Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4 — Thursday, February 28, 2019

Emma Chang

Joel Danilewitz

Samantha Goldstein

Emily Huhman
Tara Jayaram

Jeremy Kaplan
Elias Khoury

Magdalena Mihaylova

Ellery Rosenzweig

Jason Rowland

Anu Roy-Chaudhury

Alex Satola

 Ashley Zhang

Erin White

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EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

Three years ago, at the 

beginning of the fall 2016 
semester, student members 
of Black Lives Matter and 
the 
Black 
Student 
Union 

protested through walkouts, 
Diag chalk and marches in 
response to racist posters 
found 
on 
campus. 
That 

October, 
the 
University 

officially launched the five-
year DEI plan. Since then, the 
University 
administration 

says it has implemented 92 
percent of the initiative’s 
action items. From March 
to May of this year, the 
University plans to conduct 
a midterm assessment of the 
plan’s efficacy, culminating 
in a report of findings that 
will presumably be published 
this May. It is a fitting time to 
reflect on the functionality of 
this initiative and its effects, 
or lack thereof, on increasing 
diversity 
and 
helping 

marginalized groups feel safe 
on campus.

As 
an 
educational 

institution, 
the 
University 

has a responsibility to uphold 
values 
of 
inclusion 
and 

respect. The DEI plan has 
attempted to achieve this by 
holding campus-wide climate 
surveys, forming task forces 
such 
as 
REACT, 
creating 

spaces 
like 
the 
Trotter 

Multicultural 
Center 
and 

connecting 
with 
networks 

like 
Diversity 
Scholars, 

to name a few. That being 
said, the October 2018 DEI 
Progress 
Report 
revealed 

that so far, the quantitative 
effects of improving student 
and faculty diversity have 
been 
somewhat 
minimal. 

Action items and numbers 
vary from school to school, 
and it may be too early to see 
long-term results, but the lack 

of change means the program 
has 
not 
yet 
completed 

its goals. Therefore, it is 
crucial that the University 
continues 
to 
work 
with 

students on improving and 
implementing the DEI plan. 
We acknowledge the work 
that has been done by the 

initiative so far and implore 
that it continue with full force 
and a consistent commitment 
to seeking student input.

While it is crucial that the 

University makes a rigorous 
effort to create an inclusive, 
diverse 
and 
equitable 

campus 
environment, 
this 

responsibility should not fall 
solely on the administration. 
The student body plays a 
critical 
role 
in 
bringing 

these attitudes into the U-M 
community. 
After 
all, 
the 

DEI itself was born in large 
part out of the activism of 
students, 
particularly 
the 

Black Student Union’s 2013 
#BBUM campaign. It has been 
six years since that effort, and 
we cannot expect the DEI plan 
to be successful without our 
involvement in its programs.

It is essential that students 

give their full participation 
in 
fostering 
a 
positive 

discourse with their peers. 
It is equally necessary that 
students maintain a dialogue 

with 
the 
administration 

and 
voice 
their 
concerns 

about diversity, equity and 
inclusion 
on 
campus 
to 

ensure the impact of the DEI 
plan is meaningful. Much 
of the DEI plan’s success is 
dependent upon the quality of 
its programs and initiatives. 
However, 
without 
student 

input, the plan is destined to 
become a mostly top-down 
venture. The University has 
set aside a significant amount 
of money to make changes 
students have argued for, 
and the student body should 
take full advantage of this 
opportunity. The forthcoming 
three-year 
report 
presents 

a chance to organize and 
engage. Hopefully, students 
will react to the findings with 
new ideas and a reinvigorated 
drive to make an impact as 
opposed to responding with a 
lack of interest.

As students, we have made 

it clear that having a campus 
that fosters diversity, equity 
and inclusion is one of our 
fundamental values. Contrary 
to what people such as Perry 
might 
believe 
regarding 

“administrative 
bloat,” 

these initiatives perform a 
vital role by bettering the 
campus climate. The focus of 
our community should now 
be to hold administrators 
accountable to the promises 
they 
made 
in 
the 
DEI 

strategic 
plan, 
to 
elevate 

the 
concerns, 
ideas 
and 

demands of students and to 
encourage more participation 
amongst the student body in 
bringing about this positive 
environment. 
We 
look 

forward to the release of the 
three-year report and the 
renewed sense of engagement 
we hope it brings.

