Monday 3/27/17

State News The

One Year, Many Problems Faced

ASMSU president Lorenzo Santavicca seeks re-election PHOTO: JON FAMUREWA

NEWS

S P OT L I G H T

SPORTS

NASSAR TIED TO LOCAL CHURCH

“As much as we see vacancies across our general assembly, I think this is actually one of the years we’ve had the best representation.”

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Nassar was a catechism teacher at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in East Lansing PAGE 2 M ON DAY, M A R C H 27, 2 017

Lorenzo Santavicca, ASMSU president PAGES 4 AND 5

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The MSU women’s soccer team started its season off strong with a 5-1 victory over Bowling Green State University

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Rachel Fradette Campus editor campus@statenews.com

Local church avoids addressing Nassar ties despite evidence

BY BRIGID KENNEDY BKENNEDY@STATENEWS.COM

Former MSU employee Larry Nassar was a catechist for St. Thomas Aquinas Church’s seventh grade class, though the parish is not eager to claim him.

Nassar also served as a Eucharistic minister at St. John Church and Student Center, also part of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, according to the spring 2000 edition of Communiqué, the magazine of the College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Nassar is accused of sexually abusing his patients and other young women with whom he had contact.

Nassar was arrested in December 2016 on charges of possessing “at least 37,000” images of child pornography.

Some of the images show Nassar sexually assaulting young girls, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Director of religious education Annie Kitching said Nassar was not affiliated with St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, despite having written a post on the religious education blog indicating that he was a catechist for the 2015-16 school year.

When pressed, Kitching conceded that Nassar “may have been at See one time, but not for a long time.” other Within 10 minutes of the converNassar sation, the list of catechists was takupdates en off the blog, though it is still visfrom ible in cached versions of the site. the past He was associated with the proweek gram until September 2016, and PAGE 6 had been teaching “for several years,” said catechist Michelle Danaj, who worked directly with Nassar.

The Diocese of Lansing confirmed Nassar was involved with the church and completed “Safe Environment training” before becoming a catechist.

Former MSU employee Larry Nassar looks towards 55th District Court Judge Donald L. Allen Jr. during the preliminary examination on Feb. 17 at 55th District Court in Mason, Mich. The preliminary examination occurred as a result of Nassar’s alleged sexual abuse. PHOTO: NIC ANTAYA

Safe Environment training is intended to train parishioners who work with children how to recognize and prevent child abuse.

Diocese of Lansing director of communications Michael Diebold said the Diocese in unaware of any inappropriate activity involving Nassar.

“Our hearts go out to the victims of any abuse wherever it occurs,” Diebold said email. “They can be assured of our prayers.”

Anyone who is aware of inappropriate activity should contact the police and the Diocese of Lansing’s victim assistance coordinator, Diebold said.

There was nothing strange about working with Nassar, Danaj said.

had informed the parents of children in Nassar’s class of the allegations against him, or whether an internal investigation has been launched. Attorney Stephen Drew, who represents several of the women who have accused Nassar of sexual abuse, said he thinks the parish should let parents know because children might not bring up abuse themselves.

“Given what’s come out about Mr. Nassar, it probably makes some sense if he’s been teaching the classes to maybe get a letter out to parents to see if there’s been any concerns of any inappropriate action,” Drew said. “A lot of times children will not mention it because (they’ve been abused by) an authority figure.”

Drew said he believes the Diocese of

“FEAR OF A LAWSUIT SHOULD NEVER DETER ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS IN AN INVESTIGATION. IT JUST SHOULD NOT, THAT’S THE WORST REASON NOT TO DO IT.” Stephen Drew, Attorney who represents Nassar victims “It seemed like a normal teaching experience,” Danaj said. “He knew a lot about the Catholic faith, he treated the students with respect.”

Danaj found out about the accusations against Nassar while watching the news.

“It was a shock to me,” Danaj said. “I had never even suspected, I had never even thought that he was capable of such things.”

