her least favorite Jane Austen book. While that didn’t exactly encourage me to start reading, I had to read “Mansfield” as I don’t own a copy of “Pride and Prejudice,” and my mother would not let me borrow hers.

“Mansfield Park” is about a young girl, Fanny Price, who leaves her family in Portsmouth to live at Mansfield Park with her wealthy uncle and aunt, Sir Thomas Bertram and Lady Bertram, and their family: the Bertram daughters, Maria and Julia, who are both shallow and unpleasant, and the Bertram sons, Tom and Edmund, the former who is a lavish drunk and the latter who is Fanny’s only friend. Fanny’s other aunt, Aunt Norris, also often resides at Mansfield Park.

Apart from Edmund, the Bertrams make an effort to highlight their indifference to Fanny, for she is not a true member of the family: “ ... and how, without depressing her spirits too far, to make her remember that she is not a Miss Bertram.” Instead of being rightfully aggrieved over the numerous insults Fanny receives from the Bertrams (specifically her Aunt Norris), she accepts the insults as what she deserves. She believes there is fault within her instead of in the treatment she faces.

I couldn’t help but despise all the characters apart from Fanny. The inconsiderate characterizations made reading the book a difficult task, and for the first third of the book I was unenthusiastic about picking it up. The language was another factor that influenced my indifference; however, as I read the language and familiarized myself with the style, it became easy to understand.

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8 MICHIGAN IN COLOR

Thursday, July 23, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

How the ‘waiting game’ suppresses South Asian voters AAKASH RAY MiC Staff Writer

Kellon Yaani Kellon MAYA KADOUH MiC Staff Writer

Disclaimer: *names have been abbreviated in order to ensure the privacy of the identities involved In October 2019, the people of Lebanon began to fill the streets chanting “kellon yaani kellon,” which translates to “all of them means all of them.” All of them, referring to the corrupt sectarian government officials who have prioritized their own greed over providing the Lebanese people with fundamental aid and services for years, leaving Lebanon to be the third most indebted country in the world. Lebanon has a debt to GDP ratio of 152 percent, and has over 75 percent of its population living below the poverty line. The country is without a stable economy, stable electricity, waste management services and food security for no reason other than the government’s inherent greed. When the Lebanese people chant, “kellon yaani kellon,” it is intended to leave no question that all politicians, whether the president or a cabinet member, are the problem. As long as the current ideologies perpetuated through political power persist, Lebanon will be stuck in an eternal cycle of corruption.

Years of a broken economic system, characterized by corruption and heavy reliance on imports, the pegging of the Lebanese currency to the US dollar and a diaspora which endlessly pumps cash into a fragile banking system, has inevitably led to the toppling of Lebanon’s economy. In recent months, the Lebanese currency has crashed and prices have skyrocketed, creating a disappearing middle class and further distress on the poor.

Over 49 percent of Lebanon’s population (6.8 million) are food insecure, and with the price of grocery staples doubling, or even tripling, low income people are destitute. Some parents have to decide if they are going to buy formula or diapers — as there is no way for them to afford both.

HK*, who has lived in Lebanon throughout her whole life, including the civil war,

told The Daily the economic collapse has left Lebanon in the worst state she has ever seen.

“During the civil war, we were mostly scared of bombings,” HK said. “We had hope that the war would end. Now, we are scared of tomorrow and we cannot see hope.”

Lack of hope, a shared sentiment among the Lebanese, is reasonable, given the little to no aid the government is providing for the people. The government has failed to reimburse hospitals, making it impossible to pay staff and buy medical supplies, exacerbating the effects of COVID-19.

“COVID-19 is a problem, like it is everywhere in the world, but it is not our main problem,” HK said. “The economy is our biggest problem.”

Videos have surfaced of pregnant women eating from dumpsters and mothers on the streets offering to sell their organs to feed their children. Among those belonging to the most vulnerable communities are Syrian refugees— 30 percent of Lebanon’s population.

Over 87 percent of the refugees lack food, 73 percent lack a permanent home and each one of them are at devastating odds against Lebanon’s economic crisis and COVID-19.

