ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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ANN ARBOR
Exhibit on ‘U’ founder explored in presentation Bicentennial-geared event showcased innovation between range of disciplines SHANNONR ORS For the Daily
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
The Bentley Historical Library.
University library faces lawsuit for refusing to disclose documents
Bentley Historical Library maintains seal on anti-immigrant activist records JENNIFER MEER Daily Staff Reporter
The University of Michigan is allegedly blocking the release of records donated by retired ophthalmologist John Tanton, an activist who opposes immigration and founded the Federation for American Immigration Reform, according to the Detroit Free Press. FAIR says it is a nonpartisan organization representing “concerned Americans” on the
topic of immigration, while Tanton is considered by the Southern Poverty Law Center to be the “architect of the modern anti-immigrant movement.” Beginning in 1984, Tanton donated several documents, many of which express his anti-immigration views, to the Bentley Historical Library at the University. However, only 14 of the 25 boxes he has donated are open to the public; 11 are classified until 2035. According to the Free Press, in December 2016 immigration
attorney Hassan Ahmad filed a Freedom of Information Act request to gain access to the 11 boxes; he argued the records should be made public seeing as Tanton’s anti-immigrant sentiments are relevant to the views and policies of President Donald Trump, which tend to negatively affectimmigrants. When Ahmad was denied these documents, he filed a lawsuit with the Michigan Court of Claims. Ahmad told the Free Press it is important for the public
to know about Tanton’s racist actions and the effects they could have on immigrants in the United States. “The organizations founded by Dr. John Tanton are currently informing U.S. immigration policy,” Ahmad said. “I think the public interest is served by investigating the connection between his thought and the current immigration policies. The rise of white nationalism, as we’ve seen in Charlottesville, seem to make this all the more See LIBRARY, Page 3
Artist Mark Dion discussed his work “Waiting for the Extraordinary,” which was inf luenced by the original blueprint of the University of Michigan, Wednesday night at the Penny Stamps Speaker Series at the University of Michigan Museum of Art. The event was part of a series and was held in collaboration between the Institute for Humanities and the UMMA with the goal of showcasing the innovation and art that exists across a wide range of disciplines. Dion is an internationally lauded artist whose work centers on the interplay between public institutions and our understanding of the world. Dion’s current installation at the Institute for Humanities is a restaging of his original work, “Waiting for the Extraordinary,” which was commissioned by the
University in 2011. In his lecture, Dion cited University founder Augustus Woodward as the inspiration behind the original piece. Dion said the distinctive language devised by Woodward to explain the 13 disciplines he believed the University should be organized around caught his attention. “He was absolutely fascinated by mixing Latin and Greek, as though they were cars approaching each other 60 miles an hour and crashing in the middle,” Dion said. Amanda Krugliak, curator for the Institute for the Humanities, emphasized the sense of whimsy and spontaneity in Dion’s work while retelling her experience accompanying Dion on his initial research in 2011. “(It was an) expedition as a treasure hunt,” she said. “This huge university of systems and silos and rules See EXHIBIT, Page 3
Student governments navigate C.C. Leinweber Women’s Foundation Little building renaming, ‘U’ racism golf places
CAMPUS LIFE
SPORTS
gifts $8 mil. to Physics
LSA Student Government has been at the forefront of recent petitioning
Donation to fund hiring of new faculty and staff, research and fellowship
After a tumultuous first month with racist incidents and controversial speakers, student governments on campus are taking steps toward finding possible solutions to amending the campus climate. LSA senior Anushka Sarkar, president of Central Student Government, released sent an email Wednesday afternoon announcing the first Diag Assembly, in which the CSG body will host its Tuesday night meetings on the Diag. The governing body will be “debating and discussing campus climate-specific resolutions” and there will be time for students to voice their concerns to their representatives. Members of the University of Michigan administration will be present. “Our commitment to a better Michigan must start with the acknowledgement that our campus is not perfect — we’re not,” the email reads. “It’s not true to say that ‘hatred has no place here’ because it evidently does have a place here; as long as we are passive about hatred’s presence here, as long as we rely on the same people to demonstrate against it time and time again, hatred will continue to show up in our classes, at our doors, and on our street corners.” After passing its own
MATT HARMON Daily Staff Reporter
The Leinweber Foundation has donated $8 million to the Michigan Center for Theoretical Physics in LSA, according to a press release in Michigan News. The new funds will be used to attract more highly qualified physics staff members, expand research efforts and dive deeper into the topics of particle physics and cosmology. As a thank-you for the gift, the Michigan Center for Theoretical Physics will be renamed the Leinweber Center for Theoretical Physics. The gift also establishes the Leinweber Fellows program in the Department of Physics and supports student physics fellowships. Larry Leinweber and Claudia Babiarz of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., are the heads of the foundation and have previously donated to the University of Michigan to establish the Leinweber Software Scholars Program See PHYSICS, Page 3
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ABBY TAKAS
Daily Staff Reporter
resolution to support the rename the C.C. Little Science Building, LSA Student Government is currently attending other meetings and garnering support from other student governments on campus. The LSA governing body started discussions on the renaming of the building midsummer. At the same time, but separately, an initiative started by History professor John
Carson and LSA senior Joshua Hasler led to the creation of a 20 page proposal on renaming the building. Upon learning this, LSA SG President Nicholas Fadanelli explained, decided to lobby on behalf of the proposal. The science building is named after former University President Clarence Cook Little, a known eugenicist. Last month, LSA SG hosted a panel
with academics on renaming — the event was taken over by protesters wearing bloodied white gowns to demonstrate the violence of eugenics. CSG is currently discussing its own resolution, introduced by Fadanelli and Rep. Kristen Ball, LSA junior, on the renaming of the C.C. Little Science Building. The body’s Twitter, however, posted a See STUDENT GOV, Page 3
KEVIN ZHENG/Daily
The C.C. Little Building.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 12 ©2017 The Michigan Daily
12th in invitational Duke won tournament with a score of 833, Michigan scored 875 ROHAN KUMAR Daily Sports Writer
Confidence is essential in golf — especially when up against some of the best competitors in the nation. It is even more important — yet harder to find — when you are a freshman. But freshman Ashley Kim didn’t have that problem over the weekend, leading the Michigan women’s golf team at the Ruth’s Chris Invitational in Chapel Hill, N.C. The Wolverines finished in 12th place out of a strong 18-team field, with a three-day score of 875. Duke won the tournament with a score of 833. Michigan struggled in Friday’s opening round and sat in 14th place with a substandard score of 299 at the end of the day. It was not the start the Wolverines had hoped for, particularly considering that they have found trouble in their last few tournaments. “We certainly didn’t do ourselves any favors in the first round,” said Michigan coach Jan Dowling. “We kind of dug See GOLF, Page 3
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 ARTS......................6
SUDOKU.....................2 CROSSWORD...............6 SPORTS....................7