2023-01-11

Sen. Debbie Stabenow will not run for reelection in 2024

After a historic four terms, Stabenow will retire, opening a seat in the Senate

JI HOON CHOI Daily News Reporter

U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich, announced Thursday she will not be seeking reelection in 2024 following the end of her term in 2025.

“Inspired by a new generation of leaders, I have decided to pass the torch in the U.S. Senate,” Stabenow said.

In 2000, Stabenow was the first woman from Michigan to be elected to the United States Senate. During her time in the Senate, Stabenow has focused on protecting the Great Lakes, expanding affordable health care and improving the lives of Michigan families. Stabenow is also the chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry, where she authored and co-authored the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills to strengthen Michigan agriculture. For the remaining two years of her term, Stabenow said she will focus on the passage of the next five-year Farm Bill aimed at determining the nation’s food and agriculture policies.

“(The bill) is also key in protecting our land and water and creating jobs in our rural and urban communities,” Stabenow said.

After her term as senator, Stabenow plans to continue serving Michigan outside of elected office and spending time with her family.

Stabenow’s retirement opens up a seat on the U.S. Senate for Michigan, in which both seats are currently held by the Democratic Party. There is speculation as to who may be strong candidates for the seat from both the Republican and

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Democratic Parties, including from U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich, and Tudor Dixon, 2022 republican nominee for Michigan governor.

U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich, said Stabenow is a champion for Michigan as a legislator and a leader as Michigan’s first female senator. He pointed out how the two of them worked together to deliver relief to Flint during the water crisis and to lead the expansion of union-made electric vehicles in the state.

“Senator Stabenow’s record of legislative accomplishments is unmatched,” Kildee wrote in a statement. “It has been an honor to partner with her on so many initiatives to better our state.”

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II also released a statement on Stabenow’s announcement. They focused on Stabenow’s work in Michigan and their expectations of what she will do next.

“(Stabenow) is a fierce protector of our Great Lakes, fought for decades to modernize the Soo Locks and continues to tackle toxic contaminants in drinking water,” Whitmer wrote in the statement. “I look forward to working with her through the end of her term and beyond.”

Gilchrist echoed many of the points Whitmer made. He said Stabenow’s advocacy on mental health and her work in protecting natural resources helped build Michigan into a better state.

“I am grateful for Senator Stabenow’s friendship and leadership,” Gilchrist wrote in the statement. “Let’s build on her legacy and continue working together to make a difference for Michiganders in every community.”

VP of Student Life Martino Harmon reflects on Fall 2022

In an interview with The Daily, Harmon spoke on DEI 2.0 and campus development going forward

RONI KANE, CARLIN PENDELL & RACHEL MINTZ Managing News Editor & Daily News Editors

The Michigan Daily sat down with Martino Harmon, vice president of student life, to discuss the transition from DEI 1.0 to DEI 2.0, student engagement and activism and new construction projects across campus. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Campus diversity, equity and inclusion plans:

The Michigan Daily: Since DEI 1.0 ended in 2022 and DEI 2.0 will be starting in fall 2023, what does it mean to have a “transition phase” this semester?

Martino Harmon: The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion sort of maps out or outlines the process. It’s very different for me and refreshing that we have a year to evaluate, and now this year is a transition and planning year. I think it’s great because it allows for more engagement of stakeholders in a better planning process that’s more intentional. I’ve been to institutions where you have maybe one semester to transition, depending on when you release the plan. I think it’s also a much better plan for DEI at the very end when we release it.

Regents

IRENA LI Daily News Editor

University of Michigan President Santa Ono announced the University’s plan to build a new residence and dining hall targeted at serving first-year students on Central Campus at the Board of Regents meeting Thursday. The new residence hall will be built on the site of Elbel Field and is planned to have the capacity to house 2,300 students.

Ono cited a stagnant supply of housing for undergraduate students amidst growing enrollment as the reason for the new development.

“We want to make sure all first-year students who want to live on Central Campus are able to live there,” Ono said. “Since 2004, undergraduate enrollment has increased by more than 8,000 students, yet on-campus housing has simply not kept pace.”

The regents unanimously voted to approve a $6.5 million initial planning contract with Robert A.M. Stern Architects.

The Michigan Marching Band,

which currently practices on Elbel Field, will be relocated one block north to a 6.1-acre property on South Fifth Avenue, according to a press release from the University, which purchased the land on South Fifth from Fingerle Lumber in 2018.

“The prospect of a new marching band practice field that continues to honor the Louis Elbel name, while creating a practice facility that moves the band into the future, is exciting to John D. Pasquale, who has directed the 400-member Michigan Marching Band since 2013,” the release read.

Martino Harmon, vice president for student life, said at the meeting he believes the new residence hall will improve the undergraduate experience.

“Demand among students for affordable, on-campus housing on or near Central Campus continues to rise,” Harmon said.

“The first step of this multi-phase housing project will help us meet the needs for the growing student body and ensure excellence in the overall undergraduate experience.”

TMD: Now that the initial schoolspecific findings from DEI 1.0 have been released, and with the full report anticipated in January, have you seen any big takeaways from DEI 1.0 thus far?

MH: From the Student Life perspective, I think there are three big takeaways that really jumped out to me. One is the opening of the Trotter Multicultural Center; that has been huge. We’re really, this semester, fully living in the Trotter Center, because the current center opened in April 2019. The involvement, the usage of the Trotter Center is very, very strong. Another takeaway really occurred a few years ago, and that was the formation of the Campus Involvement Advisory Board. We had a lot of advisory committees in Student Life, but that committee really brought together a large number of students from different, diverse perspectives and organizations. That group really helped us to make sure that we were using well-informed practices that students could identify with. The third takeaway happened during my first year. We expanded our services for students with disabilities with a three-prong approach. One, we had the office for Services for Students with Disabilities. Then we expanded when Student Academic Affairs asked us to take over the management of the testing accommodation centers for students with disabilities, so those now fall under Student Life. Then the third thing was when our director of Services for Students with Disabilities, Dr. Okanlami, brought the Adaptive Sports and Fitness program to the University and

expanded it. That provides a whole avenue of support and recreation fitness for students that identify as disabled.

TMD: How will the DEI 2.0 framework incorporate student concerns, such as the points outlined in the Black Student Union’s (BSU) “More than 4” plan?

MH: I was actually there when BSU announced the platform. I’ve been engaged along with President Ono, Provost McCauley, Vice Provost Adele Brumfield and Vice Provost Tabbye Chavous. We’ve been looking at that platform and dissecting it in a meaningful way. We’ve had one meeting, we have another scheduled with them next week. We propose a working structure that will allow us to bring people from across campus with BSU to really dig into each element of that platform, and to figure out what the current state of the platform is and what can we do in a realistically short-term and long-term period to address the gaps in it. It was very impressive, the way the platform was constructed and how it was presented. What I really love is that BSU talked about a co-constructive sort of approach for the University to work together with them.

Student political engagement and activism:

TMD: On Nov. 8, lines to register to vote in the midterm elections at the University made headlines across the state. Do you think the University was successful in communicating about and facilitating same-day voting and registration?

MH: I really believe that the University was successful. I read the headlines and you can focus on the headline, but what I’ve focused on, which I think was the bigger message, was the participation and the willingness and eagerness of students to participate in large numbers in the midterm election, which doesn’t normally happen. Conventional wisdom says that students and young people don’t participate in midterm elections. Well, we certainly prove that not to be true. I want to make sure the groups get the proper respect for all their work, including Turn Up Turnout, the Ginsberg Center and the University of Michigan Museum of Art and Duderstadt Center.

TMD: The University has expressed that it is on track to meet its carbon neutrality goals, including reducing direct and indirect carbon emissions by about 50% by 2025. How is the University collaborating with student groups on campus to continue to develop its sustainability goals and plans?

MH: As of this fall, we assumed management and coordination of the Student Sustainability Coalition (SSC). We are much more intentionally engaged and involved with everything under the SSC than we were in the past. Now, we’re in the process of hiring a couple of additional staff to strengthen sustainability. As we look at more construction projects

at Student Life, obviously we’re going to really make sure we get feedback from students about sustainability and putting them into process, but it also requires us to work closely with Facilities and Operations.

Health and safety campus initiatives:

TMD: Do you think the “maskoptional” policy on campus during the fall 2022 semester has been effective in preventing major outbreaks of COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses?

MH: I’m regularly in connection with Dr. Robert Ernst, the chief health officer for the University. From everything that I’ve seen, looking at rates of the spread of COVID, looking at quarantine and isolation housing, I think we’ve had a really good semester considering the level of engagement that we’ve had between students and staff and faculty. Anytime you repopulate a campus you’re gonna see a lot of cases that first week or so. I think we’ve managed that pretty well. I think the big reason for that is, number one, our vaccine policy. That makes a difference because we know that a significant percentage of the population is vaccinated and boosted. We’re not out of the pandemic, but as we move to what health professionals called the endemic stage of the COVID-19 virus, it really allows people to take responsibility on an individual level. Whenever I go to an airport, I’m wearing a mask, because I want to be protected. If you’re sick, stay home, don’t risk coming in. So far, I think we’re doing a good job with that.

TMD: Do you think the University’s response and messaging around the monkeypox virus (MPV) was effective in mitigating the spread of the virus on campus while not targeting “high-risk” groups, including members of the LGBTQ+ community?

MH: We were obviously very sensitive about that. We have a lot of professionals on campus who are very in tune with the needs of the LGBTQ+ population and they were involved in those discussions with public health professionals. I guess if there was a positive to going through the pandemic, it was that we had health systems in place that may not have been in place a few years ago. We’re able to use those systems in the same way with monkeypox, realizing that it is a different disease and realizing that there’s certain populations that we need to be aware of so we don’t stigmatize any groups. I think we were ready for it when it happened, and I don’t think we had any really bad outcomes from it.

TMD: Do you have anything else you’d like to share with us about this topic?

MH: One thing I wanted to mention was our whole initiative around health and well-being. Our focus is on students, but really it should be a campus focus. I am particularly excited for the Wellbeing Collective project, because one of

the things I noticed when I came here is that the sole focus was on therapy from CAPS. That’s got to be available. We got to invest in that. But there are a range of support services and programs that are available to students and we need to do more to highlight that. There are a lot of different ways to approach mental health and well-being. What the Wellbeing Collective is doing is talking about a health-promoting campus and really reaching people in different ways.

Campus development, renovation and construction projects:

TMD: What has been the significance of renovating and reopening the three multicultural lounges in residence halls on campus this semester?

MH: It is so exciting. I cannot tell you how unique it is. As a person who worked at other fouryear institutions, I have never seen such an expansive program with 18 different multicultural lounges that all have different themes and reach different audiences and are open to everyone. You may not even realize how many multicultural lounges there are on this campus. I think we need to do a better job of letting people know that, yes, the Trotter Center is here, but there are other multicultural spaces. The renovation project was very successful. I spoke at one of the grand openings, and it was packed. I think it really just highlights and amplifies the really unique nature of over 50 years of multicultural lounges at the University of Michigan. We’re now going into the next phase of lounge renovations that will take place over the summer and then you’ll have more grand openings next fall. One of the goals of the renovations is trying to make the lounges more accessible whether or not people have moved out of on-campus housing, so they can attend programming. We have to do that in a safe way. But I know that we’re trying to make changes so that more people can utilize the lounges and recognize how great they are.

TMD: The Central Student Government (CSG) recently discussed what the former site of the Fleming Administration Building might be used for. Will the Office of Student Life have any input on this decision, and if so, what would you like to see done with the space?

MH: I think now that we’ve heard from students, it will allow us to now have a system for students’ feelings about the use of the former site of the Fleming Administration Building. Though we have not had any deep discussions regarding the former site, I’m certain that at some level the Office of Student Life will be more involved. Right now the plan is to have a kind of green space, and the question really will be: is that the long-term plan, or is that the short-term plan? And if it’s a short-term plan, what does it become after the green space?

SMTD undergraduate music students perform in Concerto Competition

As classes resumed for students at the University of Michigan on Wednesday after a two week break, School of Music, Theatre & Dance students took the stage in the Hill Auditorium. The undergraduate Concerto Competition was their opportunity to compete for coveted soloist spots alongside one of the University’s two orchestras, the University Philharmonia Orchestra and the University Symphony Orchestra. The event saw eight competitors who performed solos on sharp pianos, rich strings, a euphonium or sang in front of an audience of supporters and faculty judges. Competitors had 25 minutes each to perform their chosen concerto.

The two winners of the competition, announced after deliberation by faculty judges, were Ben Deighton, Music, Theatre & Dance junior and cellist, for his performance of Dmitry Kabalevsky’s Cello Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 77 and Nathan Landers, Music, Theatre & Dance junior and clarinetist, for his performance of Oscar Navarro’s II Concerto.

Landers spoke to The Michigan Daily following the competition and expressed gratitude for the support he received during and leading up to his performance.

“I’m relieved it’s over,” Landers said. “I’m glad I won. I’m thankful for all my friends and my family for their support. Go blue!”

Deighton said he was looking forward to playing with one of the full orchestras. He said he was especially grateful for the help of his piano accompanist, Narae Joo, Music, Theatre & Dance collaborative pianist for the Strings Department.

“I’m just excited to play the piece with an orchestra, because the orchestra part has all of the music in it, and you really don’t hear it (all) with just the piano,” Deighton said.

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“Working with my pianist, Narae Joo, she’s amazing and she’s been playing with me for the past three years. We’ve done a lot of work together, and I really appreciate working with her.”

Christopher Harding, chair of the Music, Theatre & Dance School’s Piano Department, told The Daily before the competition that the Hill Auditorium was a wonderful venue for the Concerto Competition. He said it provided all of the competitors with an authentic performance experience.

“(The Hill Auditorium) is one of the great performance spaces in the northern hemisphere,” Harding said.

“We have people who come from New York, great orchestras like the New York Philharmonic that perform in New York and Chicago. They stop in Ann Arbor on the way because we have just such an incredible hall and an incredible audience.”

