Carrico, Ruby Klawans, Sarah Boeke & Alums Anna Fuder, Kate Hua /DAILY
Design by Annabelle Ye
NEWS over the YEARS
2021
OCTOBER - Survivors of former athletic doctor Robert Anderson’s sexual abuse camp for over a month outside of then University President Mark Schlissel’s house to protest the University’s
2022
JANUARY - President Mark Schlissel fired for inappropriate relationship with subordinate, replaced by Santa Ono several months later.
2023
MARCH - GEO votes to strike for better pay, child care subsidies and workplace protections, kicking off a months long series of strikes and standoff between GEO and University Administration.
OCTOBER - Divestment and proPalestinian activism and protest surges on campus amid Israel-Gaza conflict.
2024
FEBRUARY - Public Policy Dean Celeste Watkins-Hayes appointed as Provost, the first Black woman to serve in this role at the University of Michigan.
APRIL - Pro-Palestinian protestors establish encampment on the Diag, which would remain up for a month before being broken up by DPSS.
2025
MARCH - University announces cuts to all DEI programs in compliance with President Trump’s executive orders.
APRIL - Planning for U-M’s bicentennial celebrations (2027) formally kicks off as the Board of Regents announces large-scale campus renovations and events.
24 hours at the UMich Gaza solidarity encampment
THE MICHIGAN DAILY NEWS STAFF
As of 6 a.m. Monday, University of Michigan students set up a Gaza solidarity encampment on the Diag, planning to remain until the University meets their demand of divestment from companies profiting off Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. The encampment was organized by the TAHRIR Coalition, a studentled coalition of more than 80 organizations including the U-M chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace and Students Allied for Freedom and Equality.
The encampment follows six months of student protests for the University’s divestment, which began with a sit-in at the President’s house in October. Since then, students have continuously organized protests across campus demanding the University divest from Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Similar encampments have been set up on college campuses across the country, including at Yale University and at Columbia University, with many students facing arrest and suspension, among other disciplinary actions, for their participation.
The Michigan Daily spent 24 hours on the Diag to document dayto-day operations at the solidarity
encampment and understand students’ motivation for their advocacy.
Monday 4:00 p.m. By Christina Zhang
At 4:00 p.m., organizers hold a rally calling on the University to divest from companies profiting off of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. The rally features four speakers, including SAFE president Salma Hamamy, Murad Idris, associate political science professor and two student activists.
Around a dozen pro-Israel students hold Israeli flags on the northwest corner of the Diag. Police officers from the Division of Public Safety and Security as well as Michigan State Police stand outside of Mason Hall watching the rally, but do not engage with students.
Speakers deliver their remarks from in front of the Hatcher Graduate Library. Hamamy speaks first and says living in the encampment is a way for protesters to call attention to living conditions in Gaza. Since the beginning of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, residents have been subjected to increasingly poor living conditions and food shortages.
“As student organizers, we have sacrificed our time and our sleep,” Hamamy said. “But one thing we tend to not sacrifice very often is our comfort, and this is allowing us to experience another level of our
privilege … to be living here with a roof over our heads, have easy access to bathrooms, food, water, heat. We are stripping ourselves of those right now, and that is entirely pale compared to what the people of Gaza are going through.”
The rally ends at 4:30 p.m. Some attendees leave while others join organizers on the Diag and chant various pro-Palestinian chants, including “Fund our education, not the occupation,” “Israel bombs, U of M pays, how many kids did you kill today?” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Monday 5:00 p.m.
By Christina Zhang
By 5:00 p.m., many picketers hold Palestinian flags and signs reading
“Michigan Strike for Gaza / No Class No Work No Business As Usual.”
Picketers chant for the University to divest as they circle around the Diag, while drummers in the middle of the Diag match the rhythm of the chanting with their drumming. Some of the chants include “Screw your lines, screw your threats, we’ll disrupt ’til you divest,” “We want justice, you say how? End the siege on Gaza now” and “From the valley of the beast, hands off the Middle East.” At 5:38 p.m., an organizer thanks picketers and attendees for showing support for Palestine. The organizer reminds attendees to stay safe from both the police presence and pro-Israel counterprotesters,
Donald Trump wins reelection to the White House
ANDREW BAUM, SHANE BAUM & MARY COREY Former Daily Staff Reporters & Senior News Editor
Former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, won the 2024 presidential election, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in a contest that capped off one of the most contentious election cycles in U.S. history.
Trump, who secured a nonconsecutive second term, ran a campaign focused on reducing crime, promoting economic growth, strengthening immigration enforcement and retribution for his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden. Trump reclaimed the White House by flipping several key battleground states, including Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia and Pennsylvania, which delivered 277 electoral votes as of 5:34 a.m., passing the 270 threshold needed to secure the presidency. In his victory speech at about 2:30 a.m. from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump focused on the importance of unity, delivering an almost 25-minute address.
“It’s time to put the divisions of the past four years behind us,” Trump said. “It’s time to unite … success will bring us together.”
Vance, elected to the Senate in 2022 before being selected as Trump’s running mate, also gave victory remarks, emphasizing the hope resulting from a Trump presidential victory.
“I think that we just witnessed the greatest political comeback in the history of the United States of America,” Vance said. “And under President Trump’s leadership, we’re never going to stop fighting for you, for your dreams, for the future of your children. And after the greatest political comeback in American history, we’re going to leave at the greatest economic comeback in American history under Donald Trump’s leadership.”
The Trump-Vance ticket benefitted from a resurgence of support among rural voters and working-class communities, which helped Trump win in 2016. Harris had not yet conceded the race as of Wednesday morning when the Associated Press called the race for Trump. Harris canceled her election night speech, the campaign noting that the
results were still unclear when doing so.
At around 4 p.m. Wednesday, Harris conceded the election to Trump in a speech at her alma mater, Howard University in Washington, D.C. She said she is committed to a peaceful transfer of power and encouraged her supporters to continue fighting for their futures.
“A fundamental principle of American democracy is that when we lose an election, we accept the results,” Harris said. “My allegiance to all three is why I am here to say, while I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign—the fight: the fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness, and the dignity of all people. A fight for the ideals at the heart of our nation, the ideals that reflect America at our best. That is a fight I will never give up.”
Trump is projected to win the popular vote for the first time in his three presidential campaigns despite two impeachments, felony convictions, three pending criminal cases and his attempt to overturn the 2020 election after refusing to concede.
and asks picketers to stay for as long as they are able. The organizer also encourages picketers to change directions while circling the Diag.
The organizer’s announcements are met with cheers as picketers continue to circle the Diag to the beat of makeshift drums.
Monday 6:00 p.m.
By Rachel Mintz
At 6:10 p.m., about 50 U-M student protesters slow their chants and come to a halt in the center of the Diag. Organizers collect signs
and hand out snacks to protesters, who sit in a circle around the block ‘M,’ covered by a sign reading “Apartheid Isn’t Kosher, Jews Demand Divestment.” Members of the Graduate Employees’ Organization lead a teach-in on Palestinian social movements, both on the U-M campus and in the West Bank and Gaza. Amir Marshi, a member of both SAFE and GEO, speaks at the teach-in and says as someone who hails from Palestine, he has seen
persecution of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza in person. “We will win divestment, but we want to completely decolonize Palestine and these institutions of higher education — Israeli institutions of higher education — they’re institutions of higher colonization, dispossession, repression,” Marshi said. “We’re seeing students everywhere are being repressed right now in every single way.”
CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
Santa Ono inaugurated as 15th UMich president
Hundreds of students, faculty and community members at the University of Michigan gathered in the Hill Auditorium Tuesday afternoon to officially inaugurate and install University President Santa Ono into office. Delegates and representatives from nearly 50 other universities also attended the ceremony.
University Provost Laurie McCauley opened the ceremony, welcoming Ono and commending him for his work thus far at the University. McCauley also described Ono’s ability to match the present needs of the University.
“During every major chapter in history … our presidents have been responsible for asking the fundamental question: how can the University of Michigan contribute to the public good in this moment?” McCauley said. “Today I’m so proud to say, without a doubt, that we have found someone worthy to ask and answer that fundamental question.”
Victor J. Dzau, president of the United States National Academy of Medicine, spoke after McCauley and mentioned that Ono is the first Asian-American president in the University’s history, going on to describe Ono’s ability to connect with a community.
“The University of Michigan is nothing if not a place where people come to respond to cynicism with sincerity and despair with determination,” Gilchrist said. “That embodies who we are as Michiganders: bold problem solvers who are not afraid to think outside of every box.”
Hanna Holborn Gray, former president of the University of Chicago, spoke about the challenges that come with working in higher education, which she said she believes Ono will face during his presidency.
“The world of higher education is struggling, today, with a widespread sense of crisis, a time of questioning and sharp conflict over the quality and constant performance of its institutions, of doubt as to whether higher education is doing its job, uncertainty as to what that job should be and how it should be accomplished,” Gray said.
Gray went on to express her confidence in Ono’s ability to face the challenges she described.
“You understand the current problems very well, and you will confront them, as you have always done, with determination, openness, with patience and courage, consulting widely and wisely to reach solutions that will command respect,” Gray said.
singular honor and privilege to be inaugurated today to serve as the University of Michigan’s 15th president.”
Ono proceeded to delineate his objectives and priorities as president, which include supporting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, highlighting the physical and mental health of students, and finding solutions to the climate issues prevalent in the world.
As the University moves into DEI 2.0, the next phase of its DEI strategic planning, Ono said the University would remain steadfast in its commitment to inclusion, excellence and integrity, and to instill these values in its students through a liberal arts education.
As of midnight on Friday, the bargaining team of the University of Michigan’s Graduate Employees’ Organization has officially ratified the University’s final contract offer, ending more than nine months of negotiations, including a five-month-long strike. The ratified contract will last from August 25, 2023 to May 1, 2026, and ensure that graduate student employees will be in the classroom by the time classes begin on Monday. On August 17, with a little more than a week before classes began, GEO President Jared Eno asked the University to provide the union with their “last, best, and final” contract offer, to be reviewed at their Aug. 21 meeting. The meeting resulted in the union voting to authorize the contract, leaving their bargaining team free to ratify the deal before the start of the fall term. The final contract offer saw significant gains on multiple issues that GEO brought up in their original bargaining platform. The University committed to continuing the Rackham Summer Funding Program through August 2026. The contract also saw pay gains for graduate student workers, with Ann Arbor campus union members receiving an 8% pay increase in 2023, a 6% increase in 2024 and 6% increase in 2025.
In a tweet from GEO’s twitter account, GEO expressed excitement over the contract authorization, but followedup in a later tweet saying they would continue to fight for complete pay parity for all U-M graduate student workers.
Graduate student workers at U-M Dearborn and U-M Flint are also set to receive annual raises for the next couple years, with Dearborn receiving a 10.5% increase over three years, and Flint receiving a 9% annually until their minimum pay aligns with Dearborn. The contract also expanded access to mental health coverage and gender affirming health care benefits, and made concessions to GEO on many
“We fought tooth-and-nail over 10 months of bargaining and 5 months of strike action, forcing U-M to grant the largest salary increase in GEO history,” the tweet reads. “However, U-M refused to ensure pay parity across all 3 campuses. This battle is over, but the fight goes on!”
In an email, University Spokesperson Rick Fitzgerald said that the University was happy about the ratification of the contract coming before the start of the semester.
“Ratification of this new three-year contract will help to assure a smooth start to the new academic year next week,” Fitzgerald wrote.
“(Ono) is driven by his mission and values, which allowed him to persevere through challenges and provide steady compassionate guidance through difficult times,” Dzau said.
Allen Liu, associate professor of mechanical engineering and chair of the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, welcomed Ono on behalf of the University faculty and expressed his hopes for a fruitful partnership between the faculty and Ono.
“I’m confident that under Ono’s leadership we will grow and prosper as an institution,” Liu said. “On behalf of the faculty, I will once again give my warmest welcome to Ono, and we look forward to having a positive and collaborative relationship with Ono for many years to come.”
Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist welcomed Ono on behalf of the state of Michigan and spoke about the University — his alma mater — and its value as a place of empowerment for its students.
Professor Earl Lewis, director and founder of the U-M Center for Social Solutions, spoke in a video message played in the auditorium about the importance of service in the role of a university president. Lewis also urged the students, faculty and staff to work with Ono to enact change.
“Today, I call on the University of Michigan community to engage, to challenge when called for, to support when necessary, to advance always, to care deeply and to believe in the power of this great institution to transform lives, and thereby the world,” Lewis said.
The speeches were interspersed with performances from U-M professors, students and Ono’s brother. Following the speeches, Paul Brown, chair of the Board of Regents, formally installed Ono as U-M president. Ono went on to address the audience, giving thanks to the leadership, faculty, staff and students of the University, as well as those who spoke at the ceremony and his family.
“Thank you again, all of you, for this opportunity and for your faith in me,” Ono said. “It is a
“As we look to DEI 2.0, let us strive to nurture thoughtful and understanding citizens and further establish campuses and communities where each individual can live in peace and safety, can learn and grow and thrive and, in turn, give back to their families, their neighborhoods, the nation and the world,” Ono said. Ono also reaffirmed his commitment to supporting the health of the U-M community, particularly in a time of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic and high rates of mental health issues among young people. Ono described the University’s history of innovation in fighting pandemics, citing the development of the first influenza vaccine and the polio vaccine by U-M researchers. To address student mental health, Ono recognized the University’s adoption of the Okanagan Charter in 2021, which calls for the prioritization of mental health in all aspects of campus culture.
“We’ve also established the Well-being Collective, which takes a holistic approach to the development and wellness of the whole person, and, in turn, the whole community,” Ono said.
“Student health and well-being will be, is, one of my highest priorities as president of the University.” Ono described the University’s focus on issues of climate change and discussed ongoing work by faculty members as well as a number of University-based sustainability groups such as the Graham Sustainability Institute, the Institute for Energy Solutions and the Carbon Neutrality Acceleration Program.
Josh Sinha/DAILY
RILEY HODDER Former Daily News Editor
BRONWYN JOHNSTON & MILES ANDERSON Former Daily Staff Reporters
Michigan makes history: 2022 state-wide midterm election results
SAMANTHA RICH, ANNA FIFELSKI & IRENA LI Former Editor-in-Chief & Former Daily Staff Reporters
Michigan had a recordbreaking turnout for the midterm election, with 4.45 million voters who cast a ballot on Tuesday, according to election data from the office of Secretary of State.
The former record, set in 2018, saw a turnout of 4.34 million voters. In Washtenaw County, 182,037 voters submitted ballots.
Governor Gov. Whitmer greets supporters after Fox News calls the race in Whitmer’s favor at her election night watch party at the MotorCity Casino Hotel in Detroit early Wednesday morning.
In a historic race for the governorship, incumbent Gov. Gretchen Whitmer defeated Republican challenger Tudor Dixon, winning 54.5% of the vote.
Wednesday morning, Whitmer took to Twitter to thank Michiganders for their support and reaffirm her commitment to bipartisanship
In a Wednesday morning press release, Dixon said she had called Whitmer to concede the race.
“I called Governor Whitmer this morning to concede and wish her well,” Dixon said.
“Michigan’s future success rests not in elected officials or government, but all of us.”
Attorney General Attorney General Dana Nessel greets supporters after the attorney general race is called in her favor at Gov. Whitmer’s election night watch party at the MotorCity Casino Hotel in Detroit Tuesday evening.
Dana Nessel has won a second term as attorney general, defeating Republican challenger Matthew DePerno. Nessel won
53% of the vote to DePerno’s 45% and took to Twitter shortly after the AP called the race to express her gratitude and excitement for the next four years.
DePerno took to Twitter Wednesday morning to announce his concession in the race.
“Although I may be conceding to Dana Nessel today, I refuse to concede that Michigan is a blue state,” DePerno wrote. “I will continue to fight like hell to restore Michigan to all it can be. Thank you to each and every one of you!”
Secretary of State Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson greets supporters after the secretary of state race is called in her favor at Gov. Whitmer’s election night watch party at the MotorCity Casino Hotel in Detroit Tuesday evening.
Jocelyn Benson will serve another four years as Michigan’s Secretary of State after receiving . 56% of the vote. She declared her victory in a speech at a Michigan Democrats election night watch party in Detroit before any major news outlet called the race,
according to the AP.
Kristina Karamo, who received 42% of the vote, tweeted last night about the long line at the University of Michigan Museum of Art polling station. She claimed Ann Arbor residents were illegally registering to vote after the polls had closed. However, Michigan is one of 20 states that allow for same-day voter registration. Citizens also have the right to vote as long as are in line before polls have closed for the day.
