2014-01-28

ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY-FOUR YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Ann Arbor, Michigan

michigandaily.com

TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL

Facing windchills around -30 degrees, University cancels all classes on Tuesday

By STEPHANIE SHENOUDA and MAX RADWIN Daily News Editor and Daily Staff Reporter

For the first time since 1978, the University has canceled classes Tuesday due to extreme weather, University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald confirmed Monday evening.

According to the National Weather Service, temperatures will be at a high of 2 degrees, with a wind chill reaching -30 degrees and winds reaching up to 20 miles per hour.

Campus buildings — including dining halls and libraries — will remain open. University transportation services will continue operating as normal, though delays should be expected.

This announcement marks the first time that the University has cancelled classes due to weatherrelated circumstances since Ann Arbor was hit with 19 inches of snow in 1978.

University Police spokeswoman Diane Brown said University Police will be taking extra efforts to keep response times low to limit the amount of time that people spend outside in the cold.

After Fitzgerald confirmed the decision, University Provost Martha Pollack, Chief Health Officer Robert Winfield and Laurita Thomas, associate vice president for human resources, sent a memo to faculty

ADAM GLANZMAN/Daily

Students walk through the diag Monday, following an announcement by University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald that classes would be canceled for the first time since 1978.

and staff encouraging flexibility and telecommuting if possible for Tuesday.

“Campus operations will continue,” the memo said.

“However, while staff should plan to report as usual, we ask that supervisors be flexible and make reasonable accommodations for these extreme circumstances. Travel may be hazardous, especially on foot

or by bus, and we ask that all of our colleagues remain sensitive to safety concerns. Parking and Transportation Services is increasing bus frequency to help minimize wait times.”

The memo added that staff who are “unable or choose not to” travel to campus Tuesday should contact their supervisors to use vacation time or unpaid time off.

Medical School Prof.

Charles Koopmann, a member of the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, said he feels it’s “unfortunate” that staff on main campus have to come in or be forced to take a day of vacation. However, he said he believes that the medical campus should remain open, which, according to the memo, will operate normally.

“The University needs to get a well organized plan for something like this and should remarkably improve communications,” Koopmann said.

After the controversy over not closing campus during the Polar Vortex earlier this month, Pollack sat in on the Senate Advisory Committee for University Affairs meeting Jan. 13 to discuss the Univer-

sity’s decision to not cancel classes.

“By the time it became clear that we were facing an extraordinary weather event, we realized that we didn’t have appropriate mechanisms to close the University even if we wanted to,” Pollack said.

During that meeting, Pollack said the University planned to establish a committee to address emergency situations, including weather, that merit the cancellation of classes.

Though that committee was formed and held one meeting last week, Fitzgerald said the decision to cancel classes Tuesday was made independently of that committee, in consultation with the the Office of the Provost, Winfield and Thomas.

“This is a decision that was made based on the unique circumstances that are being presented with the weather forecasts for tomorrow,” Fitzgerald said. “This is not a reflection of any new protocol.”

Business senior Michael Proppe, CSG president, said he believes the dangerous conditions Tuesday warranted the historic measure.

“It’s really going to be cold tomorrow, I think the University made the right call,” Proppe said. “When it’s -25 degrees out with the wind chill and you have students walking 10, 15, or 20 minutes to class, it can be dangerous to have skin exposed in that kind of weather.”

Proppe said he was surprised because such a decision is “unprecedented,” but added that he knows the University has students safety at the forefront.

“Though CSG did not play an active role in today’s decision, executive members brought up the school’s lack of a severe weather See SNOW, Page 3

‘U’s new social media director pushes ahead Sunstrum, a former state social media specialist, focuses on diverse platforms

By JENNIFER CALFAS Managing News Editor

When the University’s Board of Regents announced the selection of Mark Schlissel as the University’s 14th president, one new staff member sat among the audience

members in the Michigan Union, vigorously updating the University’s social media sites.

While Nikki Sunstrum, the University’s new director of social media, didn’t get a press conference on her arrival, she did fill an empty spot in the University’s Global Communications Office.

Sunstrum was selected for the position after a year-long search.

She previously served as the state of Michigan’s social communications coordinator and started in her new position on Jan. 6. In her state position, Sunstrum oversaw more

STUDENT GOVERNMENT

than 149 social media accounts and curated regular live chats and town hall forums.

Jordan Miller, the University’s former social media director, resigned in December 2012 amid allegations that she lied about completing her bachelor’s degree.

Sunstrum received her bachelor’s degree from Grand Valley State University and her master’s from Aquinas College. While the University was unable to specify how much Sunstrum would be paid, Miller earned about $100,000 See MEDIA, Page 3

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Nikki Sunstrum, the University’s newly appointed director of social media, discusses her plans to use Twitter, among other platforms, to engage with students.

FACULTY GOVERNANCE

HOSPITAL

CSG pushes to In last Senate Assembly, allow Dining Coleman discusses AST Dollars at Hillel Students hesitant about using Blue Bucks at offcampus location

By KRISTEN FEDOR Daily Staff Reporter

At the Jan. 21 Central Student Government Assembly meeting, Engineering junior Andy Modell, a CSG representative, proposed the idea to use Dining Dollars for meals served at Hillel.

Currently, students can only use Blue Bucks or cash to pay

WEATHER TOMORROW

HI: 14 LO: 5

for Hillel meals, excluding free Friday-night dinners, which are open to everyone. Hillel is a foundation that provides programming for Jewish students on campus and serves kosher meals.

For a student on a regular residence hall meal plan, Hillel charges $10 for lunch and $12 for dinner. If students with a religious exception choose to forego the traditional meal plan, they can opt for an alternate Hillel meal plan. These students pay the same amount as a student on the average residence hall meal plan, receiving guaranteed meals twice a day, six days per week at See HILLEL, Page 3

After botched rollout, Coleman says shared services still important

By ANDREW ALMANI Daily Staff Reporter

In her final Senate Assembly meeting, University President Mary Sue Coleman addressed a multitude of faculty concerns, including the implementation of the Shared Services Center, employee wages and diversity at Palmer Commons Monday.

The University is in the process of implementing a variety of cost-cutting initiatives, including the con-

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troversial Administrative Services Transformation, a cost-cutting initiative which includes the implementation of the Shared Service Center that will consolidate some University departmental staff in a central location.

In terms of its expenditures, Coleman said the University is much larger than most other public higher education institutions. She cited the University of California – Berkeley’s budget of $2.1 billion — a much smaller amount than the University’s $6.1 billion budget — as an example from a similar highly ranked public institution.

Coleman added that the overarching University of California system performs

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INDEX

many of the administrative tasks at Berkeley that the University has to perform autonomously on campus.

“It is not apples to apples to look at the scope of work, the span of control, of individuals work on the Berkeley campus and the Michigan campus,” Coleman said.

Coleman said it is important to limit growth and taper spending.

“We know we’ve got to stay affordable and accessible, she said.

While members of the faculty have voiced opposition to the University’s consolidation efforts, Coleman said the plan affects her as well.

“My own staff in my office has been cut significantly, See AST, Page 3

Vol. CXXIV, No. 56 ©2014 The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com

Customers on Main St. can donate to UMHS In joint initiative, several bars team up for philanthropy

By AMABEL KAROUB Daily Staff Reporter

While students frequent the Main Street bars and restaurants for their food and atmosphere, they now have a new reason to head to downtown.

Through the Dine and Donate program, patrons can donate to several charities within the University of Michigan Health System at local bars.

See MOTTS, Page 3

NEWS............................ 2 SUDOKU........................ 2 OPINION......................4

ARTS............................. 5 CL ASSIFIEDS.................6 SPORTS.........................7

News

2 — Tuesday, January 28, 2014

MONDAY: This Week in History

WEDNESDAY: In Other Ivory Towers Before You Were Here

TUESDAY: Professor Profiles Profiles

THURSDAY: Alumni CampusProfiles Clubs

Prof. involved in NASA missions as they enter into a career and a life that is full of change, full of times where something needs to change in their life and they have to address that.

What are you working on right now in your research?

I’m really interested in research that talks about the intersection of my research in space science and entrepreneurship and innovation, because especially in space science, there’s a lot of change happening right now. NASA is different from what it used to be. The life of researchers around the country is changing ... I’m working on

Why is it so important to stress entrepreneurship on college campuses?

I think entrepreneurship is a mindset and a skill set that’s relevant for every single student

CRIME NOTES

a series of articles and pieces that address that.

What’s an exciting fact about space and space exploration the average student might not know about?

One of the coolest things that’s going on at the University of Michigan is that there are a number of professors, maybe three to five professors, who are building space crafts in their classrooms and launching them. So it basically creates an opportunity for students to develop solutions in space right out of the classrooms.

— MAX RADWIN Read more on michigandaily.com

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Music, Theatre, and Dance junior Grace Jackson performs at the Voice Department Recital at the school Monday.

More gym locker larceny

Euphonium Mandela Student Recital exhibit opening

WHERE: Northwood IV WHEN: Sunday, Jan. 26.

WHAT: A resident of the apartment reported finding the exterior door damaged by an unknown subject who had scratched writing on the door. There are currently no suspects.

WHERE: Central Campus Recreation Building WHEN: Saturday , Jan. 25 around 1:40 p.m.

WHAT: A gym bag containing a swimsuit, goggles and ID reportedly was taken from the pool

WHAT: Ryan Chen will be performing a student recital, and playing the euphonium.

WHO: School of Music, Theatre & Dance WHEN: Today at 8 p.m.

WHERE: Moore Building (Music, Theatre, and Dance) in the Britton Recital Hall

WHEN: Saturday, Jan. 25 at 4:50 p.m.

WHAT: An intoxicated visitor was disrupting others, and refused to cooperate with responding officers, University Police reported. He was then processed and released pending a warrant.

WHERE: Crisler Center 333 Stadium WHEN: Saturday, Jan. 25 at 10:30 p.m.

WHAT: A visitor that had been issued a trespass warning earlier in the night was found sleeping in the lobby. He was told to move along and complied.