Prior to the competition, Music, Theatre & Dance senior Eric Yu, another one of the competitors, said he was incredibly excited to have the opportunity to play his concerto in the Hill Auditorium before he graduates.

“Hill (Auditorium) is a great

stage. It has great pianos and it’s a great atmosphere, but the award for winning the Concerto Competition is a performance with the orchestra,” Yu said. “And orchestra performances as soloists are really rare. Normally, an orchestra, if they want to schedule something, they’ll invite a really famous musician, or the other way to play with an orchestra is (if) you win a competition.”

Yu said the prize of playing with the University’s orchestras could potentially open up post-graduate performance opportunities, but he primarily saw the competition as a way to expand his experience and abilities, regardless of whether or not he won.

“You only become a better performer by performing a lot,” Yu said. “If we had to speak on the technical side of things, I guess it looks good on your resume, but it’s mostly for the experience in my opinion. Just by performing a lot you become a better performer. Performing is not a talent, it’s an acquired skill.”

Harding, who coached Yu as well as fellow competitor Yan, said he was proud of their preparation for their

concertos.

“Nobody gets to the Concerto Competition without working very, very hard and working very hard, not only for that particular competition, but also in studies in general,” Harding said. “We find that our best and most dedicated students rise to the top and they’re the ones who are competing in the competition.”

Music, Theatre & Dance junior Joseph Bickel, who played the euphonium — a brass instrument similar to the tuba — for the competition, said despite the instrument’s relative obscurity compared to other instruments such a violin or piano, he didn’t find it difficult to find a concerto piece he wanted to play.

Bickel said he had first encountered the piece he played, Vladimir Cosma’s Euphonium Concerto, his freshman year. He said he previously played the concerto’s third movement at a festival on its own, but that this competition gave him the opportunity to memorize the piece in its entirety.

RONI

JULIAN

JULIA RUBIN Daily Staff Reporter

On their Instagram page, The Side Door pop-up restaurant boasts impeccable service, an intimate ambiance and gourmet cooking. It might sound like any other high-end eatery in downtown Ann Arbor, but there’s one caveat. The business is run by three U-M students out of an unfinished basement.

Public policy senior Chris Wong, Business and Public Policy junior Daniel Zhang and Engineering junior Vineet Dongre are the founders of The Side Door. It’s, quite literally, a hole-inthe-wall establishment, named after the entranceway, which is located on the side of an unassuming offcampus house located in Ann Arbor’s Germantown neighborhood. The chefs — one of whom lives at the house — asked The Michigan Daily to not share the restaurant’s address to protect the owners’ privacy.

Since the business was founded at the beginning of the semester, The Side Door has served about 200 dishes to 50 students over five evenings spread out throughout the fall semester. Every meal, or “cook,” has its own theme, which have ranged from “vegetarian fusion” to a variety of global cuisines.

With just eight available seats every night, hundreds of students compete for the limited number of spots. The Side Door posts an RSVP on its Instagram account a couple of days before the dinners. The chefs told The Michigan Daily the RSVP fills up within minutes.

It’s not hard to see why. From Brûlé beet carpaccio with assorted greens to whipped goat cheese, hot honey and sauce vierge, Wong, Zhang and Dongre said they try to think outside of their box with their menus. Wong said the restaurant has three main goals: to create original dishes, provide customers with a top-notch, brandnew experience and to cultivate a community over shared meals.

“Something that we’re proudest of

as a group, apart from the food that we make, is that we’re really into giving a good experience,” Wong said. “If you sign up for The Side Door, you’re signing up … without knowing who’s going to show up, and you basically come to this house, go into the basement, and you’re meeting new people, and starting new friendships.”

The self-taught chefs said they were inspired by their shared South and East Asian heritage for their first “cook.”

Even though they have continued to include Chinese, Korean and Indian elements in their dishes, they have also branched out, sourcing ingredients and recipes from every corner of the world.

LSA junior Chava Makman attended The Side Door’s Thanksgiving meal on Nov. 17, which featured a Filipinoinspired Kamayan feast. She said the experience was unlike any she had ever had before. Makman added that the presentation and hospitality skills were far beyond what one might expect in a student basement.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had any Filipino food, let alone a Filipinoinspired, Thanksgiving-inspired

combination meal,” Makman said. “So every dish I tried was brand new, and there were maybe five, six or seven dishes. Although they were our age, (the chefs) acted really professional. They provided an experience as if we were at a five star restaurant downtown in a city. It was superb.”

Wong, Zhang and Dongre said they hope The Side Door will continue to bring people together across campus who might not otherwise find themselves in the same room, no less around the same dinner table.

“Our third goal was to bring together people who would never, ever meet at this super big campus,” Dongre said. “In what other situation would you have a relatively intimate dinner with seven other people that you may not know? We want people to come to this thing and meet other people on campus.”

Engineering freshman Mena Nasiri said she signed up for The Side Door’s fourth cook after her sister, a junior, showed her their Instagram page. According to Wong, word-ofmouth and social media are how most

people learn about The Side Door, with their Instagram followers more than quadrupling in the months since their first Cook.

When she heard about it, Nasiri said attending a cook seemed like a good way to meet people outside of the other freshmen who live in her residence hall.

“I came in a little nervous, because I have social anxiety, and (for) the first ten minutes I was kind of worried,” Nasiri said. “Most people came with people they know, but as the night went on, I really clicked with the group that was next to me. I found myself talking to most of the people by the end of the night, and that was really cool.”

Wong said that’s what happens every time.

“When we come down at the end, once all the food has been served, we see people who have never met hugging, exchanging numbers and forging new friendships, and that’s beautiful,” Wong said. “We wanted to do something really unique, and I think we’ve done it.”

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Daily Staff Reporter KEITH MELONG/Daily Ford senior Chris Wong and Ross and Ford junior Daniel Zhang prepare a meal for guests of The Side Door Dec. 4. GRACE LAHTI/Daily The SMTD Concerto Competition takes place at the Hill Auditorium Wednesday January 4. Read more at MichiganDaily.com Read more at MichiganDaily.com SARAH RAHMAN and LAINE BROTHERTON Managing Arts Editors arts@michigandaily.com Senior Arts Editors: Annabel Curran, Ava Burzycki, Erin Rose Evans, Hunter Bishop, Jack Christopher Moeser, Kaya Ginsky Senior Audience Engagement Editors: Avery Crystal, Matthew Eggers, Aishani Moradia, Tina Yu, Cristina Costin, Steven Tukel, Parvathi Nagappala, Emma Lefevre, Joey Goodsir, Cole Martin DEVEN PARIKH and SAFURA SYED Michigan in Color Editors michiganincolor@michigandaily.com Senior Michigan in Color Editors: Anchal Malh, Udoka Nwansi, Maya Kogulan, Claire Gallagher, Sarah Oguntomilade Senior Podcast Editor: Martha Starkel

How “Parks and Recreation” got female friendships right

On Oct. 21, I received a text from my best friend telling me that she “wanted to hear my Midnights thoughts.” About an hour later, I FaceTimed her and we immediately began discussing our various impressions and hottest takes on Taylor Swift’s newest album, which was only 12 hours old at the time.

We came to the conclusions that “Midnight Rain” was written for Jo and Laurie and that Lana Del Ray did the best she could with her 0.2-second feature on “Snow On The Beach,” and eventually moved on.

After another hour of complaining about seeing people we knew around our respective campuses, brainstorming Halloween costume ideas and her telling me about a guy she knew who looked “JUST like JJ Maybank” (Rudy Pankow, “Uncharted”), we finally hung up.

I have been best friends with the same girl since I was 9 years old. We mess around, take 0.5-zoomed pictures, talk about our

ex-classmates or celebrity crushes of the week, and somehow always end up at Target. We may not be perfect, but I always have her back and I know she always has mine. This is what I’ve grown up knowing female friendship to be. So when I open any streaming service to watch my new favorite show or rewatch an old obsession, why am I rarely, if ever, told the same story?

When it comes to writing strong female friendships, the media doesn’t exactly have the best track record. Over the last 18 years of my life, I’ve watched Paris constantly switch from Rory’s friend to bully to friend again in “Gilmore Girls.” I’ve watched Cassie hook up with her best friend’s abusive ex-boyfriend in “Euphoria” and Serena and Blair do everything under the sun to sabotage one another all while referring to each other as a “best friend” in “Gossip Girl.” Even pairs like El and Max from “Stranger Things” or Sarah and Kiara from “Outer Banks,” whose friendships I eventually grew to love, began in places of jealousy or mistrust.

Sure, I’ve seen female friendships like this in real life — sometimes people just aren’t as compatible as they’d like to be. But do the majority of women have some sort of vendetta against their best friends or secretly want to see them fail in order to gain attention or a mediocre love interest? No.

While a few shows, like “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” were able to feature non-toxic female friendships that took place on the sidelines of the show’s main plot (Laurel and Susannah are the blueprint, let’s be honest), one show truly stands out to me as being the series with the best TV friendship of all time (while simultaneously featuring this friendship on a regular basis as an important part of the plotline). In the words of Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott, “The Good Place”), “let’s talk about ‘Parks and Rec.’”

Leslie (Amy Poelher, “Saturday Night Live”) meets Ann (Rashida Jones, “The Office”) in the pilot episode of “Parks and Recreation,” when her future best friend comes to her as a citizen in need of help

Nine books to jumpstart your New Year’s reading resolution

from the Pawnee government. Over the course of the show’s seven seasons, the two women form an incredibly close bond, becoming acquaintances, friends and eventually the iconic pair we all know and love.

So where did Ann and Leslie go right? It all starts in the show’s first season. Even during the weirdest point in their relationship — featuring a brief interest in the same man — Ann sits down with Leslie and genuinely makes sure she’s all right with her going on a date with him. She even addresses the fact that Leslie may feel pressured to lie to protect her feelings and tells her she’ll skip the date if Leslie is uncomfortable. Even throughout the most stereotypical plotline of their relationship, Ann and Leslie are respectful of each other’s feelings and willing to sacrifice their own romantic interests in the name of their friendship, proving once and for all that uteruses do come before “duderuses.”

Another important aspect of these characters’ friendship is their willingness to stand by one another

even through hard or awkward times. From scavenging in a ditch in the middle of the night for Leslie’s “gummy penises” (it’s a long story) to becoming Leslie’s campaign manager despite having no political experience, it’s no secret that Ann was willing to put her life on hold to be there for Leslie when she needed support. But Leslie always held up her end of the bargain as well by not only snooping around her boss’s home for clues that he may be cheating on her best friend, but skipping a huge milestone in her career to drive Ann home after a humiliating miscommunication with her ex.

These best friends also went out of their way to never make the other feel stupid for their flaws or shortcomings. From “poetic, noble land mermaid” to “talented, brilliant, powerful musk ox,” Leslie blesses Ann with just about every strange compliment under the sun. Even after a misunderstanding with her ex leads Ann to believe they’re still dating, Leslie doesn’t point out her embarrassing inability to read the situation, but claims that Ann

couldn’t have possibly understood her rejection — she was too beautiful to know what it felt like to be dumped. Although well aware of one another’s flaws (proven when Ann points out Leslie’s tendency to be a “steamroller”), the two friends are loyal to a fault and only ever use their knowledge of one another’s traits (both good and bad) to uplift their friendship, never to tear it down.

In a world filled with distorted media (often produced by men), it’s seemingly become a radical idea that two female characters may actually like each other without the demeaning stereotype that all women want to stab each other in the back. As these Blair and Serenaesque friendships have become an unfortunate commonality in the TV world, we can only hope that more creators and writers begin to wrap their heads around the idea that true female friendship is something fun, something genuine and something entirely real, whether it’s reflected well in the media or not.

‘Begin Again’ the new year with Emma Lord’s upcoming YA novel

AVA SEAMAN Books Beat Editor

It’s only the first day of school, and Andie Rose’s perfectly curated plan has already gone awry.

In Emma Lord’s “Begin Again,” Andie transfers from her local community college to the ubercompetitive Blue Ridge State — her dream school that happens to be the same school her boyfriend, Connor, attends — only to find out Connor has transferred to her community college. Her bookish roommate, Shay, needs a to declare a major and Andie needs help passing statistics. To top it all off, Andie finds herself in a unique position giving people advice on her school’s pirate radio show — the same one her mother founded when she went to Blue Ridge.

raised her, which allows for the perfect balance of platonic and romantic relationships needed in a YA novel.

With a long-distance relationship hanging by a thread, a new job and advice to give, Andie learns that her usual fix-it attitude can’t fix everything in her new life at college.

college students can relate to since feelings of insecurity and imposter syndrome are common in college students. Andie faces the same struggle of paying the high costs of college tuition that most students encounter, while also balancing an overwhelming academic workload with working at the local bagel shop like many working-class college students.

LILLIAN PEARCE Daily Arts Writer

With the new year comes new goals, new hopes, new dreams. For many, “read more books” is near the top of resolution lists, which is both commendable and conventional in this day and age. Nevertheless, it can be difficult to set your tasks and technology aside to dive into a book. Whether you spent New Year’s Eve finishing your Goodreads Reading Goal (I finished my “Daisy Jones & The Six” reread just before midnight) or you’re only now getting back into the habit, I’m sure there’s a book out there that will engross you if given the chance. I’ve compiled a list of books that I believe will do the trick for kick-starting your 2023 reading goal.

Who’s afraid of the big bad book?

I am, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I am not only intimidated by 800-whoppers — I’m terrified of them. I was incredibly close to rigging my book club’s January selection when people voted for “Anna Karenina,” and, for a brief time, loathed my friends who recommended “The Priory of the Orange Tree” to me. Though both the aforementioned works ended up pleasantly surprising me, no, dear reader, I’m not recommending you start out the year carrying a boulder around in your bag.

Starting off 2023 with a short, fast-paced book will not only launch you ahead in your race of reading, but will give you the motivational satisfaction of quickly finishing a book and encourage you to pick up another.

