2014-02-04

ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY-FOUR YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM michigandaily.com

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Ann Arbor, Michigan

ACADEMICS

Reviews of classes low despite reminders ‘U’ receives low course evaluation rates since switch to online platform

By YARDAIN AMRON VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily

Heather Gerken, a professor at Yale Law School, speaks about the real problem with Citizens United at the Ford School of Public Policy Monday.

Alum talks Citizens United Yale professor discusses issues of 2010 Supreme Court case

By NEALA BERKOWSKI For the Daily

University alum Heather Gerken, a law professor at Yale University, spoke about issues related to the historic Supreme Court case Citizens United v.

Federal Election Commission case to more than 100 attendees.

The 2010 case granted corporations the financial rights of indi-

viduals in regards to campaign finance, “dark money” and shadow parties.

Undergraduate and graduate students in the Ford School of Public Policy, students from the Law School and community members were among those in attendance for Gerken’s threepart presentation.

In the first section, Gerken offered a brief history of campaign finance reform. She argued that Citizens United plays an important role in the relationship between independent spending and corruption.

Later, she explained how the court’s decision may push the party system toward one domi-

nated by powerful “shadow parties.” Gerken added that “shadow parties” risk undermine the influence of the “party faithful,” who connect party elites to everyday citizens.

Audience members were given notecards to write down questions and people watching a live stream of the event tweeted their questions at the Ford School.

“I have to say (the Ford students) asked fantastic questions, and I have a lot of hats,” Gerken said before the event. “I’ve been an elections lawyer for the Obama campaign, I’ve done reform work, and they had good questions on pretty much every topic. And for me this stuff is like

popcorn, so I’m happy to munch along.”

“She is an important voice in the field and the topic was interesting,” Rackham student Conor McKay said. “The more that people know about these issues, understand these issues and can hear what’s in the media and get a sense of what they’re actually talking about, the better.”

After the lecture, a reception was held outside the auditorium to allow students, faculty and community members to eat and continue the conversation.

“I thought it was very thought-provoking,” Rackham student Dana Sherry said. “I was See ALUM, Page 3

Daily Staff Reporter

At the University, course and teacher evaluations are deemed vital to both administration and faculty, but often neglected by the students who fill them out.

The data itself is kept in-house, locked away at the Office of the Registrar, and the response rates are low compared to other universities.

However, for faculty, student evaluations can mean the difference between depositing a paycheck and dipping into emergency funds.

“Turns out there are pretty high stakes for us,” Political Science Prof. Mika LaVaque-Manty said. “(Evaluations) are involved in promotion, for GSI’s in terms of retention and for lecturers — who are judged purely on the basis of their contribution to teaching — they literally may be a matter of job or no job.”

When faculty members in line

for promotion are assessed by their respective departments, student evaluations play a large role in the decision. Deborah Loewenberg Ball, dean of the School of Education, said student evaluations weigh heavily on the whole portfolio and influence the committee’s ultimate decision.

“You can’t get promoted at this University if you have bad teaching evaluations,” Ball said. “You could be a great researcher, you could be doing all types of things professionally, but if your course evaluations are poor, and there’s evidence that your teaching isn’t good, you won’t get promoted.”

However the data suggests students aren’t as invested in the process. In the 2012 fall semester, only 56 percent of all students responded to course evaluation surveys. For the past few years, the rate has been treading just slightly above 50 percent.

Two factors may explain the low response: the University’s transition from paper to electronic evaluations in 2008, and a lack of incentive for students to take the time to fill them out.

Before the 2008 winter term, evaluations were filled out on paper and administered in class, meaning all students attending See REVIEWS, Page 3

STUDENT GOVERNMENT

PHILANTHROPY

CSG seeks to investigate the Gibbons case

With $1.3M, Taubman to create grant for research

Proppe signs executive order to establish task force for further probing

By MICHAEL SUGERMAN Daily Staff Reporter

Late Monday evening, the Central Student Government has created an executive taskforce to examine the University’s relatively new sexual misconduct policy and review its implementation in Brendan Gibbons’ permanent seperation.

According to documents reviewed by The Michigan Daily, Gibbons was permanently separated from the University in late December after being found responsible for a 2009 violation of the Student Sexual Misconduct Policy.

Business senior Michael Proppe, CSG president, signed an executive order Monday night establishing the taskforce to probe into actions taken by the Office of Student Conflict Resolution in Gibbons’ case.

“Following The Daily’s articles, there was a lot of confusion among students and across the entire University community about how exactly this new

WEATHER TOMORROW

HI: 25 LO: 5

sexual misconduct policy works, and how it works with respect to cases that took place under the old policy,” Proppe said.

The University changed its sexual misconduct policy in September 2013, shifting from a complaint-driven model to one propelled by University investigators.

Law student Jeremy Keeney, CSG student general counsel, said the University now pursues all cases of sexual misconduct regardless of whether or not the victim desires an investigation.

“The old policy is more sexual assault-based and the new policy broadens that to sexual misconduct,” Keeney said. “So it seems that there may be things that are included in the new policy that weren’t in the old one.”

Proppe added that the University’s policy in 2009--the year Gibbons allegedly violated the code of conduct--required “clear and convincing evidence” to take action, whereas the 2013 policy seeks “preponderance of evidence.” He added that this is a “much lower standard.”

One of the taskforce’s goals is to determine which policy was applied in Gibbons’ removal from the University. Others include inquiring as to whether or not OSCR delayed the investigation See CSG, Page 3

Program will be funded by a Mellon Foundation gift

By MAX RADWIN Daily Staff Reporter

ADAM GLANZMAN/Daily

Protestors gather in front of the Federal Building Monday to protest the Keystone Pipeline.

Protestors call for Obama to halt Keystone pipeline Construction of controversial oil route may endanger environment

By AMABEL KAROUB Daily Staff Reporter

“Stop the pipeline!”

The chant resounded across East Liberty Street and South 5th Avenue on Monday night, when more than 20 students and Ann Arbor locals peti-

GOT A NEWS TIP? Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail news@michigandaily.com and let us know.

tioned the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, an oil line expected to cause hazardous environmental effects.

The protest took place outside of the Ann Arbor Federal Building. It was one of many united KXL protests that occurred throughout the country supported by CREDO, National Rainforest Network, the Sierra Club, 350.org and a number of other associations dedicated to environmental conservation.

KXL is a proposed 1,179mile pipeline that will trans-

NEW ON MICHIGANDAILY.COM Former AD Martin: Gibbons incident ‘never came up’ MICHIGANDAILY.COM/BLOGS

INDEX

port up to 830,000 barrels of oil per day from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, traveling through multiple U.S. states.

Protestors gathered in response to the U.S. Department of State’s Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement regarding KXL, which was released Friday.

Many of the protestors believe this statement invited presidential approval of construction.

At the vigil, protestors See KEYSTONE, Page 3

Vol. CXXIV, No. 60 ©2013The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com

The Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning received a $1.3-million grant Monday from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The gift will fund architecture and humanities research on metropolitan issues in cities like Detroit, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro for the next four-and-half years.

The Mellon Foundation delivered the “Architecture, Urbanism, and the Humanities” grant to the University, which supports scholarship and higher education at the intersection of architecture and the humanities.

The grant will go toward a new program in the college of architecture called “Egalitarianism and the Contemporary Metropolis,” which Taubman Associate Dean Milton S.F. Curry said will better educate student architects as to making the projects they’re working on “more accessible, more palpable and more positive as an experience for a variety of people.”

See TAUBMAN, Page 3

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

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

News

2 — Tuesday, February 4, 2014

MONDAY: This Week in History

WEDNESDAY: In Other Ivory Towers Before You Were Here

TUESDAY: Professor Profiles Profiles

THURSDAY: Alumni CampusProfiles Clubs

Visiting prof. talks buisness, law tion with students who are anxious to learn. Teaching involves a sharing of ideas among all parties and the openness to consider new ideas and thoughts. Teaching also involves a commitment to engage in cutting-edge research, intellectual curiosity and the need to expand the body of knowledge in an academic discipline. For me, that is exciting, challenging, demanding and all very rewarding.

Between New York Law School, IE Law School in Spain and working at West Point, where would you say Michigan falls on the spectrum?

You have an extensive background in both law and business — why teaching?

Michigan is much less military than West Point. All world-class institutions share a common goal of outstanding teaching, significant and meaningful scholarly research and a commitment to academic excellence that is made to the taxpayers, to the alumni and to the future alumni of the institution.

Michigan has a well-deserved global reputation as an outstanding institution that meets all of those goals. All who are affiliated with this University can be justifiably proud of what it has and what it continues to accomplish.

I love teaching and the interac-

— BRANDON SHAW

CRIME NOTES

VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily

Engineering freshman Robert Koehn works on a wire sculpture in the Design Lab at the Duderstadt Library Monday.

Best friends don’t fight

Witchcraft and Monologues Performers will Human Rights WHAT: share stories about accep-

WHERE: West Quad WHEN: Sunday at about 10:35 a.m.

WHAT: Potentially illegal drugs were confiscated from a suspect, University Police reported. The individual was arrested and subsequently released after processing.

WHERE: The Diag WHEN: Saturday at about 8:45 p.m.

WHAT: Assistance was provided when two subjects were reported arguing, University Police reported.

Police determined no assault occured and subjects left the scene.

WHAT: Drawing on his recent research in Malawi, Adam Ashforth will talk about the violence against supposed “witches” in Africa.

WHO: Institute for the Humanities WHEN: Today at 12:30 p.m.

WHERE: 202 S. Thayer

WHERE: 2600 block Draper Drive WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 1 WHAT: A vehicle in the process of removing snow reportedly struck a phone pedestal, causing some damage, University Police reported. No injuries were reported.

WHERE: 800 block Monroe Street, Lot S-1 WHEN: Saturday at about 1:00 p.m.

WHAT: A service vehicle reportedly struck a short wall while attempting to back up, University Police reported. There were no injuries

WHAT: Christopher James Lee will lead a pre-show lecture before conducting the University Philharmonia Orchestra in a symphony.

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

WHERE: Hill Auditorium

MORE ONLINE Love Crime Notes?

Get more online at michigandaily.com/blogs/The Wire

Editor in Chief Business Manager 734-418-4115 ext. 1251 734-418-4115 ext. 1241 pjshahin@michigandaily.com kvoigtman@michigandaily.com

Newsroom

News Tips

734-418-4115 opt. 3

news@michigandaily.com

Corrections

Letters to the Editor

corrections@michigandaily.com

tothedaily@michigandaily.com

Arts Section

Editorial Page

arts@michigandaily.com

opinion@michigandaily.com

Sports Section

Photography Section

sports@michigandaily.com

photo@michigandaily.com

Display Sales

Classified Sales

dailydisplay@gmail.com

classified@michigandaily.com

Online Sales

Finance

onlineads@michigandaily.com

finance@michigandaily.com

Katie Burke Managing Editor Jennifer Calfas Managing News Editor

West Quad... best quad

Philharmonia Orchestra

420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www.michigandaily.com PETER SHAHIN KIRBY VOIGTMAN

EDITORIAL STAFF

CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES

Have you called Always check the blind spot home lately?

