2020-03-24

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Ann Arbor, Michigan

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University research ramped down, labs asked to donate supplies following COVID-19 outbreak University makes changes to researchers’ work, spaces in order to decrease all nonessential activities

DESIGN BY MICHELLE FAN

LIAT WEINSTEIN Daily News Editor

As diagnosed cases of the novel coronavirus continue to climb across the country and throughout the state, the University of Michigan has limited all laboratory research deemed “noncritical” until further notice. The University and Michigan Medicine are also requesting that labs with available supplies, including face masks and gowns, donate their materials to the hospital as soon as possible to prepare for an

influx of cases in the coming weeks.

On Wednesday, Rebecca Cunningham, interim vice president for research and Susan M. Collins, acting provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, sent out a notice informing the University’s research community that all labs should “ramp down” their research activities. This change went into effect Friday at 5 p.m.

Cunningham and Collins acknowledged the negative

repercussions of limiting research projects but said the change was made to protect the health of researchers and students.

“Our research mission is important, however the health of our researchers and local community is more important,” Cunningham and Collins wrote. “Please note that we are working closely with leadership across the schools and colleges to minimize the impact this poses to your professional advancement, the advancement of your colleagues

and to your ability to return to fully functional labs.”

The order to drastically decrease nonessential research activity came after the University placed restrictions on all projects using human subjects on March 14. This restriction is set to continue until May 1, when the University will reevaluate whether research using human subjects is safe to proceed.

On Monday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” Executive Order requiring

3 parties run for upcoming CSG election The Daily assembled a guide detailing each group’s platform, key ideas, candidates JULIA RUBIN

Daily Staff Reporter

The University of Michigan’s Central Student Government will hold elections March 25-26 online.

CSG handles tens of thousands of dollars to provide student services, conduct advocacy work on behalf of students, fund student organizations and represent the student voice to University administration. With three parties running for the executive ticket and dozens of issues affecting students, it can be difficult to choose who to vote for this week.

Based on analyses of each party’s platforms and interviews with the executive tickets, The Daily has created this guide to help you navigate this election.

You can read The Daily’s profiles of each party here: Mobilize,

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

DESIGN BY NOAH FINER

Change at Michigan and Represent Michigan. You can view your sample ballot — and vote when the time comes — online at vote. umich.edu.

THE ISSUES

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Based on the issues impacting campus and analyses of the party platforms, The Daily has summarized each party’s policies for six categories that impact students. The entire platforms for

For more stories and coverage, visit

Mobilize, Change at Michigan, and Represent Michigan can be found by clicking on their party names.

Affordability and Accessibility CSG has previously been criticized for its work around campus affordability, most notably when a campus affordability guide created by the organization in 2018 was called “out of touch” and prompted the creation of the student-sourced Being Not-Rich At U-M guide.

While the University community has frequently had conversations relating to affordability and accessibility issues, data shows the socioeconomic makeup of the University has more students from the top 1 percent financially than the bottom 40 percent.

See CSG, Page 3

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all “non-essential” businesses to temporarily cease operations and asking all Michigan residents to stay home unless absolutely necessary.

In response, University President Mark Schlissel announced the University would move all summer and spring term classes online and make an effort to limit the number of people on campus. However, Schlissel said Whitmer’s order would not directly affect University research.

See RESEARCH, Page 3

ACADEMICS

‘U’ shifts upcoming terms online

Spring, summer courses will be remote learning LIAT WEINSTEIN Daily News Editor

Following Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” Executive Order requiring all “non-essential” businesses to cease operations and residents to stay home, Mark Schlissel, president of the University of Michigan, notified the community in an email Monday afternoon that spring and summer term classes will take place remotely through online platforms.

SeeONLINE, PAGE 3

NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 Vol. CXXIX, No. 90 ©2020 The Michigan Daily A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 SPORTS.....................7

INDEX

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Faculty, students upset by gaps in ‘U’ housing communication

While administration made decisions regarding residence halls, University apartments, professors, staff largely remain in the dark CALDER LEWIS Daily Staff Reporter

The University of Michigan faculty were not informed of the March 17 email sent to University on-campus residents titled “URGENT: Petition to Remain in Housing,” according to an email LSA Dean Anne Curzan and Timothy McKay, associate dean for undergraduate education of LSA, sent to LSA faculty Tuesday night obtained by The Daily.

“We only learned of this message after it was forwarded to us,” Curzan and McKay wrote. “We cannot imagine what a distressing and disruptive message this was to receive for students still living in the dorms. We have been advocating for the students during the afternoon and are doing what we can to help in the wake of this sudden announcement.”

The email to on-campus residents directed students to return home, citing new developments in the COVID-19 pandemic.

It said students needed to have a request approved to remain in University Housing and that students should expect dining and residence halls to consolidate. The “request to remain in housing” form, which asked students to explain why they must remain on-campus, was due less than twenty-four hours later.

“This information is needed by 8am on Wednesday, March 18th,” University Housing wrote. “If you do not respond we will assume you have left campus and will discontinue building access.”

Kambiz Khalili, associate vice president of student life, followed up with an email to on-campus residents the next day to address and clarify messaging from the initial March 17 email.

“I am writing first to apologize for the anxiety, concerns and confusion created by the message you received yesterday regarding Housing moveout and consolidation,” Khalili wrote. “I also wish to clarify that

you were not required to have moved out by 8:00 am this morning.”

Physics professor Yuri Popov told The Daily that on Tuesday night he started receiving emails from students requesting alternate exam times for the Physics 140 midterm scheduled for Thursday because they would be moving out of residence halls that day. When Popov asked the students why they couldn’t move out a different day, he was forwarded the University Housing email.

Popov said he immediately wrote an email to Physics Departments Chair David Gerdes and McKay expressing his frustrations with the lack of communication to faculty regarding student housing situations.

“Why is no one communicating to us about this?” Popov wrote in his email to the department. “Why … are we the last to know that thousands of our students are in a state of crisis the day before they are supposed to take our exams, which were canceled last week in a similarly chaotic and poorly organized way?

We need our leadership now. We need communication and guidance.

AWOL is unacceptable and outright harmful in this situation. We don’t need motivational messages. We need someone to lead and inform us on logistics and actions.”

Popov stressed the need for a more holistic approach to student well-being that allows professors to take into account both academic and personal needs.

“It shouldn’t be that attitude that, ‘You guys just keep on teaching, and we’ll take care of students,’” Popov said. “That’s the completely wrong attitude because we need to know what’s going on with the students. … Look (at) how it looked from the student’s perspective. If instructors are kept in the dark, what happens here is from the student’s perspective they’ve been kicked out of the dorms and at the same time the physics professor sends them an email that says ‘hey

guys, I’ll see you tomorrow at 9am in my online class.’”

University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald noted that Housing has apologized for Tuesday’s message, and wrote that the University is focused on the important work moving forward.

“Messaging since that time has been well coordinated across the campus community,” Fitzgerald wrote. “That’s the most important factor.”