After seeing Nassar on the news, Danaj said she immediately called Kitching to ensure the safety of the church’s catechism students.

“I was a little bit anxious about the whole thing,” Danaj said.

Kitching had already learned of the accusations and removed Nassar from his position.

The Diocese had no comment on whether they 2

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Lansing should conduct an internal investigation into Nassar’s interactions with children in St. Thomas Aquinas Parish.

“When you have a person that has the tendencies to be an abuser of children, there’s always a possibility that he used that forum or that location,” Drew said. “There always is that possibility.” An investigation wouldn’t indicate that Nassar definitely used his authority to abuse children in the parish, but it would be a reasonable step as allegations continue to be brought against him, Drew said.

“In my judgment, they should do that, for the sake of their own children,” Drew said.

“Fear of a lawsuit should never deter asking the right questions in an investigation. It just should not, that’s the worst reason not to do it.”

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Spotlight

ASMSU president reflects on first year before re-election attempt

BY BRENDAN BAXTER BBAXTER@STATENEWS.COM

Amid the latter half of a tumultuous year riddled with resignations, transparency questions, censoring controversy and lack of interest, ASMSU president Lorenzo Santavicca announced his bid to run again.

It’s a move which has only been done once before.

Despite the troubles, Santavicca said this year generally went well for the assembly.

International relations junior Lorenzo Santavicca poses for a portrait on March 24 at Student Services. This has been Santavicca’s first term as the president of ASMSU. PHOTO: JON FAMUREWA

Issues with Minority Groups Of the issues that Santavicca’s assembly dealt with, one major issue during the 201617 school year was the relationship they’ve had with minority groups on campus.

One of the earlier issues ASMSU faced was with CORES/COPS group Culturas de las Razas Unidas, or CRU. The issue began in 2016 when ASMSU sent letters to four presidential candidates, inviting them to campus. Some students, including some students from CRU, were upset that now-President Donald Trump was invited.

When ASMSU published the letters they sent on their Facebook page, many students, including CRU member political science junior Maisie Rodriguez, responded with her concerns. Upon doing this, she was blocked from ASMSU’s Facebook page.

Because of this, CRU protested at the next ASMSU meeting by covering their mouths with gold tape.

On the topic of the issues with CRU, Santavicca said he felt there were many connected problems that were painted as one single issue.

“I think about what happened last semester as a multitude of events that weren’t necessarily linked together, and unfortunately the way it’s painted is as one issue,” Santavicca said. “I also dealt with a lot of internal issues with the team at that time.”

At ASMSU’s Feb. 16 meeting, CRU came to request funds from ASMSU for their Dia de Las Mujer program.

While ASMSU did end up granting the funds to CRU, they tried hard to find a reason to give CRU less or no money. Several ASMSU reps attempted to find places to cut costs in CRU’s program, as previously reported by The State News.

Only two weeks later at the next GA meeting, which was held on March 2, the Muslim Student Association, or MSA, came to the assembly with a bill to add MSA to CORES/COPS. The bill was met with considerable challenge by some ASMSU representatives.

Rather than focusing on the bill at hand, some assembly members opted to focus on how to add a group to CORES/COPS, for which there is already a procedure in place.

After several hours of debate and personal anecdotes from Muslim students, the bill was passed. Students will be able to vote on the addition of MSA in ASMSU’s upcoming elections.

MSA and CRU chose not to comment on these events.

Executive Board Resignations The other defining issue Santavicca’s assembly faced was resignations within the Office of the President.

Following the first incident with CRU, Jason Porter, the Vice President of Internal Admin-

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istration at the time, resigned from his position at ASMSU. Porter left because of differences in opinions with ASMSU leadership. Following his resignation, Porter called for Santavicca’s resignation.

Porter said that he was unhappy with the direction ASMSU had gone in following Santavicca’s election, The State News previously reported.

