2020-07-09

Thursday, July June9,11,2020 2020

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Piada closes its doors amid coronavirus

NEWS

Michigan sues DeVos Michigan sues DeVos over COVID-19 funding for schools. >> SEE PAGE 2

Student favorite shuts down permanently JOHN GRIEVE

OPINION

Daily Staff Reporter

A midwestern loss The history of the mysterious McRib and why America needs it back more than ever. >> SEE PAGE 4

‘Immensely misguided and deeply cruel’: ICE modifies exceptions

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ARTS

“Disclosure” A new documentary provides history of transgender representation in film and media. >> SEE PAGE 7 MICHIGAN IN COLOR

Forgotten: a humanitarian crisis As the world confronts multiple tragedies, we have collectively abandoned Yemen.

>> SEE PAGE 8

SPORTS

Jim Harbaugh

Harbaugh’s press conference sparks controversy after he shares his experience with Dr. Anderson. >> SEE PAGE 11

INDEX Vol. CXXIX, No. 121 © 2020 The Michigan Daily

NEWS .................................... 2 OPINION ............................... 4 ARTS/NEWS..........................6 MiC......................................... 8 SPORTS................................ 10

SARAH PAYNE

Summer News Editor

Monday morning, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced plans to modify exceptions for nonimmigrant college students in the fall semester. The press release from ICE states if a university moves classes fully online due to the pandemic, F-1 and M-1 visa students will not be allowed to enter or remain in the United States and they must take other measures to maintain their legal status in the country, such as transferring to another institution that is offering in-person instruction.

Additionally, if a school offers a hybrid model of both in-person and online instruction, the administration must document that students are not taking a fully online course load, according to the release.

These modified exceptions came a few weeks after University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel announced that the University would adopt a hybrid model of both online and in-person classes, but is prepared to switch to a fully online system if needed for the fall

semester. ICE’s announcement now puts both universities and international students in a difficult position about how to best proceed with plans for a fall semester amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

LSA sophomore Haoyu Du is from Beijing, China, and acknowledged the recommendation for international students to transfer to institutions offering in-person classes. Du said it would be extremely difficult to transfer.

“Most universities end their application cycle at the latest

by May and if you wanted to transfer right now it is impossible to transfer to a U.S. college,” Du said. “Most deadlines have passed and we don’t know if universities will maintain a model that will allow us to maintain our F-1 status so that option was moot.”

Du has been living with a friend in the Ann Arbor area since March, and noted his initial reaction to the ICE announcement.

“Once the policy came out I was very shocked,” Du said.

“I will only have 10 days, if the University moves online, before I get deported which is horrifying to think about. It (would involve) paying tens of thousands of dollars for trips (home) or getting

into some sort of detention camp and that sent me into a very bad place thinking about that.”

In response to the modifications, Schlissel released a statement condemning them and noting that they restrict students’ learning experiences.

“At the University of Michigan, we add our voice to the many in higher education to express our strong disagreement with the temporary policy announced July 6 by the Department of Homeland Security to further restrict the educational opportunities for international students,” Schlissel wrote.

Schlissel added that the University administration believes that these modifications are harmful to valuable members of the community.

“We continue to oppose arbitrary restrictions on international students who have been and continue to be valuable members of our community of scholars,” Schlissel wrote. “Even with this initial review that shows a less direct impact on our students, we agree with the statement from the Association of American Universities – of which U-M is a member – that calls this

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Piada Italian Street Food has joined the growing list of Ann Arbor businesses that have permanently closed their doors amid the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the epicenter of downtown Ann Arbor, the Italian restaurant had become a pillar of the town’s culinary scene. Now, with the beloved restaurant departing, another storefront will again sit empty.

Matt Harding, Piada’s director of culinary and corporate executive chef, confirmed the permanent closure to The Daily.

“It makes me sad,” Harding said.

“We loved servicing the students and the people in Ann Arbor. But from a business decision, with everything going on with COVID, it just didn’t make sense going forward.”

For Ann Arbor, the COVID-19 pandemic hit as rising rent prices and an increase in development across the city were already putting a strain on local businesses; in 2018 alone, 18 businesses were forced to close their doors.

Piada was not immune to this strain.

Harding said the restaurant chain was already considering not renewing its Ann Arbor lease even before COVID19, and that the economic fallout of the pandemic just solidified that decision.

“If COVID wouldn’t have happened, would we have redone the lease?”

Harding said. “I don’t think so. But when COVID came around, it just became all the more clear that it was something we had to do.”

The fast-casual food chain opened the Ann Arbor location in 2016 after the Five Guys that had previously occupied the space on South State Street closed down. The space sat empty for over a year before Piada opened.

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2 NEWS

Thursday, July 9, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

State of Michigan sues Betsy Devos Attorney General Dana Nessel leads lawsuit over COVID-19 funding CALDER LEWIS & KRISTINA ZHENG Summer News Editors

Tuesday afternoon, the state of Michigan announced during a press conference they will be filing a court-action lawsuit against the federal government and U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos for the distribution of funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. Along with several other states, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is leading the lawsuit against Devos, citing concerns that a new rule favors affluent private schools over public schools serving low-income students.

Nessel said The Department of Education’s July 1 rule gives public school districts two options for distributing CARES Act funds.

“Districts can allocate funds based on the total number of students enrolled in an eligible private school, regardless of income level, or allocate funds only for Title I schools, leaving no CARES Act funds available for non-Title I public schools,” Nessel said.

Title I schools receive over $14 billion of federal funding per year to help low-income students reach education goals.

In a June 25 press release, DeVos said the department’s new rule recognized that CARES Act programs are not Title I programs.

“There is no reasonable explanation for debating the use of federal funding to serve both public and private K-12 students when federal funding, including CARES Act funding, flows to both public and private higher education institutions,” DeVos said.

However, Nessel noted at the press conference that the rule could divert necessary funding from public schools.

“Public schools in Michigan are at risk of losing millions and millions of dollars in federal funds to their private school neighbors,” Nessel said. “Resources that Congress intended to be allocat-

ed based on low-income student enrollment — which is typically much higher in public schools — could instead be redirected to much more affluent public schools because of Secretary DeVos’s actions.”

Nessel said while the CARES Act states districts must provide private schools with equitable services in the same manner as under Title I, Title I only applies to academically at-risk students.

“Secretary DeVos’s rule and guidance ignores plain language in the CARES Act and instead directs local education agencies to choose between two options for allocating CARES Act funds, neither of which actually exists in the CARES Act,” Nessel said.

State Superintendent Michael Rice also noted neither of the methods for allocating funds under DeVos’s rule align with the CARES Act. “It puts local school districts and local school district leadership in a very uncomfortable position, having to choose between the plain act language on the one hand, and the guidance from the U.S. Secretary on the other,” Rice said.

Following DeVos’s rule, non-public schools in Michigan would receive $16 million more than if they followed the funding allocations under Title I — money Rice said would be drawn away from public schools.

“This is enough to buy 63,694 Chromebooks for students at $259 per Chromebook, or to buy personal protective equipment for 33,944 students at $486 per student annually,” Rice said.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer noted the CARES Act funding is designed to help those most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, including low-income communities and communities of color.

“Schools in these areas deserve a government that will support them throughout this crisis,” Whitmer said. “The DeVos rule strips dollars away from schools in need of that critical funding.

She doesn’t share our priorities for protecting and improving public education, and that’s why today’s

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Approved budget raises concerns

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Out-of-state students discuss the impact of 1.9% tuition increase DOMINIC COLETTI For The Daily

On June 29, the Board of Regents approved a budget for fiscal year 2020-2021 that includes a 1.9 percent increase in tuition for the Ann Arbor campus and a 5.6 percent increase in financial aid for Ann Arbor students, even as many universities across Michigan and the United States opted to freeze tuition increase due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Regents Paul Brown (D) and Jordan Acker (D), who voted against the first budget presented last Thursday, both voted in favor of the new proposal. Acker stated that his decision came down to promises in the new budget not present in the first proposal. “(The budget) has new pledges to eliminate some uncertainty,” Acker said. “There’s funding for students whose situations have changed from COVID. There’s no tuition increase for families in Michigan whose income is under $120,000, and it does have a 1.9 percent increase on (the University’s) wealthiest students. The one thing that I will point out is I do share Regent Ryder-Diggs’ concerns about statistics when it comes to student aid.”

However, Acker did not mention how out-of-state students will be impacted by

the tuition increase.

The budget narrative the University published and that was provided to the Board of Regents in advance of Monday’s meeting mentions extensive aid opportunities for in-state students. However, it only mentions aid for their out-ofstate peers twice.

“The budget also includes aid for nonresident families with need,” the narrative reads. “... nonresident tuition rates compare favorably to private peers.”

University spokeswoman Kim Broekhuizen told The Daily most out-of-state students will see an increase in costs, though about 45 percent of out-of-state undergrads receive need-based grant aid and/or scholarship aid, which can be need-based or merit-based. This aid totaled roughly $185,000,000.

Broekhuizen said the new in-state commitments do not change the calculation of aid for out-of-state students.

