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CAMPUS LIFE

RUBY WALLAU/Daily

LEFT: Ann Arbor residents Keith Orr and Martin Contreras toast during a celebration for their anniversary and the anniversaries of 300 same-sex couples who 
married one-year ago before the ban was upheld. The gathering took place at the couple’s bar, Aut Bar, on Tuesday. TOP RIGHT: Some of the same-sex couples 
who married last year raise their hands. BOTTOM LEFT: Ann Arbor residents Alexi and Jennifer Chapin-Smith toast during the celebration. 

MUSIC Matters 
to host Oscar, 

Grammy-winning 

hip-hop artist

By MICHAEL SUGERMAN

Daily News Editor

One could say that this year’s 

MUSIC Matters headlining act 
has a certain amount of “glory.” 
He’s known for his philanthropy 
and his meaningful lyrics. He’s 
“faithful,” he’s “funky for you” 
— and at the end of the day, sign-
ing him just seems like common 
sense.

Common will take the Hill 

Auditorium stage April 17 to 
close SpringFest. He follows in 
the footsteps of 2 Chainz in 2014, 
Ben Folds in 2013 and J. Cole in 
2012.

Though Common has been a 

mainstay in the hip-hop com-
munity for years, he has recently 
received acclaim for his collabo-
ration with John Legend on 

“Glory,” a song from the film 
“Selma” that won both a Golden 
Globe and an Academy Award 
this year. He also won a Gram-
my in 2003 for Best R&B Song, 
“Love of My Life (An Ode to 
Hip-Hop).”

Business senior Darren Appel, 

MUSIC Matters president, said 
the organization signed Com-
mon to close SpringFest because 
his 
background 
aligns 
with 

MUSIC Matters’ philanthropic 
goals.

In addition to funding an 

endowed “Big Thinkers” schol-
arship that is set to support 
its first recipient in Fall 2016, 
MUSIC Matters is in the process 
of funding and designing a sum-
mer leadership camp through 
the University for underrepre-
sented youth from the Metro 
Detroit area that will launch in 
summer 2016.

Student tickets for the event 

will cost $15 for balcony seats, 
$30 for mezzanine, $40 for 
main floor and $70 for front row. 
Non-student tickets will cost 

Former fraternity 
brothers charged 
with destruction 
of property, MIPs

By ALLANA AKHTAR

Daily Staff Reporter

Several members of the Sigma 

Alpha Mu fraternity will face 
criminal charges for vandalizing a 
Gaylord, Mich. ski resort in Janu-
ary, the Otsego County prosecutor 
said Friday.

In a press release, Otsego 

County Prosecutor Michael Rola 
said several members of the fra-
ternity will be charged, including 
the SAM president, treasurer and 
another member.

The president and treasurer 

have been charged for minors in 
possession of alcohol and drugs 
and the other member will face 
a felony charge of Malicious 
Destruction of Building over 
$1,000, but under $20,000.

The fraternity has already said 

it will pay the restitutions in full.

The prosecutor said charges 

will likely be brought against 
additional members, as more iden-
tification information becomes 
available. The release said the 
Treetops Resort does not have 
security cameras in their common 
areas at the time of the ski trip.

“Due to the significant number 

of students attending at the time 
of the event in question deter-
mining the identities and spe-
cific actions of other individuals 
believed to be involved has been 
hampered, however additional 
steps are currently being taken to 
hold them accountable, and also 
to see to it that persons who were 
not involved in any of the alleged 
criminal activity are not falsely 
accused,” the release stated.

According to the Michigan 

State Police post in Gaylord, the 
state police has closed its investi-
gation, which had been in process 
over the last few months.

In 
January, 
the 
fraternity 

caused an estimated $250,000 
worth of property damage to the 
Treetops Resort. Resort officials 
also reported $200,000 in dam-
age to the resort’s brand, lost 
revenue and legal fees.