FRIDAY: Photos Photos of the the Week Week

WORK OF ART

FROM MADRID TO MICHIGAN

Gary Tidwell is a visiting professor of business law at the Ross School of Business. After receiving his B.S., B.A. and law degrees from the University of Arkansas, he went on to receive his Master of Law from New York University.

He served as the vice president of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and held numerous posts at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Tidwell is also a visiting professor at the IE Law School in Madrid, Spain.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

tance in the face of societal messages.

WHO: UHS WHEN: Today at 7 p.m.

WHERE: Mendelssohn CORRECTION: A previous version of “Former CIA director addresses veteran support, fitness” misidentified Tim Nellett as an LSA junior, SVA’s treasurer and a soldier. Nellett is an LSA senior, SVA’s secretary and a Marine.

CORRECTION: A previous version of “Students and alumni cash in on global bitcoin ‘gold-rush’” misstated that the Bronx Deli started accepting bitcoin in November 2011. The restaurant began accepting it in November 2013. l Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@michigandaily.com.

THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW TODAY

1

Sunday’s Superbowl was the most popular in history, Bleacher Report reported. An estimated 111.5 million viewers tuned in to watch the Seahawks 43-8 victory. Three of the last four Superbowls have now broken the viewership record.

kgburke@michigandaily.com jcalfas@michigandaily.com

SENIOR NEWS EDITORS: Ian Dillingham, Sam Gringlas, Will Greenberg, Rachel Premack and Stephanie Shenouda ASSISTANT NEWS EDITORS: Allana Akhtar, Yardain Amron, Hillary Crawford, Amia Davis, Shoham Geva, Amabel Karoub, Thomas McBrien, Emilie Plesset, Max Radwin and Michael Sugerman

Megan McDonald and Daniel Wang Editorial Page Editors

opinioneditors@michigandaily.com

SENIOR EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS: Aarica Marsh and Victoria Noble ASSISTANT EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS: Michael Schramm and Nivedita Karki

Greg Garno and Alejandro Zúñiga

Managing Sports Editors sportseditors@michigandaily.com

SENIOR SPORTS EDITORS: Max Cohen, Alexa Dettelbach, Rajat Khare, Jeremy Summitt and Daniel Wasserman ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITORS: Lev Facher, Daniel Feldman, Simon Kaufman, Erin Lennon, Jake Lourim and Jason Rubinstein

John Lynch and Akshay Seth Managing Arts Editors

jplynch@michigandaily.com akse@michigandaily.com

SENIOR ARTS EDITORS: Giancarlo Buonomo, Natalie Gadbois, Erika Harwood and Alex Stern ASSISTANT ARTS EDITORS: Jamie Bircoll, Jackson Howard, Gillian Jakab and Maddie Thomas

Teresa Mathew and Paul Sherman Managing Photo Editors

photo@michigandaily.com

SENIOR PHOTO EDITORS: Patrick Barron and Ruby Wallau ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITORS: Allison Farrand, Tracy Ko, Terra Molengraff and Nicholas Williams

Carolyn Gearig and Gabriela Vasquez Managing Design Editors

design@michigandaily.com

SENIOR DESIGN EDITORS: Amy Mackens and Alicia Kovalcheck

Carlina Duan Magazine Editor

2

Football players from Northwestern University are filing to create a union for student-athletes in order to expand benefits to collegiate athletes. >> FOR MORE, SEE OPINION, PG. 4

3

Gov. Chris Christie, (R – N.J.) called the Bridgegate dispute “just a game of gotcha” in a radio interview with WKXW-FM Monday night, CBS News reported. Christie flatly denied any involvment in the incident.

statement@michigandaily.com

DEPUTY MAGAZINE EDITORS: Max Radwin and Amrutha Sivakumar STATEMENT PHOTO EDITOR: Ruby Wallau STATEMENT LEAD DESIGNER: Nicholas Cruz

Mark Ossolinski and Meaghan Thompson Managing Copy Editors

copydesk@michigandaily.com

SENIOR COPY EDITORS: Mariam Sheikh and Hollis Wyatt

Austen Hufford

Online Editor

ahufford@michigandaily.com

BUSINESS STAFF Amal Muzaffar Digital Accounts Manager Doug Solomon University Accounts Manager Leah Louis-Prescott Classified Manager Lexi Derasmo Local Accounts Manager Hillary Wang National Accounts Manager Ellen Wolbert and Sophie Greenbaum Production Managers Nolan Loh Special Projects Coordinator Nana Kikuchi Finance Manager Olivia Jones Layout Manager The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office for $2. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $110.

Winter term (January through April) is $115, yearlong (September through April) is $195. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and The Associated Collegiate Press.

University tests emergency alert system after upgrades Software aims to prevent overload, allow more devices

future benefits to the University community.

“We anticipate in the near future, we might also be able to add some additional enhancements to the system because of the Blackboard software,” Brown said.

While she emphasized that University Police don’t exactly know what other capabilities it might use from the software, the hope is that students, faculty and staff could be able to register more than two devices. Currently, students, faculty and staff are limited to register two devices because more than two devices overload the University system.

The University switched vendors from Everbridge, a mass communication platform, to Blackboard Conenct for the increased speed, as well as they ability to send messages through multiple forms of communication. Previously, Everbridge was only equipped to send text and voice messages.

While the new software has

its advantages, Brown said there are challenges to the emergency alert system.

Because of the quick and accessible forms of communication, she said students might not take to heart the serious nature

By JACK TURMAN of emergency situations.

Daily Staff Reporter “We want to be careful that we don’t saturate the emergency The University ran tests on alert system so frequently and Blackboard Connect, its new people don’t pay any attention to software for emergency alerts, it,” Brown said. on Jan. 31. The emergency alert Though the software changed, system sends text, voice and e-mail messages to students, facshe explained that there will be no difference in how recipients ulty and staff when University ADAM GLANZMAN/Daily can register devices or view mesPolice believe that the majority Karen Staller, associate professor of Social Work, chairs a SACUA meeting Monday at the Fleming Adminstration Building. of students need to take immedisages.

“You can still register for text ate action to ensure safety. message or voice message via The University is also testWolverine Access,” Brown said. ing the new system’s capacity to “Everybody will get an e-mail. ensure productivity in any situaInformation will appear on the tion. The goal of the new system police website and the Univeris to provide campus safety effisity Gateway.” ciently comprehensively. checks mandatory for employees how many gaps there are and Brown added that this softDiane Brown, spokeswoman working with children. how nervous I get over the sumSudoku Syndication http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ ware does not pertain to crime for the University department In October 2013, University mer,” Miranto said in September. alerts, which are sent through of public safety, said Blackboard President Mary Sue Coleman “It’s very hard to sleep.” e-mail and posts on the police Connect might have additional addressed the safety of minors Kate Rychlinski, assistant website. In addition, emergency at a SACUA meeting, taking into director of risk management; alerts would include events like consideration the sexual abuse Paul Moggach, director of risk a tornado warning, a report of scandal of children at Pennsylva- management; Kelly Cunninga shooter on the loose or a large

By ANDREW ALMANI nia State University. ham, director of public affairs HARD hazardous or chemical spill Daily Staff Reporter “Every department probably and Assistant General Counsel that affects multiple buildings engages with minors in some Donica Varner joined SACUA to around the University.

The Senate Advisory Commit- way on campus, so it’s obviously discuss these policies.

The last emergency alert that tee on University Affairs spent a tough situation,” Coleman said.

Other matters in executive students received was on Aug. much of its meeting Monday There was some concern after session included SACUA Nomi28, 2013 when there was a gas afternoon in private executive a panel found that the Univer- nations, the Honorary Degree main break at Michigan Stadium session, discussing a range of sity Athletic Department failed Selection Committee and the at 10 a.m. The system notified policy issues with guests. to perform national-level back- University Secretary. students that the intersection The first topic of the execu- ground checks for employees The Committee also disreopened at 12:20 p.m. tive session was the Univer- of summer camps. Coleman cussed the approval of a nomiThe University isn’t the only sity’s Standard Practice Guide assured the committee that nation form for new SACUA college in Michigan that uses on minors. With the consider- background checks are consis- members. SACUA Chair Karen this software to relay emergency able number of students who tently performed.

Staller urged members to nomialerts to its students. Michigan are minors on campus, the UniAt a meeting at the Univer- nate friends and colleagues they State University uses Blackboard versity is looking to examine its sity’s athletic campus in Sep- believe would perform well in Connect to send text, e-mails and policy and identify any necessary tember 2013, Athletic Campus the needed roles. phone calls to its community. adjustments.

Administrator Katie Miranto Instead of going to its schedEastern Michigan UniverThe University consolidated was concerned about how the uled meeting in Dearborn next sity’s emergency alert system its policies in January into a program handled its background week, SACUA members decided is based off of public addresses, more centralized one. The new check policies. to have their usual meeting at the text messages and e-mails. EMU measure makes background “I can’t even describe to you University. also utilizes outdoor and indoor speakers that are only activated when there is an immediate © sudokusolver.com. For personal use only. puzzle by sudokusyndication.com TOUGH LOVE. effect.

Mark Wesley, emergency See EMERGENCY, Page 3

SUDOKU

8

6

7

5

2

Centralized standards of practice focus of Senate Assembly meeting Concerns over Athletic Department background checks discussed

5

7 3

5

6

4

8 3 1

6

5 7 2

9

1 4

1

7

3 9

3

1 8 7

WHO DOESN’T WANT MORE SACUA? Follow @michigandaily on Twitter

Generate and solve Sudoku, Super Sudoku and Godoku puzzles at sudokusyndication.com!

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

REVIEWS From Page 1 had to submit to the survey. This led to a relatively high response rate, with 71.5 percent participation in the 2008 winter semester.

When the University moved the entire evaluation system online, they were moved out of the classroom. With students expected to fill the surveys out on their own time, response rates dropped 10 points, to about 61 percent in fall 2008.

While the rate has increased since 2009, the web survey has remained at about 15 to 20 percentage points below that of the paper version. Experts on such evaluations cite 70 percent as an ideal response rate. A lower rate will threaten reliability.

LaVaque-Manty said the golden number is not the rate, but the size of the class. In his research, he compared the evaluations of a specific course between consecutive years and found correlation, but only in large classes with more than 50 students. In smaller classes, evaluations fluctuated significantly year-to-year. A good rating one year could be followed by a poor rating the next. Teacher evaluations were not reliably measuring teacher quality in small classes, and a high response rate made no difference.

“Think about all those grad students teaching English 125. It’s 18 students and it’s a total crapshoot,” he said.

Of more concern is the emphasis a review committee places on such comparative data.

The faculty promotion guidelines, state that “comparative data is particularly helpful.”

However, when students click submit, they never again see their answers or those of their peers, and can forget it in light of looming finals. This contrasts many other colleges, where students feel compelled to thoroughly complete evaluations because they can also directly profit or potentially suffer consequences.

At Harvard University, students are given access to evaluation data through the Q-Guide, a list of every course offered — accompanied with comprehensive graphs, pie-charts and past student evaluations — to ease their “shopping” of courses and teachers.

“It’s worth it to take the time to fill it out,” Harvard sophomore Hannah Firestone said. “If you’re going to complain about a class, you should participate in the effort to give that class feedback, and if you really liked a class, you should participate in the effort to keep that class popular.”