However, there are not separate budgets for in-state and out-of-state students.

The budget authorizes $400,000,000 of “reserves” to be used to meet financial need, but the University has not committed to meeting the full financial need of out-ofstate students as it does with Michigan residents, so it is unclear how these reserves will be used to help needy out-ofstate students.

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NEWS 3

‘U’ alum victim of apparent homicide Former CSG President and Detroit City Council analyst found dead in Westland, Mich.

SARAH PAYNE

Summer News Editor

Faculty Senate discuss COVID-19, student culture

Courtesy of Kristina Zheng

Town hall addresses housing, teaching and social life KRISTINA ZHENG Summer News Editor

With under two months left before the start of classes for the 2020-21 academic year, the University of Michigan Faculty Senate hosted a town hall meeting featuring University President Mark Schlissel and Interim Provost Susan Collins on Wednesday afternoon.

Over 600 members of the University community listened in on the Zoom call while submitting questions regarding off-campus student behavior, COVID-19 testing, quarantine plans and the endowment.

The discussion was moderated by Faculty Senate Chair Colleen Conway, professor of music.

Schlissel began the meeting by acknowledging the unprecedented challenges in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the economic instabilities brought on by the pandemic, renewed commitment to anti-racism and the newest guidelines for international students.

While an in-person teaching semester is ideal, Schlissel noted, there are risks with bringing students back to campus, particularly

for the more vulnerable faculty and staff. Schlissel said concerns with student behaviors off-campus could potentially be dangerous for those instructors who are more prone to severe illness.

“I’m very worried particularly about high-risk faculty and staff, and making sure that we can protect people that come to work to help teach our students and deliver our curriculum and fulfill our mission, particularly those that are under more than usual amounts of risk,” Schlissel said.

Despite these concerns, Schlissel also detailed some sources of optimism in the midst of re-opening the University. He shared that out of the tens of thousands of students, only 49 students have tested positive for COVID-19. Michigan Medicine workers who’ve served at the height of the pandemic have had little to no acquired infections.

“There’s a toolbox of public health interventions that if we can get a reasonable level of compliance, we can make it through a semester and deliver that high quality of education that the Michigan faculty and graduate instructors pride themselves on,” Schlissel said.

Collins also addressed how the University will approach deciding which classes will be taught in-person versus remotely. Recognizing that the structure of classes vary between disciplines and pro-

grams, Collins noted that the policies must follow a decentralized and consistent approach. Additionally, the University will be focusing on incorporating self-identification surveys from faculty members and Graduate Student Instructors.

“To respect people’s privacy, we will ask instructors to self-identify in a number of broad categories, and not request medical documentation or other written information, but a self-identification approach,” Collins said.

Faculty members who are 65 and older or who have conditions identified by the CDC as high risk for severe illness will not be expected to teach unless they prefer to, Collins added. Additionally, accommodations will be made for faculty members and GSIs who self-identify into a number of categories such as concerns for other household members, childcare availability or any other reasons that instructors may have a strong preference to teach remotely.

“We believe that this approach will enable us to accomplish our commitment to offering a high quality slate of in-person offerings for students who are on campus as well as a slate for those who are remote while incorporating instructor preference,” Collins said.

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University of Michigan alumni DeAndree Watson, Central Student Government president from 2011 to 2012, was found dead in his car on Sunday morning on the 37400 Block of Willow Lane in Westland, Mich.

After graduating from the University in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in political science, Watson served on the Detroit City Council as a policy analyst and worked closely with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and Councilman James Tate. According to a statement from Tate, Watson was recently accepted into the University of Michigan Law School.

During his time at the University, Watson was involved on campus as a member of the Black Student Union, College Democrats, the Dean of Students advisory board, the University Chapter of the NAACP and Mustard Seed Campus Ministry.

Duggan posted to Facebook Monday morning about Watson’s passing and the impact that he had through his public service in Detroit.

“I am shocked and deeply saddened by the passing of DeAndree Watson,” Duggan wrote.

“DeAndree was a brilliant policy analyst who worked in the Office of Councilman James Tate. I got to know DeAndree as we worked together on the City of Detroit’s marijuana ordinance, spearheaded by Councilman Tate. DeAndree was one of Detroit’s rising leaders with a deep commitment to public service and the city he called home. I extend my deepest condolences to DeAndree’s family, friends, Councilman James Tate, Detroit City Council and his many colleagues at the City of Detroit.”

Councilman Tate also released a statement about the seven years he had known and worked with Watson and the impact he made

on Detroit.

“It is with great sadness that I share the tragic passing of my team member and friend, DeAndree Watson,” the statement read. “This year has been challenging to say the least, but never did I imagine losing someone so integral to our office and our city… so soon. DeAndree was the epitome of a leader and was often the first person to volunteer whenever he was needed.

His impact goes well beyond our office as he brought greatness to everything he was involved in.

DeAndree was well on his way to further shape our world and I’m truly heartbroken that we won’t get to witness more of his journey.”

Officers suspect Watson’s death to be a result of a homicide. Deontez Jones, an associate of Watson, was also found dead Sunday in a nearby apartment from a self-inf licted gunshot wound.

Current CSG President Amanda Kaplan and Vice President Sav Nandigama released a statement on Wednesday signed by every CSG and CSA president dating back to 1998.

“DeAndree’s advocacy and leadership continues to positively impact the Michigan student experience,” the statement read. “During his time, DeAndree advocated for undocumented immigrants to qualify for in-state tuition, installed 18 new water refill stations across campus, doubled the child care stipend available to graduate students, and spearheaded efforts to get the University to create a gender-neutral housing pilot program.”

Nandigama also told The Daily in an interview that Watson continued his work after graduation and emphasized that he will be remembered by his positive personality.

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4 OPINION

Thursday, July 9, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

EVAN STERN | COLUMNIST

A bipartisan solution to our debt

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KEITH JOHNSTONE | COLUMNIST

America needs a McRib: an open letter to McDonald’s

D

ear McDonald’s: This Fourth of July, as a Black man, I have been forced to re-examine what it means to be a citizen of “The Greatest Country on Earth.” On one hand, we have been making progress with our national reckoning regarding race, but we also have an embattled president whose mentality seems to be more fitting for 1920 than 2020. On the other hand, with our crippling wealth inequality and surging COVID-19 caseload, it seems difficult to justify my knee-jerk embrace of American exceptionalism. As I pondered this over the previous weekend, I found myself increasingly reliant on the counsel of the most prolific distillation of the American Dream: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.”

This novel lays out a cohesive theory of the ideal American identity that, while paradoxical in many regards, is a roadmap for how we should behave and a cautionary tale for the potential pitfalls along the way. According to Fitzgerald, a great American is ambitious and entrepreneurial yet also humble; he or she is a legendary, somewhat reclusive figure who allows an extensive myth to be constructed around them. Then, while I was flipping through chapter nine on July 5, my theory came into focus.

See, right now, no one person or group embodies the American ideal of Gatsby because of our deep divisions as Americans — we have been forced to take sides. You are either a Democrat or a Republican. You either spent the weekend excited to watch Hamilton with your friends over Zoom or lit fireworks in the woods without masks. You are either excited for The Kissing Booth

2 or have common sense. However, one thing we can all (arguably) agree on is our love for this country, and, by the end of this article, we will all agree that there is nothing more American than the McRib. The birth of the McRib begins with the meeting of its two parents: Roger Mandigo and Rene Arend. As an emeritus professor of animal science at the University of Nebraska and Meat Industry Hall of Fame inductee, Mandigo invented the process of meat restructuring: Producers take meat from animals, combine the different types of meat and form it into different shapes before being flash-frozen. Then, in response to the dual crises of Food and Drug Administration warnings about beef consumption and rising costs of chicken, Arend — whose previous fame was for making the three McNugget sauces: Hot Mustard, Sweet & Sour and Barbecue — used Mandigo’s process to create the boneless pork patty, fashioned to look like a slab of ribs.

Finally, in 1981, the McRib was unveiled to the world and began its journey into the hearts of millions of Americans.

Especially popular in the Midwest, the McRib immediately garnered a cult-like following from fans of the sandwich’s unique combination: a pork patty covered in an excessive amount of barbecue sauce, white onions and pickles.

However, when McDonald’s celebrated its 30th anniversary in 1985, the company decided to pull the McRib from the menu because of assumed relatively little fanfare in response to rising pork prices and lagging sales, although the reasoning is explicitly undetermined.

When the move was cruelly done with little to no warning, customers perceived it as a direct affront, and decades

later they began to organize negligible protests outside of McDonald’s restaurants nationwide, but the anger eventually faded as the company remained firm on not bringing back the item.

Then, in what I can only assume was a response to Taylor Swift’s birth, the McRib was reintroduced as McDonald’s first-ever limited-time-only item in 1989, becoming a menu mainstay once again in 1994. However, just like all good things, this was not meant to last as McDonald’s once again announced that the sandwich would be pulled from stores in 2005.