RAMISA ROB | COLUMN

A game of silencing Sansa Stark

T

oday’s most popular and 
anticipated drama show, 
“Game 
of 
Thrones,” 

televises a brutal, misogynistic 
medieval world. Though the violent 
fantasy series has been criticized 
for its problematic use of rape as a 
plot device, it has also been praised 
for subverting the gender norms of 
the complex, fictional society and 
creating nuanced female leaders. 
From a compassionate, ambitious 
heroine in Daenerys Targaryen to 
an enigmatic, bloodthirsty villain in 
Cersei Lannister, the show tells us 
there are many ways to be a strong 
woman in Westeros — but is it the 
same in our real world?

In the discussion of femme 

power in the Seven Kingdoms, 
Sansa Stark, the stereotypically 
feminine character — who initially 
knits for leisure and wears pretty 
gowns — often misses the cut. Young 
Sansa, the underdog of tragedies in 
the show, amassed viewer distaste 
that was similar to the reactions to 
characters like Viserys Targaryen 
and Joffrey Baratheon and made it 
to a list of the six most despicable 
characters on “Game of Thrones,” 
with a paragraph that lambasted 
her as “utterly useless and whiny.” 
Memes about Sansa Stark have 
been milling around the internet, 
one of which features her realistic, 
painful expression when her father 
Ned Stark gets decapitated. The 
caption reads: “Bitch calm down, 
you cry like 99.9% of the time.” 
This hatred for Sansa Stark reflects 
internalized 
sexism 
towards 

traditionally feminine characters.

Many Reddit threads presently 

deem Sansa Stark deserving of 
what they call her “garbage life,” 
and criticize her for fancying the 
nefarious 
Joffrey 
(though 
we 

are shown she was conditioned 
to worship him as her future 
husband). In season one, episode 
six, when Sansa slowly begins to 
question Joffrey, he apologizes 
to her and says: “I will never 
disrespect you again,” and she takes 
his word for it. Yet she is the one 
blamed for perceiving the good 
in a vicious man. But this hatred 
for “gullible” women is familiar. 
Many young girls — myself 
included — chose manipulative, 
cocky men in our teen years and 
later bear the repercussions with 
the shamefaced label: stupidly 

falling for the bad boy.

Baffled by this abhorrence 

for such a relatable character, I 
asked my followers on Instagram 
through the story option: “Why is 
Sansa Stark not a strong character?” 
One of the responses stated: “She 
could pick up a sword once in a 
while like Arya.” Other answers 
included: “She is a dumb girl but 
learning.” All of the responses 
depict our inability to recognize a 
woman’s strength and intelligence 
when they are stereotypically 
feminine and lack masculine traits.

The comparison between Sansa 

and Arya has historically favored 
the latter, indicating a common 
Hollywood fallacy that a “feminist” 
story must focus on iconoclastic 
women 
who 
can 
physically 

fight like men. Arya Stark (who 
resembles a delinquent tomboy) 
has a much larger fanbase than her 
sister, Sansa, who encompasses the 
prototypical girly, privileged girl 
we’ve become accustomed to seeing 
in the real world. And similar to 
reality, her passivity throughout the 
show is misinterpreted as weakness 
by fans. Unlike other inherently 
badass female characters, Sansa is 
non-violent and does not give loud, 
rousing speeches.

It is this conformist femininity 

that the audience misconceives 
as her transgression because she 
isn’t the usual fantasy heroine. 
The preference for Arya arises 
from the inherent social pedestal 
of masculine characteristics and 
the hatred for Sansa parallels 
our animus towards “ordinary” 
girly 
women. 
The 
audience’s 

selective idolization of the Stark 
sisters mirrors some of the double 
standards present in our society 
today. If we are truly feminist, we 
should be able to credit all kinds 
of women as equally strong — 
tomboys, girly and androgynous. 
Our tendency to revere characters 
who aren’t like other girls and 
scorn Sansa Stark demonstrates 
normalized sexism.

