Student activists joke it’s the new
Tinder. With the heavily detailed
profiles, including pictures taken from
Facebook, information on their family
and details about their education,
Canary Mission provides paragraphs-
long biographies about fellow activists
— data that simply cannot be found on
Tinder. But instead of a dating app, it’s
a site some students and professors feel
could derail careers and aspirations.
Canary Mission is an anonymous
blacklist created in April 2015 that
publishes
political
dossiers
on
student activists, professors and
organizations. The website reads,
“IF YOU’RE RACIST, THE WORLD
SHOULD
KNOW,”
claiming
to
document “people and groups that
promote hatred of the USA, Israel
and
Jews
on
North
American
college campuses.” There are more
than 2,000 people listed on Canary
Mission’s website.
When asked for comment on how
the website chooses who to place on
the blacklist, Canary Mission referred
The Michigan Daily to its ethics policy
without additional comment.
However,
the
site
has
been
criticized for using “McCarthyesque”
tactics to silence freedom of speech,
with opponents saying it’s designed to
deter its subjects from advocating for
Palestine.
Associate Professor Samer Ali,
director of the Center for Middle
East and North African Studies and
the Islamophobia Working Group,
researches scapegoating and stigma.
He called Canary Mission an example
of both of these.
“It’s
a
complete
surveillance
operation,” Ali said. “You’re going
to feel like you’re being watched,
targeted. The explicit purpose of
Canary Mission is to make it difficult
for people to graduate and find jobs,
internships or apply for funding
because any employer who googles
them, some of what they’ll find are
these blacklists.”
While Canary Mission states its
focus lies calling out student activists,
it also profiles notorious anti-Semites,
such as Richard Spencer. Activists
express
frustration
that
Canary
Mission groups them with neo-Nazis
like Spencer. Public Policy junior Arwa
Gayar is profiled on Canary Mission
and said the website’s decision to
group her with staunch anti-Semites
underscores its problems.
On Thursday afternoon at
Rackham
Graduate
School,
Gérard Mourou, 2018 Nobel Prize
laureate in physics and founder of
the University of Michigan Center
for Ultrafast Optical Science,
discussed his research on laser
physics. Mourou and fellow Nobel
Prize laureate Donna Strickland,
who was unable to attend the
event, each won a quarter of the
prize for their work on chirped
pulse
amplification.
Arthur
Ashkin,
developer
of
optical
tweezers, will claim the remaining
half of the prize.
Engineering
Dean
Alec
Gallimore kicked off the event,
titled “Passion for Extreme Light,”
by
acknowledging
Mourou’s
accomplishments and work at the
University. Mourou holds the title
of professor emeritus in electrical
engineering and computer science,
having taught at the University for
16 years before retiring in 2004.
Gallimore also noted some of
the innovations that have emerged
from CUOS, which he said will
soon be renamed the Gérard
Mourou Center for Ultrafast
Optical Science. CUOS is the
birthplace of IntraLASIK eye
surgery and houses the world’s
most intense laser, HERCULES.
“During his time at Michigan,
he
founded
the
Center
for
Ultrafast Optical Science, where
he served as director for more
than 14 years,” Gallimore said.
“Since its beginning, more than
250
graduate
students
have
produced roughly 170 patents,
five startup companies and over
5,000 scientific publications, the
safer, bladeless version of LASIK
eye surgery was developed, and
HERCULES, the world’s most
intense laser, was born.”
Thursday afternoon, the Ford
School of Public Policy hosted a
policy talk about racial bias and call-
driven policing titled “911, What is
your prejudice?” The event featured
panelists who shared their thoughts
on the topic and answered questions
from the audience.
David
Thacher,
associate
professor of public policy, hosted
the panel and asked the panelists to
spend 10 minutes answering what
authorities should do when dealing
with racially-biased calls.
Panelist Jessica Gillooly, Public
Policy doctoral candidate, began by
sharing her experiences working
with the 911 operators’ office in
Washtenaw County. She told the
audience the struggle of having
to discern the legitimacy of a
suspicious-person call, sharing a
story of a woman who called the
police on another woman at the
park.