“With all the suffering going on, the government is not doing anything,” HK said.

“We need a government that cares about their people — both the poor and the rich people.”

Although the economic crisis hits the poor the hardest, those with economic stability are still affected. Banks are limiting withdrawals and those who have bank accounts in dollars are getting paid in liras — which are worth nothing.

“I went to the supermarket and spent around half a million liras. That bought me hardly anything, basically nothing,” HK said.

Like most of Lebanon’s public services, electricity is poorly provided through a government-owned company. Electricite du Liban, the state power company, cannot afford to purchase enough...

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In early December, The South Asian Awareness Network, a student organization on campus, provided me the opportunity to meet Ranjeev Puri— a Democratic candidate running for State Representative for Michigan House 21. This was the first time I had ever met a South Asian running for a political position, although I knew of a few nationally such as Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. Teeming with eagerness, I went on to ask him a few questions, picking his brain about South Asians in government and topics like civic participation and education.

Ranjeev spoke at length about his background growing up in Wisconsin as a second-generation American to two immigrant parents and his work for former President Barack Obama in 2012. Yet, what I remember most was when he noted that South Asians have not historically been a large part of the political atmosphere in the United States.

He left that day encouraging us to fulfill our civic duty and inspired me to think more about the South Asian community from a historical perspective.

While I believe there is certainly a culture of passivity within the South Asian community when it comes to civic engagement, I also believe that there are certain systemic barriers that have decreased the civic participation of immigrants in subtle ways.

Many of us know of the typical forms of voter suppression, including gerrymandering districts, strict voter-ID laws and even purging voters. But, I believe there is additional widespread voter suppression by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which currently has an immense backlog of applications for legal residence and naturalization applications.

Naturalization is the process by which U.S. citizenship is granted to a foreign citizen after they fulfill the requirements established by Congress in the Immigration and Nationality Act. According to Boundless Immigration, “the processing time for a citizenship application has surged over the past two years to over 10 months—double the processing time between 2012 and 2016.” This is expected to continue to rise as the government continues to keep their processing efficiency stays at an incredibly low level. On top of this, there are steep application fees for naturalization — becoming a citizen — such as civics and English tests which must be completed. In lieu, many instead decide to renew their permanent residency for 10 more years and avoid risking hundreds of dollars just to be denied citizenship.

To give a local context, The University of Southern California-Dornsife Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration provides data on the number of people eligible to naturalize in the United States. In Washtenaw County, they estimate that there are 8,458 lawful permanent residents, or “green card” holders, who are eligible to apply for citizenship. Of this population, about 54 percent of lawful permanent residents in Washtenaw County identify as Asian.

According to the database, if naturalized, these individuals would make up roughly 3.3 percent of the citizen voting age population.

This means close to 1 out of every 25 voters is being denied their constitutional right to engage in our democracy in Washtenaw County.

The “waiting game” and the subsequent pressure of the unknown not only holds South Asians back from being civically engaged, but also inhibits them from pursuing certain jobs, scholarships and loans.

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Graphic by Hibah Chughtai

Thursday, July 23, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

MICHIGAN IN COLOR 9

A way to understand: banana leaves SUNITHA PALAT MiC Staff Writer

A few weeks ago, I was introduced to “Ugly Delicious,” a Netflix TV series hosted by American restaurateur, David Chang. In the series, Chang follows the history, culture and cooking which goes into dishes across the world, ranging from shrimp and crawfish, to fried rice to steak. As a huge fan of travel-food shows, like “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations,” I envy people like Chang’s ability to explore cultures, new regions and new types of people through the cuisine they eat, and to share this with wider, sometimes more culturally isolated audiences.

Food is a core pillar of my family and my identity. Ever since I was young, I was taught to cherish the art of eating, cooking and the beauty in sharing the incredible feelings emitted by said food with those around you. Food has always been more than nourishment for me — it’s a hobby, a way I build relationships and a passport into new perspectives and cultures.

