The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News & Sports
Thursday, February 12, 2015 — 3A

Goofy, competitive mix for Michigan

Wolverines mix 
sharp focus, fun 

antics on game days

By CHRIS CROWDER

Daily Sports Writer

It’s a common misconception 

that the recipe for winning only 
includes competitiveness. You 
also need a pinch of humor.

The ingredients seem like 

they wouldn’t work, but for the 
Michigan softball team, they 
do. They coexist, and neither 
outweighs the other.

On the bus ride to any game, 

the Wolverines are dancing and 
having fun. But when their foot 
gets off the last step of the bus 
and onto the pavement, they flip 
a switch.

“Off the field we have a 

blast, but when it’s time to get 
serious, we definitely get down 
to business,” said senior catcher 
Lauren Sweet.

Added junior shortstop Sierra 

Romero: “(Sophomore infielder 
Lindsay Montemarano) and I go 
back and forth, like she makes 
an error and I’ll be like ‘I won’t 
make that error,’ so we joke 
about it, but it brings out our 
competitive side.”

The ability to remain relaxed 

and focused at the same time 
helps the team, especially in 
tough situations. With a team 
full of best friends, they love 
to compete for each other and 
strengthen their connection on 
and off the diamond.

“If you’re tense and worried 

about it, you’re obviously not 
going to play your best,” Sweet 
said. “But the fact that we have 
that bond and can mess around 
with each other and have fun 
before the game, I think it’s an 
awesome thing. When we’re on 
the field and we’re all down, 
someone can make us laugh in 
the game and get us back up.”

The 
team’s 
traditions, 

especially cheers in the dugout, 
keep the Wolverines loose while 
they’re at the plate. Sweet could 
be hailed as the team DJ, making 
the beats and laying down 
the foundation for upcoming 
chants. She embraces this role, 
but thinks that outsiders might 
not fully understand what’s 
going on.

“Our cheers are kind of out 

there and people probably think 
we’re really weird,” Sweet said. 
“For (Romero), we have one like 
‘give her the Kool-Aid.’ It’s an 
inside joke.”

The inside jokes don’t stop 

there, though, but continue with 
the Wolverines’ obsession over 
pizza.

“We view going around the 

bases — getting to first, second 
and third — as making a pizza,” 
said junior Kelsey Susalla. “So 
our goal is to make a pizza (and 
eat it) once we get home. On 
second base, we sprinkle the 
cheese.”

The team loves to have fun, 

but coach Carol Hutchins knows 
that her team is locked in on 
its goals and is most certainly 
disciplined.

“Kids like to have fun, but 

it’s not the goal,” Hutchins said. 
“The goal is to play games and 
win them. The goal is to get 
better every week. That doesn’t 
mean you won’t have fun — fun 
is a sidebar.”

Hutchins quipped that rec 

leagues are the place where fun 
is the main focus. Of course, with 
the Michigan softball program, 
championships are in the front 
of team’s mind. She likens 
defending something — such as 
a Big Ten championship, which 
they have won seven times — to 
playing capture the flag. Like 
the flag, the championship is 
both being defended and sought.

Hutchins 
wants 
her 

players’ personalities to work 

well 
together 
and 
achieve 

one collective duty: making 
Michigan 
softball 
great. 

According to her, that’s the only 
reason to put on a maize and 
blue uniform.

Still, Hutchins does enjoy her 

team’s goofy side when it isn’t a 
detriment to the team.

“I think this team is very 

passionate 
about 
Michigan 

softball and they care about 
each 
other 
as 
teammates,” 

Hutchins said. “We talk about 
team 
chemistry, 
and 
team 

chemistry isn’t about caring 
about each other and being 
friends. Team chemistry helps 
you win games.”

This weekend, the Wolverines 

play Florida State, the team that 
knocked them out of the NCAA 
Super Regional last season. They 
aren’t looking back on the walk-
off home run that ended it all, 
but they’re remaining goofy and 
competitive as always. When 
their feet hit the pavement 
in Tallahassee, Florida this 
weekend, they will have already 
flipped the switch.

And when they make pizza, 

the 
toppings 
are 
always 

goofiness and competitiveness. 
Extra cheese.

SOFTBALL

$325 million.

The 2016 budget also faced a 

projected shortfall of $532 mil-
lion. To address both shortfalls, 
the governor made cuts to mul-
tiple state agencies. Most severely 
impacted were the State Police, 
the Department of Corrections 
and the Department of Commu-
nity Health, which will see cuts of 
more than $23 million, $17.8 mil-
lion and $16.55 million, respec-
tively.