Karamo has yet to concede the race as of Wednesday evening.
Proposals 1, 2 and 3
With the passage of Proposal 3, Michigan became the first state in the country to pass an affirmative citizen-led constitutional amendment that guarantees the right to abortion. About 57% of voters voted in favor of Proposal 3, with 43% voting against it.
Proposal 1 — which set term limits and required financial disclosure by elected officials — and Proposal 2 — which legalized early voting and expanded the use of ballot drop boxes — also
U-M community reacts to invasion of Ukraine, experts weigh in
KATE WEILAND,
VANESSA KIEFER & IRENA LI Former Editor-in-Chief & Former Daily Staff Reporters
LSA freshman Sasha Goncharko is a Ukrainian citizen currently studying at the University of Michigan.
Though she has lived in the U.S. since she was eight years old, she still considers Ukraine to be her home and said it has been devastating to watch the violence unfold from afar.
“I feel a lot of emotions at once,” Goncharko said. “It’s really frightening to think about how there’s a chance that there will be no Ukraine in the end. And it’s difficult to think about how there’s a high chance for Ukraine to have a lost future with lost potential. I would still consider it my home, even though I moved here when I was eight years old. I still feel very much connected to it, having family friends and, of course, family there.” As Russia continues its attack on Ukraine, members of the U-M community weighed in on the impacts of the invasion. The Daily spoke with U-M experts in the field to discuss the historical, political and economic implications of the invasion and heard from students affected by the attack about their personal experiences and views regarding the ongoing events.
‘We are witnessing an attempted re-colonization of Ukraine’ — From the Russian Empire to now.
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 resulted in the formation of 15 new states, including Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Eugene Bondarenko, professor of Slavic languages and Ukrainian culture at the University of Michigan, weighed in on the differences that have emerged among the governments of post-Soviet states.
“It wasn’t obvious in 1991 what kind of country Ukraine would become,” Bondarenko said. “Putin himself has been in power for 22 years now; Ukraine in that time has had five different presidents and countless parliamentary elections … (Representative rule) didn’t happen in Belarus, and (it) didn’t happen in Russia, but it did happen in Ukraine.”
Ukraine had existed as a colony dominated by Russian and Polish-Lithuanian powers for hundreds of years, dating back to the Russian Empire.
Bondarenko described Putin’s actions as an attempt to re-colonize Ukraine, following the Kremlin’s claim that Ukraine lacks sovereignty as a separate entity from Russia.
“It seems that the current Russian leadership, particularly Putin himself, as it increasingly appears, is simply unwilling to accept the idea that Ukrainians are a separate people,” Bondarenko said. “What we are witnessing is not a conflict between two neighbors that can’t agree on something; we are witnessing an attempted re-colonization of Ukraine by Russia.”
The ongoing invasion is not Russia’s first attempt to encroach on Ukrainian
territory in the 21st century. In 2014, the Russian Federation invaded and illegally annexed Crimea, a peninsula off the coast of southern Ukraine.
Russia had also signaled support for the separatist groups controlling Donetsk and Luhansk, two cities that comprise the Donbas region in southeastern Ukraine.
Donetsk and Luhansk declared their independence from Ukraine in 2014 as the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic. Despite being under separatist control, the regions are not recognized internationally as being separate from Ukraine.
According to the Ukrainian government, ongoing conflict between the pro-Russia separatists and the Ukrainian military in Donbas has left over 14,000 dead and forced millions out of their homes.
Political science professor Pauline Jones pointed out the lack of cohesion in the Western response to the events of 2013 and 2014, especially compared to the clear, united response to the current invasion.
“The Western response was pretty flaccid,” Jones said. “There was a division between the U.S. and Europe on how strongly to respond … U.S. President Obama at the time wanted to arm Ukraine, and the Europeans, at that point, withdrew any support from growing further. So there was a disagreement, unlike now.”
passed with 66% and 60% of the vote, respectively.
Proposals 2 and 3 will take effect in 45 days, on Dec. 23.
Proposal 1 will take effect immediately, with an exception for people elected to the state Senate in 2022. Those individuals would be allowed to serve the 12 years regardless of prior legislative office.
Engineering junior Libby Wright said she was excited to cast her vote for Proposal 3, and was able to do so quickly when she arrived at the Palmer Commons polling station around 3 p.m. to cast her ballot.
“I wanted to vote to protect everyone’s rights, and I think it’s important for everyone to do their part in evaluating the state of everything and protect people right now,” Wright said.
“I’m excited to vote yes on Prop 3 because it adds an extra layer of protection in Michigan that is needed right now.”
State Supreme Court
State Supreme Court incumbent Richard Bernstein greets supporters after the
CAMPUS LIFE
race is called in his favor at Gov. Whitmer’s election night watch party at the MotorCity Casino Hotel in Detroit Tuesday evening.
Incumbents Richard Bernstein and Brian Zahra will maintain their seats on the Michigan Supreme Court for another eight years, despite efforts from both Republicans and Democrats to flip one of the seats. While Supreme Court positions are non-partisan, Democrats have supported four of the current members of the court, holding a one-person majority over the three Republican-endorsed justices. Bernstein and Zahra received 34% and 24% of the votes, respectively. Democrats were interested in unseating Zahra and replacing him with Kyra Harris Bolden, who would have been the first Black woman on Michigan’s highest court. Republicans endorsed Paul Hudson, who stressed bipartisanship throughout his campaign. The Libertarian party endorsed attorney Kerry Lee Morgan for a seat.
State Legislature
Starting college in the dark: UMich campus gets through first day of class with no internet
ASTRID CODE & EILENE KOO Daily Staff Reporters
LSA freshman Ellie Diaz was gearing up to attend her first day of classes as a University of Michigan student when a campus-wide internet outage knocked out access to the school’s Wi-Fi network.
The outage also restricted access to the University’s online services, many of which provide information about courses and assignments, leaving many students unable to access their schedules, professor names, class locations and times before the start of classes on Monday.
With the help of a 540-page
guide that lists every class offered at the University sent out just 12 hours before the first classes began, Diaz was able to figure out where her classes were. Still, the outage made for a shaky start to her first week of college, Diaz said. With the University’s primary class resource, Canvas, out of service for most of the day, Diaz wasn’t able to check her syllabi and said she felt less prepared than she would have liked walking into each of her classrooms.
“It’s been hard to navigate where I’m at right now in terms of homework I have for this week,” Diaz said. “I feel really behind because I don’t have the opportunity to access … the (information) on Canvas.”
U-M students and faculty on all three campuses began the fall 2023 semester without access to any of the University’s Wi-Fi networks or online resources linked to the University such as Canvas, Google Workspace and Wolverine Access. The outage was first reported Sunday afternoon by Information and Technology Services at 1:43 p.m. and is not expected to be completely restored for several days. Though the specific cause of the outage has not been announced, an ITS update sent to the campus community at 1:50 p.m. said the University made the decision to intentionally take U-M services offline in response to a “significant security concern.” CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
Alum Tess Crowley/DAILY
The Michigan Daily Digital Section Spotlight Podcast
The Downfall of Mark Schlissel by Michigan Daily Podcast Section
This episode, released on the eve of Schlissel’s removal, explored email exchanges between former University of Michigan president Mark Schlissel and a subordinate employee and the extent to which Schlissel misused his powers.
Arts, Interrupted: Bringing it to A Place of Genre by Michigan Daily Podcast Section
Genre is something that feels entirely intuitive, but upon a closer inspection, begins to elude definition. On this week’s episode, executive producers Matt Popp and Kyla Kralapp are joined by content producers Abby Willcox and Vily Souris to dissect this dilemma’s presence in Film and TV, and Music, before joining together to answer the questions: where did genre come from, and more importantly, is it still relevant?
Video
Farewell to Angelo’s by Jovanna Gallegos, Ozzie Feldman, Kimberly Dennis, Cara Wunder, Morgan Kim and Carly Romanow Angelo’s, an Ann Arbor breakfast staple, closed its doors December 2023. In honor of its closure, The Michigan Daily conducted interviews with the owner and staff, delving into their reflections and cherished memories of the restaurant.
Gameday with the Michigan Marching Band by Myles Murphy and Molly Schwall
For many, game days consist of early mornings, late nights and long walks to the stadium — and the marching band is no exception. Go behind the scenes with the Michigan Marching Band during the 2022 Nebraska v. Michigan game.
Becoming One with the Diag Squirrels by Hannah Elliott and Molly Schwall
Do you ever just sit down at the Diag and wonder, “What is going on in that squirrel’s head who’s approaching me?” Well, former Video Managing Editor, Hannah Elliott, had that exact question and decided to do something about it.
AVERY NELSON — Senior Illustrator
ARTS over the YEARS
ARTS over the YEARS
2022
MAY 2 - At the 2022 Met Gala, Kim Kardashian shakes up the fashion world by re-wearing Marilyn Monroe’s iconic tan dress, which Monroe wore to President John F. Kennedy’s 45th birthday.
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2023
JULY 17 - “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” release to theaters on the same day, creating the phenomenon of “Barbenheimer” which vaulted both films to box office success.
2024
JUNE 7 - Charli XCX releases her commercial hit brat, taking over the music scene with its eccentric club beats and dominating summer style with its retro Y2K and neon green fits.
2025
MARCH 2 - “Anora” wins Best Picture at the Oscars, sparking controversy on the alleged “feminism” or misogyny of Sean Baker’s direction of the film, in the wake of the loss of projected win of “The Brutalist.”
A college senior’s reflections on ‘The Catcher in the Rye’
There are two kinds of reactions
I’ve gotten when I tell people I’m reading “The Catcher in the Rye.” The first is a total non-reaction, where they have no idea what I’m talking about — evidently because their high school curriculum did not force J.D. Salinger down their young, impressionable throats. The second is, admittedly, also a nonreaction, but with a “I didn’t really like that book” tacked on at the end, apologetically followed by the obligatory, “Holden is so annoying.”
After a couple of these conversations, I’ve concluded that even though “The Catcher in the Rye” is about a teenager, it’s not necessarily written for a teenager. In other words. you probably read this book too early.
If you’re a bit late to this Salinger classic, let me fill you in — Holden Caulfield is a recently-expelled
16-year-old prep school student, and “The Catcher in the Rye” is his first-person retelling of a mental breakdown he experiences over a four-day period leading up to Winter Break. It’s a pretty colorful story, and I only read the first couple of lines or so before I found myself chuckling and rolling my eyes because, boy, does this kid have an attitude. Holden has such a striking voice and personality that reading his narration feels as if he’s leapt right off the page and landed next to you. I genuinely don’t think Holden could’ve been anything but a teenager. He’s dramatic, brutally honest and genuinely struggling. He somehow maintains a stable superiority complex while also harboring his own sense of insecurity — an especially adolescent feat, I think. He utterly despises his peers and constantly calls every other character in the story a “phony,” but in the very same paragraph he’ll admit to being a bit of a coward himself, even
confiding that he finds himself out of breath with any small amount of physical activity. Holden possesses that perfect blend of honesty and obliviousness that tugs at our heartstrings and makes us forgive him — because at the end of the day, he’s just a kid.
This is exactly why I think this book is wasted on teenagers who read it too early. Unless you’re old enough to have compassion for your own teenage self, what could possibly motivate you to have sympathy for this obnoxious and complicated high school dropout? It’s only after you’ve been in the trenches of your own story (and have somewhat come out the other end) that you’re able to look back on that experience with kindness and understanding. Everyone has moments of crisis where you look around and wonder what you’re even doing with your life: Is anything worthwhile or meaningful? And if you haven’t asked those questions yourself, you probably won’t understand why
The Tradwife Trilogy part 1: Tradwives mark the return of the lobotomized 1950s housewife
we are to be the breadmakers.”
Girlbosses ran so traditional wives, better known as “tradwives,” could walk. Yes, you read that correctly — more than 100 years ago, women fled the home for the workplace so that a group of grown-up “pick me” girls could wash a few dishes in 2023 and prove to men they’re “not like other girls.” Let me explain.
If you have been on TikTok in the last six months, you have probably come across at least one video of a blonde woman making sourdough while personifying a confused, retro aesthetic that falls somewhere between the 1950s and “Little House on the Prairie.” That is a tradwife. A TikTok sound that has become popular among tradwives on social media exemplifies just how seamlessly they modulate between different kinds of conservative ideology: At first, tradwife messaging is antifeminist. “We live in a day and age where traditional homemaking has been forgotten,” the TikTok sound starts, “where women are fighting to be in the same positions as men, indoctrinated to focus more on their careers and less on the home.” In the next instant, tradwife ideology becomes Christian fundamentalist: “When God created men and women more than just biologically different, our roles are meant to complement each other, not to compete.” The next ideological shift is marked by traditionalism: “Our husbands are to be the breadwinners as
Finally, the ideology swings farthest right in opposition to big government: “Somewhere along the line, ‘feminine’ has been replaced with feminism with the sole purpose of keeping women out of the home, which forces those to rely on the government to teach and raise our children.”
This ideological snowball makes it hard to believe this isn’t satire, but I promise, these hyperconservative convictions are 100% sincere.
Across social media, tradwives have built entire platforms around highly-choreographed performances of domesticity. As Kathryn Jezer-Morton from The Cut points out, these performances differ by their efforts to indoctrinate viewers with ideologies versus aesthetics. On TikTok, for example, tradwives are more ideologically driven: They post three-minute-long, selfie-camera monologues explaining how to become one. Instagram tradwives, on the other hand, pay much greater attention to producing the visuals
of homemaking, in which talking is displaced by silent displays of cooking and cleaning. By showing homemaking as opposed to merely talking about it, Instagram tradwives almost entirely conceal, or rather distract from, their ideologies with pastoral, homesteading aesthetics.
I had encountered Ballerina Farm’s Hannah Neeleman countless times on my Instagram Explore Page before it ever crossed my mind that a mother of seven, who rarely ever videotapes herself outside of her Utah farm, was a tradwife. I didn’t think it was possible to make everything from scratch until I watched her knead milk curds into mozzarella, and the best part of it all: She was just making sandwiches (and yes, the bread was sourdough). Evidently, her commitment to this pastoral, farm wife aesthetic is so great, it feels like she’s cheating every time she uses modern kitchen appliances like her yellow KitchenAid.
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Holden’s little sister who brings him back down to earth. Prior to returning to his childhood home, Holden spends the majority of his page count struggling to escape the things that are “depressing him” (which is basically everything) and trying to find some spark of something real and good and happy — he nearly hooks up with a sex worker, walks in and out of bars, goes on a date with a pretty girl he
When I was a kid, women ran the world. I grew up the youngest child of four sisters and a faithful disciple of my strong-willed mother — even our dog, Sadie, was one of the girls. In adolescence, my male friends were few and far between. In fact, I professed such a dislike of men that when I told my friend Sarah I had started dating one, she said, “Wow, he must be amazing if even you like him.” Rest assured, I do not like him anymore. The first thing every writer gets told is to write what you know. When I write, my stories revolve around girls: our secret interior lives, our public goodnesses, our depravities,
our desires and dress lengths, our unfettered dreams and our deaths. Jane Austen, one of the most illustrious authors of stories by, for and about women, puts forth what is essentially a thesis statement for her own work, nestled unassumingly among polite dialogue in the middle pages of “Persuasion”:
“Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands.”
It may be corny and it may be trite. It may be associated (in my own head at least) with a simplistic, circa-2014 version of feminism that’s out of style now, but I still find it to be true: There is power, for women, in being the writers of our own narratives. There is power in creating something that is ours at all. We might tease male authors on
the internet for their unrealistic descriptions of female characters, but who among us can say that we haven’t, on some basic level, internalized their fantasy of women with perky breasts who never complain?
John Green can claim all he wants that his love interests aren’t manic pixie dream girls, but did we not, in the faceless wasteland of middle school, adopt some of their quirks as our own to appear more interesting to a boy in neon Nike gym socks? It’s the unspoken doctrine of heterosexual women everywhere, and I know it by heart: Never mind what I want. What do you want?
What John Green’s teenage girls are missing is any sense of interiority — they materialize out of thin air with a beautiful face plastered on top, à la “The Substance” (if only we actually saw the terrible monster
Holden is asking them either. But as we live more life, there’s a chance that our own inner turmoil and anguish is reflected in Holden’s story, and he serves as a kind of time capsule to all the times we’ve had to wrestle with the very real and deeply felt difficulties of being alive. (Of course, it probably doesn’t hurt to have also been a cynical, elitist teenager at some point in your rich life history — that will definitely make this book relatable).
