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Wednesday, January 14, 2026

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Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud selected as next UMich president

The alum will assume the position by July 1, putting an end to the five-month search MICHIGAN DAILY NEWS STAFF Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud has been selected as the next president of the University of Michigan, according to sources with knowledge of the presidential search process. Syverud is an alum of the University, having graduated from the Law School in 1981. He served as a member of the Law School’s faculty from 1987 to 1997 and was the school’s associate dean for academics affairs from 1995 until his departure. Syverud has occupied his position at Syracuse since 2014. He has previously held dean positions at Washington University School of Law and Vanderbilt University Law School. Since 2010, he has also served as a trustee on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Trust, established by multinational oil and gas company BP to settle claims from the manmade ecological disaster of the same name. In a statement provided to MLive, University Regent Michael Behm (D) said he approved of the search committee’s choice. “He’ll be terrific,” Behm said. “He’s just who we’re looking for to lead the University.” LSA senior Eric Veal Jr., student body president and search

Bela Fischer/DAILY Newly appointed President Kent Syverud speaks at a special meeting of the University of Michigan Board of Regents at Ruthven Building Monday afternoon.

committee member, wrote in an email to The Michigan Daily he believed Syverud would embody the University’s values. “In every conversation and interview, it became clear that he doesn’t just understand the

Michigan Difference, he embodies it,” Veal Jr. wrote. “Beyond his credentials, Syverud is a dynamic leader who leads with empathy and a genuine heart for the people he serves. He is profoundly studentcentered, and I have no doubt he

will show a tireless dedication to fostering authentic relationships across every corner of our campus.” Not all attitudes towards Syverud’s potential have been universally positive. Derek Peterson, chair of the Senate Advisory

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Hundreds gather for candlelight vigil honoring Renee Good

UMich considering single-source beverage contract

The vigil honored the memory of Good and others who were killed by ICE

NIKO WILSON & REBECCA BORLACE Daily Staff Reporters

Candlelight illuminated Liberty Plaza Friday evening as more than 300 people gathered for a vigil honoring Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother and poet killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross during a Minneapolis ICE operation Wednesday morning. Multiple protests have been held in Good’s honor across the country, including Ann Arbor’s: “ICE Oout for Good” march and rally. The event concluded with about 400 protesters gathering outside City Hall. Ann Arbor Indivisible, a local chapter of a nationwide prodemocracy organization, hosted the vigil. The vigil honored Good’s memory, along with others who have fallen victim

to ICE’s violence, and called for the responsible ICE agents to be held accountable. Thirty-two people died in ICE custody in 2025, the highest number since 2004. Community members began the vigil by reading three poems in honor of Good, including one written by Good herself, titled “On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs.” Jeff Kass, an English and creative writing teacher at Pioneer High School, delivered a poem at the event dedicated to Good’s three children. “Your mother became a hurricane, a cyclone, a wind, a forest, a sea, a movement, a light, a light,” Kass said. “Your mother is a light. Let us rise from our lawn chairs. Let us rise from our couches. Let us be our own new hum, blood and wood and water and loud and crashing.” In a post on X the day before Good’s death, the Department of Homeland Security described

the immigration enforcement campaign in Minnesota as the “largest DHS operation ever.” Currently, there are approximately 2,000 federal agents deployed in the Minneapolis area. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Business senior Keegan Balcerzak, who attended the vigil after seeking out events to honor Good, said he thinks current ICE operations enable interactions like these, specifically based on where agents are stationed. “I think the only reason it happened is because border patrol is in places they shouldn’t be,” Balcerzak said. “I think it’s as simple as that. Minneapolis is 344 miles from the Canadian border, or something. That doesn’t seem like a place where border patrol needs to be.” Gus Teschke, Ann Arbor Indivisible member, said in an interview with The Daily

that the group demands accountability and prosecution of the officers responsible for Good’s death. “Our demands are that the killers of Renee Nicole Good be brought to justice, that they be arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and that all the other ICE agents who have killed people be brought to justice as well, and that ICE be banned from communities because they’re dangerous,” Teschke said. “They’re a menace to communities. We see it in videos and pictures all the time.” In a Truth Social post, President Donald Trump claimed Good tried to run over the ICE officer who shot her. Following Good’s death, Vice President JD Vance also described the killing as an act of self-defense. CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM

Ann Arbor residents gather for a candlelight vigil for Renee Nicole Good at Liberty Plaza in downtown Ann Arbor Friday evening.

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Committee on University Affairs, wrote that he and the Faculty Senate believed the search committee had not properly considered the desires of the University community. “In principle I as chair of the faculty ought to be in a position to

explain to the University why Dr. Syverud is the right person for the job,” Peterson wrote. “The search process was shrouded in secrecy, despite the expressed views of faculty government. … This is not a great way to start a new presidency, and it reflects badly on the Board of Regents, for the process deprived Dr. Syverud of the opportunity to make his case to students, staff and faculty.” Peterson expressed approval of Syverud’s role defending the University’s affirmative action in the 2003 Supreme Court case Grutter v. Bollinger, as well as his reputation of engaging with students on Syracuse’s campus. Yet, he also criticized aspects of Syverud’s leadership of Syracuse, including him withdrawing investments from the local community while substantially raising tuition, closing Syracuse’s Diversity and Inclusion Office and labeling pro-Palestine activists at Syracuse as “encouraged from Iran.” “His record is uneven,” Peterson wrote. “That would be true for any university leader that we hired in this day and age. The Trump government is placing extraordinary pressures on all American universities, and it is not an easy time to be a college president. That is why it falls to us— students, staff and faculty—to shape this new presidency into what we want it to be.”

The agreement would grant a company the sole right to sell, serve and advertise its products across U-M campuses KAYLA LUGO & LOUISA SUK

Daily Staff Reporters

The University of Michigan is considering awarding a singlesource beverage contract for the first time in two decades. The companies under consideration include Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Red Bull or Keurig Dr Pepper. The agreement would grant the company the sole right to sell, serve and advertise its products in locations including dining facilities and events across the University’s Ann Arbor, Flint and Dearborn campuses and Michigan Medicine. In an email to The Michigan Daily, Tally Thrasher, assistant vice president and chief procurement officer, described the selection process that led to the shortlist of companies under consideration, which included market evaluation and a Request for Proposal. “Coca-Cola, Keurig Dr Pepper, Red Bull, and Pepsi were selected after a detailed and methodical evaluation process that included, among other things, an RFP, information from our peer institutions, market share, product selection, financial proposal, and their commitment to sustainability and customer service,” Thrasher wrote. Currently, 13 of the 18 universities in the Big Ten Conference have exclusive pouring contracts with companies including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. Jorge Iniguez-Lluhi, associate professor of pharmacology, told The Daily there are potential benefits of an exclusive contract but expressed concerns about consumer choice and health. “I’m just afraid the economic interests might overshadow the

need for or the willingness of constituencies to have a more broad access to a wide range of beverages,” Iniguez-Lluhi said. “And the other concern — if an agreement with one large company comes to pass — is whether or not that’s going to create undue influence, pushing specific types of products or less healthy products to the students.” While Iniguez-Lluhi does not believe a single-source beverage contract would significantly restrict student access to beverages, he said it would eliminate an open environment conducive to innovation and competition. “These big companies have a wide variety of beverages, so it’s not like it’s going to be limited to one particular drink,” IniguezLluhi said. “Still, I think that encouraging competition and encouraging diversity in choices is important. So I think these kinds of measures tend to stifle competition, which is not good in the long term.” However, Thrasher wrote an exclusive contract could simplify University operations and allow for potential revenue increases. “Some of the major benefits to the university include simplified operations and administration across the entire institution, dedicated customer service from the supplier, a stronger focus on sustainability as well as opportunities to increase revenue/financial incentives, establish strategic partnerships, and engage with—and support— the U-M community in a variety of ways,” Thrasher wrote. “When considered collectively, these benefits provide significant support of the university’s missions of teaching, research, and patient care.” CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM

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Former Huron Valley corrections officer charged for sexual misconduct Prosecutors allege a 22-year-old former corrections officer engaged in multiple sexual acts with incarcerated women during his tenure, will stand trial ZAHRA KAGAL Daily Staff Reporter

A former corrections officer at the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti will stand trial on multiple felony charges after a judge bound the case over to the 22nd Circuit Court in Washtenaw County earlier this week, finding sufficient evidence for it to proceed to trial. Joshua Lee, a 22-year-old from Wyandotte, faces four counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a state

prisoner, each of which carries a potential penalty of up to 15 years in prison. The charges stem from allegations Lee engaged in multiple sexual acts with several incarcerated women while working as a corrections officer at the facility. In a press release, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said it is the state’s responsibility to protect people in custody from abuse by those in positions of authority. “Everyone deserves protection from sexual abuse, and Michigan has laws in place to keep people safe in our correctional

facilities,” Nessel said. “My office will continue to hold accountable those who seek to use their positions of authority to abuse those under their care.” Lee was initially charged in November 2025 and prosecutors allege that the conduct included acts of sexual penetration. Michigan law prohibits any sexual contact between corrections officers and prisoners — regardless of consent — due to the inherent power imbalance between corrections staff and incarcerated individuals. However, according to the press release, the law does not specifically address sexual penetration.

As a result, prosecutors are charging Lee with both contact and penetration offenses under seconddegree criminal sexual conduct statutes, rather than under separate degrees that more explicitly reflect the severity of penetration offenses. Nessel previously called for the Michigan Legislature to amend state law so first- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct statutes explicitly cover sexual penetration by corrections officers. Lee is scheduled to next appear before Judge Arianne E. Slay in the 22nd Circuit Court on Feb. 26.

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Ann Arbor Indivisible hosts: ‘ICE Out For Good, Nationwide Weekend of Action’

Daily Staff Reporters

Several hundred Ann Arbor community members gathered Saturday morning for Ann Arbor Indivisible’s “ICE Out For Good” protest against President Donald Trump’s administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement-related violence. The march and subsequent rally were associated with the Nationwide Weekend of Action, where protests occurred across the nation opposing violence from ICE agents. The march began on the corner of State Street and North University Avenue following a Friday evening vigil for Renee Nicole Good, who was killed in a Minneapolis ICE operation Wednesday morning. Attendees brought noisemakers, whistles, posters and ice scrapers to protest against ICE presence in Ann Arbor and throughout the country. Several community members chanted and held posters calling for the abolition of ICE. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, LSA freshman Meghan Ruthven said hearing the chants led her to join the protest while noticing it on her way to study. “I read an article about Renee Good and the shootings in Minneapolis,” Ruthven said. “I was hoping to find something like this eventually, so I just saw the

crowd and I was like, ‘Yeah, this is a great cause. I’m gonna join.’” Ruthven said more people need to exercise their right to protest against ICE instead of remaining complacent. “Donald Trump infuriates me to no end, and I feel like we are just all sitting ducks,” Ruthven said. “Especially the Democratic Party, we’ve just done nothing against him, especially ICE, so to actually do something about it and protest and use our First Amendment right — I think that is a beautiful thing.” Gus Teschke, Ann Arbor Indivisible member, told The Daily the organization is committed to using non-violent methods of protest. “Trump is trying to consolidate his power and institute an authoritarian government in the United States to overturn our democracy,” Teschke said. “We need to oppose that. We can’t accept that. We’re trying to form a massive, nonviolent, organized movement, along with many other groups. We’re trying to get to millions of people so that we have the power to confront him and protect our democracy.” The march ended at the Liberty Plaza of Ann Arbor City Hall, where attendees gathered in front of the judicial center’s entrance. Ann Arbor Indivisible organizers selected this location to protest a previous instance in December when the city granted border security agents access into the

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LYRA SHARMA and GRAHAM BARKER Isai Hernandez-Flores/DAILY Protesters march for the ICE Out for Good protest on State Street and North University Avenue Saturday afternoon.

