Federal government revokes four U-M students’ visas
consequences of this action.”
students has left the country following recommendations of University officials.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security revoked the F-1 visas — which allow individuals to enter and reside in the United States for academic studies — of four University of Michigan students Friday. This decision comes as the DHS,
In an email to The Michigan Daily, University spokesperson Kay Jarvis wrote the University is aware of the visa revocations and has reached out to the affected students.
“The University of Michigan has learned that four currently registered students have had
In an email obtained by the Detroit Free Press, Jonathan Massey, dean of Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, wrote one impacted student who attended Taubman fled the country at the guidance of the U-M International Center.
“Yesterday, as a result of government action, a Taubman
recommendation,” Massey wrote.
“Yesterday, as a result of government action, a Taubman College M.Arch student left the country in consultation with the U-M International Center recommendation.”
Overpeck expressed his support for international students and faculty in SEAS and explained the International Center and administration are monitoring the situation.
“We want to acknowledge the fear and concerns that exist, especially within the international
In an email to the School of Environment and Sustainability, and the revocation of visas for some University students, including a SEAS student.
ANN ARBOR
Ann Arbor community members celebrate FoolMoon
and FestiFools
‘It’s just a way for people to come out and connect with members of the community.’
Downtown Ann Arbor was filled with handmade drums, turtles and dragons as residents danced through the streets dressed as everything from Uncle Sam to basketball players in pink and yellow jerseys. The participants played music ranging from roaring trumpets and tubas to the notes of “Funkytown” on a child’s toy keyboard. The festival, welcoming hundreds of people in Ann Arbor, was the annual FoolMoon and FestiFools celebrations. Created by Mark Tucker, Lloyd Scholars for the Writing and Arts visual arts instructor and art director, the events aimed to foster artistic creativity throughout the community. This year’s FoolMoon theme, “Rhythm and Fools!,” allowed the artists to create musically themed figures to display Friday night.
Tucker’s class, Art in Public Spaces, worked throughout the winter semester to create projects for the events. The first few weeks of the class focused on producing the FoolMoon luminaries, light-up
paper-mache figures held together with wire, packaging tape and tissue paper. The rest of the semester centered around creating massive puppets for the FestiFools parade.
Participants met at three locations Friday night for FoolMoon: the University of Michigan Museum of Art, the Ann Arbor Farmers Market and Slauson Middle School. All three groups journeyed to the intersection of Washington and Ashley streets in downtown Ann Arbor, with one group accompanied by the Detroit Party Marching Band.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Engineering sophomore Vanessa Laub said her experience in the Michigan Marching Band coincided with the theme and inspired her FoolMoon luminary — an anteater wearing a shako, the cap band members wear.
“Because I’m in the marching band, this is something that I can use to combine my interests and creativity,” Laub said. “I think that the part that tied it together with the theme really was the shako from band.”
In addition to U-M students, hundreds of community members also participated in the festival.
In an interview with The Daily, LSA freshman Catherine Melcher emphasized the wide-range of event attendees.
“(At the University) it feels sometimes like you’re just in the school, even though it’s a whole city,” Melcher said. “So, (the festival) helps me feel more like I’m part of a greater community and not just a school.”
Friday night did not mark the end of the festivities. People took to the street again Sunday afternoon — this time with life-size puppets — for the FestiFools parade. Hundreds of people lined South Main Street as sounds of bucket drums led the parade route.
Some of the puppets made political statements about the condition of the United States, which highlighted this year’s FestiFools theme: “RevFOOLution.” In an interview with The Daily, LSA freshman Lauren Lee, who attended the event, said she believes events like these are beneficial because they expose people to different viewpoints.
CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
Student Life VP Martino Harmon talks effects
of Trump administration on students Harmon discussed campus activism, international students and diversity-focused events
working to ensure students retain their right to freedom of assembly?
Student Life ensuring all students feel safe?
The Michigan Daily sat down with Martino Harmon, the University of Michigan’s vice president for student life, to discuss the effects of the Trump administration on campus activism, international students and diversity-focused events. Harmon was provided with questions in advance, before the University announced cuts to all diversity, equity and inclusion programs. This article has been edited and condensed for clarity.
The Michigan Daily: Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, his green card revoked, due to what many believe to be his pro-Palestine protesting on campus. This has sparked fear in student protesters moving forward. How is Student Life
Martino Harmon: University of Michigan has a really long and rich history of student activism. That’s part of who we are, and that’s really important in terms of students’ ability to express their First Amendment rights, and we support that, as long as those rights don’t infringe upon the rights of others. Student Life partners with the Division of Public Safety & Security to make sure that students who want to be involved in activism know and understand how they can do so in a safe way, and how we can support their activism in that way. Student Life staff actually will be present at demonstrations to really support and to help where needed. It’s just important for students to know the guidelines and to make sure they’re aware of those guidelines around time, place and manner.
TMD: The University received a letter from the Department of Education to ensure the protection and safety of Jewish students in wake of campus protests. How is
MH: No student should ever feel targeted, and it’s really important that students feel a sense of belonging and they feel safe and they can have a wonderful student experience here. We are very much aware that we have a responsibility to prevent harassment and to not contribute to a hostile environment, but most of all, we want to make sure students feel a sense of belonging here at the University of Michigan. We have a Campus Climate Support team within our Dean of Students Office, and they work really closely with the Equity, Civil Rights and Title IX Office, with DPSS and other campus partners, to make sure the students feel safe and that we don’t have a hostile climate. We also work with the surrounding community and partners off campus to make sure that students off campus are also safe and not feeling targeted in any way. We have a strong partnership with Ann Arbor for that reason. CONTINUED
Ann Arbor, Michigan
CAMPUS LIFE
DOMINIC APAP
THE MICHIGAN DAILY NEWS STAFF
TEDxUofM hosts
16th annual conference, ‘Rooted’
Six speakers presented talks on topics related to the people and places that form their identities
SARAH PALUSHI Daily Staff Reporter
Almost 1000 students and Ann Arbor community members headed to the Power Center Thursday evening for the University of Michigan’s 16th annual TEDxUofM conference with the theme “Rooted.” Six speakers presented talks on topics related to the places, people and identities that form their identities. They were accompanied by performances from Cedar Bend Band, Amala Dancers and Moli.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Taubman junior Trini Sernas, one of TEDxUofM’s three co-directors, said the intention behind this year’s theme was to have a topic all members of the audience could connect to.
“We really were interested in the stories of people’s backgrounds and what it felt like to have roots in a certain place or to be uprooted,” Sernas said. “We like that the theme is very up to interpretation, which lends itself well to the TED Talk theme.”
The conference’s first speaker, Chris Vrenna, U-M assistant
professor of music and Grammy Award-winning composer, shared his experiences within the music industry and education. Vrenna reflected on his decision to leave Kent State University and pursue a musical career with what would later be known as the band Nine Inch Nails.
“The person I was playing with was Trent Reznor, and we were friends,” Vrenna said. “And
eventually, one of those bands we turned into what would become Nine Inch Nails. So at that point … I had a decision to make, which was, ‘do I stay in school, or do I drop out of college and take a crack at being some sort of rock star?’ So I decided, rock star.”
Vrenna continued, saying an injury to his rotator cuff that left him unable to perform led him back to higher education, finishing
his degree and going on to teach. Vrenna said he hasn’t stopped learning and continues to share his musical experience with audiences.
“Even though I had now become the teacher, I never really stopped being the student, whether it was learning from the awesome people I got to work with or going back to college,” Vrenna said.
CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
UMich community members protest budget and hiring centralization
All future hiring decisions and significant financial expenditures would be subject to presidential or executive vice presidential
Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs joined in condemning the decision.
At the end of February, University of Michigan President Santa Ono and the University’s three executive vice presidents released a message to the University of Michigan community stating all future hiring decisions and significant financial expenditures would be subject to presidential or executive vice presidential approval. They said this decision was a proactive choice that ensured fiscal responsibility of the University in response to federal funding cuts. Shortly following the announcement, more than 1,000 students, staff and faculty across the University signed a petition protesting the decision. The petition asserted that the decision violated the budgetary autonomy and academic freedom of schools within the University and that budget cuts must be determined by individual departments. The
In the weeks prior to the decision, Ono sent an email to the University community acknowledging the potential harm funding cuts by the Department of Education could cause.
“News out of Washington D.C. – including legal decisions about federal actions and announcements related to the Department of Education – continues to reshape the higher education landscape in ways that could have important implications for the University of Michigan,” Ono wrote. “As a public institution that works in partnership with the federal government to conduct research that serves the nation, we have a profound responsibility to American taxpayers to ensure we are efficient in our use of federal dollars.”
The new policy requires presidential or EVP hiring approval for all non-student staff positions,
including temporary workers. Under the new funding regulations, any non-payroll expenditures of more than $50K must also be approved. The policy asked all departments to reexamine nonessential spending and required that all infrastructure projects besides those already underway be reevaluated. Only Michigan Medicine, outstanding job offers and infrastructure currently in progress are exempt.
LSA junior Ian Moore, president of the University’s chapter of College Democrats, wrote in an email to The Michigan Daily he felt the new policies are a breach of academic independence.
“This move threatens the independence of our academic departments at a time when free speech on Universities is under increasing attack,” Moore wrote.
“The University must take steps to insulate themselves from the dangerous attacks of the Trump administration, but as students we expect our regents to find methods
which do not hurt students or compromise our fundamental values.”
In an email to The Daily, Silke Weineck, German professor and one of the petition writers, expressed her belief in the effectiveness of a decentralized model.
“Michigan has always been notable for a strongly decentralized budget and decision model,” Weineck wrote. “It is a pluralist model that understands that different schools and colleges have unique cultures, needs, norms, etc. … Placing decisions in the hands of the president and a handful of executive vice presidents who are very far removed from the core mission of the university — research and teaching — negates this pluralist culture.”
Weineck also wrote some petitioners believed the move to centralize hiring approval was a means of ideological filtering.
CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 734-418-4115 www.michigandaily.com
ZHANE YAMIN and MARY COREY Co-Editors in Chief eic@michigandaily.com
ELLA THOMPSON Business Manager business@michigandaily.com
NEWS TIPS tipline@michigandaily.com
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR tothedaily@michigandaily.com
JONATHAN WUCHTER and ZACH EDWARDS Managing Sports Editors sports@michigandaily.com
Senior Sports Editors: Taylor Daniels, Charlie Pappalardo, Lys Goldman, Sam Novotny, Eli Trese, Anna Miller
MIKLOSOVIC and BRENDAN DOWNEY Managing Copy Editors copydesk@michigandaily.com Senior Copy Editors: Josue Mata, Tomilade Akinyelu, Tim Kulawiak, Jane Kim, Ellie Crespo, Lily Cutler, Cristina Frangulian, Elizabeth Harrington, Nimai Talur, Zannah Baker, Zoey Ueland
Tianxin “Jessica” Li, Julia Mei Product Managers: Sanvika Inturi, Ruhee Jain Senior Software Engineer: Kristen Su
JOVANNA GALLEGOS and MAXIMILIAN THOMPSON Managing Video Editors video@michigandaily.com
Senior Video Editors: Kimberly Dennis, Andrew Herman, Michael Park
Senior Podcast Editor: Quinn Murphy, Matt Popp, and Sasha Kalvert
Senior MiC Editors: Isabelle Fernandes, Aya Sharabi, Maya Kogulan, Nghi Nguyen
ANNA MCLEAN and DANIEL JOHNSON Managing Focal Point Editors ajmclean@umich.edu,
LEYLA DUMKE and CAROLINE GUENTHER Managing Design Editors design@michigandaily.com Senior Layout Editors: Lys Goldman, Maisie Derlega, Annabelle Ye Senior Illustrators: Haylee Bohm, Avery Nelson, Matthew Prock TALIA BLACK and HAILEY MCCONNAUGHY
Brianna Pirini, Emma LeFevre, Dayoung Kim, Emma Lapp, Lauren Kupelian, Kaelyn Sourya, Daniel Lee, Quinn Murphy, Madison Hammond SARA WONG and NOAH MOHAMED Michigan in Color Managing Editors michiganincolor@michigandaily.com
VALERY Marketing Manager AVA CHATLOSH and MEGAN GYDESEN Managing Podcast Editors podeditors@michigandaily.com
MILES ANDERSON and DANIEL BERNSTEIN Managing Audience Engagement Editors socialmedia@michigandaily.com
LYRA WILDER Daily Staff Reporter
Isai Hernandez-Flores/DAILY
Chris Vrenna speaks for TEDxUofM at the Power Center Thursday afternoon.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Ellie Vice/DAILY
John Cameron Mitchell, director and actor of the film “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” sings “Midnight Radio” at the Penny Stamps Speaker Series Thursday afternoon.
The B-Side 2
to think about it — just good old B-Side 2.
tradition of the Odyssey. With those two extremes in mind, we begin.
Not your father’s ‘Star Trek’
Everyone’s always choosing big, interesting themes for their B-Sides. It’s always “Chaos” or “Dreams” or something else new and exciting. Maybe I just want more of the same good thing, and I don’t want to have
Sequels can be good and thoughtful, but for my money, the push and pull between homogeneity and new ideas often create some of the most interesting conversations. Sequels are older than sin, sure, but in the present, you’re far more likely to hear about a senseless step down in quality than a continuation in the
In the B-Side 2, writers delve into this problem from all different angles: the drive to produce derivative follow-ups, the exceptions that show glimpses of greatness, the questionable choices made in reiterations and just the classic great sequels they’re dying to talk about. So without further ado … welcome back!
Knights of the Old Republic II and how to complicate a series
GLENN HEDIN Daily Arts Contributor
Author’s Note: This article contains heavy spoilers for KOTOR and KOTOR II.
