The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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Saturday, April 29, 2017 — 3

2015
2016
2017

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Kinesiology sophomore Capri’Nara Kendall in a protest organized by the Black Student Union in front of Hill Auditorium on 
Monday. The speakers made demands concerning their campaign, Being Black at University of Michigan, giving University 
officials seven days to respond. 

By ALEXA ST. JOHN

Daily Staff Reporter 2016

University of Michigan president 

Mark Schlissel responded to several 
political and religious statements 
chalked on the Diag this week, 
including “Stop Islam,” “Trump 
2016” 
and 
“Build 
the 
Wall,” 

Thursday afternoon, stressing a 
campus committment statement to 
creating a welcoming and inclusive 
environment for all groups on 
campus

“Attacks directed toward any 

individual or group within our 
community, based on a belief or 
characteristic, are inconsistent with 
the university’s values of respect, 
civility and equality, “ Schlissel 
said. “These are core values and 
guiding principles that will help us 
as we strive to live up to our highest 
ideals.”

He emphasized the need for 

the University community to form 
a unified front and strive toward 
understanding and respect for all 
individuals.

The statements, which were 

largely washed off by Thursday, 
prompted 
students 
to 
call 

University police Wednesday and 
group together to wash some of the 
chalkings off that same evening. 
Though the phrases were written 
in chalk, students gathered on the 
Diag Wednesday said they thought 
the effects of them were more 
permanent on campus climate.

Rackham 
student 
Banen 

Al-Sheemary said she and fellow 
students who encountered the 
writing and gathered in the Diag 
found the sayings hurtful and 
disturbing. 

“This is so reflective of our 

student campus and the depths of 
racism and the things that students 
of color have to endure and that 
the administration is continuously 
silent on,” Al-Sheemary said. “This 
is just another example. This is 
happening year after year and we’ve 
been telling the administration the 

same things over and over again.”

Al-Sheemary said she and other 

students had been attempting to 
contact the University’s Division of 
Public Safety and Security as well 
as the University’s administration 
regarding 
the 
writing 
since 

Wednesday morning without much 
response.

“I’ve 
been 
getting 
bounced 

around from one person to another, 
and I understand it’s after hours, 
but there should be some kind of 
emergency number besides the 
police because a lot of students of 
color don’t feel comfortable calling 
the police,” Al-Sheemary said. 
“They’re our only resource and that 
I think is ridiculous.”

One DPSS officer arrived at the 

scene around 6:45 p.m Wednesday, 
but informed students that there 
was not much that could be done 
because it was after hours. In 
response, a group of about ten 
students began to wash the chalk 
messages off the Diag with water 
and towels themselves, pouring 
buckets of water to erase the 
statements and wiping down other 
concrete with rags.

“It’s 
irresponsible 
of 
the 

administration that we are actually 
out here with buckets of water and 
napkins to clean off these hateful 
messages and the administration 
isn’t taking care of it,” Al-Sheemary 
said. 
“And 
not 
only 
is 
the 

administration not taking care of it, 
they are putting us through a really 
difficult process. That perpetuates 
these really racist and hateful 
stereotypes that turn into violence 
and turn into students of color 
feeling unsafe on campus.”

LSA junior Tahany Alsabahi, 

one of the students who contacted 
DPSS, 
echoed 
Al-Sheemary’s 

sentiments.

“There needs to be another 

resource for students, and I think, 
also, the University has to speak 
out against these things,” Alsabahi 
said. “Because oftentimes when this 
happens for other groups, they’re 
very quick to release statements and 

say that they don’t condone anti-
Semitism or any other type of stuff 
like that, but it gets really iffy and it 
becomes really difficult to get them 
to speak out against Islamophobia.”

In 
a 
statement 
Wednesday 

night in response to the incident, 
University 
spokesperson 
Rick 

Fitzgerald said the University was 
committed to inclusivity.

“Earlier today someone used 

chalk to write a #stopislam message 
on the main square in the heart of 
our campus known as the Diag,” the 
statement read. “Attacks directed 
toward any member or group 
within the University of Michigan 
community, based on a belief or 
characteristic, 
are 
inconsistent 

with our values of respect, civility 
and equality. We all understand 
that where speech is free it will 
sometimes wound. But our message 
is this: We are fully committed 
to fostering an environment that 
is welcoming and inclusive of 
everyone. Tonight we are reminded 
there is much work yet to be done.”

Fitzgerald also noted that several 

reports had been filed with the 
University’s bias response team, 
and officials from the team had 
been to the Diag Wednesday.

