I don’t deserve a professional
career or that I am a bad student
and a person,” Kardell said. “As
leaders of the future, we don’t
want to feed into a system of mis-
information and justice. We need
to have our voices heard now.”
3-News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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Monday, April 6, 2015 — 3A
tricts in Battle Creek and Detroit.
He said he hopes to increase the
number of participating students
from 46 to 100.
“We want to allow them to accli-
mate to the culture and make them
passionate about the University,”
Royster said. “We want them to
envision themselves at the Univer-
sity.”
Black students enrolled at the
University currently make up 4
percent of the student body.
After the Proposal 2 ballot ini-
tiative passed in 2006, the state
of Michigan outlawed the consid-
eration of race, among other fac-
tors, in the admissions process for
public colleges. Minority enroll-
ment subsequently declined, and
the University has relied largely
on recruitment efforts to encour-
age underrepresented minority
students to apply and then enroll at
the Unviersity.
Royster
said,
by
working
through a student group rather
than the administration, MIIAAR
has more freedom and it is easier to
make efforts to increase minority
enrollment without being limited
by Proposal 2. However, Royster
said, because the program is not a
part of the University, it is some-
times harder to receive the extra
resources
University-affiliated
programs receive.
“Students can target minority
groups and bring them to campus,”
Royster said. “For us, as students,
we can create a program and reach
out and make a difference.”
E. Royster Harper, vice presi-
dent for student life, said according
to the admissions office, students
who visit campus are more likely
to attend upon admittance. The
program, she said, is attempting
to develop a relationship between
high-achieving minority students
and the University to increase the
likelihood they will want to apply
and attend.
Erica Sanders, interim direc-
tor of Undergraduate Admissions,
said students on campus want to
connect with others from simi-
lar backgrounds or from the same
area. She applauded the program’s
effort to connect prospective stu-
dents with current students from
the same area.
“We are encouraged by the level
of commitment and dedication
from Will Royster and the Black
Student Union to make this pro-
gram a success,” Sanders wrote in
a statement.
In past years, the University has
struggled with increasing minority
enrollment.
Last year, members of the
Black Student Union launched
the #BBUM movement, which
demanded the University increase
Black enrollment to at least 10 per-
cent of the student population.
MIIAAR worked alongside Rob
Sellers, vice provost for equity,
inclusion and academic affairs, to
help develop the residential pro-
gram. Sellers heads the Office of
the Provost’s Committee on Diver-
sity, Equity and Inclusion, which
University Provost Martha Pollack
convened in December 2013, fol-
lowing the #BBUM campaign.
The committee’s report, released
in September, recommended the
University heavily invest in new
and existing programs to build
partnerships with target districts
“to increase the pipeline of college-
ready underrepresented minority
students as well as first-generation
students.”
Sellers said the MIIAAR pro-
gram aims to help build familiar-
ity and trust between talented
students and the University.
“We commend the Black Student
Union for its dedication and com-
mitment to creating a more diverse
campus,” Sellers said in a state-
ment. “This is a goal we all share.”
Harper said though the pro-
gram would help get students more
familiar with the University cam-
pus, she cannot predict whether
minority
enrollment
numbers
would see a direct impact.
“I think it’s just trying to
increase the notion that students
will consider Michigan as an option
by having them on campus, getting
them familiar with being on cam-
pus, going to some classes, meet-
ing with other students,” Harper
said. “I think that this helps in that
recruitment effort, but I’m not sure
you can draw a direct relationship
between if you do this then you’ll
have more students of color on
campus, I think that’s a stretch.”
Royster said because this is the
first year of the program, he, too,
can’t promise an increase in minori-
ty enrollment without any influence
in the admissions process. Howev-
er, he said, he can still inspire stu-
dents to attend the University.
“When it comes to students in
a minority environment, under-
standing they can come here and
that there is a body and a face that
looks like theirs is very important,”
Royster said. “We want to get them
more excited to apply and more
aware of the obstacles they will
face to apply.”
member, said many of the partici-
pating organizations meet togeth-
er regularly, and so hosting this
event was a way to share the work
that these groups have done.
“I think sustainability is some-
thing that our previous president
and our current president, Mark
Schlissel, have kind of seen as a
really important value for the Uni-
versity to have and I think a lot of
students feel that way,” Yang said.
“For CSG to put on an event like
this really represents how key sus-
tainability is as a value to every-
one.”
Sustainability was the tagline of
the day, with each group present
weighing in on the concept.
LSA
sophomore
Stephanie
Galczyk is a member of the LSA
Student
Government’s
Taking
Responsibility for the Earth and
Environment subcommittee —
which promotes more sustainable
practices within LSA. At the event,
she said, to her, sustainability is
“preserving of natural resources
that are far from abundant.”
The subcommittee distributed
natural cleaning products and
“seed bombs,” colorful clumps
of birdseed with biodegradable
paper adhesive.