At its core, Star Wars has always had a relatively simple moral landscape. True, its in-universe politics are surprisingly thoughtful and, over the past decade, newer media in the franchise have introduced more serious or morally ambiguous takes on the universe. In both the original trilogy and prequels, however, there is a very clear contrast between a light side which is empathetic, in touch with nature and in favor of the freedom of sentient beings, and a dark side which is cruel, spiteful, mechanical and seeks only to oppress.
Both of these philosophies are neatly wrapped up in the codes of the Jedi and Sith, respectively. The former proposes giving up all of one’s attachments and passions in order to gain a form of enlightenment and harmony with all things. The second rejects this, embracing passion as a route to power, and power as a path to true freedom — though usually this is just the freedom to oppress everyone else.
This dynamic of pseudoBuddhist stoicism versus a cartoonishly evil will to dominate
as the eternal metaphysical manifestation of good versus evil is somewhat shallow, and some pieces of Star Wars media which aim to explore its moral themes in a more complicated way step outside it entirely. It is, however, an interesting dynamic to explore all the same; just because the dichotomy of good and evil present in a made-up franchise is incomplete does not mean that there is nothing to be found in an examination of that dichotomy. Some of my favorite places this has been explored are in the game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel. I have many fond childhood memories of these games, which — primarily through the addition of two old, wise, force-using characters — explore this dichotomy of good and evil set forth by the Jedi and Sith in two very different ways.
KOTOR is set in the world of the Old Republic, taking place thousands of years before the movies. Here the Sith are legion, waging war against the Republic and the Jedi under one Darth Malak, who has taken over the Sith Empire after seemingly shooting the ship of his former master, Darth Revan, out of the sky. Though you do not know it for much of the playthrough, you play as the amnesiac Revan, whose mind was wiped by the Jedi in one last hopeful attempt to gain a powerful ally in the war against the Sith. You very much feel the sense of participating in a grand space opera of a righteous crusade against the forces of evil, or at least a less righteous crusade against the Republic should you decide to return to your old habits.
CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
There comes a special time in a young girl’s life when she sees her dad cry for the first time. In that moment, she understands what truly matters.
For me, this time came on the overstuffed couch of my childhood home, my dad and I eating TV dinners and watching (or rewatching, for him) the finale of “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
The episode, aptly titled “All Good Things,” follows the bald beacon of virtue Captain Picard as he is thrown from past to present to future and back again, all in order to prove the value of humanity to an all-powerful Machiavel alien named Q. In the end, Picard saves humanity by uniting the crew of his ship in all three timelines. The thesis of the episode, and of “Star Trek” in general, is that there is a hopeful future for the human race — so long as we stay united.
At the time, seeing my dad cry to some old sci-fi show that he’d seen 100 times was a bit dorky. But today, when I asked the convenience store clerk how she was doing, she simply replied, “Have you read the news lately?” — and it struck me then that the “Star Trek” statement is more relevant than ever.
In 2025, when it seems that NASA will sooner be cleaved in half by the DOGE chainsaw than put man on Mars, the empathetic future of early “Star Trek” feels like a pipe dream. And while I love some good-old-fashioned escapism, sometimes it’s unsatisfying to watch William Shatner fistfight a poorly outfitted Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and call it conflict resolution. Sometimes, I want a story with a bit of grit. I want a show set in space that feels grounded in the now.
Enter “Star Trek: Deep Space 9.”
The 10th installment in the film-TV franchise, “DS9” was a stark departure from the traditional Trek ethos. But, in order to understand what makes “DS9” different, we first need to understand the man behind the curtain.
The controversial Christlike figure behind the Trek universe, Gene Roddenberry birthed the franchise before man stepped foot on the moon, and he kept a (somewhat suffocating) grip on it until the early ’90s. While Roddenberry wasn’t perfect, he was a visionary on the screen.
His first brainchild, “Star Trek: The Original Series,” was a revelation to ’60s television. With a multi-racial cast, the first interracial kiss on live TV and countless socio-political commentaries delivered with hammer-to-toe sublety, “TOS” depicted a never-before-seen future to American masses eager for change. Roddenberry’s subsequent films and series followed the “TOS” doctrine of clean allegorical plots all surrounding the heroic feats of Starfleet, the quasi-military arm of the fictional United Federation of Planets. As the name suggests, The Federation is an interstellar government body that unites Earth with other planets through the common goal of peace among the stars. In “TOS” and its sequel series, “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” we follow two generations of Starfleet crews of the starship USS Enterprise as they explore the far reaches of outer space.
Until his death in the early ’90s, Roddenberry maintained iron-fist executive control over all production of Trek, often stifling his writers. According to Roddenberry, there could be no interpersonal conflict written among the core Trek characters as it endangered his utopia. While Roddenberry wanted a show that dealt with serious modern political issues,
he wanted these issues to remain strictly allegorical and outside of the Federation. This was the most controversial diversion of “DS9.” As the first Trek show created without Roddenberry, writers were finally allowed to question the ethics of the Federation and give the perspective of the planets that our favorite protagonists have been “saving” since the ’60s. Even from the title intro, it’s clear that “DS9” is not your father’s “Star Trek.” Instead of watching the USS Enterprise triumphantly soar through colorful planets while our captain gives an inspirational voiceover about “Space: the final frontier,” “DS9” opens with a shot of a menacing, crablike space station sitting stationary in the blackness of space.
The basic plot of “DS9” is a bit more convoluted, too. Instead of just “Cowboys in space fight the monster of the week!” it’s more like “Cowboys in space oversee the decolonization of a planet that’s been occupied for the past 50 years by fascist lizard people — also there’s a wormhole next door connecting two ends of the galaxy that will be at war by Season 5.” The physicality of “DS9” is the first indication of its novelty. As the first syndicated Trek show, “DS9” plots had a continuity that stretched across multiple episodes. This was unlike “TOS” and “TNG” in which the Enterprise could warp in and out of whatever wacky situation they found themselves in, each plot neatly tied up within each 30-minute episode. Set in a stationary space station (also named Deep Space Nine) rather than a mobile starship, our characters now had to deal with the longterm consequences of their actions.
CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
SIENA BERES Daily Arts Writer
Selena Zou/DAILY
Abigail Schad/DAILY
Abigail Schad/DAILY
HOLLY TSCH Senior Arts Editor
Western comics’ sequel problem
ALEX HETZLER Book Beat Editor
It’s 2015 in a sun-drenched, dusty comic book store in Dearborn, and I can’t tear my eyes off of Kris Anka’s covers for “Ms. Marvel,” issues #18 and #16. The colors and simple line art pop off the page — in one, our heroine stands alone as her world is torn asunder, bits of rebar and lone billboards drifting towards the sky; in the other, her best friend contemplates his relationship troubles while she sits beside him, oblivious. Even now, both covers have an undeniable draw, each scene no less dramatic for the contrast in their subject matter and scope.
I started reading comics right when Ms. Marvel got popular.
I didn’t find the series until a few years later, when I devoured the trade paperback collections in the aisles of my local library.
Following Kamala Khan, a nerdy second-generation Pakistani-New
Jerseyite with stretchy powers similar to Mister Fantastic or Plastic Man, G. Willow Wilson’s inaugural run on the book may not have been groundbreaking. It did, however, find its niche within Marvel’s slate of youngadult comics — propelling Wilson’s heroine to appearances in movies, games and even her own TV show — spotlighting small, intimate narratives at a time when other superhero titles got broader in scope and more complex (here’s looking at you, Jonathan Hickman). With the stakes tamped down, emotional beats slid clearly into place. In a decade of comics that saw more than its fair share of worldending threats, time travel and multiverse shenanigans, the character-driven scripts of “Ms. Marvel” felt like a breath of fresh air.
When Wilson left the book, Marvel Comics tapped up-andcoming writer Saladin Ahmed to pick up where she left off. The title was relaunched as “Magnificent
Ms. Marvel” in 2019, with Ahmed penning an energetic space opera that propelled Kamala far from her East Coast roots. Ahmed never got the same opportunities with the character as Wilson — where she got 57 issues to introduce and explore the character (19 in her original run and 38 when the series relaunched in 2015), Ahmed got 18. But even in its first issues, Ahmed’s run struggled to hit the same emotional highs as Wilson’s soap opera plots. In one issue, Kamala’s father is diagnosed with an incurable disease, only for the plotline to be swiftly resolved and bundled away in a later issue.
Minor characters — once a staple of Wilson’s delightful teen drama — faded into the background, but Ahmed never took full advantage of the new space this gave to develop Kamala. “Magnificent Ms. Marvel” was a fun, all-ages adventure comic but, even at its best, it lost sight of what made the original run compelling.
CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
Matthew Prock/DAILY
The mother of all sequels
GRACE SIELINSKI Daily Arts Writer
How do you make a sequel that doesn’t suck?
When we talk about films, finding a consistent formula seems impossible. Does keeping the same star guarantee success? Nope. Same creative team? Nope. Previous movies considered to be some of the greatest of all time? Nope. Bigger budget? Nope. Reboot of a previously beloved franchise? Most definitely not. There seems to be no definitive answer, to the chagrin of studio executives.
This is why it’s so surprising that three of the greatest sequels of all time do, in fact, follow an exceptionally strict formula. And the formula? Well, it’s easy: In your first film, take a super-duper hot woman and turn her into an unwitting action hero with a thirst for revenge. Then, in your sequel, make her into a mother figure, giving her a motivation by either asking her to protect her own flesh and blood or a surrogate child that she happens upon. Simple, and seemingly very effective, the technique worked for “Kill Bill: Volume II,” “Aliens” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” all of which are widely considered to be some of the greatest sequels of all time. But why? Why does this specific plot arc create such dramatic potential for compelling on-screen violence, and, perhaps more importantly, why are we as a culture so obsessed with these stories?
It could be argued that the quality of these films has less to do with their plot structure and more to do with their directors. Whatever you might think about their work, Quentin Tarantino (“Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood”), Ridley Scott (“Gladiator II”) and James Cameron (“Avatar: The Way of
Water”) are Hollywood titans, each with multiple Oscars under their belts.
This list has another quirk: for all their female-lead films, the directors of these movies are all men, as are 87.9% of all directors today. Considering that the films in question are carried by their “strong” female leads, this could come as a surprise. Under closer examination, however, something else becomes apparent: The leads are actually fully-realized characters — and the directors know it.
Let’s start with the most blatant motherhood narrative of the three: Cameron’s “The Terminator” and “Terminator II: Judgement Day.” The original film follows Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton, “Terminator: Dark Fate”), an ordinary college student who begins being terrorized by the titular Terminator, a nearunstoppable android assassin bent on killing her. She is rescued by a mysterious — and suspiciously good-looking — soldier named Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn, “Rippy”), who reveals the truth to her: In the future, an artificial intelligence called Skynet will take over the world.
Humanity’s only hope is John Connor, who will lead a resistance army to defeat the robots, and Sarah happens to be the futuremother of this John. Skynet,
equipped with time-travel, has therefore sent back a Terminator to kill her before her son can be born. It is quickly revealed that Reese is to be the father, as they have sex before he nobly sacrifices himself fighting the Terminator, who Sarah then smashes in a hydraulic press.
It’s tense and fun, but, to be frank, the Sarah Connor in “The Terminator” is barely a character. She has some fun line deliveries here and there — I especially enjoy, “You’re terminated, fucker” — but the only thing that comes close to a character arc is her realization that Reese is not lying to her about being from the future, and also the fact that she is in love with him. Her subordinate position and lack of agency — the focal point of the film — allow her to float through the movie while the fast-moving plot distracts from her emptiness.
At least, that is the case until “Terminator II: Judgement Day.” Here, we see a completely different Sarah Connor. In the first film, Sarah is introduced on her way to her waitress job; in the second, she is doing pull-ups in a criminal mental health facility. Sarah is jacked, AK-47 wielding, terroristic and obsessively fixated on the training and protection of her son, John.
CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
Canon killers: The power of on-screen adaptations as spiritual sequels
Whether it’s a novel, comic book or video game, on-screen adaptations extend their influence across a vast range of artistic works. They are met with excitement, fear, anticipation and sometimes even outrage. Fans brace themselves for the inevitable: What will change, and what will stay the same?
The question lingers with every adaptation — why do we fear change? After all, the original work still exists, untouched on the shelf or within the code of an old game file. But adaptations have a peculiar way of not just coexisting with their source material, but actively rewriting it. Are they simply retellings, or do they act as “canon killers,” reshaping the way we experience and interpret the original work?
This isn’t just about accuracy to a text. It’s about power — the power to redefine meaning, alter intent and ultimately shift what we consider “real” within a given fictional world. Whether these changes occur for the sake of convenience, artistic vision or cultural shifts, they have a way of creeping into our understanding of the source material itself.
Let’s examine two types of changes in adaptations: First, the faithful adaptation — changes made with the approval, or even insistence, of the original creator, deliberately altering the story’s meaning or impact.
Neil Druckmann, co-creator of The Last of Us, had already
written Bill and Frank as former lovers in the original 2013 video game. But it was only hinted at, left to subtext. Their relationship was marked by bitterness, resentment and Frank’s tragic suicide. Players only learned about it through environmental storytelling — Frank’s body, a suicide note and a few bitter remarks from Bill.
In the HBO adaptation, Druckmann (along with Craig Mazin) rewrote their story completely. Instead of a toxic, doomed relationship, the show presents Bill and Frank as starcrossed lovers who find joy and safety in each other despite the post-apocalyptic world. Instead of Frank dying alone and angry, he and Bill share a peaceful, mutual suicide, choosing to leave the world together on their own terms. Instead of vague implications, their Queerness is now explicit, celebrated and central to their story.