Al-Sheemary said she was not 

surprised by either the various 
writings for and against Republican 
presidential 
candidate 
Donald 

Trump, or statements targeting 
Muslim students.

“It’s 
nothing 
new,” 

Al-Sheemary said. “Maybe it 
has just been heightened with 
the election, but this is just 
something that happened before 
9/11, spiked with 9/11 and it’s not 
anything new and it affects a lot 
of students of color.”

Alsabahi also noted that she 

thought statements like those 
on the Diag had connotations 
beyond political.

“When 
speech 
can 
incite 

violence and aggression and 
hatred towards another group, 
that’s when it becomes hate 
speech,” she said. 

By NISA KHAN and CHETALI 

JAIN

Daily Staff Reporters 2016

Both a vigil and anti-Trump 

rally were held Wednesday night in 
protest of President-elect Donald 
Trump’s unexpected win in the 
Diag, drawing a crowd of nearly 
1,000 University of Michigan 
students, faculty and staff, as well 
as community members.

The 
vigil 
featured 
both 

student speakers and University 
of 
Michigan 
President 
Mark 

Schlissel. 
Speakers 
called 
for 

perseverance during the next four 
years of Trump’s term, discussing 
both the fear felt by minority 
students on campus and the 
importance of action.

LSA senior Nicole Khamis 

opened the vigil by recounting 
conversations with her parents, 
who are Palestinian refugees, the 
morning after Election Day.

“We came here for a better life 

and last night, I woke up at 2:30 
to the election results,” she said. 
“I thought it was a dream. And 
I called my parents, they could 
see that my eyes are red because 
I had been tearing up. … And (my 
mother) looked at me and said, 
‘This is not the end.’ ”

Throughout 
his 
campaign, 

Trump has criticized President 
Barack Obama and Democratic 
presidential 
nominee 
Hillary 

Clinton’s policy of allowing more 
Syrian refugees to enter the 
country. 
Trump’s 
immigration 

plan details an end to letting a 
number of groups into the United 
States, and in February Trump 
claimed he would look at Syrian 
children and tell them they could 
not enter the country.

“Are we going to stand up in 

the face of racism, in the face of 
sexism, in the face of xenophobia?” 
Khamis asked the cheering crowd. 
“My parents have escaped a war 
to have a better life for me and my 
two siblings. And we did not come 
to this country for this.”

In 
his 
remarks, 
Schlissel 

congratulated University students 
for waiting in lines and voting, 
stating that student voices were 
90-10 in favor of a candidate other 
than Trump. Earlier today, he 
penned an email to students urging 
them to be inclusive and work 
toward intellectual honesty in 
their conversations.

“Ninety 
percent 
of 
you 

rejected the kind of hate and the 
fractiousness and the longing for 
some kind of idealized version of 
a non-existent yesterday that was 
expressed during the campaign,” 
Schlissel said during the event. “So 
I urge you, continue your advocacy 
and your voices are already being 
heard. They are loud and clear — 
this is the way America changes. 
It’s the way it always changes. 
It’s the way it will change for the 
better.”

According 
to 
USA 
Today 

exit polls, 56 percent of voters 
nationwide ages 18 to 24 voted for 
Clinton. There are no age-based 
exit polls specifically for Ann 
Arbor, but Michigan Daily surveys 
of students in the leadup to the 
election indicated a strong campus 
preference for Clinton at about 70 
percent.

At the rally, similar sentiments 

were expressed. Business junior 
Myles Hawkins said he felt shock 
after finding out the results of the 
election, and that he came to the 
rally to gain a sense of comfort 
about the situation.

“(As an) African American, it’s 

hard to fathom Donald Trump 
being my president because he 
(has) no respect for my background, 
and it’s shocking to have gone from 
the first Black president, which 
was celebrated in my family … to 

a person who doesn’t seem to care 
about (them) or my culture,” he 
said.

The rally emphasized solidarity 

and began with a chant: “The 
people united will never be 
divided,” that progressively grew 
into a unified roar.

Speakers at both the vigil and 

the rally also emphasized the need 
to take action moving forward. In 
remarks at the vigil, CSG President 
David Schafer, an LSA senior, 
asked all individuals in the crowd 
to hold others accountable for 
discriminatory actions. He said 
minority students have had to be 
the ones responsible for calling 
out hate speech in the past, citing 
an incident last semester when 
Muslim students were the ones to 
wash off anti-Islamophobic chalk 
drawings on the Diag.

