michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tuesday, January 20, 2015

CELEBRATING OUR ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIFTH YEAR OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Discussions, panels 
kick off week-long 
symposium on race 
and social justice

By ALLANA AKHTAR

Daily Staff Reporter

Instead of attending classes 

Monday, 
University 
students 

and faculty honored the legacy of 
Martin Luther King Jr. by host-

ing or attending various semi-
nars and discussions to examine 
social justice in American soci-
ety.

The School of Social Work 

hosted “Policing Black Bodies: 
A Dialogue on Poverty, Police 
Brutality and the Way Out” to 
reflect on King’s legacy in mod-
ern America. Writer Shaun Ossei 
Owusu, Assistant Prof. Kamau 
Rashid and Rackham student 
Finn Bell discussed how poverty, 
race and police brutality have 
changed throughout U.S. his-

tory.

“The 
historical 
configura-

tions of race in the United States, 
within the context of slavery and 
colonialism, actually teaches us 
a great deal about the contempo-
rary manifestations and expres-
sions of racism today,” Rashid 
said. “Racism is both permanent 
and indestructible and I think 
that there’s a lot that we can 
learn from this.”

Rackham 
student 
Loren 

Cahill, who is in the School of 
Social Work, said the most nota-

ble part of the event was Rashid’s 
acknowledgement of racism’s 
permanency and inability to 
completely dissolve.

“I thought it was phenom-

enal,” she said. “I liked the dis-
cussion about still fighting to do 
racial work and to end profiling, 
still striving to improve it.

Bell spoke of his experience 

growing up white in the South 
and witnessing the racial dis-
crimination his peers through 
an outside lens. He also warned 

LEFT: Ndaba Mandela, grandson of Nelson Mandela, speaks at the Ross School of Business as part of the MLK Symposium Monday. (Andrew Cohen/Daily) 
UPPER RIGHT: Students join hands on the Diag for the Circle of Unity presented by the Michigan Commuity Scholars Program. (Virginia Lozano/Daily) 
LOWER RIGHT: Dr. Marc Lamont Hill speaks about Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy at Hill Auditorium . (David Song/Daily) 

CAMPUS LIFE

Efforts to move 

multicultural center, 

increase minority 
enrollment continue

By ALYSSA BRANDON

Daily Staff Reporter

On a cold Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Day last year, members of the Uni-
versity’s Black Student Union stood 
atop the steps of Hill Auditorium, 
holding black signs etched with 
white chalk. The organization gath-
ered to protest stagnant minority 
enrollment and demand the Univer-
sity meet seven goals for improving 
campus climate.

Engineering 
senior 
Robert 

Greenfield, BSU treasurer, said in 
early discussions, administrators 
expressed a genuine willingness to 
collaborate with the BSU. 

“University 
administration 
is 

made of the highest and best ser-
vants of our University, and the BSU 
is very appreciative of how they 
have collaborated with us,” he said. 
“However, as of now, it is the overall 
sentiment of the BSU that progress 
is not being made, and as an execu-

tive board, we’re questioning the 
administration’s willingness due to 
how fast things are progressing.” 

Despite progress on several of 

the BSU’s demands, which includ-
ed revising the Race and Ethnic-
ity distribution requirement and 
providing emergency funding for 
students, Greenfield said he and 
other members of the BSU believe 
progress slowed over the last year, 
particularly in increasing minority 
enrollment and establishing a new 
multicultural center on Central 
Campus.

“It’s been a year, and many of the 

things that still need to be done, the 
Black Student Union just can’t con-
trol,” he said. “Many of the solutions 
to the demands have been handed 
over to people who are very pas-
sionate about fulfilling the work, but 
just simply don’t have the resources 
to do so.”

In November 2013, the BSU had 

launched the Twitter initiative 
#BBUM. Students of color used the 
hashtag, which stands for Being 
Black at the University of Michigan, 
to share thoughts and experiences 
about being a minority on campus. 
#BBUM soon went viral, accumu-
lating over 10,000 tweets by 10 p.m. 

MEN’S BASKETBALL

With much of its 
roster depleted, 
Michigan faces an 

uphill battle

By LEV FACHER

Managing Editor

John Beilein was frank in 

assessing the Michigan men’s 
basketball team’s roster prior to 
its Tuesday night tilt with Rut-
gers in Piscataway.

“We have more injured or sick 

players than we have healthy 
players right now,” Beilein said.

The Wolverines’ eighth-year 

coach is barely exaggerating. As 
few as six players are entirely 
healthy and ready to contribute 
major minutes against a Rutgers 
team that upset then-No. 4 Wis-
consin on Jan. 11, and the rest of 
Michigan’s roster is hurt, sick, 
ineligible or some combination 
thereof.

