The University of Michigan, 

though established in Ann Arbor 
in 1837, opened its first building 
in Detroit in 1817. Before this, 
the Michigan Territory had no 
organized schools, and very few 
students were prepared to attend 
a university.

The year 1817 itself was crucial 

in the development of Michigan, 
and on Tuesday evening, Brian 
Dunnigan, 
William 
Clements 

Library associate director and 
curator 
of 
maps, 
addressed 

members of the public in this 
year’s Founders Day Lecture 
highlighting Michigan in 1817.

Through the use of photographs 

and maps, Dunnigan explained 
the original University building 
was commonly referred to as the 
“academy” 
until 
construction 

began in October 1837 to create 
Ann Arbor’s campus, a project 
lasting until 1858.

Detroit, which included the 

first University building and 
published the first successful 
local newspaper in Michigan in 
1817, began blossoming in the 
early 1820s with the beginnings 
of the transportation industry. 
Dunnigan said many Americans 
who first saw the city situated on 
the Detroit River often compared 
it to Philadelphia.

“Detroit was the prime town 

of the old northwest,” Dunnigan 
said.

Award-winning author John 

Pomfret discussed the effects 
of the Trump presidency on 
relations between the United 
States and China to a packed 
room in the School of Social 
Work Tuesday afternoon.

Pomfret, 
who 
spent 
20 

years living in China, likened 
President 
Donald 
Trump’s 

rhetoric toward the country 
to that of Denis Kearney — a 
prominent U.S. politician in 
the 1870s and 1880s — in an 
event as part of the University 
of Michigan Lieberthal-Rogel 
Center for Chinese Studies 
Noon Lecture Series. 

Kearney was the head of 

the Workingmen’s Party in 
California, and was known 
for his often racist and anti-
Chinese views.

“Kearney took this populist 

anger 
or 
fear 
of 
Chinese 

industriousness 
and 
turned 

it into a political movement,” 
Pomfret said.

Pomfret 
also 
compared 

Trump 
to 
Chairman 
Mao 

Zedong, a comparison that 
drew laughs from the crowd. 
He said Trump’s tendency to 
call for a “government for the 
people” is just one similarity to 
Mao’s leadership.

“In 
Trump’s 
maddening 

unpredictability, (Maoists) saw 
Chairman Mao’s most favorite 
aphorism, 
which 
is 
‘there 

is chaos under heaven, the 

situation is excellent,’ ” Pomfret 
said.

Pomfret said he believes 

under the Trump presidency, 
the United States is back on the 
track of facilitating China’s rise, 
explaining how U.S. wallets 
have funded China in their wars 
and education.

“Over the course of the last 

decade, perhaps longer, the 
Chinese system has been better 
at enabling China to benefit 

from the United States than 
the American system has been 
at allowing America to benefit 
from China,” Pomfret said.

He also expressed concern for 

the upcoming summit between 
current Chinese President Xi 
Jinping and Trump, fearing 
Trump has no strategy for the 
meeting. 
Debunking 
many 

of the problems Trump has 
with China, such as currency 
manipulation and the Chinese 

cheating the United States on 
trade, he reasoned these are not 
the real problems the United 
States should be focusing on.

At the end of his talk, Pomfret 

characterized 
the 
current 

Chinese government as one of 
the future, and Trump’s United 
States as one of the past.

“If you look at China right 

now, it’s a country that is 
clearly focused on creating the 

Graduate students and faculty 

gathered Tuesday to listen to 
speakers discuss the Graduate 
Employees’ Organization’s roots 
and current presence on campus 
as part of LSA’s bicentennial-
themed semester.

The event — under the title, 

“U-M Works Because We Do,” 
which was borrowed from an 
old GEO slogan from the 1970s 
— featured two former GEO 
organizers, Sandra Silbertstein 
and Scott Schneider, as well as 
a member of the union’s current 
bargaining team, Nora Krinitsky. 
The speakers discussed in detail 
the founding years of the GEO, 
and how it is important to have 
these discussions during the 
bicentennial.

