michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Friday, March 16, 2018
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
WICHITA, Kan. — Michigan
and Montana stood around,
waiting for action to restart.
There was a shot clock
malfunction with just under
17 minutes to play in the
second half, and it took an
extraordinarily
long
amount
of time to get it working again.
When the shot clock did start
ticking properly again, the game
paused again moments later for
the under-16 media timeout.
The pauses, coupled with
sloppy play all around, were
enough to make the game feel
tired.
In the end, it didn’t matter for
the Wolverines (13-5 Big Ten,
29-7 overall). They sleepwalked
their way to a 61-47 win to earn
a matchup against sixth-seeded
Houston on Saturday.
Things couldn’t have started
much worse for Michigan.
In the first few seconds, senior
guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-
Rahkman got called for a foul
before junior forward Moritz
Wagner turned it over. Over the
next few minutes, sophomore
guard Zavier Simpson picked up
two fouls and was relegated to
the bench, while the Wolverines
turned it over again.
Oh, and they didn’t score a
point.
Even still, fifth-year senior
guard Jaaron Simmons — who
filled in when Simpson came
out — and redshirt sophomore
wing Charles Matthews did just
enough to give Michigan a three-
point lead at the halftime break.
The grogginess of the whole
game
showed
through
on
the court for the Wolverines.
The fire and swagger they
normally possess — and had
possessed over the final stretch
of their season as they won nine
consecutive games — was almost
completely absent.
Wagner, the team’s leading
scorer, had just 5 points all game.
Simpson didn’t have the same
dynamic control of the offense
he’s shown down the stretch of
the season, scoring just 5 points
while turning it over a couple
times in transition.
If Montana had mounted any
sort of offensive threat at all,
Michigan might have been in
trouble.
But the Grizzlies were even
more useless with the ball in
their hands. They shot 33 percent
from the floor and turned the
ball over 11 times themselves.
During the stretch when the
clock broke and nobody seemed
to know how to fix it, Montana
was in the stretch of a scoring
drought that nearly reached ten
minutes before Ahmaad Rorie’s
3-pointer with 9:30 left.
Beyond the contributions of
Michael Oguine and Rorie, the
Grizzlies’ two leading scorers,
the rest of the team combined
for 14 total points.
At the end of the game, the
clocks
mercifully
crawled
toward zero. What remained
of the 14,000 people who once
filled
the
stands
aimlessly
meandered their way out of the
arena.
Some of them will come back
Saturday to see the Wolverines
take on the Cougars in the
second round. It might be tough
for them to remember exactly
how
Michigan
got
there,
because for parts of Thursday
night’s game, both literally and
figuratively, it seemed like time
was standing still.
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Assistant Attorney General Angela Povilaitis and LSA freshman Morgan McCaul discuss the power of victim impact statements in Larry Nassar’s prosecution at
Hutchins Hall Thursday.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Morgan McCaul, Assistant AG Angela Povilaitis discuss effect of victim impact statements
Despite daunting barriers to
reporting, nearly 300 survivors
have come forward with stories
of the assault they suffered at the
hands of Larry Nassar, former USA
Gymnastics and Michigan State
University doctor. Angela Povilaitis,
assistant
attorney
general
of
Michigan, served as an advocate
for many of these women over the
course of a week during Nassar’s
January sentencing trial in Ingham
County Court. Thursday afternoon,
Povilatis — accompanied by LSA
freshman and survivor Morgan
McCaul — spoke at the University
of Michigan Law School on the
use of victim impact statements
during the Nassar trials. Povilaitis
explained victim impact statements
are not simply powerful for the
survivors, but have transformed
the way perpetrators of sexual
assault are being prosecuted.
Originally, 90 women were
scheduled to give victim impact
statements
during
Nassar’s
sentencing.
However,
as
the
momentum
and
support
for
survivors
grew,
more
women
reached out to Povilaitis, asking
to tell their stories of abuse.
156 women in total gave their
statements for Nassar — and the
world — to hear.
Povilaitis
highlighted
how
unique this case was considering its
length, breadth, the nature of the
crime and the number of victims
who spoke and came forward ––
about 260 to 300 survivors in total.
“(Sexual assault cases) are the
most difficult cases to prosecute,
there’s an inherent skepticism,
there’s societal victim blaming,
there’s various myths about how
rape and sexual assault victims
are supposed to act and behave
and disclose,” Povilaitis said. “This
sentencing hearing will shift that.”
She went on to explain she
could have brought charges for
all 250 survivors at the time.
However, she chose to only bring
charges for 10, as it would not
only be difficult and prolonged to
evaluate 250 individual cases, but
also unnecessary with Nassar’s
ABBY TAKAS
Daily Staff Reporter
See IMPACT, Page 3
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 93
©2018 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
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In Nassar’s wake, prosecutor and
survivor see shift in assault cases
When LSA freshman Shelby
Alston received a full scholarship
to the University of Michigan, she
began to consider how she might
factor housing into her life at the
University. Hailing from Royal
Oak and Alston was working a job
in Auburn Hills, she didn’t want
to sacrifice her job to come to Ann
Arbor. Alston decided commuting
from home would be the best way
to ensure she would be able to
keep doing the work she loves.
