for the debate team, Kall said
it was “an honor to follow the
lead” of the basketball and
hockey teams.
“We’ve accomplished this
milestone in four of the last
five seasons, but remain eager
to bring home the first debate
national
championship
to
Ann Arbor next year,” Kall
said. “Caitlin and Jacob are
only juniors and will have an
excellent opportunity to make
this happen.”
Goldschlag emphasized the
amount of work he and the
team put into preparing for the
debate. He believed the team
will ride the momentum of this
season’s overall success into
next year.
“We have not yet had a
tournament as successful this
season,”
Goldschlag
wrote
in
an
email
interview.
“I
think ending the season on a
high note will bring us some
momentum going into next year
as we compete for a national
title. We are excited about the
possibility of bringing the first
National Debate Tournament
championship in the school’s
history home to Ann Arbor.”
Goldschlag
said
being
a
member of the debate team has
been a large part of his time at
the University.
“The debate team has been
integral
to
my
Michigan
experience
from
the
very
beginning,” he wrote. “The
only reason I even heard of
the school, being a southern
California native, was because
of the summer debate camp for
high school students, which I
attended several times. Since
I have been here, I’ve made a
number of lifelong friends on
the team as well as with college
students all over the country.”
Walrath
attributed
the
team’s success to three things:
pre-college
debate
summer
programs, the University’s full-
time coaches, staff and alumni,
and the hard work and strategy
of
their
team.
Goldschlag
agreed with Walrath on the
reasons the U-M team is so
competitive in addition to the
fact they all work toward the
greater goal of the team rather
than their individual selves.
Walrath said she enjoys debate
because of her teammates.
“My favorite part of debate
is honestly the people I get to
be around,” Walrath wrote in
an email interview. “I also just
love competing in an academic
activity
because
it
keeps
me
engaged
with
politics,
international relations, etc. as
well as it definitely helps in the
academic department.”
Walrath
described
the
National Debate Tournament
as a surreal experience, saying
the impact of their national
ranking did not hit her until
afterwards.
“It was also weird because I
was so locked into just winning
every round that it didn’t really
hit me that we made semifinals
of a national tournament until
after it was all over,” Walrath
wrote. “I think that is the
attitude that I want to carry
into next year though: pure
focus. I believe if we keep
our hard work up (both in
terms of producing research
and practicing constantly) in
combination with that focus,
we will win it all. We have an
amazing coaching staff and
group of teammates so the
sky’s the limit. We are ready to
finally bring home a national
championship title.”
“Sexual
harassment
and
assault and violence burdens
and degrades the lives of
women
and
girls
every
day,” Taylor said. “It is the
expression and instrument of
male dominance. But it is not
inevitable. Cultural change,
even in problems as deep-
seeded as this, can happen. It
does come slowly, but it can
happen.”
Keynote speaker Margaret
Tallet, the COO of Michigan
Women’s
Foundation,
discussed her work as the
leader of Enough Said, a
campaign
to
remove
the
accumulation of untested rape
kits in Detroit. She said some
of these kits contained the
information of women whose
rapes had occurred as far as 25
years ago. Tallet highlighted
the
immense
support
she
garnered
from
community
members, including DeAndre
Levy of the Detroit Lions,
and how the hard work of
constituents in fundraising
eventually
garnerd
the
attention of local politicians.
“It’s been grassroots,” Tallet
said. “It’s been people like you
who create a difference.”
Tallet was proud to report
the last of the untested rape
kits in Detroit were mailed
to a lab two weeks ago. She
again
acknowledged
the
community’s efforts and urged
the ralliers to come together
in the chant, “Enough said!”
“It truly is an act of an
entire community of people
who care and because this is
a rally, I want to end with all
of you saying enough said,”
Tallet said.
The organizers also brought
the ralliers together through
activities
like
the
men’s
pledge, when all the men at
the rally walked to the stage to
sign a commitment to work to
fight sexual violence. Student
speakers
also
provided
information on SafeHouse and
the Sexual Assault Prevention
and
Awareness
Center
as
resources for survivors of
sexual violence.
Engineering
sophomore
Alex Backus said he attended
Take
Back
the
Night
to
support the organization and
empower
other
survivors,
being a survivor himself. He
also applauded the event’s
ability to raise awareness and
make change.
“I think these kinds of
events open people’s eyes,”
Backus said. “A lot of people
don’t realize that things like
this happen all the time. So,
I think these events make
people aware and make people
understand that we need to
change things.”
