attending the speech had to 
have their bags and belongings 
searched 
prior 
to 
entering 

Palmer Commons, and they 
were 
once 
again 
searched 

before entering the room where 
the speech would be held. 

LSA senior Ben Decatur, 

co-chair of the AEI Executive 
Council 
at 
the 
University, 

introduced Murray and spoke 
on the right of free speech and 
the importance of that right. He 
went on to discuss the potential 
for protest and invited any 
protesters to engage with the 
speaker instead of attempting to 
prevent Murray from speaking.

“If the hosts of tonight’s 

program, in collaboration with 
University 
representatives, 

believe 
that 
the 
protesters 

are interfering unduly with 
the 
speaker’s 
freedom 
of 

expression, 
those 
protesters 

will be warned by a University 
administrator,” Decatur said. 
“If warnings are not heeded 
and interference continues, the 

individuals responsible may be 
removed from the building.”

Decatur turned the podium 

over to Murray, who was met 
with a mixture of cheers and 
boos. As Murray began to speak, 
a student in the audience began 
playing the theme song for the 
introduction of Darth Vader in 
the Star Wars movies.

The audience raised signs 

accusing Murray of being a 
white supremacist and a racist. 
Students in the back of the 
audience began to set off alarms 
on their phones to drown out 
the words of Murray. After only 
10 minutes, the speech was 
brought to a grinding halt, as 
the protesters turned off the 
lights and projected the words 
“White Supremacist” behind 
Murray as they chanted “Racist, 
Sexist, KKK, Charles Murray go 
away.”

Students began taking turns 

to scramble up to the front of 
the room to interrupt Murray 
and read pre-written speeches 
of their own. After the first 
protester read off their speech 
accusing Murray of wanting 
the protester dead because of 

his Iranian heritage, LSA senior 
Farid Alsabeh confronted the 
protesters for denying him the 
right to listen to what Murray 
had to say. 

When 
the 
event 
had 

concluded, Alsabeh spoke on 
why he felt the need to speak 
out.

“When I saw that people’s 

first instinct was to infringe 
on my right to listen to a 
public intellectual at a public 
institution I felt like I just had 
to say: ‘Listen, you’re making it 
too much about yourself. Can 
we please think about the other 
people who are just here to 
listen to ideas?’” he said.

In an interview prior to 

the speech, Murray pushed 
back on what he thinks are 
misunderstandings 
and 

mischaracterizations 
of 
his 

work and his beliefs. 

“The 
characterization 
of 

me as a white supremacist or 
a white nationalist or any of 
the various other things is 
unaccompanied by any direct 
evidence that I believe any of 
that stuff,” Murray said.

Murray 
said 
the 
reason 

college 
campuses 
have 

become hostile to speakers, 
such 
as 
himself, 
can 
be 

attributed to the anger that 
has arisen from the election 
of President Trump. Murray 
also stated college students 
have become more sensitive 
over the past decade and he 
believes this is primarily due 
to the rise of identity politics.

Murray spent the next 

portion of the event debating 
with a student of color at the 
podium over whether “The 
Bell Curve” supports the idea 
that Blacks are less intelligent 
than whites. 

After 
the 
student 
left 

the podium, the audience 
turned to a different tactic to 
attempt to disrupt Murray’s 
speech. Instead of chanting, 
the audience instead tried to 
completely ignore Murray by 
putting in earbuds, reading 
books and opening copies of 
newspapers in front of their 
faces. 

being led by Facebook, Google 
and Microsoft,” Pennebaker said. 
“What is beginning to happen now 
is we are getting these two groups 
of people who are now at this point 
where we are able to start talking 
to each other and take advantage 
of generations of really solid social 
science that has not been informed 
by giant data.”

Information graduate student 

Kristen McGarry was in attendance 
and 
echoed 
Pennebaker’s 

sentiment 
specifically 
with 

the collaboration between the 
research and corporate spheres. 
McGarry noted how the corporate 
sponsors of the symposium such as 
TD Ameritrade and Mercury Fund 
demonstrate the corporate interest 
in data science.

“Data is growing so much, you 

kind of need both people to join 
together to continue progressing,” 
McGarry said.

Rackham 
student 
Jeff 

Lockhart, assistant organizer of 
the symposium, expressed how 
this interdisciplinary future of 
data science is a central mission of 
MIDAS and the symposium.

“MIDAS has twin goals of 

getting researchers together in 
the same room from different 
disciplines and … it funds a lot of 
projects,” Lockhart said.

Lockhart 
described 
how 

MIDAS has been successful in 
bringing people together and 
funding projects in its short 

existence.

A poster showcase at the event 

featuring more than 50 research 
projects across the University 
relating to data science emphasized 
the scope of the symposium.

The MIDAS Initiatives Panel 

featuring leaders within MIDAS’s 
research initiatives continued the 
symposium’s 
interdisciplinary 

focus.

Carol Flannagan, the principal 

investigator 
of 
MIDAS’s 

Transportation Challenge Project, 
spoke during the panel about 
how it has helped her research 
on 
transportation 
safety 
to 

include perspectives from the 
social 
sciences, 
statistics 
and 

engineering.