Following 
the 
team’s 

announcement 
Sunday 
that 

junior guard Caris LeVert is out 
for the remainder of the season 
with a left foot injury, the Wol-
verines’ injury tally stands at 
four. Freshman forward D.J. Wil-
son may redshirt and has yet to 
be cleared for full-court play fol-
lowing a December knee sprain. 
Freshman 
forward 
Kameron 

Chatman is questionable thanks 
to a knee injury suffered Satur-
day against Northwestern. And 
sophomore guard Derrick Walton 

Jr. remains limited by an injured 
toe on his right foot which has 
plagued him throughout the year.

To make matters worse, fresh-

man forward Ricky Doyle’s status 
is uncertain thanks to an illness, 
and junior guard Spike Albrecht 
is questionable because of an 
upper respiratory infection.

Per Beilein, Albrecht has been 

“cleared to give it a shot and see 
how he feels.”

That leaves just nine healthy 

players. But sophomore guard 
Andrew Dakich hasn’t played this 
season, and likely won’t — Beilein 
has said previously that Dakich 
will redshirt so that he has a 
fifth year of eligibility remain-
ing should he choose to transfer. 
Duncan Robinson is also sitting 
out the season, because NCAA 
transfer policy precludes him 
from playing in the year follow-
ing his move to Ann Arbor from 
Division III Williams College. 
But Robinson wouldn’t have been 
available, anyway — he suffered a 
sprained ankle in recent weeks, 
preventing him from contribut-
ing to the scout team during prac-
tice.

The injuries have depleted the 

scout team and forced to Beilein 
took advantage of an NCAA rule 
that allows coaches to occasional-
ly bring in former players to prac-
tice with the team. He invited 
David Merritt, a former Michigan 
point guard and 2009 graduate, 
to ensure that 5-on-5 competition 
was an option in practice.

To stop Rutgers, the Wolver-

ROBERT DUNNE/Daily

Washington University student Rohan Khopkar works on his team with Purdue University student Andrew Xia at 
MHacks Saturday on North Campus.

Fifth annual 
MHacks event 
engages students 

over 36 hours

By TANYA MADHANI

Daily Staff Reporter

When the clock struck mid-

night on Friday, 1,200 people 
rushed to begin 36 hours of liv-
ing and breathing one thing: 
programming.

Over the weekend, MHacks, 

a hackathon competition orga-
nized by University students, 
held its fifth hacking competi-
tion.

Saturday morning, 11 hours 

into the competition, teams 

filed into the nooks and cran-
nies of the Bob and Betty 
Beyster building on North 
Campus to work on their proj-
ects. Rooms called “hacking 
spaces,” labeled with famous 
programmers such as Alan 
Turing, were filled to the brim 
with teams.

Throughout the event, some 

hackers wore pajamas, others 
remained in the clothes they 
had arrived in. A few partici-
pants slept on benches outside 
of rooms or at their desks as the 
night wore on. Several sleeping 
bags were scattered in the hall-
ways and on the floors, but a 
few resisted sleep through the 
entirety of the event.

“There 
are 
people 
who 

haven’t gone to sleep yet from 
the (organizing) team,” said 

MHacks Director John Zwick, 
an Engineering junior. “And I 
really appreciate that.”

Started in 2013 by MPow-

ered, a student organization 
that encourages entrepreneur-
ship among college students, 
MHacks promotes program-
ming innovation and encour-
ages students to build both 
software and hardware they 
can continue to develop in the 
future.

The closing ceremony of 

MHacks was held at Rack-
ham Auditorium where fam-
ily members and observers sat 
patiently for the top 10 teams 
to present the fruits of their 
labors.

After 
each 
presentation, 

Zwick read off special prizes 

ADMINISTRATION

Envoy to include 
meetings with 
several partner 

institutions

By MICHAEL SUGERMAN

Daily News Editor

In his first international trip 

as the University’s chief adminis-
trator, University President Mark 
Schlissel will head to China early 
this July to continue collabora-
tion with the country’s universi-
ties, as well as to meet alumni, 
faculty and students studying 
abroad.

In an interview with The 

Michigan Daily on Friday, Schlis-
sel said the visit — slated for the 
week of July 5 — is demonstrative 
of the University’s growing pres-
ence in China.

“Michigan is a global univer-

sity, and I think in the decades 
ahead more so,” he said. “The 
world is becoming smaller, peo-
ple are traveling and communi-
cating with one another, students 
are traveling the globe, so reach-
ing out around the world is an 
important part of my job.”

Schlissel visit Shanghai Jiao 

Tong University and Peking Uni-
versity. Fifty University under-
graduates currently attend SJTU 
each summer through the UM-
SJTU Joint Institute to study 

See MLK, Page 3
See BBUM, Page 3

See RUTGERS, Page 3
See MHACKS, Page 3
See CHINA, Page 3

Programs across campus 
honor Dr. King’s legacy

‘U’ reflects 
on #BBUM 
a year after
demands 

Injured, sick 
‘M’ readying 
for Rutgers 

Hacking competition draws 
1,200 participants to A2

Schlissel to 
strengthen
connections 
during July 
trip to China

INDEX
Vol. CXXIV, No. 50
©2015 The Michigan Daily
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