WHAT: Professor of Political Science Daniel Levine will be speaking about Pope Francis, the credibility of the Catholic Church and the future of religion in the region.

WHO: Center of Latin American and Carribean Studies.

WHEN: Today at 4 p.m..

WHERE: School of Social Work Building

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Writing on the wall

Religion in Latin America

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CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES

Drunk Amock Chillin’ at the Crisler Center WHERE: Michigan Union

FRIDAY: Photos Photos of the the Week Week

SING A SONG

RESEARCH & ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Thomas Zurbuchen is a professor of space science and aerospace engineering and is the newly-christened associate dean for entrepreneurship. He has researched new theoretical and predictive models of the space environment. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and is involved in two new NASA missions. He is also the author of over 150 scholarly articles.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

WHAT: Pulitzer-Prize winning photographer David Turnley will display his exhibit of photos of Nelson Mandela.

WHO: University Library WHEN: Today at 4:30 p.m.

WHERE: Duderstadt Center in the Media Union CORRECTIONS l A previous version of "University Health system welcomes Schlissel as new head" stated that the University of Michigan Health System had acquired MidMichigan and Allegiance Health. UMHS only has a minority ownership of MidMichigan and negotiations are still ongoing with Allegiance Health. l Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@michigandaily.com.

THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW TODAY

1

NBC News reported that a vial of Pope John Paul II’s blood was stolen from the Vatican on Saturday. Because a crucifix was also taken, police think that the theft was a commissioned robbery. Officers and search dogs are combing the area for the vial.

2

Sophia Usow first made herself throw up when she was 12 years old. In her column, Sophia describes her struggle with bulimia and how she overcame the horrifying disease. >> FOR MORE, SEE OPINION, PAGE 4

3

CNN reported that roads leading into the town of Valdez, Alaska, with a population of around 4,000, are cut off due to avalanches. Officials said the roads will be closed for the week.

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CAPS application provides mechanism for stress release Stressbusters Wellness app features health tips, exercises

student advisory board launched the Stressbusters Wellness mobile application earlier this month during Winterfest, a student organization fair held in the Michigan Union Jan. 15. The app is currently available for no cost on both iOS and Android phones.

The Wellness app includes many stress-reducing features including those customized for University students. Users can use the app to share daily stress-reducing and emotional health tips and view news alerts, videos and audio

By EMILIE PLESSET Daily Staff Reporter

Overwhelmed students can now find stress-relieving solace through the touch of a button--or a few keystrokes, really.

University Counseling and Psychological Services and its

tracks that dictate simple stress relieving exercises. The app also includes one-touch emergency buttons, among other features.

“We’re really trying to reach all students to address what is going on underneath all the stress and anxiety,” said CAPS Director Todd Sevig. “We hope this is one part of that overall focus for us.”

The app was produced by the national Stressbusters Wellness program and was customized SERGEI GRITS/AP to meet the needs of college stuProtesters march in central Kiev, Ukraine, Monday. Ukraine’s justice minister is threatening to call for a state of dents. The University is among emergency unless protesters leave her ministry building, which they occupied during the night. one of the first higher education institutions to adopt the app.

Jordan Friedman, director of the National Stressbusters Wellness program, said the app serves to give students an opportunity to access the organization’s resources.

“Not everyone can come to a Stressbusters event,” Friedman tion of a deal to deepen ties with allow for the release of dozens said. “We wanted to be able to the 28-nation European Union. of protesters currently being get students and staff convenient At a meeting between top held in jail in exchange for an opposition figures and Yanu- end to the demonstrations. stress reduction and relaxation http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ resources wherever they are.” kovych late Monday “a political The statement did not say the decision was made on scrap- opposition would agree to those Although the app was developed this year, the idea to bring an KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — ping the laws of Jan. 16, which terms. Doing so could infuriapp to campus centering on stuUkraine’s beleaguered presi- aroused much discussion,” ate radical factions within the broad-based protest movement, dent wellness was initiated by the dent on Monday agreed to Lukash said.

She made no mention of a such as the group called Right SAB two years ago. scrap harsh anti-protest laws CAPS and the SAB worked on that set off a wave of clashes key opposition demand — that Sector that has driven much of the recent violence. bringing the app to the University between protesters and police Yanukovych resign.

One of the opposition figures, Several hours before the during fall 2013. In preparation over the past week, a potentialfor the app’s launch, CAPS colly substantial concession to the Arseniy Yatsenyuk, turned statement, Right Sector issued lected student-written encouropposition that stopped short of down the prime minister’s job, its own demands, which which Yanukovych had offered include punishing officials agement messages and made meeting all of its demands. videos with a University-focus on In a possibly major stick- him on Saturday, the statement responsible for the deaths and abuse of protesters, disbanding stress management. The app also ing point, a proposed amnesty said.

Eliminating the laws, which Ukraine’s feared riot police and includes videos created by the for arrested protesters would national program. not be offered unless dem- is likely to be done in a spe- locating all missing opposition Sevig added that in the future, onstrators stopped occupy- cial parliament session Tues- figures.

Protest leaders say scores of the app may include pictures of ing buildings and ended their day, appears to be a serious relaxing places on campus in addiround-the-clock protests and step back for the government. people have gone missing, pretion to the written messages. tent camp on Kiev’s central The session is also expected sumably arrested.

The Wellness app also includes Independence Square, accord- to include a discussion of govThree protesters died in the a Health Rewards system that ing to a statement by Justice ernment responsibility in the clashes last week, two of whom allows students to accumulate Minister Elena Lukash on the crisis, suggesting a cabinet were shot by hunting rifles, points for participating in CAPS presidential website. reshuffle could be imminent. which police insist they do not It was not immediately clear use. programs. Students can redeem President Viktor YanuProtesters have been afraid points for discounts and Universikovych has been under increas- how the announcement would ty-themed items. ing pressure since he pushed be received. On Independence that authorities were preparing “We have seen increased numthe tough laws through parlia- Square, there was no immedi- to end the spreading demonbers of students feeling anxiety,” ment, setting of clashes and ate reaction from the relatively strations by force, but the forSevig said. “We’re trying to get protests in other parts of the small crowd gathered in bitter eign ministry said earlier the government has no immediate creative and address some of the country in a sharp escalation of cold near midnight. root causing creating stress and tensions after weeks of mostly A key issue will be the plans to declare a state of emeranxiety on our campus.” peaceful protests over his rejec- amnesty offer, which could gency.

After backlash against police, Ukraine reverses protest laws Pending amnesty offer may bring end to protests

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News

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

NEWS BRIEFS LANSING, Mich.

Mayoral candidate raises $5 million for re-election bid Republican Gov. Rick Snyder raised about $5.1 million last year toward his re-election bid and not surprisingly starts the year with a financial advantage over his likely Democratic opponent, Mark Schauer.

The Snyder campaign said Monday that it would report having $4 million in the bank at year’s end after spending $1.9 million in 2013. The Schauer campaign will report raising around $1.6 million and having at least $1 million cash on hand, a spokesman said.

Detailed campaign finance reports showing donors and expenses don’t need to be submitted to the state until Friday. But Snyder’s announcement was the first indication of his fundraising since a year ago and came as his campaign and the Democratic Governors Association prepared to run dueling TV ads more than nine months before the November election.

SAN DIEGO

Marine Corps to retry sergeant in Iraq murder case The Marine Corps will retry a sergeant whose murder conviction in a major Iraq war crime case has been overturned twice by military courts in recent years, a spokesman said Monday.

The military branch determined that the seriousness of the crime warranted a retrial of the case of Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, who led an eight-man squad accused of kidnapping a retired Iraqi policeman in the village of Hamdania in 2006 and shooting him to death in a ditch, Marine Corps spokesman Lt. Col. Joseph Kloppel said.

The military prosecution has evidence to support its murder charge, including sworn statements, Kloppel said. He declined to give further details.

DALLAS

Husband names child of brain-dead pregnant woman The husband of a pregnant, brain-dead Texas woman who was taken off life support over the weekend named what would have been the couple’s second child before his wife was removed from machines.

Erick Munoz said Monday that he named the 23-week-old fetus Nicole, which was his late wife’s middle name. Munoz would not say why he chose to name the fetus.

Munoz said doctors at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth indicated to him that the fetus would likely have been a girl, though his attorneys previously said the fetus suffered from lower body deformation that made it impossible to determine a gender.

SNOW From Page 1A policy in their last few meetings with the dean of students, Laura Blake Jones,” Proppe said.

While many students may spend tomorrow binge-watching Netf lix or enjoying some other form of leisure, Proppe said his cold day will likely consist of catching up on homework and CSG related projects.

Eastern Michigan University and Washtenaw Community College also have canceled classes for Tuesday. According to the Twitter of the State News Twitter, Michigan State University spokesperson Kent Cassella said that MSU is expected to “continue operations as usual.”

St. Joseph County in Indiana, where Notre Dame is located, is under a state of emergency and driving after 7 p.m. is subject to a $2,500 fine.

MEDIA From Page 1A per year during her short time in the position.

After three years working for the state, Sunstrum said she is excited to take her social media work to the global level.

“Going globally gives us a different opportunity to seek out how our content will play into other audiences,” she said.

“My first goal for the year is bringing everyone together. We have a lot of accounts, and they’re all on different levels. So, how can we work together so that we’re all leveraging the collective audience.”

Sunstrum said she has already met with representatives from the University’s different schools and colleges to understand their social media needs and aspirations.

During Miller’s stint as director of social media, she curated the University’s social

HILLEL From Page 1A Hillel. However, these students do not have access to dining halls on campus.

Engineering sophomore Maia Hoberman, a student on the alternative Hillel meal plan, said the current system segregates her from many of her friends on campus who use the standard University meal plans. She added that this separation is difficult for freshmen in residence halls that are trying to meet new people.

“Those of us who are on the meal plan here are completely isolated from other students,” Hoberman said. “One of the main ways to socialize on campus is to hang out with people over meals, and I never got to do that.”

