2019-03-25 by The Michigan Daily

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Monday, March 25, 2019

Ann Arbor, Michigan

michigandaily.com

Later, Gators

Michigan earns its fifth trip to the Sweet Sixteen in the last seven years with 64-49 victory over Florida on Saturday.

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ACADEMICS

Students, faculty reflect on political climate, law National Kaplan survey indicates current politics influence interest in law school MAX KUANG/Daily

The founding line of Omega Beta Eta, the Univerisyt of Michigan’s first Arab fraternity, gather on the Diag to reveal their pledge class with a performance Friday evening,

First Arab fraternity on campus hosts show revealing pledge class Omega Beta Eta to create a sense of community, provide mentors with common experiences LIAT WEINSTEIN Daily Staff Reporter

Friday night, the founding line of Omega Beta Eta, the University of Michigan’s first Arab fraternity, revealed their pledge class with a performance on the Diag. Each of the 16 recruits, clad

in black robes with red-andblack keffiyehs partially covering their faces, introduced themselves to a cheering crowd comprised of students and other organizations in the Multicultural Greek Council. The event started at 8:34 pm, which had a significance within the fraternity.

CAMPUS LIFE

Banquet raises funds for Syrian refugees Epsilon Alpha Sigma, host of the event, also recieved chapter charter ZAYNA SYED

Daily Staff Reporter

On Saturday, Epsilon Alpha Sigma, the University of Michigan’s first Arab sorority, and the MultiEthnic Student Association held a banquet to raise money for Syrian refugees through Friends of Kayany, a non-profit that supports education for Syrian children living in Informal Tented Settlements in Lebanon. EAS was also granted a charter at the event, elevating them from a colony to a chapter of the national Arab sorority. The event, titled “Remembering the Refugees,” took place at the Ross School of Business Blau Colloquium and featured spoken word artist Omar Offendum, Friends of Kayany treasurer Bandar Shawwaf and EAS founder Rula Othman. About 140 students and community members were in attendance at the annual event. The event has been running since 2012. The sorority surpassed their fundraising goal of $8,000 to raise a total of $9,400 for Friends of Kayany throughout the semester.

OBH founder Jad Elharake, an LSA alum who works at the University of Michigan Medical School in the Office for Health Equity and Inclusion, noted OBH was established to create a sense of community among Arab men that did not previously exist at the University. “A part of me always wished

that I had an older Arab male mentor — one that not only understood my background, but lived it,” Elharake wrote in an email interview with The Daily. “A mentor that would guide me in navigating a place that wasn’t built for me.” See FRATERNITY, Page 3

SAMANTHA SMALL Daily Staff Reporter

In late February, Kaplan Test Prep released their annual law school admissions officers survey, an analysis that attempts to measure student interest in attending law school. After years of decline, Kaplan reported an increase of over 4,000 applicants. The cause, they reported, was the chaotic state of the political climate. In a survey of 121 different law schools, encompassing some of the top 50 in the nation as ranked by U.S. News and World Report, about 87 percent of those surveyed reported the current U.S.

political climate was a critical factor in their decision to attend law school. Anthony Coloca, Kaplan’s director of pre-law programs, was confident their findings were more than circumstantial. In a second survey of law school students, 45 percent agreed politics were a significant component of their decision. Furthermore, 57 percent said they planned to use their degree to advocate for public policy concerns they felt strongly about.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Annual Taste of Taiwan event features Ford hosts cuisine, street games and performances conference GOVERNMENT

Gathering brings together various Taiwanese groups on campus, celebrates culture JIALIN ZHANG

Daily Staff Reporter

Decorated with signature Taiwanese yellow lanterns, the East Hall atriums were transformed for the annual Taste of Taiwan event Saturday. Co-hosted by the Taiwanese American Student Association, Taiwanese Student Association and Michigan Taiwanese Student Associations, the event featured a variety of Taiwanese food and street games from the streets of Taiwan’s famous Keelung Miaokou Night Market. Elton Lin, an Engineering freshman who helped organize the event, said the event aimed to celebrate Taiwanese culture as well as to bring different Taiwanese student organizations together.

“For us, I think it’s important because this not only represents a big part of our culture, we also had the opportunity to work together with other organizations,” Lin said. “Even though we are all related to Taiwanese culture, we are still different organizations on campus. It is good for us to work together to show people our culture.” The events were divided into three sections: food, games and performance. The food selection included braised pork rice, stirfried cabbage, three cup chicken, fried rice vermicelli, salt pepper chicken, winter melon grass jelly tea and shaved ice. LSA senior Jason Wong said the food was a great starting point to introduce people to a different culture, accompanying

performances and art forms. He said food can be an additional incentive for more people to come to cultural events on campus. “I have seen a lot of performances this year already,” Wong said. “They are all really good, but having delicious and authentic food like this is definitely a good incentive to get more people.” LSA junior Jeremy Yun also thought the food was a huge part of what made the event successful. “The food is really good,” Yun said. “I have never tried a lot of these foods before, and it is really interesting to see a lot of the Taiwanese culture being soaked into all these food stands.” Alongside the food stands were activity areas where participants participated in traditional

activities often seen at Taiwanese night markets such as ring toss, can knockdown, chopstick skills and bottle balancing. LSA freshman David Sigler tried many of the games and food at the event and was happy with his experience. “There is a lot of food and they are all pretty good, the games are really interesting,” Sigler said. “It’s also got a nice turnout and people seem to be having a good time.” Besides foods and games, there was also a performance in the East Hall Auditorium. The performance started with a group of dancers from K-Motion, an allfemale Korean pop dance group.