In a culture that prioritizes whiteness, the emphasis on tanning marks an interesting areas of clash between normative racial and class standards. From a historical standpoint, it’s clear that at one point these disgusting standards were aligned: Tanning made skin darker, which, in a racist society that values lighter skin, was undesirable.
Yet the current reversal falls in trend with an exoticism of non-white cultures and skin tones, with white people striving to achieve darker skin tones. Naturally, this doesn’t tell the whole story, as people of any race can tan. But the obsession with
The Michigan Daily Crossword Sunday, April 6, 2025 —
ACROSS 1. Might come from the past
Lots and lots
Function or application
Wheels
Sweetie pie
Jim's love interest in "The Office" 17. Germanic mountain range 19. "Yo!" 20. BMW rival 21. Common reactions to a puppy, for example
22. Teresa, Francis or Mary
24. Simile response to, "Do you understand the instructions?"
28. Stone for a statue
31. Library no-no
32. Europe's "boot"
33. Cool
35. Shoe store chain
38. Post-it
darker skin plays into a fetishism of the foreign that white people have held for generations. Whether intended or not, the search for a tan reinforces standards that are both classist and racist, in addition to dangerous.
To complete the trifecta, it’s only fair that we throw gender into the mix. Enter: beauty pageants. These culturally contentious competitions, as their name implies, display dominant societal discourses surrounding feminine beauty — and it’s clear that the “tanned” look is one of high status. Spraytans are often a must for serious contestants, with contestants spending $60 to $80 to ensure they look adequate on stage. Naturally, (or rather, like some tans, very unnaturally) tanning obligations police women’s bodies much more than they do men’s. According to a study published in 2005, women were three times more likely to use a tanning bed than men, which is just the tip of the iceberg in gendered tanning differences. This gender dynamic leads to ill effects; suntanning and tanning beds can cause serious health risks like skin cancer and premature aging.
Knowing all of this, I still found myself lounging by the pool in a mildly uncomfortable chair I would never sit in under normal circumstances. Am I just an apathetic follower who can’t help conforming to societal beauty standards? Maybe. CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
ESTLIN SALAH Daily Arts Contributor
Selena Zou/DAILY
Michigan in Color: The University doesn’t protect us, we do
At this point, it’s a given that each new statement from President Santa Ono and the Board of Regents will be a disappointment. And on March 27, just one week after the discontinuation of the LEAD Scholars program, a meritbased scholarship initiative specifically created to support underrepresented minority undergraduate students, U-M administration unsurprisingly announced the termination of their diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The statement outlined the closing of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the Office for Health Equity and Inclusion, as well as the cancellation of their DEI 2.0 Strategic Plan and the removal of all diversity statements in faculty hiring, admissions and other formal considerations.
In their statement, they also claimed these decisions were a result of pressures from stakeholders and threats to higher education on a national level.
But there’s a lot the University doesn’t want to say out loud, and for us, those values are clear: The University has never had the interests or protection of their marginalized students in mind. The cuts to DEI are a stark reminder of that. While students continue to organize for the right to exist and thrive at this institution, the U-M administration has once again shown that they have no problem sacrificing the safety of their students in exchange for donor approval. Diversity, equity and inclusion are not simply politically charged buzzwords.
They have provided us with the scholarships that have helped fund our education, built us the cultural centers and lounges where we’ve established community, and created the policies that aimed — however imperfectly — to facilitate the acknowledgement and understanding of systemic inequalities.
Michigan in Color was founded as a commentary section of The Michigan Daily i-n response to the overwhelmingly resounding noise of doubt, erasure and minimization of the experiences of students of Color present on campus. In over 10 years of production, we have had to regroup, shift our focus, rediscover our voices and change. The University administration, on the other hand, has not.
The Michigan in Color staff, and all minority groups on campus and beyond, are all too familiar with the dilemma of tokenization. There is an extremely fine line between taking pride in your students and taking advantage of them. One seeks to elevate and empower members of the community toward collective advancement. The other treats the diversity of human experience like fine china: meticulously collected and only used when needed.
You will see us everywhere that you look on campus. We will be front-page on your University website, laughing with our multiethnic friend group on the Diag. Our faces will be plastered on the social media pages and, most importantly, we will be a key statistic, paraded during tour groups and admissions brochures alike as a bragging point: “Look how many of
them we have!” And yet, when the cameras are off and the hashtags fade, when we demand real equity and ask for sit-downs with University leaders about divestment instead of a half-hearted MDining “shish tawook” and “lamb kofta,” we are met with silence.
On March 19, the University celebrated Giving Blueday, ultimately raising nearly $4.7 million from donors across the U-M community. A mere two days after, LEAD scholars was discontinued, and one week later, it officially shut down its DEI 2.0 Strategic Plan and eliminated the ODEI office entirely. The timing alone — with two major decisions following shortly after its largest fundraising event — makes what has happened very obvious: The University chose to secure the optics of generosity before dismantling the very initiatives that made higher education possible for so many of its students.
When DEI is treated as a means of virtue signaling rather than a vision for structural change, its dismantling becomes easy to justify. If the University had truly believed in the value of DEI, it would have invested in addressing the flaws in its approach rather than immediately folding under the slightest iota of federal pressure. Students have long acknowledged flaws in the University’s approach to DEI, but many have also worked tirelessly to strengthen it to the best of their ability. Campaigns such as the Black Student Union’s “More Than Four” have worked to further the inclusion and representation of Black students on campus, calling for deeper and more comprehensive change rather
than a total abandonment of the DEI framework.
The same administration that boasts its commitment to equity remains conspicuously silent when Muslim students were verbally harassed and labeled “terrorists” by highranking University officials. Calls for divestment are not met with dialogue, but with police brutality and pepper spray. Harassment from racist hate groups on campus has gone unchecked. The legitimacy of campus student activism has been dismissed as “foreign-funded” by both the regents and President Ono, perpetuating a racist and xenophobic conspiracy rooted in the disbelief that students — particularly those identifying as Arab or Muslim — could organize so powerfully on their own.
None of these instances have warranted an official “message to the community” email from the desk of President Ono — the same man who, in a leaked audio recording, admitted that due to federal pressure, reports of Islamophobia on campus are deprioritized and devalued compared to reports of antisemitism.
These are not isolated incidents. They reflect a persistent institutional pattern shaped by donor influence, political pressure and a willful refusal to prioritize student well-being and equity over institutional comfort.
Our identities as students of historically marginalized groups are routinely exploited for financial gain by the University, while our struggles and calls for true change are ignored beneath a shiny facade of “inclusion” — only acknowledged when it becomes socially convenient to care. As a public university, the University is supposed to serve its students above all else — and yet, it moves like a spineless hedge fund with a campus attached.
Ironically, the University has declared this academic year to be the “Year of Democracy and Civic Engagement.” What does that empowerment truly signify when student voices are ignored, when federal funding is prioritized
over student well-being and when justice is sacrificed for political convenience?
True democracy would mean standing firmly in support of the very students whose presence and perspectives DEI was meant to protect. Real civic engagement would would involve condemning the silencing of student activists across the nation.
This is the reality of the University’s DEI — not a movement toward justice as intended but an illusion of progress that disappears as soon as it becomes inconvenient.
To the administration that pats itself on the back, loudly proclaiming its commitment to “the importance of democracy not only in this country, but globally”: You can repeat all the generic progressive oneliners you want, but at the end of the day, you are an imposter to your own words and a deserter of the same values you claim to protect.
Despite it not appearing so — especially in times like these — we as students are still privileged. We are here at the University to learn. To seek knowledge, not only to understand what we don’t yet grasp, but to eventually benefit future generations with our wisdom.
To be able to receive an education, to aspire to make the world a better place: That is a privilege. However, the better world that we so desperately want for ourselves will not magically appear out of wishful thinking and what ifs. This world must be constructed by our hands and our voices.
We are students, but we are not just students. To say so is to dismiss our role as stakeholders in this institution — and to ignore the power we hold, both individually and collectively. Across time and continents, student advocacy and activism have played a crucial role in achieving what many had previously deemed as impossible, far-fetched dreams.
From Selma and Soweto to Dhaka and even Ann Arbor
— the seemingly endless list of regions shaped by student organizing serves as a firm
challenge to those who doubt its lack of impact. Numerous components of our own campus that we take for granted have been built by student advocacy. Students have proven time and time again that we have the power and the capacity to advocate for change. The question, then, is whether we still have the tenacity to act. We should not adopt the repressive mindset that our voices are inferior simply because someone else’s title says “President” or “Regent” and ours is “student.” Falling into this mindset weakens our resolve to fight for change and plants the misconception that expressing our discontent is futile. This traps us in a perpetual Sisyphean cycle — endlessly aware that change is needed yet always falling short of making it. The dismantling of DEI hurts more than just students of Color. Our working class, our faculty in solidarity, our undocumented friends — the University has never protected us. The exact level of devastation these policy changes will bring about on our communities is still uncertain, but as we resist and repair the harm that’s been inflicted, do not let them look away.
It has always been important for us to keep our goals in sight and to not be placated by superficial attempts to make up for centuries of structural inequity. Despite the tangible financial reparations DEI programs accomplished, it has not and could never have been a replacement for our activism. Let this dismantling of DEI remind you that real progress has never been given to us out of the good nature of the administration — it was and must continue to be fought for. We are still here. We have always been fighting, and in spite of continuous attempts from the U-M administration to stifle the voices of students, we will continue to fight. Do not let any letter, ploy or policy shift make you forget that while we’re here as students — having been granted the heavy but incredible opportunity to learn, foster community and stand our ground — we are also here to protect each other.
MICHIGAN IN COLOR STAFF
Akash Dewan/MiC
You sit cross-legged on the carpeted living room floor of a one-bedroom apartment. Your mail is on the counter, your orange juice in the fridge, your suitcases against the wall — but still, this place feels freshly foreign. There is a pack of crayons and a stack of papers on the table beside your mail. You decide to draw a picture of a stick figure man next to a house topped with an orange triangle. Now, it is time to draw the sun. You choose the brightest yellow crayon you can find and press it into the top right corner. Your mother and father walk outside the one bedroom and into the carpeted living room. You drop the crayon with your left hand, pick it up again with your right. Let your fingers hold the yellow, shake as you draw a sun. At age four, you relearn how to hold a crayon.
The hardest thing you will ever do is relearn yourself.
I. Right You swallow this over and over — through grief, heartbreak, loss. You brush your teeth and stare into the mirror only to realize your features are all the same, but with the toothbrush in your proper hand instead of your natural
How to forgive, from a sinner’s hand(s)
one, you feel entirely different. Each time you pick yourself up to perform the same brushing routine, you’ll find relearning feels foreign every time you try again.
On the first day of first grade, there are certain things you leave in your father’s car — your lunchbox, a water bottle and some other things from the Walmart clearance aisle that never really felt quite like yours. But there are things you remember and things that confuse you, and you cannot fathom forgetting another thing.
So you sit in a seat labeled with your name and write five letters you’ll always know. Over the years, you’ll learn to write your name a little differently. Little by little, it’ll become something that feels so much like yours and nothing like your name all at once. You’ll adopt something that feels natural in pronunciation, design tips and tricks so a name becomes more of a habit and less like a burden.
You lose yourself twelve letters into your name when the boy next to you taps your shoulder. He’s never met someone left-handed, he says. You realize then that you forgot to use your proper hand. After years of remembering, you’ve memorized the way it feels to escape instinct, but habit creeps into your bones the moment escape loses its rush.
At recess, you let the habit ride high into reversion. Swing a
dodgeball, pass out stickers, accept food with your left hand. In a moment, you undo everything you learned without thought. The girl from across the field approaches you in line to head inside. She’s lefthanded too, she tells you. You ask if she has ever needed to write with her other hand. She responds with confusion.
You begin to explain how lefthandedness is a curse and the right hand is representative of everything you must do. As those first words tumble from your tongue, you pause, and in that pause, you read her confusion once again and realize she never made a decision between her two hands.
In that pause, you keep your first secret, something bigger than your brother’s birthday present or the missing cookie from the candy jar. You’ll one day realize that this secret would multiply thrice its size, all for the same reason you kept it in the first place.
That night, you return home, not to the one-bedroom apartment, but to a house bigger than your father ever imagined a home could be. Your life, in a couple years, has expanded by three bedrooms, a sibling. Your father’s explanation of how?
Discipline. Good habits are not natural — they are learned.
The left hand, as your father once explained, is unsanitary, a treacherous instinct. The right
Praying like no one is watching (because no one is)
There is nothing quite like the rush of adrenaline I get when I’m standing in a public bathroom, about to take my shoes and socks off. Time slows down. My hands start to shake. Sweat rolls down the back of my neck.
The rest of the bathroom is empty. The stall doors swing back and forth threateningly, and in my peripheral vision, I can clearly see the door to the bathroom — for now, it is closed. I let out a shaky breath as I slide my rings off my fingers and unhook my watch from my wrist. These formalities delay the inevitable.
Finally, when there’s nothing left to be done, I bite the bullet. Just as I loosen my shoe and begin peeling my sock off my right foot, I hear the door open. A girl seems to avoid eye contact with me before locking herself in the stall that puts the most distance between us. Well. I tried.