She also said many of her friends are reluctant to join her at Hillel, adding that they need to save their Blue Bucks for laundry. If these students had the option of paying with Dining Dollars, she said, they would be much more willing to spend the money on a Hillel meal.

Increased student attendance at Hillel would also benefit the organization, which makes a negligible profit off of students.

Friday night dinners are free through donations from outside the University. Hillel currently receives the large majority of profits from the Jewish community of Ann Arbor that uses it as a restaurant during the week.

LSA sophomore Jacob

AST From Page 1A almost cut in half,” Coleman said. “We’ve consolidated our activates, we’ve asked people to do more, we’ve given people in the office more span of control, and we’ve paid them more.”

Thom Madden, senior projects director of the AST, also spoke to SACUA about the implementation of the Shared Services Center. Madden came into his role after the former leader Rowan Miranda, associate vice president for finance, stepped down from his role.

“I believe in this, I truly believe this is an appropriate and strategic decision for the University of Michigan,” Madden said.

The University hired Accenture, LLP, a Chicagobased consulting firm, for $11.7 million to plan and help carry out the transition process. Miranda previously worked for the firm, which raised concerns among faculty due to speculation that there may be a conf lict of interest in his involvement.

Miranda announced on Jan. 21 he will leave the University to become the treasurer and senior associate vice president for finance and administration at the University of Chicago.

Before the holiday season, there was some concern that faculty and staff input wasn’t being considered in the move to the center. Madden said this would not be the case.

“Certainly it was important for us before the holidays to take a step back, look at exactly we were in the process, and reevaluate what an appropriate path forward will look like in

media platforms and profile, and launched the @umichstudents Twitter account in July 2012.

Sunstrum said she plans to maintain and enhance the University’s several social media accounts. For example, Sunstrum hopes to shift the focus of @umichstudents to not only current University students, but to prospective applicants who may be interested in understanding the campus community. Sunstrum has met with orientation teams to gauge a better understanding of what goes into welcoming new students.

Since she attended graduate school for education, Sunstrum said she has the opportunity to give guest lectures and speak on different elements of social media.

“I think I’m going to turn things on its head a little bit,” she said. “A little more strategy-based — I’m going to leave the creative part to the people who know how to do that well. I’m going to focus on really growing our audiences and making ourselves look great on a global scale.”

Abudaram, a CSG Representative, said that students who do not have the opportunity to eat at Hillel are often missing out on high-quality food as well as the opportunity to experience this aspect of their culture. He hopes that the introduction of Dining Dollars at Hillel will expose more students across the University to the Hillel experience.

“It would make Hillel meals much more open,” he said. “It would allow Jews and nonJews to just eat a good meal together.”

Engineering junior Nathan Immerman, a CSG Representative, reiterated Abudaram’s emphasis on exposing Hillel to more students, and the responsibility of the University to encourage openness across the student body.

“One of the goals of Hillel, and also of Central Student Government and the University, is building a community,” Immerman said.

Though the three aforementioned representatives working on the proposal have yet to have any official meetings with the University, Abudaram is optimistic about the future of the proposal and does not anticipate issues with getting this passed.

Modell shares Abudaram’s optimism, and cited the proposal as an extension of core values that the Michigan community prides itself in.

“It’s all about options at Michigan, and when these little things get in the way, it’s something we want to fix,” Modell said.

order to ensure the success of this project,” Madden said.

“We will continue to look for engaged advisers, whether they be staff or faculty … this is a collaborative effort, and from my perspective there is nothing off the table.”

During a question-andanswer session, Coleman was asked about diversity on campus, with specific focus on the declining acceptance rate for Black students.

Since its conception in November, the BBUM campaign has garnered national attention as members used the Twitter hashtag to share experiences of racial injustice at the University. After witnessing student response to the campaign, University Provost Martha Pollack announced a series a new initiatives that the University will pursue to increase minority enrollment and retention on campus.

“I was deeply distressed about the student campaign,” Coleman. “It was very painful to listen to because it is our collective responsibility to make this a welcoming place for everybody. I think we’re going to have renewed effort, we’ve opened a dialogue with students to figure out in a concrete way what we can do.”

Coleman concluded her comments on diversity by assuring the Senate that her successor, University President-elect Mark Schlissel, Brown University’s provost, will be committed to making progress.

“I know that Mark Schlissel cares about this issue deeply, he and I talked about it. He had some of the same issues at Berkeley. I want to, in my last six months, do everything I can; I think we all should.”

Tuesday, January 28, 2014 — 3 In December 2012, Reddit user citizenthrowawayx announced in a post that Miller did not complete her Bachelors of Arts in Journalism degree from Columbia College Chicago as it reads on her résumé. According to the documents, Miller was a few credits short of graduating.

William Gregory, a records specialist at Columbia College Chicago, confirmed that Miller did not graduate.

“My intention was never to deceive the University, but I acknowledge that I made a mistake, and I’m sorry,” Miller wrote in a statement to the University regarding her resignation.

University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said in December 2012 that Miller resigned willingly with no disciplinary action taken against her.

In a January 2013 interview, Fitzgerald said each department and specific position undergoes a unique background check and interview in their employment process.

Regarding how the University may have

MOTTS From Page 1A WFrom July 2013 to June 2014, diners at Main Street eateries have been invited to add a donation of any amount to the bottom of their checks, which will be donated in full to UMHS. The participating bars and restaurants include Lena, Habana, Grizzly Peak Brewing Company, Old German, Blue Tractor BBQ and Brewery, Jolly Pumpkin Cafe and Brewery and Mash. Each month a different charity within UMHS will be chosen.

Jon Carlson and Greg Lobdell, co-owners of all of the restaurants involved, are the driving force behind the program. Carlson said they chose the 12 receiving foundations based on both necessity and personal interests, with their focus main set on childrens’ health. Accordingly, C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital is wellrepresented, as four months of the program have been dedicated to different Mott programs.

“We were pretty easy targets — he has two kids, and I have three,” Carlson said. “I think it made us suckers. It’s so easy to see the help that you can give to little kids.”

While they said they have held

missed Miller’s error, he added that it was “a very unusual set of circumstances.”

Student Advisor ranked the University as the 29th best social media-using college, ranking it fifth for its Instagram account and as the “Most Collaborative Large College.”

The University has nearly 63,000 Twitter followers, its Instagram page holds nearly 27,000 followers and its Facebook page boasts nearly 538,000 “Likes.”

As for where social media is heading, Sunstrum said the future is unpredictable.

To maintain its importance in day-to-day life, she added that social media should become integrated into everyday goals and objectives.

“My job didn’t exist five years ago, and it very well could not exist five years from now,” she said. “We need to find a way to make social less shiny; it’s not really that pet project on the side on the more … A tweet is just the new press release.”

many philanthropic events to support the Ann Arbor community, this event is their first attempt at a year long, interconnected fundraiser. Lobdell said with all of the standalone events he and Carlson were hosting to support UMHS, it made more sense to do one big event.

“We were just doing individual efforts with people we knew, with a lot of it focused on U of M Hospital,” Lobdell said. “Finally, they actually came together and said ‘we’re all talking to them separately … why don’t we all work together?’”

Supplementing Dine and Donate, Carlson and Lobdell have held extra promotions to support certain charities they feel a connection with.

University alum Charles Woodson, a former football player and Heisman Trophy Winner who now plays in the NFL, started the Charles Woodson Clinical Research Fund with a $2 million donation to Mott. During the month supporting Woodson’s fund, Carlson and Lobdell served a special “Woodson Burger” at each participating restaurant.

For every Woodson Burger sold in October, $2 went to support his fund. Lobdell said the burgers sold were based on Woodson’s own preferences.

“We talked with him and found out what types of burgers that he likes, and then challenged each of the chefs to, from his inspiration, create their own version of a Charles Woodson burger.” Lobdell said. “It was a fun addition to the other program.”

To get Dine & Donate up and running, Carlson and Lobdell worked closely with Dina Kutinsky, assistant director for development, women and children’s health at UMHS. Kutinsky said the choices of foundations for Dine and Donate span the healthcare system, and the fundraiser is meant in part to raise awareness.

“The program is built to really educate and to create awareness.”

Kutinsky said. “So not only to raise money, but so people know that these funds are out there.”

Kutinsky said he hopes Dine and Donate would continue after its yearlong term ends in June.

She said she, Carlson, Lobdell and others will cooperate to work out kinks in the project.

“Next year, hopefully, we’ll look at the whole program, and see which ones worked, which ones didn’t, which ones need more attention.” Kutinsky said.

“We’re really testing the waters. I think if they keep doing it it’ll get bigger and bigger.”

Opinion

4 — Tuesday, January 28, 2014

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Hunger for answers Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890.

420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com PETER SHAHIN EDITOR IN CHIEF

MEGAN MCDONALD and DANIEL WANG EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS

KATIE BURKE MANAGING EDITOR

Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s editorial board.

All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.

FROM THE DAILY

Fueling Detroit’s comeback Gov. Snyder should not allow Detroit to flounder without state aid

O

n Jan. 22, Republican Gov. Rick Snyder proposed redirecting $350 million over 20 years from Michigan’s tobacco settlement revenue to the city of Detroit. The reallocation of funds was pledged in order to help bolster city pensions, estimated to be underfunded by $3.5 billion. Snyder stressed that his proposal is not a bailout, but rather a settlement focused on mitigating the impact on retirees. By allotting this money to the city, Snyder is crossing party lines and showing the rest of the state that Detroit is worth the investment. The proposed plan will undoubtedly aid pensioners; however, future funding from the state should be allocated by the city itself.

With the announcement of his proposal last week, Snyder demonstrated his commitment to Detroit. Designating much-needed funds to city pensions will potentially benefit the entire state by speeding up the bankruptcy process and reducing legal expenses. However, the proposed plan must first be approved by the legislature before reaching the bankruptcy mediation table. Both Democratic and Republican leaders are on board with the solution, voicing their support for Snyder’s proposal. Though, some Republicans are wary of the plan, calling for some type of professional oversight of the pension funds.