Before the ralliers went
off to march the streets of
Ann Arbor, Denson and other
organizers read their list of
demands
detailing
action,
they believe, must be taken
to end sexual violence. Each
demand was punctuated by
attendees
stomping
their
feet or cheering. The last
one, promising to continue
their activism to end sexual
violence after the event, ended
with an eruption of applause.
–– and the police were standing
around him, and I didn’t notice
any (handcuffs). I turned back
and the guy was sitting upright
on the ground, sitting pretzel-
style, then I looked away again
and the next time I looked there
was one police vehicle there.”
A member of the Mason Hall
custodial staff said he heard
the man was roaming with a
large pole hitting cars and other
objects before being taken into
custody. He said the man seemed
mentally unstable, as if he were
“on drugs or something of that
nature.”
Melissa Overton, University
deputy chief of police, said
officers
took
the
individual
into “protective custody” and
the situation was a medical
emergency, but could not give any
further information.
“He took off and ... ran on
foot and there was a short foot
pursuit and he was yelling and
screaming,” Overton said. “He
did comply with our officer’s
orders when we asked him to stop
and get on the ground. He was
being disruptive.”
A
woman
on
the
scene
identified herself to DPSS officers
as the individual’s mother, and
two men approached the woman
and DPSS officers, identifying
themselves as fraternity brothers
of the arrested individual.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Friday, April 6, 2018 — 3
RALLY
From Page 1
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
UM Productions load in the set for the SMTD musical “Me and My Girl” at the Power Center Thursday.
ME AND MY GIRL
DIAG
From Page 1
DEBATE
From Page 1
Department
sent
an
email
flyer
for
the
Final
Four
Championship
Watch
Party
transportation
service,
incorrectly referring to the
Central Campus Transit Center
as “C.C. Little.” Broekhuizen
said the announcement “was
written and teed up before
the vote on Thursday” and the
department promptly made the
correction on their website.
“Our
assessment
after
consulting
with
Student
Life is that there isn’t much
ongoing concern on this topic,”
Broekhuizen wrote in an email.
Prior
to
the
President’s
Advisory
Committee
on
University
History’s
investigation
into
the
historical significance of C.C.
Little’s name, students and
faculty
submitted
official
requests and staged protests
in support of removing the
name. Broekhuizen said the
University hosted town hall
meetings for students to learn
about renaming the building,
provided public information
and
released
University
President
Mark
Schlissel’s
committee reports.
While the University claims
progress has been made to
remove C.C Little’s name in
public areas across campus,
many students and faculty ask
what the University’s role is
in reflecting how C.C. Little’s
name is remembered.
LSA senior Madison Jones has
dedicated time to advocating
for the removal of C.C. Little’s
name,
participating
in
the
protest during the LSA Student
Government
meeting
last
September. Though her initial
goal has been accomplished,
Jones said there is still much
to learn. Jones believes the
University has the power to
influence
U-M
culture
by
continuing to educate students
on the importance of the name
removal.
“I think if they were more
heavy-handed and a little bit
stronger in their responses,
that would help,” she said. “If
they actually came out and
had denounced the things C.C.
Little did and framed it as, ‘We
really understand why this
building name is unacceptable,
and that’s why we are changing
it,’ rather than framing it as
some sort of intellectual debate,
I think that would help with
more people and more students
understanding, ‘Oh this isn’t an
okay thing.’”
Jones also expressed her
concern on the University’s
delayed response.
“With any of these incidents
and any of these problems, the
University’s response is always
not only too slow, but too kind
of calm, too kind of attached,
too kind of disregarding and
invalidating
the
sense
of
urgency and the feelings these
students have,” she said.
As a senior, Jones empathizes
with student activists who are
not able to witness the fruits of
their labor.
“Everything people are doing
on this campus is to better it
for future generations,” Jones
said. “But still, people want
to see tangible results to their
organizing and activism within
their own student cycle.”
An LSA sophomore, who
requested to remain anonymous
due to his involvement in CSG,
said he didn’t think changing
the name of the building was
going to make a measurable
difference on campus because
the University is not addressing
the lingering cultural impact of
C.C. Little’s name.
“I really don’t think there’s a
purpose in changing it, in that
it doesn’t erase the fact that
the person who it was named
after was racist,” the student
said. “Just because you change
a name of a building, that
doesn’t change the culture of
the University.”
In an email interview, Angela
Dillard, the associate dean
for Undergraduate Education,
echoed the student’s sentiments
and said simply removing the
name does not change history
books or the cultural impact C.