‘U’ organizers 
narrow project 
proposals to 70 

before final round

By BRANDON 

SUMMERS-MILLER

For the Daily

Three months after receiving 

almost 500 startup pitches from 
high school students, Startup 
High School has narrowed its pool 
to 70 semifinalists, all of whom 
gathered for an “Entrepreneur-
ship Field Day” in Ann Arbor on 
Saturday.

Innovatrium, a local consulting 

firm, hosted the event in its down-
town Ann Arbor office.

Startup High School, now in 

its third year, is run under the 
umbrella of MPowered, one of the 
University’s 
flagship 
entrepre-

neurship-focused student organi-
zations. Startup High School will 
help winning applicants prepare 
to launch their own project pitch-
es.

Business 
sophomore 
Ovijit 

 Annual conference 

draws 1,200 

participants for 

lineup of 14 speakers

By EMMA KINERY

Daily Staff Reporter

“Constructive Interference” 

was the theme at play during the 
sixth annual TEDxUofM event 
Friday at the Power Center. The 
event drew 1,200 people and 

featured 14 keynote speakers, 
all whom are affiliated with the 
University.

Constructive 
interference, 

in physical application, refers 
to waves meeting when travel-
ing along the same medium in 
opposite directions. The TEDx 
conference transformed this 
concept to discuss how the con-
fluence of conflicting ideas can 
shape each of the originals for 
the better.

Broken into four sessions of 

three to four speakers each, the 
day-long event included perfor-

mances by students and local 
acts and lunch provided by local 
venues. Those who purchased 
tickets beforehand were able to 
attend a dinner after the event 
supplied by Zingerman’s, which 
allowed the audience to meet 
the speakers.

Throughout the day, organiz-

ers promoted communicating 
with its participants through 
social 
media. 
People 
were 

encouraged to send any ques-
tions they had for the speakers 
via Twitter with the hashtag 

One year ago, 300 
married in Mich. 

before judge granted 

emergency stay 

By ALLANA AKHTAR

Daily Staff Reporter

Outside a small Ann Arbor 

pub Sunday evening, dozens of 
couple drank champagne, chat-

ted excitedly and blew bubbles in 
celebration of their wedding anni-
versaries. However, in the minds 
of many, Sunday was no ordinary 
anniversary celebration.

Same-sex couples from the 

Washtenaw County area gathered 
at Aut Bar on Sunday to commem-
orate the anniversary of their first 
year of marriage — unions granted 
during a one-day period last year 
when same-sex marriage was 
legal in Michigan.

On March 22, 2014 — the day 

after U.S. District Judge Ber-
nard Friedman struck down the 
state’s same-sex marriage ban — 
Washtenaw County recognized 
74 same-sex marriages. The state 
issued 300 marriage licenses and 
married more than 100 couples 
directly within a five-hour period.

However, Michigan Attorney 

General Bill Schuette (R) request-
ed an emergency stay on the deci-
sion, which the Court of Appeals 
granted the day after Friedman’s 
ruling. Once the emergency stay 

went into effect, same-sex mar-
riage was no longer permitted.

Even so, the district court 

decided to recognize the 300 mar-
riages preformed prior to the stay.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for 

the Sixth Circuit upheld the Mich-
igan’s same-sex marriage ban last 
November. The case is now before 
the U.S. Supreme Court, which 
will hear oral arguments on April 
28.

Keith Orr, co-owner of Aut Bar, 

ENTREPRENEURSHIP
GREEK LIFE

See STARTUP, Page 3A
See TEDX, Page 3A
See CHARGES, Page 3A

See COMMON, Page 2A
See ANNIVERSARY, Page 3A

GRANT HARDY/Daily

Workers demolish North Hall, the building that housed ROTC departments, to make way for the new Biological Sciences 
building on Friday. 

NORTH HALL FALL

Common 
to perform 
at Hill Aud.
this April

Same-sex couples celebrate 
first wedding anniversaries

Startup High
School hosts 
field day for 
semi-finalists

Sigma Alpha Mu 
executives face 
criminal charges

Sixth TEDxUM explores 
‘constructive interference’

INDEX
Vol. CXXIV, No. 86
©2015 The Michigan Daily
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