The key component of this plan is guaranteeing the money will actually fund city pensions.

Many city employees worked their entire adult lives paying into their pensions. These pensioners deserve to live out their retirement in financial security and dignity. Even with the state’s proposed financial assistance plan and privately pledged donations reaching $330 million from nine local and national foundations, pensioners could see a sharp reduction in their monthly benefits. It’s imperative that Snyder’s proposed money go to Detroit’s retirees.

Snyder and the state government need to continue supporting Detroit — financially and beyond. The city is not only a vital part of Michigan’s history but also its future. Detroit offers many incredible attractions — the Detroit Institute of Arts, Belle Isle Park, Detroit Eastern Market, Greektown and the Motown Historical Museum, to name a few. However, Detroit’s charisma lies not in its physical structures but in the unique cultures and spirit created within the city. Every day, people are moving to Detroit, working hard alongside current residents to rebuild an iconic American city.

Gov. Snyder has taken steps in the right direction with his plan to help city pensioners. Detroit has a long way to go before it can become what it once was again. In order to get back to its full potential, the city needs continued support from the state and businesses alike. General Motors, the industrial behemoth of the Motor City, pledged to upgrade their Detroit plant helping to create and retain jobs in the city. With increasing innovation, investment and job creation, Detroit has the ability to revitalize its economy and propel Michigan into the future.

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

Barry Belmont, Rima Fadlallah, Nivedita Karki, Jordyn Kay, Kellie Halushka, Aarica Marsh, Megan McDonald, Victoria Noble, Michael Schramm, Matthew Seligman, Paul Sherman, Allison Raeck, Daniel Wang, Derek Wolfe JACOB KARAFA | VIEWPOINT

Looking down on hooking up

“Hooking up” may refer to many activities, ranging from casual kissing to intercourse. The term itself has a certain ambiguity that appeals to the college environment where — unless you live in close proximity to your acquaintances — you too can benefit from remaining somewhat ambiguous. The issue is thus: hookup culture continues to become more prominent in universities. This culture holds the potential to instill damaging morals into the minds of students who may eventually have trouble developing real relationships later in life.

The 1970s proved essential to motivating the explosion of this culture when birth control and various birth control methods became more mass-produced and readily available.

Some argue that these innovations essentially made obsolete the need for relationships in college. Many students may now ask, “What’s the point in being committed to one person?”

College is a system that fosters individualism, independence and the right to further one’s own educational and moral development. It’s no surprise that between the periods of 19801990 and 2000-2010, the percentage of college students reported to have “had sex with a friend in the previous year” rose from 56 percent to 68 percent — based on a General Social Survey of 2,000 students from different universities.

The institutions themselves provide a basis for hookup justification: this is the student’s world, and these are the student’s decisions.

For new college freshmen from smaller high schools, exposure to the hookup culture of larger universities can prove especially intimidating. Many of these students find the transition difficult and feel pressured to make rash decisions. It is this blend of hookup-accustomed freshmen and those who were raised in more conservative environments that proves most dangerous. For example, one student pursues another not solely for physical desire, but rather for the establishment of a real emotional connection. The other party wants nothing of the sort. The one who wants something real is crushed; we have seen it countless times.

Also dangerous is the intricate, fragile web of connections made by hooking up with several people. Thoughts of past and current hookups may plague those newly influenced by the culture with jealousy or fear. “Why is she kissing him if we hooked up last week?” and “he told everyone that we hooked up,” are commonly heard phrases schoolwide. Considering many hookups take place while one or both parties are under the influence of alcohol, there is

also room for regret and remorse. Impaired judgment clashes with the fuel of desire and sparks the resulting hookup. It is a kiss. It is an exchange of words. It is a trip to a bedroom followed by early-morning disappointment. It is whatever you want it to be.

A study done at Stanford University surveyed about 17,000 college students during their time at their respective universities and reported that by senior year, 72 percent of both sexes had hooked up at least once. The average male reported having nine to 10 hookups, the average female about seven hookups. This means, for example, that Boy A has a history with 10 girls.

He may see relationship potential in some, and he may desire the complete avoidance of others.

He may see them as objects; he may see them as friends with benefits. But ultimately, he remains unsure. Boy A is a victim of this spreading culture and these increasing percentages. His views of women are distorted; he has forgotten the value in dating and now pursues the facility of more selfish, individual physical desires.

This is not to argue that the hookup culture lacks advantages. With busy class schedules and accelerated course work, University of Michigan students may not have time to adequately maintain relationships. However, despite the benefits of relative ease and convenience, statistics show that preferencewise, both genders still prefer traditional dating.

In a study done with males and females from a Southern public university, only 2 percent of women and 17 percent of men showed a strong preference for hooking up over traditional dating. This is positive; however, the difference in percentages proves alarming. This statistic essentially suggests that there are women, internally desiring a real relationship, settling for hookups merely because a significantly bigger population of men won’t settle for relationships.

Despite the alarming percentages and stats, at least we can safely determine that the dating relationship, while preferred less now than in recent years, is still more desirable than the hookup. And it should be. The emotional damage, jealousy, general uneasiness and sense of remorse that may exist after a hookup is enough to turn many students away; however, the concepts of college independence and ease keep the practice alive. Are college relationships dead? No. Are they in a losing battle with the ever-rising hookup? Let us hope not.

Jacob Karafa is an LSA freshman.

SOPHIA USOW / Daily

T

he Center for Eating Disorders is indistinguishable from other houses on its street, save for a small sign in front of the driveway that reads “Therapist Parking Only.”

The sign seems like classic Ann SOPHIA Arbor kitsch, USOW but the cement patch it rests on grows shrink cars like steel weeds on weekdays. I walked past it earlier this evening while meandering my way to meet friends for dinner. I almost forgot it existed, which is strange because I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the time in my life when I used to go there almost once a week. I’m hungry for answers — answers I tried to find at the center and even before that, since the first time I pushed back the fleshpink trigger and wondered at the weakness of my fingers, buried so far down my throat I couldn’t even taste the salt on my skin.

I was 16 the first time I made myself throw up. My mom was upstairs and I’d just eaten a whole grocery list, one item after the other, until my stomach felt like there was a blue-ribbon hog rolling inside of it. I’d binged before and it was getting to the point where I was tired of going to bed sugar-sick and ashamed. There may have been a moment of decision, a long silence at the doorway of our small downstairs bathroom. More likely, however, I knew as I was eating that despite every public-service announcement or guidance-counselor lecture about the evils of bulimia, I had

M

been destined to flirt with the disease since the first time I’d looked in a mirror and thought “ugly.”

Do you know what bulimia is?

Bulimia is getting used to toilet water splashing up on your face.

It’s learning to return to the dinner table, or class, or birthday party like nothing happened, daring others not to ignore the smell of vomit wafting off you like curdled perfume. It’s looking at food as a test that can be failed. It’s the specter of beauty pageants past, present and future. It’s a subplot in a Jodi Picoult novel. It’s the chubby skeleton in the closet. It’s suburban tragedy. It’s self-hate and the pursuit of happiness.

There are people out there starving, eating dirt, dreaming of a little sweetness. There are people who toil until they bleed in order to provide all the sustenance they can for their families.

There are people for whom food is (as the nutritionists will urge) simply fuel. There are people who overdo it sometimes, underdo it other times, love cookies and carrots and complain about their waistlines. Then there are people who devour and expel like I did, as if it wasn’t our fault, as if they poisoned our nachos, as if Grandma’s cookies were filled with bones.

I love you like a fat kid loves cake, I say to my reflection. There’s snot pooling with chocolate stomach acid on the crease of my upper lip. There are tears of exertion in my eyes, but I’m not crying. If I was going to cry for anyone, it would be my mom, sit-

ting upstairs watching late-night TV in blissful ignorance. I’d cry because her hugs are soft and warm, and when I ask her if I look ugly she says, “Sweetie you look beautiful.”

It’s been a year since I last made myself throw up and about four months since I last visited the Center for Eating Disorders. I won’t tell you about what goes on in there, that’s for the people who need to know to find out. Suffice it to say, there are good people inside and a warm, dimly lit waiting room that’s perfect for a quick, pre-appointment nap. If you want literature about unhealthy relationships with food or how to chew properly, they have it there. There are no scales in the bathrooms. They do not send you e-mails about herbal supplements that will make your waist shrink two sizes for only $15.99. I appreciate that.

I’d tell you how I learned to chew, but I don’t have enough words for that. The few I have left I’d like to use on one of the only answers I’ve found through my experiences to which I can hold fast — whether it’s alcohol, food or kisses that you use to BandAid the wounds of memory, their gauze will only make you feel more lost. You’ve got to get help, not succumb to your unhappiness like it’s something you deserve. You’ve got to let those injuries breathe.

Why? Because even when life’s ugly, sweetie, it’s beautiful.

You’ve got to get help, not succumb to your unhappiness like it’s something you deserve.

— Sophia Usow can be reached at sophiaus@umich.edu.

Let’s talk about libido

ike Huckabee, former Arkansas Governor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate, has a message for all you women out there: the GOP’s war on women is not against you, but for you.

That’s right PATRICK ladies, the GOP’s MAILLET efforts to ban your legal right to an abortion, fight against equal pay legislation, limit your abilities to access contraception and the countless derogatory statements from major Republicans, such as conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh and former Missouri Congressman Todd Akin, have in fact all been an attempt to fight for “the recognition of the equality of women and the capacity of women” according to Huckabee.

The former Arkansas governor declared the war’s end last week at the Republican National Convention winter meeting where he accused Democrats of taking advantage of women for political gain: “If the Democrats want to insult the women of America by making them believe that they are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth control, because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government, then so be it.”

Huckabee totally blew the Democrats’ cover last week when he went on to say, “Women I know are outraged that Democrats think that women are nothing more than helpless and hopeless creatures whose only goal in life is to have the government provide for them birth control medication.”

