michigandaily.com
Thursday, May 3, 2018

INDEX

Vol. CXXVII, No. 115 | © 2018 The Michigan Daily 
michigandaily.com

NEWS ....................................
OPINION ............................... 
ARTS ......................................
MiC.........................................
SPORTS................................

MICHIGAN IN COLOR
MiC Contributor

“Therse are all the things I 

would like to tell my moth-

er someday.”

>> SEE PAGE 9

NEWS
Winged Mural

University commisioned 

street art bolsters U-M 

social media presence.

>> SEE PAGE 2

OPINION
Slacktivism in 2018

Slacktivism: the watered 

down support for an issue 

that requires minimal effort.

>> SEE PAGE 5

ARTS

Film: ‘Avengers: 
Infinity War’
The latest tentpole is 
more spectacle than 
substance
 >> SEE PAGE 7

SPORTS
Shea Patterson

The Ole Miss transfer’s 

waiver for immediate 

eligibility was accepted by 

the NCAA.

>> SEE PAGE 12

inside

2
4
6
9
10

COMMENCEMENT

See COMMENCEMENT, Page 3

MSU professor accused 
of sexual harassment

William Jacoby 
under investigation 
by U-M and MSU 

By RACHEL CUNNINGHAM

Summer Daily News Editor

Valerie 
Sulfaro, 
currently 
a 
professor of political science at 
James Madison University, was 
considering switching out of her 
international 
relations 
subfield 
when she was 23 years old and in 
her second year of graduate school 
at the University of South Carolina 
in 1989. This was when she met 
William Jacoby, then a faculty 
member at USC, who convinced her 
to study public opinion and voting 
behavior, his subfield.
Jacoby 
is 
now 
a 
political 
science professor at Michigan 
State University and a director of 
the Inter-University Consortium 
for Political and Social Research 
Summer Program at the University 
of Michigan. Both MSU and the 
University are investigating him for 

sexual misconduct. 
According 
to 
University 
spokesperson 
Rick 
Fitzgerald, 
Jacoby will not be teaching this 
summer with ICPSR, though Jacoby 
can still be found on MCommunity.
According to Sulfaro, she served 
as a teaching assistant for a course 
Jacoby taught in the fall semester of 
1990. In the winter of 1990, he came 
to her office and closed the door. 
“I remember very clearly what 
he said,” Sulfaro said. “He said he 
was laying his cards on the table, 
and then proposed an intimate 
relationship with me. I was stunned. 
I did not say yes. I did not say no. I 
said maybe, because I could not 
figure out what to say.”
Sulfaro also said Jacoby told her 
she was sending clear signals of 
her interest in him. According to 
Sulfaro, his misinterpretation of her 
feelings crushed her confidence.
She then said Jacoby kissed her 
with his arm around her and ground 
his pelvis into her.
“It was not an innocent kiss,” 
Sulfaro said. “He had not waited for 
me to say yes or to think about what 

I wanted. And at that moment I felt 
like I had cheated on my boyfriend 
without ever intending to.”
This was not the only time Sulfaro 
had such an encounter with Jacoby. 
In an email to The Daily, Sulfaro 
wrote Jacoby sexually harassed her 
while she was presenting a paper 
at the Midwest Political Science 
Association in 1996 and kissed her 
again without consent. At the MPSA 
conference, Jacoby allegedly offered 
Sulfaro a computer disc with nude 
photos of himself on it.
The 
University’s 
sexual 
harassment policy labels unwanted 
sexual 
statements, 
personal 
attention and physical and sexual 
advances as sexual harassment. The 
policy also states the University will 
be unsympathetic to any consensual 
relationships when there is a clear 
power differential between the 
parties. Sulfaro said she considered 
the relationship consensual because 
Jacoby did not rape her and she 
did not run away, even though the 
relationship was not her choice.

Speaker 
shares hope 
at spring
convocation

Charles Woodson 
speaks on unity and 
hope for graduates

By ALEXAST. JOHN & RIYAH BASHA 

Editor in Chief & Managing News Editor

“When you look around, I don’t 
want you to see Black, White, Asian. I 
don’t want you to wonder if a person is 
Democrat or Republican, gay or straight. 
When you look around I just want you to 
simply see human beings. Nothing more, 
nothing less.”
This is the sentiment University of 
Michigan alum Charles Woodson left 
class of 2018 graduates with Saturday 
morning at spring commencement. 
Other speakers emphasized themes 
of service, community and Michigan 
fandom.
University Provost Martin Philbert, 
professor of toxicology in the School 
of Public Health, was the first to make 
remarks at Saturday’s ceremony. 
Speaking on the class of 2018, 
Philbert said, “They have challenged 
us, their teachers, to examine our own 
ideas. In the face of new evidence and 
different perspectives, we thank them 
for reminding us learning is a lifelong 
endeavor.”
LSA now-graduate Jad Elharake 
then spoke about his experiences and 
challenges as an Arab-Muslim student 
and a first generation college student, 
leading him to this moment to “come for 
everything they said we couldn’t have.”
“We 
faced 
challenges, 
made 
sacrifices but experienced joy along the 
way,” Elharake said. “It is critical we 
remember those who empowered us.”
Elharake 
introduced 
LSA 
Dean 
Andrew Martin, who spoke on the 
significance of academic freedom. 

See MISCONDUCT, Page 3

DESIGN BY JACK SILBERMAN

ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY SEVEN YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