So as I watched Chang’s series, I began to appreciate the intricacies and calculations behind seemingly simple foods, like pizza or fried rice, and the fondness, history and attachment tied to larger cultural cuisines I’ve never explored before.

In Season 2, Episode 2, “Don’t Call it Curry,” Chang explores the roots of Indian cuisine, primar-

Design by Hibah Chughtai

ily due to the American public’s general unfamiliarity with it. He admits he’s never made Indian food at home and is quite complexed by it. Why? Chang has no explanation. But he goes on to admit there is some barrier Indian food has yet to break within the United States.

It hasn’t fully become mainstream; you don’t see many quick, modern Indian chains, hear common discussions of Indian recipes in food blogs and papers, nor is there an understanding by the average American of what Indian food is.

The most frustrating aspect of Indian cuisine in America is the lack of representation of all Indian cuisine across the entire nation.

Padma Lakshmi (host of “Top Chef,” and a guest of the episode) struck a chord with me, by noting the way Indian food is presented in

America is as if you were to group Europe into one big country, and refer to Italian, French, Spanish cuisine all as “European.” India is diverse, scattered and regionalized. Each state has its own language, variations in culture and slight differences in religion and cuisines. The Indian food most typically represented in America — butter chicken, chicken tandoori — belongs to a single Indian state, Punjab. And extending from here, other popular foods such as naan, samosas, paneer, korma, belong to North Indian cuisine. India is a country with over a billion people, so flavors are infinite.

My family is from Kerala, one of the most southern Indian states.

Here, cuisine greatly varies from the Northern style and is much less represented in American dining.

There is more of a stew-like, drier presentation featuring curries and a variety of vegetables. Other than these curries (and many others), there are tasty fried foods like idli, vadas, pappadams and dosa. Dosas, being the most popular in my opinion, are a staple of Southern Indian households. They are often likened to be the “Indian crepe” and have gained slight popularity in larger cities and smaller pop-up shops.

But even within South India, and Kerala, there are variations. While I adore and crave many dishes from Kerala, which resemble greater South Indian cooking, when thinking about the art of eating from my homeland, I think of banana leaves.

Used often for weddings, larger religious events and special occasions, banana leaves are representative of a savvy, traditional and

nostalgic medium to eat food — it’s the world’s natural plate. The large, thick, light green leaf is inexhaustible and crisp, and was a perfect way in the past and present to serve food. Keeping the tip of the leaf on the right side, and the larger side on the right, small subtleties mark the “correct” way to eat from a banana leaf. But first, food is served.

When thinking about banana leaves, I think about sadhyas, which essentially means “feast” in Malayalam. These banquet type lunches are common for weddings, important birthdays, and religious celebrations — they are usually quite a production. Picture a large, open-space room with roughly one to two hundred guests sitting at long wooden tables side by side with banana leaves placed in front of them. Caterers come out in this synchronized, almost rehearsed movement — they know what to do, they’ve done this for sadhyas over and over. In tubs, they go down the lines of tables and serve very small portions of various foods onto the banana leaves one by one. Sometimes they ask if you want the serving or not, but before you can even answer, the serving is placed in a little circle on your leaf, and the offererer has passed onto the next guest.

First comes pickle. There are two types of pickle that may come — one, a raw mango pickle...

Read more at michigandaily.com

The erosion of the white monolith

ANA MARÍA SÁNCHEZ-CASTILLO

MiC Staff Writer

The compounding evidence of Euro-American crimes against Brown and Black populations is slowly eroding the white monolith, revealing the structure on which said monolith was formed — a structure of hatred, oppression, subjication, genocide and theft on all accounts. So why is it presumed people must adhere to the same laws and regulations which made the looting of Black and Brown lives and identities legal?

This direct irony, in its correlation to present day political looting, is what I aim to illuminate.

With the birth of the nation we see the beginning of the white struggle which was remedied by the intellectual property of Native

Americans. After white America learned to survive on Native land, they began using tactics to systematically dehumanize Black and Brown populations. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 stands as a watershed moment in history by which Native populations were forced off their ancestral lands and forced into lands that were slowly encroached upon as well. This can be observed as the impetus for the systemic removal of Natives from American nationhood — rationalizing their subjugation and genocide to the major population. In this sense, colonial America can be viewed as hollowing out the shell of the Native American nation.