This decision once again faced backlash, prompting McDonald’s to announce the McRib’s “farewell tour,” which, much like the 2014 farewell tour of Motley Crue, lasted far too long until the general public forgot about it, and the sandwich made its “final” exit in 2007. While the McRib became a distant, if slightly pleasant, memory for most, it, much like Shrek and Bene the Breadstick, developed a cult following on the internet, as superfan Alan Klein founded a McRib locator website, dedicated to finding regional locations that offered the fabled sandwich.

Thus, 13 years after the McRib has disappeared from the permanent McDonald’s menu, it has not disappeared from our hearts. In fact, upon its last nationwide release, the company attributed its 4.8 percent sales increase to the limited-time offering, which prompted me to write this letter.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com Keith Johnstone can be reached at keithja@umich.edu.

L

ong before the COVID-19 pandemic sent the American economy into a downward spiral, our nation had a serious problem with our national deficit. Now, after our federal government spent trillions of dollars in order to support American workers and businesses, our staggering national debt is more visible than ever.

According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget — which projects the debt will grow by a total of $4 trillion in the fiscal year 2020 — the federal debt now exceeds $26 trillion in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. This sharp increase in our national debt comes after Congress and President Donald Trump passed the CARES Act in March, which included stimulus checks, unemployment benefits and business support.

Now, with the CRFB and other experts predicting that more federal spending will be necessary to further prop up our damaged economy, Americans face a national debt crisis at a new, dangerous level never seen before. While almost all economists agree this significant government spending was necessary — and we shouldn’t hesitate to spend more in order to support households and businesses for the duration of the pandemic — we have a duty to remember the costs of our growing deficit at the same time.

Kenneth Rogoff, a professor at Harvard University and former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, states, “I believe we are doing the

right thing today by borrowing to make it through this tragic crisis, but make no mistake: It is not a free lunch, and it is not without its risks.” Speaking about the dangers of failing to manage the growing national debt, Rogoff added that in the presence of such a staggering deficit, it becomes extremely difficult for nations to spend in the midst of new crises and shocks. Additionally, he comments, “Many advanced countries are already likely to experience strains to help their populations, especially given the likely coming wave of corporate debt problems, and the need to protect banks.”

Most experts agree now is not the time to directly address the national debt crisis, when the track of the COVID-19 pandemic is so unpredictable. But once we are able to get the pandemic under control and this disease no longer poses a threat to our country, one of our top priorities must be addressing our crippling deficit.

Sadly, most issues and initiatives in our nation today are difficult to agree on, and bipartisan efforts are relatively rare. But everybody can agree that our national debt is dangerous and threatens the futures of all Americans. Sooner than later, we all will have to grapple with the impacts of this debt crisis.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com Evan Stern can be reached at erstern@umich.edu.

KEVIN MOORE JR. | CONTACT CARTOONIST AT KEVJR@UMICH.EDU

Thursday, July 9, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

ISABELLE SCHINDLER | COLUMNIST

China’s expanding sphere of influence

T

he passage of a repressive law by China has showcased their growing international influence and the weakening of the United States on the world stage. On June 30, China’s government passed a highly repressive national security law aimed at cracking down on anti-government sentiment in Hong Kong. This law follows a year of massive anti-government demonstrations against the growing control that mainland China is exerting over Hong Kong, which is supposed to be semi-autonomous.

The new Chinese security law comes with harsh penalties including possible life in prison for grave damage of government buildings and terrorism charges for anyone who sabotages transport and causes significant damage to property.

Within days of the law going into effect, pro-democracy books were being pulled off the shelves and a man was arrested for having a proindependence flag.

The law also allows for residents of Hong Kong to be extradited to mainland China in certain cases, where they would face a secretive and nonimpartial legal system. This will occur if it is deemed a “national security case” or a complex case — these broad definitions will likely allow the Chinese government to prosecute anti-government activists through sham trials in mainland China. This directly contrasts the current legal system in Hong Kong, which ensures a fair and transparent trial.

Following the passage of this law, there was a vote at the United Nations Human Rights Council to condemn this law. The list of which countries voted not to condemn China was a disturbing reminder of the growing influence of China, especially in Asia and Africa. China has used its wealth to invest in developing nations. However, this investment does not come without strings. Over 40 of the countries that voted not to condemn the law have also signed onto China’s Belt and Road Infrastructure project, in which China lends money to countries to build roads and shipping infrastructure with the hopes of creating interconnected worldwide trade routes for Chinese use.

China is known to lend money to developing countries, especially in Africa. In 2018, it was reported that 20 percent of African governments’ external debt was owed to China.

Many of these nations have been unable to repay their debts, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This has led to fears that counties

may feel more and more indebted to China and will be forced to support the country’s egregious policies.

The growing international power of China, especially in Africa, has also been aided by the U.S.’s steady withdrawal from the international stage. Over the past few years, the Trump administration has promoted isolationist policies under the guise of America first. These policies range from slashing the United Nations budget to withdrawing from the Paris climate accord and instituting tariffs on our allies, including Canada, Japan and the European Union.

The Trump administration has also refused to be a leader at the United Nations. The U.S. is not a member of the UN Human Rights Council, which was the body that voted on the resolution to condemn China. The U.S., under orders from the Trump administration, withdrew from the council after a disagreement about which other countries were allowed to join the council. While I admit that is absurd that countries such as Saudi Arabia are on this council, that does not mean that the U.S. should have withdrawn. It is always better to have a seat at the table and use the power and influence of the U.S. to help advocate for democratic values.

The move towards isolationism by the Trump administration has helped to create a vacuum that countries such as China and Russia are more than happy to fill.

The growing sphere of influence of China and Russia in three developing countries is something that should concern all of us.

The events of the past few months have put issues of justice, freedom and equality at the forefront of our national conversation. As we seek to emphasize these values, we must remember to look beyond our borders. Although these issues are oceans away from campus, we cannot turn a blind eye. The blatant suppression of free speech and expression in Hong Kong is unacceptable and must be opposed at all costs. We must also recognize the plight of countries that are losing their autonomy to China. As we look to 2020, we must support candidates who understand the importance of international relations and recognize the power of the U.S. to use our influence to promote the values of freedom and democracy around the world.

Isabelle Schindler can be reached at ischind@umich.edu.

OPINION 5

TUHIN CHAKRABORTY | COLUMNIST

Which of our nation’s statues deserve to stay?

L

ate this past June, four years after defending its namesake in spite of backlash from student activists, the Princeton University School of Trustees voted to remove former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s name from its Public Policy school. The decision-makers cited this “searing moment in American History” (i.e. the fallout from the George Floyd shooting) as a wakeup call to choose a better role model for Princeton students. While statues and other monuments of racist and controversial American historical figures have been being removed for months now, this is one of the first times a United States president has had their memorialization eliminated.

Wilson is considered to be a wellregarded president among historians.

In 2017, historians participating in C-SPAN’s presidential survey ranked him the 11th best president in U.S. history (President Barack Obama was 12th). His accomplishments include: leading the U.S. to victory in WWI; agreeing to a suffrage amendment that led to Congress passing the 19th amendment granting women the right to vote; and playing a key role in establishing the League of Nations, one of the first intergovernmental organizations in the world. However, Wilson also, among other misdeeds, spoke “approvingly” of the KKK, further segregated the federal government and called D.W. Griffith’s incredibly racist film “The Birth of a Nation” “terribly true.” So was he also an unapologetic and dedicated racist?

Quite certainly, but that does not necessarily mean that we can’t honor him for his positive contributions to society. When we consider the legacies of past Americans, we must first ask ourselves these two questions: Why are these people famous and does their claim to fame merit recognition despite their flaws?

Some of the historical figures at the forefront of the current statues and monuments debate are Confederate generals and political figures, such as Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis, whose statues are scattered throughout this country, particularly in the South. Regarding the first question, these people are famous for betraying their country and fighting for a slaveowning rebel regime. Therefore the second question is moot, as their claim to fame is extremely undesirable in the first place. Every single one of these statues, military bases and other memorials to the Confederacy need to be taken down and/or replaced immediately as their values represent non-patriotic rhetoric and anti-Black agendas.

However, remaining on the topic of the Civil War, not everyone during this time has such a clear-cut legacy.

A statue of Union General and 18th U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant was recently taken down by protestors in Golden Gate Park in California. The protesters did so because Grant had owned a slave named William Jones.

While this is true, Grant owned Jones only because he married into a family that owned slaves, and he emancipated Jones in 1859, the same year Jones may have been given to him by his wife’s family. Additionally, Grant is famous for leading the Union Army to victory in the Civil War, which allowed for the last slaves to be freed on July 19, which is now celebrated as Juneteenth. It is pretty safe to say that facilitating the widespread emancipation of millions of slaves greatly outweighs owning a single slave for less than a year before freeing him without any conditions.

Back to Wilson, saying his accomplishments are formidable would be an understatement. His Fourteen Points, promulgated in a speech before Congress that outlined his vision for ending WWI, were some of the most important declarations in favor of free trade, national autonomy for Poland, Belgium and many other nations, as well as diplomatic developments toward world peace such as the League of Nations.