Nick Seewald, Rackham student and graduate student instructor, made adjustments to due dates for his Statistics 250 sections after he received the email from Curzan and McKay. “My responsibility as a GSI is to make sure students can learn and learn well, and oftentimes that is hindered by people having to take care of basic needs and worrying about things like ‘where am I going to live tomorrow?’” Seewald said.

Seewald said better communication, or “at least a heads up,” that some students might be leaving campus abruptly would have made it easier to facilitate classes.

“It would have made the situation seem like it was more unified, like there was at least some conversation about this across different areas of the University,” Seewald said. “As it was, I sort of found out at 10 p.m. and realized that that was less than 12 hours before the stated deadline for students to apply to stay in the dorms. It made things difficult to respond appropriately without a lot of lean time.”

Seewald noted that the COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented situation for the University and didn’t ascribe any ill intent to the lack of communication.

“Everybody’s under a lot of pressure right now, and there’s a lot of pressure to act fast,” Seewald said. “So, I can empathize with the decision to act fast, but it definitely caused a scramble.”

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The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University OF Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office for $2. Subscriptions for September-April are $250 and year long subscriptions are $275. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid.

News

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RESEARCH, From Page 1 “The order will not significantly alter the university’s research operations, as we moved last Friday to ramp down all noncritical laboratory research activities,” Schlissel wrote.

LSA junior Chayton Fivecoat works in a neurobiology lab and is planning on pursuing an honors thesis in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology. Fivecoat, who works with mice in what he described as a “hands-on” lab, said his work for this year is completed because his research cannot be done remotely.

“Before classes kind of went to the wayside, I was in there about 10 hours a week,” Fivecoat said. “(Now) for me, it was completely shut down. I know a lot of my other friends, they can do

CSG, From Page 1 All parties have expressed support for the One University campaign, and Mobilize and Represent Michigan advocate for extending the Go Blue Guarantee to all three campuses. Mobilize and Change at Michigan have also both expressed support for the University to subsidize food costs via meal plans for food-insecure students.

Mobilize: • Pilot a winter coat drive and winter wear closet for students.

• Work with the Office of

ONLINE From Page 1 Schlissel said all schools and colleges at the University should work to ensure that students are able to meet graduation requirements despite classes being moved to an online format. He noted certain programs cannot be delivered adequately online and may have to be canceled for the spring and summer terms.

“This decision aligns with our ongoing efforts to respond to the pandemic, by maintaining this critical part of our mission

HOUSING From Page 2 First-year Law student Jessica Paduganan created a petition titled, “Petition for Clarification and Representation Regarding Plans for the Lawyers Club” Tuesday, because she was anxious and confused about the effect Tuesday’s University Housing email had on the Lawyers Club Graduate Residence. The petition had over 50 law student signatures as of Tuesday afternoon when Paduganan sent it to the Law School administration.

“We have asked the Lawyers Club administration to clarify the email, but to our surprise and dismay, they were also

some stuff remotely, but a lot of my stuff was ... doing benchwork. So my portion of the lab, I can’t do anything.

I’m almost powerless to do anything.”

Much of Fivecoat’s work was done in preparation for his honors thesis, which most students begin in junior year and finish a month before their graduation date. Fivecoat said he is still planning on being able to complete his thesis on time but worries the shutdown of research may slow the process down.

“I think it will slow down my ability to write a thesis just because a lot of the data collection was going to be happening this semester,” Fivecoat said. “But in terms of my projection as a(n) (MCDB) major and as a student, I think I’d be still pretty much on track.”

LSA freshman Saad Shami also worked in a lab as part of the Undergraduate Research

Opportunity Program this year.

Shami worked with Qiong Yang, assistant professor of biophysics, on a project relating to the cell cycle and the mechanisms behind it in an effort to create a biosensor. Shami said because he worked in a wet lab, meaning he handled different chemicals or substances, he cannot do any work remotely.

“Not being able to work in a lab until next semester in sophomore year, it’s not the greatest and I feel like I’m not getting the full experience of UROP,” Shami said. “Shutting down a lot of research projects, it’s definitely the right thing, especially if they want to enforce social distancing.

But for the projects themselves, it impacts them because we were still in the early stages of our project. We were trying to spend as much time as possible in the lab, trying to figure out what protein was best to make the

Financial Aid to produce a resource guide that specifies campus-wide grants and scholarships available to need-based students throughout their tenure at the University.

• Create a plan to have MDining meal swipes roll over between semesters.

Change: • Research implementation of a Free Course Guarantee program at U-M that creates degree maps that show students what courses they need to take to allow them to complete a bachelor’s degree within

four academic years, and if students follow their mapped-out plan but are unable to enroll in a required course in a given semester, the University would be required to provide the course for free in a future semester unless they can provide the student with a revised degree map that still enables the student to graduate within four years.

Reduce textbook costs for students by creating a CSG program that provides course pack replacement and direct textbook subsidies to students in

•

Tuesday, March 24, 2020 — 3 biosensor. So it limits us.”

Shami said after classes moved online, the whole lab received an email from Yang asking if supplies could be donated to Michigan Medicine to help protect healthcare workers treating COVID-19 patients. On March 18, Teri Grieb, senior director for research at the Medical School, sent an email to all research faculty asking labs to donate unopened supplies including N95 masks, face shields and hand alcohol.

On Friday, March 20, Michigan Medicine published a press release asking the greater community to donate protective gear and announcing the creation of a drop-off donation site at the North Campus Research Complex. Janet Abbruzzese, director of supply chain management for Michigan Medicine, expressed her gratitude for the community’s support in the press release.

“It’s truly incredible what we have heard from local residents and businesses, and people all over the state, in recent days. We’ve received offers of supplies that they know are needed to care for COVID-19 patients, and our team has ramped up quickly to be able to accept them,” Abbruzzese said. “We have already had an amazing outpouring of supplies from scientific laboratories across the university, and now we are turning to the broader community.”

In an email to the Daily, Kara Gavin, spokesperson for Michigan Medicine, said the hospital has already received donations since opening on Saturday.

“In just the first day, less than 24 hours after we announced the drive, we had 224 cars, plus two people on bikes and 5 walkers,” Gavin wrote.

Daily News Editor Liat Weinstein can be reached at weinsl@umich.edu

need.

Advocate for the University to subsidize meal plans for students who are not on financial aid but who are food insecure.

Represent: • Expand transportation including Blue Buses on weekend nights between North and South campuses, fund transportation for Nursing students who have clinicals in Detroit/ Pickney, and compensate Nursing students for hospital parking.

• Expand food accessibility by requiring on-campus

vendors to accept Blue Bucks, subsidize an on-campus grocery store and end charges for allergy substitutes like almond milk and gluten-free products for on-campus vendors.

Decrease school supply costs by Laptop Loan program to all University students, increase individual printing budgets and set individual department caps on textbook costs.

•

•

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

while encouraging social distancing,” Schlissel wrote. “In conjunction with our provost’s offices, I ask schools and colleges to prioritize offering programs and coursework that allows current students to keep working toward their degrees and not fall behind.”