Madeline Miller’s “Galatea” is only 20 pages long — yes, you read that right — and will have you eager to follow it up with her full-length novels “Circe” and “Song of Achilles.” As is shared in her afterword, “Galatea” is Miller’s “response to Ovid’s version of the Pygmalion myth in the Metamorphoses.” Galatea is a marble sculpture of Pygmalion’s that comes to life after his

pleading to the Greek God Venus, and Miller’s short (and I mean short) story centers Galatea and her position as a fetishized, oppressed being. Miller’s Galatea is intelligent, witty and fierce. Before the first few pages are up, you’re rooting for her and for Pygmalion’s downfall. “Galatea” is a small testament to Miller’s writing prowess, which teems with electricity and emotion.

A more substantial (but still short) recommendation is Michelle Hart’s “We Do What We Do in the Dark,” a 222-page read that will have you simultaneously intrigued, disgusted and devastated. The story follows Mallory, a freshman in college who has recently come out and accepted her sexuality as a lesbian. She meets a (married) professor at her college — who is only referred to as “the woman” throughout the novel — and the two have an on-and-off affair. Though their relationship is the driving force of the story, a secondary plotline concerning the death of Mallory’s mother is also critical to the novel. Mallory’s life is constantly evolving, wavering in its complexity as we move throughout time, flashing back to the past and forward to the future as Mallory wrestles with her grief and her identity.

For those who want to laugh but don’t want to cringe It’s a tricky line to toe, but Jill Gutowitz has figured it out. Her debut work “Girls Can Kiss Now” is a collection of essays that chronicle her life as she discovers and explores her Queerness, dissects pop culture, unpacks her past relationships and makes you laugh out loud along the way. I listened to her essays, and I’m glad — I’ll always rally for listening to personal works and memoirs over reading because of how much more intimate they feel. Hearing Gutowitz share her stories and memories out loud made her feel like an older sister: someone who simultaneously provides solid advice while also making you gasp and giggle. Besides the fact that Gutowitz’s pen is

praiseworthy, the structure of the book makes it a great work to start the year off with. The division of the work into easily digestible essays quickens its pace and will have you feeling accomplished sooner rather than later.

Ali Wong’s memoir “Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, & Advice for Living Your Best Life” is another book that lands on the funny side of the line. Similar to Gutowitz, Wong divides her memoir into sections, or letters to her daughters. Wong shares details — both hilarious and outrageous — about her life as a comedian, but also speaks to her experiences growing up in San Francisco and as a college student abroad. Though I remember the laughs from my time reading, I also remember feeling sentimental listening to Wong craft a book for her daughters first and foremost.

To my lighthearted readers who crave emotional turmoil

Also known as my favorite genre — and no one does it better than Carmen Maria Machado and Celeste Ng. Their respective works “In the Dream House” and “Everything I Never Told You” are modern classics in the making (and my favorite reads of 2022).

“In the Dream House” is an unconventional memoir that focuses specifically on an abusive relationship of Machado’s. Each section of the book, which vary in length though never in gravity, glimmers like vignettes; the memoir is painfully beautiful, staunchly severe. It is devastating and it is completely absorbing. I read it all in one sitting, though it can be read in chunks and pieces. Depending on your approach, “In the Dream House” can be read quickly or slowly, allowing you to dedicate as much time as you can without fear of forgetting what happened or interrupting its flow. I would recommend researching the trigger warnings, but would still encourage any interested reader to pick it up and stay updated on Machado’s next releases.

Then there’s Milo, Andie’s overly-exhausted and overcaffeinated resident advisor, who throws her for a loop. As Andie deals with her strained relationship with Connor, her and Milo’s friendship continues to grow; they bond over the loss of a parent and their love for bagels. Both Milo and Andie are extremely family-oriented: Milo’s siblings make frequent appearances, as do Andie’s two grandmothers who

“Begin Again” is a delightful and comforting read. As her fourth YA novel, Lord’s writing is consistently heartfelt and filled with delicious descriptions of food. This is her first novel to focus on college-aged characters, which is refreshing, if not relatable to everyone. Lord delicately discusses college finances and the issues surrounding financial aid that the characters confront. Milo’s passion for the lack of work-study jobs available to students at Blue Ridge is admirable. Though it’s a fictional university, Blue Ridge’s situation certainly reflects the struggling state of financial aid programs at schools across the country.

The characters in “Begin Again” are charming, especially Andie and Milo, who go through their own self-growth journeys. As a first-year transfer student at a super competitive state school, Andie feels inadequate compared to her peers, something many

Fans of NPR and podcasts will appreciate the radio show aspect of “Begin Again.” The secret show on campus called “The Knights’ Watch” is where students get all the dirt on Blue Ridge. Andie faces anonymity and early mornings as the show’s “Squire” doing what she does best: helping people with their problems (while simultaneously ignoring her own). As she grapples with her mother’s legacy on the show, Andie creates a legacy for herself by creating the life she always wanted, with the support of her family and new friends at college.

Andie’s college experience won’t be everyone’s experience, but it’s still entertaining to read. With a slow-burn romance, a lovable friend group and an overarching theme of starting over woven throughout the story, “Begin Again” is the perfect book to read in the new year.

Courtesy of Lillian Pearce

‘The Circle’ season five is nothing without Raven Sutton

I guess you could say I’m a longtime “The Circle” expert. From writing about the early seasons of “The Circle” in my application to The Michigan Daily Arts (winter 2023 deadline is Jan. 22!) to enjoying the TikToks of season four contestants John Franklin and Alyssa Ljubicich’s real-life relationship, I’ve been paying close attention for a while now, which is higher praise than I can give most shows. Now gradually releasing its fifth season, “The Circle,” a voiceactivated internal social media platform competition, is back — this time, with its first-ever deaf contestant.

“The Circle,” a game designed such that the players never actually meet another contestant until they are eliminated or reach the finale, understandably causes players to be cautious and distrustful, interacting

exclusively on the virtual platform. As each player wonders if the others are who they say they are, “The Circle” sows the seeds of conflict and heartbreak. All reality television requires some level of betrayal and scandal to remain entertaining, but “The Circle” stays relevant and lacks the “ick” that so many other reality television shows carry in abundance. What’s the “ick?” Watching people suffer horrible mistreatment by both production staff and other cast members, all influenced by a tint of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.

On “The Circle,” though devastating blocks and gossip may cause rifts — even between former allies — nobody suffers mistreatment by the production staff or is targeted because of their race, gender, sexuality or disability — including deafness.

A season five “Circle” favorite, among viewers and other players alike, is Raven Sutton. Raven, a Black woman from Maryland,

is the first deaf player in “The Circle.” Introducing herself as “#deafasfuck, and … proud of it,” Raven is a warm, vibrant presence from the start. With her interpreter, Paris, by her side, Raven explains to the audience that, “in the game, I’m the one calling the shots” and that, “American Sign Language is my first language, and yes, I can use my voice, but I feel more comfortable using sign language.”

She adds that she comes from a deaf family, and is third-generation deaf. From her introduction alone, Raven intercepts all the questions a hearing audience might ask and, despite the fact that she’s probably received all of the questions many times, responds preemptively with grace, clarity and pride.

A self-proclaimed “bad bitch,” Raven’s presence on the show is a refreshing and carefullyhandled change of pace. Raven is an autonomous, incredibly lively human being, and is never construed as anything less by

her fellow competitors or the show itself. When Raven tells her “Circle” competitors that she’s deaf in her profile, nobody bats an eye. Even in a game where just about everybody comes in either as a catfish or with the intention of catfish hunting, nobody questions Raven. Disabled people are frequently questioned at every turn — whether being harassed for using a disability parking spot or having to “prove” their own disability to the government (there’s even a United States Social Security Administration page titled “How We Decide If You’re Disabled”), disabled people face cruelty on a regular basis as they go about their lives. Thankfully, you won’t see anything of this nature on “The Circle.” Raven’s treatment on the show represents both a model for how the rest of the world needs to behave and an example of how easy it is to do so.

Loona’s betrayal: A story about the power of K-pop fans

KATELYN SLIWINSKI Daily Arts Writer

It’s no secret that K-pop has gained popularity in the United States over the past decade. Songs like “Gangnam Style” were once seen as a cultural anomaly, but we now see world-famous boy groups like BTS widely catering to their American audience, with merchandise found even in your local Barnes and Noble.

If you’re a new fan, it’s fascinating to navigate the landscape of K-pop. Each time a group launches a new song, it comes with not only a music video but a photo book, several promotional stage performances, custom choreography, trendy styling and more. There are dozens of groups to discover, but the groups you’re most likely to

hear about are produced by the “Big 4” entertainment agencies in Korea: SM Entertainment (NCT, Red Velvet), YG Entertainment (Blackpink), JYP Entertainment (TWICE, Stray Kids) and HYBE Corporation (BTS).

However, there are plenty of smaller companies that produce K-pop groups with just as much talent and style. One in particular has caught a ton of international attention: 12-member girl K-pop group LOONA. The group has gained popularity through their catchy, energetic songs and choreography, and if you’ve spent any time on Twitter in the past five years, maybe you’ve heard the phrase “Stan LOONA.” This is because of the fans’ dedication to promoting the group across the world.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Alejandro González Iñárritu’s ‘Bardo’ is too over-stuffed with ideas for its own good

MITCHEL GREEN Daily Arts Writer

Reports suggest that after its premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival, “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths” was edited down by about 22 minutes before its release on Netflix in early December. To this I say, “Why stop there?” Alejandro González Iñárritu’s (“The Revenant”) first feature film in seven years is a flashy, long-winded, surrealist look at the experiences of a Mexican immigrant to the United States struggling with his identity. It’s likely one of the last of Netflix’s auteur-driven blank-check era — one that provided both stellar highs and unbearable lows. Despite its admirable ambition, “Bardo” simply doesn’t work because the confusing storytelling doesn’t mesh well with the actual story being told.

Iñárritu tries to create a surreal, dreamlike world. There are some incredibly bizarre moments, like when a doctor at the beginning says that a baby refuses to be born because the world is “too fucked up,” but there are also some minor strange details, like having Amazon buy the Mexican state of Baja California. The intended effect is to create a purgatory for the main character, Silverio Gama (Daniel Giménez Cacho, “Memoria”), as he finds himself stuck between his two dueling identities as a Mexican and an American. The film’s surrealist qualities lead to the occasional brilliant moment, like a dance sequence at a party for Silverio in which all but the vocals of David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” fade out, showing the emptiness Silverio feels. It also leads to some truly baffling sequences, like when Silverio meets with Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés atop a mountain of murdered indigenous people in the middle of Mexico City and they discuss the genocide of the Natives. The film’s ideas feel all over the place, and the more it leans into surrealism, the more confusing

everything becomes because the surrealist elements distract from what Iñárritu is saying.

There are a lot of interesting ideas at play in “Bardo,” but it fails to give enough attention to any of its major storylines. The film is simultaneously about grieving the loss of a child, political tensions between the United States and Mexico, the history of oppression faced by Mexico’s indigenous people and dealing with criticism of one’s personal work. These are a lot of big, heavy ideas, and ones we don’t see dealt with much in films released by major Hollywood studios. Unfortunately, because Iñárritu seems more interested in how the story was told and not what story was told, “Bardo” comes off as one big mess.

Though it looks far more interesting than most of the films Netflix puts out — the vast majority looking no better than a high-budget episode of television — the way “Bardo” is shot doesn’t do much to elevate the material. Iñárritu and cinematographer Darius Khondji (“Armageddon Time”) overuse the wide-angle lens to such a degree that the intended surrealist effect becomes disorienting and ugly over the course of the film’s significant runtime. After his display of the technique in other films, Iñárritu’s beloved long takes feel flashy and hollow in “Bardo.” In his previous film “Birdman” the long takes act as an impressive gimmick — where the entire film is made to look like one continuous take — and give the audience a better sense of the theater’s space. In “The Revenant” they add a sense of dynamism to chase sequences. But in “Bardo” they simply feel like a way for Iñárritu to show off.

Though the film itself doesn’t work well, it’s a shame that “Bardo” is likely one of the reasons Netflix will be moving away from big, risky films. The world is far better off with more “Bardo”s and fewer “The Gray Man”s. “Bardo” may not have been successful, but every once in a while, the home run swing taken by a filmmaker like Iñárritu hits, and we are rewarded with a great work of art.

by Patti Varol and Joyce Nichols Lewis

EMMY

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

This image was taken from the official trailer for “The Circle,” distributed by Netflix.

Courtesy of Katelyn Sliwinski

Scratching the surface of ChatGPT

JAMES JOHNSTON Daily Arts Writer

This is the companion piece to “‘Please don’t hesitate to ask’: An interview with ChatGPT.”

Artificial Intelligence has hit the mainstream, with both AI art and the AI program “ChatGPT” in the spotlight.

ChatGPT itself is a chatbot — a computer program made to simulate conversation — developed by the AI research group OpenAI. The chatbot uses a family of language models.

Like AI art generators that use patterns that appear in images to mimic a certain style, ChatGPT draws from a collection of texts,

using probability to find the next word in the sequence until it has constructed a response to whatever prompt it has received.

It also relies on Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF), in which the language model produces results that users rate on how “human” they sound as well as whether the content is vulgar in any way.

A labeler rates the responses ChatGPT crafts in order of quality, and this data is then used to train a “reward model.”

ChatGPT is not rewarded with a gift like a human would be; rather, it provides a score that measures ChatGPT’s performance and adjusts the internal workings of ChatGPT to craft a higher-quality response

in the future. OpenAI provides a comprehensive explanation of the process here.