The audience’s disdain for 

Sansa’s 
strength 
exhibits 
the 

skewed, sexist vision of female 
power in our world — one that 
precludes traditional femininity 
and symbolizes an implicit rebuke 
for passive, unassertive women. On 
the other hand, the writers of the 
show have attempted to balance 

the discourse on strong females, 
not privileging one narrative over 
another. In this groundbreaking 
show, where women own dragons, 
possess unworldly martial skills 
and sit on iron thrones, unarmored 
Sansa Stark fearlessly perseveres. 
In “Game of Thrones,” where 
characters have dropped like flies, 
Sansa Stark, the so-called lone wolf, 
has survived. But our inability to 
appreciate her perseverance shows 
how little we are able to accept 
traditionally feminine characters.

Arguably, Sansa Stark is the 

most 
reasonable 
and 
resilient 

character — one who snubs the 
idea that strength only stems from 
swords. Her internal fortitude 
remains consistent through five 
seasons of endless torture from her 
Lannister nemeses. Sansa has never 
needed a weapon or superpowers, 
because her proclivity to withstand 
pain with her bullet-proof vest 
brings her back to power in 
Winterfell. After winning the Battle 
of Bastards in season six, she kills 
her husband, Ramsay Bolton, and 
softly fires the most hard-hitting 
dialogue that distinguishes her 
unique competence from the 
supernatural 
charisma 
fans 

expect from leaders of both 
genders.

But no matter what she does, 

Sansa Stark remains unacceptable 
to some fans. After judging Sansa 
for her initial submissiveness, 
many 
remain 
vexed 
at 
her 

development in season seven. In 
2017, a mid-series TV Guide open 
letter to Sansa Stark berated her 
as overly aggressive towards Jon 
Snow and underestimated her 
ascension as “playing right into 
Littlefinger’s hands” — which, 
ultimately, proves false, because 
Lord Baelish is now dead. If we 
were all waiting for Sansa to 
unravel her “real” strength but 
cannot accept her leadership now, 
then we are erecting a spectrum 
of what constitutes acceptable 
“strong” female gender expression 
with a narrowing crevasse between 
weakness and hostility.

Ramisa Rob can be reached at 

rfrob@umich.edu.

I

f it hasn’t happened to 
you yet, it soon will. 
You open up your social 

media for the first time during 
the day and there it is: the 
engagement photo. Maybe it 
starts with that girl you knew 
back in middle school, then a 
few acquaintances from high 
school. You are surprised at 
the high school sweethearts 
who made it this far (and 
skeptical of how long they will 
last).

I 
mean, 
that 
guy 
did 

cheat on all of his previous 
girlfriends. Then, one day, it 
will be a friend. You get that 
little shiver up your spine 
before pushing it out of your 
mind completely. It still isn’t 
completely real until — bam! It 
happens to your ex.

Yep. You open up your 

phone 
and 
see 
his 
mom, 

your mom and the whole 
community 
congratulating 

him on his engagement. Yikes. 
Now it’s real.

Meanwhile, 
you 
can’t 

even keep a cactus alive. You 
don’t know where you will be 
living in six months, let alone 
have anyone you’d remotely 
consider starting a life with. 
You still eat Kraft mac and 
cheese for dinner multiple 
nights a week and talk to your 
mom on the phone everyday. 
How on earth are people your 
age getting married?

Moments like these happen 

periodically 
throughout 

one’s life, but they just keep 
increasing in intensity until 
you reach what I have dubbed 
“the engagement epidemic.” 
There is the first time one of 

your friends has a boyfriend, 

the first time one of them has 
sex, the first teen pregnancy 
and on and on it goes.

However, thus far, nothing 

has hit me quite like the 
engagement 
epidemic. 
It 

seemed like one day it was one 
person and the next I blinked 
and my whole Instagram feed 

was filled with shiny diamond 
rings and happy tears. I was 
left wondering whether I was 
falling behind, or if everyone 
else had gotten ahead of 
themselves.