Schlissel said the University will continue to provide services like dining hall takeout meals to those who remain on-campus or in residence halls.

The decision to cancel spring and summer term classes comes after the University ordered all research laboratories to “ramp

down” research projects that are not related to COVID-19.

With the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order, all University employees are required to work from home unless their on-campus work is considered essential to the University’s mission to slow the spread of the virus.

At a press conference Monday, Whitmer said the order was enacted to promote responsible social distancing as confirmed cases of COVID-19 continue to grow. The executive order, which asks that Michigan residents not leave their homes unless absolutely necessary, is

planned to remain in place for at least three weeks.

“Please know that even with today’s action, the number of cases will go up yet today, tomorrow and the days ahead.

It will take some time for us to impact this,” Whitmer said. “We will be continually evaluating the science, the data, the impact on your health. It is going to take greater testing.

We made strides, but we must do more so we can understand the challenges that we are confronting. So we can draw based on data.”

Currently, there are over 1,000 diagnosed cases of

COVID-19 in Michigan and 15 confirmed deaths. On Sunday, the first death in Washtenaw County was recorded at Michigan Medicine.

Symptoms of the coronavirus include fever, cough and shortness of breath. People who believe they have been exposed to coronavirus should call their health care providers or the nearest hospital. Individuals can also contact their local health department, which in Washtenaw County can be reached at 734-544-6700.

Daily News Editor Liat Weinstein can be reached at weinsl@umich.edu.

unaware of this email or what it could possibly mean for us,” Paduganan wrote.

“We understand that these decisions are being made at another level, but the lack of clarifying information, which should be sent after these central University emails, leads us to think that there is no one from Law School Housing who is participating in, and advocating for us in these meetings.”

Paduganan said Tuesday’s University Housing email put graduate students in a hard position because many haven’t lived with their parents for years and don’t have a place to return to.

“There’s a whole variety of reasons why ‘going home’

is not an option for people,” Paduganan said. “I don’t think that the University understood that saying ‘go home’ felt like we were being pushed out, that we were not welcome here and that the University of Michigan was not home to us.”

Paduganan has since spoken with the Lawyers Club administration, and she appreciated Wednesday’s follow-up email and University Housing’s $1,200 refund to all students who move out of residence halls and University apartments by March 25.

“I think some of the steps the University is taking is moving in the right direction, like starting to offer some refunds, clarifying the situation, apologizing for the

tone and some of the anxiety they’ve caused,” Paduganan said.

LSA freshman Lindsey Haughton, an out-of-state student, initially planned on staying in Mosher-Jordan Residence Hall long-term after the move to online classes. She said Tuesday’s housing email quickly changed those plans, and an exam Wednesday morning and a paper due Wednesday night added to her stress.

“It was just really overwhelming and chaotic, especially because the days that they had given us off were last week when it seemed like people could stick around,” Haughton said. “And so, to have all those assignments

looming during this time when we did actually have to move out of the dorms was really stressful.”

Haughton appreciated the effort by her professors to accommodate her move back home to New York Wednesday.

“I reached out to my English teacher, for example, and had a paper deadline moved for that day. But teachers seemed to be primarily unaware that this was going on, which I think added to the stress,” Haughton said. “I was lucky that I had a relationship with mine and she trusted that this chaos was going on.”

Daily Staff Reporter Calder Lewis can be reached at calderll@umich.edu.

Opinion

4 — Tuesday, March 24, 2020

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

EASHETA SHAH | COLUMN

The freshman experience, interrupted

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FROM THE DAILY

I

Vote Mobilize

n anticipation of voting in Central Student Government elections, which begins on March 25, The Michigan Daily Editorial Board is proud to endorse the party Mobilize. After interviews with representatives from all three CSG parties and careful review of their platforms, we found Mobilize to be the most promising based on their extensive CSG experience and clear commitment to sustainability, campus affordability and student wellness, especially in the context of the upcoming U.S. presidential debate to be held on campus in Fall 2020.

M

obilize’s presidential candidate Amanda Kaplan, a Public Policy junior, and vice presidential candidate Saveri Nandigama, an LSA junior, have a long list of achievements on CSG and held nearly every leadership position in the organization, apart from the presidency.

Kaplan is currently chief of staff in Ben Gerstein’s administration and has previously served as vicechair of CSG’s Finance Committee, as a member of the Student Organization Funding Committee, and as an LSA representative in the CSG Assembly. Nandigama was previously chief of staff in Daniel Greene’s administration and noted herself as the youngest person to have ever held that position.

These credentials give Mobilize’s team clear insider knowledge on how to manage their student government roles and enact change within the community.

The Michigan Daily Editorial Board was drawn to Mobilize because of clear, achievable platform goals. Beyond simple buzzwords like sustainability and affordability, Mobilize is impassioned by issues pertaining to climate change and divestment, student wellness and sexual assault survivor support. In terms of environmental policy, Kaplan and Nandigama’s commitment to increase transparency regarding the President’s Commission on Carbon Neutrality and call on the University to commit to carbon neutrality by 2030 aligns with the Editorial Board’s own aspirations

for our administration. For election season, their support for the Voter Affairs and Engagement Commission will provide on campus signage for and transportation to student voting locations as well as advocate for the cancellation of classes on election day to allow students to get out to the polls. Finally, regarding the University’s resources, Mobilize supports the One University (1U) campaign that works to grant equitable funding for all three campuses.

Moreover, we believe Kaplan and Nandigama’s close partnership and existing friendship is uniquely conducive to achieving this goals.

Mobilize seems to have a firm grasp of CSG’s role on campus, and understands how they can utilize its powers and its relationships with other student organizations to improve life for students at the University of Michigan. First, their aforementioned concern about the impact of the 2020 presidential debate on student life and their plan to work with the Campus Climate Advisory Council to develop a response system for the election season demonstrates their understanding of what CSG could accomplish and how it could constructively improve campus life. This, coupled with their advocacy for M-Card only accessible spaces during the debates, displays how Mobilize plans to put the well-being and safety of University students first during a potentially stressful yet exciting time of student life.

Additionally, Mobilize’s platform was not self-created;

instead, it was developed through consultation with student organizations around campus. Because of this, we believe Mobilize’s platform does not simply include positions which the candidates themselves believe are best for Michigan, but rather changes which students and their groups want to see. Because of this, Mobilize is prepared and well-suited to fight for changes that are meaningful and would serve to make campus better for everyone.

The other two parties running in the March 25 elections, Change at Michigan and Represent Michigan, also have thoughtful, comprehensive platforms and impressive experience enacting change on campus, both in and out of CSG. We have no doubt that all of these parties would do an impressive job of representing student voices at the University of Michigan. However, our decision to endorse Mobilize was ultimately decided by the presence of clear, attainable goals within their platform, their extensive experience within CSG that is currently unmatched by other candidates and the close dynamic between the two running mates.

Turnout in previous elections for CSG by students has been relatively low compared to total enrollment.

