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 
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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