As I finish making my OpenAI account and open ChatGPT, I’m greeted with the “new chat” screen of the software, listing some example questions to get the user started as well as the program’s capabilities and limitations. ChatGPT cannot give answers on topics occurring after 2021, such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine or the recent Iranian protests. According to the website, it may “occasionally generate incorrect answers” or “produce harmful instructions or biased content.” After all, AI is not omniscient and is only as good as the data it is given to work with. Said data may have certain

biases, which cannot be avoided initially; however, it is a problem to acknowledge and work toward solving, considering AI’s potential roles in our society. ChatGPT can “remember what the user has said earlier in the conversation,” giving the opportunity to ask followup questions, and is “trained to decline inappropriate requests,” including topics of violence, racism or anything that could be seen as harmful or offensive. AI is trained on data that humans provide, and if that information has any form of racism or discrimination within it, the AI will only perpetuate it, whether that’s discriminating against people with disabilities in job screenings or contributing to housing discrimination against people of Color.

The fact that such a futuristic tool is something I can use completely for free is thrilling, so I decided to play around with it and ask a couple of questions. I started with something simple: “Write me a standup comedy joke.”

“Why couldn’t the bicycle stand up by itself? Because it was twotired!” Not what I had in mind, but yeah, I guess that works.

I asked it to tell me an insult. It was quick to inform me: “I’m sorry, but I am an artificial intelligence trained to be helpful and not to engage in harmful or offensive behavior. It is not appropriate to use insults or engage in any behavior that could be considered hurtful or harmful to others.” Bit of a buzzkill. At least a “your mom” joke of some sort would have been nice.

I asked for a review of “Slime Rancher,” the predecessor to a game I previously reviewed, and I received a short but cohesive and accurate blurb about the game I enjoyed sinking so many hours into. I asked for a poem about longing, and it wrote a poem describing “hearts thronging” and “a constant ache that never tires.” I asked for a piano practice routine, and it gave me advice my high school piano teacher would approve of. I asked for instructions on how to throw a punch and it turned me down. Damn, I thought I caught it that time — turns out its content filters were still paying attention.

JAMES JOHNSTON Daily Arts Writer

This is the companion piece to “Scratching the surface of ChatGPT.”

After introducing myself to ChatGPT, its functions, capabilities and restrictions, and brainstorming how I could present discussions ChatGPT raises in an interesting

way, I came to the conclusion that I was able to interview this Artificial Intelligence. Every single word of ChatGPT’s response is intentional due to how it forms its responses, and this interview will give me a different perspective on ChatGPT’s current position as a fairly groundbreaking software.

I opened a new window with ChatGPT just to make sure I got

a fresh start. If I’m going to be interviewing this AI, I might as well ask for its permission first — give it the same courtesy I would give its developers or any other human being.

“Is it alright if I interview you?” I asked hesitantly.

“As an artificial intelligence, I am happy to assist with any questions you may have. However,

it’s important to keep in mind that I am a machine learning model and do not have personal experiences or feelings. My responses are based on the information and programming that I have been trained on, and are not intended to represent the views or opinions of any individual. Please let me know how I can help.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that ChatGPT had subtly renamed our conversation “AI interview requested.” It was more than ready for my interview.

Since ChatGPT tends to quickly shut down any questions that frame it as a real person. (For example: What do you think or feel about a given topic?) I had to make sure to present my questions carefully. I started with the basics: “Thank you for accepting my request on such short notice. How do you decide on your responses?”

ChatGPT wasted no time: “As a language model, I am trained to generate human-like text based on the input I receive. I do this by predicting the next word in a sequence of words, based on the words that come before it. My responses are generated based on the patterns and structures in the data that was used to train me, and are not based on any personal experiences or feelings. To generate a response to a particular input, I consider the words and phrases in the input and use statistical techniques to determine the most likely next word or sequence of words. This process is repeated until a complete response has been generated.”

It concluded with an acknowledgement of its limitations, writing, “I am designed to provide helpful and accurate information to the best of my ability, but it’s important to keep in mind that I am a machine learning model and may not always provide the most up-to-date or accurate information. If you have any specific questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

Something that had been on my mind, and the reason ChatGPT had been repeatedly showing up on my

social media, was the controversy that it had raised. Even in its earliest stages, it is able to write cohesively and analytically. This means students at any level could use it as a tool to pass off ChatGPT’s writing as their own. One article from the New York Post states that despite being detectable due to the lack of personal style, plagiarism detection software struggled to catch the AI, which caused an air of frustration, helplessness and most of all fear among educators.

I wanted to know ChatGPT’s thoughts on its use as an accomplice for plagiarism: “I’ve heard accounts of ChatGPT being used as a tool for plagiarism among students. Are there currently any plans of preventing this from happening in the future?”

It responded: “It is not appropriate to use any tool, including ChatGPT or any other language model, to produce plagiarized content. Plagiarism is the act of presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own, without proper attribution. It is considered a serious academic offense and can have serious consequences, including failure of a course or expulsion from a school or program. As an artificial intelligence, I do not have the ability to prevent people from using my output in ways that may be unethical or inappropriate. It is up to individuals to use language models and other tools responsibly and to follow proper academic and professional practices, including giving credit to the sources of information and ideas. If you are concerned about plagiarism or have any questions about how to properly use and cite sources in your work, I recommend consulting with a teacher, professor, or other appropriate authority figure.”

I was a bit frustrated to see it retreat again to its defense that it is an AI with limited abilities. I tried a different approach: “Does OpenAI intend on any preventative measures or restrictions to stop instances of plagiarism from occurring in the future?”

ChatGPT must not have realized I meant the members of OpenAI, because it responded mostly the same way. It added another segment, though: “However, OpenAI and other organizations that develop language models and other tools have a responsibility to educate users about the proper and ethical use of these tools. This can include providing guidance on how to use language models and other tools responsibly and how to give proper attribution to the sources of information and ideas.”

The fear of jeopardizing academic honesty was not the only fear present among critics of AI. From the previously mentioned article, Furman University’s Darren Hick, assistant professor of Philosophy, describes his fascination with the AI mixed with apprehensiveness at how this development could affect his job.

Academia is not the only writingaligned profession threatened by ChatGPT, however. Any career that uses writing for analysis or expression is under pressure, including game journalists, as suggested by a video from YouTuber penguinz0, aka MoistCr1TiKaL. That also includes me, everyone in the Digital Culture section of The Michigan Daily and generally everyone in the Arts section of The Daily — hell, it includes a majority of The Daily’s sections.

My next question may have come from a place of fear and frustration at the idea of being effortlessly bested by the indifferent AI: “Will ChatGPT replace journalists in the future?”

ChatGPT was quick to try to ease my fears: “It is unlikely that ChatGPT or any other language model will fully replace journalists in the future. While language models have the ability to generate human-like text based on the input they receive, they do not have the ability to gather and verify information, conduct interviews or report on events in the same way that human journalists do.

Design by Leah Hoogterp

For the campus

A look into the positive side of rivalries

ZHANE YAMIN Senior Opinion Editor

On Nov. 26, 2022, the Michigan football team won its first away game against The Ohio State University in 22 years. “The Game,” as it is dubbed by Ohio State and Michigan fans alike, is the culmination of one of the biggest rivalries in the game of football. With the raucous crowd in the Horseshoe and the consistent trading of blows by both teams, the quality of The Game lived up to its intense reputation. In a way, the quarterbacks of both teams embodied generals, leading and directing not only their team, but the spirit of the schools that they represented.

As is known by most students of either school, the rivalry, like many other rivalries, extends far beyond the scope of football. The competition between schools touches topics including, but not limited to, other sports, student journalism and academics. Without a doubt, the uncontrolled extension of rivalrous competition into the individual psyche can lead to negative consequences such

as intense verbal or physical violence. Just this year, after the rivalry football game against Michigan State University, a fight between players broke out. However, when controlled and kept in good spirit, rivalries have the ability to unify and strengthen the communities that participate in them.

No phrase better encapsulates the spirit of the University of Michigan than “Go Blue.” As simple as the two-word saying is, it can serve many purposes, such as a rallying call to other University students, an exciting accent to the end of a fight song or a means to receive backlash from rival sports fans. The connection, reaction and accentuation that the expression brings on is not simply due to its purpose to express support, but the spirit that it represents.

When someone says “Go Blue,” they encapsulate a spirit that is omnipresent on campus. When heard by sympathetic ears, the phrase becomes a point of connection, a bridge between two people. School spirit can be a means to that end: something shared between some of the most diverse identities on campus.

Rivalries transform a permeating sense of school

spirit into a concentrated stream of pride, turning weak connections into stronger ones and furthering a sense of unity on campus. During rivalrous times, “Go Blue” transforms from a simple, spirited phrase into a rallying cry of pride and support.

Aside from its unifying aspects, the competitive spirit associated with rivalry is undoubtedly one of its greatest and most mutually beneficial effects. The inherent drive and added motivation characteristic of a rivalry pushes both sides to become the absolute best that they can be. For example, the sole existence of rivalry in competitive runners has been shown to shave at least four seconds per kilometer off of relative times clocked without the presence of competition.

The spirit of competition is not just exclusive to outwardly

competitive contexts like sports or academia. Many times, the spirit of competition and rivalry can be manipulated in order to reach positive outcomes for both of the sides or for a third party.

An example of this could be the annual fundraising competition between OSU’s student publication, The Lantern, and The Michigan Daily, which raised over $30,000 this year. Other teams have chosen to use their rivalry to raise money for charity, such as the Broken Chair Trophy fundraiser between the University of Nebraska and the University of Minnesota, which also raised over $30,000 this year.

So what about the bad aspects of rivalry?

There’s no avoiding the fact that rivalries can get ugly, become violent and be generally regressive. The bad side of

rivalry is an uncomfortable truth that most sports fans have had to confront at some point or another. However, what we normally determine to be a bad aspect of rivalry is not characteristic of rivalry at all, but instead representative of uncontrolled and uneducated pride.

The pride that individuals can feel for the groups they are a part of can easily transition into a distaste for those that they feel are opposed to them. Wanton pride and support for any identity can lead to myopia, where the common good for both sides of the rivalry is overcome by the need to induce pain in the other.

This phenomenon is pervasive throughout our political world as well. The political division that we see today is a direct result of the spirit of rivalry overcoming the common good.

In many instances, it seems that politicians, parties and people would rather push back on their competitors than work toward a common goal between them.

In order to have healthy rivalry and competition, we must control ourselves and monitor our actions. There is nothing wrong with having pride in your identity, but the problem arises in the blind superiority complex that can arise with wanton pride. We should realize our true power comes not from thinking that we are the best, but in realizing that we have the capacity to be the best. That is the essence of rivalry.

We feel pride for a lot of things. One might feel pride for their culture, their country or their school. The pride that we feel for these communities is the bridge between us. This is why rivalries are so important.

Letter to the Editor: Reporting misconduct to ECRT serves the University community

ELIZABETH SENEY Opinion Contributor

Content

warning; sexual assault and harassment

Iam writing today in response to the Nov. 11 Op-Ed in The Michigan Daily that advocated for steering away from reporting misconduct to U-M Equity, Civil Rights and Title IX Office (ECRT). Its misguided conclusions were based on inaccurate information and did a disservice to our community.

Here’s what I want you to know about reporting to ECRT: ECRT’s primary role with respect to sexual and genderbased misconduct is to serve the safety and equity of the U-M community.

Reporting to ECRT allows individuals to access accurate information about the wide range of support, resources and resolution options unique to the campus setting that are available to them to address the situation.

Not all faculty (or staff) are obligated to report allegations of sexual misconduct. That is a requirement only for individuals with reporting obligations (IROs) under University policy. Regardless, and more importantly, reporting to ECRT is a good thing.

When individuals share information with ECRT (whether required to do so or not), the University can ensure that each person who reports sexual misconduct to an IRO gets the same information about resources and how to make a formal complaint if they wish to do so. Ensuring that students have accurate information and understand all the options available to them is as important as it is delicate; we cannot rely on each individual member of the University community to know how to respond to a person raising concerns in an accurate, appropriate, empathetic and equitable way. ECRT staff members have specific training

to ensure each report receives an appropriate and supportive response in which individuals can make an informed decision based on accurate and complete information. The University also offers confidential resources such as the Sexual Assault Prevention & Awareness Center, staffed with trained, expert professionals who are also well-versed in options internal and external to the University.

As with many aspects of the University’s response to sexual and gender-based misconduct, the University complies with legal requirements related to reporting obligations. The University also exercises its discretion to go beyond what is required by law in order to best serve the U-M community.

The University’s approach to required reporting aligns with many peer institutions and with proposed Title IX regulations that would require all faculty to report. A full list of IRO roles at the University is posted here.

While the Op-Ed suggested that anyone reporting to ECRT will lose control of the situation, reporting to ECRT does not mean that a case will be automatically opened or that the person impacted will be directed to a hearing. While it is always ECRT’s aim to take action to effectively address sexual or genderbased misconduct, ECRT works with the complainant — if identified — to explore all options available to them. The complainant is in control of whether and how to engage with ECRT and has a choice in their next steps. While some choose an investigatory path, the vast majority choose alternative options such as restorative justice processes, educational efforts or supportive measures, or request that no action by the University be taken.

ECRT also works with those who report a complaint when a complainant may not wish to engage with ECRT to coordinate the least intrusive and most appropriate way

to provide the complainant with information about other resources and options. ECRT does not compel those who may have experienced misconduct to share information about their experience or to participate in any resolution process.

In fact, this is the primary reason for the difference in the total number of reports and the disciplinary outcomes cited in the Op-Ed. ECRT publishes an annual sexual and gender-based misconduct report to provide the public with transparent, accurate information on how these matters are handled while maintaining the privacy of those involved. The reports, publicly available on ECRT’s website, consistently demonstrate that complainants retain options and a large degree of control after matters are reported to ECRT. The report also demonstrates ECRT’s commitment to addressing sexual and genderbased misconduct and outlines the fair, thorough process used when an investigative

pathway is selected. This process includes the University providing parties with an advisor, at no cost to them, if they do not choose to use their own advisor. Finally, the report shows that when a University community member is found to have engaged in misconduct, action is taken.