All while creating laws that legalized injustices and crimes against humanity. What is seen now in Native America are the remnants

Design by Hibah Chughtai

of the genocidal movement that often goes unexplored and ignored.

Due to their culture being rooted in collectivism rather than individualism — as is seen in Western societies — I stand in my belief that Native Americans, having the same ability as white Americans, would

not have committed such horrific crimes to humankind, but I digress.

The magnitude of white America’s crimes against humanity have far exceeded affordability — the petty theft involved in looting is a nominal cost to pay. Today, the modern day movement has the

capacity to illuminate the existence of a power hierarchy that places the fruits of capitalism above the lives of the marginalized fractions of society.

Read more at michigandaily.com

10 SPORTS

Thursday, July 23, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Questions to answer with Big Ten-only schedule THEO MACKIE

Managing Sports Editor

For months — really, since the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament was canceled on March 12 — it’s been clear that this upcoming college football season would be anything but normal.

And on Thursday afternoon, the Big Ten gave the first glimpse at what abnormal could look like for its 14 members, announcing that fall sports will be contested entirely in-conference, if they happen at all.

“If the Conference is able to participate in fall sports based on medical advice, it will move to Conference-only schedules in those sports,” the conference said in a statement. “Details for these sports will be released at a later date, while decisions on sports not listed above will continue to be evaluated. By limiting competition to other Big Ten institutions, the Conference will have the greatest flexibility to adjust its own operations throughout the season and make quick decisions in real-time based on the most current evolving medical advice and the fluid nature of the pandemic.

“This decision was made following many thoughtful conversations over several months between the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors, Directors of Athletics, Conference Office staff, and medical experts including the Big Ten Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Big Ten Sports Medicine Committee.”

Of course, the Big Ten’s decision today may not be its decision tomorrow — a lesson ingrained back in March, when every day came with a new announcement until it all came crumbling down less than a week after the first dominos began to fall. But for now, the conference’s plan is to play an undisclosed number of conference games against undisclosed opponents on an undisclosed schedule. It’s a plan designed for fluidity, which inherently lends itself to more questions than answers.

So, here are some questions and thoughts to consider as the dust settles on the Big Ten’s plan: The word “if” is carrying a lot of weight The very first sentence of the Big Ten’s statement reads, “If the Conference is able to participate in fall sports based on medical advice, it will move to Conference-only schedules in those sports.”

That’s no small caveat. New daily

COVID-19 cases are rising weekover-week in 45 states, including all 11 states with Big Ten schools. And while no Big Ten state is in the top 10 in new cases this week — leaving it in a better position than every other Power Five conference — there have still been 5,925 cases per day this week in Big Ten states. That’s more than all but five other countries. It also means that the likelihood of football season happening at all is dwindling by the day.

Just take Jim Harbaugh’s statement yesterday.

“My thoughts would be, it’s a different conversation if there’s no students on campus,” Harbaugh said. “If students are on campus, then my personal belief as a parent of a daughter who would also be on campus that this is a safe place.”

That conversation could become the norm in the coming weeks.

While Michigan remains committed to having some in-person instruction in the fall, dozens of other schools have begun to move in the other direction. That includes Harvard and Princeton, two schools that were among the leaders in moving online in the spring. It also includes Rutgers, potentially eliminating one scheduled opponent from the Wolverines’ docket.

So while the Big Ten’s statement today indicates it hopes to hold fall sports, the reality is far less rosy.

But even if the season does happen in some capacity, there are plenty of questions to answer, including…

What happens to the postseason?

The Big Ten isn’t the only conference to reportedly be moving

to a fully in-conference schedule, with the ACC and Pac-12 both doing the same, according to multiple reports. And considering the rapid escalation of new cases in Florida and Texas, it seems likely that the SEC and Big 12 will soon follow suit.