Fellow Democrats, how could we have been so diabolical? So coldhearted and downright malicious to have taken advantage of women like

that? All the columns I’ve written about protecting a woman’s right to choose, or that a woman deserves equal pay for equal work or that a woman’s insurance should cover her birth control, have all been one giant sham. My fellow liberals and I meet quite often and have decided that the only way to get our candidates elected is by pretending to actually care about women.

Of course, Huckabee may be glancing over a few details about this alleged grand plan that we Democrats have. Aside from the sheer fact that 66 percent of women support a federal mandate for employers to offer insurance that covers birth control, according to a CBS News Poll, the Center for Disease Control states that four out of five sexually active women from ages 15 to 44 have used birth control before, and that 58 percent of birth control users do so for non-contraceptive purposes, women are just playing right into the Democratic scheme.

But then again, maybe — just maybe — Huckabee may have somehow kept our cover alive. Women, just like men, don’t exactly like being told that they are stupid and being taken advantage of for political gain. While Huckabee thought he was advocating for the equality of women, he actually was taking a giant step back in the fight for women’s rights. Huckabee stated, “Women I know are smart, educated, intelligent, capable of doing anything that anybody else can do.” Women have known this.

Democrats have known this. In fact, most level-headed Republicans have known this. Unfortunately, the only people who have to state this as if it is a bold, new revelation in the fight for civil rights are the out-of-touch

heads of the GOP. It’s a lot like calling a Black person “articulate” because they might be well-spoken.

Why use descriptive adjectives that infer an exception or that for some reason it can’t be assumed without clarification that women are entirely “capable” of doing anything that a man can do?

It’s not that the only issue that matters to women voters are reproductive rights and that any pro-choice candidate simply wins every female vote automatically.

Like their male counterparts, women voters are just as likely to use platforms such as foreign policy, energy or taxes as a basis for voting.

Instead, women are voting Democratic because they are constantly being reminded that the GOP considers them an inferior voting bloc whose basic liberties are not a priority. Nothing exemplifies this trend more than the 18-point gender gap in the 2012 presidential election in favor of President Barack Obama.

I’m not trying to speak on behalf of women, but rather make a statement based off public polls and conversations with female family members and friends. Unlike Huckabee, I don’t try to sum up the political ideologies of an entire gender in one sound bite.

Unfortunately, the very fact that Huckabee was invited to give an RNC speech reflects that many within the GOP leadership share his comically out-of-touch ideologies.

While some may claim that peace has finally come, it appears that the war on women continues to rage.

The GOP considers women an inferior voting bloc whose basic liberties are not a priority.

— Patrick Maillet can be reached at maillet@umich.edu

CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and viewpoints.

Letters should be fewer than 300 words while viewpoints should be 550-850 words.

Arts

5 — Tuesday, January 28, 2014

MUSIC COLUMN

ALBUM REVIEW

Grammys 2014: YEEZUS! This thing sucked BLUE CASTLE

He looks like this now, just wayyyy grayer.

Comeback Crosby After 20 years, Crosby returns with solid release

By GREG HICKS Daily Arts Writer

After a 20-year writing and production hiatus — seriously, 20 years of zilch — David Crosby is back and armed with a sense of humor Aabout his current state of Croz relevancy David Crosby in the music industry. The Blue Castle former Crosby, Stills & Nash singer stated that this independently released fourth studio album would be strictly for selfexpression purposes, in jest, noting that the album would probably sell a few dozen copies.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

While Crosby’s solo material consistently falls short of his trio and quartet work, the ’70s groundwork still resonates, the words are still inspired and the iconic harmonies breeze in fluently. Despite Croz being a solo effort, Crosby progressively layers the vocalization of tracks like “What’s Broken” in a sort of “Twist and Shout” fashion, minus the spunkiness and plus the ambience.

On an outset presumption, Croz is a voice-guitar-piano-percussion package that remains stylistically consistent to a monotonous extent. The diamonds are in the details, however, lying adjacent to the record’s foremost instrumentation. An unpronounced synth, orchestra and flute wander behind the John Denveresque “Morning Falling,” a funky bassline is churned out of “Time I Have” and a folkrock “The Clearing” dribbles

an unexpected synth over the track’s bridge.

Even at the ripe ole’ age of 72, Crosby can still uncover the dismal nature of the surrounding world, how “nobody wants what’s broken” and “even words from a friend bring back pain.”

At this risk of morbidly fixating on the subject of loneliness, there are many turnarounds.

Suddenly we’re asked to “Set the Baggage Down” and take “everything that’s broken and bury it in the sand” — a bit of advice drawn from 14 years of Alcoholic’s Anonymous, according to Crosby. Brokenness is a clear-sighted recurrence on Croz.

Low-sales expectation or not, the casually thrown-together record captures a more nuanced narrative than most contemporary platinum-sellers of the 2010s. Lyrics tend to come in bulk after 20 years-worth of silent observations, after all.

TV NOTEBOOK

The Grammy Awards rolled around once again this past weekend, and in the world of music media, it forced writers to do one of two things: react to the awards as if they contained some meaningful impact, or justify why the Grammys aren’t worth reacting to. ELLIOT I find myself ALPERN soundly astride the fence in between. The Grammy decisions, just like any other awards show, are absolutely influenced by popularity over talent (see Macklemore vs. Kendrick Lamar, later), and don’t offer a realistic judgment of the best music produced in any given year. But still, isn’t it fun just to see who gets to bask in the glory of the spotlight, even for a moment’s notice?

I’d be remiss in my duties, though, if I didn’t first throw out the classic disclaimer: the Grammys love their winners with a story, with a growing following, with anything that’ll help an artist get sold.

The growing optimism I’d felt from an Arcade Fire win in 2010 was dashed two years later as “Somebody That I Used To Know” (a good, albeit chart-topping song), Mumford & Sons, fun., Kanye and Jay-Z took home the biggest awards.

Funny how the biggest hits tend to suddenly become the best music of the year — Eddie Vedder summed it up best when, upon receiving his Grammy in 1996, he said onstage: “I don’t know what this means. I don’t think it means anything.”

And, in keeping with that bit of skepticism for the moment, how can anyone be so infatuated with Macklemore over Kendrick Lamar — especially in light of that resounding performance

with Imagine Dragons. Best New Artist has been a sham since Bon Iver somehow managed to sneak onto the ballot and fun. beat out Frank Ocean, and Kendrick Lamar shouldn’t have even been eligible in the first place. But Best Rap Album? The Heist was fine, if a bit poppy, but even Macklemore thought Kendrick should’ve won, addressing the rapper through Instagram: “You got robbed. I wanted you to win. You should have.”

But whatever, I’m not bitter.

As overplayed and, yes, successful as “Get Lucky” managed to become, which of the other five choices wasn’t a pop blockbuster? At least “Get Lucky” ’s win rewarded an artist who’s proven their artistic ability over the course of a career. I would’ve been fine with “Royals,” too, but I was begrudgingly hoping for Daft Punk — and Lorde won a pretty big one anyway.

Also, just taking a quick look at the Rock categories — what decade are we in? Black Sabbath, who I watched for what I assumed was a final show in 2012, snagged an award, along with Paul McCartney, while the Rolling Stones and David Bowie found nominations elsewhere.

And what the hell, Best Rock Album? Led Zeppelin beats out Black Sabbath, David Bowie and Kings of Leon — Queens of the Stone Age is the only band keeping me from bashing my forehead into this table.

This was definitely a down year for rock, but isn’t it weird that, outside of a Lifetime Achievement Award, Zep had never won a Grammy before?

And doesn’t it feel a bit unnatural, that the album they finally win for came out over three decades after Led Zeppelin IV? Let me admit something: It’s rare that I actually watch the entire Grammy ceremony, or even most of it. The best highlights — the mishaps, the newsworthy events, the block-

buster performances — are always clipped and online in a few minutes anyway, along with the winners. Why wade through the rest?

And in keeping with that, did anyone else see the three-second swing where Taylor Swift went from thinking she’d won her 8th Grammy, the coveted Album of the Year, to the soulcrushing realization of defeat?

The girl cannot catch a break — guess she’ll just have to go back to the rest of her gramophone statuettes.

Good Kid: m.A.A.d Grammys Lastly, I enjoyed Macklemore’s performance of “Same Love” — especially in that opening segment, it can’t be easy breaking the silence of an enormous concert hall with just your voice and a soft piano behind you. The mass marriage was touching and, at the same time, a bit unsettling — only in imagining myself in the same scenario.

All of these couples obviously wanted to go through with this in a way they saw as momentous or beautiful, which I completely support and understand. But would I get married with 32 other couples, all at the same time? I guess if Macklemore or Madonna is singing at my wedding, it couldn’t be that bad, but I might be selfish enough to want the event centered around me, when or if that day comes.

Elliot is still smashing his head against the table. To help, e-mail ealpern@umich.edu.

TV NOTEBOOK

FOX cancels 2014 pilot season

By GRACE HAMILTON THE CW

Poppin’ caps ‘n’ bottles!

‘Nikita:’ Am I still watching this?

By ANNA SADOVSKAYA Daily Arts Writer

The best part of watching slightly terrible TV shows is how shrewd they make the viewer feel.

After binge-watching “The Good Wife” over break, I was ready for something less … good. So when Netflix recommended “Nikita,” I watched the have-handed trailer try to stir mystery, drama and good hair together. It only seemed right for me to go down this rabbit hole; bring it on.

Centered on Nikita (Maggie Q, “Priest”), a rogue agent of the shadowed government agency Division, the show follows her and her allies’ attempts to bring down Division. Nikita, we’re shown from the beginning, is a badass.

She goes through attack squads sent by Division as if they were toy soldiers.

Like her, these assassins were picked from the prison system for their lack of familial ties and their low standing in society. They were then brought to Division to be trained as operatives, working for their country to stop foreign and domestic threats. But unlike MI-6, the leaders of Division, covered by their secrecy, went astray and started taking jobs for hire.

Enter Nikita, guns blazing, ready to take out anyone and everyone who was part of the dirty jobs.