I’m a senior in college right now, and there was one aspect of this book that really struck a chord with me as I exist in a pregraduation, perpetually sappy, sad-but-very-grateful headspace. I found it simply wonderful that it’s
and even despite his teacher’s eloquence and insightful advice, it’s ultimately Phoebe and her simple, childlike love for Holden that breaks through the fog of his despair.
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‘Emilia Pérez,’ explained.
LOLA D’ONOFRIO Former Senior Arts Editor
As the 2024 Oscar race tightens, the French Spanish-language musical “Emilia Pérez” has skyrocketed to the forefront of awards season discourse. This buzz began to escalate in late January, when the Academy granted the film 13 nominations across 12 categories — making it the most Oscarnominated film of the year. Unlike Academy darlings of old, “Emilia Pérez” has received poor reviews from critics and general audiences alike. This negativity has only compounded as the film generates more awards season momentum — and more online controversy. It seems impossible for such a divisive film to have found such awards-season success. This article is an attempt to answer two questions: How did we get here, and what happens next? What follows is a comprehensive breakdown of the “Emilia Pérez” phenomenon: the controversies, complications and implications of the film’s continued awards-season success.
Part One: The Conception “Emilia Pérez” is the brainchild of French writer-director Jacques Audiard (“Rust and Bone”), a prolific filmmaker known for his gritty, character-driven, European crime dramas. As a Spanishlanguage musical set almost entirely in Mexico, “Emilia Pérez” breaks new ground for the director. The film follows overworked lawyer Rita (Zoe Saldaña, “Avatar: The Way of Water”) as she attempts to orchestrate a sex change for a high-ranking Mexican cartel boss named Manitas (Karla Sofiá Gascón, “Rebelde”). Rita eventually succeeds in arranging Manitas’s gender-affirming surgeries, reintroducing the cartel boss to the world as a woman named Emilia Pérez. As the film progresses, Emilia’s dark past begins to close in
on her, endangering her wife Jessi (Selena Gomez, “Spring Breakers”) and their two young children. The film’s soundtrack, composed by French singer-songwriter Camille and composer Clément Ducol, is integrated into the film in typical movie musical fashion: Emilia, Rita and Jessi all resort to song when expressing any strong emotion. It’s an admittedly complex premise. In an interview with The New York Times, Audiard confessed that his knowledge of movie musicals was limited, but that he felt “chased” by the genre for a long time. Inspired by the French novel “Écoute,” which also features a transgender Mexican cartel boss, Audiard began dreaming up “Emilia Pérez” as a four-act opera libretto, eventually transitioning the story into movie musical form. Driven by a desire for “total spectacle,” Audiard labored over the visual elements of “Emilia Pérez,” shooting the film entirely on Parisian sound stages in order to more firmly control the on-screen environment. Four years after Audiard initially conceived the idea, “Emilia Pérez” premiered in May of 2024 at the Cannes Film Festival.
Part Two: The Compliments Reviews out of Cannes were generally positive, praising “Emilia Pérez” for its originality and ambition. While at Cannes, the film picked up a Jury Prize and a historic Best Actress win. Following this successful premiere, Netflix bought “Emilia Pérez” for $12 million, with plans for a wide theatrical release in the fall. In the meantime, the film was screened at a variety of North American film festivals, where it continued to generate steady praise. In fact, “Emilia Pérez” faced almost no significant criticism during its film festival premieres.
Was “Emilia Pérez” magically good until its wide theatrical release? Not necessarily. Even in
Nothing matters at The Eras Tour
underneath.) They might prove, through some unexpectedly mundane act at the end of the book that they are not the eccentric, immortal seductresses that the male main characters think they are. But what we don’t know is who they actually are — they are forever limited by the story’s vantage point inside of a man’s head. I have no desire to read another story in which a man finds out that, wow, women are people too! I lived it, unfortunately. It must have come as a disappointment to the aforementioned boyfriend when it turned out that the human body he’d deemed desirable brought with it a set of human needs. But what about my disappointment? At least I forced him to watch Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well” short film, so he’d be well-educated in just exactly how he would end up hurting me.
Two months after the breakup, I went to the Eras Tour with my sister, my mom and my fifthgrade best friend Sasha. The Eras Tour was like a drug — if not literally, at least figuratively — in the way it stripped of meaning everything that had come before it. Nothing mattered but that shining moment. When Swift performed the famed “All Too Well (10 Minute Version),” a magnum opus of a breakup song in thousands of dollars worth of sequins and a pair of Louboutins, I’ll admit I cried. I cried because I had been hurt by a person I loved, and I cried when I looked around the entire stadium and saw thousands of women who had lived the exact same reality and were still living it — and Swift, someone who lived it, with the proverbial pen in her hand. Disentangling my life from a man’s furrowed brow bone
the film’s earliest reviews, critics pointed out its drastic tone shifts and one-dimensional characters, but these critiques simply weren’t a part of the central narrative surrounding the film. Instead, most early reviews emphasized the film’s positives, resulting in a more forgiving general consensus.
Part Three: The Criticism The “Emilia Pérez” honeymoon phase ended sharply in early November when the film opened in theaters across North America. Almost immediately, criticism ramped up. General audiences were neither blinded by film festival charm nor burdened by a deep personal attachment to Audiard as a modern French auteur. Viewers saw the film for what it truly was: a surface-level dance through real, complex existences. As previously mentioned, “Emilia Pérez” was shot entirely on French sound stages. Audiard, who wrote the film himself, essentially crafted a faux on-screen Mexico, making little effort to research the country’s actual geography or culture. Beyond that, neither Saldaña nor Gascón (the two leading actresses) are Mexican. The resulting film feels like a hollow echo of a very real country — the accents aren’t right, the landscapes aren’t real and the politics aren’t contextualized. Mexican film critics described Audiard’s portrayal of Mexico as a violent “fantasia” and a “narcomusical,” criticizing his surfacelevel depiction of cartel violence. Mexican screenwriter Héctor Guillén called the film a “racist Eurocentric mockery,” a statement which he expanded upon during an interview with the BBC. In this interview, Guillén explains that Mexico is in the midst of a “drug war (with) nearly 500,000 deaths,” a fact which Audiard seems blissfully unaware of. CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
brought into focus the women who sustained me. I got off the phone crying and my friends surrounded me, singing Crosby, Stills and Nash’s “Helplessly Hoping” in unironic and perfect harmony. At the Eras Tour, Sasha and I hugged, and I remembered how we’d gone to the Red Tour together almost exactly 11 years earlier. There was no ex-boyfriend to cry about back then, just the deep-rooted fear of getting braces. Now Swift’s music saw us in a different way. It brought us power, even. To endure something, to come out the other end of it, and then to speak it out loud — it was brave, and it was comforting. “It is quite universal,” I texted my sister a month later, “like every single breakup song is relatable.” CONTINUED AT
BELA KELLOGG Former Daily Arts Writer
NINA SMITH Former Senior Arts Editor
PAULINE KIM Former Daily Arts Writer
Maisie Derlega/DAILY
Sara Fang/DAILY
CECILIA DORE Senior Arts Editor
This September, The Michigan Daily’s most stylish writers went to New York Fashion Week to seek out the coolest collections and exclusive events. We scoured the Big Apple in search of what’s new in fashion and culture this upcoming spring and summer — this is what we found.
New York Fashion Week
— a biannual celebration of everything new to bless the fashion world — is somewhere I’d expect to see the birth of trends and innovation within garments.
The first-ever fashion week, NYFW has been the stage for some incredibly iconic moments in fashion history.
During the Spring/Summer ’24
Menswear is haunted by the Ghost of Kanye Past
shows, I attended the showcase for New York Men’s Day, an initiative built to highlight up-and-coming menswear and gender-neutral fashion designers. Here, I was able to see and interact with what the event considered to be the future of menswear. While there were undoubtedly looks that emulated what it means to push boundaries in a more stagnant realm of dressing, it was difficult not to notice the monochrome fauxfuturistic theme that plagues modern menswear creeping its way into the collections. Even in the freshest of menswear spaces, it seems that the neutral-colored, semi-casual structured looks that Yeezy helped popularize in the past decade are still inescapable.
In many ways, fashion is
redundant; every designer has to draw inspiration from somewhere. When too many designers start cutting down trees from the Yeezy forest, however, fashion starts feeling like “The Lorax” — absolutely no fresh air.
In online spaces, these reiterations of Kanye-related pieces are particularly noticeable. Boxy hooded sweatshirts and minimalistic graphic tees reminiscent of Yeezy Gap maintain their grip on rising brands (we really don’t need the next WET shirt). Even Mark Zuckerberg’s T-shirt designs that he has recently created alongside Mike Amiri feel Ye-adjacent. Monochromatic and neutral color schemes linger in nearly every major clothing space, from athleisure to streetwear. Even Adidas, a former collaborator of Kanye West, has
been accused by Ye himself of ripping off his iconic Yeezy slides (which near copies of can also be found at basically any superstore). It’s difficult to explore current styles without an encounter with something resembling these Kanye-coined designs, even if they aren’t directly inspired by Yeezy. These kinds of looks have been produced and popularized by countless other brands as well, including Balenciaga and Rick Owens. The infatuation with strippedback minimalism is a foolproof route that brands can circle back to if all else fails; I don’t care if it’s oversized, it’s still boring. These repetitive choices stall the advancement of menswear. Logistically, it makes sense for brands to err on the side of caution when it comes to
experimentation with menswear. In a climate where male athletes painting their nails can make headlines and a man wearing a dress is labeled by critics as a humiliation ritual, it can feel like there is little wiggle room within what can appeal (and be acceptable) to a wide-scale male audience. It also doesn’t help that minimalism and simplicity in general are (unfortunately) hot in many other spaces as well, such as logo design and interior decorating, further assigning the role of safety net to simplistic designs that maybe experiment with shape.
However, designers should be working to move the goalposts of what is “acceptable”; menswear deserves new silhouettes and real experimentation. Throwing a skirt or some extra pockets in a collection otherwise filled with tailored suits or hooded sweatshirts and joggers feels lazy at best, and like insincere attempts at experimentation to pacify audiences at worst. While the designs and ideas Kanye or other creatives have made may have been innovative or groundbreaking in the past, similar styles have come to oversaturate the menswear market. There are some brands that truly do experiment, yet this level of monotony being present in the collections of small, aspiring designers is a signal that not enough is changing in the realm of menswear and gender-neutral designs — a serious lack in a space that could otherwise have the potential to shift ideas about the relationship of gender and fashion.
Dear ‘Love Is Blind,’ you aren’t as noble as you think you are
Is love blind? It’s an intriguing question that Netflix’s “Love Is Blind” seeks to answer. The setup of “Love Is Blind” is notably different from other reality dating shows: A group of around 15 men and 15 women are separated from each other and their only chance for interaction with the opposite gender is through the “pods” (small cubicles with a couch on each side and a wall separating the two). This removes physical appearance from the equation and allows participants to get to know the person on the other side of the wall without any distractions (or preconceived notions). In season
three, on par with previous seasons, five couples made it past the engagement round, but only time will tell if they actually go through with the mission — marriage. As with all reality shows, a major contributor to a show’s success is the likability (or unlikability) of the contestants. In order for the show to be successful, it must keep your attention, and the best way to do this is by eliciting emotions from viewers as they are watching. It doesn’t matter much if the emotions are positive or negative ones, as long as they are potent. Many of the “Love Is Blind” contestants serve to create more drama, keeping us hooked. This season, there was an excess of
distinctly unlikable contestants who created a lot of drama and provoked many negative reactions. One contestant in particular, Andrew, was seen using eye drops to water his eyes and give the appearance that he was crying after his proposal was turned down. He had seemed arrogant even in the pod, but seeing this blatant manipulation was disgusting. Two contestants, Cole and Bartise, let their true colors show after seeing the women in person — both rejected women they had strong connections with and told other women that they were more physically compatible with them than with their current partners.
Having several unlikable contestants who stir up drama
makes the show more engaging, so in that sense, “Love Is Blind” did succeed; however, the show is hosted by a seemingly-inlove celebrity couple, Nick and Vanessa Lachey, and the name “Love Is Blind” reflects a mission to find real love. Instead, it fails to foster genuine connections.
Going back to the main question: Is love blind? Personally, I think it can be, depending on the kind of love, but is the love we see on the show blind? The framing and title of the show suggest it should be, but in reality, that’s just not true. For almost anybody seeking a romantic relationship, a partner’s appearance is important for compatibility. Some people may be able to look past minor
physical disconnects more easily, but for the large majority, looks matter significantly.
Audiences, myself included, have grown very attached to one woman in particular, Zanab, who is subject to Cole’s disrespectful enforcement of racist beauty standards throughout the show.
After seeing what Colleen, another woman he had a strong connection with, looked like, he had second thoughts. He’s openly said to both women that he finds Colleen more physically attractive than Zanab and has even numerically ranked them both out of 10. Several viewers have taken to Twitter to express a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with: Cole can’t seem to get over his type — white
women — and recognize Zanab’s beauty, both physically and internally.
Zanab deserves far better than Cole, and this couple definitely proves love isn’t completely blind. Cole adds to the drama and entertainment factor of the show, but at some point, watching somebody so unlikable treat the most likable member of the cast so poorly might result in fewer people returning to watch. The patience of viewers isn’t going to last forever. “Love Is Blind” needs to decide if they want to go full-on drama reality TV mode, or change something and stop pretending they’re a cut above the rest.
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JENNA JAEHNIG Daily Arts Writer
ARTS over the YEARS MiC over the YEARS
2022
Michigan in Color releases Queer in Color, a space to amplify Queer students of color voices through forms of creative expression. All work featured in Queer of Color is created by Queer MiC members or collaborators.
NOVEMBER 2 - Michigan in Color hosts its first annual Open MiC Night on the Diag showcasing the talents of many students of color.
Michigan in Color
2023
FEBRUARY 1 - The Black Hair Series: 16 Black U-M students, with two barbers and hairstylists, share insight on their stories and personal hair journeys to showcase the “multifaceted nature of Black hair.”
In this space, we invite our contributors to be vulnerable and authentic about our experiences and the important issues in our world today.
Our work represents our identities in a way that is both unapologetic and creative. We are a community that reclaims our stories on our own terms.
Going home
MAYA KOGULAN Former MiC Columnist
I used to hate my hometown. I thought it limited me. In some ways, it probably did. Growing up in a predictable white, suburban town tends to suffocate you in all the ways you would expect. The streets become ingrained in your memory because the buildings never change. You see the same people every day, everywhere, all the time. Those people always smile and wave, and you smile and wave back because that is the Midwest-etiquette thing to do. Sometimes, you try to look into their eyes, in the Kroger aisle or at the gas station, to see if they get tired of this town the same way you do. On my trips home from college, I am starting to realize that I probably don’t hate my hometown the way I thought I did. I hated the way it used to make me feel. When I return to my hometown, I feel every belittling, painful moment of my adolescence. Growing up breaks you down, especially as a person of Color in a white town that fails to offer you any ounce of grace. It’s painful, uncomfortable and exhausting, and returning home is a constant reminder of that. At the same time, when I return home, the air feels crisper, the sounds of the 4 a.m. trains that I dreaded growing up are now comforting and when my neighbor’s eyes meet mine, it is oddly warm.
All I wanted was change. However, in a new city filled with opportunities for reinvention, it is the reminders of home that I intentionally seek out. I tried to make the same Tamil food in my college kitchen that I refused to
eat when I was 13. I have a playlist of songs from 2014 because those were the same songs that I listened to on my iPod touch on the way to school.
When I returned for the holidays, I faced conflicting emotions. I am determined to decipher my tangled feelings of regret and nostalgia. So this time, I wrote down two special places in my hometown and what they mean to me now.
1. The eyebrow threading place in the mall
A sacred relationship exists between a brown girl and her eyebrow-threading salon. Mine is called Brow23, and it is sandwiched between Macy’s and a Francesa’s that has been shut down for three years. The mall hasn’t been renovated since the early 2000s. It is not sleek; it feels confidently loud in a cheugy, funky pattern aesthetic. I have been going to this eyebrow threading shop since fifth grade. In fourth grade, a boy told me that I had a unibrow, and it took 200 days of begging and bad razor cuts to convince my mom that I should get my eyebrows professionally threaded. It has been 10 years since I started going there, but the service is consistently the same. There is a long blue couch with the same archetypes: Indian aunties, broke college students, white moms with crying babies. I ask for the same aunty to do my brows. She’s never told me her name; it feels weird to ask since she doesn’t know mine. I tell her, “Keep them thick; just shape them,” and she nods as if she hasn’t done my brows dozens of times before. She tells
Pas De Deux
NGHI NGUYEN Former MiC Senior Editor
Odette stands in the spotlight of the “Swan Lake” ballet, a ballerina who is cursed to remain a swan. To be stuck in an animalic form, albeit one of beauty, is not a blessing. Deception and malice lace her tale with tragedy. A pure heart has transformative power,butthetruequestioniswhether it can overcome vulnerability and emerge as a force to be reckoned with.