While the U.S. did not actually join the League of Nations, it is a widely accepted fact that the League’s principle of international political cooperation (a principle strongly advocated for by Wilson at Versailles) was a major inspiration behind the charter of today’s United Nations, of which the U.S. is an active member. Wilson not only voiced support for the 19th Amendment, but also fought tooth-and-nail for women’s suffrage for months in Congress while other legislators were convinced that allowing women to vote would harm their own electoral prospects. Toward the end of his term, Congress finally passed the 19th Amendment.

While he used to be opposed to female suffrage, Wilson quickly changed his views after recognizing women’s contributions to the WWI war effort and stated women absolutely deserve to vote because they are capable of “service and sacrifice of every kind” for their country. Furthermore, one should consider this: Abraham Lincoln was once against abolitionism, but, like Wilson, switched sides to a more progressive stance and freed the slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation. If that helped make him one of the greatest presidents of all time, why can’t Wilson be given just as much credit

for empowering women with voting rights?

Woodrow Wilson has an extremely checkered and controversial legacy.

After the recent decision, Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber claimed that Wilson’s racism “disqualifies” him from being a “role model” for Princeton students. However, it is not right to take his name away from a university solely because he was a bad role model in terms of race, because this ignores other areas where he can definitely be considered a role model, namely international relations and women’s rights.

Wilson’s solid contributions to public policy in those aforementioned areas build a strong case for his name to be on the public policy school of the university where he was once president.

It is also worth noting that the de jure segregation that Wilson helped implement is long gone due to legislation such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act, but the UN and female suffrage still remain among the pillars of democracy and diplomacy today. Americans need to fully recognize Wilson’s failures and injustices but also celebrate how he helped propel America into a more progressive future.

As previously stated, Wilson’s demise as the name for Princeton’s Public Policy School is simply one issue among many right now. Statues of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other giants of American history are also being defaced and torn down.

However, in the words of Eugene Robinson, acclaimed African-American Washington Post columnist, “there is an obvious difference between George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who founded our union, and, say, Jefferson Davis and Stonewall Jackson, who tried to destroy it.”

When we look at people like Presidents Jefferson, Washington and Wilson, we should absolutely acknowledge that these people were racist and Washington and Jefferson were slave owners who played a large role in perpetuating the racially oppressive conditions that haunt Black Americans to this day. However, this should “temper our admiration of them, not erase it entirely.”

These people may have passed down to us a country plagued by slavery, Jim Crow and other problems, but they also created and protected the “constitutional tools” that have allowed later Americans to make our country a better place for everyone to live. For that, they deserve to be recognized.

Tuhin Chakraborty can be reached at tchakra@umich.edu.

6 ARTS

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MUSIC NOTEBOOK

FILM REVIEW

Gil Scott-Heron and ‘60s campus politics DIANA YASSIN Daily Arts Writer

Before “The Revolution Will Not be Televised,” Gil Scott-Heron was a member of the Black & Blues. Following the summer of 1969, he returned to Lincoln University where he and fellow musician Brian Jackson worked on combining jazz arrangements with poetry. As members of the Black & Blues, they laid the foundation for their future work as a duo and solo artists. A lot of their work centered on the civil unrest and animosity Lincoln students had towards the university at the time. Given its small, rural setting, the intensity didn’t parallel those of other HBCU campuses like Howard University and Morgan State, but students with different beliefs directed their anger towards the conservative administration. And Scott-Heron was at the center of Lincoln’s protest culture.

Protests broke out on campus after a student, Ron Colbert, died from an asthma attack.

He was taken to the infirmary the night before when his inhaler wasn’t working, only for it to be closed. The administration denied responsibility, erroneously claiming that Colbert died from marijuana use. Students’ rallied under demands for the institution to provide essential medical services. Scott-Heron gathered students at the school chapel the following morning and called for the student body to boycott classes. They rallied around demands he drew up for a 24/7 infirmary, a fully equipped ambulance and a replacement for the on-campus physician Dr. Davies. Colbert’s death was merely the tip of the iceberg. Several students had misdiagnoses from Dr. Davies, the infirmary wasn’t open around the clock and students were dying as a result of these limitations. After a week, the administration replaced Davies and Scott-Heron called the protests off. Things didn’t calm down on campus, though; students demanded the school’s president, Dr. Marvin Wachman, be replaced by a Black president. After students relentlessly pressured trustees, protested and circulated a petition, the administration named Herman Branson the first Black president of Lincoln University. The protests at Lincoln didn’t end though. Injustices towards Black Americans still endured on campus and beyond and students refused to stay silent.

Scott-Heron had initially feared he couldn’t pursue music alongside activism. He found compromise in embedding his activism into his artwork. His writing often harkens back to his experiences at Lincoln. Following Lincoln’s administration for helping the FBI collect surveillance on its own students, Scott-Heron captured students’ collective rage in his poetry: “But something else was happening / and stu-

dents weren’t supposed to know / Lincoln’s state relationship included COIN-TEL-PRO / As now that you’ve got background and a / certain point of view / I’m awarding you a scholarship to go with me to Lincoln U.” The plot of his dystopian second novel, “The N***er Factory,” is centered around campuses turning young Black men into obedient members of bourgeois society.

However, most notable in his work is his style of music. The basis is the work he did early on with Jackson, turning poems in spoken word songs over Blues music. In many ways, this music became the basis for hip hop and rap music that would emerge in decades to come. No song has embodied this legacy better than “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” The title speaks for itself, but there’s often some confusion, in part because people misconstrue the nature of the medium. Why is it not enough to sit at home and watch coverage of protests on the television? Or “plug in, turn on and cop out” over social media and the internet? For one thing, you’re not really wary of the revolution if you’re not living it. No matter how “unbiased” the news touts itself to be, the content is curated and presented with many pieces of the story missing. This goes beyond the liberal or conservative slant of any particular media distributor. Rather, this results from both journalists’ and editors’ individual biases as well as the influence of a looming white supremacy, especially given an over three-quarters white U.S. workforce of newsroom employees.

There’s an obvious passivity to staring at a screen, and when people aren’t willing to engage in actions that lead to change, they don’t do anything to help any cause. The television also exists for purposes that have nothing to do with the revolution. The song’s pop culture references illustrate this point: “[The revolution] will not star Natalie Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia” to “The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb or Francis Scott Keys.” These parallels to white American culture showcase the blithe, white lens of the television screen — how could anyone expect anything different from the news it broadcasts?

Gil Scott-Heron speaks from a first person point of view; he was very much a part of “the revolution,” from the protests he led on his college campus to the poems, songs and books he released throughout his career. In a video from 1990 that recently made its rounds across the internet, he describes the revolution not as something people can see or talk about, but something they must experience:

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A beloved musical comes to Disney Plus SABRIYA IMAMI Daily Arts Writer

Ever since my sister came home for her freshman year Winter Break with a song called “Satisfied,” “Hamilton” has been a part of my life.

I met one of my closest friends because of it, I passed AP US History because of it and (sort of ) passed AP Government because of it. I even got a chance to see the Chicago cast a few summers ago because of how much I loved it. As much as I loved that show, I knew it was nowhere near as incredible as the original cast’s show was. That same friend I mentioned before got to see the original cast’s show in New York and told me how amazing it was, and how much it meant to her to see the show with its creator Lin-Manuel Miranda in the starring role. So when I heard that Disney+ was going to be releasing the original Broadway cast’s show, I was elated, positive that it would be one of the most incredible things I would ever see. I was right.

Getting to see the show from a couple hundred rows away from the stage does not compare to seeing the movie that Disney+ released.

I got to see the heartbreak on Angelica’s (Renée Elise Goldsberry, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”) face during “Satisfied,” the goodnatured teasing between Laurens (Anthony Ramos, “A Star is Born”), Mulligan (Okieriete Onaodowan, “The Super”), Lafayette (Daveed Diggs, “Wonder”) and Burr (Leslie Odom Jr., “Murder on the Orient Express”) in “Story of Tonight (Reprise),” the genuine tears rolling down Eliza’s (Phillipa Soo, “Here and Now”) face during “It’s Quiet Uptown …” The Disney+ film combines the best parts of a Broadway show with the intimacy of an at-home film.

Seeing every carefully choreographed moment up close, while still having the audience reactions of laughter and applause, makes the show a truly unique experience. If Broadway had a flaw, it would be that very few audience members get the “perfect” view to see every detail

that occurs onstage. The film removes that concern, allowing any and every viewer to experience the show in the best way possible.

One might think that you can just listen to the “Hamilton” soundtrack and that would be enough, but that couldn’t be more wrong. The soundtrack doesn’t have Hercules Mulligan as Eliza’s and Alexander’s (Lin-Manuel Miranda, “Mary Poppins Returns”) flower girl, it doesn’t have Eliza’s heart-wrenching scream in “Stay Alive (Reprise)” and it doesn’t have the magic of a true Broadway show. Broadway is all about exaggeration; neither the soundtrack by itself nor a movie version of the show could capture what the actual Broadway performance does.

However, you get live, in-time reactions from both the cast and the audience when you see the recorded performance of “Hamilton.”

But the real genius of “Hamilton” is that you learn something beyond the history of Alexander Hamilton’s life when you watch it. Onstage, you see a version of America that we don’t have in real life. A version that we can work toward.