Taking the time to vote on candidates and peers who are trying to implement tangible policy change for students is an important responsibility of our student body. Above all, The Michigan Daily Editorial Board encourages every University student to exercise their voice and participate in the CSG elections this week.

O

n Wednesday, March 11, the University of Michigan canceled classes for the remainder of the week and decided to move to an online format for the rest of the semester in light of the coronavirus pandemic. I was sitting at the Michigan Union, rushing to meet a deadline, when I received the email. The atmosphere around me immediately shifted. Textbooks closed, phones rang and chaos was in the air. Students’ first response was excitement for the four-day weekend, but the commotion quickly turned into grief and panic as they began understanding the grander implications of the situation. It meant figuring out how to get home at a moment’s notice and risking the dangers of air travel. It meant saying an early goodbye to a new chapter of life and to best friends that had turned to family. It meant that (although this announcement came later) after four years of an intense grind, college seniors would not get to walk at graduation. And for the class of 2023, it meant never getting to complete their freshman year of college.

Only seven short months ago, the class of 2023 was packing up their vans and heading to campus.

It was the beginning of dorm life, unimaginable experiences and a great deal of trial and error. In the seventh month of freshman year, the blue, moving day bins roamed the residence halls once again. The semester was cut short by something everyone would always remember.

As cliche as it sounds, freshman year is the year of finding oneself both individually and professionally.

It’s the year for meeting a version of yourself you didn’t know existed and for figuring out how to be a student at the second-best public university in the country. The nightly study push to the Shapiro Undergraduate Library and questionable dining hall meals were just starting to feel like routine, and Ann Arbor was just starting to feel like home. Now, students trade in their dorm lounge study sessions for long hours on FaceTime with friends halfway across the country in an attempt to feel normal again.

But it’s just not the same. For many students, being home has its own set of struggles.

Due to the nationally rising number of coronavirus cases, many states have mandated curfews alongside the closing of public spaces like bars, restaurants and libraries, leaving students in complete isolation. This, in addition to recommended social distancing practices, especially does not bode well for the percentage of northeastern college students that are just beginning to recover from the

notorious “winter blues.” The fiveand-a-half-month period back home inevitably offsets all the self-growth and newfound sense of independence that emerges from the unfamiliarity of one’s first semester at college.

For many, home means cramped hometowns, toxic households and all-consuming struggles that were escaped after high school graduation.

For some, home is conducive to steps backward instead of forward: It breeds complacency over discomfort because that’s the easy thing to do. Remotely, it’s easy to feel content doing the bare minimum at a university that is otherwise constantly doing the most and expecting the most out of its students. In the new era of online classes, it is likely we will not fully reap the benefits of our tuition dollars. We will be expected to finish winter semester doing college without the college experience — without our community of the Leaders and the Best.

And that sense of community doesn’t come easily for many firstsemester freshmen, as much as we hate to admit it. It was a lot of feeling out of place, not getting what you wanted and constantly questioning your interests. The looming sense of imposter syndrome many incoming students face was more manageable come second semester: There were more friends to turn to and a community seemed imaginable. Then, sophomore year was going to be the year — the year of diving headfirst into career opportunities, continuing to meet some of the most important people in your life and becoming the best version of yourself. Instead, next fall seems doomed with even more confusion and a lesser sense of self.

As University students, we face an extremely privileged problem amid a global pandemic. But it’s OK to feel disheartened, to feel robbed of critical months of growth and to feel discomfort in knowing there are far worse consequences of this crisis beyond our control. In fact, this serves as even more reason to come back in the fall determined and ready for anything. Because freshman year is never really over. Anytime can be a fresh start for new beginnings and experiences. And that starts with this five-and-a-half-month hiatus from college life. Hold on to those first seven months of pulling all-nighters during exam season, dancing along to “Mr. Brightside” at frat parties and eating meals at ungodly hours. Come back next semester to continue the freshman experience right where you left it.

Easheta Shah can be reached at shaheash@umich.edu.

SUBMIT TO SURVIVORS SPEAK The Opinion section has created a space in The Michigan Daily for first-person accounts of sexual assault and its corresponding personal, academic and legal implications.

Submission information can be found at https://tinyurl.com/survivespeak.

Opinion

5 — Tuesday, March 24, 2020

VARNA KODOTH | COLUMN

W

hen reflecting on my four years spent trying to navigate the University of Michigan as a South Asian woman, I recall only one professor who shared the same core social identities as me. It’s a harsh realization to enter a community or field of work where it is not common to find professors who look like me, talk like me or grew up like me. It’s the role of an academic institution — particularly a leading center for education, research and innovation — to create a faculty that is reflective of a diverse student body. It’s time to equally prioritize diversifying University staff and faculty positions, just as it is to create a diverse student population.

The ADVANCE Program at the University not only pursues highly effective initiatives to improve diversity but also tests whether the recommendations actually result in a more diverse faculty. For example, a recent study conducted by Denise Sekaquaptewa, Koji Takahashi and the ADVANCE program at the University and published in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion — an international journal — seeks to evaluate current departmental hiring practices and suggestions to hire for diversity. In the study “An evidence-based faculty recruitment workshop influences departmental hiring practice perceptions among university faculty,” the authors demonstrate the positive impacts of a workshop on attitudes toward diversifying hiring practices and reducing biases on both an individual and department-wide level. In doing

SUNGMIN CHO | COLUMN

Look around the room so, Sekaquaptewa et al. highlight the importance of introducing systematic changes that require faculty search committees to practice mindfulness about social identities and emphasize how critical it is to challenge societal norms.

The results show that even if a member of the recruiting process did not receive the formal workshop training intended to address social identities, disparities, gender, race and so on, if the majority of their colleagues within the department did attend the training, there was a positive impact on the decisions of the untrained individual. This reflects a behavioral shift across a department simply caused by opening up perspectives on partaking in more equitable hiring strategies. This isn’t just an example of successful program implementation; it clearly shows that the University is capable of setting a higher standard in which search committees make it their responsibility to reduce unconscious biases and adjust attitudes.

Additionally, constructing a faculty of diverse backgrounds is particularly beneficial to students because the content of the course is then further supported by a variety of experiences specific to the unique professor and their own path. Varied experiences are also helpful when there’s a need to make department-wide decisions. Life experiences pave the way for options that may not have been considered otherwise when making decisions about what fits best for a student population made up of many different identities. For example, it is inspiring for a female aiming

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to work in a male-dominated profession to see female professors making an impact in their own fields. From a student’s perspective, it’s reassuring to see a professor of similar identities at a prestigious institution like the University challenging societal norms and working on what they’re most passionate about.

The University of WisconsinMadison makes use of “Cluster Hiring,” or interdisciplinary strategic hiring. The goal is to create teams that collaboratively pull on individual strengths to contribute to a department’s overarching goal. A main reason for this new implementation is to serve the university’s objective in increasing campus diversity.

This is an interesting concept that might serve well for the U-M community.

