Around 8:12 p.m. Friday, 

the 
Epsilon 
Alpha 
Sigma 

Sorority, is the University of 
Michigan’s first Arab sorority, 
dubbed the Empowered Arab 
Sisterhood, revealed its first 
class of new recruits. The seven 
girls recruited, the “Al-Afdal 
line,” marched into Auditorium 
D in Angell Hall, yelling “We’re 
the girls of Arab countries!” in 
Arabic.

As the girls were revealed, 

a founding member of the 
sorority’s 
chapter 
at 
the 

University 
removed 
a 
pink 

bandana from each girl’s eyes 
and wrapped a flag from their 

country of origin around her 
shoulders. Arab music blared as 
the girls announced themselves 
to the audience.

“I’m number nine, the leader 

of my line, and my name is Maria 
Ulayyet,” one newly initiated 
sister said. “My sisters know 
me as bint al-sham (Daughter of 
Sham-Damascus) and I’m from 
Damascus, Syria, the oldest 
capital in the whole world.”

“My name is Layla Jawad, 

my sisters know me as Amena,” 
another sister said. “I’m from 
Lebanon and I am one of the 
only Arab women in the Ross 
School of Business.”

In honor of World AIDS 

Day, 
the 
National 
Council 

for Negro Women, the Black 
Student Union and Creatives 
of Color presented the HIV 
Monologues Sunday night to 
teach students and faculty about 
the disease that affects millions 
of people around the world. The 
Department of Afroamerican 
and African Studies and the 
University of Michigan Museum 
of Art co-sponsored the event, 
which was held at the Helmut 
Stern Auditorium.

Using spoken-word poetry, 

skits, music and monologues, the 
monologue performers created 
a space to destigmatize those 
afflicted with the disease and 
educate the audience about the 
realities of HIV/AIDS.

The night began with a 

moment of silence to remember 
the millions lost from HIV/
AIDS, followed by a question 
posed to the audience: Why 
should you care? A presentation 
highlighted the current reality 
of HIV/AIDS in the United 
States, which has particularly 
impacted the African-American 
community. In 2015, African 
Americans made up 44 percent 
of all new HIV diagnoses. The 
event then moved into the 
speaker section of the night. 

The first speaker was Nesha 

Haniff, an educator in the 
departments of women’s studies 
and Afroamerican and African 

studies. Haniff’s speech centered 
around low representation of 
women in the discussion of HIV/
AIDS prevention.

“The 
methodologies 

developed for women to prevent 
them from having HIV and STI 
infections are not very well 
developed and they are very, 
very unfriendly,” Haniff said. 
“And so, as a result, women 
become more vulnerable to 
infections like STIs and HIV.”

Haniff explained how the 

only options for women to 
protect their own bodies are to 
use the female condom, which 
can be uncomfortable and very 
noticeable to the partner, or to 
use pre-exposure prophylaxis, 
a drug that is difficult to access.

“A lot of education breaks 

down in practice,” she said. 
“Be conscious of this problem, 
be 
educated 
about 
it, 
and 

advocate for the science that 

are relevant for women’s bodies 
… revolutionize and change the 
science so that we can develop 
safe and important features for 
the new medications that we 
will take.”

The night continued with 

various 
performances 
from 

students and faculty. 

Michigan 
state 
Senate 

Republicans voted to scale 
back minimum wage and paid 
sick leave laws, S.B. 1171 and 
1175 last Wednesday. The bills 
now move to the state House of 
Representatives, while critics 
on the left mobilize to protest 
these and other Republican-
sponsored 
bills 
during 

the lame-duck session.

The 
original 
initiatives, 

which would have raised the 
minimum wage to $12 by 2022, 
were supposed to appear on 
the Nov. 6 ballot. Instead, 
the state Senate adopted the 
proposal in September, which 
many Democrats worried was a 
maneuver to alter the bill after 
the election. Sociology lecturer 
Ian Robinson, president of 
the 
Lecturers’ 
Employee 

Organization, 
said 
because 

amending a ballot proposal 
would require a three-quarter 
majority 
in 
both 
houses, 

adopting the proposal made it 
easier for Senate Republicans 
to alter the bills.

“If they passed it in full — 

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Monday, December 3, 2018

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

First Arab 
sorority 
EAS forms 
‘U’ chapter

Students, community remember 
victims of California shooting

HANNAH SIEGEL/Daily

Students gather on the Diag for a vigil to remember the victims of the Borderline shooting Saturday afternoon. 

CAMPUS LIFE

Epsilon Alpha Sigma, reveals new class 
of recruits Friday evening in Angell Hall

ZAYNA SYED

Daily Staff Reporter

Attendents held signs reading “Remember Borderline” and “Never Again” 

Braving light rain and harsh 

winds 
with 
signs 
reading 

“Remember 
Borderline” 
and 

“Never Again”, approximately 20 
University of Michigan students, 
faculty and community members 

congregated on the Diag for a vigil 
Saturday afternoon in honor of 
those lost to gun violence. Music, 
Theatre 
& 
Dance 
freshman 

Olivia Johnson organized the 
vigil, hosted by Arts in Color, in 
response to a shooting near her 
hometown in Thousand Oaks, 
Calif.

According 
to 
CNN, 

the 
shooting 
transpired 
at 

Borderline Bar & Grill on Nov. 7 
and left 13, including the gunman 
and a sheriff’s deputy, dead. It was 
“college night” at the Western-
style bar, meaning entry was open 
to anyone over the age of 18 and 
the crowd included many patrons 
from area universities. 

Johnson attended Newbury 

Park High School in Thousand 
Oaks and said she used to go 
to the bar with her friends on 
Wednesdays — the same day of 
the week as the shooting — for 
18-and-over night.

ALEX HARRING
Daily Staff Reporter

See SENATE, Page 2A

Minimum 
wage laws 
scaled back 
by Senate

GOVERNMENT

Bill allowing workers more 
sick leave voted down, to 
move to State House

JULIA FORD

Daily Staff Reporter

HANNAH SIEGEL/Daily

Dr. Nesha Haniff speaks at HIV Monologues presented by the National Council for Negro Women, the Black Student 
Union and Creatives of Color Sunday night. 

HIV Monologues aims to educate, 
erase stigmas surrounding diagnosis

University Black Student Union and Creatives of Color co-sponsor event 

OLIVIA TAUBER

For the Daily

No Loss November

Michigan finished off its 

perfect November with a win 

over North Carolina, then 

defeated Purdue to start 

December on the right foot.

» Page 1B

When University of Michigan 

Music 
Theory 
professor 

Patricia Hall heard of musical 
works potentially composed 
at Nazi concentration camps, 
she began her research into the 
sounds of Auschwitz. During 
Hall’s tours of the most deadly 
system of camps during the 
Holocaust last summer, she 
was struck by the irony of the 
manuscripts 
she 
analyzed. 

Upon 
deeper 
review, 
Hall 

decided she wanted to delve 
more 
broadly 
into 
music’s 

relationship with the history 
of the Holocaust.

“I was immediately coming 

across highly ironic titles of 
popular German songs; I was 
so affected by them I had to 
stop what I was doing and 
stare at them to process some 
of these titles,” Hall said. 

A 
particularly 
intriguing 

piece Hall found was titled 
“The Most Beautiful Time of 
Life.”

Professor 
discovers 
music from 
Auschwitz

RESEARCH

University performed 
modern day tribute to 
music of the Holocaust

REMY FARKAS
Daily Staff Reporter

GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail 
news@michigandaily.com and let us know.

INDEX
Vol. CXXVIII, No. 42
©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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 B
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