Porter did not wish to speak with The State News at this time about his resignation, but he did give a statement in an email, reflecting that the decision he made to resign was the right one.

“Although it was difficult resigning from the organization I loved, I still believe to this day it was the correct decision and I do not regret it,” he said. “I resigned because of a lack of leadership on the President’s behalf that included one critical mistake after another, many of which were kept behind closed doors.”

His resignation came after deciding ASMSU was no longer serving its original purpose.

“I could not and never would support these mistakes because they contradicted everything ASMSU as an organization believed in,” he said. “Furthermore, although it has been stated by others that these differences were political or policy based, they simply were not, and are more in-depth than that. I wish all candidates the best of luck, and hope nothing but the best for ASMSU in the future.”

A f ter Por ter ’s resig nat ion, Cassandra Shavrnoch was elected as the new VPIA. However, her run in the Office of the President did not last long.

Shav rnoch resigned from her position because of personal commitments, specifically her commitment to the North American Indigenous Students Organization, or NAISO. On the topic of the resignations, Santavicca said it is within the power of the individual to decide whether or not they want to stay in their elected position.

“This organization takes the duties of these positions very seriously, I think it’s a testament to the fact that this organization values the trust, the people that are elected to these positions, value the trust that they’re given,” Santavicca said. “If they can’t do that faithfully, then they make the decision that says, ‘you know what, I think someone else should do this. I can’t do this to the best of my ability.’”

Student Involvement Another major issue ASMSU has faced over the course of the year is student involvement on campus.

ASMSU has had many open seats on the general assembly throughout this year. Currently, there are 13 vacant seats on the assembly.

As an organization representative of its student body, the vacant seats can be concerning.

Regarding this, Santavicca said he believes while this is an issue, ASMSU also made strides this year by having representatives from colleges that previously hadn’t had seats on ASMSU. “As much as we see vacancies across our general assembly, I think this is actually one of the years we’ve had the best representation,” Santavicca said. “It’s unfortunate that we’re going to have vacancies, and one of the things that I think the role of the president is to be that external force to attract more people to the organization.”

Spotlight In addition to a lack of representation, ASMSU’s voter turnout has been less than impressive.

While last year’s election numbers were higher than the year before, they are still were low considering the size of the student body.

Last year’s elections brought in roughly 1,500 votes compared to 1,264 votes the year before.

With a student body of more than 50,000 students, ASMSU’s turnout has been notoriously low for years, an issue which many assemblies and presidents have attempted to tackle with limited success.

Regarding the difficulties of getting students involved, Santavicca talked about how people often only recognize ASMSU from their programs and the difficulty of getting students engaged beyond the groups they already have an interest in.

“It’s unfortunate that it has to be a service that triggers the students to say, ‘Oh yeah, I actually know what that is,’” Santavicca said.

“When we talk about what we’re doing in terms of serving the student body, it’s very difficult to get students that are truly engaged beyond their circle that they’re really passionate about.”

In spite of all the controversy ASMSU has seen this year, Santavicca still plans to run for re-election if confirmed by the election committee.

Cameron Macko Managing editor cmacko@statenews.com

Protesters surround an ASMSU meeting on Oct. 12, 2016 at Student Services. The protest was carried out in response to ASMSU actions involving presidential candidate speaking invitations. STATE NEWS FILE PHOTO

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News

Nassar in the news:

BY BRIGID KENNEDY BKENNEDY@STATENEWS.COM

Two new lawsuits were filed in federal court in Grand Rapids with a collective total of 17 new plaintiffs. One of the plaintiffs, Lindsey Lemke, is a current MSU gymnast.

Lemke alleges former MSU gymnastics coach Kathie Klages told her that her personal cell phone would be subject to checks to ensure Lemke was not speaking with the media or law enforcement.

Klages, director of sports medicine Jeffrey Kovan, former professor of clinical psychology Gary Stollak and dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine William Strampel were all named as defendants in a suit against Nassar.