There are women who vow to make “women a part of the [Declaration of Independence’s] sequel” in “The Schuyler Sisters,” there are people of color in positions of power — such as Christopher Jackson’s (“Bull”) George Washington — which is a step towards change (even if it isn’t enough) and there is a president who knows when it’s time to step down. It’s not a perfect America by any means; there is infidelity, murder and mourning. But it truly is a story of America’s history told by Americans today, as Lin-Manuel Miranda intended. The show has historical inaccuracies, to be sure, but those almost don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. You could read about the founding of America any time to get historical facts, but a textbook doesn’t provide hope for change the way that “Hamilton” does.

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BOOK REVIEW

FILM REVIEW

‘Disclosure’ and the trans history of film EMILY YANG Managing Arts Editor

Sittenfeld’s ‘Rodham’ is unserious but fun JOHN DECKER Daily Arts Writer

In the imaginary world of “Rodham,” Hillary Rodham writes of her relationship with Bill Clinton: “The margin between staying and leaving was so thin; really, it could have gone either way.” Although the novel is unquestionably fiction, behind this invented statement there is truth: Bill Clinton famously proposed three times to Rodham, who, uncertain about their relationship, declined the first two. On the third proposal, she acquiesced, and they were wed in 1975.

In Curtis Sittenfeld’s version of the story, things go the other way. In 1975, Hillary Rodham leaves Bill after his streak of infidelity and moves to Chicago to teach law.

This historical re-writing is the greatest selling point for “Rodham.” It’s a bold choice on Sittenfeld’s part, who was previously celebrated for her New Yorker short fiction and romance novels, not simply narrating from the perspective of political celebrity — Hillary Clinton — but also reimagining that celebrity’s life. Simultaneously, this ingenuity and slight awkwardness is what makes the novel so appealing to both Clinton’s political followers and more generic Democrats still aching from Clinton’s 2016 loss. It offers the potential to revel in a world — for 400 pages — where Clinton (or, Rodham?) was not marred by the sexual scandals of her husband, was not forced to change her last name for his political career and was not jostled into dresses as first lady.

From the onset, Sittenfeld finds Rodham’s voice with ease. It is rigid, straightforward and pragmatic, agreeing with the political accent and message heard by millions of Americans from debate stages and biographies. It is clear that Sittenfeld has done her research, and even when the story turns entirely unfamiliar (Rod-

ARTS 7

ham’s thoughts towards Donald Trump, say, or even those during sex with Bill Clinton), she adheres to Rodham’s voice in such a way that makes it almost difficult to separate the person crafted in “Rodham” from the real former Secretary of State.

Unfortunately, when this voice is utilized in the remainder of the novel, the potential strength that “Rodham” suggests in its intrepid premise is lost. Particularly in contrast with “You Think It, I’ll Say It,” Sittenfeld’s collection of short fiction that felt near-overwhelming with its brisk and thoughtful prose, the writing in large margins of “Rodham” feels disappointingly similar to your grandmother’s 99 cent paperback thriller. Sometimes, this comes in the form of tiring lines — “the speakers swelled with an upbeat pop song by a young female artist.” Other times, particularly near the end of the novel, feel as if Sittenfeld is sick of sitting at her desk and has crammed six details into a sentence for the sake of, well, details.

The problem with this lackluster, uninspired writing is that it detracts from the areas in which “Rodham” has the potential to make excellent points. The book’s most powerful section is its first quarter, in which Rodham meets, falls in love with and eventually leaves Bill Clinton. “Falling in love was shocking, shocking, utterly shocking,” Sittenfeld writes.

As the two move in together, Sittenfeld captures the moral complexity and distress that Bill’s infidelity invokes on Rodham. Like the rest of the novel, the chapters are intriguing and original. They also offer more than just an amusing tale about Rodham: They invoke complex questions on love and relationships without sacrificing writing or soapboxing about Rodham’s choices.

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“If you are a marginalized person, most film and television is not made with you in mind,” Laverne Cox says about 20 minutes into Sam Feder’s new documentary, “Disclosure.” “If you are a person of color, an LGBTQ person, a person who’s an immigrant, if you’re a person with a disability, you develop a critical awareness because you understand that the images that you’re seeing are not your life.”

This critical consciousness is what “Disclosure” aims to impart on its viewers.

Through a thorough survey of on-screen depictions of transgender people, Feder captures a long history of scapegoating and misrepresentation. If the viewer was previously unaware of the pervasiveness of transphobia in cinema, Feder’s editing style quickly makes the viewer aware of it. Over a hundred films are included, most of which are presented without explicit commentary in clips of a few seconds. Small moments of transphobia abound in American cinema, ranging from work by esteemed directors like Alfred Hitchcock to lesser-known pop-cultural specimens in talk shows and B-movies.

This whirlwind montage is interspersed with commentary by trans “creatives” — actors like Laverne Cox, Zackary Drucker and Jazzmun as well as filmmakers like Yance Ford and Lilly Wachowski — which serves to counterbalance the work by cis wirters and directors. These trans commentators also offer insights on the role of representation (good and bad) in shaping their own self-perceptions alongside the broader cultural consciousness. In one of the first sequences in the film, Laverne Cox unpacks the character of Geraldine in “The Flip Wilson Show,” which her mother would watch. “[She] would laugh at that character,” Cox says, which relegated anything trans to “the realm of humor.”

Many of the other insights from the trans commentators work like this: on-screen representation doesn’t match up with the actual lived experiences and inner lives of trans people. For a trans viewer, this leads to cognitive dissonance or a feeling of being misunderstood. The actress and writer Jen Richards recounts a coworker asking her about Buffalo Bill (the transfeminine serial killer and necrophile from “Silence of the Lambs”) when she said she was going to transition. — “her only reference point was this disgusting, psychotic serial killer,” Richards says. “That was her only template for understanding … It hurts, it just hurts.”

The critic Willow Catelyn Maclay notes

in her review of the film that “Disclosure”’s “political consciousness is that of common sense or common decency.” As such, “Disclosure” focuses mostly on culturally dominant portrayals of trans people that are shocking and violent. We see a geneology of the psychotic man-in-a-dress trope, that originates in Hitchcock’s “Psycho,” as well as the trope of the trans woman as murder victim in cop shows like “CSI” and “NYPD Blue.” Elsewhere, the film unpacks other tropes — transmasculinity as a packaging for women’s empowerment in films like “Yentl,” revulsion and violence at the revelation of a trans woman’s body or history in films like “The Crying Game.” While more nuanced (if still problematic) films such as “Ma Vie En Rose” and “Breakfast On Pluto” are discussed, the scale is overwhelmingly tipped toward shocking, stereotypical depictions that circle around essentialism and violence. The trans commentators frequently say of a clip that it’s “hard to watch.”

This history is worth confronting, but is that all there is? Maclay aptly points out that representation is only one aspect of what can be considered “transgender” cinema, and that “Disclosure” thus has a narrow scope. “Because the film mainly wants to offer an antidote to negative representation and analyze how these images of the past have informed modern perceptions of transness, there’s no room to address what transgender cinema may look like in the future,” she writes. The film only passingly touches on trans-made cinema (focusing on recent work by Lilly Wachowski and recent television like “Pose” and “Transparent”) and it feels as though a more thorough discussion of how trans people represent ourselves might have rounded out the film better.

Even barring that, I wish the film was better at indicating what negative representation means. The commentators too often stop at calling transphobia what it is, which should be obvious to any remotely selfaware cis person. Self-awareness doesn’t transform into a broader consciousness, and so the film can take on the tone of an HR-style sensitivity training. Why do cis people want all of this? The tropes “Disclosure” discusses don’t point toward anything in the cis imagination that created them.

Doing so would undermine the project of respectability the film is pursuing, one that assumes that “inclusion” in the system that created these images is the goal. It can’t help but be self-defeating.

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The Siddi people, ‘India’s forgotten African tribe’

The most forgotten humanitarian crisis

SUNITHA PALAT

MAYA KADOUH

In harmonious 3/3 time, the feet of the Siddi people bounce up and down with vigor, excitement and passion. They’re dancing in a semicircle formation with movements slightly organized as a kora —an African-style drum — plays briskly, complementing their tempo. In a mix of song and chant, they let out words that are foreign to me, seemingly native to Africa — clearly telling some sort of story. And according to the crowd, it was a captivating one at that.

Six men dancing are adorned in a white shell necklace, a bright orange and black skirt and a grasscovered belt. Their headbands matched the bottom — bright orange and black with mock horns extending from out the top. Decorative face paint juxtaposes their skin, and the men move their lean bodies gracefully within their pack, displaying immaculate rhythm and practice, almost resemblant of antelope. Their movements are hypnotizing in a sense. Their movements exude sincere passion and incite a sort of magnetism, forbidding you remove your glance, and I can’t help but move my own body side to side a bit, entrapped by the group’s chant and song.

Over the six or seven trips I’ve taken to India in my life, I can’t recount a time I saw one Black person; as I continue to educate myself on the Black Liberation Movement worldwide, I questioned this.