Each weekday, Alston makes
the
90-minute
commute
to
campus, the first hour driving
her own personal vehicle and —
after parking at the Plymouth
Road Park & Ride Lot — the last
30 minutes riding the public bus.
While the lengthy commute can
often be an inconvenience, Alston
explained, it’s the refund check
she receives from a part of the
University’s original room and
board cost that allows her to pay
her travel expenses.
“If I don’t use the money for
room and board, they give a
portion of it back to me in a refund
check, which I use for gas,” Alston
said. “It worked out really well.”
According to the Office of
Financial Aid, the estimated
on-campus
room
and
board
cost for in-state freshmen and
sophomores is $11,198. University
spokeswoman Kim Broekhuizen
wrote in an email interview
benefits
and
resources
like
Alston’s
commuter
allowance
plays a large role in reducing
financial strains for students who
choose to commute to campus.
“Students who commute will
reduce room and board costs
significantly,” Broekhuizen wrote.
“The allowance for commuting
students is $4,814 for the academic
year to acknowledge ongoing
family household expenses (food,
utilities, etc.) and transportation
costs.”
Though Alston has enjoyed the
advantages of being a commuter
student — financial advantages
along with the ability to use the
public bus system for free as a
student of the University — she
said easier access to parking
near University buildings would
be most helpful in ensuring
accessibility for students who
choose to commute and save their
financial aid for other expenses.
“Sometimes I feel as though
it’s kind of a community that’s not
thought of as much,” Alston said.
“We’re not really accommodated
for, which is understandable —
there’s such a small percentage of
students who commute. I think it
would be tremendously beneficial
for the school to offer on-campus
parking.”
According
to
Broekhuizen,
the University currently does
not keep track of data on the
commuter student population, the
number of students that commute
or the reasons they decide to
commute. This lack of data is
what some commuter students
believe could serve as a pipeline to
creating better resources for their
commutes.
Business sophomore Subhan
Chaudry lived on campus his
freshman year, but later decided
to commute from home, about
Following
Wednesday’s
gun
safety rally and walkout hosted by
the Washtenaw Youth Initiative,
members
of
the
Washtenaw
County
community
gathered
Thursday night to discuss what
more can be done in the fight
for gun control. Jeanice Kerr
Swift,
superintendent
of
Ann
Arbor Public Schools, introduced
the event, acknowledging and
applauding the activist work of
students in the area.
“We
respect
the
First
Amendment rights of our students
in Ann Arbor schools, and I am so
impressed with their knowledge,
with their conviction, with their
ability to critically think and to
articulate what their generation
is feeling right now in our public
schools,” Swift said.
Swift also apologized on behalf
of adult community members on
their inability to effectively prevent
the shootings taking place in
schools across the country.
“I feel very sorry that as adults,
we have not been able to solve the
problem of safety in our schools,”
Swift said. “I know that many
See SAFETY, Page 2
Gun safety
discussed
at Pioneer
town panel
ANN ARBOR
Washtenaw high school
students talk Parkland
shooting, activism efforts
ELIZABETH LAWRENCE
Daily Staff Reporter
Commuter students call for increased
resources, accessibility on campus
With no data on commuters, students request further research, education efforts
JORDYN BAKER
Daily Staff Reporter
See COMMUTER, Page 3
Former state Rep. Rashida
Tlaib has been first in many
arenas over her lifetime. She
was the first of 14 children, born
and raised in Detroit by her
Palestinian immigrant parents.
After attending law school on
the weekends while working
during the week, Tlaib became
the first Muslim woman elected
to the Michigan legislature. She
served as a state representative
for six years and then worked
as a public interest lawyer at the
nonprofit Sugar Law Center for
Economic and Social Justice for
the following three years.
Now, Tlaib is onto her next
first: the first Muslim woman
elected to Congress. In early
February, Tlaib announced she
was running for Congress, vying
for the seat vacated by former
Rep. John Conyers Jr., who
resigned in December.
“It
is
something
that
is
inspiring to many people – even if
you’re not Muslim – to know that
a girl like me who grew up poor in
south Detroit, who didn’t speak
English when I started school,
See TLAIB, Page 3
A day in the
life: Tlaib,
former MI
State Rep.
CAMPUS LIFE
24 hours with Rashida
Tlaib, running to be first
Muslim Congresswoman
MAEVE O’BRIEN
Daily Staff Reporter
ROSEANNE CHAO/Daily
Michigan sleepwalks to
61-47 win over Montana
MIKE PERSAK
Managing Sports Editor