The most frustrating part of

“Nikita” is how unwaveringly good and unwaveringly bad each character is. Even when in season one, Michael (Shane West, “A Walk to Remember”), Division’s best operative, catches Nikita in a dark alley, cornering her, he doesn’t take the shot — and you never once question whether he will or won’t.

I can take the poor writing.

Watching Nikita sigh and contemplate her own complexity doesn’t necessarily take away the enjoyment of watching her kill six bodyguards with her bare hands (they were bad, so they had it coming). I don’t mind the constant one-stepahead motif that never fails her. I can even overlook the gaping plot holes that show up from time to time, because I don’t mind living in the universe Craig Silverstein created.

So bad, it’s actually good.

But knowing exactly whose side I’m cheering for throughout three seasons is exhausting. So few characters are sympathetic antagonists, or unreliable protagonists, that each episode blurs together into one systematic

scheme: Division orders an operation, Nikita gets the intel, she and her friends save the day. Sometimes, as a treat, it’s a two-part plot and so Nikita doesn’t save the day until the next time, which is an excruciating cliffhanger.

I don’t hate the show. The people are all really pretty, they fight really well and someone is always trying to out-hack another. But unlike “The Good Wife,” or any other “great” show, there are few characters that are bad people who do good things — and even fewer good people who have fatal flaws. This results in an inherent lack of complexity and remorse within the characters, and within the show.

Good always trumps evil.

Good never makes mistakes. If it looks like someone who is good is doing something bad, it’s because they’re double-crossing someone else, because they are good. Operating under these assumptions, “Nikita” becomes an easy, actionpacked watch, creating crazy scenarios with snappy comebacks. It’s dramatic, loud and distracting — but never subtle, never “unknown.”

Completely transparent, “Nikita” is a safe harbor in a tumultuous sea full of “Breaking Bad” s and “House of Cards” s. It’s like the newest version of reality TV: completely unrealistic, completely made up and yet, highly addictive.

Daily Arts Writer

Over the last decade, we said goodbye to Blockbuster, VCRs and even DVDs, and we lost our tendency to watch TV shows with commercial breaks, replacing those blocked evening hours in our week with Saturdays of Netflix binging. Because of these shifts, major networks are challenged to adapt. The result has largely been greater access to online streaming and video on demand. FOX network though, under the leadership of Chairman of Entertainment Kevin Reilly, is attempting a new move altogether.

At the most recent Television Critics Association press tour, on Jan. 13, Reilly unveiled his plan to skip pilot season this year. This is a strategic move intended to rebuild and revamp what Reilly sees as an antiquated network calendar, with the typical February to April pilot production cycle. Instead, the production and development process will be on a year-round time frame.

Well, what does this mean for the industry? The answer is not entirely clear. Pilot season has been a definitive part of the TV world, when production is put on steroids. Every season about 70 pilot episodes are paraded for TV execs in carnival fashion — around 20 are ultimately picked up. Finding actors, and good ones at that, while testing concepts and often half-developed ideas, adds an enormous amount of pressure to the process. Reilly says, “It’s nothing short of a

miracle that the talent is able to produce anything of quality in that environment.”

There is no way this process can be entirely conducive to creativity. It is arguable that pressure is a necessity to put out a good product, but it’s not the only way. Taking more time up-front to focus on putting the right pieces together, without a time crunch, should produce a result of equal, if not higher, quality. It is risky for sure to turn an idea directly into a series, but risk is sometimes what it takes to be a pioneer and a game-changer in the business of entertainment — “Breaking Bad” is the perfect testament to the power of the pressurecooker.

FOX executive Kevin Reilly trying to shake things up.

With the growing popularity and use of streaming, pilot season no longer has the same high stakes that it once did in determining the exact audience for a show. Viewership is more fluid now, and preferences less encapsulated by ratings alone; it makes sense that networks should try to mirror the same flexibility.

On top of that, despite Reilly’s insistence that this change is

not financially motivated, FOX will cut its losses on scripted development expenses by going straight to series.

Whether other networks will follow suit is not clear. Reilly didn’t seem to be suggesting this was the right maneuver for everyone. When producing comedies, for example, pilots are of far greater necessity than when developing a drama series.

Other major execs of the industry, like Nina Tassler of CBS, have openly disagreed with Reilly’s rationale, supporting the argument that the pilot season is in fact the most effective way of creating great television.

This is an experiment, and a bold one at that. The chances that altering the process in this way will lead to major failure are slim, but the payoffs could be great. The pilot season is not a broken system, and the fact that it will continue to be used is good news for up and coming directors, writers, actors and other hopefuls taking a shot at a career in the TV industry.

Still, TV culture itself is obviously not what it was in 1986, when the pilot season came to be. Why should executives feel married to outdated processes and rules when the nature of TV itself has completely changed?

Preferences are different, technology has advanced, the world is more efficient in nearly all sectors and it is far more feasible for people and companies to step outside of the box and try new things. That’s how progress happens. For that, we should be thankful for the Kevin Reillys of the world.

News

6 — Tuesday, January 28, 2014

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Cold front washes over the Midwest causes road issues Artic weather system could lead to major delays for commuters CHICAGO (AP) — Another winter day, another below-zero high temperature for many parts of the Midwest — at least, it seems that way. The deep chill has returned, bringing with it wind chills ranging from the negative teens to 40s, school cancellations and sighs of resignation from residents who are weary of bundling up.

A persistent weather pattern that’s driving Arctic air south was forecast to force temperatures to plummet for about 2½ days, starting overnight Sunday. Actual temperatures will range from the teens in northern Kentucky to double-digits below zero in Minnesota, but even colder wind chills were expected — minus 43 in Minneapolis, minus 23 in Chicago, minus 18 in Dayton, Ohio, minus 14 in Kansas City, Mo., and minus 3 in Louisville, Ky. Before sunrise Monday at a 24-hour drugstore in Omaha, Neb., where wind chills were at 21 below, Amy Henry said she was longing for warmer weather.

“I just look at my (apartment) pool every day and say, ‘Oh, come on, summer,’” the 36-year-old store clerk said.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Scott Blair stopped short of calling the latest round of cold part of the polar vortex, a system of winds that circulate around the North Pole.

“There’s really nothing abnormal about the air that’s coming into the area,” he said. “It’s just been a very persistent pattern” of cold air.

Blair said it’s an amplified pattern of the jet stream, with cold air filtering in behind a large trough of low pressure. Simplifying, he explained: “Troughs are typically associated with unstable or unsettled weather, and, at this time of the year, much colder air.”

Frigid temperatures are expected to hold into Tuesday. If Chicago makes it to 60 hours below zero, it

will be the longest stretch since 1983 — when it was below zero for 98 hours — and the third longest in 80 years.

“I’m sick of it,” Chicago resident Matt Ryan, 19, said Sunday on his way to his family’s home in the suburb of Oak Park. Chicago temperatures are expected to peak at a mere minus 4 degrees on Monday with wind chills as low as 40 below.

Chicago Public Schools called off Monday’s classes for its nearly 400,000 students, as did suburban districts. Earlier this month, when it was below zero for 36 straight hours, CPS closed for two days.

Amtrak canceled more than a dozen trains into and out of Chicago.

About 90 miles north of Chicago, Ray Fournelle lamented the weather’s ability to keep him from his normal routine of jogging 4 miles a couple of times a week.

During bad weather in the past, the 72-year-old engineering professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee has walked instead.

But he hasn’t tried to exercise outside since last weekend. Monday’s forecast predicted a high of 5 below.

“With all the snow and ice on the sidewalks, you just slide around out there. It’s just rotten,” he said Sunday.

In the northern U.S., North Dakota and South Dakota residents dealt with dangerous cold and wind gusts Sunday that reached up to 60 mph — blowing snow to the point where it was nearly impossible to travel in some spots. On Monday, snow drifts kept Interstate 29 closed from Sioux Falls to the Canadian border. In Indiana, where 50 mph gusts were recorded early Monday, officials recommended only essential travel in more than half of its counties.

In Michigan, which has in parts experienced its snowiest January on record, expressways closed as snow and subfreezing temperatures played a role in multiple crashes Sunday; at least three people died over the weekend because of weather-related accidents.

JACQUELYN MARTIN/AP

As seen from the Rose Garden, President Barack Obama works at his desk in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday.

For Obama, State of the Union pragmatic goals trump idealism Administration seeks to avoid mention of sweeping reforms WASHINGTON (AP) — No longer about bold ambitions, this year’s State of the Union address will focus more on what’s actually achievable.

For the White House, that dose of realism is aimed at avoiding a repeat of 2013, when a long list of unfulfilled policy goals — including gun control and an immigration overhaul — dragged President Barack Obama down like an anchor. Tuesday’s primetime address will focus instead on redefining success for Obama — not by what he can jam through Congress but rather by what he can accomplish through his own presidential powers.

He is expected to announce executive actions on job training, retirement security and help for the long-term unemployed in finding work. All are part of the White House focus this year on boosting economic mobility and narrowing the income gap between the wealthy and the poor.

Another action Obama is

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expected to announce is the creation of a new retirement savings plan geared toward workers whose employers don’t currently offer such plans. Because commercial retirement accounts often have fees or high minimum deposits that are onerous for low-wage workers, this program would allow first-time savers to start building up savings in Treasury bonds. Once the savings grew large enough, a worker could convert the account into a traditional IRA, according to two people who have discussed the proposal with the administration. Those people weren’t authorized to discuss it ahead of the announcement and insisted on anonymity.

“Tomorrow night, it’s time to restore opportunity for all,” Obama said Monday on the video-sharing site Vine, part of the White House’s broad social media promotion of the speech.

“I think the way we have to think about this year is we have a divided government,” White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said. “The Republican Congress is not going to rubber-stamp the president’s agenda. The president is not going to sign the Republi-

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can Congress’ agenda.”

The address, delivered before a joint session of Congress and millions of Americans watching on television and the Internet, typically garners a president his largest audience of the year. It also provides perhaps his best opportunity to try to persuade skeptical Americans that he still wields substantial power in Washington, even if he can’t break through a divided Congress.