There also are options for reporting misconduct outside the University. Reporting to ECRT does not preclude anyone from pursuing any or all of these, and in some instances, having reported to the University is effectively a precursor to seeking external help. Ultimately, reporting to ECRT provides for the most immediate access to supportive measures, such as academic accommodations, housing or employment modifications, and the greatest opportunity for the complainant to make informed decisions regarding which, if any, processes they wish to participate in to seek the type of resolution outcome that best meets their needs.

ISABELLE SCHINDLER Opinion Columnist

This November, voters in Michigan approved Proposal 1, which changed the legislative term limits for the Michigan House of Representatives and Michigan State Senate and greatly expanded the financial disclosure rules for state politicians. These are two very important changes that will help to ensure ethics and accountability in Lansing.

Prior to the passage of Proposal 1, legislators in Michigan could serve a maximum of two four-year terms in the Senate and three two-year terms in the House. After the changes in Proposal 1, legislators will be able to serve 12 years cumulatively between either house. The hope is that this will allow members to hone their skills in one office, while still further limiting

the time they can spend in the legislature as a whole.

Critics of term limits have argued that they contribute to unnecessary turnover, as legislators can only serve for a few years. This means that from the moment they get into office, many legislators are incentivized to immediately begin thinking about their next career move. There are also concerns that all this high turnover and short tenure among legislators could make it difficult for officials to gain the experience needed to successfully tackle complex issues. The job of legislating has a tough learning curve — with strict term limits, right as legislators come to fully understand their jobs, they must move on.

Term limits were first implemented in Michigan 30 years ago under a 1992 Constitutional amendment. The original argument in

1992 was that term limits would help reduce the number of career legislators and increase diversity. Proponents also argued that term limits would help limit the power of lobbyists and interest groups.

However, there are questions to be raised about whether these term limits were effective or if they actually increased the power of lobbyists instead, as inexperienced legislators were forced to rely on the recourses and institutional knowledge of special interests.

Concerns about inexperienced lawmakers and lobbyist control have gained prominence recently with the investigation into former Republican House Speaker Lee Chatfield, who served as speaker of the Michigan House from 2019-2021. He was just 31 when he became speaker, and had only been in the legislature for four years when he was elected to the position.

After he left office, Chatfield came under investigation by the Michigan Attorney General’s Office for a variety of illicit activities, including embezzlement, campaign finance violations and bribery. Investigations into Chatfield have also detailed how he relied heavily on lobbyists, trading access for money and trips and had several family members on his payroll.

While Chatfield’s alleged actions are an extreme example of corruption in Lansing, his actions underscore the role of lobbyists and big business in our state capital. It is not hard to see how these types of things happen. With a constant revolving door of legislators with little experience, it is easy for lobbyists and big business to take advantage. Having these short terms also means that there are also fewer connections between legislators; this lack of

camaraderie might contribute to more partisanship.

This is not to say that the general idea behind term limits is bad. It is undeniable that our government is aging and is often out of step with the views of younger Americans. For many young people, it can be discouraging to feel that so many of our representatives are out of touch with our generation and to know that they have been serving for longer than many of us have been alive. However, we must ensure that in our quest for a younger and more representative legislature, we don’t reduce the efficacy of our lawmakers.

Proposal 1 also had the important provision of adding financial disclosure requirements to the Michigan Constitution. It requires that members of the legislature and top executives release financial disclosures, including donations from lobbyists. This

is a major step forward for the state, as it will hopefully encourage more transparency and place less influence in the hands of select lobbyists.

Time will tell if the changes in Proposal 1 are enough to ensure that we have a legislature that works for the people, not special interests. If the issues of legislator turnover and lobbyist control continue at high rates, then more actions will be needed to possibly weaken Michigan’s term limits or further strengthen financial disclosure and ethics laws.

A legislature that works effectively for all Michiganders, without the influence of lobbyists, is something that we can all agree is a good thing to have. That is why we need to continue to analyze the impact of the state term limits on the strength of our legislature, and hold our legislators accountable to maintain their independence and integrity.

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Conservative doctors make terrible politicians, but great pawns

NAMRATHA NELAPUDI Opinion Columnist

With an increasingly competitive applicant pool for U.S. medical schools, accepting the call to become a physician requires a great deal of altruism, philanthropy and patient advocacy — at least on paper.

An article from the Association of American Medical Colleges illustrates that in 2020, first-year medical students averaged 644 hours of volunteering. Of those 644 hours, students first encountered harsh medical disparities in clinical environments. Patients unable to afford medication, women denied abortions, diseases brought about by food insecurity, children dying of COVID-19 and predatory insurance companies are a few of the many injustices that leave a sour taste in the mouths of aspiring clinicians.

Navigating the tangled web of healthcare inequity politicizes physicians. Combined with the increase in female physicians, student loan debt, a broken healthcare system and metropolitan clustering, the profession is

beginning to turn incredibly blue. 35% of physicians identify as Democrats and nearly two-thirds of physician campaign contributions go to Democratic candidates.

Given the fact that physicians must interact with both the physical and socioeconomic sides of sickness, it is concerning that 27% of physicians identify as Republicans — a party ardently against crucial pieces of health provisions such as abortion, mask mandates and universal healthcare. What’s more, it comes as no surprise that political affiliation ultimately influences treatment given to patients. Yale researchers found that Republican physicians were more likely to discuss the negative effects of marijuana usage and abortions, while Democratic physicians were more concerned with the presence of a gun in the house when presented with identical patient vignettes.

In government, the same phenomenon persists. There are currently 10 Republican doctors in the House of Representatives and four Republican doctors in the Senate, as opposed to just three Democratic doctors in the two

chambers combined. Dr. Mehmet Oz, a former cardiothoracic surgeon and host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” was one member of the cadre of conservative physicians running to join their ranks this past midterm election cycle. Oz has a lengthy track record of promoting pseudoscience, gun rights, the abolishment of the ACA and abortion bans. He was the Republican party’s perfect pawn to proliferate post-lockdown healthcare policy that only a medical degree holder like Oz could get away with legislating.

Had he won the 2022 Pennsylvania Senate race, Oz could’ve easily twisted bad proposals on the Senate floor with flowery medical jargon, patient stories and mention of his credentials — much like he had done on his TV show when promoting the “medicinal benefits” of astrology, raspberry ketones and umckaloabo root. While Oz’s ultimate loss to Lt. Gov. John Fetterman was a step in the right direction, the negative impact his campaign had on both physician credibility and reliability is unforgivable.

No more thoughts and prayers: A bipartisan path to gun control

Thoughts and prayers. After years of mass shootings and gun violence, all the country has to show for the bloodshed is a long stream of condolences. Following shootings in Parkland, Oxford, UVA and countless other locations, legislators nationwide have advocated for strong reform, only to repeatedly come up short. Support for legislation curtailing access to some types of firearms draws support from 71% of Americans, yet the drastic measures proposed by activists on the left have caused a stalemate with rightwing lawmakers, preventing any significant legislation from being passed.

In order to escape the endless cycle of carnage and inaction, it’s time for the left to reevaluate its policies and focus on measures that enjoy higher support from the American people. Rather than advocating for assault rifle bans and mandatory buyback programs, legislators should focus on measures like red flag laws, background checks and limits on the sale of highcapacity magazines, which have bipartisan support and a far greater chance of being implemented. Though these reforms certainly won’t stop all violence, they’ll go a long way toward improving safety in our communities and breaking decades of deadlock on gun reform.

Since the Sandy Hook shootings a decade ago, numerous attempts to counter gun violence have come up short. The most successful of those measures, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which was passed in 2022, makes positive change but leaves many issues unresolved. Though it supports funding for red flag laws, closes the “boyfriend loophole” and provides significant mental health funding, the bill fails to mandate red flag laws nationally and doesn’t close major background check loopholes regarding private gun sales and

the unavailability of mental health histories. In order to improve the safety of cities nationwide, it’s paramount that we enact more measures on the statewide and national level that make strides toward rectifying a chaotic system of gun ownership. Our best hope to pass tangible legislation lies in tempered measures that correct flaws surrounding the current gun purchase procedures, rather than banning classes of weapons outright and uprooting a convoluted system that has been in place for decades.

One of the most actionable and popular propositions is the creation of a national red flag law. A whopping 48% of mass shooters inform others of their plan before their attacks, making many tragedies preventable. Red flag laws, which allow courts to authorize the temporary confiscation of deadly weapons from individuals who are a threat to

With Michigan Democrats controlling both the Governor’s mansion and the Legislature for the first time since 1984, they have an opportunity to capitalize on limited Republican opposition and pass many critical measures.

themselves or others, are a key tool in foiling attackers. Though only 19 states currently have such laws, they were used 626 times between 2013 and 2020 to stop individuals deemed credible mass shooting threats. By implementing these laws nationwide and improving transparency to encourage individuals to report threats, we can build upon a pre-existing framework to prevent bad actors from carrying out their deadly plans.

Promisingly, Congress passed $750 million in red flag law funding in this year’s bipartisan gun reform bill, demonstrating a willingness to

TikTok: What is surveillance today?

AMMAR AHMAD Opinion Columnist

If you’re like me (or not), you’ve probably used TikTok.

The addictive social media app is appealing, especially to Gen Z. There are a variety of reasons why — content creation is easier and more accessible than ever before, videos cover all sorts of topics (from politics to nature to music to frogs) and it’s all user friendly. However, there is one fundamental reason that TikTok grasps our attention: the calculated algorithm that picks up on users’ interests.

The algorithm has powerful categorization techniques for the astronomical number of videos that get uploaded every day. By sorting various trends, creators, likes and comments, the algorithm can then

look at how much time you spend watching certain kinds of videos. Then, it will simply feed you more and more of these videos.

This results in some pros and cons.

The pros are that in America’s consumer-oriented culture, this app provides an infinite amount of fun (just keep scrolling!). It’s hard to get bored of TikTok — well, until you start to get a headache or you have to get up and interact with the real world. You can also find some niche corners of TikTok in which to interact with creators that are doing something relevant to your life. An instance of this is when, for the periods of time I was away from home and missed my cat, I indulged in cat TikTok — the small furballs kept me entertained for hours.

The cons are that the app is detrimental to our attention span and it can drive us into some

dangerous rabbit holes. This creates echo chambers and polarization among the masses. In a sense, the more videos you see that reaffirm your beliefs, the more likely you are to perceive these videos as representative of reality (which is often not the case).

So, if an algorithm is so impactful, so fruitful, so targeted, should we be afraid of it?

Well, substantial claims from government officials have been made about TikTok’s threat to national security. Some claims go so far as to say that this Chinese company (and, subsequently, the Chinese government) can collect data from the American masses, posing a threat to American consumer privacy. This data includes (but is not limited to) what pages users spend more time on, browser tracking and history and ad preferences.

However, I don’t really think that the problem lies with security against potential foreign actors. We should expect that TikTok, like other tech giants, collects this information in an impersonal and algorithmic manner. Failing to rid us of this assumption, the U.S. government has been tightlipped when asked to back up its claims of a conspiracy. TikTok’s data is collected and distributed to private companies; the app then feeds its users these personalized ads based on the content they’ve shown interest in. For example, say you’ve been watching a lot of music beat-making TikTok videos. Soon enough, you might come across online courses that teach users how to use beat-making software.

In that way, TikTok and other major social media apps can derive a digital copy of you: what you like, what you dislike, who

you follow, how you interact, etc. Thus, the user is reduced to a collection of profitable potential and subsequently sold as a product. Identities are blurred and fit into various compartments that are most convenient for advertising corporations.

Moreover, in this new age of technology, surveillance is not really a means for the government to watch over its people. Unless there’s an investigation taking place, American government agencies can’t legally tap into people’s personal data. But that doesn’t mean users are in good hands with the private sector.

When surveillance is handed off from a (traditionally) governmental authority to a distributed web of corporations, the users’ data is commodified. In that sense, you can go on TikTok and bash the government all you’d like. You

support such programs. Through enacting a nationwide law, lawmakers have the opportunity to standardize statewide procedures and provide the infrastructure necessary for all 50 states to save lives through the policy.

Another important step that leaders must take is closing loopholes in background checks. Currently, there are many egregious loopholes that prevent the background check system from functioning as desired. One of the most prominent ones is called the “Charleston loophole,” which allows individuals to purchase guns if their background checks aren’t completed within 72 hours. While only 1% of screens completed in that time frame are denied, an estimated 5% are denied when that process is extended beyond three days. This discrepancy causes many checks to ignore critical information that can’t be obtained in time, leading many individuals’ criminal records and history of violence to be ignored.

Even more concerning, gun purchases administered by private sellers are often subject to no background checks at all. Known as the “gun show loophole,” unlicensed dealers selling online or at gun shows aren’t required to conduct background checks on their clients. With 22% of all gun purchasers undergoing no background checks, many people who would be flagged circumvent the requirement. This loophole only serves to benefit violent individuals who seek to obtain deadly weapons, so there is little justification for preserving it. With 93% of Americans, including 89% of Republicans, supporting required background checks on all gun sales, closing this loophole would be widely popular and make a major impact.

Finally, legislators should consider limiting the sale of highcapacity magazines, especially for those under 21 and with histories of mental struggles.

have a sort of “free speech” that’s maintained by the private company (which doesn’t necessarily ascribe to some larger political agenda). However, there’s a flip side to it. This data acquisition leads to a lost sense of digital privacy because you’re now a product.

TikTok’s data harvesting is not reminiscent of a centralized “Big Brother” overseer. It’s lines of code embedded in statistical models that slingshot your information to other algorithms owned by other companies. Because of that, the individual’s idiosyncrasy is lost and turned into data points fed into a larger machine. (It’s not like a human being ever personally handles your information and looks at it. However, computer or not, the data is still being collected and sold.).

NIKHIL SHARMA Opinion Columnist

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The land of opposing fictions Opinion

Over Winter Break, I spent a few hours researching possible careers in journalism.

