know
where
I
was
from,”

Offendum said. “When I’d tell
them I was from Syria, I’d get a
weird joke about breakfast cereal
or something. Now you can’t turn
on the news without hearing
about it at least once a day.”

Rackham
student
Yahya

Alami Hafez, a graduate student
instructor for Introduction to
Arab-American
Studies,
said

Offendum’s presentation showed
how current artistic mediums
such as rap actually trace back to a
long and rich Arab history. Hafez
said before each discussion, he
shows the class a music video
from an Arab region to highlight
this connection.

“I think culture is a really good

entry point to engage student
learning,” Hafez said. “Cultural
production
is
political,
it’s

something that shapes discourse.
When folks are studying history,
they’re looking toward material
artifacts or something that they
can examine — sometimes that’s
archives and sometimes it’s
museum exhibits or songs.”

Offendum
performed
a

number of his own spoken word
poems and raps, often prompting
the audience to participate by
motioning to sing portions of
the lyrics. Offendum opened the

lecture by rapping “Damascus,”
an Arabic poem he strongly
identifies with and ultimately
transformed into a song.

“For a kid growing up with a

mother from Damascus, I had
memorized that poem when I
was like 12,” Offendum said. “It’s
been a big part of my life and
it’s kind of a good introductory
piece to my work because it has
the element of poetry in it and
rap and cultural translation and
longing for Syria.”

Offendum said his work often

contends with the changing idea
of home, as he was born in Saudi
Arabia but grew up just outside
of Washington, D.C. He said he
was especially inspired by one
of his mentors, who told him
he should look to the future to
understand where home is.

“I was telling him how I feel

this sort of transient feeling in
my heart, like I don’t really feel
like I’m from here even though
I’ve been here pretty much my
whole life,” Offendum said.
“He’s like, ‘Listen, home is not
where your grandparents are
buried — home is where your
grandchildren will be born. Look
to the future, think about the
future, think about what your
purpose is here today.’”

more secure. They also touched
on voter registration system
issues, election audits, the 2016
presidential election and their
experiences with research.

“The Russians who hacked

into state election systems and
voter registration systems in
several states in 2016, they had
the ability to go much farther
than
they
did,”
Halderman

said. “They chose not to pull the
trigger. We’re right back in that
position we were in in 2016. The
question is not whether we’re
safe because we’re not safe. The
question is, are our adversaries
going to decide to pull the
trigger?”

In addition to his six-minute

testimony in June, Halderman
has returned to the Capitol
frequently to discuss the $380

million in funding for states
to modernize and secure their
equipment with state legislatures
and
congressional
staff.

Halderman has also assisted
Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., on an
election reform package.

According to an article in the

Michigan Alumnus, Halderman
said he was inspired to look
into voting machines during a
question-and-answer
session

in an Introduction to Computer
Science class. Afterwards, he
appeared with a United Nations
ambassador
to
explain
the

Internet Freedom Technology
Showcase
and
“refraction

networking” — a way to allow
users access to banned networks
and services while tricking the
computer into thinking they have
not been granted access — in
2015. Halderman went on to lead
a coalition funded by the State
Department on the concept.

“We’re
much
better
at

seeing unsuccessful intrusions

than
successful
intrusions,”

Halderman said. “It’s silly to
know someone is trying to get
in — you see someone jiggling
the lock — but, if they found an
open window on the side of the
basement and climbed in through
it where you didn’t have a sensor,
well, you wouldn’t know that by
monitoring the front door.”

Mebane focuses his research

on “election forensics” — a term
he created — with the goal of
creating
tools
for
detecting

anomalies and fraud in voting. He
said he uses statistical methods
to look for patterns to see if
voting reflects the intentions of
the voters in elections around the
world.

He was specifically asked

about his experience helping
with voting security in Kenya
last year and in the 2004
presidential election in Franklin,
Ohio.
Mebane
said
he
did

research on the Kenya election
and recommended it should

be annulled, with the Kenyan
Supreme Court agreeing. He said
election and voter registration
data in the U.S., however, is more
difficult to attain.

“The hard part is proving

when something is unusual or
when something is an anomaly …
Is that due to fraud or is that due
to just regular politics?” Mebane
said.
“Statistical
methods

can tell us when the votes are
switched, but you can’t tell who
switched them, and it makes
a big difference if the voters
switched them through strategic
consideration compared to some
bad guy switching them.”

In Michigan, Halderman said

people vote on paper, but only a
few companies handle counting
of the votes. If the software is
bugged, a hacker could alter
election results without touching
any machines.

should be transparency about
the University and its past
dealings with race relations.”

In response to the 2014

#BBUM
demands,
Terrence

McDonald,
director
of
the

Bentley
Historical
Library,

explained
archivists

began
compiling
recorded

interactions
between

University officials and Black
activists.