building. Attending members of the rally included students, local residents and other advocacy groups. The rally included poems read by local advocates and other guest speakers, including Yousef Rabhi, a District 8 Washtenaw County Commissioner, who told attendees he is working on a response to border security agents gaining access inside City Hall. “We are working on a resolution at the county level to make it so that ICE is banned from our facilities, banned from our properties, banned from our resources,” Rabhi said. “Ultimately, we need to ban them from our communities.” After the speech, Rabhi said in an interview with The Daily

he intends to use his role as an elected official to amplify the voices of Ann Arbor residents. “This is what all politicians should be doing,” Rabhi said. “These are the people that elected us and these are the issues that they are fighting for, that I’m fighting for. It’s connecting with the people on an issue that we’re all on the same page on. So, if I can lend a voice to that, if I can help bring the crowd together to fight for a common cause — that’s what I’m here for.” In an interview with The Daily, LSA freshman Kathryn Anderson said, as someone who grew up in a quiet rural town, she was surprised by the community turnout. CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM

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The play used hyper-realistic puppetry, video theater and miming to tell a story about humanity and climate change

Award-winning Belgian theater companies Chaliwaté and Focus Companies held the opening visual performance “Dimanche” at the Power Center Wednesday evening. Hundreds of people gathered to view as hyper-realistic puppetry, video theater and miming blended to tell a story about humanity and climate change. The show’s performers began traveling the world in November

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‘Dimanche’ blends puppetry and miming to spread climate change awareness

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“To actually do something about it and protest and use our First Amendment right — I think that is a beautiful thing”

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2019 and have now performed over 500 shows. Through comedy and visual illusions, the show’s plot features three wildlife reporters documenting an apocalypse caused by climate change. Meanwhile, members of a family try to spend their Sunday together despite the catastrophic storm threatening to destroy their home. The show intentionally features dialogue in Bulgarian so the audience does not understand what the actors are saying. In a Q&A session held after the show, performer Christine Heyraud, whose mother is from Bulgaria,

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said the audience does not need to understand the words to understand the meaning of the performance. “It’s a language that not everyone can understand, but it’s not the goal that you can understand,” Heyraud said. “It’s surreal what we say, and the meaning makes sense with the scene.” Throughout the show, videos were projected behind the performers to display tragic environmental incidents through the point of view of the wildlife reporter’s camera. Clips included a tornado blowing away the reporter’s camera and a tsunami washing away a reporter when diving for underwater footage. The cast used a variety of special effects to depict these scenes. During the Q&A session, French-speaking performer Sicaire Durieux and Chaliwaté co-founder, aided by freelance translator Kelsey Trotta, said his favorite special effect was a scene where his character tried to grasp a staircase railing until a tornado blew him away. “It’s really exciting to search for and find ways to achieve those special effects,” Durieux said. “Everything technical

and magical. Unfortunately, that’s a trade secret.” Durieux said “Dimanche” shifted its focus toward climate change as the show’s creators began worrying over a lack of action to prevent it. “One thing that my co-creators and I were really struck by was the delay between impending catastrophes and everyday life,” Durieux said. “We are surprised to see how bad the direction of things are going. When we first created this performance, we didn’t necessarily do it to fight climate change. We are not people to moralize, but we would like to have faith in humanity.” In an interview with The Michigan Daily, LSA freshman Manuella Sanchez, a “Dimanche” attendee, said the performance’s technical elements impressed her and introduced her to a new form of art. “I thought it was spectacular,” Sanchez said. “I was smiling ear to ear the whole time. I’ve never seen a puppetry show in general, but the mix of puppetry and the special effects was so spectacular. There’s really no words for it.” CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM

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Ukrainian studies fellow and historian Danielle Leavitt discusses debut book “Writing a people-centered history of any era, but especially the present, means privileging human experience over power.”

ZOOEY RAUX

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Danielle Leavitt, Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia postdoctoral fellow in Ukrainian studies, discussed her debut book, “By the Second Spring: Seven Lives and One Year of the War in Ukraine,” in Weiser Hall Thursday evening. The lecture, hosted by the WCEE and co-sponsored by theInternational Institute and the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, examined how ordinary Ukrainians experienced the first year of Russia’s full-scale invasion. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Leavitt said her motivation for writing the book stemmed from her frustration with inaccurate depictions of Ukrainians in the media. “These portrayals were either desperate war people or nearly superhuman heroes, and neither description felt entirely accurate,” Leavitt said. “As a whole, these portrayals had a flattening effect. This bothered me because this was the moment the world was really coming to know Ukraine, and it was essentially becoming a caricature.” Leavitt based her book on a collection of online diaries and in-depth interviews with seven Ukrainians whose lives were upended by the war, including one woman named Yulia whose legs were severed by a Russian bomb. Leavitt said the stories she

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WCEE postdoctoral fellow Danielle Leavitt speaks about her book, “By the Second Spring.”

encountered while interacting with Ukrainians convinced her that personal narratives are essential to understanding the war itself. “As I read accounts like Yulia’s and watched them unfold … I felt a growing conviction that these stories mattered, that they were somehow essential to understanding the war itself,” Leavitt said. “In their words,

perhaps, was a power to shape how those outside Ukraine might come to understand this war.” Douglas Northrop, WCEE acting director and professor of history and Middle East studies, told The Daily personal narratives are important in humanizing the war. “It keeps it from being a disembodied series of

abstractions,” Northrop said. “It becomes real and human, and it’s a way for individual listeners and readers to connect the experience to the world they know — to the lives they live — and shows what could be or what could have been for others. It makes them feel a kind of connection.” Leavitt recounted the story of Vitaly, a man featured in her

book who saved up to open a coffee shop in the years leading up to the invasion. She said he allowed himself one indulgence: a high-end espresso machine. Leavitt then explained how, just weeks after opening his shop, Russian tanks bombed Vitaly’s apartment and coffee shop. She shared pictures of Vitaly’s espresso machine amid the rubble, highlighting that

digging through the debris was like searching for parts of his life that had been destroyed. “He spent days turning over pieces of debris through the night,” Leavitt said. “It was a process he was familiar with from his recycling days, but this time, he was searching for parts of himself. After several days of digging, he found something that he recognized: his old espresso machine. In every war, an entire world can be leveled in minutes. Home, history, memory.” In an interview with The Daily, Rackham student Sylvan Perlmutter, who attended the discussion, said that as a coffee drinker, the image of Vitaly’s espresso machine in the rubble was uncanny. “I have to have my espresso every day,” Perlmutter said. “The cafe is an extremely essential infrastructure for reproducing my life and my identity. … So seeing that picture of the espresso machine at the end through the rubble, I mean, wow. Life can be more heartbreaking and stranger and more everything every day.” Leavitt said telling the stories of individual lives, rather than relying solely on maps and statistics, is essential to capturing the full horrors of war. “To speak only in terms of strategy or territory is to create a narrow and incomplete historical vision. Writing a people-centered history of any era, but especially the present, means privileging human experience over power,” Leavitt said.

Things to do around Ann Arbor in January Learn more about events happening across the city this month

DOMINIC APAP Daily News Editor

As the new year begins, organizations and businesses around Ann Arbor are holding events to keep the community entertained. The weather may be dreary, but Ann Arborites looking for something enjoyable do not have to look far or spend a fortune. Here are nine events happening this month, from Restaurant Week to an orchestral concert. Jan. 10: Luminary Workshop The Ann Arbor District Library is hosting a session to make luminary sculptures — decorative lanterns made from tissue paper, glue and wire. Participants can use their luminaries during the annual FoolMoon festival on April 10, where community members carry these sculptures in a procession through Ann Arbor. When: 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Where: AADL: Downtown The

Secret Lab, 343 S. 5th Ave. Price: Free Jan. 17: Winter Stonef ly Search The Huron River Watershed Council is hosting its annual winter search for stoneflies. Two different search crews will try to find and collect these creatures. Stoneflies only appear in high-quality water, so searching for them helps measure the health of water sources and identifies potential problem areas. Participants can register on the HRWC’s website. When: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Group 1), 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (Group 2) Where: Huron River Watershed Council, 117 N. First Street, Suite 100 Price: Free Jan. 17: Winter Tree Identification Walk The Washtenaw Bird & Nature Alliance is hosting a nature walk to help teach the community how to identify common Michigan tree species.

Participants will learn the differences between trees and the ecological impacts of these differences. When: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Where: Dunwoodie Trailhead at Oakwoods Nature Area, 3185 Dunwoodie Road Price: Free Jan. 17: FutureStars Singing Competition The Pioneer High School Theatre Guild is hosting its annual FutureStars competition, featuring singing performances from Ann Arbor high school students. The singer receiving the most applause will win the title of FutureStar 2026. Tickets are available for sale on their website. When: 7 p.m. Where: Schreiber Auditorium at Pioneer High School, 601 W. Stadium Blvd. Price: $20 for general admission Jan. 17: Creatures and Cookies: Jill the Muntjac The Creature Conservancy will be showing off Jill, a

muntjac deer, which is a small deer species native to southeast Asia. After a presentation on Jill, a professional cookie artist will help attendees decorate winter-themed cookies. Attendees must be 18 or older. Tickets are for sale on their website. When: 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Where: The Creature Conservancy, 4940 Ann ArborSaline Road Price: $45 Jan. 18 to 23: Ann Arbor Restaurant Week At least 42 Ann Arbor restaurants are participating in Restaurant Week, offering discounted prices on food and providing customers the opportunity to experience new cuisines. Some restaurants may require reservations in advance. When: Jan. 18 to 23 Where: Downtown Ann Arbor Price: Prices vary Jan. 18: The Ann Arbor Concert Band’s The Planets The Ann Arbor Concert Band,

a group of volunteer musicians, will perform Gustav Holst’s The Planets. The band will play all seven movements, with each movement corresponding to a planet and the Roman god associated with it. Tickets can be purchased on their website. When: 2 p.m. Where: Michigan Theater, 603 E. Liberty St. Price: $16.25 (general admission), $11.25 (students and seniors), free (children under 14) Jan. 30-31: Ann Arbor Folk Fest The Ark, a non-profit supporting folk music in Ann Arbor, is hosting its annual Ann Arbor Folk Fest at the Hill Auditorium. Kalamazoo band Greensky Bluegrass will kick the festival off on Friday night, Jan. 30. The following night, Saturday, Jan. 31, features performances from Amos Lee, Dawes, Grand Rapids band The Crane Wives, Ugandan-

born singer Jon Muq and folktronica artist Rabbitology, who is an LSA senior named Nat Timmerman. Tickets can be purchased on their website. When: Jan. 30 at 7:30 p.m., Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. Where: Hill Auditorium, 825 N. University Ave. Price: Tickets starting at $56.50 Jan. 30-Feb. 1: Little Shop of Horrors The Neutral Zone Royal Players, a group of teen actors, are producing Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s “Little Shop of Horrors,” a musical about a carnivorous plant that stays alive by eating human flesh. Tickets can be purchased on their website. When: Doors open at 7 p.m. and curtains open at 7:30 p.m on Jan. 30 and 31. Doors open at 1:30 p.m. and curtains open at 2 p.m. Feb. 1. Where: Neutral Zone, 310 E. Washington St. Price: Free

Take time to explore activities that move you. Your well-being will thank you. Discover the Well-being Collective: wellbeing.umich.edu

Many U-M students, faculty, and staﬀ take advantage of the Michigan Recreation facilities and their class oﬀerings during the winter months to support their physical and mental well-being. You can connect to these helpful resources and many others on our website.