“About a year into working as
a 911 call taker, I took a call on a
late fall afternoon from a woman
in a park,” Gillooly said. “She was
calling on a Black woman who was
standing near a grill, quote ‘maybe
cooking drugs.’
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Friday, March 1, 2019
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVIII, No. 85
©2019 The Michigan Daily
N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
CL A SSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
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For more stories and coverage, visit
ADMINISTRATION
1U meeting
establishes
structure for
new coalition
Canary Mission blacklists faculty,
students for pro-Palestine views
Representatives discuss leadership,
objectives at second campaign meeting
Website collects information on activists, accuses them of anti-Semitism
ZAYNA SYED
Daily Staff Reporter
Counseling and Psychological
Services is opening a Wellness
Zone on North Campus in Pierpont
Commons, giving students a space
to decompress from the stress of
school work. In the wellness zone,
students will be able to enjoy a
multitude of activities with the goal
of self-care.
This will be the only Wellness
Zone open to undergraduates this
year, as the original Wellness Zone
in the Michigan Union has been
closed for the building’s renovation.
A
Wellness
Zone
specifically
for graduate students opened in
Munger residence hall in November.
Christine
Asidao,
associate
director of community engagement
and outreach at CAPS, emphasized
the importance of the wellness
zone being extremely accessible to
students.
“I think one of the messages we
want to make sure students really
hear is that self-care and well-being
is really accessible,” Asidao said.
“This is a space that they can go
over there, swipe their card, get into
the space and be able to just choose
things that will help them do better.”
Wellness
Zone in the
works for
Pierpont
CAMPUS LIFE
CAPS to build mental
health center on North
Campus to improve access
NOAH FISHER
For The Daily
2018 Noble Prize Laureate discusses
laser physics, high-intensity optics
Founder of University’s Center for Ultrafast Optical Science shares research
Policy talk
examines
racial bias
in policing
GOVERNMENT
Panelists at “911, What is
your prejudice?” event
look at call-driven policing
ALYSSA MCMURTRY
Daily Staff Reporter
See PREJUDICE, Page 3
See CANARY, Page 2
See 1U, Page 3
Follow The Daily
on Instagram,
@michigandaily
On
Thursday
afternoon,
representatives
from
the
recently
formed
One
University
Campaign met for their second
coalition
meeting
at
the
University of Michigan’s Flint
campus, discussing a number
of
resolutions
regarding
the future leadership and
objectives of the campaign. A
satellite conference was held
on the University’s Dearborn
campus, and in Ann Arbor
at the Lecturers’ Employee
Organization and Graduate
Employees
Organization
offices.
The
One
University
Campaign, which was founded
last semester, aims to promote
equity, specifically in funding
and opportunities provided
to
students,
between
the
University’s campuses. Both
the lecturers’ and graduate
students’ unions have taken
an active role in promoting
the University’s policies of
diversity, equity and inclusion
across the three campuses.
LEO
President
Ian
Robinson, a member of the
1U
campaign,
explained
promoting
the
campaign’s
goals would serve to increase
equity of funding and student
opportunities between Ann
Arbor, Dearborn and Flint.
“You can make a really
big difference in Flint and
Dearborn, in terms of amount
of money there is available
per student, with transfers
from Ann Arbor or from
Lansing that look pretty small
by comparison to the overall
budget we have here in Ann
Arbor,” Robinson said.
Robinson also emphasized
negotiations with the Board
of Regents and administration
have been difficult — despite
the
Ann
Arbor
campus’s
endowment
and
revenue
from tuition, many University
leaders
are
reluctant
to
reallocate funds to Dearborn
or Flint.
BEN ROSENFELD
Daily Staff Reporter
Design by Michelle Fan
ALICE TRACEY
Daily Staff Reporter
MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily
Nobel Laureate and engineering professor Gérard Mourou speaks at a lecture and celebration in Rackham Auditorium Thursday afternoon.
Read more online at
michigandaily.com
Read more online at
michigandaily.com
See WELLNESS, Page 3