With a population of over 1.3 billion people hailing from various

The people of Yemen feel like the world has forgotten them, and with 80 percent of Yemen’s population in need of humanitarian assistance, it is a reasonable question to ask: “Has the world forgotten about Yemen?” However, for most, the more pressing question is, “what is even going on in Yemen?”

The Arab Spring, a wave of prodemocracy protests and uprisings which spread across the Arab world in 2010, catalyzed Yemen’s fight for democracy, which pushed the former president of Yemen out of power and instated his deputy.

The political transition exacerbated the low standard of living in Yemen, prompting a civil war to begin in 2015. The war quickly evolved from a fight for democracy to a proxy war, in which Saudi Arabia and Iran are backing opposite sides, using Yemen as their playground. Saudi Arabia is at fault for a military campaign which launched over 21,000 — and counting — air strikes on civilians and the creation of a coalition that is responsible for a land, sea and air barrier around Yemen, making it impossible for the Yemeni people to receive aid.

Years of continuous air strikes, relentless weaponization of aid and innumerable violations of humanitarian laws have left Yemen in the worst humanitarian crisis the world has ever seen. As the war continues to destroy Yemen’s infrastructure, the issues of massive unemployment, food insecurity and lack of health resources run

MiC Staff Writer

MiC Staff Writer

Design by Hibah Chughtai

parts of the word, and in a place that shares cultural, geographic and religious similarities to several African countries, I felt inclined to research the history and state of Black lives in India today.

The Siddi people, “India’s forgotten African tribe,” are the notorious African Indians. It is estimated that the Siddis settled in India around 700 and 900 AD from Bantu or other Sub-Saharan tribes, enslaved by Indian rulers. However due to their physical strength, many were able to take up roles as soldiers in political warfare. An extremely famous Siddi, Malik

Ambar, was known to be a great asset to the Maratha kings of India, introducing guerrilla warfare — previously used in Africa — to help defeat Mughals. As time passed, some Siddis bought freedom and some created their own communities in forests, often becoming entertainers, musicians and seers to survive.

In the modern day, around 55,000 Siddis live scattered across a few Indian states (Karnataka — where most are — Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat...

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rampant, resulting in over 3 million people internally displaced, approximately 20 million people hungry, 19 million people without access to clean drinking water and nearly 20 million without access to basic health services. For reference, Yemen’s population is just over 28 million; in other words, if you were to equate the situation in Yemen to the United States, 187 million Americans would wake up hungry each day. As the war continues, these issues get worse, and bearing the brunt are the children, who are severely malnourished, without education — robbed of a bright future. The children of Yemen are at devastating odds with 45 percent of children under the age of 5 having permanent mental or physical disabilities.

As COVID-19 devastates developed countries, it hits Yemen, a war-torn country with the largest humanitarian crisis, the hardest. With only five labs capable of testing for COVID-19, it is impossible to know the true effect of the pandemic in Yemen. However, it is known that the population is dying at a higher rate than the rest of the world: 25 percent of people with COVID-19 in Yemen die, which is 5.9 times higher than the global average. This should come with no surprise that a healthcare system destroyed by the war cannot support its people; there are two hospital beds for every 7,000 people, only a few hundred ventilators and many hospitals closed in fear of contamination.

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Immigrant solidarity with the Black Liberation Movement SHAY SZABO

MiC Staff Writer

From one immigrant to another, We both know the fight for migrant rights has been a long battle against divisive laws and historical injustices over-policing our immigrant lives. Our immigrant communities have faced injustice at the hands of those in power who value political rhetoric over the well-being of human lives. America is a nation built on immigrants, yet, we immigrants are historically disregarded as second-class citizens whose statuses are constantly threatened and whose identities

are commonly exploited in various social institutions.

Racial profiling, police abuse and discrimination are not commonalities exclusive to the immigrant community — they are fiercly prominent in the Black community as well. The Black Liberation Movement and the fight for immigrant rights continuously run parallel and are currently both receiving great attention. From Emmett Till to George Floyd, we have seen the monstrous violence imposed on our Black brothers and sisters. This centuries-long racial inequity perpetuates all levels of social institutions including educa-

tion, the work-force, the criminal justice system, healthcare, housing and even food security. Current statistics show that Black American mothers are dying at 12 times the rate of white mothers during childbirth in NYC. This inequity is reflected in our law enforcement system where the extrajudicial killings of Black people at the hands of law enforcement has turned to American tradition. Police abuse extends to the immigration community through racial profiling.

Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070 was passed in 2010 asserting...

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MICHIGAN IN COLOR 9 No place like home: American Check out this article about a man advocating housing insecurity for feminism Thursday, July 9, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

PRISHA GROVER MiC Staff Writer

A significant part of the traditional American Dream includes buying your first house as a cumulative result of hard work and steady income. For many people, a home is where you lay down roots, establish a family and a community.

However, as a result of redlining — real estate discrimination and limited access to mortgages — there has been a large gap in homeownership when comparing white families to Black, Hispanic and Asian family units. The rate of homeownership among white communities in the first quarter of 2020 was 73.7 percent — almost 10 percent higher than the whole country’s average of 65.3 percent. Meanwhile, the rates for Black, Hispanic and Asian communities were much lower: Black communities had 44 percent; Hispanic communities had 48.9 percent; and Asian, Native, Hawaiian and Pacific Islander had 59.1 percent. The effects of these disparities go far beyond home owning, as this ownership is often a gateway to wealth building through better public education, — for which the level of funding is determined by property taxes — tax benefits, etc.

The homeownership gap has existed since the end of slavery but was only exacerbated by events such as the Great Depression and the 2008 Housing Crisis. While homeownership rates, in general, have risen, the gap among white people and Black and other POC has remained drastic. There are several reasons for this gap:

AAKASH RAY MiC Staff Writer

Design by Hibah Chughtai

Real Estate Discrimination Real estate discrimination can arise for many reasons and in many forms. Some of the major reasons include race, sexuality, disabilities, language barriers, gender or marital status. It is illegal to discriminate against a potential homebuyer for these reasons. Some common forms of discrimination include refusing to return phone calls, providing false information about the cost or availability of a unit or falsifying eligibility requirements.

In numbers, 26 percent of Black people report having been treated differently due to their race during the homebuying process, while Asian and Hispanic people report 19 percent and 16 percent respectively. Another extension of this is realtors are more likely to assume a higher income status for potential white homebuyers, whereas they are more likely to assume a lower income status for non-white potential homebuyers. A study conducted by a professor at Northwestern

University produced data — which supported data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development — that stated in “about 10% audits in which a white and an African-American auditor were sent to apply for the same unit after 2005, the white auditor was recommended more units than the African-American auditor.” Similarly, “about 16% of Latinxs say they’ve been treated differently in their search for housing because of their race.” There are several other studies asserting similar claims: People of color are notably discriminated against when it comes to potential home ownership. Other studies include a Housing Discrimination Study in 2000 by the Office of Policy Development and Research, the Complexities and Process of Racial Housing Discrimination and Breaking Down the Black-White Homeownership Gap.

Last week, College Republicans at the University of Michigan, a student organization on campus dedicated to promoting the principles of the Republican Party, posted a tweet making light of various majors and minors offered through LSA. Included on this list were not only areas of study promoting equality, intercultural leadership and interdisciplinary studies but also one dedicated to challenging injustices faced by women for generations — the University’s Department of Women’s Studies.

In doing so, the organization effectively dehumanized all women and reminded many that the University is not exempt from misogyny and sexism on its campus. As a Voluntary Student Organization, College Republicans at the University is a recognized stu-

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dent organization that is directly affiliated with the University yet consistently ignores its mission to foster a community built on “civility, dignity, diversity [and] inclusivity.” What the organization fails to recognize is the same department they are mocking is one of many advancing research, teaching and activism for countless of their own members, friends and family — those who identify as women.

The Department of Women’s Studies, founded in 1973, is built on the bedrock principles of coalition building, social change and feminist theory. Utilizing these principles, many graduates strive to replace outdated information about women, gender and race with new knowledge and challenge unequal distributions of power perpetuated

by American systems.

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Legislative Vendetta IZZA AHMED-GHANI MiC Staff Writer

As millions of Americans were celebrating Independence Day within the various physical capacities embedded across the nation, I could not help but feel choked in a muzzle of falsified liberation we citizens of this country not only surrender to, but praise. I recite the annual literary antic, “Happy Fourth of July” to my peers, friends and family. This being a muttered dig at the naive walk of shame proud citizens acclaim, oblivious that it is they, we, him, her, all of us

who lay fugitive as the blunt of the joke.

Human nature, as it goes, would have many individuals bask in bitter contentment. Stoically-bodied in reaction to the times, there is an inherent discomfort when one knows we, as a society, accept and hold ourselves captive to an old dictorator: ignorance. I’m no physician, but I’d assess the state of this nation’s well-being with the diagnosis of “Stockholm Syndrome.”

Often I come across comments reading: “Our laws aren’t racist… [and to gesture so] will do nothing to help

people RIGHT NOW.” And then some more...

“How can you say one of the most diverse countries in the world is racist?”