EMERGENCY From Page 2 management director for EMU, said only certain parts of its notification system are activated depending on the event. For example, during the polar vortex this past month, EMU used its notification system for weather-related emergencies.

“We don’t use all the systems for

News

As further motivation, Harvard withholds grades during a designated period to encourage participation in filling out course evaluations. The sooner students complete their evaluations, the sooner grades are returned.

Though she admitted coercion might not be the best enticement, Firestone said the higher response rates are worth it.

Northwestern University takes a slightly less involved approach.

Instead of withholding grades, students who don’t fill out the surveys are denied access to evaluation data for the upcoming quarter.

Alison Phillips, assistant registrar at Northwestern, said that since the incentive was introduced in 2004, the student response rate has been a steady 70 percent each quarter.

In a December interview, University Provost Martha Pollack said the University was not in favor of using coercive methods to increase response rates.

“We don’t want to coerce students, but we want to encourage them to submit evaluations,” Pollack said.

LaVaque-Manty said the University has interpreted Michigan law in a way that bars it from withholding educational records. But Michigan State University, which is also under the jurisdiction of state law, withholds grades until students either fill out evaluations or decline via checkbox. MSU also publishes limited course evaluation data through a separate survey.

At the University, the administration has placed the responsibility on students to keep evaluation data public and up-todate. Between 2003 and 2011 it was housed on a Central Student Government website, Advice Online, which is no longer in operation.

CSG President Michael Proppe, a Business senior, said he wasn’t directly involved in the site and was unsure exactly why it no longer exists.

“It’s either that the Registrar’s Office is not providing the data, or somewhere there’s a broken link, and whoever in CSG was responsible for keeping that data, either left or stopped doing their work and didn’t have a successor,” Proppe said.

Engineering senior Kyle Summers, former CSG chief of staff, was given control of Advice Online in 2009 and quickly realized much of the site was unhelpful and feared some data might be misrepresented.

“The interface looked really outdated,” Summers said. “I would say it was below par, relative to even our course guide right now, which could arguably use a lot of improvements.”

While CSG planned to launch before winter 2014 despite a new Advice Online in the works, Summers said that he doesn’t believe anyone is working on it as far as he knows.

Either way, LaVaque-Manty said it should not be the onus of students to publicize the data.

Without public evaluations, many students at the University turn to third-party course evaluation sites, such as RateMyProfessors.com.

The site depends solely on student contribution and, so far, students have input 3,714 faculty members and 349 campus ratings, which rate the school as a whole.

Michigan State University students, in comparison, have input 1,333 faculty members, and 164 campus ratings.

The University ranks 10th in number of campus ratings among 4,564 schools on the site with at least one rating.

LaVaque-Manty, with the help of a graduate student, matched 700 professor ratings from RateMyProfessors with their respective University student evaluations and overlaid the results. To the surprise of critics, he found sufficient correlation between ratings of the two evaluation systems.

But his more startling finding came when he added the notorious RateMyProfessors chili pepper into the equation, which students award to teachers they deem attractive. While students may assume the chili is just a silly pepper, LaVaque-Manty’s research shows it might be a spicier indicator than students think.

“The professor who doesn’t have a chili pepper has to be almost as easy as the hardest professor who has a chili pepper to get the same quality rating,” LaVaque-Manty said.

Faculty with a chili pepper are more than likely have pretty good student evaluation scores, while those without a pepper may or may not have good scores.

His theory is that the chili is not just a measure of “hotness,” but also of rapport — a teacher’s emotional respect, empathy and consideration for the student.

“They might be Ryan Gosling or Jennifer Lawrence, but if they’re mean, you likely won’t give them a chili pepper,” LaVaque-Manty said.

Finding a first-rate solution to such a complex issue will not happen overnight, but the University maintains that it’s working on it.

University spokeswoman Kelly Cunningham wrote in a statement that “the University is exploring options for sharing course and instructor evaluation data in a central, easily accessible website.”

those notifications,” Wesley said.

“We’ll do the campus e-mails and text messages for those types of events.”

Susan Smith, associate professor at Indiana University and the associate editor of The International Journal of Emergency Management, described that more university emergency alert systems were implemented after the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007.

“Universities started to more systematically look at ways to alert students and that’s when they put in abort systems that will help either text you or send you a telephone response or e-mail,” Smith said.

Because many universities across the nation now have emergency alert systems, Smith said universities have to periodically test their system to ensure that all facets of the system are efficient and effective.

University compensation and salaries by the numbers

Tuesday, February 4, 2014 — 3

ALUM From Page 1 impressed by her overall presence.”

Gerken said she learned a lot about election law while attending the University’s Law School in the early 1990s.

“I was one of the first Darrow Scholars at the Law School, so Michigan gave me a free ride

CSG From Page 1 into Gibbons’ alleged misconduct, and whether or not the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities was applied properly throughout OSCR’s investigation.

Public Policy junior Bobby Dishell, CSG vice president, will lead the taskforce, which will also include Keeney and LSA sophomore Meagan Shokar, speaker of the CSG assembly.

Per a provision in the Code of Conduct, Keeney will have exclusive access to “review all confidential and non-confidential OSCR documents pertaining to investigations of students for violations of the Statement … and/or the student sexual misconduct policy,” according to a CSG press release.

Although the taskforce’s final report may have to redact specific documents, Proppe said Keeney’s review work will allow CSG to draw conclusions with regard to OSCR’s pro-

which was amazing,” she said.

“I had the good fortune to be mentored by one of the founders of the field.”

On March 27, the Ford School will be hosting human rights activist, Paul Rusesabagina, who saved the lives of more than 1,200 people during the Rwandan Genocide. His actions are famously documented in the movie “Hotel Rwanda.”

ceedings in the Gibbons case and release these to the student body.

The executive order comes in the midst of CSG initiatives to increase administrative transparency and reevaluate the student code of conduct.

Recently, the assembly unanimously passed a resolution asking the administration to give the body the power to screen all proposed amendments to the Statement.

For the last month, the CSG resolutions committee has also been considering substantive changes to the code of conduct and plans to propose a number of amendments for vote in the assembly Feb. 4, Keeney said.

“I don’t necessarily see this case as any impetus for changes to the Statement,” Proppe said. “We were looking for changes to that process regardless of this. But we are going to take a look at how the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities is applied, and how does it apply when policies are changing.”

City council vote reallocates unused funds for public art pieces Council members postpone discussion of possible smoking ordinance

By EMMA KERR Daily Staff Reporter

After the Percent for Art program was dismantled, Ann Arbor City Council members voted Monday to return unused funds, up to about $840,000, to address basic infrastructure needs including sewers, streets and miscellaneous funds.

Supporters of the Percent for Art attended the meeting Monday night in defense of public art to express their doubts in city council members’ dedication to keeping Ann Arbor a creative, unique city.

This ordinance, however, will not affect major ongoing projects.

“This is not about whether or not we are going to have publicly funded art, this is about whether or not we are going to have sewage related art,” said Councilmember Jack Eaton (D–Ward 4).

Mayor John Hieftje and supporting council members hope to find a solution in the near future to transition from the Percent for Art program to one that reflects their continued dedication to public art.

Hieftje said he would like to see fewer restrictions and adequate staffing when it comes to public art — and that there is indeed some beauty in the Ann Arbor sewage system and related art.

Councilmember Sabra Briere (D–Ward 1) announced her intention to propose what she believes will be a more efficient method of purchasing and generating public art in Ann Arbor. Her ideas garnered the support of several council members who are unhappy with past attempts to allocate funds to public art.

Councilmember Margie Teall (D–Ward 4) was the only council member in opposition, and said she feels Ann Arbor is falling behind by not committing funds to public art.

In a separate issue, Councilmembers Eaton, Sumi Kailasapathy(D–Ward 1), Mike Anglin (D–Ward 5) and Jane Lumm (I–Ward 2) voted against a resolution that would have ensured the salary of the Public Art Administrator came from the Public Art Fund. It was implied he would go unpaid and therefore terminate his employment as a result.

Discussion of a potential smoking ordinance is postponed until March 3rd. Under the new law, citizens would be fined $50 for refusing to stop smoking or relocate if instructed to do so by law enforcement. The proposal encompasses areas 20 feet from city building doors, public parks and bus stops.

Finally, the ongoing question of whether or not the city should use its first right of refusal and purchase the Edwards Brothers property, preventing its sale to the University, remains unanswered after a closed-door discussion with the city attorney.

The next city council meeting is scheduled for Feb. 17.

THE MICHIGAN DAILY WOULD REALLY LOVE IF YOU

KEPT SHARING THE LOVE! TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO LIKE US ON FACEBOOK! WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/ MICHIGANDAILY

KEYSTONE From Page 1 brought candles and held up signs that matched their shouts of “Stop the Pipeline!” and “Pipeline, no!”

During the event, multiple people shared their views on why President Barack Obama should reject construction of the pipeline.

Rep. Jeff Irwin (D–Ann Arbor), a speaker at the event, said he opposes the construction of the pipeline, and seeks the development of more clean energy sources.

“If we want to power prosperity in this nation going forward for many generations, then we need to start thinking smarter, we need to start thinking cleaner, we need to develop sources that we control,” Irwin said. “We’re certainly working hard in Lansing to try and support clean energy investments.”

LSA sophomore Nicholas Jansen represented the University’s “Divest and Invest Campaign,” which promotes America’s separation from the fossil fuel industry in favor of clean energy investments. Jansen said KXL is a pivotal point for American politics.

“While the Keystone XL won’t have the most dramatic impact on the climate, it’s a very symbolic part of the movement,” he said. “If it ends up getting passed, it’s really showing what our government thinks about our climate and the direction we’re going.”

Thanks for following!

(AND LIKING!)

@MICHIGANDAILY FACEBOOK.COM/ MICHIGANDAILY

WE LIKE YOU GUYS TOO!

TAUBMAN From Page 1 The program will include a large lecture course open to undergraduate and graduate students on urbanism, urban issues and egalitarianism in architecture. It will also involve two small seminar courses focused on postindustrial cities experiencing a decline in population, as well as growing Latin and South American cities like Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro.

“Urban designers and architects are designing spaces and buildings in urban areas for a variety of people,” Curry said.

“The challenge is how to deliver the work for that client but also to recognize that your building and your project sits within a larger context in which part of it will be seen, if not used, by the general public.”

The program will incorporate informal events where students and faculty will come together to discuss different topics covered in the classroom their work. There will also be an annual symposium that will bring in faculty from the University and outside experts to talk about relevant topics.

If the program is successful, Curry said the college will seek “continuance funding” from the Mellon Foundation to continue its progress after its first four years.

“In my mind, by bringing together the depth of humanity of scholarship with a secular knowledge of design, the Mellon grant represents a major step forward in reframing how we think about urbanism,” Architecture Prof.

Monica Ponce de Leon said.

The University will showcase exhibitions featuring the work of architectural designers and students studying the humanities on campus and in the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.

The program will also offer four four-year postgraduate fellowships. Two candidates will be selected to teach in a new architecture preparation course for high school students in Detroit, and two others will teach the large lecture course offered through the new grant program.

At the end of the four-anda-half years, a large book will be produced featuring the work of people who have participated in the program, along with other scholars and designers from outside of the program.