Keith Soster, director of student
engagement for University Unions,
said sustainability through the
scope of Michigan Dining means
providing students with locally
produced food processed within
250 miles of campus. In the spirit
of representing local produce, Sos-
ter dressed as a carrot.
He added that making use of
seasonality is another way the
University reaps maximum ben-
efits regarding food quality as well
as cost efficiency. Soster spoke to
the effectiveness of this technique
in incorporating healthier food
into the campus diet.
“Right now, asparagus is out of
season, so it tastes bad and would
be expensive,” he said. “We save
money by not getting it.”
Michigan Dining chefs were
prominently
featured
in
Fri-
day’s event, performing cooking
demonstrations and distributing
healthy snacks.
Friday’s festivities also drew
discussion on the role of students
in promoting environmental pro-
tection.
Rackham
student
Jonathan
Morris, a member of the Divest
and Invest campaign, said activ-
ism is a campus’s most powerful
tool in making constructive, sus-
tainable change. Divest and Invest
has repeatedly called on the Uni-
versity to divest from coal and fos-
sil fuels.
Most
recently,
Divest
and
Invest worked with the CSG to
pass a resolution calling for the
University’s Board of Regents to
create a committee to consider the
University’s investments and the
potential of divesting from oil and
coal companies.
“The best thing for students
to remember is that they have
a tremendous amount of politi-
cal power,” Morris said. “Just by
coming out to an event, or signing
petitions, they can make a change.
Activism works when it is run on
clean, student powered energy.”
Engineering
junior
Jessica
Abfalter, president of the Uni-
versity’s chapter of Take Back
the Tap, a student group that
promotes
the
importance
of
municipal water facilities and the
value of tap water, said the event
showed her that most people
want to reduce the use of plastic
bottles. She said altering public
opinion is perhaps no longer the
primary goal at hand.
“It’s been really refreshing to
see that it’s not really a matter of
changing public opinion that we
need to focus on as much as get-
ting the administration to kind
of follow along in what the stu-
dent body and the citizens of Ann
Arbor already have expressed
that they feel about bottle water,”
Abfalter said.
The Earth Day celebration also
showcased the efforts of Beat the
Bottle, a petition launched last
week by LSA senior Joanna Thel-
en that calls on the University to
phase out plastic bottle sales.
LSA sophomore Jayson Toweh,
CSG
Sustainability
Commis-
sion treasurer, added that stu-
dent activism for sustainability
has expanded significantly since
Earth Day’s conception — a
positive sign for the future. He
dressed as “Rufus the Recycler,”
the blue mascot of the Univer-
sity’s Waste and Recycling Office.
“Informing people about a
cause and going to the people in
charge, is the right way,” he said.
“It shows education and gets rid
of the crazy tree-hugger image
and makes it about the science.”
This new wave of “formal
activists”
are
what
Toweh
believes is the future of a less rad-
ical and more mature method of
making change on campuses.
“This
event
raises
aware-
ness of the wonderful things our
Earth provides and celebrates
these things, as well as identifies
the problems our planet faces,”
he said. “We hope students will
participate in more sustainable
actions and take initiative around
campus.”
of the show without getting dis-
tracted by the planning process,
which began in January.
“We put a lot of time and effort
into it,” he said. “A lot of the time
it’s easy to get caught up in the
logistical work, but the main thing
we wanted to emphasize was the
community of musicians and danc-
ers that represent South Asian arts
… The main idea is to build that
community and build that con-
nection and showcase the arts to
everyone.”
LSA freshmen Shalini Rao and
Dhara Gosalia, publicity co-chairs
on the TBS Committee, posted fly-
ers around campus, chalked side-
walks and promoted the show on
social media.
Throughout March, members of
Michigan Sahana and other partic-
ipating dance groups — including
Michigan Manzil and the Michi-
gan Bhangra Team — posted selfies
on social media with TBS’s mascot,
a bear named Thyagraja, using the
hashtags #traja2015 and #tbs to
promote the event.
Affectionately known as T-Raja,
the bear mascot helped make TBS
more popular and visible this year,
Rao said.
“People who might not normally
notice what the ‘That Brown Show’
table is, they see the bear dancing
around and that’s how we can get
our name out there,” Rao said. “The
mascot really helped us with get-
ting all the other teams integrated
with TBS. Even though Michigan
Sahana hosts it, TBS has been put
on by eight different groups in
total, so in the past years it has
been a struggle getting those other
teams more involved in promoting
TBS with us, but taking selfies with
the bear was a great promotional
tool.”
Rao added that Saturday’s audi-
ence was one of the biggest in TBS’
five-year run.
“It was so rewarding to see
people asking me if they could sit
in the taped-off area because there
weren’t other seats left, or having
people ask if to go into the balcony
because the main floor was that
packed,” Rao said. “We got a lot of
people to come who didn’t come
last year.”
