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ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Monday, April 4, 2016

Ann Arbor, Michigan

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CAMPUS LIFE

Groups visit University to talk sexual assault work EMILIE FARRUGIA/Daily

Attorney Khawla Wakkaf shares her desire to alleviate suffering in Syria at the 7th Annual TEDxUofM Conference at the Power Center Friday.

TedxUofM event emphasizes creating change in society Community members discuss topics from Syria to the environment By BRANDON SUMMERSMILLER and ANDREW HIYAMA Daily Staff Reporters

TEDxUofM’s annual TEDstyle conference, held on Friday in the Power Center, focused on

change — both creating it and responding to it. The conference featured more than 10 TED-style talks from Ann Arbor community members including Business Administration Prof. Wayne Baker, attorney Khawla Wakkaf and LSA junior Sam McMullen. Reciprocity was the focus of Baker’s talk, in which he examined the paradox of people continually asking one another for what they need. To examine reciprocity he created and studied a “reciprocity ring.” Participants

in the ring could ask for help and others could pay it forward. “When we first started doing this, I thought that giving was going to be the problem,” Baker said. “That’s not true. Generosity isn’t the problem — most people are willing to help. The real problem is getting people to ask for what they need.” Baker is currently working at an Ann Arbor startup company to create a reciprocity app, based on his research with the reciprocity ring. The app would allow users to ask for help from other users

for various problems, Baker said. “I think the app has real potential to create a big, positive impact on the world by spreading the practice of paying it forward far and wide,” he said. Following Baker’s lecture the audience was instructed to break into groups of four to create their own reciprocity ring. They were then challenged to ask for specific, tangible requests that had to be delivered within an allotted amount of time. Engineering senior Emma See TEDXUOFM, Page 3A

OPINION

Representatives of prevention orgs discuss goals, challenges By TIM COHN Daily Staff Reporter

More than 100 anti-sexual assault student activists from 14 different public and private colleges and universities across Michigan attended a conference in the Michigan Union Saturday aimed at connecting student activists and encouraging organizational collaboration. The event, hosted by the University of Michigan’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center, was the first of its kind on campus. Organizers said it offered a unique opportunity for representatives from different institutions to meet with other student activists and share their experiences of working for sexual assault prevention organizations. “This is the first time in history

that all of these schools have come together.” Public Policy senior Emma Zorfass, the event coordinator, said. “We are trying to use our collective activism to make our respective communities stronger. So we are doing a lot of activities that involve networking, coming up with different ideas.” Each school’s representatives participated in a Share Out session about their work. Schools also created informational guides about their sexual assault prevention organization to distribute, which included information about the number of volunteers, their organizational structure and their goals. A focus of the Share Out was facilitating a dialogue between different types of institutions, such as private Christian colleges like Hope College in Holland, Mich., as well as commuter-heavy schools like the University of Michigan campuses in Flint and Dearborn. Hope College junior Elena Galano said the Christian mission of the college is present in the sexual assault prevention organization as See PREVENTION, Page 3A

CITY

10th FestiFools celebrates local art, performers

Standing for transgender students on our campus From T HE M ICHIGAN DAILY On March 23, North Carolina legislators passed a law prohibiting transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals from using bathrooms and locker rooms that do not match their birthcertificate-assigned sex. The law has received loud and immediate pushback because it promotes blatant discrimination against transgender people. Republican lawmakers unanimously favored the bill on the basis of safety, claiming females should not be forced to use the same bathroom facilities as biological males. However, it passed in North Carolina is an unacceptable act of discrimination that cannot be tolerated. Legislators in North Carolina — and closer to home, both legislators in Michigan and administrators on campus — must act to protect the rights of transgender people and uphold both Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. On our campus in February See OPINION, Page 4A

Event includes parade with puppets, visual displays

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily

LSA freshman Anna Krauss and LSA junior Raivynn Smith talk with a passerby about putting pronouns on class rosters in the Diag Friday.

Students petition in Diag to use preferred pronouns Supporters plan to ask administration for change to Wolverine Access By KATHERINE CURRAN Daily Staff Reporter

Wolverines for Preferred Pronouns set up a table on the Diag Friday afternoon to garner support for a petition asking the

University of Michigan to put pronoun preferences on class rosters. The petition addresses what its supporters said they believe is a common issue for transgender students at the University, as many transgender students identitfy as one gender but are listed as another on class rosters and in the University’s records. The petition charges that transgender students at the University must currently reach out to their professors or

GSIs on their own concerning their identity, or risk being misgendered in the classroom. The founder of the initiative, LSA junior Felix Boratyn, said the group wants the administration, specifically University Provost Martha Pollack and Kedra Ishop, associate vice president for enrollment, to create a space on Wolverine Access to clarify students’ gender in the Campus Personal Information section. Boratyn said though See PRONOUNS, Page 3A

By MADELEINE GERSON Daily Staff Reporter

This weekend WonderFool Productions partnered with local businesses and schools, the University of Michigan and the city of Ann Arbor to celebrate the 10th FestiFools. Students, families and community members gathered to attend a FoolMoon celebration on Friday night and FestiFools parade on Sunday afternoon in downtown Ann Arbor, where public art displays, music performances and elaborate costumes and puppets filled Main Street. FestiFools is an Ann Arbor tradition founded by Shoshana Hurand, Lloyd Hall Scholars Program former student and Mark Tucker, the UM

LHSP arts director, who was inspired to create the event by the art of cartapesta, also known as papier mâché, during his travels to Italy. Every year, if festival attendees are sure to see giant paper mâché faces, glowing animals and performances like the Violin Monster, violinist Zachary Storey, who has performed at the event for the past five years. Wellknown as the Violin Monster for his unique performance and costume, he said he appreciates the foolishness of the parade, which is why he returns year after year. “I enjoy the complete and utter foolishness,” he said. “I return from my winter migration every year to witness it.” Ann Arbor resident Julie Knick who attended FestiFools for the first time this year, it’s a one-of-a-kind event that can only be found in a city like Ann Arbor. “I really enjoy local events, which are unique to this area,” See FESTIFOOLS, Page 3A

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INDEX

NEWS......................... 2A OPINION.....................4A CL ASSIFIEDS............... 5A

SUDOKU.....................2A ARTS..........................5A S P O R T S M O N DAY. . . . . . . . . .1 B