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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No.108
©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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CRIME

After a third-degree sexual

assault in South Quad Residence
Hall
at
the
University
of

Michigan
was
alerted
last

Friday, some residents were
concerned about the two-day
delay in the crime alert. The
assault, which took place on
March 27 and was reported
to DPSS on April 4, was not
reported to the entire student
body via a crime alert until 3:40
p.m. on April 6.

LSA
freshman
Cassandra

Ritter, a South Quad resident,
said she was confused as to why
the crime alert was delayed
seeing as though it impacted the
immediate safety of residents.

“I took issue with the fact

that this incident was reported
on April 4th, and we didn’t get
any notification about it until the
6th, and all of (the previous DPSS
crime alerts) were reported a
couple of hours after, and some
of them even an hour after,”
Ritter said. “I don’t understand

why this incident, they didn’t
let us know until two days after,
even though this is something
that directly affects us because it
happened in our dorms.”

Melissa Overton, University

deputy chief of police, said
the delay was due to lack of
information from the initial
report and could not be avoided.

“We had to do some further

investigation
based
on
the

original information we had,”
Overton said. “We were trying to
determine exact location, things
like that. It just depends on
what’s originally reported to us.”

According to Overton, this

was not due to doubt of the
victim’s account but to ensure
the accuracy of the crime alert.

“The way we evaluate (a

case) for a crime alert is we
determine at the time, with all
the information that we have,
whether or not we deem it to be
a public safety threat,” Overton
said.

Crime alert
delay due to
detail issues,
UMPD says

Sandra Levitsky talks power of
optimism at Golden Apple lecture

DANYEL THARAKAN/Daily

Sociology professor Sandra Levitsky, recipient of the 2018 Golden Apple Award, gives her ‘last lecture’ on “Sociology and the Political Power of Optimism” at the
Golden Apple Awards ceremony in Rackham Auditorim Monday.

South Quad residents express concerns
for lack of timely info on sexual assault

ZAYNA SYED

Daily Staff Reporter

Award-winning prof. says social change occurs through examination of status quo

In her last lecture, Sandra

Levitsky, an associate professor
in the Sociology Department,
presented “Sociology and the
Political Power of Optimism.”
That
is,
the
topic
outlined

her “ideal last lecture” — an
annual event held Monday evening
for this year’s Golden Apple
Award Ceremony and recipient,
Levitsky.

Levitsky is the 28th recipient of

the prestigious, student-selected
faculty award and was chosen out
of nearly 700 nominees. Each year,
the Golden Apple Award Ceremony
offers the honoree an opportunity
to present their “last lecture” to
students and other individuals
who appreciate their work. Along
with her lecture, attended by over
a hundred University of Michigan
community members in Rackham
Auditorium, Levitsky also decided
to donate to the American Civil
Liberties Union.

Before Levitsky took the stage,

LSA junior Kyle Riebock, Golden

Apple Award Committee president,
welcomed the audience and spoke
to the quality of Levitsky’s role
as a professor and as a mentor
for students at the University.
Riebock also noted her work
with Sociology Opportunities for
Undergraduate Leaders, which
helps
first-generation
students

academically and professionally,
and her research on various social
issues.

“Professor Levitsky is truly a

wonderful example of a professor
deserving of this award,” Riebock
said.
“When
the
committee

surprised her, I was really able to
hear a lot of heartfelt sentiments
from her student and peers that
truly moved me … Her research
investigating social needs and
inequality is truly inspiring and
impactful.”

Riebock also praised the legacy

Levitsky has created so far and
expressed his desire to follow in
her footsteps.

“As a future teacher myself, if

my legacy inside and outside of the
classroom can amount to even half
of the legacy Professor Levitsky

AMARA SHAIKH
Daily Staff Reporter

A Black LSA sophomore

has to think twice before any
decision they make: once as
an individual, and again as a
member of the Black community.
For this reason, the subject of
this interview requested his
name not be used in this article.
He has to consider the impact of
his words on how people view
him as a Black person, he said.