Act I: danse des petits cygnes
My childhood bedroom is a palette of pink. It would be plastered on the front page of a girly teen magazine as the everyday princess’s dream. A porcelain music box rests upon my bed frame, a pristine ballerina at its center. With some elbow grease, she spins in place, accompanied by an eerie, off-key rendition of “Swan Lake.” I have always entertained the idea of being a ballerina: Nothing makes me feel more like myself than embracing girlhood, and I saw the ballerina as a perfect symbol of femininity. I give all my plushies female names and paint them as independent women. Their quintessential fairytale ending is simply achieving their dream job, becoming rich and living happily with their best friends, reflecting my own conception of paradise. Being a girl is all I have ever known how to be and I never feel the need to entertain an alternative.
“Con ơi, come help Mom!”
My mother’s voice wrenches the door of my fortress of solitude open. I smooth out my blush pink nightgown and cast one last look at my porcelain ballerina before I shut the door behind me.
As a child, I was obsessed with frilly dresses — the more ruffles and layers, the better. Embedded in each ruffle was my childlike optimism in the frivolity of being a girl. The younger me fell in love with all things traditionally feminine and opted for strictly girly characters to fixate on. It was very much a “no boys allowed” type of existence, albeit unintentionally. I never had a tomboy phase and am a product of the “unconsciously heteronormative ally to realized queer woman exploring gender expression” pipeline. As I got older, I stepped away from viewing archetypically feminine clothing as synonymous with my personal gender identity. My appearance can help me embrace my identity as a woman, but it is a state of mind more than anything. Testing the waters of androgyny has been my safe haven for examining how I want to flourish in my girlhood. Androgyny is not an alternative to femininity, but rather an avenue for exploring gender expression without sacrificing my identification of being a woman. Playing dress-up is not just a childhood pastime, it seems.
Pure white feathers adorn my figure. My pointe shoes are spotless and reflect a shine resembling smooth, unmarred glass. I stare fixedly at the mirrored wall surrounding me on all sides. My eyes are calm and bright as I polishoffeachassembléandpirouette. Sweat creeps onto my skin and my brows furrow as I coerce my muscles into completing my choreography. I cannot discard the paranoia that clings to me like a shadow. I know I am far from perfection and being cognizant of that flaw is the fuel that I depend on to feel alive.
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me that I don’t come in enough and that maybe I should think about threading my upper lip and face, and I nod as if I haven’t heard this dozens of times before.
Sometimes she asks me about college; other times, we sit in silence. She must notice that I bite my lip and press my nails deep into my skin to distract myself from the pain, which feels like sandpaper scraping against my skin with each fine movement. Some people say the pain gets better but it doesn’t – it will always hurt. I think those people just get used to it or accept that beauty is pain.
Threading only takes 10 minutes, and only costs 10 dollars. She always offers me rose water to soothe the stinging. One out of three times, she compliments how thick my eyebrows are, and the compliment feels earned because of all the teasing I have endured about my unibrow. I leave the store to get Auntie Anne pretzel bites in the food court, praying that thin brows never go back in style again. I check myself out in the reflection of the glass on a closed down store. My brows look good – Aunty always makes them look good.
2. The blue swing set at my elementary school I had the same best friend until eighth grade. We had the exact same sense of humor, probably because we developed it together. We communicated with mere looks, whether it be across the playground or lunchroom. Just by smirking, I could tell her a joke, and with a slight look in her eyes, she would riff a joke back.
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2023
Palestine in Focus: expanding page to spotlight news coverage, commentary and art centering Palestinian liberation to battle misinformation and colonialist narratives.
APRIL 7 - Michigan in Color hosts its second annual MiC Arts Expo as a celebration of BIPOC art on campus including local art vendors, student performers and a curated display of static art.
2025
APRIL 8 - Michigan in Color releases a collective statement admonishing the University’s dismantling of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs and calls for the support of student movements and organizing to fight back against continued structural inequity on campus and beyond.
Learning how to drive: a continuous experience
SAHANA NANDIGAMA Former MiC Columnist
Getting my driver’s license was the biggest task I’ve ever procrastinated on. I got my license this year after beginning the process in my sophomore year of high school, which means it took me a painstaking three years when it should’ve taken one. I know, it’s shameful. Essentially, I took a break for two years in the middle of the process because the thought of driving repulsed me. I was not only terrified to get behind the wheel, but I was incredibly anxious just thinking about taking the driving test. So, I put it out of my mind until I ultimately had to force myself to get it over with since it was creating too much of an inconvenience to get places. It’s not that I’m a terrible driver, but something about being in control of a whole moving vehicle frightens me. When you think about it, driving requires an incredible amount of self control, awareness and responsibility. Everyone on the road and your own passengers are depending on you. Having so much power was something I couldn’t get myself to accept. For one, I was only 14 years old when I started to learn how to drive. At the time, I thought I was an adult — a notion I now laugh at. Driving a car was the biggest
responsibility I had, and while it is definitely a nerve-wracking task, I hadn’t yet realized it would be obsolete compared to everything thrown at me as I grew older. In a way, I equate responsibility with growing older, just as I do with driving a car. It’s not that getting my license made me feel significantly older, but I saw it as a parallel to aging because it was one of my first milestones. It was my first recognition by society that I was slowly exiting my childhood. I quickly learned that this would not be my last uneasy introduction to adulthood: flying alone on a plane, graduating from high school and leaving my hometown (and only town I’ve ever lived in) are a few instances where it felt like society was acknowledging me as an adult — no longer accepting the excuse of being young and naive. And while I’m older now, growing up is still a concept I haven’t been able to adopt.
Things have changed since I was 14. Then, all I was really ever focused on was, frankly, myself. All of my problems seemed world-ending, and I felt like everything around me had a direct impact on my life. Yes, I was selfish. And I know I’m still very young, but at least my illusion of the world revolving around me has shattered. I know I no longer have the confidence to make everyone my friend like I did in preschool.
Sometimes I feel like I am more aware of how I think others perceive me versus how I see my own identity. I’ve experienced emotions I never even knew existed when I was a child: grief, anxiety and loneliness. Growing older doesn’t make me sad as much as it makes me frustrated. I can’t seem to grapple with the fact that aging is inevitable and I’m not sure how I can let go of my youth because I seem to find a new reason for why it was the best time of my life every day. I’m lucky enough to have fond memories of my childhood. My days consisted of competing on who could rise the highest on the swings at recess, playing outside every day with my neighbors, going to the park or library with my dad and counting down the days until I visit my cousins every Christmas. You don’t realize time passes when none of the neighborhood kids come to play outside after school anymore, when you start caring about how you dress or how many friends you have or when you’re too busy to go to the library with your dad on the weekends. You enjoy living in the knowledge that you are young and practically invincible. You live in the bliss of ignorance that you are shielded, that you have not really experienced much of anything and that your youth should be cherished.
CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
Where lost religions go: What colonization can and can’t erase
My lost religions haunt me. There is a world, perhaps similar to this one, where Spain’s leather boots never dropped off their boats, never left footprints in the sand of the Philippines. There is a world where anitism, the indigenous religion of the Philippines, was never taken into the hands of the colonizing man, picked and prodded at, taken and torn, with Catholicism pushed into its place. There is a world where I believe in a religion that was born on the shores of my mother’s country, where I was raised believing in anito, where the trinity I was raised with was instead a constellation of deities and spirits. That world is not this one, and this absence of a possibility remains a thorn in the folds of my mind.
“We’ll never get them back,” a Filipina friend once said to me. “All those religions, what could have been. The Philippines had indigenous religions. I think it’s easy to forget. Imagine that? We’ll never get them back.”
Before Islam, Christianity, and the other vastly dominating religions arrived to the Philippines on boats, there was anitism. It was a polytheistic belief system, with a multitude of deities with different levels of power. The deities of anitism were gods that had personalities, flaws. There was a hierarchy of power, with the Naga serpent, considered the most powerful deity, at the top. The Naga serpent was the central god, around which the rest
of the gods orbited. Anitism gods could influence fortune and fate, and it was important to perform rituals or sacrifices to avoid a god’s curses. Gods could also work on the physical plane and cure illnesses or dispel curses if a spiritual leader or healer worked on their behalf. Another core part of anitism were the anito — what souls became in the afterlife. Those on earth could make sacrifices or give offerings to the anito, typically the anito of their ancestors, who could intercede on behalf of the living relatives. Nature, too, had power, such as with water spirits and forest spirits. Believers would often perform rituals to ask other anito to speak and commune with the nature spirits for them. Nature spirits were the ones who controlled the seasons and, therefore, the bountifulness of the land, so it was important to appease them. All nature, and all land, had a spirit. This was the religion that existed before colonizers sailed in from across the ocean. In particular, it was Ferdinand Magellan’s arrival in the Philippines in the 1520s that brought with it the beginning of a tidal wave of colonization. It was the first instance, in what became a series of instances, in which men from far-off lands carried on their backs stories and threats, carried a new religion that would soon come to dominate many of the islands. “It was a miracle,” a man once told me. He was older, white and married to a Filipina. “They were told of Christianity and immediately believed, all of them. It’s a beautiful story.”
He was referring to the story of Christianity in Cebu. It’s a famous tale for Catholic Filipinos: Magellan
arrived in the Philippine province of Cebu and held a Catholic mass for the first time on its soil. Cebu’s rulers immediately bowed to the new religion, and hundreds of Filipinos were baptized. The sentiment of his reference grated on me — why was this beautiful? Evangelizing, erasing, replacing one culture with a distant other. Where was the beauty in this loss, of what was taken from us? There’s a pain that lies in the inevitability of it, too, the knowledge that had it not been Cebu, it would likely have been another province.
This unavoidable event was the beginning of an unspoken promise, that the Philippines would forever be prevented from returning to its original identity. An entire erasure of custom, of memory.
But this isn’t the full story. Anitism is not gone, not completely. It has survived under a mask.
After researching to learn about the fate of anitism, I found that when Catholicism arrived in the Philippines, it was adopted, but not perfectly. It was a game of putting
shapes into not-quite-right spots, looking for something that was close to a fit. This is when Folk Catholicism was born. For example, Catholicism’s one true God and its many saints were not dissimilar from anitism’s Naga serpent which existed in tandem with smaller, less powerful deities. The idea of baptism’s cleansing of sins was also perceived as similar to various healing rituals in anitism which were used to cure illnesses. This, too, was more easily integrated into Folk Catholicism.
This process, fitting one religion into another as a result of colonization, is called religious syncretism. Folk Catholicism in the Philippines is not the sole example. One can see this in Mexico, too, as a result of their similar colonization by Spain. The initial religions themselves may be gone, or twisted beyond recognition. But their memory, their choices, live on under different names, practiced in different ways. Lost, but not entirely. CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
DANIELLE SHAVE Former MiC Columnist
Courtesy of Gabi Shave
Sahana Nandigama/MiC
Michigan in Color is The Michigan Daily’s section by and for People of Color.
Michigan in Color
Introduction to linear algebra
MADINABONU NOSIROVA Former MiC Columnist
At the risk of resurfacing neartraumatic feelings for any readers, I want to share the introduction to the first chapter of the undergraduate linear algebra textbook: Traditionally, algebra was the art of solving equations and systems of equations. The word algebra comes from the Arabic al-jabr (برجلا), which means restoration (of broken parts). The term was first used in a mathematical sense by Mohammed al-Khowarizmi (c. 780-850), who worked at the House of Wisdom, an academy established by Caliph al Ma’mun in Baghdad. Linear Algebra, then, is the art of solving systems of equations. … The approach generally used today was beautifully explained 2,000 years ago in a Chinese text, the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art (Jiuzhang Suanshu) — Bretscher, Otto. “Linear Algebra with Applications.”
I remember interrupting my family’s conversation to read them what I considered to be a monumental introduction. I can imagine that for anyone else, it would have been a fun fact that contextualized the start of this mathematical field, but I felt incredibly influenced by this little morsel of information. Growing up, my dad has always expressed his pride in our culture and shared the history of important figures and empires that our people have lived through, so al-Khowarizmi has been a household name. Though I’ve always known, I realized more clearly then that I have never found anything comparable in any other introductory science textbook: recognition for an influential Eastern polymath from history — especially one who shared my heritage and whose work is often overlooked in the broader history
of science compared to Western scientists.
Al-Khowarizmi was a Persian polymath from the 9th century, whose full name, Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khowarizmi, reflects his birthplace in Khorazm, a historical city still inhabited in present-day Uzbekistan. He worked in Baghdad’s House of Wisdom, a renowned center where scholars translated and expanded upon Greek, Indian, and Persian knowledge. There, al-Khowarizmi had created his pioneering texts in math, astronomy and geography, advancing in fields that Europe would only adopt centuries later.
His most famous work was the Al-Kitb al-mukhtaṣar fī ḥisāb al-jabr waʾl-muqābala (“The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing”), which is the earliest systematic treatment of solving linear and quadratic equations. As mentioned above by Bretscher, the word al-jabr in the title is the origin of latinized algebra. Originally written in Arabic, this text was translated into Latin in the 12th century as Algoritmi de Numero Indorum (“al-Khowarizmi on the Hindu Art of Reckoning”), introducing his methods to Europe. We see al-Khowarizmi’s impact on the mathematical field even further through our coining of the term algorithm, taken from the latinized form of his name, Algoritmi.
In Kitab al-Jabr wa-l-Mugabala, al-Khowarizmi embedded mathematics problems into realworld contexts, talking of trade, inheritance and property. He also brought Hindu-Arabic numerals to the Islamic world, a critical step that led to the adoption of the decimal positional number system in Europe, an advancement that greatly simplified calculations for all future work that followed. These few paragraphs of
al-Khowarizmi’s legacy do not do his decades of work and significance in our fields justice, yet despite his indisputable influence, al-Khowarizmi is still often overshadowed in historical accounts by European figures like Fibonacci, who built on his work. Fibonacci’s “Liber Abaci (Book of Calculation)”, written in the early 13th century, draws heavily from al-Khowarizmi’s methods, but it’s Fibonacci’s name that we recognize and credit in the West.
As an individual who has long held a goal to become a professor in my field, I believe the history of a subject is as important as the modern concepts that we’re learning and adapting from: How can we make progress if we don’t know anything about the foundations and what led us to the current pool of knowledge? I’m not saying people need to be able to name every previous scientist that has been working in their field, but rather people should have a general historical timeline of the field, and draw on how the field has ebbed and flowed and shifted throughout the decades or centuries that it has been active.
Writing about al-Khowarizmi gives me an excuse to learn more deeply about a highly influential person from my heritage but also addresses a broader issue: the importance of recognizing Eastern contributions to science. In many spaces I inhabit, I am often the only person from a Central Asian or Muslim background, which sometimes means being a walking Google for common information for my cultural upbringing and traditions by default. I don’t usually mind this, until it comes to having to defend the validity of the cultural differences that distinguish Central Asia from our geographic and cultural neighbors. CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
Gratitude for a beach 8,421 miles away
ISABELLE FERNANDES Former MiC Columnist
My grandfather’s memory is failing.
Every time he tells a story more and more sand slips out of hidden holes, and my grandmother is too far away to fill in the gaps.
Some days he tells us of a childhood pen pal He knows lives just past the train that passes on the other side of the lake by which we live.
We do not tell him we know this is not possible for we have searched for this woman, know she passed away many years ago, lived in a town far from ours.
Some days I look more like my mother than my own mother does others I am the spitting image of a neighbor from a childhood village long ago. Slowly but surely the hourglass turns, The stories blend, a face fades away, a vague name is erased, Soon any listener can mold the ending.
Sand is a coarse grain
We throw rice at weddings because sand is too precious
It creeps into our mouths, slips under our tongues when we least expect it.
My grandfather knew this, was always a frugal man, In his youth he made sure to guard his grains of sand with a firm hand.
As time went on he would slowly sneak them to his children,
Even more to his grandchildren, closed their small hands around a couple grains, over the years it would spill from our fingers, line the creases of our palms.
We placed them in unmended pockets, let them trail behind us as we wandered down our paths.
The beaches are not endless, but we treated them as such, the sun on your back makes you forget.
No one is ever prepared for when the hourglass stops turning.
I have begun to count my grains, afraid to lose even a single one, Wishing I could hand him fistful after fistful, the grains of sand are precious, Only now do I know, The ocean is salt –
washed from the faces of those trying desperately to return the sand to the shore.
