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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Monday, April 6, 2015
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Spring Game
Initiative aims to
increase minority
enrollment amid
calls for change
By ALLANA AKHTAR
and CARLY NOAH
Daily Staff Reporters
The University will host 46 high
school freshmen and sophomores
from Kalamazoo Public Schools
for a three-day residential pro-
gram designed to spur increased
application and enrollment num-
bers for underrepresented minori-
ties on campus.
The purpose of the program
is to expose younger high school
students to the University in a way
that will encourage them to aspire
to attend. Students must have at
least a 3.0 grade point average and
submit a 300-word essay to gain
acceptance into the program.
The newly formed Michigan
Institute for the Improvement of
African American Representation
— a committee connected with the
University’s Black Student Union
— will organize and run the pro-
gram.
Engineering junior Will Roys-
ter, who helped launch MIIAAR
and is the BSU Academic Concerns
Committee chair, said the idea
stemmed from interest in expand-
ing minority representation on
campus. He said many of the pro-
grams offered for minorities at the
University don’t provide partici-
pants with the full college experi-
ence.
“Most of the other programs
don’t let students allow themselves
to visualize themselves as students
on campus,” Royster said.
Among the activities planned
are opportunities for participants
to meet with various student orga-
nizations, take a campus tour, view
a presentation from an admissions
counselor, participate in an SAT
workshop and hear from Univer-
sity alum Shawn Blanchard, who
teaches mathematics for the Uni-
versity’s Summer Bridge Program,
a pre-freshman year academic
preparation program.
While this is the immersion
program’s pilot year, Royster said
he hopes to increase participation
from other underrepresented high
schools in the state, such as dis-
‘Hash Bash’ promotes
ballot measure
legalizing cannabis
and hemp use
By ISOBEL FUTTER
and SAMIHA MATIN
Daily Staff Reporters
Marijuana smoke, along with
screams of, “Free the weed, end
the war,” filled the air Saturday
as the 44th annual Hash Bash
unfolded on the Diag and Mon-
roe Street. The event lit up at
“high noon.”
Speakers included State Rep.
Jeff Irwin (D–Ann Arbor), Lan-
sing Mayor Virg Bernero, City
Councilmember
Sabra
Briere
(D—Ward
1)
and
acclaimed
comedian and activist Tommy
Chong.
Since its inception, Hash Bash
has been an outlet for advocates
of marijuana decriminalization.
This held true Saturday. Charlie
Strachbein, who coordinates the
accompanying Monroe Street
Fair, estimated that 9,000 people
were in attendance. One of these
attendees was the event’s origi-
nator: John Sinclair.
The first Hash Bash was held
in 1972 as a response to the 1969
arrest of activist and poet John
Sinclair, who gave two marijua-
na joints to an undercover offi-
cer. Sinclair was sentenced to 10
years in prison, which sparked
the “John Sinclair Freedom
Rally” in December 1971.
Held
in
the
University’s
Crisler Arena, the event featured
a host of celebrities, including
John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Stevie
Wonder and Allen Ginsberg who
came to protest for Sinclair’s
release. The Michigan Supreme
Court eventually overturned the
law under which Sinclair had
been convicted, and by the fol-
lowing April, the first Hash Bash
was underway.
“I started this and I’m still
alive, so I like to come back,” Sin-
clair said. “This was all a little
idea me and some other people
had 44 years ago … One day, I’ll
be here and we’ll be celebrating
legalization in Michigan.”
A large emphasis at this year’s
Hash Bash was promoting a 2016
state ballot measure that would
legalize cannabis and hemp
use in Michigan. It also aims to
remove past criminal convic-
tions for the possession of mari-
juana.
In Ann Arbor, marijuana pos-
session is a civil infraction —
offenders can incur a $25 fine.
CONNOR BADE/Daily
LEFT: Connor Morrell juggles during the 44th annual Hash Bash Saturday afternoon. UPPER RIGHT: Guitarist Laith Al-Saadi performs the Star Spangled Banner
at Hash Bash on the Diag. LOWER RIGHT: A crowd gathers on the Diag with a large ‘Legalize 2016’ banner, handmade signs and flags.