Through November, that could lend itself to a season that looks relatively normal. But the College Football Playoff, unlike the 2012 BCS National Championship, isn’t contested within individual conferences. Neither are bowl games.

And while bowl games could be canceled without harming the integrity of the season, the same can’t be said of the CFP. During the last pandemic on this scale in 1918, no traditional bowl games were held and there was no consensus national champion. It’s hard to imagine following that blueprint with the financial and competitive implications of modern-day college football.

But any method of crowning a national champion means playing non-conference games, even if it’s just three games between four teams in early January. And the feasibility of that is hazy at best, especially with some schools taking an extended winter break to avoid heavy flu season.

What is the financial impact of canceled ‘buy games’ for small schools?

The Wolverines have three canceled non-conference games.

One of those is the first leg of a home-and-home with Washington.

Regardless of whether that game is

ever made up, the Huskies will be fine financially, both because of their operating budget and because that game wasn’t constructed primarily as a financial agreement.

The same can’t be said of Ball State and Arkansas State.

The Wolverines were slotted to pay Ball State $975,000. The Arkansas State game was even pricier, at $1.8 million — a contract that included a clause accounting for “an act of God.” That likely means Michigan will be able to get out of paying both Ball State and Arkansas State to help mitigate its own financial losses.

Small schools such as Ball State and Arkansas State, though, don’t have the massive television contracts and booster donations to soften a multi-million dollar hit, especially when they’re already losing six games of gate revenue.

What happens to Notre Dame?

On the opposite end of the FBS spectrum from Ball State and Arkansas State, we have Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish, with their $150 million contract with NBC, will be fine financially.

But if every conference limits itself to in-conference games, what becomes of the nation’s foremost independent?

The answer, as of right now, seems to be that the Irish will be looped into the ACC’s conference games. Like everything else, though, that plan is in a state of limbo. And even if it holds, it could have longterm ramifications for Notre Dame, the ACC and the Big Ten, causing the Irish to continue their recent drift

ALEC COHEN/Daily

Athletic director Warde Manuel and the Big Ten still have a lot of questions to answer after conference-only decision.

from the Big Ten toward the ACC. In the short term, Notre Dame will only have to reschedule its Oct. 3 game with Wisconsin — an unexpected benefit of its recent move to only playing one Big Ten opponent per season.

How will conference schedules unfold?

According to multiple reports, the most likely scenario for the Big Ten is that teams will move to playing 10 conference games, up from the normally-scheduled nine. That alteration, though, could manifest itself in a number of different ways.

The biggest issue could come if Rutgers — or any other school — decides it’s unsafe to play while the rest of the conference goes on as planned. What, in that scenario, would Michigan do on Nov. 14 when it’s scheduled to travel to Piscataway while the rest of the Big Ten is busy with their previously-scheduled games?

And then there’s the problem of figuring out which schools will face each other in their 10th games, if that proposal comes to pass. The easy solution would be to add one team from the opposite division and call it a day. But the conference may decide to re-shuffle its schedule to minimize travel. On Oct. 3, for example, Minnesota is scheduled to travel to Maryland, an 1100-mile trip. The conference could cancel those games and attempt to match East division teams to their nearest West counterparts, and vice versa.

Even if all of those issues are resolved, conferences will still have to decide when these games are to be played. Most Big Ten games begin Week 4, after a trio of nonconference games. But there are some exceptions, such as Indiana’s Week 1 trip to Wisconsin.

So will all conference games be moved into a coordinated 11-week block, giving each team a bye? And if so, when would that block be?

The schedule could run from late September to the weekend after Thanksgiving, but many schools are moving to remote classes after Thanksgiving. Alternatively, it could be moved up a week to avoid having athletes on campus when no other students are — a moral line the Big Ten might not want to cross. If the conference Championship Game remains in place, the schedule could move forward by two weeks, creating a quandary on the other end as athletes rush to get game-ready in an abbreviated offseason.

Whatever the Big Ten decides, though, one thing is clear: today’s decision is only the beginning of the conference’s troubles.