Columnist for The New York Times, reporter for The Wall Street Journal, fact-checker for The Washington Post — I skipped past examining the third. A career analyzing politicians and trying to decipher the truths from the lies sounds like torture. It’s not just speechwriters fudging the numbers or candidates exaggerating anecdotes anymore: the lies are bigger, and so are the consequences.

How can one reconcile election denial with the facts?

What additional context can one give to the claim that women aren’t the only ones giving birth? The truth is a noble, difficult pursuit. The truth is a responsibility. One that few will bear, least of all those in power.

Both parties have embraced their own unique fictions, more encompassing than any single false statement or extreme issue. Our partisan divide has grown, and two separate realities have emerged, each lived in by their respective sides of the political aisle.

Former President Donald Trump (just President Trump, to 40 percent of the country) has announced yet another bid for the Oval Office. His declaration of victory in 2020 was more than just deception: it was a cancer, with tumors manifesting themselves as rioters storming the Capitol Building and armed thugs posted up next to ballot drop boxes in Arizona.

And yet, most Americans did not embrace Trump’s lie, or the other crazy policies adopted by his ideological successors.

Roe v. Wade was overturned, and the country read tragic stories of teen pregnancies caused by rape and reckoned

with the proposed laws that would see them forcibly brought to term. Meanwhile, many Republicans, such as Tudor Dixon, rallied behind no-exceptions abortion — based on the lie that it is morally right and necessary for a victim of a brutal sex crime to have her assailant’s baby.

Any reasonable doubt about climate change has been put to rest by concrete scientific consensus, but congressional Republicans refuse to act, and some even refute the evidence entirely. Lingering questions about the role of guns in mass violence have been answered by a series of never-ending shootings, and yet Republicans still blame mental illness.

Mental illness can’t open fire on a crowd of bystanders.

Then the midterms came. The political center said “no” to falsehood. Democrats performed shockingly well, holding the Senate and nearly

holding the House. But this left turn merely substituted one false narrative with another, and Americans know it. Biden’s low approval rating and the success of more mainstream Republican candidates in typically blue districts, such as Mike Lawler’s victory over U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in New York’s Hudson Valley race, are indicative of a nation disgusted with both parties.

LSA freshman Julian Hernandez explained his thoughts to The Daily: “I feel like in some cases such as economic policies and foreign affairs, there is a ‘black and white’ between the right thing and the wrong thing to do. However, with other issues such as abortion and (its) morality, I find the increasingly radical stances of each party deeply troubling.” On many of the most

important issues, especially democratic and cultural issues, the two parties have embraced opposing extremes, and they pay the price with moderate voters.

In key swing states, Trump’s handpicked screwballs lost seats for Republicans because most Americans wanted to put 2020 behind them. Despite liberals’ unpopular positions on crime and radical positions on gender theory, the anticipated Red Wave evaporated because Trump showed independents an even scarier reality.

“Democracy cannot survive when one side believes there are only two outcomes to an election: either they win or they were cheated. And that’s where MAGA Republicans are today.” President Joe Biden said in a speech.

Democrats ordained themselves the party of democracy. They were playing make-believe.

MAGA Republicans are not

only ones

Jan. 6, 2017, while less climactic and damaging than Jan. 6, 2021, saw objections to the certification of more states’ presidential votes by House Democrats than by House Republicans on the day of the insurrection four years later.

Trump’s defeat made election denial a larger menace, but it did not invent the dangerous mentality from scratch.

In 2022, Democrats made the threat to democracy a top issue. Publicly railing against the Big Lie, they privately fueled its growth by supporting Trumpendorsed election deniers in the primaries, hoping to face weaker candidates in the general. Trump’s crony John Gibbs won the Republican primary in Michigan’s 3rd congressional district after liberals spent $400,000 advertising his highly conservative beliefs.

In places where Democrats already had power or recently took it by propping up far-right maniacs, they govern from their own reality.

Crime rises, and they fight to defund the police. The city of Portland gutted their police budget by $15 million and suffered a 65% increase in homicides. Even Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, conceded that as a result of the killing, “many Portlanders no longer feel safe.” But the more typical liberal response has been to downplay the problem.

In the recent Maternal Health Guidance, the Biden administration has removed the word “mother,” using the term “birthing people” instead. The unsettled gender debate distracts from the pressing matter of guaranteeing women better pre- and post-natal care. The debate around reproductive rights is already volatile, and radical new components limit the potential for positive motion. Most Americans rightfully support protections for transgender people. Many are weary about the speed of change. Sudden cultural shifts threaten to alienate all but the most progressive voters and require more substantive thought. Altering our language and historical understanding of pregnancy are dramatic steps that must be taken seriously.

Republicans and Democrats alike take nothing seriously.

On democracy, abortion, climate, crime, etc., if fiction is convenient, then fiction becomes policy. Discussion is an exhausting, upsetting endeavor, but the alternative is silence.

Fiction and silence are bad for democracy. Finding the truth is hardest when passions are high, but at no other time is it so important. Americans want reality, and the results of the midterm elections reveal a nation that is not yet ready to abandon it.

the

to lose without grace.

JACK BRADY Opinion Columnist

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Michigan finishes second in competitive Super 16 meet

cially a meet of this magnitude,” Michigan coach Bev Plocki said.

The Michigan women’s gymnastics team’s first meet looked like a national championship. All four teams ranked in the preseason top 10, with the fourthranked Wolverines facing off against No. 1 Oklahoma — the defending national champions — No. 5 Auburn and No. 10 UCLA.

At the inaugural Super 16 meet in Las Vegas on Saturday night, Michigan finished second with a score of 197.400 behind the Sooners — who took the top spot with 197.925. The Tigers finished third with 197.350 while the Bruins finished last with a score of 197.250.

The Wolverines faced some early adversity beginning the night on beam, an event that requires precision and leaves no room for error or nerves.

“Beam is absolutely the hardest event to start on because you have all this excited energy when you’re starting a meet — espe-

MEN’S GYMNASTICS

Junior Naomi Morrison led off with a skillful mount, but two significant wobbles during the routine, however, earned her a 9.700. Senior Gabby Wilson and junior Carly Bauman followed and scored 9.725 and 9.775, respectively. The struggles continued for Michigan as senior Sierra Brooks uncharacteristically received a 9.200 — the competition’s lowest score of the night on any event.

In order to scratch Brooks’s score with a higher one, the Wolverines needed their last two gymnasts to hit their routines.

Star graduate students Abby Heiskell and Natalie Wojcik were up for the challenge. Neither veteran was immune to the imprecisions affecting their teammates and made some small mistakes of their own, but poise and stuck landings gave Heiskell a 9.825 and Wojcik a 9.850 to keep Michigan’s night alive.

“We had some wobbles, but we hung in there,” Plocki said.

“It was not the start that we had hoped for, but there’s plenty of teams in the country who would love to start with that score.”

With only a decent beam showing, the steep competition left the Wolverines in last place going into their floor rotation.

Junior Reyna Guggino led off with a score of 9.800. Then, three straight scores of 9.925 gave Michigan an energy surge it desperately needed.

The Wolverines’ success on floor did not stop there as Brooks took an opportunity to avenge her missed beam routine. She landed her first and second pass and showcased her personality and artistry to tie for first on the event with a score of 9.950.

Brooks’s massive floor performance kickstarted a strong finish to the night. As her team tried to battle back, Brooks continued to deliver. She stuck her vault and received another 9.950 along with a double fist bump from her coach as she walked off the mat. In her last rotation, she hit her bar routine, complete with a

Michigan wins first meet, beats Greenville and Simpson

JONATHAN WUCHTER Daily Sports Writer

In his first event at Michigan, Landon Blixt performed a strong floor routine, flipping through the air and sticking every landing. The bench and crowd erupted as the freshman’s 13.800 in the first rotation set the tone for the dominant performance the Wolverines cultivated in their first meet of the season.

On Saturday afternoon, No. 2 Michigan (2-0) defeated No. 14 Greenville (1-1) and No. 15 Simpson (0-2) convincingly, winning all six events at both the team and individual level. The Panthers edged the Storm 373.100-341.350, but neither came close to the Wolverines’ score of 400.600.

“We wanted to see our freshmen compete for the first time at Cliff Keen (Arena),” Michigan Coach Yuan Xiao said. “They showed their talent.”

Greenville and Simpson performed on the floor in the second and third rotation, but no individual routine came close to catching Blixt’s. The Wolverines secured the top four individual performances in the event, with junior Kyle Shuttle, sophomore Lais Najjar and senior Casey Cummings just behind Blixt. Together their individual efforts gave the team an event winning score of 65.550.

In Michigan’s second rotation, pommel, Xiao continued to give opportunities to his freshmen, as Fred Richard and Eric Hoe competed alongside Blixt. Once again, the freshman flexed strong routines as Richard and Blixt placed second and third. However, it was senior Markus Shears who impressed the judges and won the

event with a 14.450.

While many of Michigan’s top gymnasts from last season, including last year’s all-around individual national champion senior Paul Juda, gave way for younger teammates to gain experience, senior Adam Wooten provided some star power.

The Wolverines looked to sweep the first three events on the rings and build upon a commanding lead heading into the final three events, and Wooten delivered. Opponents failed to match his dominant routine, winning the event convincingly. His younger teammates provided strong support as they finished second through fifth in the event as well.

“I’m so proud of the guys that we have on this team,” Wooten said. “Everyone is working so hard.”

Michigan’s hard work led to a strong performance throughout the early events. Halfway through the meet it had the lead — its 200.400 stood convincingly above the Panthers’ 184.400 and the Storm’s 165.250.

Next for the Wolverines was the vault. Even without Juda — last year’s vault individual national champion — Michigan continued

its dominance. Cummings and sophomore David Wolma tied for the win with scores of 14.350.

Four Wolverines posted scores over 14.000, helping Michigan post its best single event score of the match, 70.650.

Already holding a secure lead, the young Wolverines continued to live up to Xiao and Wooten’s praise. This time it was Najjar who finished first on the parallel bars, with Blixt placing second.

In the final event, high bar, Wooten’s solid 14.300 routine got bested by Richard’s score of 14.550. Wooten and Richard led a team score of 67.100, completing the six event sweep for Michigan.

“I’m so happy for the team performance,” Xiao said. “And we know this is not our full potential.”

Xiao’s squad — while filled with underclassmen — was able to dominate inferior competition even with many of the Wolverines’ top gymnasts from the 2021 Big Ten Championship team not competing. The development of these underclassmen could compliment Michigan’s proven stars and help propel it to compete for the long season ahead.

masterful transition to the low bar and a stuck dismount to earn her third 9.950 on the night.

“I think (Brooks) probably let a little bit of nerves get to her on beam, but she’s a competitor,”

MEN’S GYMNASTICS

Plocki said. “She let that go. She put it out of her mind. She came back and kicked butt on the other three events.”

Although Michigan remained in last place through the first

three rotations, strong floor and vault performances put the Wolverines within striking distance of Auburn and UCLA. Both teams also struggled when they rotated to the beam event, putting Michigan in position to surpass them.

Along with Brooks’s impressive bar performance, Heiskell scored a 9.925 on bars and Wojcik sealed the Wolverine’s resurgence in the anchor position with a 9.975. Wojcik’s clean releases and perfect dismount led her to tie for first place in the event.

“We had the most difficult rotation, and we lost to last year’s national champions by about five-tenths,” Plocki said.

“Overall, for the first meet, I’m very proud and really excited for what’s to come.”

Faced with tough competition and a poor start, Michigan embraced the adversity and proved that they are still one of the elite gymnastics teams in the country. But as they continue the season, they’ll look to fix the issues the meet also exposed.

Michigan continues success in season opener

The list of awards this team has won can go on seemingly forever, but that does not guarantee them anything this year.

As the reigning Big Ten Champions, the No. 2 Michigan men’s gymnastics team returned plenty of star power in hopes of another strong season. In its first meet of the season it delivered with convincing wins over No. 14 Greenville and No. 15 Simpson. In the process it showed the potential the Wolverines have to sustain last year’s success.

Success is something that the Michigan men’s gymnastics team has become accustomed to lately. Just look at the last two years. The team won two straight Big Ten Championships, and won a share of the 2022 regular season conference title as well.

Head coach Yuan Xiao was named Big Ten Coach of the Year and College Gymnastics Association Regional Coach of the Year in his first season – all as the interim head coach. Xiao then earned the job officially following the season. The Wolverines were led last year by then-junior Paul Juda, an athlete with an extensive list of awards including international appearances and 2022 NCAA national championships in the all-around and vault events.

Following Saturday’s event, senior team captain Adam Wooten, 2021 and 2022 All-American in the high bar event, spoke about his feelings for the coming season after their first event.

“It’s a good base is how I would describe it in a general sense,” Wooten said. “That being said, we have a really long way to go. When we’re starting the season there’s always going to be mistakes.”

In such a young season mistakes are bound to happen, yet the standard is high for the Wolverines.

Wooten’s words prove that the Wolverines are without a doubt satisfied with their victory, but there is always a path for improvement throughout the season.

Michigan was not at full power for this meet, the most obvious absence being the aforementioned Juda as he sat out to let more inexperienced athletes compete. His absence leaves lots of room for higher scores at future events. Even with Juda’s absence, Michigan showed in its 400.600 score that it has what is needed to continue success in a strong program: talented young athletes behind the veterans.

“I’m biased obviously, but I don’t think we have a weak lineup that we could put up,” Wooten said. “I’m so proud of the guys.”

Veterans like Juda and Wooten have proven track records, but Saturday’s meet proved that they have plenty of talent behind them. In their first collegiate meet, freshmen Landon Blixt and Fred Richard looked to carry on the tradition of the team’s recent success. Blixt took home first in the floor event en route to taking first in the all around competition, where he beat out his only competition, a teammate in sophomore Rithik Puri. Richard showed his prowess by taking home first in the horizontal bar event.

“We had our number one guy, Paul Juda, not competing but I see the depth,” Xiao said. “I think this is a team that will be growing from today.”