“I have to be mindful that

I’m a student, but I’m also Black
here,” he said. “Sometimes the
intersection of that, it becomes
a double workload. So, a lot of
times I feel uncomfortable even
voicing my opinion on certain
things because I don’t want to
be perceived as a radical, or
against white people.”

This idea of living a double

life, or as this student put it,
“thinking with your regular
eyes and with the mind of a Black
person as well,” is encapsulated
in activist W. E. B. Du Bois’s
term “double consciousness.”
According to the sophomore,
this
double-consciousness

permeates every aspect of his
life, even in something as simple
as a white female student asking
to call an Uber from his phone
when he was with his friends at
a Black fraternity house.

“I had to think consciously

about it,” he said. “I had to think
with two minds. I want to help
her, so I’m going to allow you to
order the Uber from my phone,

but I also have to keep in mind
that if you’re in this house with
a lot of Black men, you could
try to flip this into something
that completely did not happen
because you’re drunk, and they
would
believe
you
because

you’re a drunk white woman
and we’re Black men.”

This caution, this obligation

to constantly think about one’s
race and these ways of thinking
are shared by many members

of the Black community at the
University of Michigan. Early
experiences of racism created
them,
and
the
continued

racism they experience at the
University engrain them deeper
in Black students’ minds.

Large-scale,
more

publicized racist incidents have
plagued
and
continue
to

plague
the
University,
the

most
recent
one
being
a

student posting a blackface

Snapchat
mocking
the

#BlackLivesMatter movement.
50 years after the first Black
Action
Movement
began

with students taking over the
Fleming
Building
following

the
assasination
of
Martin

Luther King, Jr., racism still
pervades in social interactions,
in classrooms, at parties, on the
street and more.

More than a dozen Detroit

high schoolers descended on
the University of Michigan’s
campus Monday afternoon for
more than an average Campus
Day tour. Members of PILOT,
a
student
organization
that

works with first-generation and
underrepresented
students,

showed the prospective students
around
campus
on
Monday

as
part
of
Dreams2Reality,

an
event
offering
college

planning
assistance
and

empowerment to high school
freshmen and sophomores from
underrepresented
minority

backgrounds.

LSA
freshman
Ihunanya

Muruako is PILOT’s financial
director and a Dreams2Reality
committee member. She said
one of the goals of the program
is helping the students learn
more about social justice while
helping them “get accustomed to
college.”

“We just hope that a lot of

the conversations that we have
are more in-depth and get them
thinking
about
themselves,”

Alum talks
ambitions,
diversity at
University

CAMPUS LIFE

Dreams2Reality program
helps underrepresented
minorities navigate ‘U’

LEAH GRAHAM
Daily Staff Reporter

CHRISTINE MONTALBANO/Daily

Black students recount incidents of
racism, discrimination on ‘U’ campus

Patterns of bigotry emerge in the classroom, social environments, say student accounts

ELIZABETH LAWRENCE

Daily Staff Reporter

See DISCRIMINATION, Page 3

See APPLE, Page 3

See SYRIA, Page 3
See PILOT, Page 3

On
Monday
morning,
the

names of 1,000 men, women and
children who have been killed
in Syria by President Bashar
al-Assad’s regime were written
in chalk across the Diag at the
University of Michigan. These
represented only a fraction of
the more than 400,000 Syrians
who have been killed during
the conflict, now in its eighth
year. While the demonstration
was motivated by the conflict in
general, the chemical attack in
Douma, Syria on Sunday was
a call to action according to
LSA freshman Basil Alsubee,
who
participated
in
the

demonstration.

“It is a response to the overall

situation for the past couple
years, but I think that what
happened
on
Sunday
really

triggered this sense of, ‘We
have to demonstrate,’” Alsubee
said. “Sometimes we get a little
complicit, and we start taking it
for granted that humanitarian
crises that are happening abroad
are just going to happen.

Victims of
Syrian war
written in
Diag chalk

CAMPUS LIFE

Students organize to write
names of 1,000 victims on
Diag following attacks

MOLLY NORRIS
Daily Staff Reporter

Read more at
MichiganDaily.com