C. Little had on campus.
“Removing
CC
Little’s
name from the building does
not erase him from history,”
Dillard wrote. “He was (still)
president of the UM from 1925
to 1929; there has been no
move to expunge him from the
history books -- even if such
a thing were even possible …
Names change all the time for
various reasons.”
Peter McIsaac, an associate
professor
of
German
and
museum
studies,
said
he
believes the University has
a
great
responsibility
in
influencing how members of
the community will remember
C.C. Little.
“I think it’s too simple to
think, ‘We take the name down,
this means we’re free and clear.
We never had people like that
on our faculty, we never had a
President who was a eugenist,’”
McIsaac said. “(Little’s) not the
only one. So I think it’s a good
thing to take the name off the
building, but I think it’s too
simple to say, ‘Oh, that solves
the issue.’”
McIsaac suggested ways in
which the University could
provide a learning opportunity
from the recent decision, from
introducing
the
building’s
history on campus to new
students
during
orientation
to an installation that could
be placed near the building,
explaining its history and why
the name was changed.
McIsaac
also
said
he
recognized the name removal
as an opportunity to reflect
on the University’s past and
how the University can move
forward.
“Rather than simply saying,
‘Okay we want to manage
consciousness by saying, “Don’t
call it that anymore,”’ there’s
sort of a moment to learn,”
McIsaac said.
Terrence
McDonald,
a
history professor and chair
of the President’s Advisory
Committee
on
University
History, spoke at last week’s
meeting prior to the vote
to present the Committee’s
findings
about
Little.
The
Committee debated the issue
for
months
and
officially
submitted
the
request
for
Schlissel to recommend the
building’s renaming in January.
McDonald said he encourages
community
members
to
celebrate
the
University’s
decision.
“I think it’s important to
point out that the University
has done something significant
already,” he said. “By saying
to the community and to the
world that we are not going
to commemorate people who
were involved in this national
movement. The decision can
feel kind of routine, but it
wasn’t. It actually was quite
remarkable that the regents
decided
to
vote
and
that
Schlissel decided to accept the
recommendation.”
In an interview with The
Daily
last
week,
Schlissel
reiterated
McDonald’s
comments on the rarity of
the decision, saying he didn’t
“want the names of things to be
changing as fashions change.”
According to McDonald, the
Committee found Little was
an immigration restrictionist
during
his
time,
and
was
in favor of restrictions that
would be complementary to
today’s rhetoric from President
Donald Trump against illegal
immigration
from
Latin
America.
“I don’t know how many
people realize that we are
repeating some of the same
themes and that those themes
were
repudiated,”
he
said.
“People at the time in the
’20s were saying, ‘This is not
the right way to think about
immigrants.’ And yet we’re
repeating some of the same
things.”
McDonald said the original
naming decision was made
without
much
thought
or
consideration, following a basic
argument that there should be
a building named after every
president. McDonald believes
the recent change will create
exciting and novel conversation
about how the University wants
to think about a building that
has yet to be renamed.
“One of the opportunities for
us, pedagogically, is to think
about what we can learn about
the conversation from the ’20s
that Little lead,” McDonald
said. “He was actually the
leader of this organization,
and what’s the role of that
conversation today and why are
we revisiting these themes in
contemporary America.”
In the wake of the regents’
decision, McDonald said several
University classes are already
including
this
conversation
in their material. Next year,
McDonald
believes
science
courses, as well as those on
American history, have much
to gain from paying attention
to C.C. Little, his problematic
history and how the University
is moving forward.
As professors who study
the past, both McDonald and
McIsaac said they value the
importance of learning from
history to avoid repeating it
again.
However, Jones commented
on the current conversations
around Little’s name and its
usage on campus, saying those
who continue to use Little’s
name on campus to signify
spaces such as the Transit
Center is a constant reminder
to students of color who were
directly persecuted by Little’s
ideals. She also said history
cannot be ignored and the
University should do more to
denounce Little’s ideals and
influence
Little’s
continued
cultural identity on campus
past a name change.
“C.C. Little, because he’s
this historical figure, we can’t
see him, we can’t talk to him
right now. It’s easy to just be
desensitized to that history
and think it doesn’t matter,”
Jones said. “You can’t ignore
that history and it’s no longer
sanitized.”
LITTLE
From Page 1
“The debate team
has been integral
to my Michigan
experience
from the very
beginning ”
“Sexual
harassment
and assault and
violence burdens
and degrades the
lives of women
and girls every
day. It is the
expression and
instrument of
male dominance.”
“He did comply
with our officier’s
orders when we
asked him to stop
and get on the
ground ”