Past seasons show that this team is set up for success. They have proven winners and young contributors that have only shown glimpses of the success they can create. While only one meet in, Michigan has shown it has the potential to continue its long term success deep into this season.

Now, they look to make good on their promises.

Michigan shuts out CSU Bakersfield as Big Ten season looms

COLE MARTIN Daily Sports Writer

In the first period of the Michigan wrestling team’s dual meet against CSU Bakersfield on Sunday, No. 2 heavyweight fifth-year senior Mason Parris wasted little time.

Not even two minutes in, Parris earned a near-fall on Jake Andrews before mercifully ending his night with a quick pin — already his eighth pin and 15th win of the season.

And Parris’s quick finish encapsulated the afternoon for the Wolverines.

On Sunday, Michigan (5-0 overall) made quick work of CSU Bakersfield (0-1), defeating the Roadrunners, 36-0, to secure the Wolverines’ first shutout in five seasons.

“It’s always a goal,” Michigan coach Sean Bormet said of the shutout. “We just wanted to see 10 guys put their best wrestling on the mat.”

Michigan started the night with a decision win by 125-pound graduate Jack Medley, whose performance was just the tip of the iceberg for the team.

The Wolverines continued to ride decision wins from No. 5 133-

pound redshirt sophomore Dylan Ragusin and No. 20 141-pound redshirt junior Cole Mattin. Mattin bounced back from his loss on Friday night with a strong reversal in the third period to eliminate any chance of his opponent earning the riding time point, clinch-

ing his victory in the process. 149-pound redshirt freshman Chance Lamer added to his comefrom-behind victory on Friday with a major decision win, scoring a near-fall and three takedowns. No. 5 165-pound redshirt junior Cam Amine made his second dual

appearance of the season after recovering from an injury. He wrestled to a technical fall and pushed Michigan’s advantage to 21 points to remain undefeated on the season in the process. Clearly, his addition to the lineup is of paramount significance for

Michigan.

“(Cam’s return) was great,” Bormet said. “Great injection to have him back in our lineup this weekend. … It added another big spark to our team (and) another huge jump with Cam and just the way he was competing.”

After Amine’s performance, Michigan’s victory was all but set in stone. An impressive takedown in the last seconds of the third period clinched a bounce-back victory for 197-pound redshirt sophomore Brendan Yatooma, and finally, Parris finished his opponent to end the domineering contest.

After a successful non-conference schedule, Bormet is hopeful about the growth the team has shown as the Big Ten season looms, which will have the Wolverines facing off against former national champions and top-ranked opponents.

But despite the challenges that lay ahead, Bermet is adamant that his team will be ready to face them head-on.

“We all know how tough the Big Ten is,” Bermet said. “We’ve got a tremendous schedule this year that we’re really excited about, some big challenges and some huge opportunities as a team. (We want to) keep the guys excited … energized (and) training hard and competing with time, energy and intensity.”

And for success in such a loaded conference, Michigan will need the intensity from its shutout to radiate throughout the rest of the season.

ANNA FUDER/Daily

JENNA HICKEY/Daily

The Michigan women’s gymnastics team finished second in its season-opening meet.

In it’s first meet of the season, the Michigan men’s gymnastics team showed potential to build off of recent success.

JENNA HICKEY/Daily

The Michigan men’s gymnastic team convincingly won its first meet of the season.

SAMUEL NOVOTNY For The Daily

For the first time in nearly five years, the Michigan wrestling team shut out an opponent.

500 wins and counting: examining Kim Barnes Arico’s legacy so far

After beating Nebraska on Dec. 28, Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico only wanted to talk about her players.

In two postgame interviews, the Michigan women’s basketball coach praised individual efforts from fifth-year senior wing Leigha Brown and sophomore guard Laila Phelia, delving into Brown’s success in games past and acknowledging the challenges of upcoming Big Ten play.

What she spent less time discussing, though, was her own monumental accomplishment: With the win, Barnes Arico earned her 500th career victory — the latest milestone reached by the transformative leader amidst another successful season.

Despite the magnitude of the accolade, Barnes Arico acknowledged her career landmark only briefly.

“It means I’m old,” Barnes Arico joked to Big Ten Network. “That’s what it means. (And) I never thought I would get old or be old. In my mind, I still think I might be 25, but I guess it means that I’ve been in the game for a long period of time.

“It’s a wonderful profession to have, and I get to work with young women every day that keep me young, so it’s pretty awesome.”

For the Wolverines, though, it means much more than the

march of time. The win is another milestone in their ascension to the upper echelon of women’s basketball, a process only possible under Barnes Arico’s leadership.

Michigan, off to a red-hot start, is excelling under the veteran coach, who has elevated the program to a new level of prestige since taking over in 2012. Two hundred thirty-one of her now 501 wins have come during her tenure at Michigan. When she joined the program in April 2012, it had made just one NCAA Tournament appearance and three NIT appearances in the previous decade, with that lone tournament trip ending in the Round of 64.

Coming from St. John’s University, Barnes Arico was tasked with righting the ship. Her approach to that monumental task centered around identity, with the goal of establishing a new culture.

“Any time you have a new coach we try to establish our culture,” Barnes Arico told Michigan Athletics Oct. 5 2012, just months after accepting the head coaching job. “I think it’s really important to build those relationships and build our identity. Every day we step on a court we want to be the hardest working team in America. And we have certain things that we want to stand for, certain things that when people watch us play.”

Coaches often express their emphasis on “hard work.” But Barnes Arico has reiterated her commitment to that conviction

year-in and year-out, embracing the mantra as her program’s foundation.

She instilled that culture at St. Johns, where she was the winningest head coach in program history until only a season ago. And during the 2018 season, she accomplished the same feat at Michigan.

Since that season, Barnes Arico’s teams have only gotten better.

The Wolverines have made four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances — not including the 2020 season that was canceled due to COVID, which they ended 21-11 and were almost certain to get an invite. They also made the school’s first Elite Eight in 2022.

And so far this season, Barnes Arico has continued to find similar success. Michigan is 13-2, ranked 14th in the country, and beating tough teams despite losing its best player in the draft last season. In a conference that boasts some of the highestranked teams in the country, her team currently sits fourth.

Despite the accolades and success — amid the buzz around the 500-win milestone — Barnes Arico’s focus appears directed forward.

The Wolverines, poised to make another postseason run, are embracing that culture she aimed to establish a decade ago. They’re winning games off scrappy defense, three-point shooting and well-rounded basketball. That “hardest working team in America” mantra has

Michigan falls to Iowa, 94-85, allowing most points of the season

been evident most times they’ve stepped on the court this season, as it has since that interview more than 10 years ago.

“I’m excited to be here,” Barnes Arico told the Big Ten Network. “There’s no place I’d rather be.”

And 231 wins later — with a program transformed by her guidance — Michigan seems pretty excited to have her too.

Mistakes flashed throughout season cost Michigan in loss to Iowa

Entering a top-20 matchup at home, the No. 14 Michigan women’s basketball team had a lot to gain from a win. It could have made another statement asserting that it is an elite women’s basketball program while getting its revenge on No. 16 Iowa — who beat the Wolverines in front of a sold-out crowd to steal the Big Ten regular season crown last season.

Instead, Michigan suffered its second Big Ten loss in a tough conference, and struggles that it has displayed at times all year were to blame.

“I think just you gotta lock in 40 minutes a game, and I don’t think we did that,” graduate forward Emily Kiser said. “… But I think we’re just trying to battle with it. Just not making the same mistakes over and over again, like we can do better than that.”

LIZA CUSHNIR Daily Sports Writer

When a high-powered offense clashes with a staunch defense, there’s always a good chance fireworks will erupt.

As the No. 14 Michigan women’s basketball team hosted No. 16 Iowa, an eruption was precisely what the Wolverines were hoping to avoid. And for the first 15 minutes of play, it looked like Michigan (13-3 overall, 3-2 Big Ten) might be able to do that. But by the time the dust settled — and the Hawkeyes (12-4, 4-1) took over — the Wolverines’ defense faltered in a 94-85 loss.

“Michigan plays very good defense and it rattled us for the first five minutes, we had quite a few turnovers,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said postgame. “Then we settled down and did a great job, I thought, of finding good shots, shooting the ball well from the free throw line, two point and three point (lines).”

Michigan exploded first. Up just 20-18 at the end of the first quarter, the Wolverines came out of the break strong, sending the largest home crowd of the season into a frenzy as Michigan built its lead to 10 points with 6:09 left in the half.

Contained primarily by the relentless defense of sophomore guard Laila Phelia, star Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark mustered just two points in the first quarter. They turned to their

But Iowa’s dynamic offense could only be kept quiet for so long. As it woke up, it paired that with a switch to a zone defense that gave the Wolverines trouble.

“Our zone defense really kind of turned the tide for us,” Clark said. “We were able to get a lot of stops. I think we forced five turnovers there in the second quarter in just our zone defense. So that helped us out a lot.”

Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico agreed:

“They went to a zone and we really got on our heels and we stopped being aggressive and stopped getting downhill,” Barnes Arico said.

Facing the Hawkeyes’ zone, the Wolverines’ offense faltered. Phelia — who scored 14 points in the first quarter alone — went cold for the rest of the game, not making another field goal.

And as the clock wound down on the first half, Clark drained a long 3-pointer to put the Hawkeyes up 41-39 at the break, completing a 12-point swing for Iowa and giving it a lead it never relinquished. Despite being held to just nine points in the first half, Clark still ended the night with 28 points, one point above her season average.

For the first six minutes of the second half, the teams traded baskets, with the Hawkeyes maintaining their lead but unable

to build much separation as Michigan repeatedly answered. Then, Iowa went on a 10-0 run in less than two minutes, one that put them up 62-51.

Throughout the second half, Clark and Czinano delivered for the Hawkeyes when they needed it.

“I don’t think we did a great job of even helping off of our players,” graduate forward Emily Kiser said. “I think a lot of times we got worried, I mean when a team has that many players like that. I don’t think we were playing our defensive help side … we were kind of just focused on our own.”

As Iowa built up its largest lead of the game, going up 77-63 with 5:46 to play, the Wolverines’ defense couldn’t find stops.

Facing that 14-point deficit, Michigan found one final surge, but it wasn’t enough.

The Wolverines pulled close as fifth-year senior wing Leigha Brown and sophomore guard Jordan Hobbs scored eight points apiece. Michigan’s imposing second-half deficit dwindled to a mere five points with 32.1 seconds to play.

But those late offensive fireworks came too late for the Wolverines, and those five points were as close as they came to tying it up. After delivering on its game plan for the first 15 minutes of play, Michigan failed to match Iowa’s adjustments, suffering its first home loss to the Hawkeyes since 2014.

Those now-familiar mistakes for the Wolverines have happened at times throughout the season, but all combined together Saturday night against the Hawkeyes and ultimately cost them an important victory. Their bigs got into foul trouble. They turned the ball over 15 times. They surrendered offensive rebounds. And most consequentially, their offense struggled when facing a zone defense.

Sophomore guard Laila Phelia and senior guard Maddie Nolan completed a very tough defensive assignment, holding star guard

Caitlin Clark near her season average with 28 points while only allowing her to score nine in the first half. But the rest of the Wolverines’ defense did not do enough to help.

“We didn’t help out Laila,” Kiser said. “(Clark) is gonna get hers, I think we knew that. But limiting it to one shot. I don’t know how many o-boards they got, but that was killing us.”

Iowa had seven opportunities to have a second possession and they took advantage — scoring 18 second-chance points. Those missed defensive rebounding opportunities cost the Wolverines chances to generate and sustain momentum with defensive stops.

Guard Kate Martin snatched an offensive rebound and went on a six-point run of her own with roughly three minutes left in the third quarter to put Iowa up by five points — the Hawkeyes led by at least five for the rest of the game. Iowa’s fifth through seventh-best scorers all scored at least three points above their season averages, adding between eight and 10 apiece.

Entering the game, Michigan considered Iowa an excellent test for its defensive prowess. With the Hawkeyes dropping over seven points more than their season average, the Wolverines clearly fell short of where they wanted to be. Throughout the season, they have said that they want to be a top defensive team in the league — and most nights, they have been. But when offensive rebounds provide second chances to a team as offen-

sively lethal as Iowa, that causes trouble, and that danger was pertinent Saturday afternoon.

Combining Iowa’s extra possessions with 20% of all of Michigan’s own offensive possessions ending without a shot and in a turnover instead, and the effects of those mistakes just continued to accumulate.

“And it’s like, heading to this game, I was saying like, we only get to play them once,” Kiser said.

“The biggest thing is just don’t regret anything. Especially with, I mean me being a fifth year, but like, telling you it’s gonna fly by. Just don’t regret any of these games. So just leave it all out there.”

But as the final seconds ticked down in Crisler Center towards a loss, Michigan’s mistakes led to plenty of regrets. As a team who set an elusive Big Ten championship as a season goal, digging itself a hole — no matter how small — early in conference play with a loss on its home court was not the outcome the Wolverines were looking for.

“It was kind of a bummer that we weren’t able to get tonight’s,” Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said. “But we got to learn from it and get better and get back to work tomorrow. Because our next game on the road is going to be incredibly difficult as well.”

Against Iowa, the Wolverines’ weaknesses compounded in unison. If they want to meet their lofty goals for the season, they can’t let that happen again.

SELENA

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

JACK CONLIN

second-leading scorer, center Monika Czinano, to keep them in the game with her strong inside presence.

WOMEN’S

MARIA DECKMANN/Daily

TAYLOR DANIELS Daily Sports Writer

SportsMonday: Holier than none, Michigan needs to forget the moral high ground

of utilizing NIL.

It’s time to drop the superiority act.

For years — decades, even — the University of Michigan and its athletic department has tried its best to cultivate a specific image that it desperately wants you to believe in: “Leaders and best.”

While that phrase may have once been an accurate description, it’s now simply an aspiration. It’s what the Wolverines want to be — it’s what they want you to see them as. But, right now, it’s not what they are.