“To all that have been targeted 

or marginalized: You have a place 
on this campus,” he said. “The 
University of Michigan is yours 
just as much as anybody else’s. 
Don’t stop challenging each other. 
So I am challenging everyone 
here tonight who professes to be 
an ally — whenever you hear a 
microaggression, whenever you 
hear an act of discrimination and 
bigotry or injustice perpetrated by 
one of your friends or anyone of 
your acquaintances, step up and 
challenge them. Because if you 
don’t, you are part of the problem.”

LSA senior Tina Al-khersan 

told the crowd at the vigil several 
stories about her younger brother 
being asked if he had bombs 
underneath his coat in a response 
to Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric, 
which has included statements 
about deporting Muslims due to 
their possibly being terrorists. 

Speaking before Al-khersan, 

University alum Harleen Kaur said 
she felt afraid for her life the day 
after Trump’s win.

“I simply ask for you to not 

be comfortable as we have after 
violence and tragedy countless 
times before,” Kaur said. “Do not 
let yourself be destroyed by fear but 
do not let yourself be wooed into 
calm. There’s work to be done.”

Multiple speakers at both the 

vigil and rally told the crowd they 
had the right to feel sadness about 
the election result, calling it a 
confirmation that the country does 
not support minorities.

At the vigil, Khamis said her 

family has not traveled to the 
United States only to be deported.

“We need to organize, we need 

to mobilize,” she said. “Remember 
this is not a new fight for my 
family, this is not a new fight for 
women, this is not a new fight for 
Latina/Latino, this is not a new 
fight for the LGBT+ community. 
This has been happening forever. 
But now we know that it has been 
institutionalized to the point it is in 
the White House.”

Earlier in the night at the rally, 

Public Policy graduate student 
Sundar Sharma expressed similar 
sentiments.

“(We must) grieve and rebuild 

… especially because of the forces 
trying to stop us,” Sharma said. 
“Trump and Trumpism isn’t going 
to be around forever.”

LSA 
senior 
Adedolapo 

Adeniji, whose parents are both 
immigrants to the United States, 
told the vigil crowd she was not 
going to stop fighting — and asked 
fellow students to do the same.

“I don’t care what the election 

said today,” she said. “I don’t 
care what it says in the next four 
years. I refuse to stop fighting 
not because of my family of 
immigrants who have nobody 
to fight for them, not just for me 
for the people for look like me, 
for the people who don’t look 
like me, for the people who have 
visible differences.”

LSA junior Darian Razdar 

asked for help from white 
students in particular to become 
allies. 

“White, straight, cisgendered 

students, it’s the time for you to 
show up for your loved ones,” he 
said. “Don’t fall to the silence of a 
racist and homophobic society,” 
he said. “Be there for those of us 
who need it.”

Ford senior Thomas Hislop, 

a vigil attendee, said while he 
grew up in a Republican house, 
his family does not agree at all 
with Trump’s ideology.

“I grew up in a house of love,” 

he said. “I grew up in a house 
where it was more important to 
care about marginalized people 
than about your marginal taxes.”

Many students said they felt 

energized by the vigil and the 
rally, as well as unity with those 
were also scared about the future 
of the country. School of Music 
Theatre & Dance freshman Nina 
Renella said the vigil allowed her 
to have a more positive space to 
express how she felt.

“I really just wanted to be 

surrounded by love… I feel 
like I have been very sad and 
despaired all day,” she said. 
“And as a person of color, I feel 
very threatened and shaken to 
the core. I am an immigrant, so 
I just wanted to be surrounded 
by love.”

Echoing 
Renenlla, 
LSA 

junior 
Michael 
Miller 
said 

students 
needed 
to 
become 

more organized and continue to 
support each other.

“While today was a very 

emotional day, we need to come 
together like we did tonight,” he 
said. “We need to come together 
for the future. Despite the 
election, despite all of the hatred, 
we need to make that happen.”

Many students also expressed 

the fear and frustration they felt 
for friends and family who could 
be affected by the election’s 
outcome, as well as with how 
the electoral process works, 
throughout the vigil.

LSA junior Dale Mallete said 

while he feared what it would 
create, he had to accept the 
process that led to Trump’s win. 

“The fact that I know LGBT 

friends and family and all of 
the people that I know that 
could be affected by this — it 
leaves a terrible feeling in my 
gut that sort of been there all 
day,” Mallete said. “So I am kind 
of disappointed that this is the 
route that America decided to 
go with. But ultimately I need to 
respect the democratic process 
and have to accept the results of 
the election.

For some students, however, 

the events left something to 
desire. 

LSA junior Remi Murrey 

said she was upset with the 
lack of mentions of Black lives, 
emphasizing that she feels Black 
lives have been consistently 
excluded in both national and 
campuswide dialogues.