But when he has dinner with my grandmother tonight, he will pull out her chair for her and wear his best shirt
They will dine on a terrace under the stars and the table will be set for two.
Before the meal begins she will smile and ask him about his day and he will reach into his pocket and pull out an empty hourglass, place it on the table, and tell her their story.
When it is over they will rise, walk to the terrace balcony, lean over the edge, look down
And see the grains of sand he has proudly spent his life scattering
Spread out amongst the many corners and landscapes of the earth.
She will open her purse and reveal one last grain of sand she has been saving
And they will release it together, watch the wind carry it, and gently lay it to rest
On a beach many miles away
On a small island where a boy once saw a girl
And eagerly raised his hand, if only for her to notice him
And she rolled her eyes but started to smile And a single grain of sand trickled through an hourglass for the first time.
Courtesy of Isabelle Fernandes
STATEMENT
‘Why is it so essential that I die in here?’
What I learned visiting ‘Ninja Killer’ Temujin Kensu in prison: He’s innocent
LIAM RAPPLEYE Former Statement Correspondent
Have you ever been to prison?
Temujin Kensu has. In fact, he’s been in prison for nearly twice my lifetime: 37 years. Kensu is currently serving a life sentence he received after being convicted of the murder of 21-year-old Scott Macklem in 1987. This is usually how things go in the American justice system: If you murder somebody, and it’s proven in court that you really did it, you go to prison for a while. Sometimes for your whole life. This is what has happened to Temujin Kensu.
There’s just one small problem: Kensu was more than 400 miles away from the scene of the crime when Scott Macklem was murdered in 1986. For 37 years, he has maintained his innocence. An amalgamation of politicians, police officers, judges, record producers, journalists and private investigators — all of various political affiliations — have publicly called for his freedom. That freedom is yet to come.
No matter how many people stand for Kensu, as I pulled into the Macomb Correctional Facility parking lot, I felt alone.
I stood in the parking lot and emptied my pockets down to the bare essentials: drivers license, notepad, pen and a handful of quarters for the vending machine. In a few minutes I would be getting a pat down before sitting down with Kensu. I was nervous.
I tucked my shirt in and shuffled my hair in the reflection of the driver’s side window. I took a deep breath and walked in.
But this is not a story solely about me or Kensu’s crimes and conviction. This is a story about a man who has been battered and wronged continually by the American justice system, a man whose hopes have been tested and laid bare by every strand of red tape imaginable. This is a
story of a man who wakes up each day with hope in a world where hope is hard to come by.
But to know about Temujin Kensu, inmate number 189355, you should know how he got here.
The Case
Despite the messy and ugly aftershock of Scott Macklem’s murder, the actual murder itself was relatively simple. At about 9 a.m. on Nov. 5, 1986, Macklem was shot once with a shotgun in a parking lot outside of St. Clair County Community College in Port Huron, Mich. While investigators have revealed that Macklem was struggling with his grades and possibly involved with drug dealers, any motive for his murder was unclear. There was very little evidence left at the scene, other than a shotgun shell and an empty carton of ammunition, which carried a fingerprint. A matching print was never found.
In 1986, DNA forensics as a method of obtaining evidence was in its adolescence, and the St. Clair County police were left with very little information to discern who could have committed the murder. It didn’t help that there were no witnesses to the crime. The police interviewed Macklem’s family in the days following. They spoke with Crystal Merrill, his fiancée, and her teenage sister, Tracey.
Tracey suggested that a man named John Lamar could be responsible for Macklem’s death; he was an unpopular and intimidating character Crystal had been seeing. He wore a leather jacket and listened to loud music. Tracey would later testify that when Crystal was around him, she felt like she lost her sister.
The police were intrigued. They followed the lead and discovered Lamar, the rambunctious martial artist who Tracey Merrill spoke of, was actually a man named Fred Freeman who used aliases
to dodge warrants for bouncing checks. This, of course, was before Freeman converted to Buddhism and changed his name to Temujin Kensu. From then on, Port Huron police pursued Freeman (now Kensu) as suspect number one for the murder of Scott Macklem, and they bent over backward for a conviction.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Imran Syed, clinical assistant professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School and co-director of Michigan Innocence Clinic, said, “From the very beginning, (the police) were getting evidence only that said Kensu was the wrong man, but they never let that stop them.” Syed has been the lead attorney on Kensu’s case for the majority of the last decade. “Every time they would see something that showed it wasn’t Kensu, they would see that as evidence that he was some mastermind that was covering his tracks.”
And that is how Robert Cleland, the St. Clair County Prosecutor at the time, portrayed Kensu to the jury: a cunning mastermind — a “ninja killer.”
How the prosecution landed a conviction
Bill Proctor, a Michigan Journalism Hall of Famer, first brought Kensu’s claims of innocence to mainstream media in the spring of 1995 with a fivepart series of stories on Channel 7, evaluating the conviction of the “Ninja Killer.”
Proctor was the lead story reporter for WXYZ-TV Channel 7, the ABC affiliate in the Detroit Metro area. He built a nearly 33-year-long career as a smoothtalking truth seeker on the screens of southeastern Michigan televisions. Ten years ago, he retired from news to pursue a career as a private investigator and founded Seeking Justice, a private investigative firm for those who have been wrongfully
‘Why do you eat? Why do you breathe?’: My conversation with SAFE President Salma Hamamy
JOSHUA NICHOLSON
Former Statement Correspondent
My first two years at the University of Michigan have been characterized by what I can only describe as a divided campus. Even when sharing in the communal act of football games, weekend parties or a warm fall day on the Diag, there’s been an underlying political and cultural divide. In my first year of college, the Graduate Employees’ Organization went on strike, prematurely ending some of my classes and leading to conflicting feelings of annoyance and solidarity among the undergraduate population. During this time of division, an article in The Michigan Daily, “Humans of GEO,” shed light on the people behind the strike, encouraging bonds of familiarity with a group many undergraduates saw only in the context of their lab and discussion sections. When Israel invaded Gaza in the aftermath of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, different student groups on campus immediately mobilized, organizing a vigil for
Israeli victims of the attack and, a few weeks later, Palestinian victims of Israel’s ground assault. With the Palestinian death toll rising to more than 100,000 killed or injured as of this article’s publication, Students Allied For Freedom and Equality, a pro-Palestine organization at the head of the multigroup TAHRIR Coalition, continued protesting in earnest. Their target? The University’s endowment, which they allege profits from companies with military and business interests in Israel. Although the movement is popular, with more than 90 involved student organizations and a victory in the most recent Central Student Government election, it still drives controversy.
The conflict on campus, as large or small as you choose to imagine it, has caught the attention of national media publications, such as The New York Times, Fox News and New York Magazine. Central to all of these stories is one person: SAFE President Salma Hamamy, who has seen her words and social media posts scrutinized under an ever-magnifying lens. At times, it can be difficult to divorce the public persona of an activist, Hamamy herself becoming
increasingly well known with every rally, from her identity as a person: her hopes, her personal interests and even her reason for fighting in the first place. Thinking back to that GEO article, I decided months ago to work on a similar interview with Salma, with the goal of breaking down a person some see less as a fellow student and more as a bullhorn calling for whatever they think she believes.
My first interaction with Salma had actually come a month earlier, though I didn’t know it at the time. On Feb. 8, I decided to dip my toes into the waters of documentary photography, using a SAFE walkout that was protesting the University’s investments as my pool. Armed with my camera, I hurried to catch up with the stream of students leaving the Diag, destined for an odyssey through the Michigan Union and Ross School of Business, ending in front of the Alexander G. Ruthven Building. As I sprinted to keep in front of the march, I was stopped from passing through the side door of the Business School by a marshal in reflective clothing. CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
convicted. For years, Proctor was an investigator for Kensu.
I met Proctor in Ann Arbor to discuss the case. He spoke with a steely, measured tone and an air of earned confidence. In his reporterly timbre, he called Kensu’s conviction “the most ludicrous thing ever in the history of the world.”
I agree.
“Ninja weapons” were found in Kensu’s home and presented before the jury, and other weapons were purchased by the prosecution and shown to the jury. Obtained via case files from Kensu’s 1987 trial.
When Kensu was arrested and charged with murder, Cleland, the county prosecutor, had a tough case to make without strong eyewitnesses or a matching fingerprint. Lacking hard evidence, he painted Kensu as an elusive member of an American sect of the Yakuza (hilariously misspelled as “Akusar” throughout the 2,200page trial transcript) who carried poison darts in his shoes and was
The
capable of controlling people with the “Ninja mind control” he had honed from practicing martial arts.
Kensu’s defense presented a strong alibi, though. At the time of the trial, nine witnesses placed him in Escanaba, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, before and after the murder. The gap in witness testimony left him with 10 and a half hours to make the 16-hour round-trip drive from Escanaba to Port Huron to shoot Macklem and drive back.
According to court documents, witness Paul DeMars testified that he helped Kensu jumpstart his broken-down car until 1:30 a.m. on the day of the murder. Another witness places Kensu back in Escanaba by noon.
So Cleland lofted the theory that Kensu — who was so broke he was on welfare and jump starting his car 400 miles away in a Big Boy parking lot at 1:30 a.m. — could have chartered a private plane from Escanaba to Port Huron, ambushed Macklem outside of his college, shot him in
the
Crazy, right?
The narrative gets even harder to believe when you consider that pilot Robert Evans, the expert witness Cleland put on the stand to bolster his charter plane theory, was Cleland’s own private pilot who flew him around while he campaigned to be Michigan’s attorney general in 1986, according to findings revealed by private investigators. The jury was not made aware of this conflict of interest. More Polaroids from the investigation, featuring ninjarelated memorabilia and the Velvet Touch club. Obtained via case files from Kensu’s 1987 trial. Cleland’s masterful demonstration of prosecutorial misconduct continued with the testimony of Philip Joplin, an inmate who met Kensu when he was first arrested.
CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
Lesbian Master Doc: Not just for lesbians
RILEY HODDER Former Statement Correspondent
My life changed when I read the “Am I a Lesbian? Masterdoc.”
The “Lesbian Masterdoc” is a document that asks you to consider the nuances behind one simple question: Are you a lesbian? Written like a blog post, the document whisks you through bullet points to help you decipher the difference between heterosexuality and compulsory heterosexuality.
American essayist, queer theorist and poet Adrienne Rich first introduced the idea of “compulsory heterosexuality” in the 1980s when she published her essay “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence.” But what exactly is compulsory heterosexuality? It’s the idea that heterosexuality is assumed and forced upon women, and therefore women feel forced into being attracted to men, even when they might not be.
This is where the lesbian master doc comes in. Angeli Luz, the author of the master doc, originally posted the document in 2018, anonymously, with the intention of helping women reflect upon the influences of compulsory heterosexuality in their lives. She surely achieved her purpose when it came to me. Though I’ve still got a while to go to dismantle compulsory heterosexuality in my life, the document opened my eyes. I began to understand that the idea of men I had in my head didn’t necessarily correlate with reality. I appreciated the document so much that I started to share it — if my friends were questioning their sexuality, I suggested they read it and really absorb what it says. Their reaction was often the same: “Oh no, I’m not a lesbian. I know that.”
But guess what — you don’t have to be a lesbian to enjoy the intellectual fruits of Luz’s document.
According to Rich, compulsory heterosexuality affects all women, because all women are expected to like men. This includes lesbians, bisexual, asexual, pansexual, queer, trans, straight women and all other women.
That could include you.
The master doc can help you understand where you lie on the infinite, confusing, ever-flexible spectrum of sexuality and attraction.
What is real attraction?
The meat of the master doc is directed toward trying to help you differentiate between genuine attraction to men and compulsory heterosexuality.
Luz does this simply — she asks the readers if they’ve ever encountered a certain feeling or exhibited a certain behavior.
Then, she explains what that behavior means.
As a queer woman who is still figuring out her sexuality, this exploration was pivotal to me. I went into reading the doc entirely sure that I was attracted to men — I came out the other side pretty sure that what I had been told my entire life about attraction was complete crap.
The best example of a flawed concept of attraction was the idea of “butterflies” — a nervous feeling in your stomach. I had often thought I liked a man because I was nervous around him. Luz claims that we think this because that’s how the media portrays attraction — the blushing, the butterflies. Ginny is so nervous around Harry that she can barely speak to him until the fourth book. Bella feels uncomfortable around Edward. And yet, they’re portrayed as though they’re in love.
But according to Luz, butterflies don’t mean you’re attracted to someone. The doc says: “… you might feel like you must be attracted to a man if you feel nervous around him, just because you’re experiencing the
physical bodily response you’ve been told to expect, not because you actually want to date him.” This blew my mind. Now that I knew this, I could move forward with the knowledge that my butterflies did not necessarily signify attraction, and I could reflect on my past to figure out how this played out in romantic situations I had with men. This revelation reminded me of an interaction I had once — I was sure that I liked this guy because he made me so nervous. Whenever I was near him, my palms grew clammy, my stomach turned and I tripped over my words. I realized far too late that I only felt this way because he was someone I didn’t feel safe around, and that there was no genuine attraction there.
The idea that nervousness didn’t equate to attraction was the original point that got me thinking — is this document really just for lesbians? The master doc examines nervousness, but it also examines attraction to fictional men, or liking the idea of men but not the reality; none of these notions are exclusive to lesbians. I spoke with my friend about the document, and she came up with her own conclusions — she said that the master doc’s analysis didn’t help her realize she wasn’t attracted to men, but helped her understand what attraction even was. By examining the symptoms of compulsory heterosexuality, women can begin to dismantle the socialized idea of attraction in their mind and discover what attraction really is to them. Any reader of Luz’s work may be able to more thoughtfully explore their sexuality, leading them to such revelations as they aren’t attracted to women, they’re more attracted to women than they previously thought or even strengthen their confidence in their heterosexuality.
parking lot, and flown back to Escanaba, doing all of this under the radar of the Federal Aviation Administration.
Abby Schreck/DAILY
The sanctity of the State Theatre and independent cinemas From the editors: The origins and future of The Statement Magazine
TAYLOR SCHOTT, JOHN JACKSON, SARAH
AKAABOUNE
& REESE MARTIN Former Statement Editorial Staff
Origins, when we manage to unearth them, seldom clarify the cobbled nature of the present. Instead, they often string us along a path of imagined priorities, allowing us to feel qualified in recognizing how the past must inform our current agendas. In the spirit of the Origin Edition, we write to our readership as the editorial team of The Statement — The Michigan Daily’s weekly magazine — with our own origins under the microscope. The Statement we’ve inherited has, by nature of being a college publication, undergone
nearly seven decades of change, spurred by institutional shifts, individual leaders’ interests and commitments, and campus and social upheaval. We’ve inherited a dynamic, mercurial force. But The Statement wasn’t always “The Statement.” Students wanting to pen editorial and features writing did so for the then-labeled “weekend magazine,” which seemed to have dipped in and out of existence since The Daily’s own inception in 1890 — that is, until August of 1963, when then-editor Gloria Bowles affirmed the magazine’s presence, promising a bi-monthly appearance. In the years following, the magazine would shorten its title to a curt “WEEKEND” and feature photo essays, fashion and literature editions, and even initiate a witty “junk drawer.”
Then, in September of 2005, tucked below The Daily’s masthead in a pithy “From the Editor’s” note, then-Editor in Chief Jason Z. Pesick and thenMagazine Editor Doug Wernert announced the inception of The Statement, which would “feature more in-depth reporting on issues affecting both the University and the city of Ann Arbor. It is more intelligent,” they continued, “with the goal of exposing new ideas and information to readers in a magazine format.”
In the same edition, planted above The Daily’s masthead, read: “Weekend Magazine Is Dead — Long Live The Statement.” Their choice in language may seem a curiously hostile rhetoric to employ, but Wernert and Pesick would oversee the greatest change
Hey hey, ho ho, humans of GEO
SAMUEL FONTE Former Statement Correspondent
It wasn’t until March 15 that the news of the then-impending strike truly hit me — just five days before the successful vote to start the strike authorization process. My favorite Graduate Student Instructor suspiciously ended our discussion 10 minutes early to make an “announcement.” As I recall, the first thing she did in her spiel was apologize. Now, this is dawning on me — people don’t usually feel the need to apologize for defending their beliefs. She knew, much better than I, that this was going to be a rocky road.
The Graduate Employees’ Organization officially launched their strike with a rally on March 30, 2023 at 10:24 a.m. — giving me a little more than two weeks to find my footing and brace for a GSI-less college experience. Thankfully I was prepared, because Ann Arbor quickly became cold, and my GSIdependent classes, to my dismay, fell apart.