Thursday, July 23, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

SPORTS 11

As Michigan regroups for the fall, a new reality sets in DANIEL DASH

Daily Sports Writer

The Michigan volleyball team barely had barely begun its spring season when an ill-fated email landed in Mark Rosen’s inbox on the morning of March 12.

Mark wasn’t sure what to make of the note, which merely specified the date and time of a required call for all University head coaches. When he first read the email, it appeared the biggest problem would be the fact that the call conflicted with his team’s practice.

And so, while players began trickling into Cliff Keen Arena for what they thought would be a runof-the-mill Thursday afternoon practice, Mark retreated to his office to join the mandatory call while associate head coach Leisa Rosen — who handles the majority of the team’s training anyway — began practice.

Little did he know, it was the last time he’d leave the gym with any

sense of normalcy.

As the call began, Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel didn’t mince words. The Big Ten was suspending all athletic activities, prompting an immediate intervention from Mark.

“My team is practicing right now,” Mark told The Daily. “What should we do?”

Manuel’s response left no room for interpretation: “As soon as we get off the call, shut it down.”

Moments later, Mark re-entered the gym, taking in his final glimpse of volleyball before the world would be turned on its head. The Wolverines were in the middle of a drill when Leisa made eye contact with Mark, whose facial expression and body language told her everything she needed to know.

The players finished the drill and made their way to the team room, where Mark delivered the news.

“I think (the players) kind of knew,” Mark recalled. “Since I wasn’t in practice, they knew that probably

wasn’t a good sign. I just said, ‘Hey, this is what’s going on. This is the situation. We don’t really know a whole lot, but we’re not going to practice until further notice.’ ” As players filed out, a warranted sentiment of uncertainty hung in the air. Since that moment, the Rosens and Wolverines have yet to reconvene as a team. In his 21 years at the helm of the Wolverines’ volleyball program, Mark has never lived through anything like the last four months.

But now, 130 days later, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. And as Michigan inches closer to its conference-only season, the athletic department’s return-to-sport plan is at the forefront of it all.

“It’s a pretty specific protocol,” Mark said Thursday. “I’m super proud of our department. We have a few specific people in our department who are in charge of a few certain areas like facilities or medical. I thought they were pretty good before (the pandemic), but they’re rockstars.

They are really good at what they do.

You see that in whatever profession — when the pressure’s on and it’s a dire situation, that’s when you see who’s really good.”

Mark singled out senior associate athletic director Darryl Conway as the mastermind behind Michigan’s plan to monitor athletes’ exposure, testing and resocialization process. And even though nothing is mandatory until the Wolverines’ formal report day on August 10, many volleyball players have voluntarily returned to Ann Arbor and committed to the athletic department’s guidelines.

But even with a plan in place, the seemingly endless list of wildcards remains daunting.

“That whole process is going about as smooth as it could, but there’ll be a lot of hiccups,” Mark said. “One of the things I’ve learned through this process is that you have to be flexible and you have to understand that things are going to change.

They literally change by the minute almost.”

A few weeks ago, Mark lived

through an example of just that.

“We were on a call one time with all our coaches and administrators,” Mark recalled. “They mentioned a date and a time at the beginning of the meeting, and by the middle of the meeting that date had changed.

I was like, ‘Wait, what happened?’

They said, ‘Oh, yeah, while we’re on this call, things changed.’ That’s what we’ve got to expect. It’ll change really rapidly.”

For now, it’s full steam ahead. As of July 17, just eight of the 635 total student-athletes and staffers in Ann Arbor have tested positive for COVID19. Yet, even as the Wolverines move forward under strict guidelines and cautious optimism, Mark knows that anything is possible in this new reality.

“We know our plans might get blown up any minute,” Mark said.

“We have to be ready for that.”

With fall sports on the horizon, doubt lingers for Mark Rosen DANIEL DASH

Daily Sports Writer

As the fall sports season inches closer, dominoes are beginning to fall.

All across the country last week, conferences canceled their fall sports seasons. The Ivy League was the first Division I conference to cancel fall athletics. The Patriot League, Atlantic 10 and Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference all followed suit, while others, like the Big Ten, announced the enforcement of conference-only fall schedules.

