Thursday morning, hundreds 
of students, faculty, alumni 
and community members filled 
the new home of the Trotter 
Multicultural Center on South 
State 
Street. 
University 
of 
Michigan 
President 
Mark 
Schlissel, Regent Ron Weiser 
and Cynthia Stephens, the 1st 
District Court of Appeals judge, 
were among the speakers at 
the Trotter Center’s opening 
ceremony.
Alphonse Pitawanakwat, a 
lecturer in the Native American 

Ojibwe language, opened up the 
ceremony, acknowledging the 
new Trotter Center’s location 
on land previously inhabited 
by the Ojibwe, Odawa and 
Potawatomi tribes.
In 
his 
opening 
remarks, 
Schlissel 
spoke 
about 
the 
importance of the new center’s 
establishment.
“This is a historic occasion, 
not just for the University of 
Michigan, but for our students 
and graduates, the society we 
serve, and really, the shared 
future that we’re all hoping to 
create,” Schlissel said. “The 
Trotter Multicultural Center is 

a new home for many personal 
and shared identities, for unity, 
for learning, for reflection and 
for hope.”
The new Trotter Center’s 
opening 
was 
the 
result 
of 
decades of petitioning from 
student 
activist 
groups, 
specifically the Black Student 
Union. At the beginning of 
2014, as part of a greater list 
of 
demands 
for 
expanded 
scholarships, 
more 
student 
diversity and more equitable 
housing 
opportunities, 
the 
student group petitioned the 
University to move the Trotter 
Center 
from 
its 
previous 

location, 
a 
15-minute 
walk 
to 
Central 
Campus 
from 
Washtenaw Avenue, to a more 
accessible location on Central 
Campus.
In late 2013, members of 
BSU popularized the hashtag 
#BBUM, or “Being Black at 
the University of Michigan,” 
prompting 
a 
campus-wide 
movement to increase equity 
in admissions, resources and 
student 
opportunities, 
as 
well as offering a space for 
Black students to share their 
experiences on campus.

The Matthaei Botanical 
Gardens 
hosted 
a 
photography 
exhibit 
Thursday titled “Finding the 
Strength to Heal: A Journey 
of 
Rebuilding 
Amongst 
Violence.” The exhibit, a 
product of Rackham student 
Laura Sinko’s dissertation, 
told the stories of women 
who survived sexual violence 
as undergraduates through 

pictures, quotes and videos. 
Attendees 
perused 
different 
rooms 
of 
the 
building, 
each 
with 
a 
different focus. One room 
played a video on a loop 
highlighting 
the 
journeys 
of four participants in the 
project, while another, titled 
the 
self-care 
room, 
held 
crafts and stress balls. The 
conservatory itself was used 
as the resource room, where 
information 
booths 
from 
various University resources 

including 
Sexual 
Assault 
Prevention and Awareness 
Center, 
Counseling 
and 
Psychological 
Services, 
U-M 
Police 
Department 
Special Victims Unit, Office 
of Institutional Equity and 
University Health Services 
sexual 
assault 
nurse 
examiners 
were 
stationed 
throughout the plants.
Attendees followed arrows 
in a winding path in the main 
photography exhibit room, 
accented by twinkling lights 

and calm music. Photographs 
and quotes from survivors 
were organized on a series of 
panels, each corresponding 
to a different theme. The 
first row was made up of 
general themes of the healing 
process, 
the 
second 
row 
focused on darker and more 
vulnerable moments within 
the process and the final row 
consisted of more specific 
day-to-day ups and downs.
University of Michigan students 
and 
faculty 
discussed 
legacy 
admissions and their Constitutional 
implications in Hutchins Hall on 
Thursday afternoon. The Education 
Law and Policy Society hosted the 
event to focus on admissions from 
an equal protection standpoint.
The discussion began with 
the panel addressing the ubiquity 
of legacy admissions in highly 
selective 
institutions. 
Michael 
Bastedo, 
School 
of 
Education 
professor, specializes in higher 
education admissions research. He 
said legacy commonly plays a role in 
undergraduate admissions.
“Primarily at the undergraduate 
level, it’s pretty common,” Bastedo 
said. “It’s more unusual not to 
practice legacies than it is to 
practice legacies.”
The question was then directed 
to Margo Schlanger, the panel’s 
legal expert and University Law 
School 
professor, 
on 
whether 
legacy admits violated the equal 
protection clause of the U.S. 
Constitution.