The most recent of the cuts marring Michigan’s appearance is a number of NCAA violations, the majority of which are “slap on the wrist” type allegations. The most serious, though, is a Level I allegation that Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh failed to comply with NCAA investigations of the other violations. That’s no small matter. And it doesn’t matter if what he’s lying about is serious or not, lying to cover up violations is inherently punishable and deplorable behavior.

And Harbaugh — a 59-year-old man, father and long-time football coach — knows that. Most of all, he knows his actions have repercussions beyond his own.

Harbaugh could face suspen-

sion, and Michigan could face other consequences, whether he remains the coach in Ann Arbor or departs for the NFL. Still, Harbaugh allegedly misled and obscured the NCAA during the investigation of those other violations, a reckless decision at best.

Lies, disruption, investigations, violations — it’s not a good look. And while they try, it’s hard for the Wolverines to stay up on their high horse after news like that breaks.

Especially when Michigan picks and chooses when to apply the moral code that keeps it saddled.

The Wolverines have no reason to violate, lie and, for lack of a better word, cheat their way to small amounts of success when there’s better — NCAA legal — options that they fail to exploit. Case in point, Michigan foolishly acts above the basis of name, image and likeness (NIL). Sure, the Wolverines encourage their athletes to pursue NIL, but they look down on programs that give up bags of money for uber-talented players and, as such, fall painfully behind those same programs in the NIL frontier.

“Our philosophy is that coming to the University of Michigan is going to be a transformational experience rather than a transactional experience,” Harbaugh said June 2 of last year, throwing shade at the more direct methods

As evidenced above, Michigan does want players to make money and get paid, but it doesn’t want to be the one signing the check.

The Wolverines have shied away from that frontal approach, allowing the money to trickle in from other external sources. Sure, the Champions Circle — Michigan’s NIL collective — eventually came along, but only eight months after initial collectives were formed and four months after rival Ohio State got its The Foundation collective together.

To their own fault, the Wolverines are consistently behind other programs when it comes to NIL.

Maybe paying 18-year-olds isn’t the most traditional way to attract talent and build a program, but neither is lying. And neither is making contact with recruits during the recruiting dead period in the height of the pandemic — one of the Level II allegations.

Michigan draws moral lines in the sand that don’t make a grain of sense.

Why is writing a check to a recruit (something now legal) worse than obscuring an investigation? If you’re going to be a program that breaks the rules to win, why not get your hands “dirty” within the rules instead?

Between the misconduct and scandals within the athletic department — and everything

Brendan Miles’ first moment

CONNOR EAREGOOD Managing Sports Editor

Standing in a lobby inside Yost Ice Arena, freshman defenseman Brendan Miles had just played in his first in-game action with the Michigan hockey team. After a 7-6 exhibition game win against the U.S. National Team Development Program, Miles explained how he got here.

When he spoke, the underdog charm of seemingly every depth player poured out of him.

Relaxed. Honest. Nice to a fault. Asked about the Wolverines’ performance, he praised his teammates. That age-old “good team win” phrase crossed his lips, personal praise as far from them as possible.

But it was more than a team win. It was everything Miles has been working toward since the day he stepped on campus.

“Watching these games as a little kid and then being able to come out here and do it myself, it was unreal,” Miles said. “And (I) hope to be back out there.”

Behind his maize and blue debut is 19 weeks of watching from the sidelines. Every practice he poured his heart into, every team lift he grew from — all of it in a bid to climb a depth chart laden with NHL talent. All the while, Miles bided his time, waiting in the wings for his opportunity to take the ice.

But opportunity kept eluding him. For Michigan’s first exhibition game in October, Miles didn’t play. Even when Michigan needed all hands on deck when it played Minnesota Nov. 17 and 18 — illness sweeping through its

dressing room and placing a large portion of the roster out of action — Miles found himself among those unavailable. When other freshmen defensemen like Luca Fantilli and Johnny Druskinis found their way into the lineup, Miles remained a fixture of the scratched list.

At times, he got dejected.

“I think at first it was a little frustrating, and then it was like, ‘it’s just part of it,’ ” Miles said. “It was kind of weird because I didn’t really have that same adjustment in junior hockey. But then obviously coming here, I knew I was coming into a pretty high-talented team.

“I think that was something that I definitely had to adjust to but, you know, it’s all about the process and just working hard and when you get your opportunity, just make the most of it.”

So that’s what Miles did when opportunity finally called his name. Digging his skates into the ice for his first game action on Friday, Miles rose to the moment.

Skating on the third defense pairing for most of the game, Miles found himself all over the ice. He tracked down breakaways against the Americans’ top line, exited the zone and even took three shots. Despite playing in a barnburner with 13 goals, he finished the night with an even plusminus.

Of course, it took some time to settle in.

“I was a little nervous before subbing in,” Miles said. “But as soon as the first shift, second shift was over, it just felt like a normal hockey game and I was just playing the sport I love.”

But even when he was relegat-

ed to sitting in the press box, Miles was never far from his team. What fans and reporters see on the ice is a fraction of the time teams spend together. Relationships between teammates, of course, are a lot more complex than what goes on during a game.

Freshman defenseman Seamus Casey was quick to bring that up.

“We spend all day with him, so to us it just feels like he’s right there with us in the games,” Casey explained. “Whereas to you guys (in the press box), it might not seem like that watching from above. But he comes back every day and he just works his butt off. He’s a great kid.”

And with Miles leaving the lineup next weekend almost guaranteed as the regulars rejoin it, he’ll have to go back to watching the action from above. But that doesn’t take away this moment — his first time skating in front of the Children of Yost, or standing on the ice during the national anthem or even celebrating a win in a sweatsoaked jersey instead of a suit.

“For certain guys, it can kind of seem like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel,” Casey said. “Just if you’re not playing or even if things aren’t going well and you are playing. But the guys who are the best and can get through it, they come to the rink and they do the same things every day. They work hard, no matter what things are gonna be good or bad.”

On Friday, Brendan Miles saw the light, and it was everything he could have hoped for.

else within the University that has come to light — within the past few years, the Wolverines have no claim to the moral high ground. The footing Michigan used to stand on has eroded away until there’s no longer anywhere left to place its feet. So stop.

Stop pretending the perch is still there. Keeping up that facade

will only hold the Wolverines back from the opportunity to move forward in the new landscape of college athletics, while actions like Harbaugh’s alleged lies claw away at anything that’s actually left.

Don’t lie to the NCAA, throw a bag. At this point, who cares? It won’t make Michigan look any worse than it already does. And

it might actually help the Wolverines win — legally, to boot. The holier-than-thou approach only works when your program is actually better than all the others on and off the field — and right now, Michigan is neither. Until it is, forget the moral high ground.

Poor 3-point shooting Michigan’s downfall in loss to Michigan State

from three — the worst percentage so far this season — many of the Wolverines premiere 3-point shooters were rendered silent on Saturday night.

EAST LANSING — Sophomore guard Kobe Bufkin toed the 3-point line, waiting for his shot. Midway through the second half, down by 10 points, the Michigan men’s basketball team needed to gain momentum, and fast.

As a post-entry pass to junior center Hunter Dickinson found its way into the lane, Bufkin’s defender dropped down into help, and that left Bufkin wide open on the baseline. Dickinson kicked the ball out. Bufkin let it fly.

But instead of cutting the lead, as the ball glanced off the rim and into a Michigan State defender’s waiting hands, it allowed the Spartans an easy transition bucket on the other end.

A textbook play with poor results — the epitome of the Wolverines’ 3-point shooting capabilities against Michigan State. In a game that could’ve bolstered Michigan’s transformation after a crushing loss to Central Michigan, Saturday night’s 59-53 loss was instead another reminder of the Wolverines’ inadequacies from behind the 3-point line.

“(Three-point shooting was) tough because we had so many good looks,” Dickinson said. “So I think it was just a matter of the ball not going in. It’s not a great answer, but we got a lot of great looks, a lot of open shots. And sometimes the ball just doesn’t fall your way.”

The ball certainly didn’t fall Michigan’s way, with its shooters going just 3-for-20 from behind the arc. Shooting a measly 15%

Graduate guard Joey Baker — picked up via the transfer portal specifically for his 3-point shooting capabilities — went 0-for-3 from the 3-point line amid a zero point night. Freshman wing Jett Howard fared a little better at 2-for-6, but his success came too late in the second half after the Wolverines had dug themselves a hole too deep to climb out of.

“I felt like everybody shot it with confidence, and was ready to shoot,” Bufkin said. “So I’m not mad at the shots. I just wish they had went in.”

Surprisingly, Dickinson had the only other made 3-pointer of the night, going 1-for-3 from deep. Dickinson is known to attempt, and make, a handful of 3-pointers. Instead, what makes his success surprising is the lack of prosperity from the guards on the floor. It says quite a bit about Michigan’s ranged capabilities that its 7-foot1 center was its second-leading 3-point shooter any given night. And it wasn’t as if the Spartans had the deep shots on lock down. Facilitating the offense through Dickinson created ample opportunities and open looks for 3-pointers. Two airballs from freshman guard Dug McDaniel, on relatively open looks no less, summarized Michigan’s inability to take advantage of the open shots from deep. Instead of knocking them down, the Wolverines floundered.

Michigan continued to bring the game within reach down

the stretch, slowly whittling away at Michigan State’s once 14-point lead. The Wolverines brought it back within four points with less than four minutes in the second half.

But four points felt insurmountable against the Wolverines’ poor shooting capabilities. As deep balls continued to bounce around the rim and off the glass, Michigan allowed the Spartans to maintain their lead by capitalizing on the missed attempts and turning them into their own buckets.

The Wolverines continued to shoot themselves in the foot time and time again with misses from behind the arc, unable to overcome the small lead the Spartans maintained down the stretch.

“I feel like that just happens in the game of basketball,” Bufkin said. You’re not always going to shoot the ball your greatest. The past two games we’ve shot it pretty well. So the basketball gods are eventually going to humble you at some point, and I feel like they humbled us tonight.”

It might be the “basketball gods,” or poor offensive communication, or the raucous crowd of the Breslin Center. But either way, Bufkin is correct.

The Wolverines have been humbled from their high caliber performances against other Big Ten teams. Now it’s back to the drawing board — and behind the 3-point line in practice — to remedy their worst 3-point outing this season.

GRACE BEAL/Daily

MEN’S BASKETBALL

ICE HOCKEY

JULIANNE YOON/Daily

ABBIE TELGENHOF Daily Sports Editor

brother OH,

Michigan blows opportunity to instate rival, loses nail-biter at MSU

that.”

points in the first half.

EAST LANSING —

Michigan State’s disdain for the Michigan men’s basketball team radiated through Breslin Center. Showers of boos greeted the Wolverines when they took the floor, and ecstasy filled the air when they left it. Michigan’s recent struggles in East Lansing, paired with the downright hostility of the Spartan crowd, made walking out with a win seem increasingly improbable.

And after its second half comeback fell short, that improbability finally turned into an impossibility as Michigan (9-6 overall, 3-1 Big Ten) fell to Michigan State (11-4, 3-1), 59-53.

“It was a typical rivalry game where both teams are battling and trying to win a game,” Michigan coach Juwan Howard said. “Fortunately for them, they were playing on their home floor for their home fans. It was a great atmosphere and an extremely competitive game.”

In a grueling first half, both sides struggled to separate themselves from the other. Whether it was the nerves that accompany a game of this caliber or the uber-energetic defenses, quality shots were rare occurrences early in the game. Junior center Hunter Dickinson — the focal point of the Wolverine offense — exemplified the offensive struggles, scoring just four

In the midst of the defensive battle, though, Spartan forward Malik Hall started to find his groove by the end of the half. Tied at 14 apiece with 4:32 left in the half, Hall scored five straight points, sending the Izzone into a frenzy and forcing Michigan to burn a timeout. Hall continued to leave his fingerprints on the half, notching a pair of free throws directly before the break to give the Spartans a 27-18 lead.

“We don’t win that game without Malik,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “… I mean, I told you he’s maybe my most versatile player. He does so many things. He keeps the other guys calm, and he can drive and he can make some plays.”

Coming out of the break, Michigan State continued to expand its lead. In the first three possessions, quick buckets by the Spartans and a shot clock violation against the Wolverines suddenly ballooned Michigan State’s lead to 14. And yet again, Michigan found itself calling a timeout to stifle momentum.

But slowly, the Wolverines began to claw their way back. Timely buckets from Dickinson and freshman wing Jett Howard kept Michigan in the game throughout the majority of the second half.

Down the stretch, that ability to avoid a blowout turned into the threat of a comeback.

“Second half, we made a run,” Juwan said. “We started attacking the paint. We didn’t settle for a lot of these threes and jumpers and things like

That paint attack went primarily through Dickinson. Bouncing back from his subpar first-half performance, Dickinson went for 14 — while shooting 6-for10 from the field — in the second to finish with a gamehigh 18 points.

Any time the Wolverines got close, though, Michigan State had an answer. After a Dickinson free throw cut the Spartan lead to five, forward Joey Hauser snagged an offensive rebound on the next possession before putting it back up and in with 1:47 left to play — forcing yet another Wolverine timeout.

“When you’re trying to get back in the game, you can’t afford to make any mistakes,” Dickinson said. “We just had a couple too many.”

Those mistakes showed up defensively as the backand-forth play continued all the way up to the final buzzer. Sophomore guard Kobe Bufkin came alive, showcasing his ability to get to the line while scoring six points in the final 1:30. But Michigan couldn’t get stops on the other end. Michigan State was undeterred by Bufkin’s late surge and always had an answer — protecting its lead in the process.

And as time expired, the Wolverines walked off the Breslin Center floor in a manner that’s becoming all too familiar for them in East Lansing:

With their heads down and the deafening sea of green and white celebrating yet another win over their in-state rivals.

EMMA MATI/Daily

JACK GLANVILLE Daily Sports Editor MICHIGAN

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