The legislation we uphold from our founding fathers is outdated.

Metastasizing discriminatory roots into local, state and federal legislation. These policies have systemically rendered differences in the opportunities marginalized populations have to achieve optimal health that leads to unequitable but avoidable health outcomes.

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10 SPORTS

Thursday, July 9, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Everything you missed from a shortened softball season

Thursday, March 12, 2020 was what Michigan softball coach Carol Hutchins described as “the worst day of every coach’s career.” The day COVID-19 brought the entire world of sports to a sudden stop.

That was 87 days ago.

By now, the softball season would be over, the champions would have been crowned in Oklahoma NICHOLAS City and STOLL someone would have carelessly asked Hutchins if she had any plans to retire after her 37th season as the head coach of Michigan softball.

None of that actually happened. In its place, all we have are trends, hypotheticals and predictions based on just 23 games.

The good news: That’s enough information to tell you all of the storylines and excitement you missed as a result of the abrupt and untimely end to the season.

Lexie Blair: Sophomore slump or slow start?

One of the most interesting early-season developments was sophomore outfielder Lexie Blair’s early hitting struggles.

As a freshman, Blair posted a .406 batting average with 54 RBI and 22 doubles. Entering her sophomore season, there were high expectations for Blair to perform at the elite level she established in 2019.

Blair herself held those same expectations.

“For me, in the beginning, I was just putting a lot of unnecessary weight on my shoulders,” Blair told The Daily in February. “Trying too hard not to disappoint the team after the (freshman) year I had.

Trying to live up to expectations when really I just needed to get out and just play the game like I know how.”

Yet, in her first 13 games of 2020, Blair was hitting at just a .175 clip and lost her leadoff spot, eventually sinking down to eighth in the lineup.

After her uncharacteristic start she made a phone call to a former teammate; whatever was said on that call appeared to help

Blair regain her confidence.

Over the final 10 games of the season, Blair went 15 for 35, posting a .429 batting average.

Those final 10 opponents were some of the best in softball including No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Washington, No. 3 Texas and No. 21 UCF. So not only was Blair trending upwards at an impressive rate, she was doing it against harder competition.

To say Blair would have ended at or above her .406 average from her freshman year had the 2020 season been played in full would be a strong assertion, yet it was certainly possible considering Blair’s upward trajectory.

Now, Michigan will have to wait until the 2021 season to decide whether Blair is truly the star-studded slugger from her freshman campaign or the strong but streaky hitter she was as a sophomore.

Abby Skvarce: A true designated hitter In softball, there’s a position titled “designated player,” which fills a slot in your lineup that can be used somewhat f lexibly, but when your designated player holds the highest batting average, on base percentage and second highest slugging percentage among starters and bats cleanup, she should definitely be called your designated hitter.

Senior Abby Skvarce appeared in 37 at bats, which is more in a shortened season than in any of her previous three full seasons. And it’s pretty easy to see why Hutchins gave more nods to Skvarce this year than ever before — an on-base plus slugging percentage at .786 tops all other starters while she knocked in seven runs, all on a team that struggled to find consistent offensive production.

Despite extended eligibility granted by the NCAA to spring athletes, Skvarce will not be returning in 2021. This means that after three years in the system and finally proving herself as a viable offensive contributor in her senior season, Skvarce is never going to suit up as a Wolverine again. And a COVID-inf licted season ensured we wouldn’t find out what Skvarce could really do with a full year as a starter.

Julia “Juju” Jimenez: The Future face of Michigan

softball The freshman came in and did nothing short of impress. Jimenez, the No. 20 overall prospect according to FloSoftball, walked into the building more than just ready to play — she was ready to start.

Offensively, she boasted 12 runs, seven RBI, seven doubles and a .263 batting average. Sure, the numbers don’t jump off the page, but for a freshman batting leadoff, it’s nothing to scoff at. Not to mention, when Blair couldn’t find a rhythm, it was Jimenez who Hutchins turned to as the answer for the first spot in the batting order.

“Juju didn’t make it any bigger

With her freshman year cut short, we were unable to f lesh out just how good Jimenez could be. One thing is for sure, though: Jimenez will see the field plenty over the course of the next three years. Jimenez’s dynamic fielding ability paired with her stoic hitting confidence is the perfect recipe for a star player that can anchor the Wolverines’ lineup, something they’ve been missing since Sierra Romero in 2016.

The rest of the season: how far would Michigan have gone?

First, I need to acknowledge that with a 15-8 record, the 18th ranked Wolverines still had not played a single home game.

Even then, those teams weren’t performing as well as what may have been expected at the start of the season with only No. 22 Wisconsin ranked.

Based on the first 23 games of the season, the Wolverines appeared to be the best team in the Big Ten. I believe they would have claimed the Big Ten regular season title for the second year in a row and had a chance to grab the repeat tournament championship trophy as well.

In the tournament, the largest barrier would have been Wisconsin’s powerful offense containing Kayla Konwent and Stephanie Lombardo, somewhat of a mismatch to Michigan’s

ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily

Senior designated player Abby Skvarce found herself as a player at the begginning of her last year as a Wolverine.

than it was,” Hutchins told The Daily in February. “Which was, ‘I’m batting.’ She doesn’t care when.”

That mentality is exactly what a team looks for in their batters — just bat.

But Jimenez moving into the spot of her upperclassmen wasn’t just in the batting order, it was also in the field. Just two games after being moved up into the leadoff spot, Jimenez shifted over from second base to shortstop.

The previous shortstop, junior Natalia Rodriguez, who swapped positions with Jimenez, had held the starting position at shortstop for two years prior to the sudden mix-up.

Why? Hutchins never gave a straight answer. But when commenting on Jimenez’s capabilities, she described them simply as “her swag on the field.”

In 2019, Michigan entered its home series at 12-10 en route to a 33-3 record down the stretch, including a 17-2 record at home.

So, were the 2020 Wolverines poised to make a similar run?

In short: yes.

The trend of winning in the latter half of the season is not uncommon for Michigan, and there’s a pretty simple explanation for why — besides ‘home field advantage,’ (which does help).

The Big Ten, and other regionally close opponents, are simply not as good as the SEC, PAC-12 and other southern and western teams that the Wolverines face off against earlier in the season.

That’s not to say the Big Ten is a bad conference, there are certainly some contenders like Minnesota, Wisconsin and Northwestern that would give Michigan a run for its money.

lower-scoring pace.

In the NCAA tournament, the Wolverines would have seeded well enough to host a regional in Ann Arbor. This year, I could see them getting past the first stage but likely falling in the super regional when the competition truly ramped up.

So no, COVID-19 did not prevent you from seeing another Michigan softball World Series run. What it did take away was a chance to gauge the trajectory of the team and the core players it has to build around in the coming years.

But like everything else right now because of the pandemic, those answers are unknown — so like everyone else, we’ll just have to wait.

Stoll can be reached at nkstoll@umich.edu or on Twitter @nkstoll.

Thursday, July 9, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

SPORTS 11

Jim Harbaugh ‘never saw’ inappropriate conduct committed by Dr. Robert Anderson ETHAN SEARS

Managing Sports Editor

Jim Harbaugh said he never saw, or heard, anything inappropriate surrounding Dr. Robert Anderson, the former University of Michigan doctor accused of sexual abuse by an ever-growing number of people, including ex-football players.

Anderson was the family doctor, Harbaugh said, as his father, Jack, was on the Michigan football coaching staff from 1973-79.

“Also when I played here at Michigan, Dr. Anderson was the team doctor,” Harbaugh said.

“And took a physical for every youth sport that I played, and also when I

was here in college for football, a yearly physical.

Never saw, never anything inappropriate. Nor did I ever hear anything that was inappropriate about Dr. Anderson.

“Never experienced anything inappropriate, never heard anytime where there was inappropriate (conduct) by Dr. Anderson.”

Anderson is alleged to have abused students and athletes during medical exams. Lawsuits filed by survivors are currently pending, as is a University investigation done by an outside firm, WilmerHale.

The University has said it wants to settle claims out of court, setting up a hotline number for victims to call with allegations.

Athletic director Warde

Manuel has also come under fire for his handling of a complaint regarding the case, forwarding it to University lawyers instead

of Title IX investigators.

In mid-June, Michigan reached out via email and the postal service to over 300,000 students who

attended the University while Anderson worked there, asking alumni to report experiences with him.

MADDIE HINKLEY/Daily

“I am writing to ask you to come forward and speak to WilmerHale if you had any experience with Anderson you wish to report or if you have any other information you believe may be relevant,” University President Mark Schlissel wrote.

“Safeguarding the confidentiality of Dr. Anderson’s former patients is of paramount importance. Accordingly, WilmerHale will not disclose any identifying or confidential patient information to the University, and the identity and confidentiality of Dr. Anderson’s patients will be protected from disclosure to others to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Jim Harbaugh never heard of any problems with Dr. Anderson in his experiences with the doctor.

Contract extension discussions for Harbaugh tabled as a result of COVID-19 pandemic ETHAN SEARS

Managing Sports Editor

There’s no reason to believe a contract extension won’t come

for Jim Harbaugh. And, according to the Michigan football coach, before the pandemic turned everything upside down, one was “right there.”