I hate to say it, but at least 80% of the bathrooms on the University of Michigan’s campus have probably seen my bare feet at one time or another. As a Muslim, I pray five times a day, and as a part of this ritual, I first perform wudu, or ablution. This involves washing my face, both of my arms, the top of my head, and, of course, my feet. Preferably, I do this in the comfort of a private
bathroom, or, at the very least, in the communal bathroom at my dorm, where I can take my socks off in my room before going to the bathroom. However, as a university student, I have a busy schedule. Like most others, I often spend full days without returning to my dorm, from my first class in the morning up until the evening. Despite my anxiety over appearing “weird” in public and my abhorrence of public bathrooms in general, I have no other choice but to suck it up and do wudu in them anyways.
It is equal parts humbling and humiliating to stand there, barefoot, completely powerless once someone else walks in. It’s not just the wudu that stresses me out, but also the prayer itself. I’m lucky enough to go to a school where “Reflection Rooms” are available in most buildings — quiet places available for students of all faiths to pray and reflect. However, these rooms aren’t always in the most convenient places, and their locations aren’t all common knowledge. I didn’t even know one existed in the Central Campus Classroom Building until I happened upon it by chance after class one day, looking for a place to pray.
Prayer is one of the most important parts of my life, and for the past couple of years, I’ve made a commitment to pray on time, no matter where I am when the adhan is made. For Muslims, prayer is the chance to
speak directly to our Creator, and there is a certain type of peace that comes with placing your forehead on the lowest possible point and speaking to the highest power there is. When I pray, I am completely surrendering myself to God. Coupled with this surrendering is vulnerability; I am no longer fully aware of my surroundings or keeping watch of my belongings. Though I prefer to pray in a quiet, empty area, that’s not always an option. Thankfully, I haven’t yet been robbed. I’m not sure if it’s divine intervention or just the fact that my small backpack, riddled with keychains, is not particularly appealing to thieves. Either way, the risk of having my things stolen is one I have been willing to take.
Greater than the fear of being stolen from is the fear that, for whatever reason, I will miss the window of time allotted to a certain prayer and have to pray it late. This fear is in a constant battle with my anxiety about embarrassing myself in public. Am I willing to pray in a place that’s not necessarily the most pleasant in order to pray on time?
Or worse, ask someone to give me access to a room that would be more comfortable? Talking to people I don’t know is already hard enough without also needing something from them, and I would much rather figure something out myself than ask for help.
CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
hand is knowledge, wealth and the hand you use for all that you must be doing. He describes the separation between the two as a maintenance of discipline: Would you use toilet paper to solve a math problem?
No, but now you ask if you could divide the body into halves differently. If you could use the right hand for anything unsanitary and the left hand for all you should do. The answer to the math problem would be different, but still equal. Your father shakes his head and explains that traditional rules are not to be bent. The consequence, he says, would be to leave behind the culture you’d already lost, the
discipline slipping again and again from the excellence of this land.
So, under this roof, you choose to abide by the rule. Lift rice from your plate to your mouth with your right hand, finish your homework in shaky letters. Lead a toothbrush with your mind first and body third. Like this, you relearn — when the clock strikes five, how to embody a knife. You divide your body and learn which side deserves visibility when.
In years’ time, the lie becomes so controlled that you can hardly distinguish yourself between halves of your body. As all things grow, you do too. When you write with your wrong hand,
you realize you’re a little louder, more resentful. When you write with your proper hand, you’re more thoughtful — a little more appreciative of everything your parents have left behind. You divide from halves into quarters into eighths and continue until you can no longer recognize yourself. You listen to yourself lie about the little things, tell yourself that these lies are how to preserve a culture. If disobeying natural instinct is resistance to assimilation, this is a small price to pay in return for the culture that built you.
Chasing the Arab charm
I learned more about my father through his exchanges with shopkeepers in Iraq than I ever could have elsewhere. Whether he was bargaining for a better price — sealed with a “just for you, habibi” — or simply getting to know someone, every interaction enriched a human connection. Everyday would overflow with small, wholesome interactions like these. Each transaction was filled with the warmth of conversation and old tunes, contrasting the cold beeping machinery and hesitant smiles of the West. During my visits to the Middle East, I noticed everyone around me had a greater capacity to interact with a stranger compared to what I’ve observed in Western society. Even the 7-year-olds selling cotton candy on the street carried themselves with the conviction of adults, their every question crafted with sharp wit. Shopkeepers were eager to invite shoppers in for chai, asking about these strangers’ accomplishments and life aspirations in between sips. Teenage boys walked with passersby to their next destination, trying earnestly to seal a purchase while making conversation. Interaction was made out of a desire to connect, instead of an obligation to fill a silence.
With conversation playing an integral role in collectivist cultures, people are simply more inclined to speak to one another. While I have found community in the West, the hospitality and vibrancy I experienced in the Middle East just cannot be replicated here. Although there isn’t a concrete dictionary term for it, this embodies the concept of the “Arab charm,” referring to the unspoken, yet widely understood, cultural quality of instinctive hospitality and warmth. It personifies itself in abundant, almost unrealistic offers of food and the consistent integration of comedy and poetry in every conversation. Even would-be simple expressions like “thank you” hyperbolize gratitude in a poetic manner. A common expression “
(“ashat idak”), which directly translates to “may your hand
live,” is used to pay respect to someone who went out of their way to help another. A small act like opening the door for someone could lead to them wishing longevity to the hands that acted as vessels for care. In Iraq and other Arab countries, kindness is not a transaction waiting to be repaid, but rather an intrinsic pillar of a collectivist culture.
Recently, the decline of the “Arab charm” has become a popular topic of conversation within my social circles. Many express concern that the deeprooted altruism that defines Arab culture is fading, usurped by individualism. However, I would argue that this shift is more apparent among those raised in diaspora. Those who grew up in Eastern communities still carry the same traditions of generosity, open-heartedness, and genuine connection that have long been hallmarks of Arab identity. This is one of the many reasons why traveling overseas is such a breath of fresh air, a reminder that hospitality never died — I simply moved away from it.
I still observe this culture of hospitality in the older generations of Arabs in the community, whether it’s during unhurried conversation with my Uber driver or short exchanges in hidden falafel shops that somehow continue to escape the reaches of inflation (shoutout to the $5 falafel sandwich in Detroit). The contrast in our societal values feels tangible, my hesitation to engage met with their eagerness to indulge. Even in the most inconvenient situations, our “humanness” shows itself. Having both witnessed and experienced Dearborn’s notorious car accidents firsthand, I often see older Arab generations handle these stressful moments with an unexpected grace. Rather than bursting into flames, they choose to approach the timid teenager who just rearended them with parental assurance. With a handshake or a lighthearted joke, the essence of the “Arab charm”— which many fear is fading — wakes from dormancy. In those brief moments, I experience a deep nostalgia and, simultaneously, a longing to carry on the legacy of the “Arab charm.” While
appreciating the opportunities presented to me on a golden platter not found anywhere outside the belly of the beast, I find myself grieving the person I could’ve been had my parents never left Iraq. While older generations view inconvenience as a way to connect with others who they would’ve met given better circumstances, that outlook is not expected among youth raised in Western societies. When I was rear ended by a younger Arab man last summer, I knew I was in for an energy-hungry screaming match. Although I was parked at a red light when I was hit, I somehow became the perpetrator. His reaction was defensive and reactive, much like a deficiently trained customer service representative. The value placed on efficiency and self-image in Western culture strips away the human touch from a situation where it is needed the most. The sense of immediacy for someone to blame gives rise to hostile outcomes when a civil conversation and accountability can easily create a better outcome for all parties. In a society that prioritizes cold individualism over empathy, inconvenient moments that could’ve shown our humanity become battles for dominance. What could’ve been an opportunity to grow became the turning point to a bad day. Having learned social customs in the West, I am not as comfortable speaking to those around me. I like to think of myself as an extrovert until I am in an unfamiliar situation where my carefully curated external image is at risk — one that allows me to silently observe my surroundings without altering them. Those in public became my spectators rather than people I could connect with. This detachment is more apparent at family gatherings in Iraq, when even a prepubescent child manages to outshine me in conversation. After these encounters, I retreat to quieter corners, away from endless chatter that I cannot indulge in due to language barriers and learned social constraints. In a collectivist society, observation is not participation enough.
AMANY SAYED MiC Columnist
HANAN HUSEIN MiC Columnist
SNEHA DHANDAPANI MiC Columnist
ZHANE
Mateo
Hunter
From The Daily: In the face of DEI cuts, campus must mobilize
THE MICHIGAN DAILY EDITORIAL BOARD
After months of mounting pressure from the federal government, the University of Michigan announced last Thursday by email — in typical opaque administrative fashion — that it would be permanently closing both its Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Office of Health, Equity and Inclusion, as well as implementing sweeping cuts to related programs. As reasoning, the message cited intensifying executive action targeting institutions that promote DEI. It also disingenuously claimed that the administration sought input from various U-M stakeholders. Considering reports of students being included in any discussions are few and far between, and the extent of faculty outrage, this claim seems dubious at best.
Following the email, University President Santa Ono and the University Board of Regents moved quickly to eliminate all traces of DEI on campus. Websites pertaining to DEI programs were taken down, and notes from a virtual emergency meeting of the Faculty Senate suggest that at least 20 people working for the ODEI and OHEI have been fired.
This destructive decision represents a clear shift in the University’s priorities. Students,
After the first election of President Donald Trump, the Democrats didn’t know what to do. Every major pollster had predicted a landslide victory for Hillary Clinton, but the numbers were erroneous. The left had no contingency plan if they were to lose because they didn’t believe it to be possible. So when Trump took the oath of office, the Democrats could only sit in shock for mere moments: They had to act, and quickly. And they did, impressively so. Democrats undertook massive philanthropic engagements and organized widespread protests in the wake of the election, promising their key supporters that they would fight back for the next four years. Their most famous mobilization effort was the 2017 Women’s March, a nationwide campaign organized almost immediately after the 2016 election. On the day of Trump’s inauguration, half a million people crowded the nation’s capital and dozens of other cities, demanding gender equality and social justice. Donning “pussy hats” and armed with artistic signs, a liberal resistance was born.
A tried and true method of political action, the act of resistance is
faculty and staff must organize in response.
In order to understand how campus reached this point, it’s necessary to examine the administration’s track record over the past year. This Editorial Board has been writing since last April that the University was creating a pressure cooker with its heavy-handed reaction to pro-Palestine protests. Rather than engaging with students productively, Ono and the Board deployed the police on them under cover of darkness, elevated criminal charges against them from the local level to the Michigan Attorney General and rewrote the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities to centralize disciplinary authority in the University’s hands. Facing backlash every step of the way, the administration then passed the impossible standard of institutional neutrality — and even kicked Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, a legacy organization, off campus.
The University’s choice to jettison DEI must be understood within this context. Ono and the Board have been moving in an authoritarian direction for months. Even before President Donald Trump entered office for the second time, Regent Sarah Hubbard (R) was talking about reevaluating DEI on Fox & Friends and Regent Mark Bernstein (D) had expressed doubts about the program to The New York Times.
All Trump did was accelerate the process. Whether his attacks on Columbia University — namely, pulling the school’s research funding — spooked Ono and the Board into terminating DEI or simply gave them the excuse they were already looking for is impossible to know. But it doesn’t matter: The end result is the same. Difficult positions require difficult choices, and the University made the wrong one. U-M leadership used to parade its DEI efforts as some of the most sophisticated in the country — now it’s taking marching orders from Washington D.C.
The campus response to these developments is unprecedented in recent history. The Michigan Daily Opinion section has never in our time as writers received such a high volume of op-eds and letters to the editor from students, alumni and faculty alike. We will continue to publish submissions as they arrive.
Another indication of campus outrage came during the emergency meeting of the Faculty Senate held on March 28. The Zoom call had a capacity of 1,000 people. Roughly 3,000 people attempted to join. To put that into perspective, that’s nearly one tenth the number of undergraduate students at the University — enough numbers to make a difference.
CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
Students are no longer the U-M administration’s top priority
Back in February, I was ghosted by the LSA Newnan Academic Advising Center for nine days. I’d been working on my own startup to help college students with their academic and career planning and wanted to learn more about the advising profession. At the encouragement of my entrepreneurship professors, I reached out to 12 University of Michigan academic advisors to schedule stakeholder interviews. A couple advisors reached back out eager to set up meetings, but hours later, cryptic cancellation messages filled my inbox. After more than a week of silence, a Newnan administrator finally responded, informing me that unit leadership had rejected my request. The University had told the very staff hired to support students that they could not support me.
While this is just one anecdotal example of friction between student goals and administrative procedures, it epitomizes how the priorities of these groups have become misaligned. I was a student eager to develop my academic and professional ambitions with the support of my University, but an unresponsive and apathetic administration blocked my path.
This pattern of disregard is nothing new. From GEO contract negotiations that disrupted more than a month of classes three years ago to the recent diversity, equity and inclusion initiative cuts that sparked a barrage of student backlash, it is evident that the University’s educational mission is not the administration’s top priority.
Our financial well-being as a profit-seeking corporation matters more to administrators than our strength as an institution for learning.
University President Santa Ono’s job is largely to be a focused fundraiser, as evidenced by the $7 billion fundraising initiative Ono introduced back on Oct. 25 of last year. Administrators more frequently speak with donors than students to ensure that we can expand our institutional impact and continue to run smoothly. The needs of students come second to the University’s monetary goals.
An administrative focus on finances has obviously contributed a lot to the academic conditions of our University. We have been able to hire some of the most accomplished and accredited professors on the market. And the University is world-renowned as one of the greatest research and educational institutions.
Mental health and support services are readily provided, and there are numerous that would be impossible without the support of administrators.