Opinion

4 — Tuesday, February 4, 2014

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

KARA ARGUE

E-mail Kara at kargue@umich.edu

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

Student-athletes deserve a voice The NCAA needs to listen to and address the concerns of athletes

I

n an attempt to give student-athletes a collective voice, players at Northwestern University have filed paperwork to form a player’s union under the National Labor Relations Board. The group, called the College Athletes Players Association, has outlined 11 goals in order to improve the safety and future of college athletes. The NCAA completely disregarded the players’ requests, noting that student-athletes are not employees by any definition and therefore have no rights to collectively bargain. However, Northwestern’s players pose legitimate demands regarding the well-being of student-athletes. The NCAA must work alongside college athletes to find a better way to address these concerns.

The players’ stated goals aren’t centralized on pay-to-play schemes but instead are more reasonable: increased attention to injuries, scholarship guarantees and allowing student-athletes freedom for employment or other commercial opportunities. Better benefits in education and healthcare would greatly enhance the quality of a student-athlete’s time in college and beyond. The union would give the players the means necessary to communicate with the NCAA regarding these issues, but the NCAA continues to shut the players out. Thus, the decision rests with the NLRB and the court systems.

The NCAA made $71 million in surplus revenue during the 2012 fiscal year with $872 million in total revenue. The University of Michigan’s projected budget for 2013-14 was $137.5 million, with a projected $8.9 million in surplus. Student-athletes are being used to generate these large profits, and deserve a collective say. The NCAA claims player participation is voluntary, however, college level sports often serve as the only stepping-stone for athletes pursuing a professional career. Even for athletes not planning on playing at the next level, scholarships are often a necessary means of paying for a post-secondary education.

In college sports, injury concerns are extremely prevalent, especially in football,

with recent attention surrounding the many cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in players. Concussion treatment is a serious issue with CTE leading to effects such as memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, depression and aggressive behavior. An organized voice is necessary to guarantee longterm care for injured players.

Student-athlete scholarships themselves are not even a guarantee. Up until an August 2011 vote by Division I schools, universities couldn’t offer scholarships that would last longer than one year. However, since then only six schools in the major athletic conferences signed more than 24 multi-year scholarships. Scholarships that aren’t multi-year must be renewed each successive year, creating a situation where student-athletes have no protection for their futures.

Student-athletes have long been refused a seat at the table in the matters that concern them most. Issues such as medical care and scholarships, as well as other pressing issues such as whether to increase stipends to cover the full cost of attendance to prevent what Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter has called a “pay-to-play system,” the NCAA and its member institutions must work together to listen to the voices of student-athletes, unionized or not.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:

Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor. Letters should be fewer than 300 words and must include the writer’s full name and University affiliation. We do not print anonymous letters. Send letters to tothedaily@michigandaily.com.

MARYKATE WINN | VIEWPOINT

(Miss)represented in movies Award season is well underway this winter; the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards have come and gone. The eagerly anticipated list of Oscar nominations has been released. There are some incredibly interesting and well-done films on the list of nominations for these award shows. Some explore important topics and others purely entertain. However, few of these films fulfill a simple and basic requirement: passing the Bechdel Test. This test, named after American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, is a simple and easy tool that many use to determine if a movie has gender bias. In order for a movie or television show to pass this test, it must have at least two women in it who talk to each other about something besides a man. While this is an incredibly low standard for a movie to uphold, many movies that appear on award show nomination lists this year fail to pass.

Of the nine films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, five failed this painfully easy test. The two additional films that were nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Picture also failed. These problems are indicative of a larger-scale problem in the movie industry. Of the 50 top-grossing films of 2013, 21 failed the Bechdel test. Though the movies that passed the test typically made more money than those that didn’t pass, the number of movies in 2013 that marginalized women closely resembles patterns seen in years past. Why this misogyny in the movie industry exists is difficult to say.

Perhaps this issue is the result of a lack of female representation in the movie industry.

The percentage of females working behind the scenes is staggeringly low and probably contributes to the lack of female representation on screen. The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media has found that of the 1,565 content creators, only 7 percent of direc-

tors, 13 percent of writers and 20 percent of producers are females. This means that the ratio of males to females working behind the camera is 4.8:1. No wonder males outnumber females so heavily on the big screen. It’s even less surprising then, that women are so inclined to only discuss men during movies.

It’s hardly shocking that this male-dominated field can scarcely imagine women having any other topic of conversation.

Though there are many more statistics and observations to support the fact that the movie industry both underrepresents and misrepresents females, one might ask why this is so important. Yes, it’s obviously a problem, but why should we care so much about this shallow and superficial industry?

Well, first of all, it is indicative of much larger issues in the United States — the underrepresentation of women in many fields of work, the glass ceiling and the wage gap. Secondly, the movie industry influences people on a huge scale and can without a doubt affect the way we think from a very young age.

Imagine the effect that this gender imbalance and male focus can have on us. Growing up watching movies that lack multi-dimensional female characters is incredibly problematic and no doubt sets us up for failure to overcome other issues facing women. It’s undeniable that media portrayal affects the way both males and females think and act.

This is especially true when most of the women with speaking roles are sexualized or simplified to a stereotype. Although there has been some progress when it comes to strong, complex female characters in the industry, there is still a long way to go as far as females in front of and behind the camera; this award season has been a glaring example of this.

Marykate Winn is an LSA freshman.

INTERESTED IN CAMPUS ISSUES? POLITICS? SEX, DRUGS AND ROCK’N’ROLL?

Check out The Michigan Daily’s editorial board meetings. Every Sunday and Wednesday at 6pm, the Daily’s opinion staff meets to discuss both University and national affairs and write editorials.

E-mail opinioneditors@michigandaily.com to join in the debate.

B

We’re all in this together

eing an American Culture minor, I’ve taken a handful of courses that center on discussions of race and ethnicity. I admit that there have been times I’ve avoided eye contact with discussion leaders in hopes of not being called on, and when I was, SARA I’ve chosen my MOROSI words carefully out of fear of unintentionally offending my peers.

After all, I’m white and from a small community with little diversity.

I’ve often wondered if my observations were worthy of contribution.

I’ve since come to the conclusion that they are. Minority issues at the University of Michigan have been brought to the forefront and we cannot be afraid to talk about them.

To complete my minor requirements, I enrolled in a creative writing seminar that’s structured on intergroup dialogue and creative responses to writings related to race, gender, sex and class. It’s the first semester the seminar has been offered, and I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to enroll in a course that has challenged my perceptions.

One of our first reading assignments was a piece by Harryette Mullen titled, “Imagining the

Unimagined Reader.” In the essay, Mullen explains how her work draws on language and culture to write beyond the social boundaries of her identity in hopes of reaching those like and unlike her.

I’ve always been drawn to writing and have admired those with the ability to eloquently and effectively share their words with others. I feel like I’ve become one of those writers and for that reason I will forever be thankful to The Michigan Daily. But I’m still new to writing for the public, and because of that, I’m still new to the appreciation of it. I now understand that there are stories that only one person can tell, and therefore any person can write with authority about their experiences and what they know.

Reading Mullen’s piece made me consider: who is my imagined reader? It’s something I’ve subconsciously reflected on while writing columns, but it wasn’t until reading Mullen’s piece that I really considered the idea.

We’re constantly confronted with reasons to separate from each other based upon race, gender, sexual

identification, religion, class and any other difference that can be categorized. When we separate, we often stop listening. For example, when the #BBUM movement began to gain force, it seemed our campus community began to divide due to misinterpretation and misapprehension — it was the antithesis of what should have been happening.

We often forget our commonalities. We grow comfortable in our niche of people who are much like us. After reading Mullen’s essay, I decided to try to imagine my readers as part of the categories that I’m not. My imagined readers have a story I could never tell, and it’s important to listen to them. I’m lucky that my curriculum allows me to be exposed to these discussions regularly. I hope that the #BBUM movement has engendered dialogue concerning race and diversity in new venues, not only about the issues at hand, but about the differences and commonalities among us.

Because at the end of the day, even though it may be cliché, we really are all in this together.

Minority issues at the ‘U’ have been brought to the forefront and we cannot be afraid to talk about them.

— Sara Morosi can be reached at smorosi@umich.edu.

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 TEDXUOFM | VIEWPOINT

Powerful ideas and lasting change On April 10, 2010, the very first TEDxUofM conference was held in the Biomedical Science Research Building, inviting a crowd of 300 people to explore “ideas worth spreading.” Four years and four conferences later, we’re inviting 1,300 attendees to share the experience once more at the Power Center.

In light of the media’s recent criticism of TED and the realization of our fifth anniversary we would be remiss to ask … why?

Why is TEDxUofM important?

Many would immediately look to the speakers: skilled orators, performers, thinkers, musicians, academics and so much more. Our speakers are members of the University of Michigan community who have the opportunity to inspire in 18 minutes or less. While some appear as though they were born to be on the TED stage — exuding an air of comfort in their presentation — the reality is that their presence on the stage is often unfamiliar, new and exciting. Presenting their life’s work through the lens of an overarching common theme, this is their moment to show why their idea is different. Why their idea is unsettling. Why their idea matters.

But let’s slow down. Concentrating years of research, degrees and experiences into one talk seems nearly impossible considering the wealth of knowledge necessary to even scratch the surface on an advanced idea. Professional conferences, comparatively, are presented over the course of days and require expertise as a prerequisite for attendance. How can we possibly expect to intelligibly present enough information for comprehension without divulging the didactic particulars?

The answer lies — somewhat

unsuspectingly — in our attendees.

Students, members of the University community, Ann Arborites and family members; our attendees are unrelenting investigators who are able to digest a talk down to its foundation. They’re hungry, not focusing in on an isolated problem, but instead placing ideas within a larger context.

They’re hungry to connect with a new field of study; hungry to challenge and be challenged; hungry to move out of their comfort zone and be a part of something bigger. It’s this energy that permeates through the Power Center. It radiates from the stage when one talk comes to an end, and persists through engaging conversation that often spills out from the mirrored glass doors. Then the lights dim, a speaker steps out and another cycle begins.

Even our passionate audience, however, can’t ignore the fact that TEDxUofM is over in eight hours.

Its existence feels like a strike of lightning, a haiku or perhaps a neuronal action potential. After all the effort put in by the speakers, the time taken by the attendees and the organizational work done by the team, how does the conference have a lasting influence?

The persistence of TEDxUofM talks can partially be explained through their design. The backbone of every talk isn’t about some innovation — a commonly misconceived notion — these talks are about ideas: entropy-increasing, foundationshaking ideas with the uncanny ability to ripple through into diverse areas of thought. Suddenly, a premed student is thinking about the adversity overcome by Jackie Robinson and global health inequality. An artist sees a prison as a collection of untapped creativity rather than an

institution of criminals. A professor is inspired by the inextinguishable, unimaginable, unexplainable will of two young men to overcome paralysis. These ideas stay with you. We dare to even suggest that they change you. Forever.

In recognition of our conference’s finite lifespan, we have diversified to accommodate conversations all year long. Gallery openings, daily blog posts and monthly salons facilitating “conversations worth having,” fill the calendars of our community. Recently, we have undertaken a new venture along with the College of Engineering entitled Campus of the Future, a series of salons focusing on what education at the University will look like in 50 years. We’re expanding our reach, rejecting complacency and evolving with the needs of our community.