The University of Michigan made its first post-authorization official comment on Friday, March 24, by mass emailing students and faculty — causing my phone to buzz itself off the desk in my French class. Straight from the corporate America playbook, the tone of the email isn’t even noticeable until you’ve read it as a composition. The University thus was able to strike an uneasy balance: They were informative, with only the slightest hint of discontent. Which could all be seen as an attempt to remain neutral, but it could also be interpreted as a lack of empathy or concern for the striking graduate student. And when someone is in tune with their emotions like I am, it feels like the latter. On the other hand, GEO didn’t toe the line like the University. They were, and still are, unequivocal: Their demands must be met, seemingly regardless of the collateral. Which meant that since March 30 at 10:25 a.m., my fellow undergraduates and I have been showered with assertive chants, accosted with flyers, told our grades are “bullshit” and more. I know, firsthand, that there is anger and displeasure from GEO, as well. This was all frustrating and a little overwhelming. The University, who possesses the ability to reach me at any time
through my school email, was whispering one thing in my ear, while GEO was shouting the opposite in my face. I was hurting. Our campus was hurting. I felt lost without my GSIs. I missed being able to walk into my classes without feeling like I was personally hurting a GEO member. But, mostly, I was confused about what to think. Who is right? Who is wrong? And maybe I’m still confused — after all, the world has never yielded to black and white arguments.
But I set out to understand the anger, the pain, the loss experienced by GEO members — the humanity bursting at the seams of the issue. Not to figure out who is right or who is wrong. I talked to six GEO members in search of this understanding, because there is a clear disconnect between undergraduate and graduate students — their wants and needs are different from ours and not always easy to be compassionate toward. I wanted to understand GEO as a group of human beings. So, I listened and laughed and sympathized. No, this didn’t magically heal my GEOinflicted wounds. Nor did I expect it to. But I think it kick-started the mending process. Or, at least, the issues finally felt real to me — because shouting and whispering doesn’t work, but talking does. So now, I present to the world some real-life humans of GEO.
I hope, maybe, this might bring you some peace, or at least, some understanding.
Anna S., she/they, M.A. candidate in the School of Public Health: Anna is a member of GEO’s bargaining team. She had just finished up the morning session of bargaining with the University’s Human Resource representatives when she walked out of Pierpont Commons, straight past the pizza sent by Bernie Sanders, to sit in the grass. They wore red socks that were speckled with moose silhouettes, and anytime I got to nervously rambling they would say “yeah, yeah, yeah,” which made me feel not only safe, but like I had known Anna for a long time. “Like many of us (entering college),” Anna intended to go to medical school. But she discovered she wanted to make a “bigger and broader” impact than she could in individual medical situations. Now, they’re working
towards a Master’s degree in social and occupational epidemiology. At the same time, they work as a birth doula.
Prior to the beginning of the strike, Anna was a GSI for the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies. As part of the bargaining team, Anna has spent months and months shaping some of GEO’s demands, specifically the abolition and the transgender healthcare demands. Being constantly in the bargaining room is dehumanizing for them, kind of like talking to a brick wall for hours and days and weeks on end would be. Anna is a tried-andtrue Michigander with familial roots in the automotive industry. One of the best parts about organizing for GEO, they said, is feeling a connection to past labor movements, while also advancing this current one.
In addition to aiding the GEO strike, Anna collects records and cassettes. With their roommate, going to the record store in Kerrytown is a ritual. She accidentally picked up and subsequently bought the Fleetwood Mac live album The Dance, which is now her mostplayed record. They use cassettes in their car, absolutely refusing to buy a bluetooth adapter because it might mess up the cassette player.
That morning, she sang “Linger” by The Cranberries to her girlfriend over breakfast.
Kelsie E., they/them or she/ her, doctoral candidate in the Department of Middle East Studies:
Kelsie’s eyes lit up when I explained why I wanted to talk with her. Not only were they easy to talk to, but they didn’t bat an eye when I asked if they would sit on the bare sidewalk with me. She wore a Kate Bush shirt — an airhorn indicating she has taste. They study ancient history, but want to avoid getting stuck in the past because we live in a changing world that “needs help.”
One theme Kelsie and I touched on was changing the world: “We need as many people trying to make the world a better place as possible.” This is why they are in GEO. “In an organization like GEO, we have a lot of really cool people trying in different ways … to make the world a better place.” CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
to The Daily’s feature-writing capabilities since the advent of the Weekend Magazine. What they understood was a veritable need for focused, exploratory journalism, with an opportunity for the creative to make its way into the fold.
Beyond the editorial shift, the magazine’s name-change to The Statement paid homage to The Port Huron Statement, a founding text of 1960s counterculture, and authored by The Daily’s own Tom Hayden. In a 2021 Statement article by former-columnist Leah Leszczynski, Wernert and Pesick would clarify that “using the Port Huron Statement as the magazine’s eponym was not necessarily due to ideological admiration for the document.” Yet, their choice in namesake seems hardly incidental.
Hayden, a U-M alum and former Editor in Chief of The Daily in 1960, went on to found the Students for a Democratic Society, prompt JFK’s proposal of the Peace Corps on the steps of the Michigan Union and serve as pallbearer after the president’s assassination. He also inspired President Johnson’s infamous “Great Society” speech and served in the California State Assembly, while still managing to contribute to The Daily.
In June of 1962, Hayden would travel ninety-eight miles east of Ann Arbor along with nearly four dozen other members of SDS to compose the Port Huron Statement, working for five days straight to perfect a document that would become the New Left’s founding manifesto. Their chosen site — Port Huron, Michigan —
sits as an
starkly unexceptional in
yet redeemable by nature of its proximity to Lake Huron. A quiet strip of downtown Port Huron. Jeremy Weine/Daily. Buy this photo. Our editorial team made the same ninety-eight mile drive. We wanted to immerse ourselves in the environment Hayden and SDS had selected as a site of change, even if the site itself seemed to be nothing more than a matter of convenience, a lake to swim in during breaks from the writing sessions. But what we found, both unexpectedly and not, contextualizes our commitment to the Statement as host to a similar kind of journalistic fervor that Hayden embodied. CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
The weight we carry: college journalism’s untold grief
SARAH AKAABOUNE Former Statement Deputy Editor
The first time I ever had to carry grief that did not belong to me was the day I began to report on survivors of former University of Michigan Athletics doctor Robert Anderson. Over a span of 37 years, more than 950 victims reported thousands of incidents of sexual abuse and misconduct at the hands of Anderson, remaining as likely the most sexual abuse allegations against a single person in United States history.
There is an untold grief in reporting this kind of trauma, in reporting the tragedies that affect our schools and communities — the people we love and know — and what they ultimately leave behind. In time, even grief that does not belong to us has a way of becoming our own.
College journalists are especially vulnerable to the weight of reporting. The world sees them as too young to understand the heaviness of grief or to report on the shootings that fracture their campuses, the homicides that destroy their student bodies, the bomb threats and sexual abuse scandals that define the way they reckon with themselves. But oftentimes, long after national news outlets have left, when press conferences become a rarity and towns begin to quiet again, student journalists and studentrun newspapers become the last to remain, to understand, to painstakingly cover all that
happens in between. And at a cost few are ever willing to make. What becomes of college journalists in the face of collective grief? What does it mean to grieve, to process, to become angry, to be in pain, to know joy and love and healing as a journalist first, and as a student last?
I’ve spent the past month researching college newspapers across the country, and more importantly, college newspapers that found themselves at the forefront of national tragedies — those that have had to contend with what it meant to no longer feel safe in your own libraries, classrooms, newsrooms and homes. Over the past few weeks, I spoke to Ava MacBlane, Editor in Chief of The Cavalier Daily at the University of Virginia; Haadiya Tariq, Editor in Chief of The Argonaut at The University of Idaho; and Jasper Smith, Editor in Chief of The Hilltop at Howard University. These are their stories. This is the weight they carry.
The Cavalier Daily, The University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.
The Cavalier Daily — The CD or The Cav, for short — is the University of Virginia’s independently-run student newspaper. It employs approximately 400 staffers and is led by Editor in Chief Ava MacBlane. The Cavalier Daily’s offices are located in the basement of Newcomb Hall, a student center that also houses the campus’s main dining hall. Staff sometimes take long naps on a couch chock-full of Squishmallows. A life-size cut-out of Will Ferrell sits in an odd corner,
and there are lopsided frames of old newspapers from decades ago hung on the walls. Meetings are held in an area fondly dubbed “The Office” and on Fridays, when the production schedule is pleasantly light, the Copy staffers spend hours at one of the few empty tables gossiping about the day’s latest happenings. The newsroom here is well-loved. It’s the kind of place people visit just because they can. On Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022, University of Virginia students and football team members Devin Chandler, D’Sean Perry and Lavel Davis Jr. died after a gunman opened fire on a bus returning from a University of Virginia class trip to Washington, D.C. Two other students were wounded. A shelterin-place warning issued a campuswide “Run, Hide, Fight” alert that lasted well into the next morning. Students spent the whole night cramped into libraries and a variety of campus and academic buildings, trapped in an uncomfortable state of limbo and a terribly unsettling cloud of fear, in search of a reason why.
MacBlane, who was the Managing Editor of The Cavalier Daily at the time, spent the entirety of the next 72 hours following the shooting, on the ground reporting. She missed meals and sleep, and much of her grief was experienced as a journalist first. Reporting on her community became one of the only ways she carried her grief, or rather, the only way her job as a student journalist allowed her to.
CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
idle waterfront town,
character
Alum Jeremy Weine/DAILY
Alums Anna Fuder, Becca Mahon, Jeremy Weine/DAILY
OPINION over the YEARS
over the YEARS
2022
FEBRUARY 8 - After the firing of Schlissel at the hands of the University Board of Regents, conversations about the Regents’ democratic values and methods came under fire. With both Ann Arbor voters and students to please, the Regents find it difficult to take a course of action that appeases all interests.
2023
JANUARY 22 - University students consider what an extended winter break would look like in terms of academics and mental health. One month later, the Board of Regents unanimously prolongs winter break by one week.
2024
FEBRUARY 2 - At the start of 2024, the University of Michigan adopted a new statement of free speech and “diversity of thought” principles, mostly in response to on-campus protests. The principles were deemed to be vague and unhelpful to advancing and protecting campus dialogue.
After months of mounting pressure from the federal government, the University of Michigan announced last Thursday by email — in typical opaque administrative fashion — that it would be permanently closing both its Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Office of Health, Equity and Inclusion, as well as implementing sweeping cuts to related programs. As reasoning, the message cited intensifying executive action targeting institutions that promote DEI. It also disingenuously claimed that the administration sought input from various U-M stakeholders. Considering reports of students being included in any discussions are few and far between, and the extent of faculty outrage, this claim seems dubious at best.
Following the email, University President Santa Ono and the University Board of Regents moved quickly to eliminate all traces of DEI on campus. Websites pertaining to DEI programs were taken down, and notes from a virtual emergency meeting of the Faculty Senate suggest that at least 20 people
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SEPTEMBER 12 - Santa Ono is selected as the new University President after a long search process. He provides a new opportunity for building trust between the administration and the student body, along with a focus on the arts and sciences.
SEPTEMBER 18 - During the first week of classes, the internet on all three U-M campuses went out, leaving students in the dark as they navigated through syllabus week. The University would take over a month to explain what was compromised during the outage.
NOVEMBER 6 - President Donald Trump was elected to be the 47th president of the United States. In a post-election message, the Editorial Board addressed the campus’s fear, anger and concern, all while underscoring the importance of
From The Daily: In the face of DEI cuts,
campus
must mobilize
take the assault on DEI sitting down.
working for the ODEI and OHEI have been fired.
This destructive decision represents a clear shift in the University’s priorities. Students, faculty and staff must organize in response. In order to understand how campus reached this point, it’s necessary to examine the administration’s track record over the past year. This Editorial Board has been writing since last April that the University was creating a pressure cooker with its heavyhanded reaction to pro-Palestine protests. Rather than engaging with students productively, Ono and the Board deployed the police on them under cover of darkness, elevated criminal charges against them from the local level to the Michigan Attorney General and rewrote the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities to centralize disciplinary authority in the University’s hands. Facing backlash every step of the way, the administration then passed the impossible standard of institutional neutrality — and even kicked Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, a legacy organization, off campus.
The University’s choice to jettison DEI must be understood within this context. Ono and the Board have
been moving in an authoritarian direction for months. Even before President Donald Trump entered office for the second time, Regent Sarah Hubbard (R) was talking about reevaluating DEI on Fox & Friends and Regent Mark Bernstein (D) had expressed doubts about the
country — now it’s taking marching orders from Washington D.C.
The campus response to these developments is unprecedented in recent history. The Michigan Daily Opinion section has never in our time as writers received such a high volume of op-eds and letters to the
“ ” Capitulating now is a mistake. Trump’s assault on higher education didn’t start with DEI, and it won’t end with it either. The University’s core values must be non-negotiable — even in the face of threats from the president.
program to The New York Times. All Trump did was accelerate the process. Whether his attacks on Columbia University — namely, pulling the school’s research funding — spooked Ono and the Board into terminating DEI or simply gave them the excuse they were already looking for is impossible to know. But it doesn’t matter: The end result is the same. Difficult positions require difficult choices, and the University made the wrong one. U-M leadership used to parade its DEI efforts as some of the most sophisticated in the
From The Daily: The administration is turning its back on student rights
On the afternoon of July 18, University of Michigan President Santa Ono and the University’s Board of Regents quietly voted to approve new amendments to the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities. The changes are, in short, disastrous.
The statement, which lays out campus rules and possible disciplinary actions against students who violate those rules, is subject to routine revision at least every three years. But these particular revisions, the context within which they were adopted and the consequences they will have for students are unprecedented — and representative of the administration’s growing infrastructure to silence dissenting voices.
Ono and the Board passed the amendments in only 40 seconds without any public comment or input from members of the campus community. They did so in clear violation of U-M policies, many of which are described by the Office of Student Conflict Resolution and, ironically, in the statement itself.
The OSCR website explains that the statement is meant to be “revised and approved by students, faculty and staff.” The body of the statement provides even more detail.
“Campus community members are encouraged to participate in the (revision) process,” the text states.
“SRAC (Student Relations Advisory Committee) will review the proposed amendments and consult with the Office of General Counsel.”
An Aug. 20 internal letter from the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, the executive arm of the Faculty Senate (within which SRAC operates), reveals that the University made no effort to either inform or engage SRAC about these revisions at all. Moreover, SACUA writes that the amendments “deprive students of the right to due process and fair hearings with faculty oversight, curtail freedom of speech and expression, and radically increase administrators’ power to prosecute students and limit inconvenient forms of free speech.” This Editorial Board agrees. Still, the University continues to claim — including in an Aug.
21 email from Ono — that it values and celebrates protest. The University is lying. The revisions to the statement give Ono and the Regents the power to arbitrarily dictate what speech is acceptable on campus and what speech is not.
The most pertinent changes are as follows:
“The University, or a A ny student, faculty member, or staff member may submit a complaint alleging a violation of the Statement. The University, A student, faculty member, or staff member may also submit a complaint based upon information reported to that person.”
This change upends decades of U-M precedent. It effectively dismisses the need for any proof that actual harm has occurred before disciplinary proceedings are initiated. The University claims this revision was only intended to clarify and confirm its right to submit a complaint, but such a right has no basis in U-M history. At no point since the statement’s inception has the University itself been able to act as the complainant in a conflict resolution case. That right was afforded solely to students, faculty and staff — the only possible recipients of individual harm.
With this amendment, the University has contrived the authority to punish students for supposed harm against their peers or superiors even when neither party has alleged it. If no student, faculty member or staff member is willing to file a complaint, it is likely that no complaint is warranted.
Effectively, the administration can now direct its judicial resources wherever the whims of the moment take it, regardless of the facts. An administration concerned with its public image, for instance, could contend that a group of students camping outside of the president’s house, protesting the University’s handling of sexual assault survivors, disrupts student life — without any corroboration from students that such a suggestion is true.
Other amendments to the statement limit the options for recourse for those who find themselves in such a situation.
The respondent has the right to diseuss potential sanetions/ interventions before entering into an agreement. The removal of this portion of the statement eliminates the right
of accused students to discuss and understand their punishment before accepting responsibility for a statement violation. This lack of clarity puts students in a lose-lose situation. They can either enter into a plea deal with the University, which is no longer obligated to provide the specifics of that deal, or they can pursue a hearing. This makes an already intimidating moment for students even more uncertain, and it absolves the University of any responsibility to inform students about the actual stakes of their decision.