The State News reported on March 21 that Nassar contributed a chapter to the book “Principles of Manual Sports Medicine.” His chapter discusses treatments to the pelvic region for gymnastics injuries. “(The pelvic region) is referred to as the ‘no-fly zone’ because of the many cultural stigmas in touching this area,” Nassar wrote. “However, it is only with thorough examination of the pelvic structures of the gymnast that dysfunction is found and proper treatment can be applied to resolve the symptoms. ”The chapter warns clinicians to take precautions when treating patients’ pelvic regions.

“Take special measures to explain any examinations and techniques applied in this region, including appropriate draping, presence of a chaperone or another clinician, and warning in advance of what you are planning to do.”

Nassar has been accused of failing to follow these procedures, allegedly digitally penetrating patients without warning or explanation and without the presence of a chaperone.

A March 16 motion filed in Denhollander et al v. Michigan State University et al reports that Nassar described the alleged abuse as a “myofascial release” to one plaintiff, and as a “pelvic adjustment” to another.

Nassar’s chapter describes myofascial release as an “appropriate (treatment) for the gymnast,” though the techniques described do not appear to include vaginal or anal penetration.

A motion filed on March 8 in the same lawsuit says Nassar’s alleged sexual abuse was repeatedly described to patients as an appropriate medical procedure.

A 2014 Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives investigation found the treatment was “not of a sexual nature,” and the complainant did not “understand the ‘nuanced difference’ between sexual assault and an appropriate medical procedure.”

Judge Julie O’Neill was removed from Nassar’s case in Eaton County after she “liked” a Facebook post from White Law PLLC.

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Judge reassigned The post, dated Feb. 14, says that “Nassar’s defense is not strong.”

White is quoted in the post as saying, “we have spent an enormous amount of time trying to find someone inside the medical community to support this and to date we have been unsuccessful.”

An order of disqualification was entered in

the case Wednesday after Nassar’s defense attorneys became concerned about O’Neill’s impartiality as judge, according to the Lansing State Journal.

Eaton County District Court has only two judges, so the case will be reassigned to Judge Julie Reincke.

READ MORE AT STATENEWS.COM Former MSU employee Larry Nassar looks to the court during the arraignment on Feb. 23 at 55th District Court in Mason, Mich. Nassar pleaded not guilty to 23 criminal sexual assault, first degree.

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Crossword

L.A. Times Daily Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis

Sports

Souichi Terada Sports editor sports@statenews.com

Cheslik scores hat trick as Spartans destroy Bowling Green in spring opener

1 Ponzi scheme, e.g.

5 Impersonated 9 Your __ Highness 14 Drilled bowling ball feature 15 Artist Magritte 16 Shah of Iran, in 1979-’80 17 Bahrain big shot 18 Writer’s chief work (Latin) 20 Sphere of influence 22 Drinking glass edges 23 Ambulance initials 24 Done deal (French) 28 Farm country skyline highlights 29 Nissan model 33 “Take me for a walk!”

36 Expel from office 38 Amazon’s business 39 With 42-Across, cars like BMWs and Audis ... or 18-, 24-, 53- and 63-Across 42 See 39-Across 44 Rhett’s last words 45 Siamese, now 47 __ dye: food-coloring compound 48 Live (in) 50 Lover of Euridice, in a Gluck opera 53 English, in many non English speaking countries (Italian)

58 Word with health or day 61 Oboist’s need 62 Lagoon-enclosing isle 63 Young sensation (German) 67 Sinister 68 Cortés subject 69 Wrinkle, as a brow 70 San __, Italy 71 Suppose for argument’s sake 72 Many van Goghs 73 Killed, as a dragon