However, for the state’s schools 

and universities, the news was 
more positive. During his address, 
Snyder emphasized the impor-
tance of investing in education, 
along with skilled trades and pub-
lic safety

“The same time when we’re 

cutting a number of programs, 
we’re making investments, invest-
ments in critically important 
things,” Snyder told reporters.

Citing both K-12 schools and 

higher 
education 
institutions, 

Snyder said maintaining invest-
ment in education was one of the 
administration’s key consider-
ations when making cuts to state 
agency budgets.

“The way I viewed it is we’re 

going to protect students,” he 
said. “We’re not asking for sacri-
fices from any of those groups.”

Last year, Snyder’s executive 

budget proposal totaled $52.1 bil-
lion and featured a 6.1-percent 
increase for higher education 
funding. The 6.1-percent increase 
was the largest increase to higher 
education funding since 2001. In 
2012, he recommended a 3.1-per-
cent raise; in 2013, a 2.2-percent 
raise.

“Going back to the increased 

education budget, I think that’s 
been validated multiple times that 
we’ve been investing in education 
and we continue to invest in edu-
cation,” Snyder told reporters.

Cynthia Wilbanks, the Uni-

versity’s vice president for gov-
ernment 
relations, 
said 
the 

University plans to work closely 
with state officials as the budget 
proposal progresses through the 
legislature.

“We certainly appreciate the 

governor’s recommendation for 
additional state funding, espe-
cially in the constrained budget 
environment this year,” she wrote 
in a statement. “This maintains 
the momentum of increased state 
investment in higher education.”

Don Grimes, senior research 

associate for the University’s 
Institute for Research on Labor, 
Employment and the Economy, 
said given the deficit, he was sur-
prised to see the higher educa-
tion funding increase, along with 
the proposal to elevate wages for 
skilled trades students.

“They seemed to have been able 

to make good use of their revenue 
that they have been able to find,” 
Grimes said. “I didn’t expect that 
large of increase in university 
appropriations.”

However, Grimes cited the 

continual need to reform corpo-
rate business firms cashing in on 
tax credits, which was a major 
contributor to this fiscal year’s 
budget deficit.

“They shouldn’t be allowed to 

do that all in one period,” Grimes 
added. “In other words, they 
should be forced to get those tax 
credits spread out over a number 
of years.”

Similar to budgets from the 

past three years, the governor’s 
recommendation also set aside 
additional funding for univer-

sities that meet performance 
metrics or cap tuition raises at a 
certain percent. Last year, the cap 
was 3.2 percent, which the Uni-
versity met by raising tuition 1.6 
percent. This year, the cap will be 
2.8 percent.

Additionally, the proposal allo-

cated $500,000 for sexual assault 
prevention on college campuses. 
Over the past year, two universi-
ties in the state — Michigan State 
University and the University 
of Michigan — have come under 
federal investigation for how they 
address sexual assault reporting.

Snyder didn’t cite specific cir-

cumstances prompting the fund-
ing during his announcement.

“I believe it’s appropriate to 

make an investment,” he told law-
makers.

According to budget docu-

ments released by Snyder’s office, 
the $500,000 will be a one-time 
allocation to “provide a system 
wide approach to develop com-
prehensive prevention best prac-
tices, assessment strategies, and 
effective response efforts.”

Education Prof. Betty Over-

ton-Adkins said she was pleased 
overall that the budget proposal 
included an increase to higher 
education funding.

“If Michigan is going to con-

tinue to keep pace with the rest of 
the nation in terms of continuing 
to provide a very strong program 
of higher education for its citi-
zens, we certainly need it to have 
a contingent consideration for 
increases to our budget,” she said.

Overton-Adkins added that the 

increase of funding could lead to 
additional funding from other 
outside sources.

“When the legislature and 

governor signaled their support 
for higher education, it also is a 
catalyst for other agencies and 

organizations also to support us,” 
Overton-Adkins said. “I think in 
some ways it also helps to attract 
additional dollars, because we can 
point to the support that the state 
provided the institution.”

Along with higher education, 

K-12 programs and skilled trades 
programs also received a boost. 
The governor proposed a 75-per-
cent increase from the amount 
currently spent on skilled trades 
programs — from $47.6 million 
to $83.2 million. He also recom-
mended $25 million in support for 
a new initiative to increase third-
grade reading scores in the state 
and $75 increase in per-pupil 
funding for K-12 schools.

After 
the 
budget 
presenta-

tion, Lt. Gov. Brian Calley briefly 
discussed an upcoming ballot 
proposal, which would increase 
Michigan’s sales tax to pay for fixes 
to the state’s roads. The 2016 fiscal 
year budget doesn’t assume pas-
sage of that proposal, Calley said.