Within Ann Arbor’s Cliff Keen Arena, the Michigan volleyball team is keeping tabs on those dominoes.

Though the team won’t formally report for its preseason until Aug. 10, many players have already voluntarily made their way back to Ann Arbor.

And as head coach Mark Rosen enters his 22nd year at the helm, a telling realization has set in.

“Coaches and athletic administrators, we’re planners,” Rosen said Thursday in an inerview with The Daily. “It’s what we do.

We plan all the time. We plan for matches, we plan for practices, we

plan everything. This is such a weird time because you plan, but you really don’t know what you’re planning for.

So, as we’re going through this and we’re trying to create schedules and plans, we’ve kind of realized that there’s a lot of different pathways this could take.

“There’s been a lot of discussion about the fall being canceled potentially.

So when those conferences did it, I don’t think I was surprised, but it certainly makes you realize this whole thing could be tumbling down pretty quickly.

We just have to be understanding of that, we just have to know that’s a possibility.”

With the preseason on the horizon, the looming uncertainty casts an increasingly long shadow with each passing day. During the Wolverines’ team Zoom call on Wednesday, that all-encompassing sentiment lingered throughout the call.

“You just sense, every time we talk, (the players) are positive, they’re upbeat, they’re excited, they’re working hard, but there’s this little thread of doubt or negativity of what could happen,” Rosen said. “I think they’re handling it super well, but it’s hard. It’s hard to have that

doubt. Everybody really, really wants Emmert told the NCAA Council fall “… It’s interesting because it’s to have a season, but we don’t know championships would “likely” be changing so often. People think one what’s going to happen.” canceled if a decision needed to be standard is good enough and as you Since Michigan’s spring season made on July 16. With a final decision continue through it, you’re like, ‘Hey, was abruptly cut short on March 12 coming in the near future, that doubt wait, we’ve got to raise that standard.’ as a result of the Big Ten’s decision appears warranted.

So, I think everybody’s very open.” to suspend all athletic activities, the “Three weeks ago or two weeks But even as the optics change program has not convened in person. ago, I would’ve been like, ‘Hey, this quickly, the bottom line remains Some players left campus when the is going in a really good direction,’ ” intact.

University transitioned to virtual Rosen said. “And now all of a sudden, “Whatever the best science tells learning, while others remained in this last week, it hasn’t been so good, us,” Rosen said, “we’re going to do Ann Arbor — despite the closure of so you just don’t know. that.” team facilities.

Through it all, one of Rosen’s program pillars has prevailed.

“I’ve been impressed with how they’re focused on the things we can control and not focused on the things we can’t control,” Rosen said. “We talk about that in our program all the time even in a normal year because we think that’s a really healthy way to look at life, but I think they’ve really been very good about that because we know there are so many things outside our control right now.”

But they can’t control what’s going on in the country. As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, each passing day plays a role in determining the fate of fall sports. And right now, things are trending in the wrong direction.

FILE PHOTO/Daily According to Stadium’s Brett McMurphy, NCAA President Mark Mark Rosen is learning to live with the possibilities of the fall semester.

12 SPORTS

Thursday, July 23, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

‘M’ football parents express worry over testing NICHOLAS STOLL

Summer Managing Sports Editor

Despite being optimistic about conference-only play, Chris and Mya Hinton still have concerns. So, with two sons currently in college football programs — Myles at Stanford and sophomore defensive lineman Chris Jr. at Michigan — the Hintons have chosen to be vocal.

Tuesday night, Chris and Mya appeared on HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel and expressed their grievances about the approach the NCAA and college football programs have taken to reintroduce players to campus and practices.

“As a parent of a student athlete, actually, it pissed me off,” Chris said on Real Sports. “... Why can’t there be some kind of universal procedures, protocol, for integrating our sons back to campus?”

This comes after the Hintons appealed to the NCAA, expressing their concerns. They said they received a dismissive response back, and the most frustrating part is the lack of input from players and their parents that the NCAA has allowed.