DOWN

1 Harvest bundle 2 Grammar class subject 3 Legal defense mechanism?

4 Advantages 5 Shortstop’s asset 6 Green soup veggie 7 Thoroughly absorb 8 Jeans fabric 9 Dreaming phase 10 Kitchenware brand 11 Frightened exclamation 12 University fund-raising target 13 A smaller amount of 19 Quartet assigned to bases 21 Mai __

25 Plumber’s challenge 26 Dracula’s title 27 Avid about 30 Skater Lipinski 31 Nabisco cracker 32 “Wait, there’s more ... “ 33 Miles away 34 Traveled by bike 35 Abbey titles 37 Princess’ headpiece 40 Oscar winner Jannings 41 Roundabout, as a route 43 Offend slightly 46 Entertainer who often got tied up in his work?

49 Part of DOE: Abbr.

51 Historic period 52 Many top-rated TV shows of the late ‘50s early ‘60s 54 Gordon __, “Wall Street” antagonist 55 James Joyce work 56 Weather, in poems 57 Permit 58 Tit for tat, e.g.

59 “The Godfather” novelist Mario 60 Teeny colonizers 64 Agnus __ 65 Zip, in soccer 66 Wino’s woe

Get the solutions at statenews.com/puzzles Level: 1

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practice this past week and with switching to a 4-4-2 lineup, the team will heavily rely on those two to “set the tone for us.”

“Their form has been really, really good in training,” Following a 7-10-1 season in the fall, the MSU women’s soccer team started its spring season off strong with a 5-1 Saxton said. “As they go we go, honestly so that was really encouraging after that kind of start and it shows to me that win over Bowling Green State University.

All five goals scored were by junior forwards Jamie Ches- they’re going to take responsibility to set the tone for us.”

The tone is something MSU wanted to change during lik and Kristelle Yewah. Cheslik was credited with a hat this past winter, Saxton said. trick and Yewah netted the other two goals.

The Spartans have always been a good defensive team, Head coach Tom Saxton said Cheslik’s hat trick set the tone and his team was able to apply good pressure on Cheslik said. The team was No. 29 in the fall in save percentage. the Falcon goalie.

But scoring was an issue for the Spartans, as they only “She’s at the top of her game right now, which is great for someone going into their senior year,” Saxton said. scored 19 goals in 18 games during the fall season and tied for 243rd in goals per game.

“She’s a leader.”

“We put a lot of emphasis on scoring a lot of goals this Saxton said he talked with Yewah and Cheslik during season and working on it in the spring,” Cheslik said.

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE With a past emphasis on defense first, Yewah WHARTONCENTER.COM or 1-800-WHARTON said they won’t only have to stay focused on continuing the scoring goals first mentality, but also not to forget about the defensive side. “(We have) to keep the mentality of trying to be first to the ball first and things like that,” Yewah said.

Cheslik said balancing and keeping the two mentalities starts with trusting the switch from playing one forward, to two forwards and making sure everybody knows where everybody else is and working as a unit.

“Once one person goes, we all go,” Cheslik said. “We move as a unit, like forwards and backwards.”

Yewah said to continue the success they saw in Saturday’s game, they have to bring the energy they have in practice.

“I think people are more focused when they actually work hard,” Yewah said. “Everyone kind of knows what we need to do to make it a good practice.”

The MSU women’s soccer team takes the field Music and Lyrics by Mark Hollmann next in a round robin exhibition on April 1 at Book and Lyrics by Greg Kotis DeMartin Stadium with Central Michigan University and Saginaw Valley State University.

Directed & Choreographed “We may take a little bit different approach and April

by Brad Willcuts play one game with our very best players starters 14 - 23, 2017 m.d. Dave Wendelberger out there, and the next game might be the one we jumble up,” Saxton said. “We’ll see how it goes.”