Snyder told reporters later in 

the day that the road legislation, 
which was signed last year but 
goes before voters in May, simpli-
fies the use of the fuel tax and the 
sales tax.

“Fuel taxes go to local govern-

ment roads,” Snyder said. “It’s a 
straightforward, comprehensive 
tax structure … that provides both 
certainty and adequate resources 
that can go both to (the) trans-
portation system that our people 
deserve and the education system 
is protected in the meantime.”

If passed, the restructuring 

would impact the way universi-
ties are funded. A percentage of 
a university’s overall state alloca-
tions would stem from the gener-
al fund instead of the School Aid 
Fund, which would be restricted 
to community colleges and K-12 
programs under the proposal.

had a lasting impact on women of 
color who are involved in the arts 
during the opening portion.

Robin Wilson, the 2013 recipi-

ent of the Shirley Verrett Award 
and also a member of the steering 
committee, presented Goodison 
with the award. Wilson said the 
award honors women of color in 
the arts who are often considered 

an outlier, and are interested in top-
ics not always valued by the major-
ity of scholars.

“When you look around this 

campus, when you look things 
that are named after people, 
there are no Black people,” she 
said. “This (award) is something 
we could create that would have 
longevity and would signify our 
presence on this campus. Being 
a woman of color and in the arts 
who had a special interest in 
women who were in the arts and 
in particular women of color.”

Throughout 
the 
ceremony, 

Goodison was recognized for 
encouraging and inspiring female 
faculty and students from diverse 
backgrounds.

Robert Sellers, vice provost for 

equity, inclusion and academic 
affairs, said Verret’s spirit and 
influence lived on through Goodi-
son’s 
teaching, 
performance, 

scholarship and service.

The award ceremony included 

a musical performance by Ver-
rett’s former opera students and a 
poetry reading in tribute to Goodi-

son by University alum Zilka Joseph, 
one of Goodison’s former students 
and distinguished poet.

In an interview after the event, 

Joseph said while she was a stu-
dent, Goodison was an incredibly 
welcoming and caring professor.

“(She) was present and so kind 

and made you feel like home — 
someone who embraced you,” 
Joseph said. “We need people like 
Lorna in an environment which 
becomes almost like a machine. 
Sometimes we forget we are just 
human beings.”

shooter as 46-year-old Craig 
Stephen Hicks, who also lived in 
the apartment complex. While 
the suspect’s wife said in a press 
conference that her husband 
was not motivated by religion, 
members of the victims’ families 
have argued the incident should 
be characterized as a hate crime. 
No motive has yet been officially 
identified.

The Daily Tar Heel, UNC’s 

student newspaper, reported 
large crowds had gathered to 
attend a vigil on campus Mon-
day night.

At the vigil in Ann Arbor, 

many students addressed Islam-
ophobia in the United States. 
They expressed anger over what 
they called the U.S. media’s 
biased coverage of the Cha-
pel Hill shooting, and said the 
deaths should be seen as a hate 
crime.

“We’re doing this ceremony 

because we think it’s important 
to bring the awareness that this 
was done because of hate crime,” 
said Education senior Sheza 
Mansoor, a member of the MSA.

Mansoor also stressed the 

importance of the vigil for 
bringing together students of all 
different identities on campus.

“We shouldn’t be differenti-

ated by our religion or race or 
culture,” he said. “We all stand 
together because it’s part of 
humanity to stand against injus-
tice, and this is complete injus-
tice.”

Faculty and staff members 

also attended the vigil to dem-
onstrate support for Muslim stu-
dents on campus.

Trey Boynton, director of the 

Office of Multi-Ethnic Student 
Affairs, who spoke during the 
ceremony, expressed the impor-

tance of coming together in 
times of tragedy in an interview 
with The Michigan Daily after 
the event.

“Vigils like this allow us to 

come together in community, 
and mourn together, and be 
sad together, and ask for jus-
tice together,” Boynton said. “I 
think that that’s important when 
you’re feeling deeply saddened 
by an act of violence like this.”

Engineering graduate student 

Andrew Lynch, who partici-
pated in the vigil, said the event 
was representative of the Uni-
versity’s diverse community and 
growing atmosphere of accep-
tance.

“The fact that we are at Mich-

igan means that we always are 
willing to make space for every-
body at the table, and that every-
one’s welcome to express who 
they are,” Lynch said.

However, in terms of the Uni-

versity’s atmosphere of inclusiv-
ity, Lynch said there was still 
some improvement to be made.

“We’re working on it,” he 

said. “I think we’re better off 
than a lot of places, but we still 
absolutely have a lot of work left 
to do.”

LSA senior Saher Rathur, who 

spoke during the ceremony, said 
she was happy to see both Mus-
lim and non-Muslim students 
gathered at the vigil.

