The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, January 7, 2015 — 5A
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Class of 2014 winter graduates listen to NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden, Jr., the commencement speaker, discuss
the importance of love prevailing in the face of conflict and tragedy.
Demonstration
draws attention to
policy brutality
By JENNIFER CALFAS and
SAM GRINGLAS
Editor in Chief and
Managing News Editor
Multiple keynote speakers
called on graduates to use their
diplomas to promote positive
change at the 2014 Winter Com-
mencement on Sunday. But after
the ceremony, guests exited the
Crisler Center to find about 60
students taking that drive to
heart.
Outside Crisler, protesters
gathered for a “die-in” to call
for an end to police brutality
and racial profiling. The event
follows several similar events
held on campus in recent weeks
to protest grand jury decisions
not to indict police officers
responsible for the deaths of
two unarmed Black men in Fer-
guson, Mo. and Staten Island,
New York.
Among several speeches and
musical performances during
the ceremony, University Presi-
dent Mark Schlissel, Univer-
sity Provost Martha Pollack and
NASA Administrator Charles F.
Bolden, Jr., the commencement
speaker, pushed graduates to
challenge the status quo as they
begin their lives outside of the
University.
In opening his speech, Bold-
en echoed the remarks of the
2013 Commencement Speaker
Michele Norris, a renowned
journalist, who said love should
prevail in light of conflict and
tragedy across the nation.
After protests and calls for
reform erupted across the coun-
try over the last few months,
Bolden called on University’s
graduates to play a part in fos-
tering change.
“Much as it was for the class
of (2013), you arrived at this day
of celebration with our nation
still struggling to provide peace
and justice for all its citizens,”
he said. “You are well prepared
and ready to make a difference.”
Under
his
leadership
as
NASA’s first Black administra-
tor, NASA landed a rover on
Mars and launched a spacecraft
to Jupiter, among other feats,
after President Barack Obama
nominated
Bolden
to
head
NASA in 2009.
“It’s time for you to go out
and challenge the status quo.
It’s the mission of the Univer-
sity of Michigan to, and I quote,
‘Educate leaders and citizens
to challenge the present and
enrich the future.’”
During his first commence-
ment ceremony, Schlissel said
he had been looking forward to
this day since he was selected
as the University’s 14th presi-
dent in January. In his address,
Schlissel asked graduates to
chart their own “Michigan sto-
ries.”
“I ask, because the stories
that intrigue me most, those
that drive me and inspire me,
are the stories yet to be writ-
ten,” he said. “You have the tools
to help individuals and entire
populations. You can create new
knowledge and inspire commu-
nities. You have the optimism
and entrepreneurial spirit to
take on the biggest challenges
– and you have your Michigan
family to cheer you on and sup-
port you every step of the way.”
University Provost Martha
Pollack opened the ceremony,
thanking students for their
activism on campus and passion
for social justice. One of her
main wishes for graduates, she
noted, was for them to take risks
and challenge existing social
norms.
“I don’t think you (will) shy
away from, but instead will seek
out challenges throughout your
life,” Pollack said.
When
listing
possibilities
for students to promote change
after graduation, Pollack lauded
student activism and the stu-
dents’ desire for an equitable,
diverse campus.
“Perhaps, as so many of you
have done during your time
at Michigan, you will become
involved in social activism,
challenging all of us to become
a better, more equitable and
inclusive society.”
After
Schlissel
conferred
degrees, hundreds of under-
graduate, graduate and doctor-
ate students, family and friends
exiting Crisler were greeted by
dozens of protesters laying on
the plaza.
Though die-in protests held
across the country over the
past few weeks typically last
4.5 minutes to represent the
4.5 hours Ferguson resident
Michael Brown spent on the
ground after he was shot and
killed by a police officer, pro-
testers remained in position
until the hundreds of com-
mencement guests funneled out
of Crisler.
As commencement attend-
ees exited Crisler, they walked
around — or through — the
group of protestors on the
ground.
Some
encouraged
them, while others voiced dis-
taste in their choice of timing
the protest after the graduation
ceremony.
LSA senior Canon Thomas,
one of the event’s organizers,
said demonstrating after the
commencement ceremony pro-
vided an opportunity to reach a
wider audience beyond Univer-
sity students. He also empha-
sized the ties between the
occasion of receiving a degree
and taking steps to enact posi-
tive change.
“Once you get your degree,
as I understand from the mis-
sion statement, you’re supposed
to go out in the world and make
change,” he said. “You’re sup-
posed to take your degree and
make the world a better place.
So yes you have your degree,
you have it in hand, now what?
Come join us and tell everyone
with your degree that Black
lives matter. We didn’t do it
before or during, we did it after.
As you walk to your car, I want
you to remember Black lives
matter. If it’s not appropriate,
when is the time? When is the
right time for justice?”
Law Prof. Martha Jones, who
stood beside the students for
several minutes during the pro-
test and teared up as she spoke
about the demonstration, said
she couldn’t imagine a better
moment to communicate to the
graduates’ family, friends and
supporters what students have
been working on and thinking
about during the past semester.
“It
makes
me
optimistic
because I think that when we
charge students with gradua-
tion and commencement and
(think about) who they’ll be…
we want them to be citizens of
the world and to not only have
ideas, but to act on their ideas
and this to me seems to be abso-
lutely the embodiment of that.”