The path of least resistance
the key to surviving an authoritarian moment. The Democrats took this idea at face value, building a predominantly online collective of “resistors” with accounts dedicated to anti-Trumpism. These influencers shared their reactions to the Trump administration, building a coalition of fed-up, fired-up folks who felt disdain for the man in the Oval Office. The resistance was also electorally successful, and the Democrats retook their majority in the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterms by echoing its core tenets of inclusivity and equity. At first glance,
it’s impossible to see a flaw in the lighthearted yet impactful pursuit of resistance. But liberal activism has its limitations. The abstract vision of what or who Democrats are truly “resisting” is indecipherable, and the movement has become less about protest and more about principle. In the eight years since the origin of the resistance, its demographics haven’t changed, and most members are wealthy, white and well-educated. While the initial resistance used its social media power to get out on the streets, all liberals seem to be
capable of now is posting from the comfort of their own homes.
The Democratic Party has lost sight of what resistance is and what it has the capacity to do. As we grapple with the start of a second Trump administration and an onslaught of conservative policies, many progressives expected a similar reaction from their party at the start of the term. But they were mistaken: Democratic leaders are not only failing to organize against the president, but they even side with him. Just last month, a handful of Senate Democrats approved a Republican funding bill to prevent
a government shutdown, but the bill only strengthens the authority of the executive in budgetary affairs. Party leadership hasn’t caught up to the reality of the current moment, standing by as the GOP only grows in strength.
The Democratic establishment has not only distanced itself from the resistance, but it has condemned members that attempt to effectively protest the Trump administration. During Trump’s joint address to Congress, Rep. Al Green, D-Tex., yelled at the president and was removed by security. Later that week, the House
That said, the University’s ranking as an elite academic institution, growing profits and slew of prestigious professors are simply ways that administrators can appear worthy of praise and admiration. When you peel back the curtain, the state of the University’s academic landscape is far more barren. Student engagement and attendance continues to falter and student-to-advisor ratios are as high as 600-to-1. Frivolous metrics like endowment growth or college ranking mask the reality that administrators are not holding themselves to the self-proclaimed high standards that they’ve set to cultivate a thriving academic environment. Administrators equate growth with success, meanwhile bureaucratic bloat only further alienates administrators from the student perspective. The number of full-time administrators in the United States has grown 164% over the past 50 years, while the number of full-time faculty members and enrolled students only grew at 92% and 78%, respectively. Colleges claim that they hire additional administrators to solve problems and provide more services to students, yet only 34% of college students believe administrators are likely to resolve concerns they have about their educational experience.
CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
voted to censure Green, with 10 Democrats in approval of the move. At the end of 2024, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., a vocal progressive, was lobbied out of her committee seat by moderate Democrats who viewed her as a dissident. The Democrats moved similarly against Jamaal Bowman, supporting moderate Rep. George Latimer, D-N.Y., over the anti-Zionist, anti-establishment incumbent Bowman, who had previously been censured for pulling the fire alarm to halt voting in the U.S. Capitol. While they pride themselves as the antithesis to Trump, moderate Democrats are equally dismissive of their ideological opponents.
Democrats don’t have bark or bite: They’ve backslid. They aren’t ignoring the resistance because it’s become impossible, but because they no longer want to resist. Pillars of the movement, including liberal media outlets and philanthropists, have become demoralized, and the short-sighted vision of the original resistors has fizzled out. It has become increasingly clear that, as the Democrats have distanced themselves from the American working class, its leadership is much more interested in image rather than imagining a better nation.
MAX FELDMAN Opinion Columnist
Rumaisa Wajahath/DAILY
LINDSEY
Bella Spagnuolo/DAILY
Why you should be partying more
One of the driving forces behind this shift is digital entertainment.
There is something romantic about early Y2K club culture. Grainy camcorder footage from this period captured a sea of lowwaisted jeans and hair poofs, all set to music by Shakira, Missy Elliot and Nelly Furtado. Nearly a decade before smartphones, clubgoers spent nights out entirely in the moment. With no way to document or share moments through social media, these parties contained an ephemeral quality, with each night fading into myth upon the first streaks of daylight.
The early 2000s felt like a party that would never end. Revered by some as the golden age of clubbing, partying captured the zeitgeist. “I called it club-itis,” Paris Hilton noted with a laugh during an interview with Drew Barrymore.
Twenty years later, however, the glistening club scene that commonly defined a generation has dimmed considerably. Generation Z is drinking less, going out less and generally spending more time alone at home. As a result, businesses built around festivities have been impacted accordingly. Party City filed for bankruptcy at the start of 2025, and champagne sales plummeted for the second year in a row. In the United Kingdom, nearly half of the country’s clubs have permanently shut down. As the once-thriving nightlife scene continues to thin out, nightclubs and bars are struggling to keep their doors open.
The message is clear: Gen Z needs to party more. In an age of parasocial and online relationships, Gen Z is missing out on the in-person interactions that vitalized previous generations.
With the steady rise in streaming services, social media and video games over the last decade, these services offer a convenient alternative to going out. Dating apps eliminate the need to seek connection in crowded bars, and food delivery services allow people to enjoy restaurant-quality meals all from the comfort of one’s couch.
The shift away from social outings comes at a cost. As digital alternatives steadily replace in-person experiences, a deepening sense of isolation is taking hold of the nation’s youth. The lasting effects of COVID-19’s social distancing coupled with the rising cost of living have led to a widespread retreat from social gatherings. Recent surveys report that 73% of young adults feel lonely or disconnected and long for more meaningful connections.
Recognizing the serious health risks posed by isolation, the U.S. surgeon general labeled the rise in loneliness as an “urgent public health issue.” In countries like South Korea, concerns over “reclusive youths” have grown so severe that the government proposed a $490 monthly allowance to encourage the social reintegration of isolated youths.
Beyond the nightlife scene, this social withdrawal is reshaping many aspects of life, particularly dating. With fewer opportunities to engage in social outings, the dating scene is grim, with only 56% of Gen Z adults reporting involvement in a romantic relationship at any point during their teenage years. This is a dramatic reduction in comparison to previous generations, where dating and committed relationships were much more common. Amid all the chaos, it’s no
wonder that Gen Z is seeking comfort in the nostalgia of trends that reminisce on previous generations.
“I feel ripped off to a certain extent,” voiced one Gen Zer on TikTok in a viral video. “Every song that came out when I was in elementary school and middle school was about getting crunk in the club.”
Nostalgia, it seems, has become a coping mechanism. The resurgence of Y2K fashion and retro technology represents more than just an aesthetic; it reflects a growing desire for the carefree and in-the-moment experiences that defined the early 2000s — experiences that now feel out of reach.
Yet as comforting as these nostalgic trends may be, they can only offer temporary relief. Rather than continuing to seek comfort in romanticizing a bygone era, it is time that Gen Z begins to pioneer a path forward. Trends among Gen Z of drinking less and prioritizing wellness do not necessarily guarantee the death of party culture — they simply reflect a growing need to redefine it.
Sober raves, early evening dance clubs and an increase in social fitness groups are already offering promising social alternatives to the club scene that still offer social engagement but don’t come at the expense of personal wellness. Other young adults are ditching their smartphones for flip phones on a night out to be more present while socializing. Regardless of the technique, the bottom line remains: Gen Z needs more face-to-face social interactions. Whether that occurs in the context of a nightclub or a run club, it is due time that we shift our focus back toward real connections — ones that can’t occur through the surface of a screen.
Something in the
Nothing compares to the anticipation of seeing your favorite artist live.
For many, that is Zach Bryan. The Okie-troubadour is known for his introspective and deeply personal songwriting. Bryan has been a staple of summer playlists and August campfires since his hit debut album, DeAnn, in 2019. Since then, Bryan has blown up as one of country music’s hottest artists, with his critically acclaimed Quittin’ Time Tour grossing more than $321 million and counting as Bryan continues to add shows for this summer. It is no surprise that the University of Michigan picked Zach Bryan to headline the first-ever concert at the Big House. This show, which subsequently sold out, will be the largest ticketed show in American history. Joining Bryan on stage is guitar virtuoso John Mayer, adding to the culture-defining mythos of Sept. 27, 2025. Despite the event being the first of its kind at the University, students have been left out of it almost completely. An email sent out by the University Athletic Department highlighted that only emails
directly attached to season ticket holders could access the special presale before the general release. This is ironic for an artist whose live album is titled All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster.
In today’s world, failing to acquire presale tickets is a death sentence for your live music aspirations.
With the growing commercialization of live music through ticket monopolies like Ticketmaster and Live Nation, affording a ticket has become harder than ever. The average price of a concert ticket in 2024 was just above $135, a steep increase from the $78 price tag in 2015.
Especially as Ann Arbor seems to become increasingly expensive year after year, it becomes harder for students to afford tickets to their favorite shows regardless of the artist’s popularity.
Following the announcement for the Big House show, Bryan recently announced two more college-specific shows that he will be performing at this year. He will play at Notre Dame Stadium Sept. 6 alongside comedian Shane Gillis and at Marshall University’s Joan C. Edwards Stadium Aug. 30.
The administrations of Marshall University and the University of Notre Dame sent similar emails
Let people talk in the library
well-being. It is essential that we embrace the library as a place for communal gathering, considering so few spaces for spontaneity and socialization exist.
It is easy to resent the social energy at the Shapiro Undergraduate Library.
The UGLi is a favorite study spot for many at the University of Michigan — regardless if it’s an early Monday morning or a late Thursday night, every floor is filled. Libraries are expected to be solitary spaces, but the UGLi subverts traditional rules. Typically, the higher the floor, the quieter the space — but since its renovations two years ago, the third floor is arguably the loudest.
I used to scoff at students, who I assumed were freshmen, loudly rehashing their nights out at the next table or give cold looks to friend groups squeezing eight people around a table meant for two. I firmly believed in the fundamental function of a library: to provide access to academic resources and a quiet space to study. As someone who prefers to keep work separate from home, I owe a special thank you to the UGLi and its contribution to my academic success at the University.
But admittedly, these judgments were hypocritical. I, too, have spent time at the UGLi under the guise of doing work but instead catching up with friends. In recognizing my many fond memories at the library, I have come to accept the background chatter as I’m studying.
The library serves a purpose beyond academics: It safeguards our social lives, offering one of the few places on campus for casual, unstructured interaction. What some perceive as distracting chatter is essential to the health of the University’s culture and student
maize and blue tells me
to students. However, there was one crucial difference. The emails sent to Marshall University and the University of Notre Dame encouraged students and faculty to buy tickets for the show, even promising a presale specifically for students and faculty alike.
The U-M administration’s failure to prioritize student interest in this historical event raised my suspicion about the motives behind planning such a spectacle. Other University-affiliated organizations directly contrast the agendas of Ticketmaster and Live Nation.
Sara Billmann, University Musical Society vice president of marketing and communications, works day-in and day-out to provide students and the greater Ann Arbor community access to worldclass acts. Just in the past year, there were performances by the Berlin Philharmonic and Wynton Marsalis with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Billmann spoke on the importance of live performances to the college experience.
“We would love every student to graduate from (the University) having had a UMS experience,” said Billmann. “It can open up your world to a completely different kind of entertainment experience.
… Those kinds of experiences can be pivotal,” Billmann added. “We really want every student to have that kind of experience and have that be on their (U-M) bucket list.”
UMS, however, is a non-profit organization largely funded by private donors; it is not directly affiliated with the University. The University, on the other hand, has about $200 million poured into its athletic department alone. With the growing world of NIL, that amount is only going to increase as college athletes’ paychecks get bigger and bigger.
With that being said, UMS’s central mission is to encourage students to engage with these live performances. Part of that mission involves lowering costs for student tickets, which has increased student involvement with UMS.
“Somewhere between 20-25% of our total audience is students, and we prioritize student attendance for the events that we know are going to be of interest,” Billmann said.
Billmann’s overwhelming commitment to student experience is what students would want to see from the University. The Bryan concert is an experience that concertgoers will be bragging about to their friends for years. This is the culture-defining event
The UGLi functions as a third place — a space between home and work (or, for us, class) where we chat with friends, meet strangers and bump into familiar faces.
Sociologist Ramon Oldenburg, who coined the term, argued that people need engagement in three areas — home, work and third places — to live a happy, balanced life. These spaces are neither strictly personal nor professional. Instead, they foster informal, low pressure socialization, which is essential for both personal and community-wide well-being.
Even in name, the UGLi creates unity among students. It’s where friends cram for exams, then head next door to Joe’s Pizza to celebrate a night of hard work. It’s where you unexpectedly run into people from your freshman year dorm. And, it’s one of the few places where it feels socially acceptable to interrupt a stranger after overhearing their conversation.
The library is central to campus culture. It immerses us in the community, creating a sense of belonging through shared experiences. Even if I’m silently typing away at my computer, the collective energy of being surrounded by other U-M students brings a sense of comfort.
These third places, though, are disappearing. In the aftermath of COVID-19, people have fallen into routines of self-isolation, moving between work and home with little between. However, even with restrictions lifted and life ostensibly returned to normal, we have held onto our quarantine habits. Many jobs have
stayed remote, which has eliminated second places for many (let alone a third). People are still ordering their groceries online, menus have been replaced by QR codes and most prefer movie nights on their home sofas. We’ve gotten used to the comfort of solitude. As a result, our society is growing lonelier.
College life, too, has become increasingly scheduled and remote. Lectures are streamed online, club meetings are held via zoom and group projects are divided into individualized tasks. And our social lives are suffering at the expense of this convenience. Screen-mediated interactions make human interaction feel scheduled and sterile, stripping away the warmth and spontaneity of in-person connection that once defined college. The internet has become our new third place — substituting real socialization with social media as we embrace digital spaces over physical ones.