University departments must make ongoing assessments of where they stand on the spectrum of diversity in the workplace.

“Diversity in the workplace” is a buzz phrase thrown around

by Fortune 500 companies in an attempt to showcase that their mission statement is intolerant of discriminatory behavior; however, it is important to look around the room. When you’re at a meeting involving executive positions, such as the chair of a department, evaluate whether or not the department is incorporating as many identities as possible. This requires rethinking and restructuring of the hiring process in the shortterm. The long-term gains to the University as a whole make this endeavor worth it.

Varna Kodoth can be reached at vkodoth@umich.edu

CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and op-eds. Letters should be fewer than 300 words while op-eds should be 550 to 850 words. Send the writer’s full name and University affiliation to tothedaily@ michigandaily.com.

CASEY RHEAULT | CONTACT CARTOONIST AT CRHEAULT@UMICH.EDU

L

Destigmatize mask-wearing

et’s go back to Jan. 31, when there were zero COVID-19 cases in the United States, zero in Michigan and a similar situation in South Korea, where I and the majority of my friends are from. What I remember from those good old days, however, is that even at that moment, it was not as easy to get face masks as before. In addition to the concerns about where to buy them, we had an extra concern: whether we should wear them at all. The consensus from everyone I talked to was “I really need to wear a face mask, but at the same time, I’m concerned with nunchi,” or the Korean expression for gauging the moods of others. In this case, how folks here feel seeing people wearing face masks.

This collective concern is based on the cultural difference regarding face masks. In many East Asian cultures, face masks are not something you would wear only when you are ill.

Long before the outbreak of COVID19, it has been a collective norm in those cultures to wear face masks as a preventative health measure, dating to the SARS outbreak and as far back as the 1950s. Not only to prevent the common cold or f lu, face masks are worn to protect the respiratory system from yellow dust or smog, to stay warm or for beauty purposes. For those who regularly wear make-up, it’s a tool to cover their bare face. For those who don’t, it’s an option to cover pimples, skin trouble or a dissatisfactory lower half of face. For these reasons, it’s not hard to find people wearing face masks in streets or subways of major East Asian cities. During winter, f lu seasons or whenever yellow dust and smog get serious, people wearing face masks outnumber people who are not.

With this in mind, it was a surprise to find out when I first came to the U.S. that virtually no one wears face masks.

Without such cultural contexts, it is understandable that there is a stigma that face masks belong in hospitals. This explained why healthy people walking on the street in face masks often get that subtle glance.

Until January, it was just a subtle glance. A week after, we realized we were not overly concerned: That subtle glance turned into violence.

A stranger in New York beating an Asian woman wearing a face mask was not only a racist incident, but a

violent contribution to the stigma associated with face masks. During the panic, a Korean man was stabbed in Montreal, and the fear became real for many. For me, face masks visualize racist hysteria. On March 14, I was asked by a Lyft driver to explain why I was wearing a face mask. Those who misunderstand the wearing of face masks mostly don’t know that they are also meant for healthy people to protect themselves from other individuals. Simply not knowing the differing perceptions of face masks around the world is not an act of ignorance per se, but acting racist about the safety precaution is.

There remains controversy over whether face masks are the most effective measures to block COVID19, which spreads mainly through respiratory droplets. However, since the effect of face masks as COVID-19 prevention still seems contested in the U.S., I would refrain from making the statement that everyone should wear them. Though I personally believe everyone should. Nevertheless, at least one clear thing is that we must destigmatize those who decide to wear face masks for their own safety or with the safety and wellness of others in mind.

I would like to conclude by sharing the other side of the story: the bright side. I thank the Kroger staff who showed me a wholehearted smile, the Walgreens cashier with a great sense of humor and another Uber driver who wished me to stay safe. I have observed tragic events around the world allowing racism to be condoned and justified under the name of a potential national security threat, but these people are the ones who upheld my trust in humanity.

The LSA Student Government released a statement that stated: “International student communities, as well as students of certain ethnicities, are affected the most by this unwelcoming environment. … At this time, we should unite together to face this public health concern rather than allowing preconceived notions to warrant targeting students of certain identities.” Indeed, f lattening the curve is a collective mission and stigmatization does nothing but alienate and other minorities.

Sungmin Cho can be reached at csungmin@umich.edu

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Arts

Tuesday, March 24, 2020 — 6

FILM REVIEW

NETFLIX

‘The Platform’ pairs cannibalism and capitalism in gross-out satire JACOB LUSK

Daily Arts Writer

“The Platform” has a thing or two to say about trickle-down theory.

Setting his film in a near-future prisontower in which food is distributed to different levels by way of a descending stone slab, director Galder GazteluUrrutia (“The House On The Lake”) takes a steep plunge into madness and delivers a searing criticism of economic inequalities in class-based societies.

A number of elements came into alignment to allow the Spanish scifi satire “The Platform” to deliver its message to the maximum effect.

For one, many of us currently find ourselves confined to the oppressive walls of our homes, something that marries well with the cramped setting

of “The Platform.” It also happens to follow the recent success of Oscar champion “Parasite,” which shares similar themes of class strife and made domestic audiences hungry for foreign films. And finally, it was snapped up by Netflix after its 2019 Toronto International Film Festival premiere (where it won the People’s Choice Award for Midnight Madness, an apt accolade indeed), allowing it to be streamed to millions.

With the world throttled by a pandemic, dystopian and apocalyptic stories of all types have become vested with an extra air of authority.

“The Platform” isn’t about pestilence or social isolation, but with global circumstances exposing systemic flaws in our society left and right, its blunt indictment of the inequities wrought by

class and capitalism — and its matching encouragement of solidarity and kindness — comes extremely apropos.

“The Platform” has something to say and cuts right to it, eschewing subtlety or finesse. The concept is simple, probably best put as a vertical version of Bong Joon-ho’s “Snowpiercer” (which is also on Netflix, by the way).

In “Snowpiercer,” humanity is locked in a life-saving locomotive where caboose-dwellers live in squalor and engine-goers dine like monarchs.

“The Platform” takes this and rotates it 90 degrees, setting its characters in a narrow prison hundreds of stories tall known as the Vertical Self-Management Center, or VSMC. Provided each person takes only their fair share, the eponymous platform bears a bounteous cornucopia of

foodstuffs capable of feeding everyone.

But the inhabitants of the VSMC have another name for the prison: the Hole. The Hole is much more accurate nomenclature — the place is a shithole, a hell-pit. While the top levels gorge themselves, the lower levels eat scraps … or otherwise feast on a very different sort of meal. When everyman Goreng (Ivan Massagué, “Pan’s Labyrinth”) wakes up alongside his cellmate Trimagasi (Zorion Eguileor, “Txarriboda”), he quickly learns that a belief in decency and the copy of “Don Quixote” he brought as his one personal item won’t take him far.

I applied discretion in describing the cuisine of the Hole, but “The Platform” does not: this movie is not for the squeamish. Montages of lip-smacking and noisome finger-licking abound, interrupted by bouts of stomachchurning cannibalism and disgustingly literal episodes of that “shithole” comment. The action is as graphic and to-the-point as its set design is brutalist: no frills, no flair, simple and nauseatingly efficient.

