After his only opposition
dropped
out
on
Sunday,
University
of
Michigan
Regent Ron Weiser (R) is
expected to be approved as
the
Michigan
Republican
Party chairman in February.
With
Weiser
soon
to
balance positions in both
the University and the state
GOP, accusations of conflict
of interest and defenses have
risen from members of both
parties.
Weiser unseated former
Regent Laurence Deitch (D)
last November to bring the
current partisan count in the
regency to a 5-3 Democrat
majority. He had already run
for a seat in 2014 but lost the
election.
Weiser said his largest
priority for the regency is to
serve the students.
“I care deeply about the
University,
I
care
deeply
about what its mission is,
and I care deeply about its
customers,” Weiser said. “Its
customers are the students.
We have to make sure that
we’re serving well, providing
…
the
highest
quality
education and opportunities
for students at the lowest
possible costs.”
Weiser
announced
his
campaign for Michigan GOP
Jeanne
Theoharis,
a
Brooklyn
College
political
science
professor
and
American
culture
Ph.D.
alum from the University of
Michigan, spoke to a crowd
of approximately 30 people
Wednesday evening in Tisch
Hall on the role of Rosa Parks
in the modern-day iterations
of the civil rights movements
like Black Lives Matter.
Theoharis
was
invited
to speak at the University
as part of the bicentennial
celebration’s
themed
semester
initiative,
which
strives to explore the origins
of the University of Michigan
and its role in the state,
country
and
world.
This
semester’s theme — Making
Michigan — in part focuses on
the history of the University’s
political activism.
The talk was based on
the findings and research
published in Theoharis’s most
recent book, “The Rebellious
Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks,”
which was awarded the 2014
NAACP Image Award and the
2013 Letitia Woods Brown
Award from the Association
of Black Women Historians.
Rosa Parks’ story and her
rise as a leader in the civil
rights movement often begins
on a December evening in
1955 when she refused to give
up her bus seat to a white
man, propelling the civil
rights movement into action.
This
simple
narrative
is the one that is often
taught. However, according
to Theoharis, it is missing
key
elements
of
Parks’s
life.
Theoharis’
historical
account is one she believes
is crucial to understanding
and recognizing that Parks
dedicated her life to civil
rights activism.
“Rosa Parks is everywhere,
yet most of what we know
about her is wrong,” she said
to the crowd. “I wrote this
book as a response to this
fable. We need to grapple
with her actual life and
legacy.”
Part
of
Theoharis’s
confrontation with Parks’s
role
in
the
civil
rights
movement
was
filling
in
the historic gaps that often
forget the roles of political
organizing.
Theoharis
began
her
talk with a broad history
of Parks, beginning with
an explanation that Parks’s
activism began long before
her stance on the bus.
In elementary school, a
white boy pushed Parks. She
pushed the boy back, drawing
a reaction from the boy’s
mother. The boy’s mother
threatened Parks, but instead
of resigning to the mother’s
threat, Parks responded.
“I
didn’t
want
to
be
pushed,” Parks said to the
boy’s
mother.
Theoharis
referenced
this
quote
throughout
the
talk,
emphasizing
Parks’s
commitment
to
rebellion
from an early age and her
feisty side.
By
emphasizing
that
Parks’s
commitment
to
change began long before the
bus standoff, Theoharis made
the point that enacting social
As the University of Michigan
begins
its
bicentennial
celebration, organizers aim to
convey the powerful impact
its past and present students
have had on society through a
year of events, planned by the
Bicentennial Office.
This
past
fall,
the
Bicentennial Student Advisory
Committee — comprised of
36 students from all three
University campuses — formed
to ensure student involvement
in the planning of bicentennial
festivities.
The
committee
serves as a sounding board
for the Bicentennial Office’s
events
and
activities
and
assists with student outreach
activities.
Bailey Oland, Bicentennial
Student
Initiatives
coordinator,
emphasized
the
importance
of
getting
students connected with the
bicentennial planning, as she
claimed
most
students
on
campus do not understand the
relevance of the bicentennial
to their own lives.
michigandaily.com
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Thursday, January 26 , 2017
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 16
©2016 The Michigan Daily
N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
CL A S S I F I E DS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Regent’s bid
for MI GOP
chair draws
controversy
CSG hosts first ever town hall to
discuss mental health on campus
See WEISER, Page 3
PAUL AHN/Daily
The CSG hosted town hall adressed mental health issues on campus in the League Ballroom on Wednesday.
ADMINISTRATION
Faculty, students react to Weiser’s
potential new role in Republican party
MATT HARMON
Daily Staff Reporter
Survey finds more than 90 percent of University students struggle with mental illness
The
Central
Student
Government
Mental
Health
Climate and Resources Task
Force
hosted
a
town
hall
Wednesday night to share with
the University of Michigan
community
the
findings
from three surveys that were
administered this past fall.
The task force — created by
an executive order signed by
CSG President David Schafer,
an LSA senior, last fall —
presented
to
50
attendees
prospective improvements to
mental health resources and
current campus climate.
The survey results found
91.3 percent of students have
dealt with a mental health
concern on campus. At the
event, LSA junior Jen Semaan
expressed
her
surprise
at
the figure, and stressed how
important the town hall was to
the destigmatization of mental
health resources.
“I think that mental health
is
really
important,”
she
said. “People, especially at a
prestigious university, should
know about it, and it needs to
be destigmatized. I feel almost
relieved walking out of here
and knowing that people are
ANNA HARITOS
Daily Staff Reporter
See BICENTENNIAL, Page 2
Students
contribute
to U-M 200
celebration
CAMPUS LIFE
Bicentennial organizers
look to relate discussions to
broader campus community
KAELA THEUT
Daily Staff Reporter
Visiting professor cites Rosa Parks
as example for modern-day activists
Jeanne Theoharis presents book connecting Parks and Black Lives Matter movement
ERIN DOHERTY
Daily Staff Reporter
Rocky road
The Michigan men’s
basketball team is beginning
the toughest stretch of its
season with a matchup
against Indiana at Crisler
Center on Thursday night.
» Page 8
michigandaily.com
For more stories and coverage, visit
See TOWN HALL, Page 3
A resolution proposing the
adoption of a $5 student fee
to support the Leadership
Engagement Scholarship was
introduced during Tuesday’s
Central Student Government’s
meeting.
The Leadership Engagement
Scholarship was created last
October in partnership with
the Office of Student Life to
boost student extracurricular
involvement and reduce cost
barriers for student leaders
on campus. It was announced
at last October’s Board of
Regents meeting, with CSG
President David Schafer, an
LSA senior, introducing the
fund as a way to compensate
student
leaders
for
their
unpaid time commitments and
offer them financial support.
“A
5-year,
$5/semester
student fee in support of
the Leadership Engagement
Scholarship will bring in more
than $2 million for student
leadership involvement and
support over the course of
the 5-year life of the fee,” the
See CSG, Page 3
CSG body
considers
$5 fee for
scholarship
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Resolution sparks debate
about effects the fee
would have on tuition
RHEA CHEETI
Daily Staff Reporter
ARNOLD ZHOU/Daily
The University Symphony Orchestra presents The Planets at Hill Auditorium on Wednesday.
THE PL ANETS
See AUTHOR, Page 3