Social connection is as essential to individual health as food, water and shelter. And it is equally important to the health of society as well, promoting community engagement, diversity and productivity. With so few campus buildings designed for socialization, we must preserve the UGLi’s social function. Certainly, quiet spaces remain crucial for academic success. There should always be options for students who prefer silence, as it is said to improve focus and memory, minimize distractions and facilitate comprehension. For instance, the UGLi has bookable study rooms and the Hatcher Graduate Library has a quiet reference room.
CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
we’re not through
of some lucky students’ college experience, but due to a lack of engagement with the student body, some students will, unfortunately, have to watch the concert through the countless Snapchat stories and Instagram posts that pop up the next day.
“We could charge a lot more money for some of our events, but our mission isn’t about making money,” Billmann said. “It’s really about providing people with opportunities to engage with the arts.”
With a national platform like the largest ticketed concert in American history, one would think the University would use it to showcase some of the local talent in Ann Arbor.
Some local musicians feel that putting a local artist on the bill could once again prove to the world that Ann Arbor still has a rich music scene waiting to be shared.
In an interview with The Daily, local artist Maddy Ringo spoke on how she would like to see the University become more involved with the local scene, especially on the Big House stage.
“There has to be a way to bring Ann Arbor to the Big House,” Ringo said.
Ringo, whose new album People of the Earth and Sea was rele-
ased March 28, is deeply ingrained within the musical tradition of Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor has a long history of culturally significant music moments, like Nirvana’s show at The Blind Pig in 1989 and Bob Dylan’s show in 1964. Ringo looks to continue in this tradition by performing at local venues like The Ark or Canterbury House.
“I think that having local talent open is a basic step that the University could take to make a show that is friendlier to our city and our student body,” said Ringo. “There are so many talented people in our music community who could absolutely open, … no question about it.”
Some students may say that this show will attract more artists to perform at the Big House. The magnifying glass placed on Ann Arbor during the show’s weekend will attract national attention and entice other headlining artists to perform at the biggest stadium in North America. The hope is that the Big House will attain the same venue notoriety as Madison Square Garden or the Grand Ole Opry. Without the involvement of students, whether on stage or in the crowd, the student body is playing second fiddle in the profitability and publicity of the show itself.
KATE MICALLEF Opinion Analyst
Maisie Derlega/DAILY
WILLIAM FOLBE Opinion Analyst
Caroline Guenther/DAILY
The sanctity of the State Theatre and independent cinemas 24 hours, seven days a week
9:00 p.m.
1. Eat dinner (30 minutes), 2. Take a shower (25 minutes), 3. Do reading for discussion section (45 minutes), 4. Study for exam (one hour), 5. Write essay (two hours)
This day is never-ending. I’ve been in class since morning and then had to pinball between my work meeting, club meeting and play rehearsal. I just hate it when I actually have to follow through with the ridiculously ambitious schedules that I create.
Five things. Only five things on my to-do list keep me from going to sleep. No, six. I can’t eat dinner yet, I have no clean plates. And, well, if I’m going to clean one of
my plates I might as well just do the whole stack. Okay, six things. But, wait, should I take a shower before or after doing my reading? I have played these games before. If I take a shower first then I’ll want to do homework in bed which always just ends up with me actually going to bed. I can’t afford that today. 1. Wash dishes (15 minutes), 2. Eat dinner (30 minutes), 3. Do reading for discussion section (45 minutes), 4. Study for exam (one hour), 5. Write essay (two hours), 6. Take a shower (25 minutes) This is it, the final list. Before I actually do steps one and two, I want to mentally prepare for how long my reading is … crap. 40 pages? Is my professor insane? How am I expected to finish this reading before tomorrow
morning? I need at least a few days! Which is probably why I was assigned this last week. It’s fine.
I’ll fix this.
1. Wash dishes (15 minutes), 2. Eat dinner (30 minutes), 3. Skim reading for discussion section (45 minutes), 4. Study for exam (one hour), 5. Write essay (two hours), 6. Take a shower (25 minutes) Perfect. No more surprises. No more distractions. This is it. If everything goes right, I might even go to bed early. Well, relatively early. 10:30 p.m. Everything is going wrong. And I was doing so well, too. I washed all my dishes and I finished dinner right on schedule. But then I got to the reading. This cursed reading – it is unskimmable. I have spent forever just trying to
Let’s get physical (books)!
MADI HAMMOND Statement Correspondant
When was the last time you held a physical book?
I considered this question as I wandered through the aisles at Literati Bookstore on a blustery Saturday morning. A friend and I had stumbled into the store after we failed to find a seat at Hyperion Coffee Co down the street, and it was surprisingly busy for such a windy day. When was the last time I not only held a physical book, but sat down and read from its pages? When did I last become engrossed in the pages, whipping through so quickly I risked paper cuts?
Despite having started (and only started) a handful of physical books over Thanksgiving and Winter Break, I realized that the last time I read one from start to finish was Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” for an English class. Interesting. It’s a reminder that, without a deadline, grade or assignment, reading often takes a backseat.
After much consideration and some perusal down the aisles, my friend said she was going to buy a book: a nonfiction one about the opioid crisis. This surprised me — books are expensive, with prices for a paperback typically ranging between $14 and $18 and hardcovers ranging even higher. For reference, that same amount of money could cover an Ann Arbor sandwich and coffee. It didn’t feel worth it.
When Ottessa Moshfegh’s “My Year of Rest and Relaxation” caught my eye, I decided to buy a book too, unknowingly stepping into a week of reflection on my relationship with both books and reading itself. This purchase — along with a promise to have book-reading dates with my friend — reminded me that there is something invaluable about not only reading, but sitting in a coffee shop with a piping hot latte and a paperback book in your hands. ***
When you think about it, reading is a wild concept. Squiggly symbols on paper pulp have the power to make us laugh, cry, feel angry and even feel empowered. Books have been used throughout history
to inspire revolutions and tell stories of the silenced. Centuries later, we have the ability to visit the exact same words our forefathers did.
But as I’ve gotten older, the experience of reading a physical book is one that I’ve grown distant from. While I still read plenty, albeit mostly philosophical or economic papers, it almost always is from a computer screen. And while the task largely remains the same, the experience definitely does not.
My motivation has also changed. When reading for academic purposes, there is no enjoyment or entertainment necessarily associated with it, and when I do attempt to read a novel I picked out myself, it’s not because I’m bored and need something to do. Instead, it’s because reading is good for you, and a practice I lament drifting from as I grew older. Even so, staring at a blue-light screen to read from a laptop does not feel valuable enough to dedicate time to.
Curious about what an expert thinks on this topic, I reached out to Mike Gustafson, a co-founder and owner of Literati. In an email to The Michigan Daily, he shared insight into the value of physical books.
“With many electronic books, you do not own them,” Gustafson wrote. “You lease them. Given that the current political administration has waged an attack on reading and books, I would not trust my reading to any entity that can retroactively edit, alter, delete, censor, or remove the books I’ve already purchased.”
In comparison, a physical book can be trusted to stay the same throughout the years, untouched by digital alterations or retroactive editing. There’s a reason that burning books carries so much weight; once printed, an author’s subjective opinion cannot be changed to fit any future agenda, a sentiment Gustafson agrees with.
“Physical books do not carry those risks,” Gustafson wrote. “Once you buy them, you can rest assured you’re reading the words the author intended you to read, and you can read them for as long as the book is in existence. Which, judging from my own personal library with many books
over a hundred years old, can be generations.”
But beyond the political implications of censorship, physical books carry memories within their pages that simply are not the same with an ebook.
My copies of the Harry Potter books, for example, have cracked U-shaped spines and waterdamaged pages from when I spilled a mug of hot chocolate while reading “The Order of the Phoenix.” I own a copy of “Little House on the Prairie” by Laura Ingalls Wilder that my mom owned when she was young, and it’s missing the front cover from years of reading and rereading.
My coffee-table book about the streets of New York City has all of the swear words marked out in Sharpie, and when I move to the city this summer for my internship, I will reread it and laugh at my youthful moral panic about cursing.
While purchasing books is not accessible to everyone, a library provides the joy of immersion and lack of distraction to anyone who walks through its doors. This used to be my primary method of consuming books, when I was 10 years old with hours to fill and limited screen time. Every two weeks, I would check out as many books as possible, pack them into a tote bag and systematically work through them.
However, the ability to read without abandon or fear of damage that comes from buying a used or brand-new book is unbelievably freeing. You can crack the spines, highlight funny quotes, leave comments in the margins. One of my favorite things to do is lend books to people that I have annotated previously, underlining anything I found funny or interesting or poignant. And rereading a book I previously read, if I annotated it, is a completely new experience, prolonging its relevance lifespan and increasing its personal value.
Used bookstores are also an accessible gem that deserve a mention. While they might not have all of the newest releases, these books also carry the memories of their past owners. With low price points, these books tend to have old annotations and dog-ears, passing down notes and thoughts on the text. CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
make sense of the first paragraph and its 14 run-on sentences. And it doesn’t help that my eyes are already tired from staring at my computer screen all day. If I want to stay on track I need to move on. But this plan already seems doomed to failure. When I told my roommate about all the work I wanted to get done, she wearily suggested that I go to sleep and wake up early to do it. Logic is telling me that she is correct. Yet, my heart is telling me that going to sleep is throwing in the towel. It is my fault I have so much work to do anyway, so it is my responsibility to fix it. I am ambitious with no followthrough. I am a perfectionist and procrastinator. To accomplish everything, something has to give. Right now, I have to give up my sleep.
3. Accept defeat with reading for discussion section (one
4. Study for
12:07 a.m. I almost said the five most dangerous words in the English language: “I’ll take a quick break.”
There is nothing inherently wrong with this sentence, but it almost always melts into “I’ll take a quick nap” which are the five most deadly words in the English language. I do need a break though. Studying for this exam has taken much longer than I intended.
4. Finish studying for exam (30 minutes), 5. Write essay (two hours), 6. Take a shower (25 minutes) I feel out of it. I don’t know how I used to do this in high school. It
and
no desire to confront it. Staying busy meant that I didn’t have to figure it out. I worked my brain to exhaustion. I took difficult classes. I crammed my afternoons with work, rehearsals and club meetings. I used my nights to catch up on homework and studying. And on the rare occasion I found myself with free time, I was so tired all I could think about was sleep. It felt like control. When I arrived at the University of Michigan, I told myself it would be different — I would be different. But here I am. Papers, pencils, chargers, all corralled around the spray of my lamp light. CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
A Michigan goodbye
When I was younger, St. Patrick’s Day meant eating with my whole extended family, all of their closest friends and some people that my dad bumped into that day at the parade. It meant Irish soda bread and corn beef and gold coins from the candy store downtown. It meant waiting for my grandma on the steps by the door and anxiously twisting the plastic green beads from the cheap necklaces between my fingers until I jumped up in joy when I saw her at the door. It meant Irish goodbyes — or what I thought an Irish goodbye meant at the time. Because I am a descendant of Irish immigrants from quite a long time ago, I had always assumed that my family practiced the Irish goodbye. I assumed that an Irish goodbye meant lingering in the doorway and taking an hour and a half to put on shoes and pack up the car. To me, Irish goodbyes were defined by getting one foot out the door, only to have someone produce a deck of cards out of thin air and start a game. They meant my family leaving my grandma’s house in a parade, one member leaving an hour after the other, because each of our goodbyes took that long.
Once, during a sleepover, when my friend asked if I ever pulled Irish goodbyes, I said yes confidently and assumed she laughed because I was so indulgent of others’ time or overstayed my welcome. Instead, she thought I was being sarcastic — I had a habit of lingering until the early hours of the morning at her house, just as my family would linger after a gathering, taking hours to say goodbye. It was then that she informed me that Irish goodbyes meant leaving without a word and just walking out the door.
I know how it feels to say goodbye for so long that my friend’s motion sensor porch light flickers off, to enjoy a conversation so much that I just wave my arms in the air to flick the light back on. The idea of leaving a place without hugging someone goodbye was foreign to me, if not incomprehensible.
I had always identified with this idea of being an Irish descendant in the U.S., however distant I may have been from actual Irish
culture. I liked the idea that there was some faraway place that I was connected to through my heritage.
I knew that the connection had severed a fair bit over generations, but there was still comfort in the in-between.
My mom learned how to make bread from my grandma who learned from her mother and so on, all so that I might learn to make bread the same way. I might eat the same meal as my ancestors all did, on the same day, at the same time, with the same people. That kind of connection is difficult to maintain, but it is so grounding and uniting. That is what heritage is to me. It’s knowing that your family, or your community, is connected to a history of choices
I’m not entirely sure if Irish goodbyes are an actual thing outside of the U.S., but I do know that I have never done one. Instead, what I once thought of as an Irish goodbye is what I now call a Michigan goodbye — the artful practice of lingering.
Lingering is inherited. My sister once cried at her birthday party when she was younger because even after nine hours of a family party, the guests were still laughing in the kitchen. We take longer packing up the leftovers and hugging goodbye at my aunt’s house than driving all the hours back home.
When I was younger, nothing was more annoying than standing by the door while my parents talked. I would tug on my mom’s arm and ask when we were finally leaving. Eventually, I learned that the answer was in about an hour. Instead of complaining to them, I’d play with my cousins for another hour. Over the years, those extended goodbyes became part of my nature as well. It turned
into something I caught myself doing with friends. I found myself lingering a lot more. I’d stand in their kitchen well past my curfew just to talk and revel in their company.