All appeals must be submitted in writing to the RC within five (5) ten academic calendar days...
This revision was one of many aimed at packing the conflict resolution process into only 45 days. For appeals — of which there are likely to be many — this truncated timeline halves the period within which students can consult with an adviser and craft an argument in their defense. The University claims the purpose of this amendment was to make the “process move swiftly and without delay,” but this Editorial Board doesn’t buy it. If swiftness was the goal, the complainant’s timeline would also be shortened. It wasn’t. They still have up to six months (or more, if OSCR gives them an extension) to make an allegation. By limiting the rights of the accused, but not of the accuser, the University has created a massive imbalance. This, however, was not the only amendment that fixes the appeals process against students.
The appeal will be reviewed by an Appeals Beard composed of one student appointed by the Central Student Government (SC), one faculty member appointed by the Faculty Senate, and one administrator appointed by the President.
The RC will determine whether there are grounds for an appeal. If so, the Vice President for Student Life, or their designee, will serve as the Appeals Officer.
The members of the Appeals Board, informed by their unique campus roles, were equipped to deliver nuanced and fair judgments — unlike a solo high-level administrator. Their position formed an important check on U-M authority. With the July amendments, the University dissolved that check. CONTINUED AT
editor from students, alumni and faculty alike. We will continue to publish submissions as they arrive.
Another indication of campus outrage came during the emergency meeting of the Faculty Senate held on March 28. The Zoom call had a capacity of 1,000 people. Roughly 3,000 people attempted to join. To put that into perspective, that’s nearly one tenth the number of undergraduate students at the University — enough numbers to make a difference.
Evidently, our campus will not
The Faculty Senate promises there is more to come, and they’ve launched a U-M DEI Defense website and petition to revive the terminated programs. Furthermore, the Graduate Employees’ Organization appears to be mobilizing, and there are talks of a potential work stoppage.
This uproar stems from more than just anger over the fact that Ono and the Board are now bowing to Trump.
The U-M community is angered by how easily they sacrificed the University’s ideals. We are angered by the striking hypocrisy of the administration’s statements and the ease with which it traded students’ experiences for what seems expedient at this moment. DEI was never perfect, but it represented a largely good-faith attempt to foster an environment where everyone felt welcome and had a fair shot at succeeding.
The flaws that did exist in DEI necessitated a campuswide conversation about improvements, not a closed-room decision to completely gut it. Students, faculty and staff wanted — and still want — a system capable of delivering for them. Yes, DEI was overly performative, overlooked certain marginalized groups and failed to widely advertise its role at the
University. All these problems were solvable had the University listened to the campus community and taken the necessary action. Ono and the Board didn’t do either of those things. They didn’t consult with their constituents like they should have. They reinvented the University from their offices, and they did so dishonestly. Students, faculty and staff were given no time to adjust to the change. As recently as two weeks ago, Ono and the Board were touting the success of DEI — even using the likeness of a now-fired Black student employee in ODEI four separate times — to attract donors on Giving Blueday, one of the biggest U-M fundraising events of the year. They took the cash under false pretenses and blindsided campus once their coffers were filled.
It’s ironic and shameful that the University built a more than $19 billion endowment bragging about DEI and isn’t willing to use any of those funds to protect it. Campus has the financial resources to stand up to executive demands and even survive executive vengeance, should Trump seek it. And nearly everyone seems to have the will to do so. Other than U-M leadership, that is. CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
From The Daily: Schlissel is gone, now what?
When the Regents of the University of Michigan decided to terminate former University President Mark Schlissel, they released 118 pages of Schlissel’s communications along with their announcement. These documents, containing emails, text messages and images, while important in the name of transparency, were promptly snapped up by a ravenous student body. One reddit comment remarked that “Never had this many undergraduates been so keen to do primary source research on a Saturday night.” The emails were memefied immediately, with merchandise coming to the market within the week, making fun of our lonely president m. This transparency is refreshing and Schlissel’s indiscretions were serious, but one naturally wonders, especially considering the predictable student reaction, whether this dump of salacious documents is anything other than an attempt to shield the Board of Regents — not necessarily the University as an institution — from blame and embarrassment. It was no secret that Schlissel was not particularly popular on campus; discussions regarding Schlissel were frequently filled with frustration or
disappointment. These grievances have led students to often question his decisions. However, many of the trademark bad decisions made by Schlissel were directed, or at least directly influenced, by the board.
Take the unpopular decision to prematurely bring students back to campus for the fall 2020 semester — prior to the development of COVID-19 vaccines. This was not a unilateral decision by Schlissel and his administration but was a subject of major frustration for students who felt they had no voice in this decision. One board member, University Regent Ron Weiser (R), who has a financial stake in offcampus housing, even donated $30 million to the University days before its announcement to reopen. No one can quantify the impact of the regents, especially those with vested interests, on these decisions conclusively, but we must reflect on their influence.
While Schlissel’s actions were both damaging to the University’s reputation and an abuse of the power he held over U-M employees, numerous faculty accused of sexual assault and harassment were allowed a far more graceful exit.
When former American Culture lecturer Bruce Conforth was reported to University officials for attempting to engage in sexual relationships with three students in 2008, he was allowed to retire
otherwise unpunished in 2017 — inarguably a much more private departure than that of Schlissel. Former Music, Theatre & Dance professor David Daniels was fired by the board for allegations of sexual misconduct in March of 2020. Not only did the board not include a similarly large disclosure report, they began the process of formally firing Daniels over a year earlier, in July of 2019, based on allegations made public in August of 2018. Schlissel was reported, investigated and terminated in under two months. In the well-known case of former Provost Martin Philbert, the board released an 88-page report based on an investigation into his sexual misconduct. However, releasing 118 pages of memeable emails does not have the same effect that releasing a dense WilmerHale report does. Hundreds of jokes were not inspired by this in-depth report, only a fraction of which consists of Philbert’s actual communications. Secondary sources like this report tend to obscure the actual nature of the relevant content, as actual words inherently convey more than descriptions. The Regents’ decision to release a mass of personal messages deviates from its customary form of transparency about its activities, which typically consists of formal reports like the one regarding Philbert.
CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
Joanne Jung/DAILY
From The Daily: President Ono’s appointment is
an opportunity
for positive change
MICHIGAN DAILY EDITORIAL BOARD
The search for a new University president has come to an end. Following the unpopular tenure of former-President Mark Schlissel and his termination by the Board of Regents, students and faculty alike questioned who would be next to take the job. This summer, after months of searching, the University hired Dr. Santa Ono, sitting president of University of British Columbia (UBC) and former president of University of Cincinnati (UC). Ono has not only been appointed to lead the University of Michigan onward, but has been chosen to revitalize and fortify the relationship between the University president and the student body. With the loss of trust that accompanied the previous administration, the reconstruction of this connection is essential in order to make institutional progress.
To know the student population, you must interact with them. At Ono’s previous institutions, he found multiple ways to connect with students and make his presence known. Whether it be crowd-surfing at homecoming football games or effectively using social media platforms, Ono has taken initiative to meet with students rather than forcing them to come to him. This people-oriented, personable presence makes a difference: it allows for comfortable connections to be made between the president and students. We expect Ono to uphold this commitment to connecting with students just as closely in his new position.
While participating in the fight songs in the Big House every Saturday and posting the occasional tweet does make a difference in the public perception of the Office of the President, structural change cannot come without trust. In the past, there has been a severe lack of faith in our leadership, but Ono can assuage this distrust by prioritizing the needs of students rather than those of his office. We expect for Ono to not only communicate with students but more broadly to reembody the aura of a trustworthy and thoughtful campus administrator. Renewing this belief in University officials is the backbone by which change can happen, as trust permits open dialogues and a confidence in the authority figures that dictate so many important matters on campus.
Santa Ono’s agreeableness distinguishes him from our last dormant and somewhat stiff president. A popular figure around his previous campuses, Ono has proved that he is capable of naturally engaging with the student body and the University as a whole. For instance, Ono has actively
endorsed the University’s athletic department, and, during his time at the UC, he got into uniform and started practicing with the football team. He was also spotted at several Cincinnati games cheering for the team.
On top of this school spirit, Ono is a talented cellist, having studied at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Maryland. At UBC, he was quite involved in the music department, and not just administratively. For example, he performed at a pop-up concert with several music students at a train station, which was a pleasant surprise for individuals boarding.
Ono is a well rounded individual to say the least, but what has he done in regards to the pressing issues many North American universities face? Well, for starters, he’s an active leader in the University Climate Change Coalition, an organization that’s dedicated to reducing carbon emissions and relying more on renewable sources of energy. Ono’s work at UBC showcases his passion for this, having worked to implement several decarbonization programs, such as the Bioenergy Research Demonstration Facility.
Additionally, since 2007, UBC has reduced its GHG emissions by a resounding 30%. On historically unaddressed issues, such as mental health, Ono has voiced his concerns and taken important action at the UC. Following a suicide in 2016, Ono took immediate action by providing all UC students with free counseling sessions and promoting several fundraisers, such as the 1N5 — which seeks to fight the stigma associated with mental illness and provide resources for those in need of therapy. In a moment of vulnerability, he even spoke out about his struggle with mental health in an Enquirer interview, stating that he personally suffered with depression and suicidal ideation in his youth and that he was able to get the help he needed to move forward.
Further, Ono has spoken prolifically about his commitment to tackle sexual assault culture at UBC, going so far as to say that he had “the final word in terms of discipline in these kinds of cases.” He even promised to bring in and work with experts on how to address rape culture at UBC. Thus, considering his charisma and professional dexterity in handling a variety of pertinent and pervasive issues on college campuses, it seems that the Board of Regents was right in unanimously approving his appointment as the next University president. Unfortunately, a modest probing of Ono’s resumé does point to potentially troubling realities. During a period of his tenure at UC, for instance, an ongoing investigation carried out by the United States
Department of Education assessed several complaints pointed at Ono’s administration in regards to discriminatory practices that failed to properly respond to sexual violence incidents that it had awareness of. He was ultimately cleared of involvement in any discriminatory practices in the investigation.
This potential dismissal of sexual violence extends past Ono’s time at UBC. With nearly 100 reports of sexual assault on the UC campus in 2015, this ultimately subjected students to a “sexually hostile environment,” a quote taken from a letter that the Department of Education sent to Ono. Given the University of Michigan’s historical failure to cohesively address sexual assault allegations,we are hopeful that the new president may offer more than just lip service when it comes to sexual assault culture.
In essence, when it comes to school pride and mild domestic liberalism, Ono seems to check off some boxes, but only if we blur over fundamental parts of his history. Compared to our last president, Ono definitely seems to have more of a face to him. However, when it comes to sexual assault culture, students cannot be wholly optimistic about the appointment of Ono.
Still, the looming tenure of Ono holds a wealth of expectations behind it, both from colleagues in the administration and the general student body. In particular, tackling the culture of sexual misconduct that has run rampant on campus will comprise much of Ono’s responsibilities. Recovering from Schlissel’s occupancy, which was tainted by numerous scandals, many of which illuminated a disappointing apathy from the administration as a whole, requires Ono to help develop a more uniform and comprehensive framework with detailed plans of action against future cases.
In addition, Ono faces a unique opportunity to help catapult the campus into a more sustainable environment. Ono’s appointment to the presidency notably coincides with the election of multiple City Council members who are open to modernizing Ann Arbor’s approach to a greener lifestyle. This includes implementing more sources of renewable energy, increased efforts for affordable housing and helping bring the campus one step closer to university-wide carbon neutrality. While decreasing carbon emissions and food waste as outlined currently, Ono faces the mission of integrating sustainability into the everyday campus-wide culture. This ties into an overall anticipation that accompanies Ono’s commitment: a genuine and authentic effort to impact this school by forming connections with the community.
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From The Daily: UMich shouldn’t use neutrality to escape responsibility
THE MICHIGAN DAILY EDITORIAL BOARD
Following the adoption of the University of Michigan Principles on Diversity of Thought and Freedom of Expression in January of this year, the University created an advisory committee tasked with investigating the state of discourse on campus and how the University could help foster it. In its findings released earlier this month, the committee reported that “diversity of thought is lacking” and “deficiencies in constructive disagreement” persist on campus. Among its recommendations was that the administration adopt a policy of “institutional neutrality.”
The report states that “institutional statements disserve the university’s mission. They undermine our commitment to open inquiry by suggesting that those who disagree are unwelcome. They cause would-be dissenters to worry that voicing disagreement may jeopardize admission, grades, or advancement.” Only statements regarding issues that directly pertain to campus would be accepted under the proposed neutrality bylaw.
Similar proposals have become increasingly popular on campuses across the country as administrators have struggled to respond to the polarizing Israeli military offensive in Gaza and Lebanon. University President Santa Ono has, on multiple occasions, found himself subjected to scrutiny by pro-Palestine activists over alleged bias in his emails addressing campus activism.
Sweeping policy statements are unable to capture the diversity of perspectives on campus and the nuance in the issues they’re commenting on. As such, they have understandably left many students feeling unheard. There are more than 30,000 undergraduates enrolled at this institution — representing all of them in an email is impossible, especially when it comes to controversial issues.
The University is supposed to represent all of its students, not just the select groups that happen to align with its vision. Accordingly, the only solution seems to be adopting a policy of neutrality.
The University should refrain from making statements on contentious far-away topics and opt instead for a more hands-off approach. By remaining neutral on matters that don’t directly affect the campus community, the University creates space for open dialogue and debate among students, allowing them to engage with these topics rather than relying on the administration to mediate the conversation.
That said, we fear that the University isn’t defining institutional neutrality the way that most of us would. There is nothing wrong with the approach if it means an end to Ono’s far-too-frequent emails; but if this proposed policy is to be used in bad faith, just as we believe the new Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities was, there is cause to worry.
There are multiple occasions where contentious worldwide events intersect with campus affairs. How the University plans to navigate this gray area isn’t
clearly outlined in the proposal. Climate change, abortion and the conflict in the Middle East all touch our campus in one way or another. While the student body doesn’t need real-time emails about these issues, it does need effective administrative responses. It’s impossible to create policy without taking a stance. Would the University choosing to remove fossil fuels from its endowment in 2021 violate neutrality? Would the University supporting access to abortion care in 2022 violate neutrality? Would the University stating in 2024 that it would remain invested in companies linked to Israel violate neutrality? In all these cases, the University made inherently non-neutral decisions, even if their decision was to do nothing at all.
Furthermore, the University is already supposed to be neutral under existing law. Unlike private schools like Columbia University, the University of Michigan is a public institution. This means it qualifies as a state actor and is therefore already required to maintain political neutrality. A new bylaw requiring institutional neutrality is redundant to the University’s public nature. With this new policy, it’s possible and perhaps plausible the University will use “neutrality” to defend inflexibility in its future policies. Should our collective values on these stances change going forward, the University could use institutional neutrality to avoid being responsive.
Alyssa Mulligan/DAILY
Abigail Schad/DAILY
THE
2022
SPORTS over the YEARS
HOUSTON — It had almost started to fade.
Victors valiant. Conqu’ring Heros. Champions of the West. Words that had once invoked so much, slowly dulling to a blunt edge. They certainly hadn’t lost all their shine, but the punch those lauded lyrics packed was perhaps no longer the same. The antiquated Michigan football program had stumbled its way into the new millennium.
No Big Ten Championships since 2004, a 3-17 record against Ohio State in the 21st century, a 6-12 bowl game record and a 2-4 finish in a rock bottom 2020 season.
But by 2023, everything had changed.
Asked by some to step down, Jim Harbaugh doubled down. Jeered for being antiquated and old, the Wolverines went full bore — full Big Ten. Starting in 2020, they built from the lines out, establishing a dominant ground-and-pound style that harkened back to football of old. Even as Michigan fell in two difficult CFP semifinal losses, something had changed within the storied walls of Schembechler Hall.
If they were going to go all the way, it was only going to happen one way. Running into Houston, the firstranked Wolverines didn’t skip a beat. Thrashing No. 2 Washington’s (14-1 overall) run defense, Michigan (15-0) summited the Huskies 34-13 on the back of none other than
MARCH 28 - The Michigan women’s basketball team advances to its first Elite Eight in program history after beating South Dakota, 52-49, but the Wolverines’ historic run ends with a loss to Louisville, 62-50.
DEC 4 - In its second straight Big Ten Championship, the Michigan football team beats Purdue, 43-22, after defeating Iowa in 2021 for the title.
2024 2025 2023
MARCH 18 - The Michigan hockey team wins its second straight Big Ten Championship over Minnesota, 4-3. Led by freshman forward Adam Fantillli, the 2023 Hobey Baker award winner, the Wolverines advanced to their second straight Frozen Four. NOVEMBER 25 - The Michigan football team beats rival Ohio State, 30-24.
