This semester, in honor of
the University of Michigan’s
bicentennial, LSA is carrying
on its tradition of a themed
semester by offering over
20 classes centered around
the 200th anniversary of the
University.
The
classes,
offered
in
several
different
LSA
departments
with
an
overarching theme of Making
Michigan,
focus
on
the
school’s place in important
events of the past 200 years
and where it lies in the
current
social
landscape.
Many also emphasize the
future of higher education
and the issues it faces today.
Terrence McDonald, the
former dean of LSA and now
a history professor as well
as director of the Bentley
Historical Library, is teaching
a class called “22 Ways to
Think About the History of the
University of Michigan.” The
class will offer many different
perspectives on the school’s
past. It is also cross-listed
with the Applied Liberal Arts
department,
which
houses
classes that have extensive
extracurricular opportunities
and
a
multi-disciplinary
focus.
“(In the class) we think of
the University as a place, as a
About 50 professors, students,
faculty members and members
of the Ann Arbor community
gathered Wednesday afternoon
in the Hatcher Graduate Library
to listen to three University
of Michigan faculty members
discuss the recent publication of
“Toward an Intellectual History
of Black Women,” a collection
of essays on the experiences
and roles of Black women in the
history of intellectuals.
Law
Prof.
Martha
Jones,
English Prof. Megan Sweeney and
Tiya Miles professor of African
Studies all spoke on the panel,
who used the book as a platform
to address the importance of
uncovering the stories of Black
women, and women in general,
that often go untold.
“We want to unearth lies,
ideas, narratives and analyze and
interpret them,” Miles said to the
audience.
Jones, one of the editors of the
book, further encouraged the
audience to strive for uncovering
unknown narratives.
“Recovery is at the core of
what we do, and there is still so
much more we need to do,” she
said.
Jones also recognized the
importance of making the history
more accessible to people outside
of academia.
“I
think
many
of
the
challenges that are attuned to
doing Black women history will
continue, and the burden will be
on many of us, including those
of us who are intellectuals, to
take the work out of the academy
and into the public sphere to be
sure that the histories, as well as
the perspectives that come, are
available to everybody,” she said.
Miles provided evidence of the
success of the book in expanding
people’s views, despite occasional
negative comments on the work.
“These
are
little
steps
forward,” she said.
Rackham student Michelle
May-Curry, a member of the
predominantly graduate student
audience, said she admired every
woman on the panel for their
surprising conclusions.
“It’s astonishing how Black
women’s
history
has
been
relegated to the cracks,” May-
Curry said. “If we’re going to talk
about Black women, we have to
piece it together and we have to
know that many people will not
take us seriously in starting those
conversations.”
May-Curry
also
echoed
panelists’ sentiments regarding
the importance of uncovering and
highlighting the history of Black
women in academic settings.
“Our
histories
are
being
devalued in the classrooms and
the archives, and this work is
essential to uncovering that,” she
said.
Jones mentioned after the
event that she will be attending
a Women’s March in Baltimore
this Saturday.
“When I go to a women’s
march on the 21st, wouldn’t it be
cool to carry a sack of these books
and books like it?” Jones said. “It
feels like there are going to be
thousands of women and fellow
travelers for whom this kind of
knowledge and understanding
is more pertinent perhaps than
ever … maybe I will take a stack of
books to the march.”
Celebrating
the
art
of
student music and film, 50
students and faculty attended
the first Spotlight music and
filmmaking
competition
closing ceremony Wednesday
night at Stamps Auditorium.
Sponsored by MPowered, a
student
entrepreneurship
organization
on
campus,
awards were given to teams of
up to four producers for their
projects.
The
50-hour
competition
featured student works from
every school at the University
of
Michigan.
Participants
filmed
all
footage
on
smartphones, and winners of
the competition were awarded
Cakewalk’s
Sonar
Platinum
audio software.
The two winning projects
will be shown Thursday night
at the competition’s showcase
at Necto Nightclub featuring
Quinn XCII and Ayokay.
Matthew Altruda, an Ann
Arbor radio host, delivered
the keynote address at the
ceremony,
emphasizing
the
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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Thursday, January 19, 2017
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 11
©2016 The Michigan Daily
N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
A RT S . . . . . . . . . . . . B -S EC T I O N
S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
CL A S S I F I E DS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
LSA courses
focus on ‘U’
history for
bicentennial
Diaz promotes solidarity against
racism through activism, writing
See BICENTENNIAL, Page 3A
ARNOLD ZHOU/Daily
Author Junot Diaz speaks about his writing an work as an activist at Rackham Auditorium on Wednesday.
ACADEMICS
Over 20 classes across departments
centered around “Making Michigan”
MAYA GOLDMAN
Daily Staff Reporter
300 attendees gather for MLK symposium lecture by best-selling author in Rackham
Author and activist Junot Díaz
delivered a speech Wednesday
afternoon on white supremacy,
racialized
immigrants
and
solidarity to about 300 people in
Rackham Auditorium as a part
of the University of Michigan’s
annual symposium in honor of
Martin Luther King Jr.
Díaz began by discussing
racial neoliberalism and its
function
in
derailing
how
people talk about race. Racial
neoliberalism,
he
argued,
prevents people from addressing
problems
of
racism
and
questioning if anyone can racist.
“One of the things that has
become very clear to me is …
the evolving derangement of
race and racial politics in this
country has been exceptionally
problematic,” Díaz said. “Racial
neoliberalism
(is)
perhaps
best understood as an almost
global racial gaslight, derailing
our ability to speak about the
way white supremacy works
at a political and global level
while permitting hegemony to
practice white supremacy full
blast.”
Díaz further explored how
the United States is organized
along white supremacist lines,
COLIN BERESFORD
Daily Staff Reporter
See SPOTLIGHT, Page 3A
MPowered
hosts 2-day
music, film
contest
CAMPUS LIFE
Art, entrepreneurship
projects from all ‘U’
disciplines rewarded
MATT HARMON
Daily Staff Reporter
EMMA RICHTER/Daily
LSA professors Tiya Miles and Martha S. Jones discuss the book Toward an Intellectual History of Black Women at
the Gender: New Works New Questions series at Hatcher Gallery on Wednesday.
Panelists advocate recognition of
Black women’s history and narratives
University professors discuss recent publications, highlight minority hardships
ERIN DOHERTY
Daily Staff Reporter
Weird Twitter
The Daily Arts writers
delve into the depths of the
140-character site in this
week’s B-Side
» B-Section
michigandaily.com
For more stories and coverage, visit
See AUTHOR, Page 3A
Engineering
Student
Government
started
its
meeting
Wednesday
night
with community input from
David Schafer, president of
Central Student Government
and an LSA senior, regarding
the
potential
for
a
more
collaborative future between
the two respective student
governments.
Schafer addressed concerns
regarding CSG representation
of Engineering students and
reaffirmed his commitment to
more effectively representing
students’ interests.
Schafer cited CSG’s role on
North Campus — including
a condom distribution event
and improvement in access to
mental health resources — but
recognized that there may be
questions about what else CSG
is doing to benefit students
there. Schafer also promised to
encourage the 11 Engineering
representatives who sit on
the CSG Assembly to start
attending the ESG meetings
in order to do better and more
See ESG, Page 3A
Schafer
promises
to partner
with ESG
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
ESG requests more
representation, discusses
new minor program
ALEXIS RANKIN
Daily Staff Reporter