Despite all this, when asked why TEDxUofM is important, members of our team don’t immediately think of our speakers, our attendees or the work they do with the community. They think of the new student walking onto the Diag and feeling overwhelmed by the possibilities a community of 40,000 has to offer. TEDxUofM is for them. It’s there to help them find a new passion or perhaps rethink an old one.

It exists as a catalyst connecting thinkers, both young and old, looking to make an impact on the world.

We are here for you.

We ask that you join us on Saturday, March 15th and help us continue transforming through ideas worth spreading. The application to attend is open now.

CHECK US OUT ONLINE

TEDxUofM can be contacted at info@tedxuofm.com.

Keep up with columnists, read Daily editorials, view cartoons and join in the debate.

Check out @michigandaily and Facebook.com/MichiganDaily to get updates on Daily opinion content throughout the day.

Arts

5 — Tuesday, February 4, 2014

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

EVENT RECAP

FILM NOTEBOOK

Folk Fest captivates AA

By HANNAH WEINER Daily Arts Writer

SONY

Hoffman in his Academy Award-winning role, “Capote.”

Celebrating P.S. Hoffman’s legacy Remembering one of the greatest actors of all time

By AKSHAY SETH Managing Arts Editor

In “Boogie Nights,” Scotty J. hesitates. It never really matters what he’s doing, because in the brief moments before he does it, he pauses. Then shakes his head. Then ruminates.

Then, after wading through a quicksand of insecurity, he pauses again. When he finally opens his mouth, the jumble of stuttered speech tumbling out stinks of the timid self-doubt Philip Seymour Hoffman, who passed away Sunday, is trying to pin on us.

We see the wheels turning in every scene. Over and over again, Scotty fumbles in his arguments. Over and over, Hoffman paints an ugly portrait of uncertainty inches from our eyes, enunciating the slightest brushstrokes, making sure we all have some sort of answer to that intriguing question of what makes Scotty J. tick.

The technique builds in weight until Scotty’s memorable confrontation with his love interest, and our protagonist, Dirk Diggler.

And suddenly, it all topples.

The bricks clutter down and reveal why one of the biggest reasons this scene sticks out is we don’t see the wheels turning.

There’s cruelty in having the Band-Aid ripped off so quickly, in watching Scotty gamble on his emotions for the first time — only for it all to go so wrong, so abruptly. For once, we see the aftermath, and in that littered aftermath, we glimpse Hoffman’s genius.

Small traces of that remarkable performance are visible in every brilliant, indelible role he took after. Despite the variety of characters he portrayed in his twenty-plus years on screen and on stage, Hoffman gravitated toward a common thread of vulnerability. Project after project, he became the maestro, far-removed from center stage, puppeteering the band of unhinged misfits living in the darker recesses of our imagination.

From pedophilic Jacob Elinsky in “25th Hour” to wealthobsessed Andy Hanson in “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” Hoffman lived for that one make-or-break scene in which he’d lay it all on the table, daring his audience to show sympathy. And when we inevitably did, like all great actors, he’d have us reeling, sifting through our own notions of morality.

He thrived in the grayness between right and wrong.

Unlike so many others of our generation, Hoffman had the unique ability to expose weakness without coming off as a panderer. He did it through honesty. If you look — really look — at Hoffman’s face when

he’s acting, you’ll be struck by how little he gives away. In “Capote,” regrettably his only Academy Award-winning performance, listen for the palpable gulps he pauses to take after delivering his lines in that high, rattling rasp — little cues gently sheathing the decisions he’s making on camera. More so than any other actor I’ve ever seen, Hoffman, through those seemingly insignificant tics, forces his audience to hold out for the intense release in emotion that accompanies a deep, raging tantrum or an extended, impactful inhalation of air. Even his irrelevant eyerolls and half-mocking smiles in “The Talented Mr. Ripley” do more to convey a suspicious sense of unavoidable doom than anything else in the script.

I don’t remember the first Hoffman movie I saw, not because of his inconspicuous appearance or because he was playing some throwaway bitpart, but because the depth of each and every one of his portrayals defines my most basic understanding of performance.

It has to. He started acting two years before I was born. I grew up watching him. I saw him steal scenes in many of the most meaningful movies of my life — movies that piqued my interest in film and will forever characterize my appreciation of it.

He wasn’t just one of the most accomplished actors Hollywood has ever seen. He was among the first great actors my generation had ever seen.

And without so much of the love or appreciation he deserved, he died alone, in a Greenwich Village apartment after a heroin overdose. He was 46 years old. The expected outpouring of support from fans

and peers alike is there, but the fact of the matter remains: We’ve lost a legend, our legend.

In a 2008 interview with The New York Times, Hoffman recounted a story from his first few years as an actor.

“In my mid-20s, an actor told me, ‘Acting ain’t no puzzle,’ ” Hoffman said. “I thought: ‘Ain’t no puzzle?!?’ You must be bad!”

He laughed. “You must be really bad, because it is a puzzle. Creating anything is hard. It’s a cliché thing to say, but every time you start a job, you just don’t know anything. I mean, I can break something down, but ultimately I don’t know anything when I start work on a new movie. You start stabbing out, and you make a mistake, and it’s not right, and then you try again and again. The key is you have to commit. And that’s hard because you have to find what it is you are committing to.”

One beautiful thing I’ve noticed about cinema is how often that commitment compels bravery — bravery in being so inexplicably tied to a craft that you’re willing to stake your life on it. Bravery in facing the torture of striving for greatness.

And ultimately, bravery in letting go.

Like any number of the greats, Hoffman will live on in his work, as he should. Like many others, I’ll remember him in the lilting charisma of Truman Capote, that melancholy, high-pitched self-assuredness.

And years down the line, I hope he’ll still be there, peeking at me through those horn-rimmed spectacles, martini and cigarette in hand. And in that brief, magical moment, I’ll be grateful — grateful for the laughs we shared through an invisible screen.

The festival had every type of folk a good folk festival should have. It had bluesy folk and romantic folk, country folk and funny folk, big-smiled energetic folk and mellow folk. Men and women folk. And, of course, the 3,500-some folks of all kinds in the audience.

Friday and Saturday were nights full of gorgeous harmonies, bizarre stage get-ups, multiinstrumentalists and remarks from musicians like “what a nice place, this folk festival.” The soldout Ann Arbor Folk Festival, totaling nine and a half hours, featured fourteen incredible musicians, more than a few Pete Seeger tributes, and one generally pleasant emcee, Seth Walker, who helped cleanse the palette between sets.

The Ark, for its 37th year in a row, brought together a refreshing mix of musicians: from the young and obscure to the old and Grammy award-winning.

Friday night’s line-up focused on the obscure and the edgy, starting with a local band, Appleseed Collective. Between a fierce mandolin solo and Katie Lee’s seriously mystifying stage charisma and vocals, the band properly introduced the audience to the folk festival mentality with a high-energy performance.

The night also included Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, a dissonant, spunky, electric indie-pop group infused with blues, folk and rock. Pearl and the Beard, a folk-pop trio with passionate synergy, was also featured — their music consists of a brilliant roaring cello played by Emily Hope Price, and a fantastic beard (bearded guitarist, Jeremy Styles, walked on stage and the man behind me exclaimed, “Oh …

I get it!”).

Willie Nile came on stage looking like Lou Reed from his Transformer days, dutifully and unexpectedly playing an astonishing cover of “Sweet Jane” dedicated to Lou. Nile revived the crowd, bringing a serious and genuine energy to an audience that was quickly deflating.

Neko Case brought her sweet and thin vocals (and skeleton pants and wild red hair), enchanting the crowd with backup singer Kelly Hogan and a mix of hit songs and lesser known ones. Justin Townes Earle, the tall, lanky, country-influenced musician who had spastic moments of excitement, followed after, playing easygoing acoustic music — a sharp contrast to Neko Case.

Even Hogan remarked on her “theater crush” on Hill Auditorium, adding, “we’ll play a make out song dedicated to the theater.” That was a common theme among musicians. So as Neko Case played, Thao Nguyen, from Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, watched dreamily from backstage while musicians lined the wall.

For as big as Hill Auditorium really is, for the night, it felt that much smaller.

WANT TO WRITE FOR THE DAILY THIS SEMESTER? APPLY TO THE DAILY ARTS SECTION AND BECOME A PART OF OUR DREAM TEAM.

MIRAMAX

Hoffman’s legacy resides in the powerful characters he has portrayed.

E-mail arts@ michigandaily. com to request an application today!

LILY ANGELL/Daily

Folk rocks the Hill.

As Justin Townes Earle wrapped up and the clock came close to 10:15, the audience felt the grind of being a passionate folkie; the festival is truly a test of endurance, where only the extremely devoted and passionate thrive.

But, that’s part of the fun.

So folkin’ phenomenal.

Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam came onstage with a full band and quickly declared his love for Ann Arbor and his “belly full of Zingerman’s,” which sounded poetic in a way only Beam can make happen. While the audience may have been searching for Iron & Wine’s typical acoustic sound from their 2010 appearance at the festival, Beam could serve the audience anything in his crisp, gentle, whispering voice, and like hungry animals, they’d devour it. His songs sounded fuller with a band and retained their beauty and poeticism.

As the audience poured out of Hill on Friday night, their exhaustion spoke volumes of their satisfaction, because the next night, Hill Auditorium was full once more.

The crowd on Saturday night was radiating. Headliners Patty Griffin, Ingrid Michaelson and Jeff Daniels played spectacularly entertaining sets, while The Crane Wives, Big Sandy & His FlyRite Boys, PigPen Theatre Company, and Johnnyswim stole the audience’s hearts.

PigPen Theatre Company, a band made up of seven young men who met at Carnegie Mellon University, came on stage with a particular energy that only theatre students can convey. When they all sang, they sounded like a small choir, and when they interspersed witty banter between songs, laughs erupted from the audience.

Similarly, Johnnyswim

charmed Hill Auditorium, making everyone wish they were part of a musically talented, happily married folk duo. With their seamless vocals and touching lyrics (“the carpet still holds the shape of your feet / from the last time I saw you when you walked away from me”), the crowd unabashedly offered a standing ovation.

Keeping the audience excited, Jeff Daniels put a gold trophy on the chair next to him and launched into “I Got an Emmy,” immediately making the room laugh wholeheartedly. Eventually, Daniels also made the whole room sing, “How ‘bout we take our pants off?” over and over.

Not too long after, Ingrid Michaelson led the 3,500-strong crowd in “We Shall Overcome” to honor Pete Seeger — a feat that brought chills (and tears) to some in the audience. Michaelson had prefaced the tribute with “Be OK,” “The Way I Am,” self-deprecating humor and memories of previous Ann Arbor shows, proving herself a crowd favorite.

Finishing the festival, Griffin kept the balance of weirdness and expected traditional songs, hypnotizing the crowd with her small frame, huge guitar, and incredible liveliness. But it wasn’t only her hour-long set that reminded the crowd of the uniqueness of the Ann Arbor Folk Festival — for her encore, she came on stage with the other musicians from the night (and some from Friday, as well) to sing “On Top of Old Smokey” with the audience.