Like Chris Evans’ Curtis in “Snowpiercer,” Goreng soon decides that something needs to change, as protagonists often do. But while there’s plenty of flesh-eating, the popular “eat the rich” rallying cry holds little ground here. “The Platform” is not simply a criticism of the inequities inherent in a class-based, capitalist society; it takes aim at human nature itself, with all its greedy and gluttonous proclivities. As one prisoner notes, any solidarity is “solidarity covered in shit.” People from the bottom vying for their fair share are more than happy to wolfishly consume once they get to the top. While there is some amount of hope, the question looms of whether the system can be changed before it changes you.

The vision “The Platform” has of humanity is an ugly one. But it’s this

unflinching gaze (something I certainly did not possess while watching this film) that lends the film its gravitas, as the concept that it stares at so intently is all it has; the movie embodies its theme completely. For the most part, it does so well, keeping one engaged by way of being horrified, and baking in a number of satisfying twists as they learn more about the grim reality of the Hole. It’s only as the film crosses the 60-minute mark that its fumes run low and it ventures into increasingly uneven and abstract territory. are other films that have done better and more evocatively what “The Platform” does. “Snowpiercer” applies many of the same themes with much more panache (and less revulsion), so if you’re looking for a truly beautiful and keenly critical flick to stream on Netflix, “Snowpiercer” is your bet.

But let’s face it: you’re (hopefully) not going anywhere anytime soon. So, after getting done with “Snowpiercer,” “The Platform” offers an excellent and delightfully disturbing distraction from staring out the window quietly, playing online Scrabble for the seventeenth time or whatever other acts of banality pandemic-induced free time has inspired.

The Platform Netflix Now Streaming

MUSIC NOTEBOOK

What I’m Listening To: ‘You Won’t Get What You Want’ DREW GADBOIS Daily Arts Writer

For the past week or so, I have found myself coming back to the album You Won’t Get What You Want

by Daughters. For one, it provides a cathartic chaos. It’s also just a phenomenal record. Most importantly, it manages to demonstrate the bleak reality of the human race through our current global situation. To understand this, however, we must understand the album in the context of its release.

When the news came out that Daughters was coming back to release an album in the fall of 2018, fans held their breath. It had been nearly a decade since their last release — a self-titled record which heightened and refined the brutal noise rock sound that they explored in the 2000s. Daughters felt like a perfect yet bittersweet send-off to the band, which disbanded shortly before the release and only showed hints of reuniting in 2015. When the first single for the new album was released, it was clear something big was on the horizon. The song’s seven minute length posed a drastic change for the group (this was a band whose debut album was 11 minutes long). Needless to say, the hype was real.

What did we get? Perhaps more than we anticipated. You Won’t Get

What You Want will most definitely go down as one of the most terrifying albums of the decade. Just the cover art, a once-human face grotesquely melted into a monstrous form, creates a sense of dread. As it turns out, the cover is actually the least frightening aspect of the album.

For me, the terror starts immediately with the first track “City Song.” It begins with a low thunderous drone and the steady pulsing of the kick drum. Out of nowhere, a sharp snare pierces the soundscape. This continues for quite some time, building a horrible anticipation. For a moment, the sound fades out to nothing, only to come back in an explosion of sound and texture. This cycle repeats itself several times on the track, adding more textures each time until the song sounds like a siren warning impending doom. Meanwhile, frontman Alexis Marshall is spewing lyrics about a doomed city in absolute monotone.

You Won’t Get What You Want is absolutely unrelenting. After something as jarring and turbulent as “City Song,” a track that would probably be the climax of any other record, you’d expect something softer for contrast, or at least a pause between songs. With the next track “Long Road, No Turns,” there is no pause. This song is a maelstrom.

Every inch is taken up by sound. It has a carnival-like quality to it, if said

carnival was made up of malevolent power tools. You could imagine my shock when I found out they were only using guitars to achieve that sound.

Every song explores noise rock through different means, which allows each track to distinguish itself.

The single “Satan in the Wait” has a chorus that embraces a sort of gothic organ sound that is almost medieval.

“Less Sex” is the type of dark pop that I’d want to hear from Billie Eilish. The song “Daughter” finds a way to mix a bossa nova beat with harshly echoing guitars. “Ocean Song” is a marathon of a track that somehow makes a steel drum-esque texture sound terrifying.

The closer “Guest House” sees the band combine frantic guitar parts with oppressive horns. The point is that Daughters does this seamlessly, and they maintain a certain level of melodicism to counteract the overwhelming harshness.

The reason I’m able to call You Won’t Get What You Want a perfect album, however, doesn’t have to do with the sound. Yes, the sound provides the foundation for the album, but the concept and lyricism are the icing on top. Alexis Marshall evokes the likes of Nick Cave, Tom Waits and even some Bob Dylan with his storytelling. The way the project wrestles with insanity, paranoia and tragedy feels deeply personal but also vague enough to apply to anyone.

With this in mind, I think the album grapples with “the beast within,” or the idea that humanity has an inherent monstrous nature buried within us all, lying dormant. The track “Ocean Song” in particular captures this in detailing the story of a normal man who’s overcome by a primal urge to run. Perhaps what’s most terrifying about this song is that there is no inciting incident. This inhuman feeling just shows up.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a sobering reminder of how tragic and brutal life can get. You Won’t Get What You Want could not be a better

companion to this sentiment (it’s literally in the title). Lyrics like “This city is an empty glass / Shops are closed” and “Today’s gonna feel like tomorrow, some day / Tomorrow’s gonna feel like yesterday / This world is opening up” feel more relevant now than they did in 2018. The idea of “the beast within” is manifested in reality — coronavirus has brought with it extreme hoarding, a rise in domestic abuse and total uncertainty. You Won’t Get What You Want displays an internal apocalypse through the presentation of an external one, something I hadn’t realized until now.

IPECAC

Sports

7 — Tuesday, March 24, 2020

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York, Beecher likely to return in 2020, Michigan’s seniors in limbo BAILEY JOHNSON Daily Sports Editor

If all things had gone according to plan, Michigan would still be playing hockey. The Wolverines would be two days removed from playing for a Big Ten Tournament championship, and even if they’d lost that game or the semifinals against Ohio State, they’d likely be preparing for an NCAA Tournament appearance this coming weekend.

But COVID-19 happened.

In one fell swoop, the NCAA canceled all remaining winter and spring championships and the Big Ten suspended play for all sports.

Now, instead of preparing for the NCAA Tournament, Michigan coach Mel Pearson is preparing to have exit meetings with all of his players. For some, that means figuring out if they’ll be returning to Ann Arbor next year or signing with their NHL teams.

Freshmen Cam York and

Johnny Beecher — 2019 first-round draft picks of the Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins, respectively — have a decision to make about their futures. After the University encouraged everyone in the dorms to return to their permanent residences, both returned home and are taking time to ref lect before having exit meetings with Pearson and his staff.

