I
4C - The Michigan Daily - New Student Edition - Fall 2004
UNIVERSITY
Harvard prof. links racism,
poverty at MLK symposium
January 20. 2004
By Karen Schwartz
Daily Staff Writer
FOREL UAEY/Uaily
LSA senior Jenny Bouerl and LSA junior Mindy Pickens get down and dirty at the Mudbowl Saturday on the
lawn of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Proceeds from the event were donated to the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital.
Mudbowl tradition continues
October 20, 2003
B1y Kylene Kiang
Daily Staff' Writer
Members of the Greek community rolled up
their sleeves to get down and dirty for the annu-
al Mudbowl held Saturday on the lawn of the
Sigma Alpha Epsilon house. In its 70th year,
the Mudbowl has remained one of the Universi-
ty's biggest traditions, said SAE president and
LSA junior Drew Beres.
"I think it's a great tradition. It's one of the
biggest events in the Greek community because
of the notoriety it gets," he said.
The final brackets for
the Mudbowl included "It's definite]
SAE versus Zeta Beta Tau
and Kappa Alpha Theta biggest phiL
versus Delta Delta Delta v n
for the sorority match. events
SAE won the fraternity
match 33-12 in a "well-
played game from both President,
sides," Beres said.
The sorority match ended in a hard-fought 6-
6 tie after double overtime.
"The entire game was a highlight for me,"
said Kappa Alpha Theta member and LSA
sophomore Hilary Goldin.
"I was shivering on the sidelines, but it was
well worth it," she said.
"One of the nicest parts was that after the
game, there wasn't any bad sportsmanship and
there was no animosity. It was a lot of fun to be
part of something that was really classy," said
ax
Kappa Alpha Theta member and LSA junior
Sara Rapoport. "There were a couple of bumps
and bruises - nothing too serious," she added.
Before putting their abilities to the test in the
mud pit, more than 20 teams vied for a spot in
the final four during a series of playoff games
held two weeks before the main event.
Each team must pay a $150 entrance fee,
which is donated to the C.S. Mott Children's
Hospital.
"It's definitely our biggest philanthropic
event," Beres said.
Each year, a large part of SAE's lawn is
soaked in water for two weeks before the game.
With the aid of a tractor
i one of our and a tiller, SAE trans-
forms the land into the
ithropic infamous mud pit.
Beres added that a
water truck was called in
to douse the field with
- Drew Beres 9,000 gallons of water
igma Alpha Epsilon before the game.
Though most Mudbowl
participants had no problem with the mud, some
neighbors of the SAE property did not share the
same sentiments.
"It smelled really bad. You could smell it just
walking down the street. It was like playing a
game next to a port-a-potty. It was some weird-
smelling mud," LSA freshman Brian Perrymen
said.
- Daily Staff Writer Evan McGarvev con-
tributed to this report.
Class difference is not just a black-
and-white issue, Prof. Lani Guinier of
Harvard Law School explained yesterday
to an audience of
more than 3,000 at
Hill Auditorium.
Guinier discussed
the role of race and
poverty as interdepend-
ent variables in the
fight for equality as the
keynote speaker at the
17th Annual Reverend
Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. Symposium
Memorial Lecture.
"Race masks, and it
sustains deep flaws in the way our society
allocates opportunity and privilege to every-
one," she said, pointing to standardized tests
and "incarceration instead of education" as
examples of how social inequality is not limit-
ed to minority groups but affects the majority
of Americans across racial lines.
"In fact, it is those high-stakes aptitude
tests, along with many other ways in which
we provide opportunities to those who are
already privileged, that has made higher edu-
cation in this country a 'gift from the poor to
the rich,' " she said, using a phrase she said
was coined by Anthony Carnavale, vice-presi-
dent of the Educational Testing Service.
She added that this "gift" is subsidized by
taxpayers and enjoyed by the most affluent,
citing Carnavale's research based on a Centu-
ry Foundation study.
The study found that among the 146
most selective colleges and universities in
the country, 74 percent of the students
come from the top 25 percent of the highest
income bracket, while only 10 percent
belong to the bottom half.
"It is no accident, therefore, that some of
the more wealthy suburbs of Detroit send
50 percent of the graduates from their high
schools to the University of Michigan, and
yet Dearborn High School, which is work-
ing-class, blue-collar white, sends 5 percent
of its graduates to the University of Michi-
gan," she said.
Guinier said there is a need to link class,
gender and geography to race in order to
create a deeper fundamental understanding
of the relationship between race and social
inequality.
"We are not going to solve the problem
of racism in this society if we don't also
solve the problems of poverty in this socie-
ty," she said.
Guinier reviewed the legacy of the Brown v
Harvard law Prof. Lani Guinier speaks at the 17th Annual Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
Symposium yesterday at Hill Auditorium.