Arts Chic winter shoes that aren’t Uggs (even though I still love mine)

4 — Wednesday, January 14, 2026

ASHANTI MIRELEZ Daily Arts Contributor

My approach to footwear has always been a little … delusional. Not in a bad way — more in a “I will look chic if it’s 19 degrees and sleeting” kind of way. When the cold feels unbearable, the sun sets at 4:30 p.m. and life generally feels like it’s bullying us, I find joy in the small things — like the perfectly chosen shoe that makes an otherwise depressing winter outfit feel intentional. But here’s the twist: I can’t bring myself to actually sacrifice all practicality. I’m not trying to lose all ten toes on my walk to Mason Hall. So, grab a blanket. Let me lay out how I survive the cruelest season while still dressing like I have an image to uphold. I make sure the soles aren’t bare because nothing ruins chic faster than falling on ice. I buy my winter shoes a half size up so I can wear thick knit socks. And I refuse to step outside in anything that feels fussy or uncomfortable, because once the cold hits, we’re already battling enough. With that, let’s

dive into the shoes that take me through winter with a bit of delusional confidence and a lot of intentional styling. Ballet f lats with leg warmers Nothing feels more “I’m committed to the aesthetic” than wearing ballet flats in winter. It should work — practically and even spiritually. The soft layering adds unexpected texture and warmth while keeping the outfit playful and refined. It becomes this soft, unexpected statement that feels elevated. There’s something magical about a ballet flat paired with a textured leg warmer and an oversized coat that makes an entire outfit look artfully effortless. It’s very “I’m cold, but I’m chic about it.” In a season dominated by bulky coats and layered bottoms, the slim silhouette of a ballet flat balanced by the leg warmer, sharpens the look in a way boots simply cannot. Even with freezing temperatures, the dainty flat brings balance to the structured volume happening everywhere else. It feels almost editorial, like something you’d see in a street-style roundup from Copenhagen Fashion

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Week: all wind, all layering, all ballerina energy. Loafers Loafers just might be the most underrated winter shoe out there. People forget that loafers are shockingly winterfriendly when styled right. They’re sturdy, dry and, when paired with the right sock, cozily practical. A loafer holds up in the winter slush far better than you’d expect, and there is quiet confidence in wearing something so streamlined in the dead of winter. A good loafer brings structure and calm to a look overwhelmed by layers. Huge scarf? Giant coat? Wide-leg trousers hiding thermal leggings? The loafer anchors everything back to a clean line. They give an oldworld sophistication that makes even the simplest outfit look curated. Something about stepping onto an icy sidewalk in a loafer says, “Yes, I am aware of the weather, but refuse to submit to it.” And honestly, that’s the spirit of winter dressing that I love. Inuikii Of course, sometimes a real winter boot is necessary — but

What to watch on your phone before bed that won’t kill you CAMPBELL JOHNS Managing Arts Editor

In every old Crash Course YouTube video, John Green had a “this machine kills fascists” sticker on his Mac, inspired by Woody Guthrie’s guitar carvings. It was the early 2000s, and there was hope that the internet would ultimately be good. The Green brothers have gone back on this message, and so have I. The internet no longer helps me find relief from this horrifying political moment and instead seems to perpetuate the harm. Scrolling when you get home from class is no longer a reprieve from the horrible thing you heard the boy next to you say under his breath, but an inescapable continuation of it. I used to feel a grand sense of camaraderie on the internet, but now I just feel worse. But I still can’t get off the fucking phone, especially at night. How else, I attempt to argue, will I burn my eyes until they’re so strained that I have to close them? What else will save me from the suffering of simply processing my day until my body forcibly sleeps? I’ve had to find a middle ground. I’m limiting myself to certain accounts and genres of content that remain purely good in a world that, climate- and culture-wise, feels more and more unsalvageable. As John Green wrote in his 2021 essay collection “The Anthropocene Reviewed,” “finding hope is not

Courtesy of MIAM! Animation

some philosophical exercise or sentimental notion; it is a prerequisite for my survival.” Here are some places of peace and kindness on the internet that give me that much-needed hope. “Tweedy & Fluff” I am still a girl who chases the feeling of being read a bedtime story. “Tweedy & Fluff” gets pretty damn close. The show is a stop-motion animation series that runs on TV, but, in line with how I consume most TV these days, I watch the clips on Instagram. As their website says, “Tweedy is a little toy made from tweed cloth, living alone in a weaver’s cottage until the arrival of Fluff – a four-legged ball of woolly fuzz who becomes his beloved pet.” It is one of the most adorable things I’ve seen on the internet. My favorite clip is the most popular, where Fluff gets a piece of tape stuck to him, which is obviously very scary for a little fluff. Tweedy calms him down,

and it really makes me want to cry. The calming music, slight ASMR of Tweedy walking and genuine kindness of the act — it all cozies me right down for sleep. There’s a calm in these videos I haven’t felt since maybe-tooold-me was playing with dolls or accompanying my kid siblings to kid’s movies as a bona fide adult. It brings me to the quieted, peaceful space of a little girl glued to a fuzzy TV screen — emotionally way better than the rest of the shit Instagram shoves down my throat. Lego cooking Lego cooking is ASMR for children, and it rocks. There are quite a few channels that make these videos, but my favorite (and the most popular) channel is tomosteen. These are stop-motion videos recreating every step of cooking with Legos instead of food, and they are so satisfying.

CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM

Ella Flores/DAILY

even then, I still want it to look intentional. This is where the Inuikii boots come in. They’re warm (genuinely warm), padded and protective, but, thanks to their silhouette, they never feel heavy or aggressive. They’re the rare winter boot that still understands proportions and shape. I love the added softness without the outfit-ruining clunk. They complement chunky knits without overwhelming

them. They give that postaprès-ski energy, but make it city chic. It’s the priceless winter duality of “I could be going to brunch or I could be about to wander through fresh snow in Switzerland.” Onitsuka Tiger Snow Heaven boots I genuinely cannot decide if I love or hate this shoe. Every time I see a photo, I oscillate between “Absolutely not” and

“Wait … is this actually genius?” They sit in that uncanny valley of winter footwear where something feels borderline fugly but in a way that might actually be considered high fashion if the right person styled them. I think that’s my problem: I need to see someone effortlessly pull them off before I can emotionally commit. CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM

Is Minecraft colonial? DARRIN ZHOU

Daily Arts Contributor

“We treat the villagers pretty bad,” my friend says, watching me in our Minecraft world. Above us are cherrywood houses, animal pastures and a fountain in city square — the town we’ve built. Below, in the basement of an innocent-looking wooden house, is a grotto housing about 50 villagers — passive NPCs inhabiting the Minecraft world —, many confined to a 1 by 1 space. We go upstairs to pull villagers into the rooms beneath using fishing rods, blocking escape paths and guiding their path with rushing water toward their cells. This is the quintessential villager trading hall. I’m currently immolating one in lava because I need the villager in this cell to sell me Knockback II books (items used to enhance weapons), an enchantment that my friend doesn’t even put on their swords anymore because “it’s kinda annoying and doesn’t really do that much.” “Yeah, probably,” I reply. Minecraft, released in 2009 by Mojang Studios, pioneered the landscape of sandbox games, which are characterized by loose to nonexistent narratives, open worlds and high degrees of interactivity. Players in Minecraft spawn into an empty world with no clear direction; there’s rudimentary progression in the form of gathering better materials or defeating endgame

bosses like the Wither or Ender Dragon, but the teleological ends of the game are to build, farm and technologize to your heart’s content. Enjoyment of the game is derived from the transformation of an empty world into structures of desire — often elaborate bases, item farms or boatways. Minecraft is about the discovery and taming of vacant lands, an unassuming but insidious type of gameplay. Phillip PenixTadsen writes in “Video Games and the Global South”: “In an era when physical space has been thoroughly explored, virtual spaces harken back to the romance of the colonial frontier — as new regions to discover and conquer.” Even the imagery of Minecraft subtly supports this framework, from the game’s generated villages with cobblestone and wooden houses, to the smelting of iron and gold tools, to the domestication of prototypically Western livestock like chickens, cows and pigs reflecting Western culture. Bennett Brazelton of the Cultural Geographies journal writes: “In this sense, the eradication and construction inherent to the game do not entail the creation of a new and abstract culture, so much as the transplantation of European neo-colonies which resemble and seek to recreate feudal/industrializing European life.” Then, the construction of a villager trading hall emerges from the way Minecraft presents a virtual terra nullius to the

player for exploitation. In the late game, players will look to upgrade their weapons and tools with the best enchantments; to do so requires enchanted books, which are most easily obtained through trading with villagers. So players, wanting easy access to enchantments, arrive at some version of the trading hall as a solution and are left with enacting chattel slavery in their family-friendly worldbuilding game. Looking at Minecraft in this way — as much of the literature available on this game does — will lead to an unabashedly colonialist conclusion, but this sort of analysis has never felt satisfying for me, the player; I don’t believe the ways that people interact with Minecraft are fully encompassed by a textual reading of the game. Take Daniel Dooghan, who levies criticism towards the mob farms often built by players, writing: “(players can) construct automated monster slaughterhouses, stripping monsters of their monstrosity and allowing them to appear only as resource. … By rendering the violence of production invisible, such resource farms parallel the racialized, neocolonial inequalities of contemporary global supply chains and prison industry.” However, a look at the construction of certain types of mob farms challenges this reading.

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‘Next Time Will Be Our Turn’ explores love, loss and loyalty MICHELLE WU Senior Arts Editor

Jesse Q. Sutanto is no stranger to blending genres: From murder mystery romantic comedy “Dial A for Aunties” to the cozy and humorous “Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers,” Sutanto skillfully crafts fun and charismatic stories that leave you both in suspense and with a good laugh. She sprinkles in additional charm to shine light on the Chinese-Indonesian community, highlighting elements like traditional snacks, meddling aunties and their family-oriented culture. Though her most recent novel, “Next Time Will Be Our Turn,” is told with less dramatic flair compared to her previous works — no fancy weddings or dead

bodies this time — it differentiates itself as perhaps one of her most tender publications. Without the distractions of a wild plot, this book takes its time to build relationships, create meaningful dialogue and express heartfelt emotions. Though the cover of the book may suggest a light, playful beach read, “Next Time Will Be Our Turn” stretches across decades and oceans, resulting in a story about staying true and honest to yourself in the face of staunch opposition. The novel is narrated beautifully and uniquely, mostly told from the perspective of a grandmother named Magnolia (lovingly referred to as Nainai) to her 16-year-old granddaughter, Izzy, who is given interludes every couple of chapters. Their story begins when Magnolia, the imperious matriarch of the Chen family and owner of a national mental health clinic in

Indonesia, shows up at the grand Chinese New Year dinner with a woman on her arm. Much to Izzy’s dismay, her family is aghast at the sight, a testament to the outdated values held tightly by her family in spite of Indonesia’s cultural progress. As she herself hides her Queer identity, Izzy questions how her own parents will react. Later at night, Izzy’s nainai appears at her doorstep, be ckoning her to come outside. There, Magnolia sits Izzy down and rewinds until she, too, is reliving her life at age 16. Izzy’s grandmother then introduces her to characters like her prickly older sister, Iris; the sunny love of her life, Ellery; and her charming first boyfriend, James. Spanning from the time she attended community college and university in sunny Los Angeles to when she acclimated to her role as a housewife in tropical

Jakarta to the time she obtained a master’s degree in social work that led to the start of the mental health clinic, Izzy’s grandmother animatedly delineates the various stages of life that turned a timid and unsure teenager into the outspoken and formidable woman everyone knows today. Despite the time jumps and introduction of a whole new cast of characters within each stage of life, Sutanto thoughtfully organizes the events in grandma Magnolia’s story with precision. Each character had their time to breathe and make an impact in Magnolia’s life from adolescence to adulthood. Iris’ tough disposition, Ellery’s light airiness and (her soon-tobe husband) Parker’s grounding energy all contributed to Magnolia’s supportive network, leading to the development of her bolder and more assertive personality. And even

though her friends in community college and university only crossed paths with Magnolia for a brief time, each presented such distinct personalities and memories that I could still recall them even upon nearing the end of the book. The unique organization of the novel was facilitated by the structure of a grandmother narrating a story for her granddaughter, with brief interruptions in between. This structure helped frame the chronology and made skipping a few years every few chapters a lot smoother. Interjections like “Back then, dear Izzy … ” or “You’ll know when you’re older … ” worked as endearing asides that reminded readers this was an intimate conversation between the two black sheep of a family. To further depict the deep emotions Magnolia felt growing up, the book also included letters with

life updates she wrote to Ellery and Iris when she became separated from the closest people in her life. The result was a bittersweet mosaic of Magnolia’s growing pains as she experienced love, grief and oppression from the patriarchal system of Indonesia in the ‘90s. Another distinctive aspect of “Next Time Will Be Our Turn” compared to Sutanto’s other novels is that it’s as much a contemporary romance as it is feminist literature. Though this blend of genre runs the risk of overshadowing storytelling with ideology and strong, one-dimensional female characters with no imperfections or nuance, when done right, feminist literature can spotlight female perspectives and critique the patriarchy in thought-provoking ways.