“I think it was really impor-

tant for the Muslim community 
on campus to see that solidar-
ity from people who aren’t Mus-
lim,” Rathur said.

However, Rathur added that 

Islamophobia is an ongoing issue 
for the Muslim community, and 
both the Muslim and non-Mus-
lim community have to work 
together to combat it.

“A lot of times we’re told 

that whatever we’re feeling, in 
terms of when people say hei-
nous things to us, or do heinous 

death, as well as more general 
concerns about law enforce-
ment in Ann Arbor. The groups 
included Ann Arbor to Fer-
guson, Ann Arbor Concerned 
Citizens for Justice, the Uni-
versity’s Trotter Multicultural 
Center and Black Lives Matter.

An HRC subcommittee has 

been organized to examine 
the potential organization of a 
civilian oversight board for the 
police, City Council announced 
last month. The subcommittee 
members will present propos-
als and findings based on their 
research. More specific charac-
teristics of the oversight board 
would be detailed during the 
process of its formation.

Pamela Dent, another mem-

ber of the HRC, noted that the 
HRC would be able to establish 
the civilian oversight board 
because it is already in the 
charter’s commission, but it 
would still need to be approved 
by City Council. She stressed 
that the creation of the com-
mittee has not yet been agreed 
upon.

“We have a history of doing 

exhaustive research to support 
whatever we may ultimately 
recommend so that we don’t 
sustain any push back, if you 
will, and we are successful 
with what we ultimately deter-
mine,” Dent said.

Mohammad Issa, one of the 

oversight subcommittee mem-
bers, said he 
has been 

in contact with other cities to 
find out how their own over-
sight boards work, including 
their role and limitations.

The commission has set Feb. 

23 as a deadline for the sub-
committee to submit propos-
als on the potential oversight 
board. The subcommittee will 
meet again on Feb. 25.

Along with the proposed 

oversight board, Wilson said 
he and fellow HRC member 
Linda Winkler have met with 
Ann Arbor Police Chief John 
Seto and discussed the train-
ing received by officers, as well 
as racial composition for the 
police force according to rank 
and in proportion to population 
breakdown.

Wilson said Seto is aware of 

the negative perceptions sur-
rounding Ann Arbor police 
officers and wants to change 
that.

“He said that he is open to 

doing more things to make 
people understand that they 
are human beings,” he said. 
“And more fun things with the 
community.”

The report for the civilian 

police oversight subcommittee 
will include the information 
Seto gave the two members, 
Wilson said.

“We made it clear that this is 

more than Aura’s death,” Wil-
son said. “Right now we’re talk-
ing about prevention because a 
life has been lost. And it shall 
not, cannot come back. And 
that where we are in our soci-
ety, is that police officers sup-
posedly are employees.”

throughout the Detroit area to 
teach debating techniques, form 
debate teams and send debaters 
to national tournaments. Since its 
establishment in 2009, the group 
has grown to include more than 250 
students from 18 high schools, and 
boasts a 100-percent graduation 
rate for its participants.

The Society of Hispanic Pro-

fessional Engineers created a 
program called SHPE Jr., an out-
reach campaign at Western Inter-

national High School in Detroit. 
SHPE aims to inspire Hispanic 
youth to pursue careers in sci-
ence, technology, engineering and 
math.

Attendees ultimately voted for 

the donation to go toward the 
Loud Voice Movement, an organi-
zation seeking to empower indi-
viduals in the foster care system 
in Detroit. The money will go 
toward recruitment and bringing 
in speakers for workshops, as well 
as help fund the group’s overall 
functions.

As a Detroit native who spent 

time in the foster care system, LSA 

senior Kamille Tynes, the Loud Voice 
Movement founder, emphasized the 
importance of providing advocacy, 
leadership and professional devel-
opment training for foster youth 
during her presentation.

“Right now, only 2 percent of 

the national population of foster 
youth make it to college,” Tynes 
said. “One of the issues that is so 
near and dear to my heart is edu-
cation, because I know like you 
guys know, that’s the way to suc-
ceed in life. But if you don’t have 
the support system, or the skills or 
the resources to do it, you won’t be 
able to achieve it. No matter how 

smart you are.”

Tynes created the Loud Voice 

Movement three years ago when 
she was struggling academically 
in her first year at the University. 
She said she knew that if she was 
struggling, other foster kids were 
probably struggling, too. She took 
a class about community organiz-
ing to research the best ways to 
get the group on its feet, and last 
year she formally launched the 
program.

“I am so grateful that people 

could hear the passion, and that 
they want to support what we’re 
doing in Detroit,” Tynes said.

SOUP
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AWARD
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BUDGET
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VIGIL
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