Only in Ann Arbor would 3,500 folks feel so passionately about music that they spend close to ten hours in Hill Auditorium over the course of 48 hours. Only in Ann Arbor would musicians walk on stage and immediately remark on the greatness of the city (and on Zingerman’s). And, only in Ann Arbor would an event like the Folk Festival happen, where more than 3,500 voices sing both spiritual and silly songs without shame, where people trudge through snow and sleet to arrive, and where a whole auditorium lingers on the sound of a sole guitar.

News

6 — Tuesday, February 4, 2014

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Sochi preparations ongoing U.S. warships and FBI agents deploy in response to terrorist threats WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say the first of two American warships heading into the Black Sea in advance of the Olympic Games has sailed from Italy.

In another sign of U.S. efforts to protect Americans at the Winter Games, the FBI says at least two dozen agents are going to Sochi, Russia.

Some Olympic athletes may speak out against anti-gay Russian laws NEW YORK (AP) — Despite seven months of international outcry, Russia’s law restricting gay-rights activity remains in place. Yet the eclectic protest campaign has heartened activists in Russia and caught the attention of its targets — including organizers and sponsors of the Sochi Olympics that open on Feb. 7.

Over the past two weeks, two major sponsors, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, have seen some of their Sochi-related social media campaigns commandeered by gay-rights supporters who want the companies to condemn the law. Several activists plan to travel to Sochi, hoping to team up with sympathetic athletes to protest the law while in the Olympic spotlight.

Town’s government orders killing of stray dogs SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Thousands of stray dogs have been living amid the mud and rubble of Olympic construction sites, roaming the streets and snowy mountainsides, and begging for scraps of food.

But as the games drew near, authorities have turned to a company to catch and kill the animals so they don’t bother Sochi’s new visitors — or even wander into an

Islamic militants have threatened to derail the Winter Games, which run from Feb. 7-23.

The USS Mount Whitney got underway Friday from Gaeta, Italy, and the Navy frigate USS Taylor is expected to leave from Naples, Italy, on Saturday. The officials spoke about the warships on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to publicly disclose ship movements.

FBI Director James Comey told reporters in Albuquerque, N.M., on Friday that the FBI is in constant contact with Russian authorities as the Games approach. Comey says he spoke

earlier in the day to the head of the Russian Federal Security Service.

Comey says Russian authorities face a serious threat and he wants the FBI to be ready to help.

Russian and U.S. defense officials, including Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel, have discussed the Olympic security threat. The U.S. has offered to help in any way needed, but no specific assistance has been requested.

The Pentagon has said the U.S. warships are deploying to the Black Sea as part of normal military planning and could perform any required missions, including communications or evacuations.

And on Friday, a coalition of 40 human-rights and gay-rights groups from the U.S., Western Europe and Russia — including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Human Rights Campaign — released an open letter to the 10 biggest Olympic sponsors, urging them to denounce the law and run ads promoting equality for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people.

“LGBT people must not be targeted with violence or deprived of their ability to advocate for their own equality,” the letter said. “As all eyes turn toward Sochi, we ask you to stand with us.”

The law, signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in July, bans pro-gay “propaganda” that could be accessible to minors — a measure viewed by activists as forbidding almost any public expression of gay-rights sentiment. The law cleared parliament virtually unopposed and has extensive public support in Russia.

Since July, when they launched a boycott of Russian vodka, activ-

ists have pressed the International Olympic Committee and Olympic sponsors to call for the law’s repeal. Instead, the IOC and top sponsors have expressed general opposition to discrimination and pledged to ensure that athletes, spectators and others gathering for the Games would not be affected by the law. Putin has given similar assurances in regard to Sochi, but remains committed to the law’s broader purposes.

IOC President Thomas Bach has warned Olympic athletes that they are barred from political gestures while on medal podiums or in other official venues, but says they are free to make political statements at news conferences.

One Olympian likely to speak out is gay Australian snowboarder Belle Brockhoff, who told Australia’s Courier-Mail newspaper that she plans to lambaste Putin.

“After I compete, I’m willing to rip on his ass,” she told the newspaper. “I’m not happy and there’s a bunch of other Olympians who are not happy either.”

Olympic event.

Alexei Sorokin, director general of pest control firm Basya Services, told The Associated Press that his company had a contract to exterminate the animals throughout the Olympics, which open Friday.

Sorokin described his company as being involved in the “catching and disposing” of dogs, although he refused to specify how the dogs would be killed or say where they would take the carcasses.

The dogs have been causing numerous problems, Sorokin said Monday, including “biting children.”

He said he was stunned last

week when he attended a rehearsal for the opening ceremony and saw a stray dog walking in on the performers.

“A dog ran into the Fisht Stadium, we took it away,” he said.

“God forbid something like this happens at the actual opening ceremony. This will be a disgrace for the whole country.”

The strays tend to gather near construction sites where they have gotten food and shelter from workers. Dogs have even been able to get inside the Olympic Park and accredited hotel complexes and villages, in the coastal cluster of arenas and venues up in the mountains.

Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle 5 WSW’s opposite 6 Red-breasted bird 7 Olds model 8 Trojan beauty whose face launched a thousand ships 9 Witty remark 10 Painting the town red 11 __ acid: prenatal vitamin ingredient 12 “Boot” country prefix 13 Star in the constellation Cygnus 18 Red inside 22 “The Giving Tree” author Silverstein 24 Egg cells 25 Highchair feature 26 Sir counterpart 27 Bygone science magazine 28 The slammer 31 Tax season VIP 32 Mork’s planet 33 Arctic explorer John 34 “ER” actor La Salle 35 Stationery hue 36 Karma 38 Cage’s “Leaving Las Vegas” co-star

DOWN 1 It’s a long story 2 Avocado shape 3 Coin once tossed into Italian fountains 4 Pope’s place, with “The”

By Kevin Christian

41 Little tabbies 42 One and only 43 Winter malady 44 Satirize without mercy 46 Degrees for many profs.

47 Longtime morning co-host, familiarly 48 What it is “when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie”

49 Barcelona bulls 50 Archery missile 51 Harlem Renaissance writer Zora __ Hurston 52 Classroom fixtures 56 Subtle glow 57 Arduous journey 58 French I word 60 Student’s stat.

61 “CSI” network

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

HELP WANTED DOMINICK’S FT/PT. CALL 734834-5021.

WORK ON MACKINAC Island This Summer - Make lifelong friends. The Island House Hotel and Ryba’s Fudge Shops are looking for help in all areas: Front Desk, Bell Staff, Wait Staff, Sales Clerks, Kitchen, Baristas. Housing, bonus, & discounted meals. (906)847-7196. www.theislandhouse.com

FOR RENT ! 721 CHURCH - CENTRAL CAMPUS ! Across from East Quad!

Fall 2014 ‑ 1 bedroom and efficiency apartment available. Free heat/water/parking! 734-320-1244 www.churchstreetrentals.com ! NORTH CAMPUS 1‑2 Bdrm. ! ! Riverfront/Heat/Water/Parking. ! ! www.HRPAA.com 996‑4992 !

xwordeditor@aol.com

(c)2014 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

02/04/14

$1400 FOR A FULL 2 bedroom at Forest Glen Apts. Price includes FREE HEAT, 1 parking spot and furniture. $1400 for the whole apartment!!!

Call us to tour your new home today.

734-761-2680. $400 OFF First 10 rentals on Selected Units At University Towers Rent a FULL 2 bedroom w/ FREE HEAT as low as $1635.00. Great location, Great Service and Great RATES!! www.universitytowers-mi.com 734-761-2680

02/04/14

Former vice president’s wife, known for her love of art, dies Joan Mondale was an avid potter, gave her pieces to dignitaries as gifts ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Joan Mondale, who burnished a reputation as “Joan of Art” for her passionate advocacy for the arts while her husband was vice president and a U.S. ambassador, died Monday. She was 83.

Walter Mondale, sons Ted and William and other family members were by her side when she died, the family said in a statement released by their church.

The family had announced Sunday that she had gone into hospice care, but declined to discuss her illness.

“Joan was greatly loved by many. We will miss her dearly,” the former vice president said in a written statement.

An arts lover and an avid potter, Joan Mondale was given a grand platform to promote the arts when Walter, then a Democratic senator, was elected Jimmy Carter’s vice president in 1976.

Carter named her honorary chairwoman of the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities, and in that role she frequently traveled to museums, theaters and artist studios on the adminis-

Call: #734-418-4115 Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Find the answer to 6 Chicago mayor Emanuel 10 “The Wizard __”: comic strip 14 Bird-related 15 Blue Bonnet spread 16 Musical symbol 17 Hosiery support item 19 Astronaut Shepard 20 Jai __ 21 Suffix with billion 22 Subway entrance 23 Barbecue veggie eaten with one’s hands 26 Southwestern desert 29 Actor Stephen 30 Washer maker 31 Snorkeling site 37 “Wheel of Fortune” purchase 38 Hose nozzle option 39 HDTV brand 40 Ice cream drink 43 Play the coquette 45 Debtor’s letters 46 Award hung on a wall 47 1988 U2 album and movie 53 Be a ham 54 Oboe insert 55 Fancy cracker spread 59 1990s vice president 60 Wimbledon feature 62 Curling appliance 63 MexicanAmerican War president 64 Damaging bug 65 Cong. meeting 66 Dazzles 67 Kind of reptile found at the starts of 17-, 23-, 31-, 40-, 47- and 60Across

CHARLIE KNOBLOCK/AP Files

In this Sept. 10, 1984 file photo, Joan Mondale, wife of the Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale, center, waves to the campaign workers gathered at the Illinois headquarters for the Mondale-Ferraro election effort, in Chicago.

THE 2ND FLOOR NEW Luxury Apartments, Right on S. U. / Central Campus.

Apartments come with the BEST Service, Amenities and All at REASONABLE RATES www.The2ndFloorSU.com

**4 BEDROOM HOUSE** Beautiful home. Near B-School. Off-street parking & laundry. Call: (734)223-7777 *AVAILABLE FALL 2014* Large 3 bdrm. house.

On Campus. 945 Woodlawn.

Contact Mike at 734-276-3876.

4 BDRM HSE South Central Campus 1037 Packard - $2500/m + utils. 2 bath, 3 parking. Wsher/dryer. Avail. Fall 2014. Contact 734-996-1991.

4 BDRM HSE, Fuller by North Campus, 1010 Cedar Bend Dr. $2400/m + utils. 2 bath, 3 parking. Wsher/dryer.

Avail. Fall 2014 contact 734-996-1991.

ARBOR PROPERTIES Award-Winning Rentals in Kerrytown, Central Campus, Old West Side, Burns Park. Now Renting for 2014.

734-994-3157. www.arborprops.com EFF. 1 & 2 Bdrm apts. for Fall 2014. $655-$1395, showings avail. M-F 10am-3:30pm w/ 24 hr notice.

Cappo/Deinco cappomanagement.com.

Contact 734-996-1991 M-F 9am-4pm

tration’s behalf. She lobbied Congress and states to boost public arts programs and funding.

She also showcased the work of prominent artists in the vice presidential residence, including photographer Ansel Adams, sculptor David Smith and painter Georgia O’Keeffe.

Her enthusiasm for the cause earned widespread praise in the arts community, including from Jim Melchert, director of the visual arts program for the National Endowment for the Arts during Carter’s administration.