JANUARY 8 - The Michigan football team wins its 12th national championship. The Wolverines defeated Alabama 27-20 in the Rose Bowl and Washington 3413 in the championship game to complete a perfect 15-0 season.
NOVEMBER 11 - The Michigan field hockey team upsets No. 1 Northwestern, 1-0, to win its ninth Big Ten Championship.
MARCH 22 - The Michigan men’s basketball team advances to the Sweet Sixteen in head coach Dusty May’s first year after taking down Texas A&M, 91-79.
APRIL 21 - For the first time in 11 years, the Michigan men’s gymnastics team won the NCAA Championships, defeating reigning national champions Stanford.
a good, old-fashioned 300 yard, four touchdown rushing attack en route to winning a 12th national championship in grand fashion.
“Dominance — (offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore) say every day we gon’ smash some,” sophomore quarterback Alex Orji said. “And I think he showed exactly who he is today. We got the best back duo in the nation, we got the best O-line in the nation. I promise that.” For a moment, it looked like the Wolverines would run away with it. On their first two offensive
drives they found the endzone with ease, courtesy of two 40-yard home runs by junior running back Donovan Edwards. Scoring 17 points on its first three offensive drives, Michigan throttled the gas pedal as the Huskies spiraled.
But three stalled offensive drives later, the Wolverines went into the halftime break up just 17-10. A once red-hot rushing attack sputtered, and Michigan allowed Washington to hang tough. The yard differential was large, but the margin for error small.
“Sometimes, when you break
Michigan shuts down Ohio State to pull off massive upset, 13-10
COLUMBUS — With 45 seconds left in the game, it finally began to settle in.
Gone was the pregame expectation that No. 2 Ohio State would finally break its losing streak to the Michigan football team. Gone was the three-touchdown spread favoring the Buckeyes. Gone were the thoughts that the fiveloss Wolverines had no chance, particularly with star cornerback Will Johnson and tight end Colston Loveland sidelined.
Instead, all that was left was a distraught hush over the Ohio Stadium crowd, a three-point Michigan lead and a swarming Wolverines defense.
With a final four-play, 1-yard drive, Michigan’s defense completed its second-half shutout of Ohio
State’s high-powered offense. And with some help from graduate running back Kalel Mullings, the Wolverines (7-5 overall, 5-4 Big Ten) pulled off the miraculous upset, beating rival Ohio State (10-2, 7-2) for the fourth–straight year, 13-10.
“It’s hard to really put into words how much it means to this group,” senior quarterback Davis Warren said. “We talk about it 365 days a year. … This game means everything to us. Things haven’t gone exactly as we wanted them to over the course of the year, but man, just so proud of this group.”
From the moment Michigan’s defense took the field, it showed it could hang with the Buckeyes. Ohio State demonstrated its inability to run the ball from the opening drive. Its air attack, though significantly better, only earned it a field goal. And while the Buckeyes stuffed Mullings on fourth-and-1 to take back over on their own 3-yard line, the
Wolverines showed an early ability to move the ball down the field.
Graduate cornerback Aamir Hall wasn’t satisfied with the Wolverines’ failed goal-line chance, however.
On Ohio State’s third play of the drive, Hall jumped a route on the sideline to pick Howard off, before he took the ball all the way back to the 2-yard line. There, Mullings punched it in two rushes later to give Michigan a 7-3 lead, refusing to be denied again. With some help from special teams in the form of a missed Buckeyes field goal and a 54-yard make by junior kicker Dominic Zvada, Michigan took a touchdown lead up to the two-minute mark of the first half. But once Ohio State upped the tempo during its ensuing two-minute drill, it found its only real success in the game. CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
Michigan shocks Ohio State, ends eight-game losing streak in The Game
For 3,653 days — long, arduous, hollow days — the Michigan football program lived in the shadows of its unremitting failures against Ohio State. There won’t be a 3,654th day. At long last, that futile streak is over. After eight consecutive bitter losses to the Buckeyes, the Wolverines emerged from The Game victorious. No. 5 Michigan (11-1 overall, 8-1 Big Ten) shocked No. 2 Ohio State (102, 8-1), 42-27, clinching the Big Ten East and punching a ticket to next Saturday’s Big Ten Championship Game.
“One of my favorite sayings of all time is, ‘When there’s a will, there’s a way,’ ” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said after the game. “And the will was very strong for our team.”
As the fourth quarter wound to a close, reality melded with imagination. Senior running back Hassan Haskins stood in the
endzone with outstretched arms, celebrating a touchdown that handed Michigan a 15-point lead with 2:17 minutes to play. He blew kisses to the crowd, beckoning the raucous sea of maize pom poms that serenaded him for an electric five touchdown performance.
Pandemonium had officially set in. When the clock struck doublezeroes, everyone seemed to forget about the freezing cold and the endless nightmares from previous defeats. Droves of fans plunged from the stands and spilled out onto the turf, reveling in their newfound glory.
Michigan, champions of the Big Ten East.
“It was a surreal moment,” junior quarterback Cade McNamara said.
“It’s something we’ve dreamed of. Every 6 a.m. (practice), that feeling is the reason why we do it.”
Saturday offered an opportunity for the Wolverines to exorcise past demons, escaping the recent doldrums and persistent pain of the
rivalry. A win would vault them into the Big Ten Championship Game and buoy aspirations of a berth in the College Football Playoff, two hurdles that the program had yet to clear as of the morning, seven years into Jim Harbaugh’s tenure.
But just as toppling the Buckeyes began to feel sisyphean, the Wolverines punched first — and refused to relent.
“It was really like a war out there,” senior defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, who wreaked havoc on Ohio State’s offense with three sacks, said.
On Michigan’s opening possession, sophomore receiver A.J. Henning found the endzone on a 14-yard touchdown run, whipping Michigan Stadium into an immediate frenzy.
In the second quarter, even as Ohio State took a brief 10-7 lead, Michigan proved unfazed, embodying its seasonlong serenity. A 13-play, 82-yard touchdown drive sent the Wolverines into halftime clenching a 14-13 lead. CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
the runs like that early, you tend to think that you may not need to block as hard throughout the rest of the game,” graduate center Drake Nugent said. “… But in reality it’s kind of the opposite because the defense is gonna get more stout.”
Those same frustrations carried into the second half as the Wolverines struggled to get anything going offensively. Michigan secured just three points on its first four offensive drives of the second half — with the single field goal coming off an interception by quarterback Michael Penix Jr.
that set up the Wolverines with plus field position.
That slow churning was all in a classic fashion though.
The antiquated, hard-nosed, traditionalist style of football may have died years ago amid the airraid offenses of bustling cities out West, or conferences down South.
But three years ago, Michigan had decided to double down. Jim Harbaugh had decided to double down.
And the Wolverines wouldn’t stop now.
“We started fast. They slowed
us up a little bit,” senior running back Blake Corum said. “But when we needed to start fast again, we started fast.” Up 20-13 with just over nine minutes left in the fourth quarter, Michigan’s offense found its footing. As a ground and pound playstyle gave birth to an electric play action completion to sophomore tight end Colston Loveland, the Wolverines strung together an offensive drive that punctuated in a fashion befitting only of the latter Jim Harbaugh era. Making a cut in the backfield before surging up the middle, senior running back Blake Corum sprinted into the endzone for six points, giving the Wolverines an insurmountable 26-13 lead. And then he did it again. Just eight plays later, after graduate defensive back Mike Sainristil returned an interception to within the Washington 10, Corum needed two carries to
“Now we’re in the history books forever,” Nugent said. “We’re legends.” Victors valiant. Conqu’ring Heros. Champions of the West. By 2020, they had faded, crushed under the duress of losing seasons and long-remembered anguish. By 2022, they had found color, attaining glimpses of the exceptionalism that had defined Michigan seasons of years past. But on a January evening in 2024, they found vibrance. The Champions of the West have become the champions of the rest.
Michigan wins Rose Bowl, 27-20, in overtime thriller, will advance to National Championship
good (for) all the hard work, and sweat and tears, everything, the relationships we have, it’s just great to come out on top.”
PASADENA, Calif. — Twenty-
six years to the day after it last won the Rose Bowl, the No. 1 Michigan football team took the field on New Year’s Day to face No. 4 Alabama beneath the San Gabriel Mountains with everything on the line.
After a tumultuous season, the Wolverines again found themselves nearing college football’s summit. The past two years, Michigan had found itself in the same position, in a College Football Playoff semifinal, inches from the national title, and both times it had stumbled. And again on Monday, with the contest coming down to a Crimson Tide fourth-and-3 in overtime, it would be a game of inches. This time, it was Alabama that fell just short.
In a tightly contested overtime thriller, the Wolverines (14-0 overall) narrowly beat back the Crimson Tide (12-2), 27-20, behind a swarming defense that bought enough time for their up-anddown offense to orchestrate a comeback and earn a spot in Houston for the chance to win it all.
“I haven’t felt this feeling in my whole life,” Michigan defensive lineman Kenneth Grant told The Michigan Daily. “It just feels so
But five minutes into the game, the Wolverines were far from that jubilation; instead, they appeared to be headed in the same direction that they’d gone in the past two years. With a near interception on the first play of the game from junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy and a muffed punt a drive later from freshman wide receiver Semaj Morgan that set up a 34-yard touchdown from Alabama running back Jase McClellan, it felt like deja vu for the Wolverines.
Then, on the next drive, senior running back Blake Corum got to work. Grinding out 33 yards on the ground and catching just his third career receiving touchdown, Corum evened the score.
But throughout the contest, it was their defense that saved the Wolverines. With an overwhelming pass rush that blew past the Crimson Tide’s offensive line for five sacks in the first half alone and seven overall, Michigan’s defense bought time and gifted opportunities to its offense.
“Our mantra was just, ‘Grind it out,’ ” Michigan edge rusher Braiden McGregor told The Daily. “We’re a team that’s built to go the distance and last as long as we can. That’s our big thing, it might not work for the first
drive, the second drive, even the first half, but at the end of the day something’s gonna click.” And with enough chances bought by the defense, the offense found moments to strike.
Late in the second quarter, McCarthy piloted an impressive 83-yard touchdown drive, highlighted by a triple pass fake and a 38-yard touchdown catchand-run from sophomore wide receiver Tyler Morris. However, following a bad snap on the extra point and a late Alabama field goal,
crucial field goal that would’ve cut the lead to one. But despite stagnant drive after stagnant drive from McCarthy and the offense, the Wolverines’ defense didn’t break, containing Milroe and keeping the game within one possession.
JOHN TONDORA Former Daily Sports Editor
Alum Anna Fuder/DAILY
CHARLIE PAPPALARDO Former Daily Sports Editor
Alum Anna Fuder/DAILY
NOAH KINGSLEY Former Daily Sports Writer
JARED GREENSPAN Former Managing Sports Editor
Michigan outlasts Wisconsin, 59-53, to win Big Ten Tournament Championship
INDIANAPOLIS
— As the confetti rained down on the No. 3 seed Michigan men’s basketball team’s championship celebration, its last two months were all but forgotten. The nailbiting wins, shooting slumps and especially its regular-seasonending three-game losing streak were all back of mind as the plans to hang another banner in Crisler Center were written. But to get to the celebratory podium, the Wolverines had to forget something else: the first half of the championship game.
Battling through poor early shooting in the Big Ten Tournament Championship game, Michigan (25-9 overall, 14-6 Big Ten) turned a sour ending to their season into a sweet entrance into March Madness against No. 5 seed Wisconsin (26-9, 13-7), winning the title game 59-53. Despite the ugliness of the first half, Michigan’s turnaround mirrored that of its past two weeks: from stone cold to dynamic and at the top of the food chain, this time cutting down the nets.
Twenty minutes before Michigan closed out the Badgers, though, it looked as though the Wolverines had lost all of their offensive mojo. They initially came out in the first half looking like the same team that came to play Friday
and Saturday, scoring on three straight possessions, then the shots stopped falling; Michigan was getting good looks from deep, but couldn’t get them to drop.
This resulted in a 23-21 Wisconsin lead at halftime, as neither the Wolverines nor Badgers were potent offensively. But when the teams came out of the half, Michigan was still slow and the Badgers had awoken. After hitting just eight shots the entire first half, Wisconsin made four in the first five minutes of the second half to mount the first strong lead of the game.
“I don’t remember what the details we talked about at halftime were,” Michigan coach Dusty May said. “But I do remember us rallying around the fact we don’t know what it’s going to look like, (or) how it’s going to go, but we’re going to dig deep and find a way.”
The Badgers’ percentages still weren’t all that strong, but their offense showed life while the Wolverines’ did not. This stronger start got Wisconsin up by as much as nine points six minutes into the half, just in time for Michigan to wake up and rally too. After two deep shots from freshman guard
L.J. Cason kept the Wolverines close while their offense was stagnant, they cut the lead down to just four with 10 minutes to go.
CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
52-49
ABBIE TELGENHOF Former Daily Sports Editor
WICHITA, KAN. — The Michigan women’s basketball team knew it was do or die.
With a trip to the Elite Eight on the line — potentially the first in program history — the third seeded Wolverines (25-6 overall) rose to the challenge.
Taking down No. 11-seed South Dakota (29-6), 52-49, in the Sweet Sixteen, the Wolverines once again made history.
“The moment we had today is never going to go away,” Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said. “So I’m just so happy for this group. … We’re still playing. There are eight darn teams left in the country playing and we are one of them. That’s pretty incredible.”
From the opening tip, it was a gritty, back and forth game. Throughout the entire game Michigan struggled to score, never truly finding an offensive groove. Instead, short spurts of efficient scoring kept the Wolverines afloat against a physical Coyote defense.
In the first quarter, trying to push the ball in transition, sloppy turnovers plagued Michigan. The Wolverines looked to their one-two punch of senior forward Naz Hillmon and senior guard Leigha Brown, but to no avail.
Hillmon — who was tripleteamed on every possession — notched zero points in the first quarter and just six in the second. Brown faired slightly better, but any limited success she had was unsustainable. Working deep into the rotation early, Michigan tried to get something going. A short run at the end of the first quarter kept the Wolverines from fully breaking.
But opening the second quarter with two missed 3-pointers from junior guard Maddie Nolan and a shot-clock violation, Michigan quickly fell out of what little rhythm it had gained. Short offensive spurts from freshman guard Laila Phelia kept the Wolverines in the game — and a strong defensive showing forced South Dakota into tough shots — but nothing seemed to stick.
CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
Michigan punches ticket to Frozen Four, beats Michigan State 5-2 in NCAA Regional Final
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo.
— ‘Little brother’ had all but lost its meaning.
The Michigan hockey team was riding a four-game losing streak against its biggest rival.
Highlighted by a Big Ten Championship victory just last weekend, Michigan State had taken thorough control of the rivalry. The Wolverines couldn’t claim the Spartans as their ‘little brother’ anymore. In fact, Michigan State could’ve made a case to turn the moniker on its head.
But on Sunday, with everything on the line, Michigan brought its meaning back.
Behind another late-game surge, the third-seeded Wolverines (23-14-3 overall, 12-11-2 Big Ten) got their revenge over the top-seeded Spartans (25-10-3, 16-7-3) in the NCAA Regional Final. With the 5-2 win, Michigan ended Michigan State’s season and earned its third straight Frozen Four berth.
“We came into this game with the mentality to just win a game, not for personal battles or to get involved in all that extracurriculars after the whistles,” junior forward Dylan Duke said. “We came to win a hockey game, and we did that tonight.”
The Spartans were the first to capitalize, cashing in on an early power-play opportunity and jumping out to a 1-0 lead. The Wolverines created a number of quality chances in hopes of responding, but their shots either skidded wide or were turned away by Michigan State goaltender Trey Augustine.
Midway through the second period, though, Michigan broke through and scored an equalizer. Spurred by quick passes on the rush, junior defenseman Ethan Edwards found space to shoot and made the most of it, sniping one past Augustine to knot the score at 1-1.
Throughout the rest of the second — and especially on the penalty kill — graduate goaltender Jake Barczewski heated up in net. He turned away a number of good looks from the Spartans, preserving the tie as the Wolverines slowed down on offense.
So it all came down to the final period. Twenty more minutes with everything up for grabs. A ticket to the Frozen Four was at the forefront, but for the Wolverines, revenge and name-calling rights were in the back of their minds.
And in a dominant final stretch, Michigan earned it all. CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
Although it wasn’t part of the game plan, getting involved in extracurriculars was almost inevitable in a matchup like this. Tensions ran high from start to finish, with 10 total penalties levied throughout the night.
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