“The name of the event really 

says it all,” Krinitsky said. “GSIs 
proved 23 percent of student 
contact hours at the University of 
Michigan, which is a significant 
portion of the teaching labor 
that happens here, so if you want 
to understand how we got here 
over the last 200 years, GEO is a 
critical part of that story.”

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, April 5, 2017

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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 60
©2017 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

Founder’s 
Day lecture 
emphasizes 
‘U’ history

Muslim Monologues focus on 
experiences with Islamophobia

See HISTORY, Page 3A

JULIA LAWSON/Daily

LSA freshman Ayah Kutmah speaks about her experience wearing a hijab at the Muslim Monologues in Palmer Commons on Tuesday.

CAMPUS LIFE

Clements Library curator of maps 
Brian Dunnigan delivered the talk

JORDYN BAKER
Daily Staff Reporter

The event aimed to provide a voice to under-represented students on campus

Amid the success of the 

recent 
events 
“The 
Vagina 

Monologues” 
and 
“Hijabi 

Monologues,” LSA junior Heba 
Al-Saghir found she wanted 
to organize a similar, more 

inclusive 
event 
that 
would 

still provide a place for often 
underrepresented voices on the 
University of Michigan campus. 
This inspiration produced the 
“Muslim Monologues” event, 
which 
was 
hosted 
by 
the 

Muslim Students’ Association 
and took place Thursday night 
at Palmer Commons.

“(The 
event) 
provides 
a 

forum for Muslim students 
to express their thoughts and 
ideas in an open and accepting 
environment,” she said. “It’s 
also 
important 
because 
it 

encourages 
people 
of 
all 

religions and cultures to hear 
Muslim voices that may paint 
a very different picture than 

what they are used to hearing 
in the media. By humanizing 
Muslims, we are promoting 
tolerance, coexistence and a 
brighter future.”

More 
than 
40 
students 

attended the event, and more 
than 
10 
performers 
shared 

their experiences through the 

KATHERINA SOURINE

Daily Staff Reporter

See GEO, Page 3A

GEO panel 
looks to the
origins of 
the group

ADMINISTRATION

Graduate students and
faculty gathered to discuss 
the organization’s roots

ANNA HARITOS
Daily Staff Reporter

HALEY MCLAUGHLIN/Daily

Washington Post journalist John Pomfret discusses U.S.-China relations in the era of Donald Trump in the School of 
Social Work on Tuesday.

Author discusses relationship between 
U.S. and China both past and present

John Pomfret talked about the future of relations under the Trump presidency

MOLLY NORRIS
Daily Staff Reporter

michigandaily.com

For more stories and coverage, visit

See CHINA, Page 3A

See MONOLOGUES, Page 3A

The Toyota Research Institute 

invested $2.4 million in a research 
team at the University of Michigan, 
which 
will 
combine 
machine 

learning and data simulation to 
improve the production capability 
of batteries.

Krishna Garikipati, professor 

of 
mechanical 
engineering 

and mathematics, is the lead 
investigator for the team, alongside 
Vikram Gavini, associate professor 
of 
mechanical 
and 
materials 

science engineering.

According 
to 
Gavini, 
the 

investment will take effect on May 
1, with a chosen group of University 
students, scientists and scholars set 
to join the team.

One of the goals of the project 

is to develop a new type of battery 
that will be able to power vehicles 
that produce zero emissions, which 
aligns with one of the TRI’s main 
goals of reducing carbon dioxide 
emissions by 90 percent by 2050.

“Accelerating 
the 
pace 
of 

materials discovery will help lay 
the groundwork for the future of 
clean energy and bring us even 
closer to achieving Toyota’s vision 

See TOYOTA, Page 3A

Toyota gifts 
funding for 
University 
research 

RESEARCH

The money will go to 
studies aimed at improved 
capabilities of batteries

ERIN DOHERTY
Daily Staff Reporter

statement

THE MICHIGAN DAILY | APRIL 5, 2017