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CELEBRATING OUR ONE-HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIFTH YEAR OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Monday, February 9, 2015

Ann Arbor, Michigan

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N O T O R I O U S Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaks at Hill Auditorium

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

U.S Supreme Court justice talks gender, prominent cases By SHOHAM GEVA and TAYLOR WIZNER Daily News Editor and Daily Staff Reporter

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke about her life and opinions on Supreme Court cases at Hill

Auditorium Friday morning as part of the annual Tanner Lecture. Speaking to a full auditorium of over 3,000 students, faculty and community members, Ginsburg discussed the issues that have defined her career, such as gender and voting equality. Ginsburg, who was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton in 1993, has seen several landmark civil rights cases during her time on the Court. These include United

States v. Virginia, which discussed whether state-funded educational institutions could refuse to admit women, and Shelby v. Holder, which considered portions of the Voting Rights Act. During her time as a lawyer, she litigated multiple major cases concerning several aspects of gender discrimination. Law Prof. Scott Hershovitz and Assistant Law Prof. Kate Andrias, who were both former clerks for Ginsburg, moderated the Q&A discussion-style event,

using their own questions and some supplied by the audience prior to the event. Andrias began the Q&A, asking why Ginsburg went into law when so few women were in the field. Ginsburg said she was inspired by the atmosphere around civil rights, citing in particular the Red Scare during the 1950s, which led to many individuals being arrested on suspicion of Communist ideology. “The idea was that lawyer is

the profession, but it’s also something that arms you with the skill to make things a little better for other people,” she said. She added that her choice lay between business and law school, and her graduate school of choice, Harvard, had not yet opened its business school up to women. At a time when there was very little mention of women’s status in the law, Ginsburg said she subsequently began her legal focus on gender equality in the 1960s,

while she was teaching at Rutgers University and serving as a volunteer lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union. Rather than being self-initiated, she said both a student push for a class on gender equality law and a growing number of complaints to the ACLU concerning gender equality drew her attention to the subject. Her first foray into the area came when the legal director from the New Jersey ACLU affilSee RBG, Page 3A

TECHNOLOGY

CAMPUS LIFE

Program draws creative minds to N. Campus

Twitter chat focuses on business and innovation

200 students build consumer products at second annual Makeathon By JING JING MA Daily Staff Reporter

The Art and Architecture Building buzzed with energy Saturday afternoon as students sketched designs, drilled wood and wired hardware. More than 200 students tried their hands at building physical products ranging from collapsible skis to stressrelieving stones. Makeathon, held Friday and Saturday, is an annual competition where students team up to brainstorm and create innovative products. Participants competed in one of three categories: Health & Wellness, Environment & Energy and Entertainment & Toys. MPowered, a student organization that promotes student entrepreneurship, launched the

competition in 2013. MPowered is also responsible for similarly focused events, including MHacks, 1000 Pitches and Startup High School. Last year, the University of Michigan-Dearborn hosted Makeathon, with about 100 participants. This year, the event doubled in size and was held on North Campus. Art & Design sophomore Arwin Wang, Makeathon director, said the event’s change in size yielded a minor change in focus as well. To give the event a more defined purpose, Makeathan featured three themes: Health & Wellness, Environment & Energy and Entertainment & Toys. “Last year the event was very open-ended and people could create whatever they wanted,” she said. “We want people to come up with innovative ideas and creative ways to create a product that solves a real problem.” Students streamed into the auditorium of the Art and Architecture Building for the event’s closing ceremony Sunday afterSee MAKEATHON, Page 3A

University hosts discussion with alumni, state economic adviser By IRENE PARK

JAMES COLLER/Daily

Daily Staff Reporter

LSA sophomore Tahany Alsabahi and LSA freshman Noor Abughoush eat at the Muslim Student Association’s annual banquet Friday at the North Campus Research Complex.

At banquet, Muslim group celebrates past semester Muslim Student Association dinner features traditional cultural elements By EMMA KILBANE For the Daily

Celebrating achievement and faith, the Muslim Student Association hosted their annual ban-

Bloomington Bummer

quet Friday night with a menu of traditional Arab cuisine and a lineup of speakers and performances. The event, held in the North Campus Research Complex, drew about 200 alumni, students and other guests who gathered to celebrate MSA accomplishments during the past semester. Many guests wore traditional clothing in nearly every color of the spectrum, and crystals often

adorned the hijabs, or headscarves attendees wore. The MSA, comprised of approximately 250 active members, works toward building a Muslim community on campus through community service, social connections, religious enrichment, social justice and interfaith relations. The banquet also featured keynote speaker Amjad Tarsin, a University alum who is curSee BANQUET, PAGE 2A

In recent years, colleges across the nation, including the University, have started offering degrees, certificates and classes geared toward entrepreneurship and innovation. Friday afternoon’s #UMichChat Twitter event featured four panelists who discussed entrepreneurship in Michigan. The Twitter talk is the University’s fourth; previous events featured E. Royster Harper, vice president for student life, and a discussion on social media and journalism. Kelly LaPierre, managing director of Desai Accelerator; Engineering Prof. Thomas Zurbuchen, the University’s senior counselor for entrepreneurship; University alum Jeffrey Sorensen, co-founder of See TWITTER, Page 2A

» INSIDE

Michigan fell just short of a road upset at Indiana, losing 70-67

WEATHER TOMORROW

HI: 26 LO: 15

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INDEX

NEWS......................... 2A OPINION.....................4A ARTS........................... 5A

SUDOKU.....................2A CL ASSIFIEDS...............6A S P O R T S M O N DAY. . . . . . . . .1 B