“One of the very cool things 

about what MIDAS is supporting 
and encouraging is these very 
large multidisciplinary teams,” 
Flannagan said. “I am working 
with people from all over campus, 
from different schools and colleges 
and people I have not worked with 
previously.”

MIDAS members are excited 

for the future of the institute as 
the symposium came to a close at 
the institute’s new space in Weiser 
Hall.

While 
Hero 
accounted 
for 

the weather being a key reason 
attendance 
was 
lower 
than 

expected, 
he 
also 
expressed 

excitement for the global audience 
of more than 4,000 viewers 
the 
symposium 
attracted 
via 

livestream. A sign, he believes, 
of the growing number of people 
interested in the work of MIDAS 
and the future of data science.

STUFFED NOSE puzzle by sudokusyndication.com

2A — Thursday, October 12, 2017
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MURRAY
From Page 1A

Jay
@Jayy_Girly
 
Umich needs to do better 
cause this wifi has really 
been f---ing up lately 

Jim Price
@jimpricestartup

So generous of @UMich alums 
Lisa and Wei Bee, cofounders 
of @Sweetwaters, to visit my 
@MichiganRoss New Venture 
Creation class today #GoBlue

glitter emoji
@Eboniiiii_

The yt kids in my psych class 
just confused a picture of Denzel 
Washington and OBAMA . . . Yes 
President Obama

guess we spooky now
@khariaintshit

walked into class late in the 
middle of a speech about 
being late for class

Immigration 
Symposium
WHAT: Three University 
professors will present on 
the historical experiences of, 
and discrimination against, 
immigrants in the United States. 
WHO: LSA Bicentennial Theme 
Semester
 WHEN: 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
WHERE: Angel Hall, Room 3222

Let’s (not) Talk About 
Sex, Habibi

WHAT: The first Chai Circle 
of the year will cover sex and 
relationships in the Middle 
Eastern and North African 
diaspora. 

WHO: Middle East and Arab 
Network

WHEN: 7 to 9 p.m.

WHERE: Sophia B. Jones Room

Microsoft Excel Pivot 
Tables

WHAT: Attendees will learn 
about Excel as a management 
platform, as well as sorting skills, 
filtering and data validation. 
WHO: Engineering Human 
Resources
WHEN: 9 a.m. to noon
WHERE: Duderstadt Cemter, 
Advanced Training Lab 2 

Leaders and Culture 
Workshop

WHAT: A workshop for 
supervisors and managers to 
motivate and empower their 
team members with University 
resources. Registration required.

WHO: Engineering Human 
Resources

WHEN: 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.

WHERE: Lurie Engineering 
Center, Johnson Rooms A, B 
and C

happening here,” Case said. “Part 
of this is how to turn what some 
call the Rustbelt into much more of 
a startup-belt.”

Business 
graduate 
student 

Connor Burleigh thought the 
amount of venture capital Ann 
Arbor received was significant.

“Ann Arbor gets half of the 

venture of the state; that’s huge,” 
Burleigh said. “Communities can’t 
be separate, it has to be Southeast 
Michigan as a single ecosystem.”

Gov. Rick Snyder agreed with 

Case, and discussed Michigan’s 
ingenuity 
and 
leadership 
in 

combining the IT field and 
automotive industry.

“We have that Midwestern 

humility, but we need to be louder 
and prouder,” Snyder said. “We 
need ambassadors for our city and 
state to speak up and tell our story.”

After an introductory breakfast, 

tour members of Rise of the Rest 
set out to begin a string of visits 
with Ann Arbor startups. They 
spent time at Mcity, Duo Security, 
A2 Engage, FarmLogs, NutShell, 
CaHoots and TechArb.

In Case’s opinion, one the most 

important methods to propel a 
startup community to higher 
levels of success is telling the 
community’s story.

“Not only do most people in the 

community not know what the 
success stories are, but the vast 
majority of people outside of those 
communities don’t know what 

those stories are,” Case said. “Ann 
Arbor is doing really, really well 
and most people in other parts of 
the country don’t know how well 
it’s doing.”

Later in the day, Case and a 

panel of business experts held a 
“fireside chat” to discuss in more 
detail the importance of startup 
communities and the challenges 
they face in expanding and 
developing. Dan Gilbert, founder 
of Quicken Loans Inc., and J.D. 
Vance, 
best-selling 
author 
of 

“Hillbilly Elegy,” joined Case on 
the panel. Mary Grove, director 
of Google for Entrepreneurs, was 
another panel member. 

One key topic of discussion 

was the relationship between 
Ann Arbor and Detroit. Panelists 
noted innovation, while one of 
the main focuses within each city, 
has not managed to bring the two 
together. They commented on the 
importance of bridging the gap 
between Ann Arbor and Detroit 
and how this coalition can bring 
prosperity to the region.

Business 
graduate 
student 

Tobi 
Ogundipe 
agreed 
with 

the panelists and believes this 
connection is important to draw in 
investors.

“My biggest takeaway was Dan 

Gilbert honing in on the threads 
of connection between Ann Arbor 
and Detroit,” Ogundipe said. “The 
talent is here and the companies 
are coming to Ann Arbor and 
Detroit; it makes sense to combine 
these together.”

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

ENTREPRENEUR
From Page 1A

DATA
From Page 1A

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