Board of Education ruling but also criticized
the ruling itself.
"Brown v. Board of Education in some
ways is both part of the solution, but it is also
part of the problem," she said, adding that the
landmark decision, while providing for the
desegregation of public schools and inspiring
a generation, only focused on the effects of
segregation on black students.
"The Supreme Court, under the influence
of very well-intentioned racial liberals,
focused on segregation and the way in which
it damaged, the Court said, the hearts and
minds of Negro children," Guinier said. "No
doubt segregation was evil. And no doubt seg-
regation damaged the hearts and minds of
Negro children, but it also damaged the hearts
and minds of white children, and Brown was
silent on that fact."
By ignoring the psychological effect of seg-
regation on working-class and poor whites,
the Brown ruling facilitated the backlash of
many whites against desegregation, Guinier
said. Because working-class and poor whites
believed segregation was to their benefit,
Guinier said, they viewed desegregation as an
impediment to their own success and most
saw little reason to mobilize with blacks
around common economic interests.
Vickie Wellman, an Ann Arbor resident,
attended the event with her husband Ian Mac-
Gregor and her granddaughter Reena
Hobrecht, age 4. Wellman said they attend
every year to honor and commemorate Dr.
King. She said Guinier spoke clearly about
class and power issues that go beyond race
and empowered the audience to rethink how
they live in the world and what they teach
their children.
"We want to share the load of the work and
pass on the torch," Wellman said. "We're leav-
ing (our granddaughter's generation) a lot of
work to do in this country. We'd better give
them some better tools than mainstream tele-
vision and newspapers - they're going to
have a lot of fixing to do"
Engineering senior James McGinnis
said he has attended the MLK Symposium
for four years to raise his awareness and
as part of his commitment to the move-
ment for equality.
He said he was impressed by Guinier's
comments and the depth with which she
addressed the topic.
"She actually spoke about issues deeper
than what affirmative action or civil rights
might address, talking about the way socie-
ty is structured and that being the reason
for the inequality that exists today,"
McGinnis said.
He said he learned more about the need for
grass-roots work and finding solutions,
instead of patches for current problems.
"It's harder work but it has a much bigger
long-term impact, and I feel that's what she
really spoke about today."
He added that the event was worth waking
up for and hoped even more people would
attend in the future.
"We want this (Hill Auditorium) to be too
small next year,"he said.
-Daily Staff Writers Sarah Roffman and
Donn M. Fresard contributed to this report.
4
4
With 'Vagina Monologues,' V-Day
highlights violence against women
4
February 16,2004
By Mona Rafeq
Daily Staff Writer
Red ribbon encircled the Diag and
decorated T-shirts fluttered in the wind
while a group of students staged the V-
Day Rally on Friday afternoon.
The rally was organized to kick
off the global weekend performanc-
es of "The Vagina Monologues," a
play written by Eve Ensler about
women reclaiming power over their
own bodies.
LSA senior Jenny Abrams, a V-Day
rally organizer, said the purpose of the
rally and the play was to inform the pub-
lic about violence against women.
"We're not just trying to raise aware-
ness about domestic violence, but also
trends of sexual violence and body-
image violence, like eating disorders,
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need. Stop by, or visit us online at
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" Vehicle loans, personal loans, home
equity loans, and mortgages.
that are prevalent in today's society,"
Abrams said.
The rally featured Timothy John-
son, chair of the Department of
Obstetrics and Gynecology at the
University Hospital, as the keynote
speaker. He spoke about the state of
global health and brutality toward
women. In particular, he mentioned
female genital mutilation, a practice
that is common in parts of Africa.
He said it is important to remember
that violence against women does not
always occur at the hands of men.
"There are a lot of societies that
involve women against women. Moth-
ers, grandmothers and daughters often
can act aggressively towards their rel-
atives," he said.
In addition to student poetry read-
ings and cheers like "Barbie" and
"Gender Binary," led by a student
group called the Radical Cheerlead-
ers, the rally also included presenta-
tions on each of the organizers'
personal "vagina warriors.
"Vagina warriors are women from all
over the world who are trying to change
the system and who are not afraid to be
proactive;' Abrams said.
The Diag was decked with tables
of organizations representing
women's issues.
Ashwini Hardikar, chair of the Michi-
gan Student Assembly's Women's Issues
Commission, said the committee felt a
need to support the struggle concerning
violence against women.
"In addition to bringing awareness to
the resources that are available for
women and (lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender) students, we want to pro-
vide a link of unity between different
communities on campus," said Hardikar,
an RC sophomore.
"The Vagina Monologues" was pro-
duced and performed in two shows yes-
terday by a group of students involved in
this year's V-Day Campaign. The show
ran for the fourth year in a row at the
Power Center.