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Arts

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Film x TV

wake of longer, high-budget shows like “Game of Thrones,” “The Last of Us” or “Stranger Things.” Or maybe the division between TV and film is fundamental, rendering the two incomparable. What separates film and television? Is the division between the two shrinking? It’s time to answer these questions once and for all in the Film x TV Collab as we explore the relationship between film, TV and ourselves.

ISABELLE PERRAUT Senior Arts Editor

Out of all the forms of media covered by The Michigan Daily Arts section, none are arguably more similar than television and film. Both use the art of visual storytelling to immerse us in a world outside of our own, and yet, TV and film exist as separate, distinct forms of media. Maybe this difference is decreasing in the

Wednesday, January 14, 2026 — 5

Film x TV: Four bottle episodes that creatively exceeded filming constraints MICHELLE WU & SOFIA PADILLA

Senior Arts Editor & Daily Arts Contributor Emmeline Meldrum/DAILY

Film x TV: Harry Potter and the curse of redundancy

Emmeline Meldrum/DAILY

$5.6 billion worldwide, leaving a clear mark on a generation of parents and children alike. After less than two decades since the release of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” HBO is looking for a revamp — a miniseries which plans to chronicle all seven years of Hogwarts. The new show began filming earlier this summer, with production ramping up to release in early to mid-2027. While another shot at adapting the books might sound like a dream

MAEVE MCGINN & ANA TORRESARPI Daily Arts Writer & TV Beat Editor

Everybody of a certain age remembers growing up with the Harry Potter movies. Watching a young Daniel Radcliffe (“Now You See Me 2”) clumsily meander his way through Hogwarts was a formative experience for tens of thousands of youth; the eight blockbuster adaptations earned more than

come true for hardcore fans, do we really need more Harry Potter? The movies are already so iconic and well-regarded — what is there to add to the already f lourishing franchise? On one hand, devoting an entire season to a single book in the series surely has its benefits. Though the movies did a pretty good job of including even minute details, the medium of television has the potential to strengthen and expand storytelling from the movies, allowing smaller subplots to have their own time

The Michigan Daily Crossword

Sunday, January 11, 2026 — Puzzle by Emily Janas ACROSS 1. Bro's counterpart 4. Most treacherous driving, maybe 10. Letter-shaped beam

19. Rip-off

24 28 31 35

53 25. When doubled, the Road Runner's famous catchphrase

52 55

28. Makes a bad impression?

30. Debtor's letters

26. Matte alternative

31. Tutti ___ ice cream 34. Without hesitation... or a hint to the starred clues 41. It's said that two of these are better than one

DOWN 1. *Word before rise or flower 2. Neighbor of Turkey 3. What adventurous teenagers do after curfew

42. Any one of 40-Down's records, culturally

4. Buries

43. Cancel, at NASA

5. *Buckaroo

45. Programming code using only ones and zeros

6. "Believe ___ not!"

48. Polo shirt brand

8. Material for a mason

49. Pass with flying colors 52. Taking care of business 53. Sound from a cartoon dinosaur 54. Spoke ill of 57. "___ Enchanted" (2004 film) 58. Fly 59. . 61. Appear to be 62. Don't mention it? 63. One, in Oaxaca 64. "Educated" author Westover 65. Perfumer's compounds 66. Kind of rally

Film x TV: From musical to mockumentary: The journey of ‘High School Musical’

22. Band known for a 2006 treadmill dancing music video

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20. Alternative to generic

CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM

24. A casual type of 60-Down

18. Weighing 4,000 pounds

23. Syrup brand since 1902

15. Mark up, like a musical score 17. Scot's "not"

14. Where remains may remain 16. Naked

to breathe. There were plenty of fan-favorite subplots and details cut from the films for brevity: Dumbledore’s backstory, Snape’s title as the ‘Half-Blood Prince’ and Neville’s character arc. Splitting the chapters into episodes will give the writers the opportunity to adapt the stories in their entirety, since the long-form nature of TV provides a level of detail that the films couldn’t afford to include. This is definitely a solid reason to adapt the books into a TV show — the Harry Potter source material will surely be done justice. At the same time, it appears the new series might be sizing up to be an adaptation of the movies, not the books. When filming, the HBO show used the exact same location for Hogwarts, keeping the aesthetics of the two adaptations identical — the initial advertisements even used the original logo. When the visual elements of the two adaptations are so similar, prospective viewers can only wonder whether or not the TV series will bring anything substantive to the table. But there have been TV adaptations of books that were superior to their movie counterparts, most notably Rick Riordan’s “Percy Jackson & the Olympians.”

Ever wanted to get to know just one or two characters among an expansive ensemble cast from a film or TV show? Or simply see how they would fare in one type of setting for a prolonged period of time? Though the draw of regularly programmed TV episodes is watching an overarching plot unfold over time with storylines interspersed throughout, sometimes this leaves little room for deeper explorations of characters and their relationships with each other. As a result, the nonstop action and sparkly special effects may leave viewers unfulfilled from the lack of connection to the media they’re watching. Unlike regularly programmed and filler episodes, bottle episodes are like extra bonuses that focus on a few characters, often set in one location, like a room or building (or even a bottle, literally), due to budgetary constraints. Despite the more inexpensive filming, many bottle episodes have become rewatchable favorites over time, with their self-contained plotlines, creativity and witty dialogue. With that being said, The Michigan Daily’s TV and Film beats have compiled a list of four bottle episodes to should check out if you want to get back into watching media — without the concern of jumping into a random part of the storyline. Bottle Episode, “Teen Titans Go!” Humorously commenting on the nature of bottle episodes, Season 3, Episode 29 of “Teen Titans Go!” breaks the fourth wall by cracking jokes at how

both the Teen Titans team saves money by staying in their living room and reminiscing about old memories, thereby allowing the animation team to reuse old clips instead of drawing new ones. In this episode, Raven (Tara Strong, “The Fairly OddParents”) even comments on how being stuck in a literal bottle allows them the opportunity to slow down — one of the purposes of bottle episodes — instead of always trying to find a new adventure around town. Though the episode itself is only 10 minutes long and doesn’t feature the show’s main protagonists using their special abilities to save the town or take down a villain, it teaches us that, sometimes, staying at home isn’t so boring after all — so long as we hold fond memories to laugh at and are with people who make us forget time exists. Slowing down doesn’t necessarily mean boring — it gives both characters and viewers alike a chance to breathe and reflect. Shadow Play, “Pretty Little Liars” On a more sinister note, Season 4, Episode 19 of “Pretty Little Liars” deepens their storyline through a film noir bottle episode. This 1940s-style film technique often signifies a cynical plotline and became popular for its ability to paralyze the audience. In a murder mystery show like “Pretty Little Liars,” it plays a crucial role. In this episode, viewers are able to watch without having much context on the show’s prior plotline. It follows one main character, Spencer (Troian Bellisario, “On Call”), and her imaginative hallucinations while she is sleep-deprived and on drugs.

7. Bother incessantly 9. Took care of 10. It might keep you up at night 11. *Beach toy 12. Words to live by 13. Clean again, as a floor 21. "Live ___" (Taco Bell slogan) 26. Italian actress Scala 27. Place to park 29. The SPDR S&P 500, for one 31. Pt. of TGIF 32. Swanson of "Parks and Recreation" 33. FedEx alternative 35. "Westworld" or "The Sopranos," for example 36. Make a mistake 37. Collection of information 38. Prepared, as leftovers

39. Airport abbr. 40. Nickname for pop star Swift 43. Colorful garden shrub, or downtown Ann Arbor restaurant 44. *One who tries to stay in their lane 45. *Gondolier or yacht captain 46. Mooring spots 47. Suffix with neat or beat 48. "___ my case!" 50. Gives in 51. Official order 55. Weight allowance 56. "All finished!" 60. *Shirt or blouse

Emmeline Meldrum/DAILY

ABIGAIL WEINBERG & JULIANNA LABAN Film Beat Editor & Daily Arts Writer

Over the past 20 years, no saga has told the story of the high school experience quite like the beloved “High School Musical.” From a trilogy of three films to a hit TV series, the original story of Troy and Gabriella may not have remained the focus of the High School Musical universe, but the essence of teenage life sure has. Fans first watched as their favorite characters in the movies whimsically sang and danced through the hardships of life. They then watched the series take on a more realistic tone in the show as new faces navigated nuanced relationships and identity struggles. The series itself has evolved with its audiences. By watching these two different stories, we see how societal perception of those four life-altering years has changed, along with the teenagers living them. Film: “High School Musical”

Back in 2006, every teen on the block wanted to be a Wildcat when Kenny Ortega (“Hocus Pocus”), the established director of Disney Channel hit films, gave the world the first High School Musical film. Set in sunny New Mexico, what began as a group of stereotypical teens breaking from the status quo to embrace their love for musical theatre soon became a worldwide sensation. Teenagers all over the world watched Troy Bolton (Zac Efron, “Baywatch”) and Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens, “Spring Breakers”) fall in love and Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale, “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody”) create perhaps the most iconic stereotypes of the blonde mean girl to date. But in between the lines of hit songs performed on top of cafeteria tables, the High School Musical trilogy represented a cultural shift in the beloved genre of high school dramas. In the past, Hollywood had historically pushed a narrative with dull stereotypes: the jock, the nerd and the caddy popular girl. Movies such as “Heathers”

began to unravel this sentiment, but instead of featuring multifaceted characters, they aimed to prove that even the most exaggerated members of different cliques could get along. By doing so, these films further enforced the existence of these stereotypes, encouraging teenagers to relate to the film by placing themselves in one of the social boxes. But these groups didn’t need to unite — they needed to be destroyed. In the early 2000s, “High School Musical” picked up where Hollywood left off, attempting to further unravel the tired clichés of the high school drama genre. Through their shared love of the performing arts, students from each social group came together to sing, dance and create one hell of an ensemble. Songs like “We’re All in This Together” and “Breaking Free” promoted a new narrative, one where the beloved characters of Troy and Gabriella could pursue their individual interests and come together to pursue their mutual love of performing.

CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM

Photo

YEAR IN PHOTOS 2025

6 — Wednesday, January 14, 2026

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

rom faculty to athletics, 2025 was full of change. The Michigan football team welcomed freshman Bryce Underwood to the team as the fourth true freshman starting quarterback in the Wolverines’ history. Former University President Santa Ono resigned to be replaced by President Domenico Grasso.

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

Alum Jenna Hickey/DAILY The Michigan hockey team faces off against Ohio State at Wrigley Field Jan. 3.

At the beginning of the year, Wrigley Field in Chicago hosted its first-ever collegiate hockey game, turning the baseball field into a giant temporary ice rink. The Michigan and Ohio State University hockey teams faced off at the inaugural event, with the Wolverines ultimately falling to the Buckeyes 4-3.

MAY

Alum Ruby Klawans/DAILY Ann Arbor residents Alona Dytynenko and Planton Slynko listen to Ukrainian music during the Ukraine War Vigil at the bell tower Feb. 24.

University of Michigan students and Ann Arbor residents gathered on the Diag Feb. 24 for a candlelight vigil recognizing the third year of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The vigil was accompanied by a carillon concert at the Burton Memorial Tower, where the Ukrainian national anthem played on the Baird Carillon.

JUNE

Josh Sinha/DAILY Graduates and their guests gather for the 2025 commencement ceremony in the Big House May 3.

Akul Gunukula/DAILY ASTON MARTIN THOR Team’s car no.23 races around the track at the Detroit Grand Prix May 30.

Friends, family, faculty and graduates gathered in the Big House for the annual Spring Commencement Saturday May 3. The ceremony featured guest speaker and University alum Derek Jeter, a professional baseball player.

The 2025 Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix transformed the city into a nine-turn street circuit. Entertainment and adrenaline mixed to create an exciting weekend with three major races, interactive activities for attendees and an electronic dance music concert.

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

Bridgette Bol/DAILY

Meleck Eldahshoury/DAILY Junior running back Justice Haynes celebrates as the Wolverines surge ahead of the Spartans Oct. 25.