“Our lives matter just as much 

as Muslim lives, Latina/Latinx 
lives, and LGBT lives,” she said. 
“We are constantly fighting our 
lives and our lives are being 
taken from us for however long. 
We have to see Donald Trump 
as the President of the United 
States and that is messed up. I 
understand that he had made 
threats 
against 
everyone’s 

community but we are just as 
affected as everyone else in this 
country that we live in.”

“Again, I don’t matter. Not in 

this campus, not in this country, 
not in this world…(God) has 
pushed my ancestors for many 
years and he is going to push me 
for the next four to eight years.”

Norris, the creator of the Race 
Card Project — a nationwide 
initiative that gathers perspectives 
on race and aims to foster dialogue 
on 
the 
subject 
— 
partnered 

with the University during last 
winter’s theme semester on race, 
and will give the 2013 Winter 
Commencement address.

In a form similar to BSU’s 

campaign, Norris used Twitter 
to broaden the reach of the Race 
Card Project because she said even 
though the social media platform 
only allots users only 140 characters, 
it’s a powerful way to stimulate 

uncomfortable conversations.

“I used to say the most productive 

conversations are the private ones, 
but Twitter made me rethink that,” 
Norris said.

Norris noted that the University 

did not “take cover” once the dialogue 
took off, but rather embraced the 
campaign and encouraged students 
to take part in the conversation, 
which is not always the norm for 
large institutions.

“This is an honest conversation,” 

she said. “They wanted to see an 
honest conversation and that’s what 
this is, as uncomfortable as this may 
be for people to read about this.”

She said diversity has been an 

issue on every college campus she 
has visited, and after reading the 
tweets from Tuesday’s discussion at 

Michigan, it is likely the topic isn’t 
going to subside once the Twitter 
debate dies down.

“It 
really 
was 
not 
just 

people talking about their own 
experiences, but it turned into an 
actual dialogue,” she said. “People 
were talking to each other and 
perhaps even learning from each 
other, and more importantly 
listening to each other.”

Norris added that she will 

likely address the issue in her 
commencement 
address 
next 

month.

By asking students to share 

their 
experiences 
as 
Black 

students on campus, BSU is 
hoping to not only bring light to 
challenges, but also to call other 
student leaders to action.

BBUM
From Page 2

University President Schlissel 
responds to anti-Islam Diag chalk

Almost 1,000 protest president-

elect Trump’s victory in 

rally, vigil on Diag

MARCH 31: Central Student Government rejected a resolution 
to support a committee that would investigate the University’s 
investment in companies that allegedly violate the rights of 
Palestinian people. After four hours of discussion, 15 members of 
the assembly voted in favor, 25 opposed and one abstained. Dozens of 
University affiliates spoke regarding the issue at the deciding meeting. 

SEPTEMBER 10: At a meeting of all members of University 
Greek life, University President Mark Schlissel discussed alcohol 
abuse and sexual assault issues in the Greek community. Schlissel 
said such a party culture hurts the University’s reputation. The 
meeting came in the aftermath of the now infamous ski trips, in 
which several members of the Sigma Alpha Mu faternity vanalized 
a ski resort, as well as nationwide scrutiny Greek life’s party culture. 

FEBUARY 9: Two years after the outbreak of the Flint Water 
Crisis, nearly 100 protesters marched to the Diag, calling out Gov. 
Rick Snyder for acting carelessly. The crisis occurred as a result of 

lead contamination in the city’s water supply, following a switch 

in such supply. The situation was not rectified for almost 18 

months, causing severe health problems. 

NOVEMBER 9: Nearly 1,000 University affiliates took to the 

diag the night after the election of President Donald Trump to 

protest the controversial candidate’s beliefs and policies. Schlissel 

spoke, as did students, who called for perseverence in light of the 
coming four years. Central to the speeches was fear — and a call for 
unity — on behalf of minority groups. 

MARCH 27: University seniors were disappointed when it was 
announced there would be no featured speaker at their commencement 
in late April. Instead, the commencement was to feature a multimedia 

project of University faculty reading the words from past 

commencement speeches. One belief was that the University focused 

more on the bicentennial festivities than on the graduating class. 

APRIL 3: In conjunction with the Bicentennial, seven pop-art 

installations were set up on campus to draw attention to the 

University’s history. Such installations included a ticker tape sign 

above the enterance to the Michigan Union, which displayed rules that 

women had to abide by in terms of building accessibility, as well as 950 
maize and blue chairs on the Diag to recognize the underrepresented 
minority students who did not attend the University after affirmative 
action was banned by Proposal 2. 