There’s a lot to learn about someone when the clock is ticking and you have one foot out of the door. All of the secrets you avoided saying for fear of discussion somehow make their way out then. It’s when you’re a little sleepy and sitting on the steps of the porch because it’s too late to go outside that everything seems to become more funny, more sentimental and more honest. These conversations in limbo, dominated by the exit in the periphery, can be small talk, but sometimes the prospect of leaving lets people loosen their lips. They speak about stories they had never thought to mention before. All the details of the day that they’d forgotten live again in these moments. Anything that had been a hesitation is said. It’s a relief. The Michigan goodbyes that I previously scorned have become some of my favorite memories. It made me love the idea of being from Michigan. I stopped wondering about the Irish countryside I had never seen and began to examine what my grandparents did, the holiday traditions only my generation experienced. A lot of them feel integral to Michigan, like swimming in the bay during the summer and watching the fireworks on the river. These moments that happen year after year make me feel more connected to my family now, and in the context of tradition, they feel a little heightened, the tiniest bit more valuable. CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
minute),
exam (one hour), 5. Write essay (two hours), 6. Take a shower (25 minutes)
OUMMU KABBA Statement Columnist
Maisie Derlega/DAILY
MEGHAN DWAN Statement Columnist
Maisie Derlega/DAILY
Michigan inexperience proves costly in season-ending NCAA Regional defeat
lacked the consistency showcased by the older teams.
When the lights are shining brightest, it’s important to have gymnasts who have been there before. But this past Thursday, the Wolverines didn’t.
At the NCAA Penn State
Regional, the No. 17 Michigan women’s gymnastics team (1911 overall, 6-3 Big Ten) saw its season end. The Wolverines placed third in the second session with a score of 197.050, behind seeded teams No. 1 LSU (24-2) and No. 14 Arkansas (9-10) and ahead of fellow unseeded team No. 22 Maryland (16-12, 4-5). The teams with the two highest scores, the Tigers and Razorbacks, moved on to Saturday’s regional finals, and Michigan did not.
“We wish we had come up with five more tenths,” Wolverines coach Bev Plocki said bluntly.
An additional half point would have tied Michigan with Arkansas at 197.550, but mistakes from the Wolverines’ young team prevented it from pulling off the upset.
Like so many of the NCAA’s postseason tournaments this year, there were no surprises in State College on Thursday. Throughout the meet, Michigan struggled to keep up with an experienced, talent-laden LSU team looking to repeat as national champions, and a hungry Razorbacks team with a chip on their shoulder after they were the sole team left out of the SEC championships. Though the talent of the Wolverines’ underclassmen flashed occasionally, Michigan simply
The Wolverines began the meet on the uneven bars, where their rotation was highlighted by senior Carly Bauman’s routine. Bauman stuck her dismount for a score of 9.95, and ultimately a share of the uneven bars regional title.
Despite Bauman’s excellent routine, Michigan finished the first rotation in third place with a team score of 49.275, two-tenths of a point out of second.
There was no catching the Tigers, however, as LSU lived up to its No. 1 billing with a 49.550 score on floor in its first rotation, and stayed in pole position for the duration of the meet. But in order to push the Razorbacks for the second qualifying spot, the Wolverines needed more from their gymnasts.
On balance beam, a stuck double layout from freshman Sophie Parenti in the leadoff spot earned a score of 9.8, the start of a solid rotation for Michigan.
Sophomore Kayli Boozer stuck her dismount as well for a score of 9.85, and Bauman matched that score in the anchor spot, while senior Jacey Vore’s 9.8 and graduate Jenna Mulligan’s 9.775 rounded out the Wolverines’ beam scores.
“I was pretty happy overall (with our beam rotation), especially our first two routines and (Bauman)’s,” Plocki said. “I thought that (the judges) were a little tough. But I’m very proud of our team.”
But Michigan’s solid beam work was eclipsed by a stellar rotation on bars for Arkansas. The Razorbacks stuck several
routines en route to a rotation score of 49.525 and sat only 0.05 behind the Tigers after two rotations. Meanwhile, the Terrapins did enough on floor exercise to move past the Wolverines, who fell to fourth place midway through the meet with a score of 98.350.
In the third rotation, Arkansas opened the door for Michigan or Maryland to make a push when it faltered on balance beam. Mati Waligora fell off the beam in the second spot, putting pressure on the rest of Arkansas’ lineup, and the Razorbacks ended up with a 49.125 on beam.
The Wolverines looked to capitalize on these miscues — freshman Sophia Diaz scored 9.9 in the third spot, and fellow freshman Jahzara Ranger matched the score in the anchor spot. Scores of 9.875 from Bauman and freshman Peyton Davis, along with a 9.825 from Parenti, gave Michigan a 49.375 on the rotation. But in order to overtake Arkansas for second place, the Wolverines needed scores just a hair higher than what they received — so despite the Razorbacks’ wobbles, Michigan sat four-tenths below the qualifying score after three rotations.
Closing out the meet on vault, Michigan hoped for a rash of stuck landings to run through the team to close that gap. Unfortunately for the Wolverines, they couldn’t find their landing. Only Diaz, in the anchor spot, stuck her Yurchenko 1.5 for a session-best score of 9.95. CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
VILY SOURIS Daily Sports Writer
In the competition for the Big Ten All-Around title, Fred Richard let his competitive edge take over. In a dominant performance, the junior led the No. 3 Michigan men’s gymnastics team to its fifth Big Ten Championship win while clinching two titles of his own on Friday.
On night one of the championships, scores were ultimately underwhelming. The Wolverines had an inconsistent rotation on the floor exercise as one fatal flaw cost Richard an otherwise visually appealing routine.
“I did a stupid, stupid, stupid skill,” Richard said. “It was a B press, and I tapped my feet. It was a point off. In the moment, I was like wow that sucks. It’s a skill I don’t usually do.”
With just four other gymnasts up for the all-around title, competition was sparse. Richard was joined by his teammate, senior Paul Juda and anticipated competition from Nebraska’s Taylor Christopulos and Illinois’ Ian Sandoval.
Working through a shoulder strain, Richard has been weaning back into his normal routine, but took the opportunity at the Big Ten Championships to test out his B press and give his shoulder one final break before nationals. With an unsatisfactory quantitative result and an increasingly improving shoulder, Richard overlooked the possibility of
WATER POLO
any other physical obstacles and optimized his performance in the proceeding event.
Pommel horse was a major turning point for Michigan and Richards. Picking up the slack of the first rotation with a perfectly stuck landing and a 14.1 pommel score, Richards hit the podium alongside freshman Aaronson Mansberger. While Richard’s score took a hit on the floor exercise, Juda’s score came in short on pommel horse, keeping them neck-and-neck.
At this point in the night, the Wolverines’ mistakes leveled out and it became clear that Richard and Juda would fill in the silver and gold for the all-around title. Christopulos was an expected competitor for first, but quickly fell out of contention after his vault, parallel bars and pommel horse scores didn’t make the top ten. With the Cornhuskers out of sight, the all-around title came down to Michigan’s final rotation on the high bar. Richard anchored
the event with another 14.1, the best high bar score of the night.
“I’m just grateful that I get to finish off with the team,” Richard said. “So I take that responsibility, stick the dismount, end it on a good note. That’s my job, and I’m thankful to have that role.”
Taking the lead on high bar, Richard effortlessly secured the all-around title with an 83.45 and led the Wolverines to a satisfactory Day One finish. At event finals on Day Two, Richard brought back that same intensity and earned his third Gymnast of the Championship title at Big Ten Championships. Richard proved to be an unstoppable talent, and even with varying injuries, spared no effort for the team and his personal goals. But Michigan coach Yuan Xiao concerns that his competitive tendencies and goal-driven attitude may be pushing his physical capabilities.
CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
Michigan depth drives 3-1 finish in Conference Crossover
ANNA MILLER Daily Sports Editor
As the No. 16 Michigan water polo team’s final game of its final home tournament of the season concluded, junior attacker Claire Eusey had doubled her individual goal count. Going from five goals on the season to 10 in just one game, Eusey found her groove in the water.
And it wasn’t just Eusey. In their four games, the Wolverines (16-9 overall, 8-3 CWPA) found depth scoring across their entire roster. With every field player contributing to Michigan’s goal production this weekend, the Wolverines dominated against Mercyhurst (5-21, 0-7), No. 20 Brown (16-13, 7-5) and Saint Francis (12-16, 2-10), but narrowly fell to No. 11 Princeton (18-6, 9-2) in the Conference Crossover.
“Everyone was excited to play,” Michigan coach Cassie Churnside said. “We don’t get many opportunities for home matches, so when we do have home matches, we try to hopefully get everyone in. It says a lot that our team’s good enough to have everybody play in these games.”
The Wolverines opened their weekend against the Lakers and dominated from the jump. Within the first minute, Michigan’s leading scorer, freshman attacker Ari Karampetsou, and freshman defender Matilda Waugh found the back of the net. By the end of the first quarter, the Wolverines were up 9-0, and they subbed in sophomore goalkeeper Katie Delaney to complete the final three quarters. Every single player on Michigan’s roster saw the water, and all but three tallied a point. With Waugh leading the charge, the
Wolverines decisively defeated Mercyhurst, 24-2.
Michigan’s matchup with the Tigers didn’t come as easily.
The Wolverines and Princeton traded leads throughout the affair, and Michigan struggled to showcase the depth it previously boasted as the Tigers locked down the Wolverines’ offense.
Tied at eight with 29 seconds left on the clock, Waugh committed a foul that granted Princeton a penalty shot. By capitalizing on the shot, the Tigers left Michigan with mere seconds to tie things up. But when Karampetsou earned a penalty shot of her own to potentially tie the game with three seconds left, she couldn’t deliver, and Princeton narrowly conquered the Wolverines, 9-8.
“Princeton is a little more of a rivalry,” Churnside said. “I was actually happy with it. I would say we got 99% of the job done, and never finished that last 1%. … Now we just have to figure out how to win and finish.”
Between Saturday and Sunday, Michigan learned not only how to finish, but how to leave teams in the dust.
The Bears propelled narrowly ahead of the Wolverines early, but Michigan’s dominant second quarter — led by four
different players’ goals — gave the Wolverines a 7-4 lead at halftime.
Each time Brown attempted to close the gap by scoring one, Michigan would score two. As the final horn sounded, the Wolverines swam away with a 17-11 victory. Michigan’s depth was on full display, as 10 different players found the back of the cage, with junior utility Brooke Ingram and sophomore attacker Emma Gustafsson each clinching hat tricks. The Wolverines’ matchup with the Red Flash was similar to the game against the Lakers, as it provided an opportunity for every Michigan player to see the water. Eusey, who had yet to tally a point the entire weekend, broke through against Saint Francis. In the first quarter, she drew a penalty that granted the Wolverines a penalty shot. Then across the next three quarters, she scored five goals of her own.
Junior attacker Riley Chapple added to the onslaught with six points and Karampetsou continued her dominance by scoring six goals. With a 22-9 win over the Red Flash, Michigan closed out its tournament with just one loss to higher-ranked Princeton. CONTINUED
MIRIELLE WONG Daily Sports Writer
Ava Farah/DAILY
Ruby Klawans/DAILY
Through energy and example, Piper Charney found herself in leadership
— Charney is always present. Her energy is contagious, her volume and spirit unwavering and her presence impossible to ignore.
When you watch a collegiate tennis meet, it’s mostly quiet. Aside from the occasional applause and cheers from the crowd or coaches, often what fills the vast courts more than anything are the rhythmic thuds of tennis balls meeting rackets and the ground.
But when you walk into Michigan’s Varsity Tennis Center to watch the women’s tennis team, you will be greeted by one additional sound. Cutting through the stillness and the silent focus that fills the air is the unmistakable voice of Piper Charney.
In between the focused, fiery precision in her own games, Charney finds every moment possible to send support to her teammates. Whether it’s a quick word of motivation to her doubles partner or a booming cheer for teammates playing across the VTC’s eight courts — completely out of sight but never out of mind
More than a vocal supporter on the court, Charney has grown into a powerful leader for the Wolverines. Despite being just a sophomore, she has taken a hefty load of responsibility upon her shoulders, always setting the tone during both practice and high-stakes matches.
Charney plays with not only a deep love for the sport and her personal competition, but an even deeper love for the people she plays with. That duality is what makes her such a force for Michigan. ***
Piper’s tennis journey actually began in the footsteps of another — her older sister Emma. Placed in lessons at their country club at around 5 years old, Piper and Emma began to play together, and the latter quickly began to show promise.
“She kept playing, so I kept playing,” Piper told The Michigan Daily. “We would take lessons,
and all of a sudden, we would start going to camps and clinics and all that. And then my sister started playing tournaments, and of course, (being the) younger sister, I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, me too.’ ” Piper was just 9 years old when she played in her first tournament far from home, traveling down from Kentucky to Baton Rouge, La. for the 10-and-under tournament. From then on, tennis was constantly in motion in the Charney household. Her father, a sports agent, took the role of motivator seriously, pushing Piper and Emma to train hard and dream big with college tennis already on the horizon.
When Piper hit middle school, her family moved from Kentucky to South Carolina, to further the siblings’ tennis careers. That was where the pressure started to ramp up — suddenly it wasn’t just about playing, it was about results. It was about her future, about college and about playing for the right college. But as she became immersed in the world of tennis and its constant
No. 6 Oregon’s composure overwhelms Michigan in series sweep
The Michigan softball team had the cards stacked against heading into its matchup against No. 6 Oregon. The Ducks possess some of college softball’s best, including the nation’s No. 15 and No. 26 batting-average leaders and the pitcher with the fifthbest ERA. And those rankings sit right at the top of the Big Ten. Throughout the weekend, which consisted of a Friday evening game and a Saturday doubleheader, the Wolverines (27-12 overall, 6-4 Big Ten) gave it their all. However, they simply weren’t consistent enough to stop the powerhouse that is Oregon (35-3, 9-1) in a series sweep that had two one-run losses and a run-rule loss.