“Right in last February, it was being discussed, and then the pandemic hit,” Harbaugh said on a Zoom call with reporters. “And it’s been not as high on the

MADDIE HINKLEY/Daily

Jim Harbaugh did not sign a contract extension this spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

priority list.”

Harbaugh’s current contract, which runs until the end of the 2021 season, would see him paid $8.05 million this year if not for a 10 percent pay cut agreed to due to the financial deficit facing the athletic department.

There’s little reason to think Michigan wouldn’t want to retain Harbaugh.

Though he hasn’t taken the Wolverines to a College Football Playoff or beaten Ohio State, Harbaugh has piloted the football program to three 10-win seasons after it hit an extreme low point under Brady Hoke.

The Wolverines’ 2021 recruiting class is also eighth in the country, per 247Sports, after a slew of commitments over the last few months.

As for his potential to move jobs, Harbaugh has consistently shot down rumors of going back to the NFL, going as far to send a letter to parents of

I think there’s bigger fish to fry Michigan football players last season to refute a report that he was planning to leave.

For his part, Harbaugh seems content with the current situation, understanding the financial constraints that Michigan is currently

under.

There’s also the obvious reality for both him and the University that a massive contract extension for a football coach amid a pandemic that’s seen the athletic department project a $26.1 million deficit, when no one knows whether there will be football played in September, would be poor optics at best and tone deaf at worst.

“I think there’s bigger fish to fry for our athletic director, for our administration, for, really, me as a coach,” Harbaugh said. “It hasn’t been on the top of the priority list. But I would expect something.

That would be an announcement at sometime when that is said. I’m under contract this year and next.

So we’ll get to that.”

12 SPORTS

Thursday, July 9, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

FOOTBALL

Harbaugh optimistic

about fall sports season THEO MACKIE

Managing Sports Editor

When Jim Harbaugh sat down in front of his computer Wednesday afternoon for his first press conference of 2020, he knew the looming question would be one he’s never faced during his 16-year head coaching career.

Normally around this time, he would be joining the Big Ten’s 13 other head coaches in Chicago to talk about quarterback battles, how the freshmen look and who’s in the best shape of their lives.

This year, of course, isn’t normal.

There are no Big Ten media days and come early September, there may not even be a season — an ever-growing possibility as COVID-19 cases escalate across the country.

But with that scheduled start of the season just over eight weeks away and 50,304 new coronavirus cases confirmed in the US on Tuesday, Harbaugh re-affirmed his hope for the season to unfold as planned.

“If students are on campus, then my personal belief as a parent of a daughter who would also be on campus is that this is a safe place,” Harbaugh said. “As safe as possible, would be within the University, in our athletic buildings and complexes. The safety precautions that have been put into place, I would feel good with the medical oversight of the students, student athletes. I would want the responsibility.”

Harbaugh acknowledged the importance of that caveat — if students are on campus — saying “it’s a different conversation if there’s no students on campus.”

This week, it’s an especially relevant caveat with Rutgers becoming the first Big Ten school to announce its classes will be almost entirely online in the fall.

And with new cases on the rise in every Big Ten state, the Scarlet Knights could just be the first domino to fall.

For now, though, Michigan and most teams on its planned 12-game schedule are holding firm on plans to hold at least some classes in person. And if that’s the case, Harbaugh wants football to follow, issuing the controversial

and now viral statement that “COVID is part of our society.

Wasn’t caused by football or caused by sports. And there’s no expert view right now that I’m aware of that sports is going to make that worse. It’s part of our society, we’re going to have to deal with it.”

Of course, the virus wasn’t caused by football — a truth that doesn’t negate the dangers of hundreds of college athletes congregating each day and then returning to their communities, unlike professional athletes in leagues that plan to resume their seasons in isolated bubbles.

Harbaugh, though, isn’t an epidemiologist. His focus isn’t on viral diseases, it’s on his team and his players.

“I share the same opinion as our players,” Harbaugh said. “They want to play. As I said, they’ve been training their whole lives for this and these opportunities.

Put the question to them, which I have, they would rather play than not play.”

That single-minded focus is why Harbaugh remained mum on the possibility of a spring season.

It’s why, when asked about the likelihood of playing Washington in Seattle on Sept. 5, he said, “Not gonna offer my personal opinion.

Athletic directors, presidents, school presidents and the medical experts can decide what’s best there.” A notably different approach than what he took when asked of the virus as a whole.

But what he is doing is making sure his players are doing what they can: wearing masks and following social distancing protocols put in place by health officials and athletic department specialists. “They’ve been really great about following those,” Harbaugh said. “I think they really understand there’s great value to keeping their own personal health but that of their teammates.”

The point of all that? To get to Harbaugh’s ultimate goal: have a season.

“The scenario that they’re playing is the one that you’re hoping and praying for,” Harbaugh said. “These youngsters have put in a lot of training, really their whole lives, for these moments.”

Another out-of-context Harbaugh ETHAN SEARS

Managing Sports Editor

Jim Harbaugh went viral on Twitter Wednesday.

“Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh doesn’t think ETHAN playing sports SEARS will make the COVID19 outbreak worse,” screamed the Twitter moment.

“COVID is part of our society,” he said in a Zoom call with media earlier in the day. “Wasn’t caused by football or caused by sports. And there’s no expert view right now that I’m aware of that sports is going to make that worse. It’s part of our society, we’re going to have to deal with it.”

The uproar was predictable.

Except, well, that wasn’t really what he said. At least, it wasn’t all of what he said. Or even close to all of what he said. Here’s all of what he said: “Yeah, my thoughts would be, it’s a different conversation if there’s no students on campus. If students are on campus, then my personal belief as a parent of a daughter who would also be on campus that this is a safe place. As safe as possible, would be within the University, in our athletic buildings and complexes.

That safety precautions that have been put into place.

“I would feel good with the medical oversight of the students, student athletes. I would want the responsibility. I would want the responsibility of keeping our players safe and also educating

them. I would not want to come off of that guard tower of educating and keeping our players safe.

“Now, if it comes to a point in time where you say that we can’t play, it’s obvious, it’s clear, then everybody would be reasonable and know that was the right thing to do.

COVID is part of our society. Wasn’t caused by football or caused by sports. And there’s no expert view right now that I’m aware of that sports is going to make that worse.

It’s part of our society, we’re going to have to deal with it.

“These kids are going to have to do the same thing. They’ve got to go to school. They’ve trained their whole lives for the opportunity to play their sport. That is my view with the knowledge that we have and time to learn more about it. It would be my responsibility, our responsibility and the players’ responsibility also, to keep themselves safe and get the schooling and training that they need.”

That doesn’t sound like a football coach putting himself ahead of unpaid kids so he can make money amid a pandemic.

It sounds like someone who’s spent the last four months talking every day to people about whether or not a football season will happen and if so, how it can happen. It sounds like the parent of an athlete (as well as another student) at the University — cautious, but willing to go along with the plan in place.

It sounds like that because that’s exactly what it is.

I’m tired of this song and dance we do every time Harbaugh gives his actual opinion on something.

Frankly, it makes me understand why he often goes out of his way to not say anything interesting. It’s exhausting.

That’s not to say he should get

ETHAN SEARS/Daily

Coach Jim Harbaugh sparked fierce reactions with his comments on COVID-19.

a free pass to say whatever he wants. If you want to rip Harbaugh for suggesting football might be possible, that’s fine. Football might well not be possible. I don’t know and neither does he. But criticize in context.

He noted the importance of students being on campus, which University President Mark Schissel and Athletic Director Warde Manuel have said is a must if football is to happen. Harbaugh noted the safety precautions in place, both in athletic buildings and the rest of the University, and it’s clear that if Michigan’s reopening plan fails, it will almost certainly be due to behavior that happens outside the purview of those guidelines.

He’s probably wrong in saying no expert thinks sports will make it worse …. but an epidemiologist told The Athletic the risk is hard to quantify if students are already on campus, and might be mitigated by extra testing. So at minimum, there’s certainly no consensus over whether sports would make it worse.

“Jim Harbaugh doesn’t think playing sports will make the COVID-19 outbreak worse,” obviously sounds a lot better than, “Jim Harbaugh is optimistic that football season can happen safely if players and coaches follow extensive safety protocols that will be in place if universities allow students back for in-person learning.” Maybe that better explains the issue than the last 700 words of this column.

Here’s the thing, though. If doctors and epidemiologists tell him it isn’t safe, Harbaugh won’t marshal 130 players and staff onto a plane to Seattle so Michigan can play Washington on Sept. 5. One source told The Daily that game is highly unlikely to happen, which comports with, well, basic logic.

Though he won’t say it publicly, Harbaugh surely knows that, too.

While Twitter was ripping him to shreds, here’s what else Harbaugh said about the novel coronavirus and how it’s affecting his team: “I’d say the biggest question I’m really getting from our players is how they can be a part of the solution. A lot of the feedback has been that their peers, other people in their age group, are somewhat or very cavalier about the virus.

How it affects that age group. Their response has been they want to be

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