Jones also said this type of
broad discussion pairs well with
the conversations about diver-
sity and inclusion currently
underway at the University.
“We still have a serious
conversation in house about
students, and numbers and per-
centages that shouldn’t be lost
even as we’re now very much
part of this national conversa-
tion that is focused on police
violence — that the experience
of our students at Michigan is
still very much tied to our num-
bers. So I hope that we’ll contin-
ue with that commitment and
still working on that very chal-
lenging problem while we’re
also part of this bigger discus-
sion. They’re really companion
pieces,” she said.
LSA junior Rachel Webb,
another organizer for the dem-
onstration, worked with Uni-
versity Police to ensure the
protest was peaceful and did not
obstruct the ceremony. While
Webb recognized the need to
end police brutality, she noted
that protesters must not assume
all officers profile citizens based
on race.
“We were proud of the police
officers who stood in solidar-
ity with us,” Webb said, noting
that her father is a police officer.
“They were very adamant about
us exercising those rights.”
In response to those criticiz-
ing the protest for its placement
after the ceremony, Webb said
the demonstration did not aim
to take attention away from the
graduates, but rather serve as a
forum to both educate attendees
and provide a voice for concerns
with which many University
students are grappling.
“We didn’t want to take
away from graduation at all,
but there’s a lot of Black grads
in that crowd that are feeling
these things, and it doesn’t just
stop because things are happy.”
Students hold ‘die-in’
after commencement
Obama to visit Metro
Detroit Wednesday
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President to
announce executive
orders ahead of State
of the Union address
By SHOHAM GEVA
Daily News Editor
President Barack Obama will
visit Metro Detroit Wednesday
as part of a three-city tour lead-
ing up to his State of the Union
address, the Detroit Free Press
reported Saturday afternoon.
Citing a statement by White
House spokesperson Eric Schul-
tz, the Free Press reported
Obama’s visit would highlight his
administration’s 2009 efforts to
bail out Michigan’s auto industry
through a series of intentional
bankruptcies and federal loans.
The statement also said his
remarks
would
include
the
announcement of several legis-
lative proposals and executive
orders.
No
further
details
about
Obama’s visit were available Sat-
urday. The White House did not
immediately respond to a request
for comment. There are no Mich-
igan events currently listed on
the president’s public schedule
for Wednesday.
Wednesday will mark the
president’s second visit to Michi-
gan in recent months. In Novem-
ber, he spoke at Wayne State
University to campaign for Dem-
ocratic candidates in a number
of statewide elections. The auto
bailout emerged as an issue dur-
ing this year’s fall election season
and was also highlighted during
the president’s November visit.
Vigil honors Pakistani
students slain in attack
Over 100 gather to
remember people
killed by Taliban
By EMMA KINERY
Daily Staff Reporter
As part of a candlelight vigil
honoring lives lost in Tuesday’s
Taliban attack on the Army Pub-
lic School and Degree College
in Peshawar, Pakistan, over 100
members of the University com-
munity gathered on the Diag
Wednesday evening to reflect on
the recent violence in the coun-
try.
In the Taliban’s most recent
attack on Pakistani schools, 148
people were killed — 132 of which
were children — and at least a
hundred more hospitalized with
injuries.
At the vigil, which was orga-
nized by the Michigan Pakistanis
and the Muslim Students’ Associ-
ation, many of the students stood
on the Hatcher Graduate Library
stairs holding Pakistani flags and
signs reading, “The smallest cof-
fins are the heaviest,” “Today we
bleed together” and “#PrayFor-
Peshawar.” At the bottom of the
steps candles were arranged to
spell “Peshawar.”
Before student leaders shared
their thoughts on the events, the
group was silent for 10 minutes of
reflection. Most of the speakers
were of Pakistani heritage and
several spoke of personal experi-
ences dealing with violence in the
country.
“It’s amazing to see all the
solidarity,” said MSA President
Saher Rathur, an LSA senior.
“People of all ethnicities attend-
ed the event to show their sup-
port for Pakistan.”
Many of the speakers dis-
cussed their hope that the media
does not define all of Pakistan
by these attacks. Speakers asked
attendants to pray for Pakistan
and the families affected by the
attacks.
MPak
President
Mansoor
Saqib, an LSA senior, said he
hopes the media depicts these
attacks with nuance.
“Instead we should focus
on why this attack took place,”
Saquib said. “What were the real
political agendas of these groups
or monsters? What is our govern-
ment and the Pakistani govern-
ment doing to perpetuate such
violence? And more importantly,
what can we as citizens of this
world do to stop violent tragedies
like this from frequently repeat-
ing?”
Following the vigil, organizers
held a traditional funeral prayer
in Mason Hall and prepared a
card for attendees to sign and
send to Peshawar.
LSA junior Haider Malik’s
family lives in Peshawar and
he attended school there before
coming to Michigan for college.
He said he hopes the United
States does not react with force as
it did in its response to the Sep-
tember 11 attacks.
“Let us not seek to respond
to force with more force,” Malik
said. “That’s not the answer.”
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
LSA senior Nadir Rehman reminds attendants never to conflate the oppressed with their oppressors at vigil for Peshawar
on December 18.