The risk for Obama in centering his agenda on his own executive actions is that those directives often are more limited in scope than legislation that requires congressional approval.

And that raises questions about how much impact he can have.

For example, Obama can collect commitments from businesses to consider hiring the long-term unemployed, as he’ll announce Tuesday night, but without the help of Congress he can’t restore expired jobless benefits for those Americans while they look for work.

White House officials contend executive actions should not automatically be pegged as small bore, pointing in particular to steps the president can take on

climate change, including stricter regulations on power plants and new car efficiency standards.

And some Democrats are cheering the strategy, saying it’s time for Obama to look beyond Capitol Hill after spending more than half his time in office mired in congressional gridlock.

“They spent far too much time actually trying to think they could negotiate with House and Senate Republicans,” said Jim Manley, a longtime adviser to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. “I, for one, am glad that they finally decided to go around Congress to the extent possible.”

Not surprisingly, Republicans have been dismissive of the president’s go-it-alone approach.

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., suggested that some executive actions might run up against legal challenges, saying Congress should insist Obama “find the Constitution and follow it.” And House Speaker John Boehner’s office said the strategy was simply a rehash of earlier Obama efforts to focus on executive authority when action in Congress stalled, including a 2011 effort that the White House branded, “We Can’t Wait.”

Mich. minimum wage target of new ballot initiative Early groundwork paves path for statewide campaign LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Groups backing an increase in Michigan’s minimum wage laid the groundwork Monday for a statewide ballot drive in November, forming a committee that is very likely to commence with collecting hundreds of thousands of signatures needed to qualify.

“Our politicians in Lansing and D.C. have failed workers.

There are a lot of people who work hard who’ve been waiting for a raise,” said Frank Houston, treasurer of the Raise Michigan ballot committee.

Michigan’s $7.40-an-hour minimum wage last went up in 2008 and is slightly higher than the $7.25 federal hourly minimum. Republicans have not embraced calls by both President Barack Obama and Michigan Democrats to raise the minimum wage to $10 at the federal and state levels. Democrats are planning to make income inequality a top issue this election year.

“All indications are that we’re highly likely to move forward,” said Houston, who also is chairman of the Oakland County Democratic Party. “We fully expect Michigan to be the No. 1 place in the country where we’re having a conversation around economic dignity and inequality.”

The coalition involved includes labor unions, commu-

nity organizers, a restaurant worker center, and faith-based and civil rights groups. The groups sent out statements Monday from low-wage mothers who said their income is not enough to get by.

“If you work full-time you shouldn’t live in poverty,” said Rebecca Hatley-Watkins, 23, of Kalamazoo.

A final decision to proceed is expected within days. The proposal would likely aim to change a state statute, not change the state constitution. The minimum wage would rise to the “ballpark” of between $9 and $10.10 an hour and be indexed to inflation, Houston said.

Republicans have said hiking the minimum wage would hurt employers’ ability to hire people. The restaurant industry says it already operates on thin margins and argues sharply higher wages would lead to steeper prices.

“If Michigan increases the cost of employing entry-level workers, lower-skilled workers will see less job opportunities because employers will be forced to hire higher-skilled job applicants to fill multiple roles or cut jobs to absorb the costs associated with the increase,” said Wendy Block, director of health policy and human resources for the Michigan Chamber of Commerce.

The group said businesses already are grappling with costs associated with the federal health care law and that government should focus on helping people get jobs, not make it more expensive to hire them.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Sports

Tuesday, January 28, 2014 — 7

A ‘big brother’ and mentor away from home

By JUSTIN STERN Daily Sports Writer

Bryan Mone and Sione Houma are just like any other students on the Ann Arbor campus.

They sit in their dorms in West Quad, watching movies like Catching Fire or playing Call of Duty: Ghosts.

Their humble personalities often serve as an invisible cloak for their athletic abilities.

Their skills on the gridiron are often hidden by their character.

However, it’s that character that makes them so close on and off the field. The same chemistry that once led the Highland Rams to a Utah state championship is now making a comeback in Ann Arbor.

For Mone, an incoming football recruit, and Houma, currently a sophomore fullback, protecting one another has been apparent since the first game they wore black and white together on the Highland High School football field in Salt Lake City.

Currently spending his first semester at Michigan this winter, the standout lineman Mone was recruited by high-profile programs such as Alabama, Florida State and Stanford. When Houma packed his bags for Ann Arbor and left his hometown in the summer of 2012, he always remembered Mone, who consistently made the key block leading to touchdowns. While Mone was protecting Houma on the field, Houma played Mone’s “big brother” off the field.

“Sione is an older brother to me,” Mone said. “He tells me what I need to do and keeps my head straight, and helps me out a lot whether it be the recruiting process or in the classroom.”

In high school, the two hung out in the hallways between classes, walked out together after practices or a game and attended church together on a weekly basis. During Mone’s senior year, he attended a church retreat on a spiritual trip to Sacramento, Calif. It was this trip that finally put him over the edge to make a verbal commit to Michigan.

COURTESY OF MGOBLOG

TERRA MOLLENGRAFF/Daily

Sophomore fullback Sione Houma didn’t get to see much action on the field, but his relationsip with incoming recruit Bryan Mone was crucial to landing the lineman’s committment to Michigan.

“For some reason Michigan was in my head when I was there praying about it,” Mone said. “I felt like that was a sign. It was a spur of the moment kind of thing. God brought me here to Michigan.”

It was just a week later after the retreat that Michigan received their second prized recruit’s verbal commitment from Salt Lake City. The two high-school teammates got to resurrect their bond when Mone told Highland High School football coach Brody Benson that he was committing to Michigan. “(Mone and Houma) both carry two strong characteristics that make them stand out — a caring personality and a strong work ethic,” Benson said. “That is what got them to the place they are today.”

On Aug. 1, 2012, Houma officially enrolled at the University. The time together on the field vanished between Houma and Mone, but their friendship got stronger.

Still in high school, Mone

tried to speak with Houma about once a week, but due to Houma’s schedule as a student athlete it became challenging. When they spoke, Houma always gave words that made Mone more comfortable with his Michigan commitment.

Recruits are often influenced by location, their ability to get noticed

by NFL scouts and the chances of seeing the field early. Yet Mone chose to look for three features that ultimately made his decision easier: a caring coaching staff, academics and Sione Houma.

For those who know Mone, it’s no surprise that he believes in the importance of creating special bonds with the players and coaches at his new Michigan

family. “(Houma) told me the coaching program is one thing that Michigan has that is unlike any other school I received offers from,” Mone said. “They really care about their players and put their players first. I felt that right away when I came here. All the boys really helped me fit in and everyone shows so much love.”

Family values go handin-hand for Mone, and he deeply believed in what he saw from the Michigan coaching staff.

However, Mone’s family values start with his immediate family.

He has been forced to take care of his disabled older brother Filimone with his mother Sela his entire life. Filimone was

“Sione is my older brother.

He tells me what I need to do and keeps my head straight.”

Wolverines emphasize blocking shots in anticipation of Badgers

By GREG GARNO Daily Sports Editor

Have you ever stopped a solid rubber object flying over 80 miles per hour?

The answer, for most, is likely no. But on Monday, the Michigan hockey team didn’t stop just one object flying that fast. It practiced doing so multiple times.

Albeit the now 12th-ranked Wolverines never fired shots at full strength, using bright orange plastic balls to mimic the action without risking injury, but the message still stood. Blocking shots will be a priority this weekend when No. 9 Wisconsin comes to Yost Ice Arena.

“It’s about having the proper form when you go down,” said junior forward Zach Hyman.

“But it is repetition, getting feel for how to get in front of the defenseman in front of the lane.”

Michigan’s style is a little bit different from the traditional form used across several programs. Instead of lying on their stomachs with their arms and legs extended, the Wolverines bend to one knee and approach the shooter. They lower their sticks and keep their body wide in order to close off the most space.

Over and over, a defenseman was fed the puck or ball at the blue line and simultaneously wound up to shoot.

Meanwhile, a forward would skate up to put his body in front of the puck.

Afterward, the forwards lined up on the two blue lines, and at the sound of the whistle skated

born with the inability to see, speak or perform daily tasks like feeding himself. He wears a diaper, which is left up to Mone to change. The battles Mone faces on the football field are pale in perspective to assisting his brother every day.

“When I wake up each day, I give him a shower or feed him pills, change him,” he said.

“That happens two times a day, before I go to school and when I come home.

“Taking care of my brother and family is a lot more rewarding than the recognition I have received from football. I play for my brother. Taking care of my brother is like taking care of my quarterback if I’m on the offensive line. My lives on the field and off the field are both similar in many ways.”

Mone finished his senior season with 41 tackles and 1.5 sacks, while also being a student who cares about his academics — another reason he chose Michigan. In his last semester of high school, he received all A’s. Yet

Houma tells him the challenges will only be greater in Ann Arbor.

“At Michigan, Sione tells me to stay on top of school. The most important thing is managing your time wisely,” Mone said.

“You will have distractions, but the main thing is to manage your time and stay focused.”

The rise of Mone’s stock both on the field and off is a reflection of many people in his life.

Through his humble attitude, he remains poised and still shocked that he’s about to begin playing football and attend the University. From Coach Benson pushing him in the weight room to the inspiration from his older brother, to the teachers in his classrooms, Mone has been led in the right direction.

However, when Mone departed for Michigan in early January, it was the farthest he has ever been from his family and life in Salt Lake City. As he begins his new chapter, he will always have a reminder of where he came from with “big brother” Sione Houma by his side.

COLD HARD FACTS IN 1978...