Diag festivities
feature student
organizations, tap
water tasting
By ANASTASSIOS
ADAMOPOULOS and
JACQUELINE CHARNIGA
Daily Staff Reporters
Though Earth Day is celebrated
nationally on April 22, University
celebrations came weeks early this
year to accommodate potential
conflict with final exams.
Central Student Government’s
Commission on University Sus-
tainability, the Student Sustain-
ability Initiative and University
Dining co-hosted the festivities,
in partnership with more than 20
campus groups Friday. The event
drew in both University students
and local attendees, with activities
underway on both the Diag and in
Palmer Commons.
On the Diag, activities included
sustainability-themed
games,
moss graffiti and a “take-the-tap-
water taste test,” in which students
were asked to taste test unlabeled
containers of bottled and tap water
and guess which was which.
Students selected Knute Nadel-
hoffer, professor of ecology and
evolutionary biology and direc-
tor of the University’s Biological
Station, to address attendees and
explain the significance of Earth
Day. He spoke from the steps of
Hatcher Graduate Library to the
crowd.
Nadelhoffer spoke to the inten-
tions of Gaylord Nelson, the former
Wisconsin senator who founded
the day in 1970, whose wish was to
raise awareness about a multitude
of environmental issues, including
pollution and the impact of over-
population on the environment.
“Back then, we had no idea
about fossil fuels and burning for-
ests,” Nadelhoffer said.
LSA senior Angela Yang, the
CSG Commission on University
Sustainability chair and SSI board
‘U’ to host
high school
program for
46 students
ACADEMICS
For 44th year, marijuana
advocates assemble in A2
SUSTAINABILITY
‘U’ celebrates
environment on
early Earth Day
GRANT HARDY/Daily
The Michigan Raas Team performs in “That Brown Show” at the Power Center on Friday evening.
South Asian groups dance
in fifth ‘That Brown Show’
Several ensembles
perform during
event headed by
Michigan Sahana
By TANYA MADHANI
Daily Staff Reporter
Several of the University’s
South Asian student perfor-
mance groups gathered at the
Power Center on Saturday night
to perform in the fifth annual
“That Brown Show.”
Michigan Sahana, a student
group composed of Indian clas-
sical dancers and musicians,
organizes and hosts TBS every
year.
Engineering
sophomore
Sandeep Siva, Michigan Sahana
vice president and TBS Com-
mittee chair, said the event
was created to showcase South
Asian arts to University students
and local residents. Siva said
the founders of the event titled
the event “That Brown Show”
to connect across a variety of
groups across campus.
More than 800 students,
alumni from the performing
groups, family members of par-
ticipants and Ann Arbor resi-
dents attended Saturday’s event.
The most challenging part of
the show, Siva said, was preserv-
ing the original idea and identity
Detroit-based
company plans to
launch new stores
across the country
By LINDSEY SCULLEN
Daily Staff Reporter
In the time it takes a watch’s
hour hand to complete about 1080
full cycles, a new store will pop up
in Ann Arbor selling a product to
measure just that.
By mid-May, a store selling Shi-
nola products — an up-and-com-
ing brand known primarily for
its watches — will open on South
Main and East Liberty streets.
The new store in Ann Arbor
will be the first of eight to 10 addi-
tional store openings slated for
Detroit-based Shinola this year,
adding to the store’s six exist-
ing locations. Washington D.C.,
Miami, San Francisco, Palo Alto,
Los Angeles, Dallas, Austin, New
York and London are among other
Shinola
to open
Ann Arbor
location
See SHINOLA, Page 3A
See SHOW, Page 3A
See EARTH, Page 3A
See PROGRAM, Page 3A
See HASH BASH, Page 3A
BUSINESS
INDEX
Vol. CXXIV, No. 96
©2015 The Michigan Daily
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