BY JONATHAN LEBLANC

JLEBLANC@STATENEWS.COM

theatre.msu.edu

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit www. sudoku.org.uk

PHOTO: JON FAMUREWA

Pasant Theatre

ACROSS

Junior forward Jamie Cheslik (15) attempts a tackle against Bowling Green midfielder Morgan Abbitt (25) during the game against Bowling Green State University on March 25 at DeMartin Stadium. The Spartans defeated the Falcons, 5-1.

URINETOWN

Sports

Souichi Terada Sports editor sports@statenews.com

In battle between future Spartans, Clarkston’s Loyer outlasts Tillman

BY CASEY HARRISON CHARRISON@STATENEWS.COM

One future Spartan would leave the Breslin Center on Saturday with the MHSAA Class A state championship title. It was only a matter of who.

The Grand Rapids Christian Eagles (27-1 overall) were unable to complete a perfect season as the Clarkston High School Wolves (27-1 overall) earned their first-ever state championship with a clean 75-69 win. Wolves head coach Dan Fife completed his 35th year with the Wolves with an overall record of 677-169.

“It’s really unexplainable right now,” Fife said with a look of awe on his face. “I really don’t know how to put it.”

Senior forward and MSU commit Xavier Tillman tallied team-highs with 25 points, seven rebounds and four assists, but couldn’t overcome Clarkston’s perimeter offense. Junior point guard and fellow MSU commit Foster Loyer led the way for Clarkston with a game-high 29 points, and four Clarkston players finished in double-figure scoring.

“First of all, I give Clarkston a lot of credit,” Grand Rapids Christian head coach Mark Warners said. “They’re well-coached, they played great, they played hard and they responded. They were awesome tonight and we were good, but we weren’t awesome.”

The case seemed convincing for Tillman in the early stages of the first quarter. Tillman scored the first two baskets and tallied eight of Grand Rapids Christian’s 12 points in the first quarter, but Clarkston responded with four straight 3-pointers — three of which came from Loyer — to end the first quarter with the Wolves leading 20-12.

“We knew who (Loyer) was,” Warners said. “He was at the top of our scouting report. He made some shots and we miscommunicated a couple of times, but we were also right where we wanted to be and he made some shots.”

Clarkston extended its lead by as much as 12 in the second quarter, but a 10-3 run from the Eagles cut the deficit down to three points with seconds remaining before halftime. Grand Rapids Christian had buckets from junior guard Tre Vallar go from inside the post and outside the perimeter to spark the run.

The Wolves got their first field goal in more than

four minutes on a buzzer-beating second chance tip in by junior guard CJ Robinson to give Clarkston a 34-29 lead at halftime.

Grand Rapids Christian connected on 8-of-11 shots in the third, but Clarkston was still able to stave off the Eagles with the help of nine baskets on 12 attempts from the field for the quarter. The Wolves once again pushed their lead to double-digits in the fourth and extended their advantage by 13 before Tillman attempted to spark a comeback.

The Eagles made 10 shots from the field in the last eight minutes but couldn’t get the rally started before Tillman’s layup with 5:40 remaining.

Grand Rapids Christian was limited to just five shots from the field.

Contrary to the five turnovers Grand Rapids Christian boasted against Romulus in its semifinal matchup on Friday, the Eagles turned the ball over 10 times, resulting in 16 additional points for Clarkston — compared to the two points forced on six turnovers by Clarkston.

Foul trouble also crushed a potential comeback after senior forward James Beck II fouled out in the fourth. By the end of the game, Grand Rapids Christian combined for 21 fouls, resulting in a 21-for-25 stint for Clarkston from the freethrow line.

“This season has been a great journey, and for my teammates and myself to come out and play well tonight and ultimately win the state championship not only means a lot to us players, as a team, as a family but getting this done for Coach Fife,” Loyer said. “That’s what we dreamed about since we started playing basketball here in Clarkston.”

As Tillman now gears toward a collegiate career with the Spartans, his words for Loyer — who still has another season of high school play left — were nothing but respectful for his future teammate.

