Black student enrollment at the
University of Michigan decreased
in this year’s freshman class of
2020, according to enrollment
figures released by the University
Wednesday morning.
The new class of students is
overall more diverse than last
year’s class, however.
Enrollment of Black freshmen
fell from 5.1 percent in 2015
to 4.6 percent this year. 13.8
percent of the class comes from
underrepresented
minority
backgrounds
—
a
category
including
Black,
Hawaiian,
Hispanic, Native American, or
a combination of two or more
ethnicities — marking an increase
of 1 percent from last year in
overall diversity.
Hispanic enrollment rose by
.82 percent in the new class, the
largest increase among any group
of underrepresented minorities.
In an interview with the
Daily in September, University
President
Mark
Schlissel
said the growth in racial and
socioeconomic
diversity
was
more drastic last year due to
newly introduced strategies.
“There won’t be as big a leap
this year as there was last year,”
he said. “It’s the kind of thing
that will continue to bounce up
and down year by year, but it’s
important the overall trajectory is
upward.”
Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin
Ebadi received a standing ovation
from more than 300 students and
faculty for her lecture on gender
and sexuality in Islamic cultures
Wednesday.
The Rackham Amphitheatre
was packed for the Digital
Islamic
Studies
Curriculum
Distinguished lecture, “Gender
and Sexuality in Islamic Culture,”
which was co-hosted by the
Weiser Center for Emerging
Democracies and the University
of Michigan Law School.
Ebadi was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize in 2003 for her work
as a lawyer in Iran, representing
women,
religious
minorities
and other marginalized voices.
Speaking in Farsi through an
interpreter
in
her
remarks
Wednesday, she discussed the
political repression of women
in Islamic countries, citing her
experience as an attorney and as
a Muslim.
She
told
the
crowd
she
appreciated
the
opportunity
to lecture on Islam and the
patriarchy in the Middle East
because she felt much of the fear
surrounding
Islamic
culture
stemmed
from
the
lack
of
knowledge about the region.
“If people in a society want to
live in peace together, there is no
other choice but understanding
and appreciating other’s cultures,”
she said.
Contextualizing
laws
with historical and religious
information, she touched on
the background of a variety of
oppressive laws in the Middle
East, such as the death penalty as
a punishment for homosexuality
and the laws of inheritance that
are limited for women.
Overall, she said she felt
providing
information
helped
combat growing Islamophobia in
society.
“We have to put an end
to the flame before it takes
over, because then we will
have destruction that cannot
be fixed,” she said. “Let’s be
forgiving like the sky, let’s
grow the seed of cooperation
like the earth, spread the
friendship like the wind, be
like fire burning ignorance
and prejudice, be kind to each
other.”
Ebadi
also
provided
an
interpretation of the Quran that
she said permitted the change
of unjust and patriarchal laws.
“Societies change, and things
change in society, so according
to the change in society, the
time and the condition, these
laws must change,” she said.
Following the lecture, a Q&A
session was hosted, in which
audience members asked Ebadi
questions about her experience
and her ideas for positive
Wednesday morning, actor
Wil Wheaton discussed mental
illness and the importance of
state and local level races with
fans at an Ann Arbor comic
book store event, affectionately
referred to as a “Nerds for
Hillary”
by
some
crowd
members.
Wheaton came to the Vault
of Midnight comic book store,
which
drew
approximately
100 people, to campaign for
Democratic
presidential
nominee Hillary Clinton.
The actor — who is known for
his roles in “Star Trek,” “Stand
By Me” and his recurring spot
in “The Big Bang Theory” —
said he’s fond he appeals to this
sort of audience, noting it is
often forgotten.
“Everybody has that group
of people that tends to listen
to them, and we are in a comic
book shop,” he said. “We are
a demographic that I think is
missed a little. People tend to
treat us as just nerds who don’t
matter.”
Nick Yribar, a co-owner of
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Thursday, October 27, 2016
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail
news@michigandaily.com and let us know.
INDEX
Vol. CXXVI, No. 18
©2016 The Michigan Daily
NEWS......................... 2A
OPINION.....................4A
CL ASSIFIEDS............... 5A
SUDOKU..................... 2A
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 A
B S I D E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 B
See ENROLLMENT, Page 3A
EMMA RICHTER/Daily
Engineering junior Dong Yi Chen at the Engineering Student Government Meeting in the Michigan Union Wednesday.
At their Wednesday meeting,
Engineering Student Government
discussed plans to host a review of
the University’s Diversity, Equity
and Inclusion plan, separate from
the forums hosted by the College of
Engineering, because of sentiments
from
students
that
they
felt
uncomfortable and unable to speak
freely at University hosted events.
The planned review is slated
to be held Thursday at 7 p.m. in
Chesbrough Auditorium.
The DEI strategic plan is a
University-wide
initiative
that
aims to create a more diverse and
inclusive
campus
atmosphere.
It was launched by University
President Mark Schlissel early this
October. Under the umbrella of the
overall plan, individual colleges are
charged with organizing specific
initiatives to increase diversity
among their student populations.
The College of Engineering
hosted several forums on the
diversity plan this semester, but
ESG President Rebekah Andrews,
an Engineering senior, said she
thought student-led forums may
draw
more
underrepresented
students to what she referred to as
a more neutral space, saying the
college’s events failed to facilitate
an open environment.
See WHEATON, Page 3A
CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily
Lawyer, Nobel Peace Laureate, and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi speaks about gender and sexuality in the
Islamic culture at Rackham Graduate School Wednesday night.
B-Side
The B-Side explores the
world of witches and
Wiccans on the University of
Michigan’s campus.
» Page 1B
michigandaily.com
For more stories and coverage, visit
See ISLAM, Page 3A
See ESG, Page 3A
The University of Michigan
presented Cooper Charlton,
former
Central
Student
Government
president
and
University
alum,
with
the
James T. Neubacher Award
Wednesday for his commitment
to mental and physical health
support during his tenure.
The
Neubacher
award
recognizes
outstanding
advocacy for the rights and
opportunities of people with
disabilities. The ceremony, held
at the Rackham Assembly Hall,
also featured the presentation
of
other
scholarships
and
certificates
to
students,
alumni, faculty and staff for
their
work
with
disability
rights and awareness.
The
award
is
given
in
memory
of
James.
T
Neubacher, a Michigan Daily
and
University
alum
who
later worked for the Detroit
Free Press. At the Free Press,
Neubacher
advocated
for
equal rights and opportunities
for
those
with
disabilities
through
his
“Disabled
in
See NEUBACHER, Page 3A
Black student
enrollment
decreases for
class of 2020
Engineering Student Gov. talks low
student involvement with DEI plan
ADMINISTRATION
Number of underrepresented minority
students overall grows by one percent
TIM COHN & RIYAH BASHA
Daily Staff Reporters
Group plans to host student-sponsored event in bid to increase engagement
NISA KHAN
Daily Staff Reporter
Actor Wil
Wheaton
campaigns
for Clinton
ELECTION
More than one hundred
gather at Ann Arbor
comic book store
LYDIA MURRAY
Daily Staff Reporter
Shirin Ebadi lectures in Rackham on importance of cultural understanding
EMILY MIILLER
Daily Staff Reporter
‘U’ alum
lauded for
disability
advocacy
CAMPUS LIFE
Former CSG president
Cooper Charlton
honored for work
EMMA RICHTER
For the Daily
Winner of 2003 Nobel Peace Prize
discusses gender, sexuality in Islam