With the NHL season on pause, there’s no huge rush to sign for either the players or the teams, but Pearson knows the decisions are still coming sooner rather than later.

“It’ll probably be good for them to go ref lect a little bit,” Pearson said. “When we have our meetings, I think we’ll all be calmed down a little more over what happened and have a chance to ref lect on some things and what we need to do to get where we want to go. I expect both of them to be back.”

For many of the Wolverines’ seniors —

I expect both (Beecher and York) to be back.

players like Luke Martin, Griffin Luce, Will Lockwood, Jake Slaker, Jacob Hayhurst and Nick Pastujov — things are a little trickier.

Lockwood, Martin and Pastujov were all drafted, and Lockwood has already signed with the Vancouver Canucks. But the Carolina Hurricanes, which drafted Martin in the second round in 2017, and the New York Islanders, which drafted Pastujov in the seventh round in 2016, haven’t made any signings at all after the college season ended — leaving the players in limbo.

Pastujov finished tied for second on the team in goals with nine and was third in points with 18. Martin led Michigan in plus-minus at plus-10 and finished second in the nation with 85 blocked shots, while playing huge minutes and forming the backbone of the top penalty-killing unit.

“I think you see some teams sign guys they’re interested in, some teams kinda slow things down,” Pearson said. “It’s hard.

It’s hard on a guy like Luke Martin, who had a tremendous year.”

It’s especially hard for

players like Slaker, Luce and Hayhurst, who weren’t drafted and thus are free agents. Some NHL teams have continued to sign free agents — there have been nine such signings across the league — but for the most part, talks have slowed down significantly for most teams.

Slaker is Michigan’s most attractive prospect, having led the Wolverines in goals, assists and points this season with 31 total points in 33 games — topping his previous season-high of 27, in seven fewer games. Luce has attended a couple of

ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily

Freshman forward Johnny Beecher will likely return for his sophomore year, according to Mel Pearson.

NHL development camps as a stay-at-home blueliner, and Hayhurst’s secondhalf goal-scoring surge will likely attract some attention, perhaps from teams at the AHL level.

For now, though, all they can do is wait.

“A few of the free agents have signed,” Pearson said.

“It’ll be interesting. … Slaker had his best year. I know Slaker’s had some interest and some offers, so we’ll see what goes on there.”

Adding an even deeper layer of complexity to these decisions is the question of whether winter sport athletes will get an extra year of eligibility from the NCAA. It seems highly unlikely at this point, but Pearson suggested it’s enough of a possibility that it’s keeping some players from signing deals until there’s a final, official decision.

“Some guys have slowed things down a little bit to wait to see what happens there, in case they might get another shot to finish what they started, so to speak,” Pearson said. “I think you’ll see another rush of signings once that comes out, hopefully in the next week or two.”

Answering three key questions about the Wolverines’ offense

MILES MACKLIN/Daily

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has historically gone with a running back by committee.

ETHAN SEARS

Managing Sports Editor

In some alternate universe, an email would have hit the inboxes of reporters sometime last week. It would have announced the start of Michigan football’s spring practice, and contained a schedule for press conferences with players and coaches. More likely than not, it would’ve led off with coach Jim Harbaugh.

Of course, none of that happened.

Instead, the Wolverines are at home along with everyone else. There’s no spring practice because of the COVID-19 crisis, and no chance for the media to ask questions of Harbaugh for the first time since January’s

Citrus Bowl loss to Alabama.

Still, they remain pertinent.

The Daily decided to break down three of the biggest questions surrounding the Michigan football team’s offense. Here they are: Who’s winning the quarterback battle?

The need to find a replacement for Shea Patterson will dominate most of the conversation surrounding Michigan football until either Dylan McCaffrey or Joe Milton steps onto the field against Washington on Sept. 5.

Despite a number of faults, Patterson was a proven commodity who averaged eight yards per attempt in two years as Michigan’s starting quarterback.

McCaffrey

and Milton both figure to have higher ceilings, if only because of the allure of the unknown, but both are just that — largely unknown.

When he saw game action over the last two years, McCaffrey, a redshirt junior in 2020, mostly impressed with his legs, rushing for a 44-yard touchdown against Wisconsin in 2018. As for Milton, he completed three of four passes on a late-game touchdown drive against Rutgers in 2019, after the contest became out of hand.

Of the two, McCaffrey seems the safer pick. He’s a year older, with more practice and game reps, while Milton’s accuracy and touch are both at question. Still, outsized arm talent makes Milton’s

ceiling convincing. Going with the younger, potentially more erratic quarterback would represent a huge vote of confidence on Harbaugh’s part — as well as a notable risk.

How does Chris Evans work into the running back rotation?

The run game is a notable strength for Michigan going into 2020. Zach Charbonnet enters his sophomore year after a 726-yard, 11-touchdown freshman campaign as the probable starter, but Hassan Haskins could challenge him for the job. At minimum, the two will likely split carries as they did last season.

Things get complicated fast after that, though. Harbaugh announced in November that Evans, a senior who served an academic suspension for all of last season, would be reinstated for 2020. On top of that, Michigan also brings in four-star recruit Blake Corum from St. Frances Academy in Maryland.

Evans was never the fulltime starter from 2016-18, but always found himself well in the mix for carries.

It’s unlikely that will change — it stands to reason that Michigan wouldn’t have asked Evans back had there not been a role envisioned for him. On top of that, he’s a talented running back who

averaged 5.2 yards per carry in 2018.

Exactly what that translates to in terms of his role, though, isn’t clear. Based on the way Harbaugh’s done things in the past, it’d be surprising if we didn’t see a somewhat-even rotation between Charbonnet, Haskins and Evans in terms of carries. But it still would have been nice to get 15 practices to see if any separation occurred.

The offensive line lost four starters — what does it look like right now?

Michigan’s offensive line is in a great long-term position.

Last season, it was one of the biggest sources of consistency in the offense, with three seniors and Cesar Ruiz, a center who left early for the NFL. Just as important, it seemed then — and still seems now — that the Wolverines have the depth to withstand that kind of turnover, a credit to offensive line coach Ed Warinner, whose arrival two years ago helped flip the position into one of strength.

But redshirt sophomore right tackle Jalen Mayfield is the only returning starter, and the other four spots are somewhat up in the air.

Redshirt sophomore Ryan Hayes seems the likely option to start at left tackle, as he played against Middle Tennessee State and Army

when Jon Runyan Jr. was injured last season and acquitted himself well during that stretch.

Things get complicated on the interior, though. The Wolverines brought in a sixman offensive line class in 2019 — four-stars Karsen Barnhart, Nolan Rumler, Trente Jones and Trevor Keegan, along with threestars Jack Stewart and Zach Carpenter. Senior Andrew Stueber was in the thick of competition with Mayfield for the right tackle spot when he went down for the season with an ACL tear. Senior Chuck Filiaga has long been the subject of praise from coaches, but has yet to earn a starting spot.