“The
digitization
project

began when student members
of the BSU, working on a history
of the Black Action movements,
asked if those records could be
made more available through
digitization,” McDonald said.
“We prepared a digital edition
of the demands from and

University responses to those
movements, and the idea for
digitizing the collection grew
from there.”

In
addition
to
demands,

#BBUM
sparked
a

national
conversation

on
Twitter
around
the

experiences of Black students
in
higher
education.
The

movement staged protests on
campus
to
bring
further

attention to their cause.

According to the University

Record, funds for the project
were provided by the Office
of the Provost and the process
of digitizing the records took
more than eight months to
complete.
The
new
online

collection features audio and
video recordings of visiting
scholars
and
activists,

including Rosa Parks and Jesse
Jackson, newspaper clippings

and other materials related to
the Black Action Movements
from 1969 to 1995.

The
entire
collection

can
be
accessed
digitally

by
all
University
students,

researchers, faculty and staff,
and to the public in person at
the Bentley Historical Library.

Matthew
Countryman,

chair of the Department of
Afroamerican
and
African

Studies, said in a statement to
the Record that he is especially
thrilled that these historical
documents have been digitized.

“As we approach the 50th

anniversary of the Center for
Afroamerican
and
African

Studies’ founding, we could not
be more excited to have these
essential historical documents
digitized
and
available

online to students, scholars
and
community
members,”

Countryman said.

LSA senior Kayla McKinney,

speaker of BSU, said the group
called for digitization of the
Bentley records to increase the
accessibility of these materials.
In addition, McKinney said
the project grew out of the
group’s desire to call attention
to the relations between Black
students and the University in
the past.

“Since then the Bentley has

worked tirelessly both with the
BSU and on their own to gain
and digitize these records and
we appreciate them greatly,”
McKinney said. “Having these
records digitized is important
because student activism is
often erased in U-M’s diversity
effort.”

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Friday, October 19, 2018 — 3A

MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily

University of Michigan professor Stephen Rush talks with musician panelists Tomeka Reid and Famadou Don Moye discuss the Edgefest
concert series at East Quadrangle Thursday afternoon.

WORLD PE RFOR M ANCE STUDIES

SYRIA
From Page 1A

DAAS
From Page 1A

ELECTION
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gas emissions reduction is an
ambitious goal and this project
marks a significant step in the
right direction as well as providing
a sound financial projection for
the university,” Hegarty said.

The Board of Regents also

reviewed
the
University’s

endowment,
which
increased

$1 billion this past year to $11.9
billion. According to U.S. News
and World Report, the University
of Michigan had the eighth largest
endowment of all universities as
of the end of the 2017 fiscal year.

“We have great confidence in

the University’s overall approach
to
investments
and
in
the

stewardship of these important
financial
resources,”
Regent

Kathy White (D) said.

During the meeting, the Board

of Regents also approved a model

portfolio for the University’s
long-term portfolio. The model
portfolio provides a plan for
the
University’s
long-term

investment allocation of each
asset class.

Regent Andrew Richner (R),

the chair of the board, said the
approval of the portfolio is an
effort to monitor the returns on
University investments.

“By putting this item on

our agenda and approving the
portfolio on an ongoing basis,
the Board of Regents will keep
current on the risks associated
with the investment portfolio
and
further
mitigate
risks

associated with noncompliance
with University policy,” Richner
said.

Baer addressed the board,

outlining
CSG’s
newest

initiatives. In order to increase
student voter turnout, CSG is
providing free transportation to
polling places on Nov. 6, as well as

stamped envelopes for absentee
ballots. According to Baer, CSG
plans to offer a series of town
halls, the first of which is on
Oct. 29 at 6 p.m. in the Michigan
League.

“We will be hosting our first

town hall this month focused
on
housing
affordability
on

campus,”
Baer
said.
“Based

on student feedback we have
determined housing affordability
to be extremely salient amongst
our student body, and while we
are working on initiatives now
to tackle this issue, we want
to hear directly from students
and community members about
what they think would decrease
housing
costs
and
improve

housing initiatives in the future.”

Baer
also
reported
her

administration has been working
with MDining to improve dining
experiences for students with
dietary restrictions. According
to Baer, South Quad dining hall

will open a kosher kitchen in the
coming weeks, and the dining
app will be upgraded to include
the ingredients of each dish.

“With the proliferation of

food allergies, we have focused
on ways to make all students feel
confident and safe on campus,”
Baer said. “As you may already
know, all dining halls now carry
Auvi-Qs, which is a device
similar to EpiPens. The dining
staff is now trained on how to
administer them if a student
suffers from an allergic reaction.”

Ganda
spoke
about
her

administration’s student voting
initiatives and the need for more
on-campus spaces for student
organizations.
Ganda
also

addressed the need for minority
representation
and
cultural

awareness among faculty and
campus at large.

REGENT
From Page 1A

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