“That’s just his game,” Tillman said. “He can shoot the ball, he can handle the ball, he can pass the ball, it’s kind of like pick your poison when it comes to Foster. When we tried to step up he would drive by, give the pump fake, get a foul — two free throws. It was hard to stop him, we couldn’t really stop him, and he’s going to be a really good player later on when he comes to Michigan State.”

Clarkston’s Foster Loyer (1) celebrates with his team while he holds onto the trophy and points to Clarkston’s student section after winning the Class A boys basketball state final game on March 25 at Breslin Center. Clarkston defeated Grand Rapids Christian, 75-69. PHOTOS: NIC ANTAYA

Grand Rapids Christian’s Xavier Tillman (23) smiles as he is asked a question during the press conference after the Class A boys basketball semifinal game on March 24 at Breslin Center. Grand Rapids Christian defeated Romulus, 74-52, but ultimately lost to Clarkston in the final.

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Features

McKenna Ross Features editor features@statenews.com

Students read ‘1984’ in 11-hour read-a-thon

BY SAMANTHA LEWAKOWSKI SLEWAKOWSKI@STATENEWS.COM

Some Saturdays are “for the boys” but for the James Madison College, Saturday, March 25, was for the books. Participants gathered together this weekend to read what much of the nation considers a paramount novel, cover to cover, for the 14th annual Marathon Read event.

James Madison dean and professor Rod Phillips has been with the event from its beginning.

“Since it is a spoken word exercise, the text comes across differently,” Phillips said. “You notice parts of it being funny that didn’t seem funny before. The dialogue is more meaningful, I think. It’s more like seeing a play than reading a novel.”

The binge-style read aloud has remained consistent in attendance each year. It instills a different type of feeling among the audience by reading the entirety of a novel in one sitting.

“There’s also something about the state of, and this may sound kind of weird, but there’s something about the state of exhaustion or fatigue that sets in especially near the end of these longer books,” Phillips said. “It’s almost hallucinatory, the state that people get into.”

This year, students and faculty members read George Orwell’s “1984.” In light of the current administration and political climate, social relations and policy junior Zoe

Bommarito said she has observed an increased interest in the novel from fellow students.

“I definitely think that people are interested in seeing the similarities between this dystopian fiction novel and what’s going on with President Trump,” Bommarito said.

Despite being published in 1949, the novel has secured it’s place atop the Amazon Best Sellers list and sales have skyrocketed this year.

Phillips theorized that the book’s theme of a totalitarian regime that wants to manipulate the truth and what is perceived to be facts keys into why the novel has grown in popularity since the presidential election.

Reading commenced at 9 a.m. and the final page was turned at 8 p.m.

Of the roughly 50 participants, political theory and constitutional democracy freshman Owen Purdue said he was exceptionally excited for this year’s book choice.

“The good thing about ‘1984’ is that it really involves you … it’s a very easy book to really lose yourself in,” he said.

Having read the book previously, Purdue said he thought this selection was exceptionally relevant.

“We have something that’s very, I think ‘Orwellian,’ in the form of ‘fake news’ and how you have manipulation of public opinion on a very large scale by fake news producers and writers,” Purdue said. “People don’t know what to believe anymore. That’s one of the dangers that George Orwell was talking about when he wrote ‘1984.’”

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Comparative cultures and politics freshman Ben Peacock reads Georges Orwell’s book “1984” on March 25 at Case Hall. PHOTO: SUNDEEP DHANJAL

Features

McKenna Ross Features editor features@statenews.com

Senior aims to speak for the public through Lansing City Council run

BY JAIMIE BOZACK JBOZACK@STATENEWS.COM

Social relations and policy senior Michael Ruddock has knocked on hundreds of doors in Lansing during the past year. He has walked from house to house and has talked with hundreds of people with one goal in mind: give the voiceless a voice.

Ruddock found his passion in politics at a young age. He is taking this drive and heading toward the next level — running for a position on the Lansing City Council.