It’s also important to note that without spring ball, there are 15 less times these players will practice, be evaluated and compete with each other.

That leaves us doing a lot of guesswork.

As the two most experienced players of the group, it stands to reason that Stueber and Filiaga would have a leg up at left and right guard, respectively. As for the rest, Barnhart may be the most game-ready, and got snaps in two games last year.

Carpenter played center his senior year at Archbishop Moeller, which could make him the best-equipped to replace Ruiz.

8 — Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Sports

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IMPACTFUL Women’s gymnastics team and Team IMPACT pair up to give Anna Abrams the experience of a lifetime

SHIRA ZISHOLTZ DAILY SPORTS WRITER In observance of Women’s History Month, The Daily’s sports section is launching its third annual series aimed at telling the stories of female athletes, coaches and teams at the University from the perspective of the female sports writers on staff. We continue the series with this story from Daily Sports Writer Shira Zisholtz.

Photos courtesy of Michigan Photography Design by Jack Silberman

The day was Nov. 7, 2018, when Anna Abrams’ dreams came true.

Donned in maize and blue and accompanied by her parents, she signed a National Letter of Intent that allowed her to join the Michigan women’s gymnastics team.

The Wolverines were bringing in a big recruiting class that year, but this signing was special.

Anna was just 13 years old, and in a wheelchair. *** Team IMPACT is an organization that allows children aged 5-16 with disabilities to be part of an athletic experience that would otherwise not be possible. The child gets matched to a team at a university and becomes part of that respective program for two years.

Anna has mild cerebral palsy in her legs, but strives to maintain an active lifestyle. She has danced for more than 10 years and previously took gymnastics lessons, plays Miracle League softball and swims. Her family started a sled hockey team in their area and plays tennis with her and her friends.

Knowing her daughter’s love for sports, Rhonda Abrams researched different organizations that would allow Anna the opportunity to find something new and be part of something bigger.

One day at work in the C.S. Mott’s Children’s Hospital, Rhonda ran into someone who recommended Team IMPACT for Anna.

“I researched different organizations and stuff, but Team IMPACT seemed to be the best suit for us,” Rhonda said. “They set this up and then took a step back, so all of this has been by the team and by Michigan. But if it weren’t for Team IMPACT, this wouldn’t have happened.

We are so grateful.”

On the surface, Team IMPACT is focused on the lives of the kids that go through its program. But what isn’t always recognized is how the child changes the team’s life, too.

“(Team IMPACT) kind of lets us be a part of our community in a way that we wouldn’t typically,” senior Maggie O’Hara said. “We get to interact with fans for a very small period of time, after the meets, but being able to actually share a team role with a younger kid who looks up to us — and who we get to be a friend to, and they’re a friend to us, is super cool.

“Anna brings a lot of life to our team.

She shows us a different perspective that we wouldn’t typically get on a daily basis. She just kind of approaches everything with a ‘Why not’ attitude, and I think that’s really special for us to see because we don’t typically have a lot of interactions that are like, ‘Why can’t I do this,’ or ‘Why shouldn’t I do this.’ And she’s kind of, like, ‘Well, I might not be able to do it the same way but let me show you how I can do it, too.’ ” *** As a member of the team, Anna fits right in — the wheelchair, the age gap, the basic difficulties don’t faze her.

Her teammates have made an effort to spend time with her on and off the floor, in and out of the practice facility.

“I would say last year, she kinda stuck to her people,” O’Hara said. “She was pretty close to me and (student assistant coaches Sam Roy and Polina Shchennikova). But this year, she’s definitely opened up to more people.”

This past year, Anna’s second year with the program, the team took time to start visiting her outside of the gym.

They played with her dogs at her house, and even spent a day swimming with her. All that time they spent with her allowed her relationship with the team to grow even more.

Now, she’s not just close to a select group of people. Instead, she fits right in with all 15 Michigan gymnasts and two student assistant coaches — the wheelchair, the age gap, her condition, none of them stand in the way of being a part of the team.

Anna’s favorite part of being on the team is just “hanging out with them,” she said. “They are my sisters.”

On her first day on the team, Anna was told to bring her energy and open up to be a part of the tight-knit family that is Michigan women’s gymnastics.

“And she took it to heart,” O’Hara said.

When she walks into the gym, she demands a hug from everyone. She runs floor music during practice. She whips around the facility to keep up with everyone else, making sure to be everywhere she can to stay engaged.

She loves to be in the locker room with her teammates.

Meet day is the best day for Anna.

When the Wolverines are at home, she has the same gameday routine as the rest of the team, even down to showing up at the same time as everyone else.

She wears a warm-up outfit, gets her hair and makeup done, and gets a block ‘M’ tattoo to wear. She sits in every team huddle and dances around to music before the meet.

Not only does the team make sure to

include her in all pre-meet rituals, but Anna is also out on the floor with them having fun during competition.

“When we’re out on the gym, me and her are always goofing off on the sidelines and just joking around and having fun,” Shchennikova said. “I’ll ride on her wheelchair a lot.”

But even in the moments that aren’t as fun, Anna’s there, too.

“When we’re in a tight situation and we’re all squeezing hands, she’s right in there with us,” O’Hara said. “It’s just reminding her that we’re doing this for our team.

“She’s very much there with everyone else.” *** Anna’s life isn’t easy, by any means.

And yet, she is the brightest, most positive girl in the room at all times.

“She never comes in with a bad attitude and (the team is) like, ‘Wow,’ ” O’Hara said. “I knew a lot of people who never even knew what CP was and didn’t realize the extent that it could be. And she comes in and has the best attitude and wants to be there and she loves being there and she loves the people.”

With a packed schedule and the stresses of college life, gymnasts can come into the practice facility complaining that they’re tired or sore.

But Anna will come in after a 45-minute commute from Commerce Township, wheelchair and all, excited to be there.

And that wakes them up.

“It does remind us how fortunate we are to get to do what we do, but also how special it is that we get to have her on our team,” O’Hara said.

“You can have an injury and feel sorry for yourself,” Michigan coach Bev Plocki said. “And yet, Anna’s been in a wheelchair and she makes no excuses. She just has a positive outlook.

She goes and does the things that she wants to do.

“Her attitude on life is just so positive and happy and smiling and I think that when times get a little bit hard for us you always have to remember whatever you’re going through there are other people suffering a lot greater hardships. So, put a smile on your face, chin up, you’ll make it through.”

When asked how she keeps such a great attitude, Anna doesn’t have an answer, and neither does her mom.

“This is literally her outlook, all the time,” Rhonda said. *** Because Team IMPACT is just a twoyear program, Anna has to “graduate” from the team now that the season is over. But she knows that her sisters aren’t going anywhere.

Now, with a whole new rolodex of best friends and sisters that she can keep in touch with, she’ll grow up being able to tell people that she was a part of the Michigan women’s gymnastics team.

“I’m sad to go,” Anna said.

Rhonda then looked at her daughter, smiled, and said: “All good things must come to an end, right?”