It wasn’t surprising that Michigan got swept — the Ducks are one of the best teams in the nation, while the Wolverines sit unranked. But what was shocking was how close the first two games were.
In the Friday game, Oregon started hot by taking a two-run lead in the second inning. However, Michigan sophomore center fielder Jenissa Conway and junior third baseman Maddie Erickson quickly erased that lead by blasting the ball over the left-field wall in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively, to tie up the game.
But what truly set the Ducks apart this weekend was their composure in situations where they needed runs. In the bottom of the sixth inning, an Oregon double and single was all it needed to take back the lead. When it came time for the Wolverines to respond, all they came up with was a single, and that runner was left stranded on first base.
Another thing that helped the Ducks on Friday was their pitching depth. A pitching change in the top of the sixth inning after Conway’s homer halted Michigan’s momentum. While similar pitching changes have worked well for the Wolverines this season, it’s also what led to their downfall in the second game of the series.
In the first Saturday game, Oregon again took a two-run lead in the first inning. Aided by strong baserunning, Michigan scored four runs — two of which came from another Conway home run in the third inning. All the Wolverines needed to do was maintain their two-run lead for the rest of the game, and they was quite successful at doing so — until the bottom of the seventh inning.
After a hit-by-pitch by sophomore right-hander Erin Hoehn — who had pitched the entire game — Michigan coach Bonnie Tholl chose to put in senior right-hander Lauren Derkowski. The decision proved costly for the Wolverines, as the Ducks were already familiar with Derkowski’s pitching style after the first game.
Oregon loaded the bases as soon as Derkowski entered, and its small-ball approach brought in two runs to tie up the game before a runner came home on a wild pitch to the Ducks back up for good, 5-4. They had officially taken the series after Michigan had led for most of the game.
“There’s a lot of adrenaline going when the pitcher comes in,” Tholl said. “There was a lot of adrenaline there in the seventh inning. And being able to manage our adrenaline and manage what we do and trust what we do is going to be imperative.”
In the final game of the series, morale was low. Derkowski was back in the circle, but again, Oregon knew how to rattle the Wolverines’ ace.
CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
pressure, Piper discovered a problem: She wasn’t having fun.
“When I was younger, it wasn’t that much fun, just because for a while, (Emma) was a lot better than me,” Piper said. “I mean, we’re sisters, and we’re only two and a half years apart. I wanted to be as good as her. I wanted her to think I was good.”
What Piper didn’t realize, however, was that during this period of chasing her sister’s shadow, she was also beginning to develop her own leadership, which later became one of her most valuable assets.
While tennis was, for a long time, an individual endeavor, Piper found herself drawn to the camaraderie. She also played soccer growing up and thrived on the team aspect, something that eventually blossomed as she entered college. And while she says leadership was something she had to learn over time, her mother, Leslie, paints a different picture.
“I don’t think she thought she was being a leader, but she definitely was,” Leslie told The Daily. “You
could definitely tell all the girls would follow her around, wear the same things, want to be where she was, listened to what she said, ask her opinion, things like that.”
The thing with Piper is that regardless of her own perceptions, her energy was always contagious.
She was always the loudest and most spirited kid, stepping up when those around her couldn’t — a trait that would take her far.
***
It took until high school for Piper to finally understand just how good
she was. She spent two years being homeschooled, allowing her to further develop her tennis talent, and when COVID hit, she filled all of her time with tennis, playing for more than six hours every day.
“I refound my love for it,” Piper said. “That’s when I was like, ‘Wait, I’m kind of good.’ And when things opened back up and tournaments were going in, I started having better results.”
CONTINUED AT
Michigan hitting unable to pick up pitching slack in series loss to No. 15 Oregon
From a pitching staff standpoint, they did a great job.”
Time and time again this season, the Michigan baseball team has escaped with wins by smashing through opponents offensively, despite streaky pitching from the mound. But against No. 15 Oregon — where the Wolverines struggled from the mound in all three contests — Michigan’s offense couldn’t muster enough firepower to bail out its pitching squad.
The first contest started as a pitching masterclass, with both teams recording only one hit each throughout the first two innings.
In the top of the third inning, the Wolverines attempted to break the stalemate. With two runners on base and junior second baseman Mitch Voit at the plate, Michigan’s score seemed destined to increase. But after taking a ball and a strike, Voit grounded to third base, stranding two runners as the Ducks collected the third out.
Feeling the increase in tempo, Oregon hit the ground running in the bottom of the third inning, homering in its first at-bat and collecting four more runs off of the Wolverines.
“Sometimes when you get down early, from a score standpoint, you have to kind of take what the game’s giving you and when it’s not giving you a lot, it’s tough to score,” Michigan assistant coach Jake Valentine said. “And hats off to Oregon — they have a great pitching staff, they’re either one or two in the conference staff.
The Wolverines’ hitters continued to find some contact from the Ducks, but they were unable to convert the majority of hits into tangible runs. Now down eight runs at the top of the fifth inning, junior outfielder Greg Pace Jr. looked to repeat his late game heroics against Penn State, hitting a homer to center field.
However, Michigan was unable to capitalize off that energy, scoring only one more run before ultimately getting run-ruled in the seventh inning, 15-2.
This lack of scoring continued to haunt the Wolverines in their second game versus Oregon.
Again, Michigan found itself down early, but with a home run from senior third baseman Cole Caruso that brought in freshman outfielder Brayden Jefferis, the Wolverines tied up the game, 2-2.
Just like the day before though, Michigan only recorded one more run before getting run-ruled in the eighth inning, thus time 13-3.
In their first two games, the Wolverines didn’t swing the bat
poorly, getting 14 hits in 55 at-bats alongside their two home runs. Fielding-wise, Michigan was solid, with only one error coming from Voit. It’s simply the pitching that held the Wolverines back, and hitting couldn’t make up for it. Expecting 10 or more runs from your offense to cover your pitching deficiencies isn’t sustainable — a fact that Michigan is starting to become very familiar with.
Even if they’re bats can’t always be hot, the Wolverines still have the firepower to get double-digit wins. Spearheaded by sophomore outfielder Colby Turner — who brought in five runs off a triple and a grand slam while scoring three himself — Michigan got hot in the series finale. Graduate first baseman Jeter Ybarra also homered, getting himself and Voit to the plate. With this slugging came increased pressure on the Ducks’ bullpen as the game drew on, allowing the Wolverines to walk in their 11th and 12th runs. CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM
Sunday’s match between the No 23. Michigan men’s tennis team and Northwestern was an important one for the Wolverines, both to secure a good placement in the upcoming Big Ten Championship and to send their seniors out with a bang.
Michigan (14-8 overall, 8-2 Big Ten) delivered a stellar all-around performance against the Wildcats (11-13, 3-6) on senior day, winning the match 4-0. The Wolverines dominated Northwestern during doubles play, and sustained that energy despite some tight singles matches.
Juniors Mert Oral and Bjorn Swenson won their doubles match with ease, taking the first win 6-2.
The others were not far behind, as both courts were leading 5-4 and up 30-0 in their 10th game. It was a race to the finish. Then the No. 2 court of senior Will Cooksey and sophomore Alex Cairo forced an errant hit from their opponent, capturing the set and the doubles point for Michigan. The point helped establish a lead going into the singles games, but the Wolverines still had a lot more work to do. This was quickly evident as many Michigan singles players began trailing in their first set.
One such player was Oral, who started his first set trailing 4-1. While this may be an insurmountable deficit for many, Oral was able to right the ship and win his next five games, taking the set 6-4.
“It was kind of just resetting,” Oral said. “Making the points go a
little bit longer and trying to bring a bit more intensity and play to my strengths. And fortunately I was able to dig in, compete a little bit harder and flip that match around.”
That attitude was certainly prevalent among Oral’s fellow Wolverines, as each was able to win their first set. Barring any major missteps, Michigan was on track to take the whole match.
In Swenson’s second set — despite a dominant 6-2 win in the first set — he found himself in a tiebreaker game. In that game, Swenson was able to take back the momentum, outserving his opponent and earning aces while the Wildcat made double faults. Swenson eventually won the tiebreaker 7-2, giving the Wolverines their first singles point.
Cooksey was right behind Swenson, defeating his opponent 6-3 in both sets, earning a third point for the Wolverines. Michigan built off the momentum established in doubles, and got one point away from sweeping the Wildcats.
After junior Nicholas Steiglehner lost his second set, all eyes turned to Oral’s court, where he led the set 5-2. Unlike his first set, Oral was able to build momentum early. He then took an early lead in the matchclinching eighth game, but it quickly went south. His opponent caught up and made the score 40-40.
“They’ve meant so much to the program, but also so much to me individually,” Oral said. “Definitely wanted to send them out with a win on their Senior Day.”
While the seniors played well, the underclassmen also stepped up to make this Senior Day a success. Thanks to dominance in doubles and overcoming early struggles in singles, the Wolverines were able to come up with an important win for their seniors, and potentially earn a bonus home game in the NCAA Championships.
However, Oral clinched his match — and the entire match for Michigan against Northwestern — with a strong well-placed hit. These second sets were less decisive, but they still got the job done for the Wolverines. Although Cooksey, Swenson and Oral were the ones to grab the singles points, more players had stellar matches. It was a team affair Sunday, as the players scored a win for the Michigan’s seniors on Senior Day.
Mahi Garg/DAILY
BASEBALL
MEN’S TENNIS
LYRA SHARMA Daily Sports Writer
NIYATEE JAIN Daily Sports Writer
XAVIER CHOUSSAT Daily Sports Writer
DANA THURNELL For The Daily
Jenna Hickey/DAILY
Akul Gunukula/DAILY
Lucas Chen/DAILY
STUCK TOP
Michigan captures fifth consecutive Big Ten Championship
JONAH BOTKIN Daily Sports Writer
Entering Friday’s meet, no member of the Michigan men’s gymnastics team knew what losing a Big Ten title meet felt like. After Friday, they still don’t. In the team competition session of the Big Ten Championship meet, the Wolverines (8-3 overall, 3-1 Big Ten) pulled ahead after two rotations and never looked back, taking the meet by nearly seven points, ahead of second-place Penn State (6-1, 3-1) and third-place Nebraska (3-4, 1-3), with a score of 330.750.
“Five in a row, not many people can say that,” graduate Paul Juda said. “We’re gonna enjoy it for about 24 or 48 hours, and then
we’re gonna go back to the gym and iron out all the small little mistakes.”
To add to Michigan’s accolades, junior Fred Richard took home the gold medal for his third consecutive Big Ten All-Around title and Juda grabbed silver, with scores of 83.450 and 81.750, respectively.
The Wolverines’ 330.750 was the third-highest team score in the country this season — and the highest nationally outside of the controversially-scored meet between Michigan and Nebraska on March 21. But like Juda, Richard knows there’s even more on the way.
“I still think we have more in the tank,” Richard said. “I feel like today was an average day, which is great. We’re still going to need a little bit more if we want to guarantee that first place at (the
National Championship meet).
So we’re going to get back to the gym, get cooking and show up even stronger.”
For the Wolverines, the meet started on floor exercise, with a couple of 13.3 scores from Richard and freshman Solen Chiodi. Going third, Juda jump started the team with back-to-back stuck double fronts, posting a 14.25 that would remain the highest individual floor score of Friday’s session.
Even with Juda’s high score, Michigan moved to pommel horse trailing Ohio State by nearly two and a half points. Despite the event being the Wolverines’ weakest this year, they put up a season-high 55.25, turning the tide and taking a six-tenths lead in the meet.
“I’m so proud of the pommel horse team,” Michigan coach Yuan Xiao said. “We are finding our
sweet spot. Everyone can compete on pommel horse. Today’s score is not our best, but it’s so far the best.”
On rings for the third rotation, the Wolverines extended their lead to nearly a point. All four Michigan gymnasts — sophomore Akshay Puri, senior Rithik Puri, Richard and Juda — scored between 13.35 and 13.75 as the Wolverines posted a 54.1, the second-highest team score on the apparatus.
Michigan cruised from there, earning the highest score of the meet on each of its final three events.
On vault, the Wolverines were the only team with all four gymnasts scoring at least a 14.
After Chiodi posted a 14.15, Crisler Center erupted when senior David Wolma stuck his vault for a 14.5. Richard and Juda each overcame slight miscues for a 14.1 and 14.4,
respectively. By the end of the fourth rotation, Michigan led by more than three points.
For the Wolverines in the fifth rotation, all four gymnasts put up scores in the top-nine parallel bar scores of the day. Richard’s 14.5 was good for second, and senior Logan McKeown finished fourth with a 14.15 as Michigan pushed its lead to nearly eight points.
On high bar for the Wolverines, Richard took the event title posting a 14.1, a half-point higher than any other routine. While Juda struggled at the end of a long day to score just 12.35, Michigan still managed to outscore second on the apparatus by over a point.
As the final routines wrapped up, the Wolverines held the meet’s highest team score on four events and were top two on all six, Richard and Juda were the top-two all-
arounders and Michigan had posted a score nearly two-points higher than any other team in the country during conference championship week in front of its home crowd.
“It’s a really big, full circle moment to have these kids wearing Michigan and cheering you on,” Juda said. “I was always that kid for (former Wolverine Sam Mikulak). It makes it all work. You just hope to be somebody that they can look up to and have a great time in gymnastics.”
In dominating the Big Ten Championship meet, the Wolverines showcased their strength and depth, fought through adversity and showed that they’ll be ready to compete with anyone at the NCAA Championship meet in two weeks.
Ava Farah, Akul Gunukula & Isai Hernandez-Flores/DAILY Design by Annabelle Ye