Ann Arbor residents Pallavi
Prabhu and Baani Jain said they
were impressed with TBS. Prabhu,
who trained in Indian classical
dance for 13 years, said her favor-
ite part of the show was the final
performance put on by Michigan
Sahana dancers.
“I think it was really well-coor-
dinated and I think they choreo-
graphed it themselves,” Prabhu.
“It takes a lot of effort to pull off
something where a teacher isn’t
watching.”
Prabhu will begin attending
the University next fall, and said
she hopes to come back and watch
future performances of TBS.
“Hopefully next year I’ll be par-
ticipating in it,” Prabhu added.
LSA freshman Rahul Ahluwalia
said he attended the event to sup-
port his friends in Michigan Raas,
Michigan Manzil and Michigan
Izzat, but enjoyed the classical and
modern dance fusion performanc-
es.
“I thought it spread the culture
well,” Ahluwalia said.
Siva noted that he regularly
snuck out to the audience from
backstage throughout the show to
observe reactions. He said numer-
ous people after the show told him
how much they liked the event.
“When the other teams told me
how much they enjoyed the show, it
really made me feel like a commu-
nity had been built,” he said.
cities likely to see a new Shinola
store this year.
Ann Arbor will be the first.
Heath Carr, chief executive
officer of Shinola’s parent firm
Bedrock Manufacturing Co.,
said Ann Arbor residents often
visit the Detroit store, prompt-
ing the opening of a Main Street
location.
“We’re very excited to be
coming to Ann Arbor,” Carr said.
“We believe we have a solid cus-
tomer following there based on
the people that make the trip
over to our Detroit store and for
that reason we’re very excited
to be there and can’t wait to get
open.”
Shinola produces a variety
of products, including watches,
bikes, leather accessories and
paper products. The Detroit
location produces all of their
watches and bikes while leather
production
expands
beyond
Detroit to St. Louis, New York
and Massachusetts. Paper prod-
ucts are made in Ann Arbor.
Though operated by Bed-
rock Manufacturing in Texas
and owned by Swiss timepiece
maker Ronda, Shinola is based in
Detroit. The city is its epicenter
for sales, manufacturing, mar-
keting, design, product develop-
ment and distribution.
The crux of the Shinola brand
is that products are manufac-
tured in America, Carr said.
“We believe in the beauty
of manufacturing and creating
jobs in the United States and we
believe that folks in the United
States — specifically in Detroit
and the other cities where we
manufacture —that people can
design, create and manufacture
beautiful products in the United
States and we want to support
that as best as we can,” Carr said.
Edwards Brothers Malloy is
an Ann Arbor-based book print-
ing company and plant.
John Edwards, president of
Edwards Brothers Malloy, said
while they print a variety of book
types — such as textbooks —
they also supply Shinola with all
of their sketchbooks and lined
and gridded journals of all sizes.
“We’re used to shipping books
that we make all over the coun-
try and all over the world, so it’s
pretty neat that they’re actu-
ally having a store here in Ann
Arbor,” he said. “I think for our
employees it’s a pretty neat thing
that they can go see our product
placed at a store in town, a prod-
uct we make for them.”
Like the Shinola in Detroit,
along with its products the store
will have a Commonwealth Cof-
fee on its first floor. Unique to
the Ann Arbor location, how-
ever, will be a “finished-out”
lower level to be used as an event
space for brand and community
events.
“It’s really just about con-
necting to the community and
having a place where not only
can people have a coffee and
purchase the products that we
manufacture here in the United
States, but also they can come in
and hang out,” Carr said.
While Carr said the number
of employees at the Ann Arbor
store will be contingent on the
store’s volume of customers
and products, Shinola’s other
branches employ an average of
eight workers.
Beyond functioning as a store,
Carr said the Ann Arbor Shinola
may also partner with the Uni-
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versity, as is done through its Detroit
store with the College for Creative
Studies. Because the store is locat-
ed near the campus, the company
works with the school to both par-
ticipate in and sponsor classes, Carr
said. They’ve given courses in envi-
ronmental design, bicycle design,
watch design and leather accessory
design.
“We’re actively involved with the
school, we love being in that build-
ing, being part of the creative energy
from there,” Carr said.
While no official discussion has
begun as to whether Ann Arbor’s
new Shinola store will open up lines
of communication with the Univer-
sity, Carr said it’s likely to arise even-
tually.
“We love being in the town where
the University is and introducing
the brand to the University and the
community there, so I wouldn’t be
surprised if we’re working with the
University in many diverse ways in
the future,” he said.
Shinola has already collaborated
with University students. In SHEI
Magazine’s last issue, which had
a theme of “movement,” Shinola’s
watches, bikes and leather goods
were featured in a 10-page spread.
LSA senior Anna Fuller, editor
in chief of SHEI Magazine, said the
issue was her first experience with
the brand, and was a very positive
one.
“We had such great success work-
ing with them this past fall and
everyone really loved the brand,”
she said.