“The players, who probably have as much to lose as anybody, had no

voice, were voiceless,” Chris said.

“And as parents, we felt the same as the kids — we were voiceless.”

In an attempt to have parents’ voices heard, Chris and Mya founded the Facebook group College Football Parents 24/7.

There, parents could express the

concerns many of them shared.

What it all comes down to is simple, safety: “We just want it to be done right and safely,” Chris told The Daily last week. “We want our sons to be safe, as any other parent would want.”

While the Hintons have

expressed they felt Michigan has handled COVID-19 well in the past, their tone and demeanor on Tuesday night’s program told a different story. They were upset, they were scared and there wasn’t much sense of optimism coming from them.

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily

Michigan parents Chris and Mya Hinton expressed distress about the way the NCAA is handling COVID-19 on HBO Tuesday.

Dy and Schulz return to golf in amateur event LILY ISRAEL

Daily Sports Writer

Opportunities for actual competition are few and far between this summer, but golf remains one of the only sports in the country where social distancing isn’t a major obstacle.

This past week, two Michigan women’s golfers seized the opportunity and competed in the Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship at Forest Akers Golf Course.

Sophomores Anika Dy and Mikaela Schulz competed in two rounds of stroke play before advancing in the top 32 to match play, where Dy advanced to the quarterfinals and Schulz was

eliminated in the first round.

Dy rode a strong putting ability and overall good striking to match play, shooting a 71 and 75 on the first two days.

She was forced to change her approach for the match play to a more aggressive style, which carried her through the first two rounds.

“I was pretty consistent through those two days (of stroke play),” Dy said. “Then match play hit and it’s like a totally different mindset and I’m definitely a stronger stroke play player. I was more comfortable the first two days, but match play was super fun. I’m just bummed that I couldn’t make it farther.”

Failing to recover from poor shots, coupled with shaky wedge

“I’m just bummed I couldn’t make it farther.”

and short game play, Dy lost in the third round of match play.

She struggled right from the beginning of her final round, but was able to add some excitement going down the stretch on a run with some birdies. It wasn’t enough –– she ultimately lost the match with two holes to go.

Despite being eliminated in the first round of match play, Schulz was pleased with her overall performance at the tournament, crediting her recent work on her mental game with a lot of her success.

“I’m really working on just trusting my game and trust in my abilities,” Schulz said. “My game is more consistent than it has been in the past so I’m pretty proud of that. I think my game is really headed in a good direction right now.”

Schulz’ mental strength was tested as soon as match play began, when she was down three with three holes to play. After

not hitting a single fairway on the front nine, Schulz stepped up confidently to the tee on the 16th hole and hit a really tight fairway, setting up an excellent approach shot to help her extend the match.

And while their primary concern is about safety, their frustration is kindled by what they see as the reasoning behind bringing the students back — money.

College football generates billions of dollars a year, and their two sons’ programs generate over 200 million dollars a year combined. For Chris and Mya, that money isn’t worth risking their children’s health, especially when the universities aren’t even willing to let their own staff on campus.

“The optics of that is alarming,” Chris said. “What does it say about your concern about our kids, our sons?”

And while the Ivy League and other smaller leagues have canceled their fall season for the sake of player safety, larger leagues have not followed suit.

“This is ridiculous,” Chris said.

“They’re not even hiding the fact that it’s all about revenue. It’s about revenue. And it’s about the money.”

With both their sons currently on campus for voluntary workouts, the Hintons fear the worst is yet to come if the NCAA and college programs themselves don’t critically review and alter their current approach.

“Just based on statistics somebody — somebody’s kid’s gonna die,” Chris said. “And so the numbers are screaming ‘pump the brakes.’ ”

With both girls competing in less than half the tournaments of a normal summer, this one came with added pressure, but both managed to treat it like any normal tournament.

“It just motivates me and drives me to keep working and keep going,” Schulz said. “It’s really why I play the game.”

FILE PHOTO/Daily

Sophomores Mikaela Schulz and Anika Dy played in an amateur golf tournament.