The University of Michigan’s chapters of the College Republicans, Turning Point USA and Young Americans for Freedom hosted a vigil Sept. 14 for the right-wing political commentator Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, after he was killed while hosting a debate in Utah for his American Comeback Tour. More than 100 community members attended the event at Ingalls Mall and joined together to pray and listen to a variety of speakers.

The Michigan football team took the Paul Bunyan Trophy home for the fourth year in a row after winning its rivalry game against Michigan State. Junior running back Justice Haynes was essential to the team’s success, driving the Wolverines down the field.

Vigil attendees hold signs at the Charlie Kirk memorial in Ingalls Mall Sept. 14.

Photo

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Wednesday, January 14, 2026 — 7

This project was led and organized by 2025 Senior Multimedia Photo Editor Grace Lahti and with contributions from the 2025 Michigan Daily Photostaff. Monthly summaries were written by Grace Lahti. Design by Graceann Eskin.

Most recently, previous University of Utah head football coach Kyle Whittingham replaced Sherrone Moore as head coach for the Michigan football team. For every trial and tribulation, the Michigan Daily Photostaff was there to capture it all. Join us as we reflect on 2025 and take a trip down memory lane.

MARCH

APRIL

Alum Lucas Chen/DAILY Protesters march down State Street demanding the release of pro-Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil March 14.

Georgia McKay/DAILY The Michigan men’s gymnastics team celebrates winning the NCAA Championship April 19.

The Students Allied for Freedom and Equality organized a protest outside the former University President Santa Ono’s house March 14. The protest was held in response to the arrest of Columbia University alum Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestine activist. The demonstrators demanded Ono to publicly condemn Khalil’s arrest, keep Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents off campus and for the University of Michigan to divest from companies financially associated with Israeli military operations.

For the first time in 11 years, the Michigan men’s gymnastics team became National Championship winners. Thanks to graduate Paul Juda’s final effort on vault and the team’s proficient performances throughout the meet, the Wolverines were able to beat out the Stanford University Cardinals, five-time defending NCAA Champion for the trophy.

JULY

AUGUST

Meleck Eldahshoury/DAILY Kassie and Ben Wilson of Goldpine perform on the stage of The Ark July 30.

Holly Burkhart/DAILY Microphone in the air, Cage The Elephant lead singer Matt Shultz greets the barricade at Bud Light stage July 31.

The americana band Goldpine traveled from Nashville to Ann Arbor for their first performance at The Ark, an intimate venue on Main Street. The duo regaled their audience with songs about faith, community and love on a warm summer night.

Music fans from across the country gathered together in Grant Park in Chicago for Lollapalooza 2025. A wide array of music artists across various genres including stars like Olivia Rodrigo, Doechii and A$AP Rocky entertained massive crowds at their outdoor stages.

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

Caleb Rosenblum/DAILY

Holly Burkhart/DAILY

The Michigan football team faced Northwestern at Wrigley Field in Chicago Nov. 15.

Former Michigan coach Sherrone Moore on the sidelines.

The Michigan football team traveled to the windy city for its second sports event of the year at Wrigley Field, this time transforming the baseball stadium into a football field. After two turnovers and a nailbiting second half for the Wolverines, the game ended with a win for Michigan 24-22 with a gamewinning field goal from senior kicker Dominic Zvada.

Former Michigan head football coach Sherrone Moore was promptly fired following a University of Michigan investigation that revealed inappropriate relations between himself and a staff member – a violation of University policy. Soon after the announcement of Moore’s terminated contract, it was reported that the former coach was detained by The City of Saline Police Department as they launched an ongoing investigation into Moore for potential charges. The University of Michigan’s athletic director Warde Manuel named Biff Poggi interim head coach, effective immediately, as the Wolverines prepare for the 2025 Cheez-It Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla. Dec. 31.

Opinion People should be more excited about Waymo coming to Detroit

8 — Wednesday, January 14, 2026

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Keep marijuana 1,000 feet away from Ann Arbor youth MADELEINE BURKE Opinion Columnist

ver the past decade, 24 states, two territories and the District of Columbia have all legalized marijuana for recreational use. While voters celebrated this expansive legalization, easy access to marijuana products is a growing problem for young students nationwide, and this problem is further exacerbated by the proximity between marijuana dispensaries and schools. Ann Arbor City Council needs to increase the distance between dispensaries and schools to foster a healthier learning environment. When surveying underage students, researchers from the University of Michigan found that 95% reported having easy access to smoking marijuana, and nearly 87% claimed to have easy access to edibles. Unfortunately, proximity between marijuana businesses and schools causes this accessibility. In a separate study, researchers from the University of Washington concluded that 11th graders who lived within one mile of a dispensary were more likely to smoke marijuana or use edibles. These researchers found that the correlation between proximity and

increased usage is due to how environments shape behavioral norms. Students no longer need to travel long distances to be exposed to dispensary advertisements, which has reduced the social stigmas that would normally discourage underage usage. Often, dispensaries near schools contain products appealing to children. Their tactics include packaging edibles like sour candy or selling products with fruit flavors labeled “mad mango” or “peach dream.” Advertisements featuring marijuana in a bright and colorful burst of cherries were another tactic used to attract youth. These effective strategies have caused sharp increases in marijuana usage among youth nationwide. Between 2021 and 2024, the percentage of eighth graders using flavored marijuana products increased from 47% to 63%. Proximity normalizes student interactions with dispensaries, and this problem is worsened when dispensaries are intentionally tempting youth toward their businesses. As students interact with dispensaries and their advertisements during their everyday academic lives, they become desensitized to the dangers of the products,

specifically the risk of permanent damage to brain development. In fact, students were reported to perceive cannabis products as less risky when they were within one mile of their school. While restrictions could regulate dispensaries’ advertising, it’s more important for students to become educated on intentionally appealing strategies used to attract them. Parents, in particular, should become involved early in their child’s life to inform them about the dangers of underage marijuana consumption. Accessibility also harms the academic environment. The proximity of marijuana businesses to schools correlated to a reduction in the proportion of students achieving in all academic subjects. Further, researchers in Northern California observed that a shorter distance between marijuana dispensaries and schools was associated to greater levels of psychotic, anxiety and depressive disorders among students, which further inhibited their academic performance. In Ann Arbor, Ordinance 25-29 dictates the minimum distance between dispensaries and schools.

CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM

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LUCAS FELLER Opinion Columnist

eing behind the wheel of a car gives us control, and that control makes us feel secure. It’s no wonder that people feel more comfortable in their personal vehicle than any other mode of transportation, even though commercial air travel is significantly safer. But when you take away that human control, even if it saves lives, people get skeptical. Such is the case with the self-driving vehicles made by the robotaxi company Waymo, which began testing its cars in Detroit last month. This is a positive development for both safety and economic welfare in Michigan, and people should be more excited about it. Just under 40,000 Americans die each year in traffic fatalities. That’s about the same annual death toll as breast cancer, prostate cancer and Parkinson’s disease. After gun violence, car accidents are the leading cause of death for children in the United States. Detroit alone witnessed more than 24,000 crashes in 2023, with more than 100 fatalities and thousands of injuries. Despite objections that have arisen in other cities, Waymo is a miraculous way to prevent driving deaths. Studies that assessed tens of millions of miles driven by Waymo vehicles found that, compared to human-driven vehicles, the company’s cars are involved in 96% fewer vehicle-tovehicle crashes at intersections, 92% fewer bodily-injury claims,

92% fewer pedestrian injuries and 88% fewer property damage claims. Waymo’s vehicles got into major crashes — those serious enough to cause an injury or trigger an airbag — about 83% less often than comparable humandriven vehicles. With autonomous vehicles able to reduce crashes so significantly, the life-saving potential alone means that cities like Detroit should be rushing to embrace Waymo. Alas, elected officials in some Democratic jurisdictions don’t see it the same way. In Boston, City Councilman Benjamin Weber expressed concern that Waymo was moving forward without a “community process,” while Councilwoman Erin Murphy proposed legislation that would effectively ban Waymo vehicles without a human safety operator present. In contrast, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have required human operators in driverless trucks. Requiring a human operator would undermine Waymo’s very purpose — delivering cost savings to passengers by phasing out the driver — and imposing a community process sounds like a great way to drown positive developments in red tape. If these arguments were to take hold in Detroit, every month delayed could cost people their lives. Concerns over job loss feature prominently in the anti-Waymo arguments. Transit and transport workers’ unions — particularly the International Brotherhood of Teamsters — have come out against having self-driving cars without human operators, arguing

that automation would threaten the jobs of their members. In a recent article from The Michigan Daily, law professor Tifani Sadek worried that Uber and Lyft drivers could lose out on income as Waymo cuts into the rideshare market. It is true that Waymo’s adoption in Detroit will likely reduce economic opportunity for drivers, but that doesn’t constitute sufficient justification for rejecting the company’s expansion. Beyond the staggering life-saving possibilities (which can potentially number in the tens of thousands if Waymo is adopted nationwide), autonomous vehicles are also an economic boon. The reduction in crashes will lessen congestion and thereby increase employment and income growth. Traffic accidents cost U.S. businesses and consumers more than $400 billion every year. Given how efficient Waymo is at avoiding crashes, its introduction to Detroit will likely create more jobs than the city will lose — something the retired Lyft and Uber drivers can take advantage of. The advantages of driverless cars for Detroit go beyond income and employment. With robotaxis going from destination to destination without needing to stop, and with many workers commuting in a Waymo rather than their personal vehicles, the city can dramatically cut back on the land it dedicates to parking.

CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM

Stop undervaluing U-M Dearborn degrees ARIANNA MEHMOOD Opinion Columnist

s a freshman at the University of MichiganDearborn, I am constantly asked if I plan to transfer to the Ann Arbor campus in the future. Everyone knows that the University’s reputation is at its peak in Ann Arbor, while its sister campuses in Dearborn and Flint are often treated as an afterthought — a convenient beginning rather than a longterm choice. U-M Dearborn students often feel pressured to transfer to Ann Arbor because its global prestige has turned the campus into a brand, while overlooking regional campuses like Dearborn. This creates a false gap in prestige that makes Dearborn students feel lesser, despite earning a degree from the same university. For decades, Ann Arbor has been well known and ranked as a top global university — a dream school for many, especially those who travel from out of state just to attend. Its reputation has grown so large that very few people ever think to question the assumptions behind that prestige, whether it truly reflects educational quality or simply just a long-standing brand image. Students choose to attend U-M Ann Arbor not only for its strong academics, but also for the promise of a balanced college life and social scene. The network of opportunities that opens up from the school, even after college, adds to its appeal, reinforcing the idea that Ann Arbor provides a gateway to success. These rankings and reputations account for more than academics. They also

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reflect the advantages that come with a highly visible, internationally recognized brand. Global ranking systems rarely differentiate between the University as a whole and what is specific to the Ann Arbor campus. The prestige of the name has become so inflated that it overshadows the fact that the University actually encompasses three campuses — each with its own communities, strengths and contributions. Instead of evaluating Dearborn or Flint on their actual educational quality, these rubrics tend to overlook them altogether, reinforcing the misconception that Ann Arbor is the only “real” University of Michigan. Alongside Ann Arbor’s brand of academic excellence and school spirit, perception has played its part in shaping how

the campuses are viewed. Even though Dearborn operates under the same institution, it is not perceived the same way, both in terms of social value and academic respect. I have heard endless jokes about Dearborn being the “discount campus” or being dismissed entirely just because it is smaller than Ann Arbor. Yet the coursework and academic expectations of Dearborn are not explicitly different from what is offered in Ann Arbor classrooms. The perception gap continues to widen, even through narratives pushed online and in conversations, assuming that Dearborn is a stepping stone and Ann Arbor is the final destination. These assumptions are not rooted in academic validity; they instead stem from elitism and the status culture that rewards name recognition

over genuine student experience and growth. Ann Arbor does offer advantages that Dearborn does not. Ann Arbor provides many more resources, connections and experiences that students cannot receive at Dearborn. For some students, transferring can be beneficial depending on their goals. However, this is precisely how global college rankings are designed to work: They amplify the strengths of one campus of a university to the point where every other satellite campus is assumed to be inferior, even if that is not the case. Being a student at U-M Dearborn does not mean a student is any less capable of Ann Arbor’s high-intensity environment; it simply means they are choosing the most

accessible path to achieve the same degree. Many students at Dearborn choose the campus intentionally to take advantage of smaller class sizes, build strong connections with professors, save money, stay close to home or balance school with personal responsibilities. Dearborn’s tight-knit culture allows students to stand out more easily and access professional opportunities that may be far more competitive or crowded in Ann Arbor. For many students, it simply makes sense to choose the path that best aligns with their needs and goals. Dearborn offers a practical route for long-term success without the Ann Arbor spotlight. Despite what is said about the other campuses, the degrees themselves are ultimately granted by the same school: the University

of Michigan. Whether the diploma comes from Ann Arbor, Dearborn or Flint, an employer sees the same institution — one known for rigorous academics and strong alumni networks. In many industries, employers prioritize experience, internships and a strong standing over the campus a student attended. What students often do not realize is that satellite campuses are meant to expand accessibility to the University’s educational system, not deliver it in watereddown form. Many of Dearborn’s programs, such as engineering and public policy, collaborate directly with industry partners in ways that Ann Arbor students don’t always have access to. The Dearborn community has many booming firms and internships close to campus, which provides accessible opportunities to students. Indeed, Dearborn graduates consistently perform competitively in the job market, disproving the assumption that non-Ann Arbor students receive a “lesser” degree. Yet, the stigma may continue to impact Dearborn students emotionally, socially and academically. Sometimes, when I talk to Ann Arbor students, I feel defensive when I mention my campus, as if I have to justify why I did not choose to attend the more prominent location. Even though I am thriving academically at Dearborn, I still feel like I need to transfer in order to be considered one of the “Leaders and the Best.” Others continue to feel like they are receiving a secondtier education, which can affect student confidence, especially in competitive fields like law, business or health.

CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM

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Opinion Stop demonizing birth control

Wednesday, January 14, 2026 — 9

AVERY ALLEN

Senior Opinion Editor

ast week while chatting with a friend, we landed on the topic of birth control — namely, how she was questioning whether or not to remain on her current prescription. When I inquired further, curious about what factors may be causing her uncertainty, she didn’t mention any side-effects or a sense of dissatisfaction with the pill itself. In fact, it was the opposite. In the year since she started taking the pill, she’d only ever had positive experiences. Yet, there was something else fueling her concern: She had recently come across several TikTok videos discussing risks associated with the pill, falsely claiming that it causes infertility. The spread of misinformation regarding birth control, particularly hormonal methods, has recently become rampant across various social media platforms. Many influencers have posted videos discouraging its use, often relying on anecdotes rather than scientific evidence to justify their claims. However, these influencers are doing more than just discussing personal experiences — they are spreading misinformation, asserting that hormonal birth control has certain adverse side effects, such as substantial weight gain and infertility, despite evidence proving otherwise. Fear of these false side effects has been shown to decrease young adults’ likelihood of using hormonal contraception, leading them to seek non-hormonal alternatives. These alternatives, such as condoms, spermicides, withdrawal and menstrual cycle tracking, tend to be lower in efficacy than hormonal methods — with the exceptions being surgical sterilization and copper intrauterine device implantations. On social media, influencers most commonly advocate for “natural” methods, such as menstrual cycle tracking, a system that estimates fertile windows

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and indicates when to abstain from sexual activity. This can involve manual calendar tracking or the use of cycle-tracking apps, though both approaches tend to be unreliable, as many individuals lack the knowledge to accurately determine fertility on their own, and most app algorithms are not consistently dependable. Therefore, the spread of misinformation on social media not only undermines trust in medically safe options, but also increases the risk of unintended pregnancies by pushing young adults toward methods that offer decreased protection. These false claims didn’t originate on social media, though. Instead, they stem from an ideological movement that seeks to demonize birth control by spreading disinformation aimed at undermining its legitimacy. As this disinformation spreads, it reaches uninformed individuals, such as social media influencers, who then unknowingly propagate decades of far-right, false claims about the safety and efficacy of hormonal birth control. These far-right political agendas have historically targeted contraceptive access, portraying hormonal birth control as unsafe — or even ineffective entirely — contrary to established medical research. These efforts do not

come from a genuine concern for public health, but rather a broader attempt to maintain conservative values, such as “traditional” family structures. By enabling women to delay marriage, prevent childbearing and pursue education and employment, birth control has historically expanded women’s freedom. Since it has empowered women to stray from gender roles that previously confined them to domesticity, birth control limits the perpetuation of conservative social norms — which expect women to remain at home. Its development also coincided with the sexual revolution of the late 1960s, enabling women to separate sex from procreation and, for the first time, engage in sexual relationships outside marriage without the fear of unwanted pregnancy. At the time, social conservatives scapegoated the pill, blaming it for the supposed rise in promiscuity and erosion of the traditional American family. While cultural attitudes regarding sexuality have continued to shift, the notion that birth control is to blame for this change has lingered. Consequently, some conservative figures — including commentators, activists and politicians — increasingly condemn contraception and prevent efforts to expand

access, using fearmongering to inaccurately frame it as harmful to individual health and a threat to American prosperity. Limiting access to birth control also functions as an extension of the anti-abortion agenda. By falsely labeling certain methods of contraception — such as IUDs or other emergency contraception — as “abortifacients,” anticontraception activists justify restrictions under the guise of preventing abortions, despite scientific consensus that these methods merely prevent a pregnancy and do not terminate an existing one. However, President Donald Trump has claimed strong opposition to any restrictions on birth control access. “I HAVE NEVER, AND WILL NEVER ADVOCATE IMPOSING RESTRICTIONS ON BIRTH CONTROL, or other contraceptives,” President Trump posted on Truth Social during his 2024 campaign, though his administration’s actions have been inconsistent. In reality, the Trump administration has sought to reduce access to birth control through various policy initiatives. Significant funding cuts to Title X — a grant program dedicated to family planning and other preventative health services —

Make the community a partner in K-12 curriculum

Opinion Columnist

Ella Flores/DAILY

MEREDITH KNIGHT Opinion Columnist

hen I look back on my most memorable learning experiences, they are times my teachers connected to my humanity and my world. I remember my English teacher pausing scheduled lessons to ask us to provide the school feedback after a student’s death by suicide, so she could meet with our principal to deliver our message to a greater audience. I remember starting a schoolwide composting campaign in thirdgrade with the help of my science teacher. I remember valuing the lessons and teachers who utilized the underutilized stakeholder in education: our community. Students report that their motivations guide teachers’ methods in writing curricula. Predictably, student investment in the classroom is correlated with the value they see in their learning. Educational psychologists find that content relating to student identity, beliefs, culture and experiences increases student achievement and motivation in the classroom. One tangible means of connecting to student identity involves integrating community-based learning for a more hands-on education. Community-based learning, or methods and programs that

teaches students how to extend their learning beyond the classroom purposefully. For example, giving students argumentative essay assignments as an opportunity to present their argument to a community audience strengthens their motivation to write. Or in the case of civics, assigning students to shadow a local government worker demystifies local politics, gives students the opportunity to apply learning to real-world scenarios and encourages in-class reflection on meaningful experiences. Tangible applications allow students to see their learning in action and encourage students to think beyond rote memorization. Meaningful schooling provides an environment where students consistently learn how to better their communities with taught skills such as communication, research, experimentation and mathematics. Within the realm of education, the inclusion of student communities in learning is secondary to the rigid priorities of student performance on standardized tests. Educational policies and funding influence learning goals to focus on preparing students for college and national assessments rather than holistic learning.

CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM

You are not alone in worrying about the world EMMA MARGARON

connect student learning to surrounding communities, engages students better than rigid textbook lessons. These direct, applicable lessons rooted in a student’s lived experience connect to student identity and can provide meaningful learning opportunities and real community benefits. Student curriculum designers and educators must incorporate collaboration with locally-based groups to best engage students in worthwhile, real-world applications of learning. Using shared identity, space and community members in curriculum takes place through instructional information and partnerships. In order to better their community, students must first learn about their community. Instruction should integrate students into their surrounding environments while providing insight into local history, institutions, natural environments and cultural heritage. This style of teaching also fosters community connections in the form of internships, civic engagement, service projects and volunteering. A communitybased style integrates core class skills that students develop in the classroom into greater opportunities for autonomy and power in local environments. Utilizing engagement with students’ local surroundings

have stripped many clinics of critical financial support, limiting their ability to provide birth control to low-income populations who previously relied on the program. Additionally, Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes more than $900 billion in cuts to Medicaid funding, meaning more than 2 million women of reproductive age could lose insurance coverage, subsequently cutting off their access to affordable contraception. In the years since the Dobbs decision, these policy changes have increasingly detrimental consequences. The simultaneous reduction in access to birth control and abortion services leaves individuals — especially those from low-income backgrounds — more vulnerable to unintended pregnancies and serious, even fatal, health complications. None of this is to say that hormonal birth control is perfect. Some users report dissatisfaction with the pill, particularly as a result of side effects including, but not limited to, nausea, headaches and mood changes. However, these tend to subside after two to three months as the body adjusts to the hormones. It’s worth noting that not all side-effects are negative. The pill has been shown to ease menstrual

cramps, alleviate premenstrual symptoms, treat endometriosis pain, reduce acne and even lower the risk for certain cancers. This isn’t to say that there are no side effects to the pill. Certain contraceptive pills, specifically those containing the hormone estrogen, can increase the risk for blood clots and other serious complications. However, the risk is still low. Despite increased proneness, healthy individuals rarely actually experience these side effects. Like most medications, birth control’s effectiveness and tolerability varies from person to person. Prescription drugs can affect individuals differently due to factors like genetic variations, prior health complications, drug interaction and bodily inflammation, which can help explain why hormonal birth control isn’t necessarily the right choice for everyone. For this reason, the decision to take prescribed contraception is inherently personal and should be made on a case-by-base basis, ideally with guidance from a physician who can provide reliable and helpful information. Still, the existence of side effects — which are usually mild and temporary — does not negate the substantial benefits birth control provides, nor does it validate misinformation and political propaganda that distorts its safety by exaggerating potential risks or fabricating side effects entirely. As conservatives work to discredit birth control by spreading disinformation, inaccurate statements travel through social media, exposing viewers to false perceptions of hormonal contraception. To combat this, it’s crucial to provide young adults with accurate and accessible information on the topic. At the University of Michigan, Wolverine Wellness currently offers a variety of sexual health supplies, including hormonal birth control, though availability is limited.