I always hear people make 

similar judgments, too. “Oh, 
they got married way too 
young,” and “they took things 
way too fast.” Or, conversely, 
“If they don’t get engaged soon, 
they are bound to break up,” 
or, “If they don’t find someone 
soon, it will never happen.” 
It seems like everyone has an 
opinion on love and what the 
right course of action is when 
choosing your path.

Some say you should be 

single and live life while you 
are young and wait until your 
late 20s — or even early 30s 
— to get married. Meanwhile, 
others say it is better to find 
someone you want to spend 
the rest of your life with while 
you are young so you can go on 
adventures with them. Then, 
most famously, there are those 
who always say, “When you 
stop looking, that is when it 
will happen.”

Yet, when I look back now at 

all the moments where I have 
received contradictory advice 
or where I felt like everyone 
was flying by me while I was 
stuck in quicksand, I don’t feel 
like I missed out. Everything 
that has happened in my life 
has happened right on time for 
me. Everybody has their own 
priorities and own experiences 
that all shape who they will 
become and how fast they are 
going to get there. By the time 
my mother was 23, she knew 
she was done with players. She 
said she pretty much hated 
men altogether and had nearly 
resigned in her quest to find 
the perfect one. She met my 
dad that same year and said 
within just a few weeks she 
knew he was the one. She told 
him she was giving him one 
year and no longer to make up 

his mind and propose. I’ve told 
that story to other people who 
say, “One year? My parents 
dated for six years — one is 
way too soon.”

Maybe 
the 
truth 
is 

we should all reserve our 
judgments about those doing 
life at different speeds than 
us. This sounds like the “yeah, 
duh” answer, but aren’t we 
all at least a little guilty of 
thinking we are doing it the 
better 
way 
or, 
conversely, 

worrying we are doing it all 
wrong? We expect to follow a 
linear path put forth for us by 
Hollywood clichés or we feel 
guilted by family members 
who have exceedingly high 
expectations. We feel lonely, 
sad or confused by all that 
is changing around us and 
everyone we know that is 
moving onto the next stage of 
their lives.

We should feel confident, 

however, that we will get 
there. So many older adults 
have said it must be true: life 
flies by in the blink of an eye. 
We shouldn’t wish a single 
moment of it to move faster 
and we can’t slow it down. 
When we spend our whole 
lives looking forward at what 
we want or backwards at 
what could have been we risk 
missing the wonderful stage 
of life we are in at the present 
moment. Never again will 
we be so young or so free. At 
risk of sounding like a cheesy 
pop song, I say we can’t afford 
to always be living life with 
regrets. We all make mistakes, 
take detours and trip over our 
own two feet. And though it is 
not the path for all of us, most 
of us will wake up one day 
feeling like we have met “the 
one.” I am sure it won’t happen 
a moment too soon or a second 
too late for a single one of us.

The engagement epidemic

ABBIE BERRINGER | COLUMN

Abbie Berringer can be reached at 

abbierbe@umich.edu.

FROM THE DAILY

Keep Demanding Diversity and Inclusivity 
O

n Jan. 24, the U.S. Department of Education opened an investigation 
into more than 50 complaints filed by Mark Perry, University 
of Michigan-Flint economics and finance professor, against the 

University for discrimination against men. This has subsequently ignited a 
national discourse over the effectiveness of college diversity initiatives and 
the University’s own Diversity, Equity and Inclusion plan. His arguments that 
women-only spaces are discriminatory and that the DEI plan unnecessarily 
raises University costs are inflammatory and, more importantly, flawed. 
Spending on an initiative to bring about an inclusive environment cannot 
be dismissed as mere “administrative bloat,” as he purports it to be. These 
statements ignore the cultural history of gender-based discrimination and 
the multitude of other factors that contribute to rises in University tuition. 
However, the current attention on Perry brings to light the need for a closer 
look at the DEI initiative and if it has truly delivered on its promise of 
creating a more diverse and welcoming campus climate. 

The University has 

a responsibility 
to uphold values 
of inclusion and 

respect

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