“Your rare fire has brightened many a day for more people than you may imagine,” Melchert wrote to her after the 1980 Carter-Mondale re-election defeat.

“What you’ve done with style and seeming ease will continue illuminating our world for a long time to come.”

As Carter’s No. 2, Walter Mondale was seen as a trusted adviser and credited with making the office of the vice president more relevant. It was natural that his wife would do the same for her role. Vice presidential aide Al Eisele once said of his boss: “It was important to him that Joan not just be the vice president’s wife, but his partner.”

Joan Mondale would later take her cultural zeal overseas when her husband was named U.S. ambassador to Japan during President Bill Clinton’s adminis-

tration.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar first met Joan Mondale while working as an intern for the vice president in 1980. Klobuchar still has two coffee mugs on her kitchen table that were made by Joan.

“She was always down to earth,” Klobuchar said Monday.

“She was just as happy going out to rural farms in Elmore (Minn.) as she was mixing it up at fancy receptions at the ambassador’s residence in Japan.”

During her husband’s ambassadorship, she relished the chance to study Japanese art and give dignitaries clay pots she made as gifts. In her 1972 book, “Politics in Art,” Joan Mondale framed a connection between the two.

“Sometimes we do not realize how important our participation in politics is. Often we need to be reminded of our duty as citizens,” she wrote. “Artists can do just that; they can look at our politicians, our institutions and our problems to help us understand them better.”

She was born Joan Adams in Eugene, Ore., on Aug. 8, 1930. She and her two sisters moved several times during childhood as their father, a Presbyterian minister, took new assignments. The family finally settled in St. Paul, Minn., where Joan would earn an undergraduate degree at Macalester College.

Studies link sugar to heart disease, death Research finds drinking two cans of soda a day can increase risk CHICAGO (AP) — Could too much sugar be deadly? The biggest study of its kind suggests the answer is yes, at least when it comes to fatal heart problems.

It doesn’t take all that much extra sugar, hidden in many processed foods, to substantially raise the risk, the researchers found, and most Americans eat more than the safest amount.

Having a cinnamon roll with your morning coffee, a supersized sugary soda at lunch and a scoop of ice cream after dinner would put you in the highest risk category in the study. That means your chance of dying prematurely from heart problems is nearly three times greater than for people who eat only foods with little added sugar.

For someone who normally eats 2,000 calories daily, even consuming two 12-ounce cans of soda substantially increases the risk. For most American adults, sodas and other sugary drinks are the main source of added sugar.

Lead author Quanhe Yang of the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention called the results sobering and said it’s the first nationally representative study to examine the issue.

Scientists aren’t certain exactly how sugar may contribute to deadly heart problems, but it has been shown to increase blood pressure and levels of unhealthy cholesterol and triglycerides; and also may increase signs of inflammation linked with heart disease, said Rachel Johnson, head of the American Heart Association’s nutrition committee and a University of Vermont nutrition

professor.

Yang and colleagues analyzed national health surveys between 1988 and 2010 that included questions about people’s diets.

The authors used national death data to calculate risks of dying during 15 years of follow-up.

Overall, more than 30,000 American adults aged 44 on average were involved.

Previous studies have linked diets high in sugar with increased risks for non-fatal heart problems, and with obesity, which can also lead to heart trouble. But in the new study, obesity didn’t explain the link between sugary diets and death.

That link was found even in normal-weight people who ate lots of added sugar.

“Too much sugar does not just make us fat; it can also make us sick,” said Laura Schmidt, a health policy specialist at the University of California, San Francisco. She wrote an editorial accompanying the study in Monday’s JAMA Internal Medicine.

The researchers focused on sugar added to processed foods or drinks, or sprinkled in coffee or cereal. Even foods that don’t taste sweet have added sugar, including many brands of packaged bread, tomato sauce and salad dressing. Naturally occurring sugar, in fruit and some other foods, wasn’t counted.

Most health experts agree that too much sugar isn’t healthy, but there is no universal consensus on how much is too much.

U.S government dietary guidelines issued in 2010 say “empty” calories including those from added sugars should account for no more than 15 percent of total daily calories.

The average number of daily calories from added sugar among U.S. adults was about 15 percent toward the end of the study, slightly lower than in previous years.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Sports

Tuesday, February 4, 2014 — 7

ICE HOCKEY

In weekend wins, goalscoring slumps broken

By ERIN LENNON Daily Sports Writer

TERESA MATHEW/Daily

Redshirt junior Jon Horford saw just eight minutes and went scoreless as the Wolverines dropped their first Big Ten game.

Frontcourt lacks presence

By DANIEL WASSERMAN Daily Sports Editor

On Saturday, when Indiana handed the Michigan men’s basketball team its first Big Ten loss, much of the attention fell on the Hoosiers’ victory in the backcourt.

But lost in the fanfare surrounding Yogi Ferrell’s big day — the Indiana guard had a gameleading 27 points while holding sophomore guard Nik Stauskas to just six points — was an ineffective outing from what has been a surprisingly productive Wolverine frontcourt.

By now, the storyline surrounding Michigan’s unexpected surge following sophomore forward Mitch McGary’s back surgery and ensuing absence has been beaten to death. And while Stauskas, averaging 17.2 points in conference play, has drawn much of the credit for the Wolverines’ 10-game win streak that was snapped by the Hoosiers, Michigan’s under-the-radar frontcourt tandem has filled in well.

After just two regular-season starts last season, McGary exploded onto the scene in the NCAA Tournament, averaging 14.3 points per game and 10.6 rebounds per game. Those numbers alone were enough to land him on nearly every preseason All-American list.

But over that same six-game span, forwards Jordan Morgan

I

and Jon Horford combined to contribute less than three points and rebounds per game.

Despite the experience of the fifth-year senior Morgan, who started all but two games last year, and redshirt junior Horford, filling in McGary’s void was thought to be a difficult task, if not impossible.

But heading into Sunday’s game in Bloomington, the pair’s contributions had been surprisingly sound. A quick glimpse at either of the players’ individual statistics reveals nothing astounding — Morgan was averaging 8.4 points per game and 5.3 rebounds per game, while Horford posted 6.3 points per game and 5.1 rebounds per game — but combined, their 14.7 points per game and 10.4 rebounds per game mirror McGary’s tournament numbers almost exactly.

So what went wrong against Indiana?

Well, Michigan (8-1 Big Ten, 16-5 overall) will be hard-pressed to win any games when it connects on just three 3-pointers or posts a 23.3-percent mark from beyond the arc, and is in poor shape when Stauskas is held to a double-digit scoring output, as evidenced in losses to Duke in December and the Hoosiers on Sunday.

But Stauskas wasn’t alone in his ineffective outing. Horford was held scoreless and didn’t collect a single rebound in just

eight minutes. Morgan scored five points, but was just 1-for-5 from the charity stripe, including a couple key front-end misses with the Wolverines trailing down the stretch. Though his 10 rebounds were a respectable figure, someone had to grab rebounds for Michigan, which was otherwise outrebounded 31-22 — eight below its season average and just two short of a season low.

Combined, the frontcourt duo’s five-point, 10-rebound outing, was the lowest-scoring output in nine conference games to date. On an afternoon with Stauskas stifled from the opening tip, the lack of scoring in the post resulted in a 63-52 loss, the Wolverines’ lowest-scoring total of the season.

“I don’t have all the answers,” said Michigan coach John Beilein.

“Obviously if I had answers, we wouldn’t have scored 52 points.”

Through the struggles, though, Beilein saw positives.

Noting that he never expected to remain undefeated throughout conference play, Beilein was quick to note that more growth comes out of losses than wins.

“We’ll address the issues we think we need to improve on,” he said on Monday’s Big Ten teleconference. “We expect them to get back on the horse and keep learning. I think our staff does a great job at just framing up these games so we can grow from them.”

For the No. 10 Michigan hockey team, returning to Yost Ice Arena to defeat No. 12 Wisconsin was less about shattering sticks and more about snapping streaks.

With a win Friday, the Wolverines ended a four-game losing streak to the Badgers that dated back to November 2009. Just as important, though, were the individual slumps that ended.

The first by freshman forward Tyler Motte, who accumulated 10 points in the first half of the season, and registered his first point since Jan. 10 in Madison. It was his first goal since Nov. 22, ending an 11-week, nine-game dryspell.

And Saturday, Motte began a new streak, finding twine for the second-straight day.

But when one freshman forward heated up, another cooled down. After a four-point outburst against Michigan State, JT Compher ended his hot streak Friday.

Still, Motte’s two tallies, combined with an assist from freshman defenseman Michael Downing, extended yet another important streak — a Michigan freshman has registered a point in 20 of the Wolverines’ 22 games this season.

“It was good for (Motte) to get out of his slump, because he is a player who the puck follows,” said Michigan coach Red Berenson. “He’s a smart player, so it’s been strange for him to have a drought like that.”

Minutes after Motte’s tally, junior forward Alex Guptill added his seventh goal of the season. His last goal had come at Yost, when Michigan finished up a homestand against Ferris State on Dec. 11 — 51 days before Friday’s contest.

After Friday’s game, Guptill spoke about getting his swagger back.

“I think I’ve been a little

snake-bitten lately, but I feel like I’ve been getting my chances and I got one tonight, which was nice,” he said on Friday. “I think all the credit goes to my linemates. They are making me look good out there.”

Berenson had been waiting for Guptill to have a breakout game and was pleased with his performance. Now, though, it’s about continuing that streak of strong performances.

Junior forward Zach Hyman also got himself back on the board. Hyman — who created several scoring chances on his new line with senior forward Luke Moffatt and junior Phil Di Giuseppe against Michigan State — found twine for the first time since Dec. 1 against Ohio State before adding an assist Saturday.

With more experience under its belt than any other trio, Michigan’s third line was the difference against Wisconsin, accounting for four evenstrength goals.

“Motte’s goal was a tribute to his line, too,” Berenson said. “His whole line was working. They had a good weekend.”

Moffatt notched the gametying goal in the third period to give the senior five points, including four goals, in five career games against the Badgers. He also recorded the lone shootout goal to secure two points for the Wolverines.

“I told Luke it’s about time,” Berenson said. “He’s had trouble being consistent, so I hope he can get into a good groove right now. He’s got linemates he likes, and they’re playing hard.”

Sophomore forward Boo Nieves’s nearly saw his shot find the back of the net, which

would have ended his monthslong scoreless streak. Though his play has improved since being moved to the wing position, Nieves hasn’t tallied a goal since Oct. 12 against Rochester Institute of Technology.

The offense is gaining confidence, he said, which will be key as the Wolverines turn scoreless slumps into scoring streaks.

Of course, not everyone scored against a strong shotblocking Badger defense. The power play went 0-for-8 and some of Michigan’s top scorers were left off the stat sheet.

During the waning minutes of overtime play Saturday, sophomore forward Andrew Copp broke away from a defender. For a moment, it looked as if he would secure his third extra-frame goal this season. He wound up and fired, but his shot went no further than Wisconsin goaltender Joel Rumpel’s glove.

Copp was held without a point against the Badgers this weekend.

The alternate captain was largely the only offense when the Wolverines slumped through December, scoring eight points — six goals and two assists — in seven games, including a goal in Madison and an assist in each game against the Spartans.