onversations around global warming, climate change and the dying environment constantly bombard the younger generation, which can elicit extremely overwhelming feelings. For every scroll on social media, every dinner conversation with friends and family, every class discussion, a feeling of helplessness can ensue. A cloud of doubt lingers on whether we can actually save our doomed world, because when we face such massive problems it does seem impossible. Most people have some idea of what the most pressing environmental problems are: the rising temperatures and increase of extreme weather events, deforestation and the destruction of natural landscapes, industry replacing nature, pollution in the atmosphere and waste leaking into waterways. Unfortunately, the realities of climate change are evident across the world, resulting in major implications, especially in communities in more climate-vulnerable areas. However, an underdiscussed element of climate change is climate anxiety. At its basis, climate anxiety, or eco-anxiety, is distress about the fate of humans and the environment due to the concerning effects of climate change. Climate anxiety and environment-related stress can result in psychological and behavioral effects that impact environmental progress. Whether you experience climate anxiety or not, the conditions that create it are worrisome and can affect even those who do not recognize it. Anxiety can stem from fear of changing landscapes, exposure to news or social media stories, the recognition of a lack of resources available to combat environmental issues and postdemolition of communities

due to natural disasters. The rise of global temperatures due to climate change increases the occurrence of natural disasters. The mental adaptation requirements after natural disasters require significant behavioral and lifestyle adjustments and impact how people function in their day to day lives. There is a connection between these extreme events and major mental health effects including depression, anxiety, seasonal disorders, mood disturbances, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicide rate, substance use and aggressive behavior. Climate anxiety’s emotional burden and feelings of instability can also result in learning issues, depression and worsened sleep. Mental health is already an ever-growing issue in society, and climate change is inherently worsening those effects. Currently, the younger generation experiences climate anxiety and its mental health repercussions the most. As the first to live in an era where climate impact is undeniable, today’s youth are uncertain about what the Earth’s future will hold. Additionally, as a generation with more time spent on technology and social media, Generation Z is constantly exposed to unsettling news stories and massive amounts of information on environmental concerns. The burden many feel to solve these issues weighs heavy, and frustration mounts because it appears that decisionmakers are leaving society in crisis, amplifying anxious and doubtful emotions. In a worldwide survey of 10,000 youth or young adults, 84% have at least moderate worry about climate change and 59% have extreme worry. 45% say climate change negatively impacts their daily function, while 75% are scared of the future. These emotions — such as sadness, anxiety, anger, guilt and helplessness — further contribute to climate anxiety. With such

high percentages of individuals feeling these emotions, climate change’s impact clearly extends beyond those directly affected. Ironically, climate anxiety or stress can stall climate or environmental action, which is known as eco-paralysis. Feelings of hopelessness and helplessness from climate anxiety can undermine the ability to act. Climate action manifests through increasing sustainable practices, advocacy for environmental issues and lobbying for policy changes. These initiatives are necessary in supporting climate movements, as they help to combat global environmental disasters and trends. When psychological effects impact individuals’ behaviors regarding the environment, people’s motivation to contribute to Earth-saving actions or environmental change slows. Policymakers may also feel these effects, as public response isn’t there to support certain measures. Efficient and effective progress can’t happen with an entire generation facing eco-paralysis, especially when the problems the Earth faces due to climate change are so substantial. In contrast, some argue that negative environmental news has a strong ability to force people into regulatory or individual action. Within climate activism, activists often use the most alarming facts to reach audiences in an emotional manner. However, consistently utilizing fear tactics to expose people to climate change can be counterproductive because it leads to mounting anxiety and stress. Constant negative news may tire organizers, making movements more susceptible to burn out as well. Activists must celebrate wins while emphasizing changes they wish to see in society in order to build resilient communities working against climate change.

CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM

MiC

10 — Wednesday, January 14, 2026

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Mulberries 5,000 miles away SUMMER SALMAN MiC Columnist

Michigan in Color is The Michigan Daily’s section by and for People of Color. 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.

Are these perpendicular lines? Is this water? KARAH POST MiC Columnist

Fifth grade was when I first learned the difference between parallel and perpendicular lines. I still remember the worksheet my teacher gave us explaining each. It read: “Parallel lines have a lot in common but they never meet. Ever. You might think that’s sad. But every other pair of lines meets once and then drifts apart forever. Which is pretty sad too.” Now I don’t know who hurt my teacher enough to spread this sad propaganda to fifth graders, but I still haven’t forgotten the difference between parallel and perpendicular lines. Nor have I taken for granted the fact that some relationships are f leeting. Ten weeks into my senior year of college, it feels as though many of my college friendships are running on some imaginary timer. Right now, I live with some of my closest friends who have seen me at my best and worst. That will no longer be true in seven months. As I reminisce on this semester, I find myself struggling to keep up with the passage of time. In an attempt to try to hold onto experiences and cherish them for as long as I can, each moment passes on to the next, leaving me with

an unfulfilled sense of longing. The best way I can describe this feeling is with Joan Didion’s wise prose, “I enter a revolving door at twenty and come out a good deal older, and on a different street.” In Didion’s essay “Goodbye to All That,” she candidly recounts her intricate love for New York City through the eyes of her 20-year-old self. New York was the petri dish where her identity germinated, allowing her to stretch the bandwidths of her own emotional balances and live by “arbitrary but quite inf lexible rules.” In truth, the piece is less about New York City than it is a commentary on youth itself: “the only city we’ve all lived in.” At 21 years old, I stand wavering at the crossroads of the past and future with what feels like the weight of a million expectations on my shoulders. However, my college roommates reassure me that these feelings are shared and understood (even if I’d like to think that nothing like this has ever happened to anyone before). In times when it felt that my emotional balance had been completely spent or when my mistakes felt irrevocable, it was my roommates who provided me with a soft spot to land. New York was to Didion as my bubble of a college town is to me: an experimental

atelier that forced personal development. However, New York’s cold shoulder could not be more of an aberration from the open arms my college roommates embraced me with. In doing so, they have disproven that all perpendicular lines must begin and end. With their patience and self lessness, they have instead shown me that if twisted and reconfigured enough, relationships can mirror oscillating lines on a horizontal axis. Through the growing pains of college, it’s complete strangers-turned-friends who make college my home away from home. It’s during late nights at the dinner table where eraser shavings (and tears) line the margins of my organic chemistry book when my roommate takes the time to delicately teach me resonance contributors. Or it’s during Sunday nights as we watch the Lions, Vikings or Bears when my roommates answer my laundry list of football hypotheticals. Or it’s during the days that seem to run too long while my gas tank runs too low, when debriefing our days together becomes something I always look forward to. In these tiny shared moments, I step out of my solipsistic world and recognize the need for and the gift of reciprocal connection.

In Al-Brazine, everyone knows my name even if I don’t know theirs. It’s a village of farmers, humidity and fruit. A younger version of myself used to play in front of my grandfather’s house with my little cousins and a ball. We loitered out there for hours on end, running to the mausoleum and back with the dirt grinding under our feet before finding a place to hide from the sun. I opted for the shade of the oak tree. Whose land it stood on, no one knew, but it was always lined with the neighbors sitting on either side, playing cards and drinking tea. I sat next to Um Hamzeh, who lived across the street; it was as if we shared a front yard. She had the accent of the mountains, of self sufficiency. Of tough love and back-breaking work. Of drying your own tobacco, a place where spending the day in bed is a luxury. She knew me as “Reem’s Daughter” the first time we met years before, but now, she remembered me as Summer. “You look out of place,” she said, pointing to her home. “Come, there’s a better spot to cool down.”

CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM

I followed her just 10 feet to the side of her house. There, I could hear the conversations pouring off the oak tree where others doted on someone’s youngest granddaughter. She showed me her figs, which were too green to pick, her husband who greeted me with kisses on my sweaty cheeks and finally, her mulberries. They were bright red, so I thought they weren’t ripe, but Um Hamzeh shuffled around the tree, picking off the reddest berries from the low hanging branches. She placed them in my hands, unmoved by my attempt to give her one. I brought them to my tongue as she watched me have my first taste. The fruit was juicy, perfectly sour and bigger than any mulberry I’d seen before. Once she was content with my eating, she began to pick some for herself and gave me an unfamiliar smile that reminded me I was mostly a stranger to her. She had no duty to me, but she saw a girl in her village with red cheeks and chapped lips, so she gave me the only thing she could offer: her livelihood. We plucked fruit off the branches and ate one after another. Each berry washed down my throat and eased a scratch in my voice

that I hadn’t even noticed was there. We talked as we ate, and passersby stopped to join our conversation or have a taste of their own. Um Hamzeh asked me how I found my visit to Syria, as I continued eating them with no intention of stopping. I don’t remember what I said, but I must’ve told her it was perfect. *** Near Flint, Michigan, my family goes out every evening of the summer and picks mulberries by the bucketful from the tree in front of our house. They are so ripe that picking them makes the juice drip out and stain red from our fingernails to our elbows. We take turns on the ladder and yap about this and that, singing, or enjoying the weather in silence. Sometimes, when my brothers and I have been out there with Baba for an hour or two, I wonder if this is what harvest seasons are like in the mountains back home. We wave at the neighbors as they drive in and out, but no one stops to talk and neither do we. Inside, I help Mama wash them, cut off the stems and make jars upon jars of slimy jam that we will end up giving to our friends and eating throughout the winter.

CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM

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MEN’S BASKETBALL

Sports

Wednesday, January 14, 2026 — 11

The Michigan legend in Morez Johnson Jr.’s corner

DREW LENARD Daily Sports Editor

Tai Streets admits that Morez Johnson Jr. caught more bass than him the last time they went fishing. And he’s been around his former pupil long enough to know that he was going to catch major flak for it. He always does. For that reason, the excuses started to fly. “He caught more but that’s because he had real rods, I had to get mine from Meijer,” Streets, a former star wide receiver for the Michigan football team, told The Michigan Daily. “I’m gonna get him back, though.” The fishing trip was over the summer in Ann Arbor with some of Johnson’s new teammates on the No. 2 Michigan basketball team, at one of the nearby golf courses. Which course, exactly, wasn’t information to be shared. Graduate forward Will Tschetter has himself a spot he’d like to keep hidden. “I don’t want to give up our secret location, Tschetter would get mad at me,” Johnson told The Daily. “When I asked him to take my picture (with a fish) he said, ‘I’m gonna edit the background so nobody knows (where we are).’ ” Regardless of where exactly in Ann Arbor, that covert watering hole is roughly a three-and-ahalf-hour drive from Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Ill., just south of Chicago. It’s the school Streets once graduated from on his way to a career in the NFL — and the place he now coaches his own young athletes with similar professional dreams. One of those athletes was Johnson, the now-starting forward for the Wolverines in the midst of a breakout season. Johnson

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was coached by Streets two times, during his senior season at Thornton and his 17U AAU season with MeanStreets, the prestigious Chicago-area basketball program Streets founded back in 2001 that has developed the likes of Derrick Rose, Anthony Davis and Patrick Beverly. Streets made a living playing football, but he’s made a lasting impact on his hometown through his years of coaching basketball. And before he did either, he attended the University of Michigan, where Johnson is

now once again following in his footsteps. Both athletes are Chicago born, attended the same high school and college, and possess an eerily similar competitive spirit that drives their lives forward. It’s no wonder they’ve become such good friends, they have so much in common. *** After the Michigan football team’s loss to Ohio State in November, Streets took Johnson out to eat at the Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Ann Arbor. Streets makes

ICE HOCKEY

No. 1 Michigan sweeps Notre Dame, 7-4, despite losing Jack Ivankovic MATTHEW AUCHINCLOSS Daily Sports Writer

The No. 1 Michigan hockey team has enjoyed tremendous success behind freshman goaltender Jack Ivankovic, but that may be about to end. The starter was injured in the second period of Saturday’s game after a collision with Notre Dame forward Danny Nelson and will be out for the foreseeable future. Despite the injury to Ivankovic and numerous ejections in a penalty-filled affair, the Wolverines (18-4 overall, 9-3 Big Ten) responded to every setback to sweep the season series against Notre Dame (4-15-1, 0-10) with a 7-4 win. “Proud of the guys for sticking with it, sticking up for each other,” Michigan coach Brandon Naurato said. “Those are tough, especially when they see … things happen to some of our top players. It’s hard. It’d be easy to figure out if it was pro hockey, but it’s not. A bunch of college kids are walking that line of discipline and trying to win the game for Michigan and personal pride and taking care of your buddies. So I’m just really proud of the guys.” If Friday night’s game was a grinding, slow game out of the gate, Saturday was the opposite. Just two-and-a-half minutes into the game, freshman forward

Aidan Park collected a pass from junior forward Garrett Schifsky that had deflected off Notre Dame goaltender Nicholas Kempf and tapped it into the net. The fighting Irish responded with a goal of their own, but Park added his second of the night late in the first for the 2-1 lead. Early in the second, sophomore forward Michael Hage made it 3-1 with a one-timer from the left dot on the power play. The game changed in an instant. Shortly after Hage’s goal, Notre Dame forward Danny Nelson slid into Ivankovic right after Ivankovic made a save. Ivankovic immediately went down holding his left knee and had to be helped off the ice by teammates, putting no weight on that leg. His prognosis postgame was grim. “I don’t want to talk about medical stuff, but he’s gonna be

out for a long time,” Naurato said. “We’ll have to adjust and then be there for him and his recovery and just get through it together.” This was where the list of penalty minutes began to grow. Senior forward Josh Eernisse earned a major and the first of the night’s many game misconduct for cross-checking Nelson in retaliation, meaning Michigan had only 11 forwards for the majority of the game. The Wolverines successfully killed the major, with freshman goaltender Stephen Peck, who made his Michigan debut after Ivankovic’s injury, making a number of critical saves. But former Wolverines forward Evan Werner poked one home for the Irish in a massive net-front scramble just after the penalty expired to cut the lead to one.

CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM

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it a priority to check in on his former athletes. He checks in on Johnson more often than most. Streets had just left the snowy football contest. Johnson had elected to stay home from the game rather than brave the elements, and met his former coach at the restaurant instead. “He’s soft,” Streets said. “Too cold for him.” That’s a joke, of course. An attempt at a one-up. Talk to either of them about the other long enough and you’ll find how common that kind of playful

competition is between them. That their relationship is built on it, even. At the steakhouse the pair discussed, among many things, Michigan’s first loss in five years to the Buckeyes, and what each thought were the main contributing factors to the collapse. After all, Streets knows a thing or two about beating Ohio State, having done it three times himself as a wide receiver for the Wolverines. Streets played four seasons at wide receiver for Michigan, most notably catching two 50-yard

plus touchdowns from Brian Griese in the 1997 Rose Bowl win over Washington State that captured a share of the National Championship. His senior season, Streets’ 906 yards and 11 touchdowns were enough to earn him Team MVP, an award that was given to Charles Woodson the season before, and Tom Brady the season after. After graduating Streets went on to play six seasons in the NFL. He credits his time spent with the Wolverines for getting him there. In fact, he credits the University of Michigan and its athletic staff for a lot more than just that. “That’s where I learned how to become an adult, how to become a man,” Streets said. “(Wide receivers) coach (Erik) Campbell and coach (Lloyd Carr), taught me so much about becoming a man… the mental side of it, the work you have to put in to be successful, that’s all the University of Michigan.” The roots Streets planted as a student athlete at Michigan are one of two large reasons he frequently makes the drive from Chicago to visit so often. Johnson is the other. “Morez, I kind of just have a bond with him,” Streets said. “I like the way he plays, his toughness, he loves to compete, and I love kids like that.” In some ways, that’s because he is a kid like that. Streets, now 48 years young, still has enough competitiveness coursing through him to remind his athletes once in a while that they’d have nothing on him in his heyday. Johnson recalls Streets once jumping into a practice scrimmage he was running during Johnson’s senior year and hooping like his life depended on it.

CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Lyra Sharma: Diane Dietz’s jersey retirement must be the start of something more for Michigan’s women It’s been quite the season for the No. 9 Michigan women’s basketball team. It has broken a LYRA multitude SHARMA of program records in preseason action and, aside from a couple of blips, sported an uncommonly dominant season featuring a number of high-scoring victories. In short, this season is already one for the history books. That is why it is fitting that Sunday featured another historymaking event, one that arguably took a little too long to occur. Before the Wolverines’ matchup against Wisconsin, Diane Dietz became the first-ever woman to have her jersey number raised to the rafters. Dietz was the first of a slate of three to receive this honor, with Katelynn Flaherty set to be honored Jan. 25 against Southern California and Naz Hillmon on Feb. 15 against Michigan State. With all of this occurring amid this major season for Michigan, and the first during its commanding 86-60 victory over the Badgers, one thing is becoming clear. While Dietz, Flaherty and Hillmon will be the first women to have their jerseys in Crisler’s rafters, this season is a

look into why they should not and will not be the last. “When I was first hired here 14 years ago, I did as much history as I can to learn who came before and who paved the way,” Wolverines coach Kim Barnes Arico said Jan. 5. “Diane Dietz was at the forefront of that.” Dietz began her career at Farmington Hills Mercy High School, where she led her team to four straight state finals and a 1977 Class A Michigan state championship. After high school, she moved on to play for Michigan from 1979-1982. It was with the Wolverines where Dietz made history in a multitude of ways, being the first player to ever surpass 2,000 points. That record stood for almost 30 years, until Flaherty broke it. In addition, Dietz still ranks fourth all-time in scoring with 2,076 points, second all-time in 30-point games and graduated as Michigan’s all-time leader in steals. Aside from a prolific playing career, Dietz was and is an accomplished academic and professional. She is one of only two Wolverines to have been inducted into the Academic All-American Hall of Fame and was the first female recipient of the Big Ten Medal of Honor in 1982. Following her graduation from Michigan, she received a J.D. from Thomas

M. Cooley Law School and went on to be an accomplished lawyer. She transitioned back into the Big Ten in 2010 as Big Ten Conference Chief Communications Officer and is now the Big Ten Conference Deputy Commissioner. Given her achievements over the past nearly 40 years, it’s a little jarring that it took so long for Dietz to receive this honor from the Wolverines. It’s even more jarring, however, that she is the first woman to receive this honor. “I think it’s definitely a little bit disappointing that it’s taken this long,” senior guard Brooke Quarles Daniels said Sunday. “We still have the Naz (ceremony), the Katelynn Flaherty (ceremony) and even girls on our team now that could possibly be acclimated for something like that. It’s a celebration but also just a continuing push to move forward and stand with women’s rights.” This new ceremony for the Michigan women’s basketball team is already commonplace for the men’s team. What took Dietz 40 years to earn is an honor also being given to Trey Burke in just a few weeks. Burke, who played in 2013, is also joining another five men up in the rafters. It’s not that the men don’t deserve the honor; it’s simply that the women have been repeatedly overlooked.

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SPORTS

SportsMonday: Kent Syverud has to tackle internal and external athletics issues

JONATHAN WUCHTER Daily Sports Writer

Three weeks ago, Michigan interim President Domenico Grasso announced an investigation into the culture, conduct and procedures of the athletic department. The announcement came in the wake of former Wolverines coach Sherrone Moore’s sudden firing and in the shadow of several scandals over the past few years. In a video to the community about the investigation led by law firm Jenner & Block, Grasso promised to take necessary action based on the results. However, the interim label hinders Grasso’s authority to execute change. Thus, incoming president Kent Syverud must be the one to not just oversee, but enact alterations

to a deeply flawed athletic department. Moore’s for-cause firing was the breaking point, but the athletic department, and mainly the football team, has been teetering. The sign-stealing scandal is the most publicized for its on-field impact during their nationalchampionship winning season, and the Wolverines, warranted or not, further drove the controversy by fighting the NCAA and Big Ten to subvert repercussions up until the beginning of this season. But far more consequential misactions have taken place within the athletic department in recent years. Former hockey coach Mel Pearson was a bully towards women working in the department. His firing came after an external investigation — a grand seven months after misconduct allegations came to light. Former

football offensive coordinator Matt Weiss is currently fighting charges for accessing private photos of student athletes, which resulted in his firing three years ago. “There’s some things that are out there that I can’t comment on, that are untrue, and there may be some things that they find, but that’s why we do an investigation, and I’m very open to that,” Wolverines athletic director Warde Manuel said Dec. 28 when asked about the investigation. “I wanted the cultural analysis to be done to help us, to help us get better. Organizations have, at times, have problems and issues, and we’re going to face them, and we’re going to get better. So that’s where I live.” The athletic department’s aforementioned controversies have spanned at least four years under Manuel’s leadership. Consequently, any thorough or objective analysis

of the program must start with him. In firing Moore, Manuel acted quickly, in a situation clearly handled better than Pearson’s. And in the search for a replacement, Manuel’s retention provided stability rather than Michigan having three ongoing searches — for a football coach, athletic director and president. But Grasso claimed the investigation will leave “no stone unturned.” Syverud must now carry that same mentality and actually act upon it to achieve much-needed, long-term stability in athletics. If the findings lead Syverud to believe Manuel must go, he must go, even if Manuel called for the investigation in the first place. “I asked, actually, the next morning,” Manuel said. “I asked the President, (Grasso,) to help

with a cultural analysis and have somebody come in. So yes, I am very supportive of that, because as a leader, I face reality. There are things that happen. I don’t step away from it. Never have, never will. So we need to get better, and that’s part of it, is getting somebody to come in and to assess and then help us get back.” As the chancellor of Syracuse, Syverud showed his interest in college athletics, especially college football — and not in the Santa Ono-esque show up to Michigan Stadium and take photos with students and fans type of way. Syverud has championed the idea of a “Super League.” The idea involves a promotion system involving a “Super 12” where wins and losses are the sole decider of the postseason rather than the never-wrong College Football Playoff Selection Committee.

On the business side of college football, Syverud is equally forward thinking. Syverud participated in a “Think Tank” to discuss the future of the sport in the dawn of NIL and the transfer portal, with revenue sharing also on the horizon. Syverud was critical of the current system and not opposed to the idea of private equity, more controversial given the Big Ten’s proposed 2.4 billion dollar deal — which Michigan has been opposed to. How Syverud guides Michigan’s powerful voice in the world of college athletics is as important as the change he enacts within the Wolverines’ own athletic department. Both are currently severely flawed due to complex issues, which in both cases, includes flawed leadership.

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FIRST

SPORTS WEDNESDAY

Wednesday, January 14, 2026 The Michigan Daily — 12

BLOOD

WISCO 91 MICH 88 Michigan taken down for the first time this season as Wisconsin holds on late ZACH GOLDSTEIN Daily Sports Editor

hroughout the season, the No. 2 Michigan men’s basketball team has punished its foes behind consistent shotmaking and an aggressive switching defense en route to a 14-0 record. But Saturday against Wisconsin, the Wolverines’ undefeated streak finally came to an end. And all it took was the Badgers (11-5 overall, 3-2 Big Ten) attacking the one weakness the Michigan (14-1, 4-1) defense has shown thus far. By exploiting favorable matchups throughout the day, Wisconsin put a tally in Michigan’s loss column for the first time this season, 91-88.

“(Wisconsin) came in here and they took a test early,” Wolverines coach Dusty May said. “They responded and went into halftime with some positive momentum and came out in the second half and knocked us on our heels a little bit. They exposed some things with our plan, with our team that we thought were going to be issues this year. We just didn’t think we would see so many of them on the same night.” Michigan’s offense was humming early as it worked deep in the paint to generate offense behind its frontcourt. They found consistent success with baseline drives and rolls to the rim, which over time, opened up perimeter looks. But as the Wolverines’

blistering pace brought them out to an early lead, the Badgers had an answer: guard John Blackwell. With Michigan up 14, its largest lead of the first half, Blackwell went on a personal 7-0 run to keep Wisconsin close. His shotmaking was contagious as fellow guard Nick Boyd’s shots started to drop in the last few minutes and the Badgers’ defense stif led the Wolverines in the paint. “I thought that (Blackwell’s run) changed the complexion of the game. And then from that point on, they controlled tempo, thought they kind of scrapped their continuity motion, and ran the clock down, got to a high ball screen or a matchup, and took advantage of it. We’ve got to find some more solutions

on the f ly when things aren’t working.” Michigan was the closest it’s been to trailing at the half inside Crisler Center all season. Wisconsin capitalized on that in the second. The Wolverines’ switchheavy defensive sets have made opponents struggle all season, but the Badgers once again found an answer: get an advantageous matchup with one of Michigan’s bigs defending Boyd. Drives inside forced help and was enough for forward Aleksas Bieliauskas to drain four 3-pointers in just four minutes. Soon enough, Boyd found and cashed in his own looks. “It’s our defense, and it’s a combination of our plan and our execution,” May said. “But

once again, they played well. I thought their ability to get wherever they wanted to off the bounce in some matchups that we usually don’t have that happen against, it caused us to change our rotations. It caused us to change our coverages.” But the Wolverines stuck around behind junior guard Elliot Cadeau. Sitting for a large chunk of the first half due to foul troubles, Michigan’s offense later woke up with him running the point. Typically regarded for his playmaking, Cadeau did all the scoring himself. In his 17 secondhalf minutes, Cadeau scored 19 points on near-perfect shooting, essentially keeping the game close on his own. As the clock ticked on and both teams dropped in basket

after basket, the Wolverines and Wisconsin each looked for a decisive blow. And the Badgers got it with just over two minutes to go. Guard Braeden Carrington corralled an offensive board and kicked it out to guard Andrew Rohde. In a f luid motion, Rohde drained it to stretch Wisconsin’s lead to four, silencing the crowd and icing the game in the process. While Michigan had a few chances to get it back even, it couldn’t. The team that has dominated teams at home all season looked human Saturday as the Badgers hunted advantageous matchups. And just like that, the Wolverines’ undefeated streak came to an end.

Varun Tandon/DAILY Design by Annabelle Ye