Ruddock said he would like to focus on environmental sustainability, poverty rates and bringing residents and developers together.

“One of the big lurking issues in Lansing is that we have a really high poverty rate,” Ruddock said.

“Our campaign is about urging people to think bigger and to not necessarily adhere to the traditional moderate politics, but to think bigger and be bolder in what we do and that is our main focus.”

Ruddock currently interns at Sierra Club while balancing his run for the council. He said he was

“(Ruddock) really cares about people and is a very hard worker. If you ever talk to him about the campaign, he never says ‘my campaign,’ he says ‘ours.’ It really is about the people’s voice.”

Kelly Collison, Ruddock’s colleague

inspired to run after working on the Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) presidential campaign.

“I was from a very conservative area of west Michigan and my parents and myself were both very liberal, but it really, really kicked off this last election year,” he said.

Candidates get on the ballot by collecting 400 signatures from residents or paying a fee. Ruddock said he is officially on the ballot after collecting the required signatures from voters, focusing his campaign on a grassroots method instead of paying the fee.

He said he talked to more than 600 people in the Lansing area.

“There is nobody, I would stick my life on it, that at the end of the campaign will have talked to more individual people one-on-one than our campaign has,” Ruddock said. “I guarantee it.”

Despite his age, the 23 year old said he has not run into any problems yet, but he expects the learning curve and some roadblocks during the process of the race.

“Yeah, we are young ... but that gives us extra motivation to go out there and actually do our best to represent people,” Ruddock said.

Ruddock will graduate in May and said he hopes to continue in the race. The primary is Aug. 8 and the general election is Nov. 7.

“It has always been in the one-on-one conversation, listening and hearing people who, in other ways, have no outlet to voice their discontent,” Ruddock said. “To be able to listen to those people because so often they are silenced because they don’t have money to donate to a campaign or they don’t live in an area that historically votes high propensity in City Council elections.

“To be able to lend an ear and say that our main

intention is to voice the concerns and form our campaign to help the most people in the City of Lansing, to be able to do that is super rewarding.”

Kelly Collison worked as a volunteer staffer for the Sanders campaign, which is where she met Ruddock. She said Ruddock knocked on the most doors throughout the Sanders campaign.

“He really cares about people and he is a very hard worker,” Collison said.

“If you ever talk to him about the campaign, he never says ‘my campaign,’ he says ‘ours.’ It really is about the people’s voice.”

Campaign organizer for Clean Water Action Sean McBrearty said he hired Ruddock at Clean Water a few years ago.

Clean Water Action is a nonprofit on the national level hosted in about 23 states with approximately 200,000

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Social relations and policy senior Michael Ruddock poses for a portrait on March 23 at E. Michigan Avenue in Lansing. Ruddock has been invested in politics since he was young and is running for Lansing City Council.

He said there are two ways to get your name on the ballot: by paying a fee or collecting 400 signatures from registered voters in Lansing. To his knowledge, every other candidate running for the position has paid the fee, and he is the only one to have collected the signatures. “From the get-go we said if we’re going to run a grassroots campaign we are no going to pay a fee to get on the ballot — that’s ridiculous. We’re going to go talk to people at their house about issues ... because people respect that,” Ruddock said. PHOTO: CHLOE GRIGSBY

members in Michigan. Ruddock was a canvasser for the nonprofit.

“Lansing is a progressive city and for some reason we have never had a really progressive city councilman,” McBrearty said. “Michael has a lot of great ideas and a lot of enthusiasm that I think is lacking in a lot of the candidates we have right now in City Council.”

McBrearty said environmental issues are a key issue for him because he said those are the issues of the future, and Ruddock shares McBrearty’s passion.

“If you look at some of the other people running for this seat, they are establishment all the way,” McBrearty said.

“They play the political games and they get the big money behind their campaigns, but they don’t really stand for anything. Michael is someone who stands for something.”

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