Still, Copp’s weekend is less of an indication that the Hobey Baker Award finalist is slumping than it is of a revived offense — one that need not rely on one player.

“I guess the more people that are scoring, the better,” Copp said. “I think I need to pick up my play a little bit right now, but it’s good. We need everyone chipping in.”

“The more people that are scoring, the better.”

For Wolverines, a fall back to reality

t’s hard to decide which fact is more surprising: that the Michigan women’s basketball team is 14-8, or that only one month ago, predicting a 14-8 record Feb. 3 would’ve been pessimistic.

Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico doesn’t claim to have seen the Wolverines’ success coming — anything but, as a matter of fact. In the weeks leading up to LEV their seasonFACHER opening exhibition against Wayne State, the second-year coach was dropping the phrase “transition year” and citing the her team’s relative lack of experience as a reason it might have trouble staying competitive in Big Ten play. Missing out on the NCAA Tournament felt like a foregone conclusion.

Making the NCAA Tournament doesn’t seem likely now, either. But it did, at one point, and it’s the emotional parabola that transpired between the beginning of the season and now that’s remarkable.

Barnes Arico’s jump to a “transition year” mentality was hardly unwarranted. The starting lineup she put on the floor for that early November tune-up featured junior forward Nicole Elmblad alongside two players who’d never made an appearance in a Michigan uniform and two more who averaged a respective 1.1 and 2.7 points per game last season. Elmblad, too, averaged just 4.3 points last year, on a team that relied heavily on five seniors who took 90

percent of Michigan’s scoring with them as they accepted their diplomas in May. An 11-point loss to Bowling Green in the Wolverines’ regular-season opener seemed to confirm the prevailing theory that Michigan might have to wait until next year to make any postseason noise.

It took a buzzer-beating turnaround jumper from junior forward Cyesha Goree to force overtime against Arizona, and to keep a glimmer of hope alive. It took four days for that newfound sense of optimism to be dashed by a disappointing overtime loss to Xavier in Michigan’s home opener. It took another month after that for the Wolverines to go on 6-1 tear that included an impressive win over Texas Tech.

The lone loss was a 64-62 nail-biter against No. 15 LSU that saw the Wolverines, playing without junior guard Shannon Smith — the team’s leading scorer at the time — stand their ground against one of the nation’s best teams.

This much was clear — “transition year” no longer applied.

When asked after Michigan’s Jan. 18 win over Illinois if she had seen any of her team’s success coming, Barnes Arico could only laugh.

“Oh my goodness, no,” she said. “No, but ... it’s the kids.

They’re just unbelievable. They have great chemistry. They’re so unselfish. They buy into working hard.”

It wasn’t just a coach mindlessly glowing about her hard-working team to the media, either. The prospect of being unsuccessful seems not to have occurred to Barnes Arico’s players.

Sure enough, Goree didn’t blink before calmly responding,

TRACY KO/Daily

Michigan women’s basketball coach Kim Barnes Arico has managed to take her team from an expected transition year to a bubble team in the NCAA Tournament.

“yes” to the same question. If they worked hard enough, she said, there was no doubt in their minds that they’d be as successful as they’d been.

The same spirit of innocence, coupled with the attitude that hard work has no equal, is prevalent throughout the roster.

Before this winter, freshman guard Siera Thompson had never seen snow, and hasn’t seen her family for more than a week since arriving at Michigan in June. Despite the drastic changes, she’s leading the Wolverines in scoring and has established herself as one of the nation’s best 3-point shooters. Over the offseason, Goree dropped 20 pounds, and the results showed

— she’s playing 10 times as many minutes as she did last year, and has turned into a beast on the boards. Smith, for her part, waits in the wings until her teammates have trouble scoring, then unveils an absurd display of ballhandling and near-impossible shots that sometimes leave defenses gaping.

For a few weeks, it seemed like Barnes Arico’s transition year was actually a transition month, and that November was far in the past.

But at some point, things had to come back to reality. No matter how good Thompson and sophomore guard Madison Ristovski were from beyond the arc, and no matter how

scrappy Elmblad and Goree were on the inside, and no matter how dominant Smith can be when she decides to take over, Michigan still has to work within the constraints of a team relying on three or four regular starters. All depending on the night, for players who’ve never seen serious college minutes.

The Wolverines’ four losses in their past seven games have given them the perspective they’ve been missing. An atlarge bid to the NCAA tournament seems unlikely after a pair of painful home losses to Ohio State and Minnesota and an 84-51 drubbing at Nebraska.

Michigan isn’t quite there — yet.

But without ruling out any

surprise runs at the Big Ten Tournament in early March, this much can be said: The Wolverines’ run at next year’s Big Ten Tournament probably won’t be a surprise at all. It wouldn’t be surprising, either, to see Michigan appear in next year’s top-25 polls within the season’s first few weeks, or for Thompson to work her way onto a preseason Wade Trophy Watch List, or for crowds next year at Crisler Center to resemble, well, crowds.

Whether or not Barnes Arico’s team surprises everyone yet again with a late-season push for the Big Dance is inconsequential. If this year is a transition, no coach in the Big Ten wants to see the continuation.

Sports

8 —Tuesday, February 4, 2014

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Football set to ink Hoke speaks on disciplinary policy nine signatures FOOTBALL RECRUITING

By GREG GARNO Daily Sports Editor

By JASON RUBINSTEIN Daily Sports Writer

In the college football world, the first Wednesday of every February is normally characterized by chaos and waiting on last-minute decisions.

It’s National Signing Day, the first day seniors in high school can sign a binding letter of intent to a college of the player’s choice, if offered to play football.

But for the Michigan football team, the 2014 edition of National Signing Day should be relatively quiet — a rarity in the program.

For only the third time since 2002, the Wolverines aren’t expecting anyone to sign who isn’t already committed. Only one player, five-star defensive end Malik McDowell, is believed to be considering Michigan, but the odds of landing him are slim.

“I would be shocked if he chose Michigan,” 247Sports’s Steve Lorenz said. “As of last week, (running back coach Fred) Jackson, his primary recruiter, thought (McDowell) would choose Michigan. But now, his parents know he doesn’t want to go to Michigan, but his parents don’t want Michigan State, so it’s going to be a compromise.

If I had to choose, I would say Florida State, but wouldn’t rule out Ohio State.”

Despite the absence of any drama, Michigan is expecting the nine remaining verbal commitments of the 2014 class to sign their letter of intent.

Though nine may seem small, the Wolverines had seven early enrollees, a program record.

Quarterback Wilton Speight, wide receivers Freddy Canteen and Drake Harris, defensive tackle Bryan Mone, cornerback Brandon Watson, offensive lineman Mason Cole and linebacker Michael Ferns have already

started classes at the University.

So why is Michigan seeing so many early enrollees? Look no further than the results of last year’s early enrollees.

“You look at a guy like (freshman tight end) Jake Butt: he’s a perfect example of somebody who benefited tremendously from enrolling early,” Lorenz said. “Those extra six months are huge. It’s just a matter of getting into the playbook early, getting into the weight room and assimilating into Michigan in general.”

Early enrollees aside, Michigan’s remaining nine commits are some high-profile players.

Jabrill Peppers, a five-star cornerback from Paramus, N.J., is the Wolverines’ highestranked recruit ever. Peppers, who many see as a two-way player, like Charles Woodson during his time at Michigan, is ranked No. 2 overall by ESPN. The Wolverines are also expecting signings from six other defensive players. By Wednesday night, defensive linemen Lawrence Marshall and Brady Pallante and linebacker’s Noah Furbush, Jared Wangler and Chase Winovich should be declared Wolverines.

Offensively, Michigan is expecting the signatures from tight end Ian Bunting, offensive tackle Juwann Bushell-Beatty and wide receiver Maurice Ways.

But signing day should be relatively uneventful for Michigan coach Brady Hoke — just the way he likes it, says Lorenz.

“You’ll see it happen again with the 2015 class,” Lorenz said. “They like to find a concise, small group of targets early and go after them hard and get them on campus for visit days. I know they are still in it for Malik McDowell, but trust me, if they could avoid situations like this, they would.”

Michigan football coach Brady Hoke spoke to reporters on Monday for the first time since The Michigan Daily reported last week that former kicker Brendan Gibbons was permanently separated from the University for violating the Student Sexual Misconduct Policy on Nov. 22, 2009.

“Michigan Athletics has no influence over any part of a review of a potential violation of University’s student code of conduct — not the process, the investigation or the timing of the resolution,” Hoke said in a statement before talking with reporters. “In general, while we may be aware of an on-going proceeding, we always strive to balance transparency with privacy.

“Our usual approach is to not issue discipline related to a student’s standing on the team before the University’s process runs its course and the outcome has been determined. We will always respect the rights and confidentiality of the process and the parties involved. One way we do that is by not discussing the details of student disciplinary matters.

“So while I would like to be more forthcoming, I can’t provide any details due to federal privacy laws and University policies.”

Hoke continued, elaborating on Michigan football’s standards of conduct.

“We talk every day with our kids about the importance of character and integrity. It’s something we take very seriously, how we’re going to do things the right way. We talk daily about your name and what it means. That’s why you get into this as a coach, to help young men grow and learn and mature. We’re held to those standards, and we hold them to that. I think we’ve made clear our expectations, and our actions and discipline involving incidents in the past have reflected that.

And those standards will not be

PATRICK BARRON/Daily

Michigan football coach Brady Hoke spoke to reporters regarding football disciplinary procedures on Monday.

compromised.”

According to media reports, Hoke did not mention Gibbons by name and did not disclose whether he was aware that Gibbons was permanently separated, citing federal privacy laws.

“Believe me, it’d be easier to discuss everything,” Hoke told reporters. “But due to privacy and everything else, it’s not going to happen.

“Federal laws and all that stuff, and University policy. ... And to be honest with you, it’s not fair to anybody involved with it (to discuss it publicly).”

The University’s Office of Student Conflict Resolution found Gibbons responsible for the reported conduct on or before Nov. 20, 2013, but Gibbons played in the Nov. 23 game at Iowa. He did not play against Ohio State the following week because

of what Hoke called an injury.

Gibbons did not play in the Dec. 28 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl because of what Hoke said were “family matters.”

According to reports, Hoke discussed working to resolve character issues in the past.

“You can go back and look at all the different cases that we’ve had — which we haven’t had many — but there’s been consequences and discipline and those things.”

Within the past year, Hoke suspended sophomore tight end A.J. Williams for one game after Williams was caught driving under the influence while being under the legal drinking age.

Junior defensive end Frank Clark and fifth-year senior running back Fitzgerald Toussaint were also suspended one game after they were charged with felonious home invasion and driving under

the influence, respectively.

“Track record, I’ve dealt with everything that’s happened on this team, from character issues to the integrity they have,” Hoke said, according to media reports. “Those are two of the most important things that I have, is my character and my integrity, and I got into coaching to help kids understand that.

That’s a huge part of what this job is and why I got into it. For people to attack the character and integrity that we have as a program, as Michigan and me personally, I think is something that’s something that’s not true.

Because we’ve dealt with it.

“I get a lot of help when something goes bad or a bad decision is made.”

Hoke is scheduled to meet with reporters again on Wednesday to discuss National Signing Day.