THE MICHIGAN FOOTBALL TEAM LOST TO USC IN THE ROSE BOWL, 17-10, TO END THE 1978 SEASON. THE DALLAS COWBOYS BEAT THE DENVER BRONCOS IN THE SUPER BOWL ALABAMA WON THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP WHILE OKLAHOMA’S BILLY SIMS WON THE HEISMAN TROPHY. GAS WAS 62 CENTS PER GALLON. IT IS CURRENTLY AN AVERAGE OF $3.26 IN THE STATE OF MICHIGAN. ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Junior forward Zach Hyman sugggests that blocking a shot in a game is instinctive, but a bit tougher in practice.

to the centerline in the same formation. According to Hyman and sophomore Andrew Copp, the drill isn’t something that’s practiced regularly.

But against the Badgers, the drill will be important if Michigan looks to avoid a repeat of the last time the two teams played on Jan. 10 and 11 — a sweep.

“At Wisconsin, they were getting a lot of pucks though, and we weren’t,” Copp said. “It was very difficult to get pucks through and that’s something we’ve been concentrating on. It’s something

“It is repitition, getting a feel for how to get in front of the lane.”

coaches want us to progress and get better at.”

The Wolverines fired fewer than 30 shots on net each night against Wisconsin, thanks in part to its ability to block shots. Michigan finished with a combined 12 blocked shots compared to the Badgers 33 and were subsequently outscored, 8-3.

Against Michigan State last week, the Wolverines showed improvement in limiting the number of open looks and shots that found their way to the net. Michigan finished with 38 blocked shots last weekend, when it swept the Spartans.

Senior defenseman Mac Bennett remains the team’s leader in blocked shots with 36 this season, but it’s forwards JT Compher and Derek DeBlois who face a greater burden. The pair ranks at the

top in blocked shots for the Wolverines, but have a larger area to cover in front of the net.

Even Michigan coach Red Berenson got involved in the action, demonstrating to his players from time to time. On several occasions, Berenson sat calmly and quiet on the bench to watch practice, but shot blocking is one of the few events where he remains active.

But what about being hit by the puck? Is it frightening to purposefully put your body in harm’s way?

“In the game, it’s kind of just the heat of the moment and you just have to get in the lane,” Hyman said. “So if you know how to do it, it’s not really a fear of getting in front of the puck.

“In the game, you’re not really thinking about it. Practice is a little bit different.”

THE WASHINGTON BULLETS WON THE NBA CHAMPIONSHIP. THEY CHANGED THEIR NICKNAME TO THE WIZARDS 19 YEARS LATER. JIMMY CARTER WAS THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. THE MICHIGAN MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM FINISHED SEVENTH IN THE BIG TEN CONFERENCE. IT IS CURRENTLY IN FIRST PLACE AFTER IT BEAT THE SPARTANS ON SATURDAY.

THE UNIVERSITY CALLED ITS LAST SNOW DAY.

Sports

8 — Tuesday, January 28, 2014

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Thompson’s hot hand leads Blue

By LEV FACHER Daily Sports Writer

When it comes to underclassmen with a nasty habit of taking over games at the Crisler Center by raining down outside shots, Siera Thompson doesn’t get much attention.

But over the last few months, the freshman guard has quietly climbed the ranks of the best shooters in women’s college basketball. She currently sits in seventh place nationally in 3-point field-goal percentage — her conversion rate of 47.1 percent is best in the Big Ten. Thompson’s consistency has been remarkable, particularly for a freshman. She also ranks seventh in free-throw shooting, having missed only five of her 57 attempts this year. While Penn State’s Maggie Lucas and her next-to-perfect mark of 96.6 percent on foul shots are beyond untouchable, Thompson has also established herself as the nation’s top freshman freethrow shooter.

On both lists, Thompson is the only freshman in the top 10, a fact that may have played a role in her emergence as Michigan’s go-to sharpshooter.

“I think (the gym) was kind of her place to come when she was getting adjusted,” said Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico. “That’s where she would find her peace.”

Having arrived in Ann Arbor in early June, Thompson had plenty of time to get acclimated before the start of the season.

But hoisting up hundreds of shots per day was hardly a new routine — if anything, it was the norm.

“I was always in the gym,” she said. “I’d get as many shots up as I could before conditioning.”

Thompson’s only recent off night came Thursday against Ohio State, when she was far from the only Wolverine whose shots wouldn’t fall. And despite going only 1-for-6 on 3-pointers, Thompson rose from 10th to seventh in the country in 3-point percentage.

“The move from California was a big one for her,” Barnes Arico said of Thompson, a Los

Angeles-area native. “But I know her dad trained her every single day. They’d be in the park … that was her summer job.”

Opponents have begun to recognize Thompson’s long-range abilities, meaning her presence serves only to spread the defense wider for the Wolverines’ everimproving inside players, namely junior forward Cyesha Goree.

The 3-point-shooting duties, interestingly, seem to have been passed from one Thompson to the next. Kate Thompson (no relation) graduated in May after breaking Michigan’s all-time records for career 3-pointers made and 3-pointers made in a single season.

Similarly, her efforts created many low-post opportunities for Rachel Sheffer, another recent graduate, who ranks 12th on Michigan’s list of all-time leading scorers.

Thompson’s success hasn’t gone without recognition — she picked up her first Big Ten Freshman of the Week award on Jan. 20. After her rough outing against the Buckeyes, she recovered on Sunday to pace the Wolverines with 13 points in their 60-44 road win over Wisconsin.

While sophomore guard Madison Ristovski shouldered the distribution and free-throw shooting loads, Thompson took care of business from the outside, converting on all three of her triple attempts.

“She just has such a smooth stroke,” Barnes Arico said.

“It’s a little unorthodox, maybe because she’s smaller.”

Barnes Arico was referring to Thompson’s tendency to push the ball from the right side, using both hands for power more than the typical youth basketball coach might like to see.

But her stroke is working, and has become an integral part of a remarkable Michigan resurgence for a team that was expected by most to finish near the bottom of the Big Ten standings. But when Thompson can connect from deep on a consistent basis — which is more often than not — the Wolverines can play with any team in the conference.

“I was always in the gym. I’d get as many shots up as I could before conditioning.”

IT’S COLD! #JOURNALISM #SNOWBLUE

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Sophomore forward Mitch McGary has developed a new role as a vocal leader on the Michigan sideline, noteably last weekend, since his surgey in January.

“WIN THE GAME!” Mitch McGary’s role on the ‘M’ sideline

By DANIEL FELDMAN Daily Sports Writer

While the Michigan men’s basketball team has moved on since losing Mitch McGary to lower-back surgery, the sophomore forward hasn’t moved on from supporting the 10th-ranked Wolverines — winners of nine straight since he last played.

On Saturday, McGary made his presence felt on the Michigan (7-0 Big Ten, 15-4 overall) sideline, cheering, encouraging and keeping his teammates focused on the game.

“I’m Coach Mitch,” McGary said to reporters after the game Saturday. “It’s difficult just watching but I get a different perspective of the game just by watching and telling them little things here and there … but I think it helps a lot.”

Since having the surgery in the beginning of January, McGary said he’s been limited to “normal day activities.”

With no start date for rehab yet, McGary has been told to rest. The 6-foot-10 big man has no problems with following doctor’s orders, but that doesn’t mean he’s not frustrated on the bench.

“(I’m) still not allowed to do much,” he said. “It stinks when I want to jump off the bench and give a fist pump.”

Unable to raise his fist to pump it on Saturday, McGary tried to do the next-best thing by holding up a whiteboard in the second half of Michigan’s 80-75 victory over Michigan State that read “WIN THE GAME!” Unfortunately for McGary, though, he won’t be making any more road trips in the near future.

Friday, Michigan coach John Beilein said McGary wouldn’t be attending the game against the Spartans because he was concerned McGary would move too much on the sideline in excitement.

McGary, however, said he knew he would be attending the game from the beginning of the week.

“I made sure I would be at (the Michigan State game),” he said. “Earlier this week, I told him he could make sure I was coming to State. But I probably won’t be at any other road games.”

Since McGary doesn’t intend to travel on anymore road trips anytime soon, like to Indiana and Iowa, he will have to

“It’s difficult just watching, but I get a different perspective of the game just by

watching.”

resort to watching the games and supporting his teammates in spirit like he did after his surgery — at his apartment.

McGary may not be there in person, but that doesn’t stop him from having his voice heard during games.

“I was texting a couple of the guys on the bench,” he said, “not the players but the guys behind the bench at halftime telling the guys to stay motivated.”

While being on the bench has its advantages over being at home, there are still some instances where watching the game from McGary’s humble abode may be better. Like, for instance, when having to deal with opposing teams fans.

“It was pretty bad still,” McGary said about dealing with hecklers at the Breslin Center. “Not going to say what they said, but it was pretty vulgar.”

Though it’s known that McGary is out indefinitely, there still remains the possibility of him returning when the NCAA Tournament starts in March.

While it remains too soon to speculate, that doesn’t mean the Preseason All-American hasn’t thought about it.

“It’s possible,” he said. “I would love to, but I don’t want to rush back into it.”

Notes: Sophomore guard Nik Stauskas was named the Big Ten’s Player of the Week for the second straight week after averaging 22.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists while shooting 60 percent from beyond the arc in Michigan’s

two games last week.

Additionally, CBSSports.com and CollegeSportsMadness. com named him Player of the Week.

Freshman guard Derrick Walton Jr. also racked up some hardware after being named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week. The Detroit native posted a career-high 19 points against the Spartans to go along with six rebounds and four assists.

With Michigan’s wins over then-No. 10 Iowa and thenNo. 3 Michigan State, the Wolverines moved up to No. 10 in the Associated Press top-25 poll. After holding down the No. 21 spot in last week’s poll, Michigan now stands at its second-highest ranking for the season after beginning the year at No. 7.

NEXT UP

Michigan Basketball’s upcoming foes

vs. Purdue

The Boilermakers will be looking to snap their two-game losing streak when they arrive in Ann Arbor on Thursday.

at Indiana

The Hoosiers rank fourth in the nation in rebounds per game (42.7).

vs. Nebraska The Cornhuskers have pulled off two home upsets over OSU and Minnesota.

at Iowa

The Hawkeyes average the fifth-highest amount of points per game with 85.3.

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