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Friday, April 12, 2019

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©2019 The Michigan Daily

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MICHIGAN IN COLOR
Sankofa: 
Trotter looks 
towards new 
beginnings

Central location just one step in a 
larger journey to equity on campus

Approximately 
150 
students, 
faculty and community members 
were in attendance for a series of 
performances in an event titled 
“Young, Latinx and Proud” hosted 
by 
the 
Latin@ 
Culture 
Show 
and sponsored by Department of 
American Culture and Latino/a 
Studies on Thursday night. The 
event featured several groups that 
presented dances and songs from 
different Latinx cultures.
LSA senior Karen Garcia, one of 
the organizers, said the show takes a 
lot of careful planning beginning in 
the fall.
“It’s a lot of work,” Garcia said. 
“The day of, we get here early, make 
sure everyone is ready, everyone is 
in positions, make sure we have a 
backup plan if we have a hiccup, so it’s 
a lot of work throughout the year, but 
it’s also very rewarding.”
The performers ranged from 
elementary schoolers to college 
students, and included songs and 
dances inspired by the traditional 
styles from Mexico, Peru, the 
Dominican Republic and more.

Latinx orgs 
feature art 
 
from many 
countries

CAMPUS LIFE

Latin@ Culture Show 
hosts its annual event 
including dance, song

ATTICUS RAASCH
Daily Staff Reporter 

“Finding the Strength to Heal” shares 
stories of sexual assault survivors

Photography exhibit at Matthaei Botanical Gardens raises awareness with multimedia 

Law school 
panel talks 
legality of 
admissions

CAMPUS LIFE

Students, faculty look 
at the constitutionality 
of legacy acceptances 

NIKKI KIM 
Daily Staff Reporter

See HEAL, Page 3

See TROTTER, Page 3
See BEGINNINGS, Page 3

Follow The Daily 
on Instagram, 
@michigandaily

On Thursday, generations 
of students and alumni joined 
in unity to welcome the grand 
opening of the new Trotter 
Multicultural 
Center 
on 
Central Campus. Forged from 
decades’ worth of student 
activism, largely spearheaded 
by the Black Student Union, 
Trotter opened its doors to 
the public and community 
during a historic community 
gathering. Students, alumni, 
faculty and staff lined the 
basement from wall-to-wall, 
nearly reaching capacity. The 
space, amalgamating the past 
and the present, produced a 
tangible reward for all the 
blood, sweat and tears poured 
into making the new Trotter 
Center a reality. 
The Trotter Center’s new 
space, 
placed 
on 
Central 
Campus’ South State Street, 

is a direct result of Black 
student activism on campus, 
dating all the way back to the 
1970s with the Black Action 
Movement . Since then, the 
Black Student Union has 
continued these efforts with 
various social movements, 
a focal point being its 2013 
#BBUM (Being Black at the 
University 
of 
Michigan) 
Twitter 
movement. 
In 
addition to launching the 
viral social media campaign, 
BSU 
released 
a 
list 
of 
demands, one of them being 
an opportunity to congregate 
at a new Trotter Center on 
Central Campus.
Tyrell Collier, speaker of 
Black Student Union during 
#BBUM, spoke at the ribbon-
cutting about the persistence 
of Black student activists on 
campus and paid homage 
to organizations like BAM 
and the Students of Color 
Coalition that came before 
him.

NA’KIA CHANNEY & 
DIERRA BARLOW
MiC Managing Editor & Assistant 
MiC Editor 

Read more online at 
michigandaily.com

ANGELINA LITTLE 
Daily Staff Reporter

DANYEL THARAKAN/Daily
Attendees view the “Finding the Strength to Heal: A Journey of Rebuilding Amongst Violence” photography exhibit at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens Thursday.

After decades of activism, new 
Trotter Multicultural Center opens 
 

Community members reflect on BSU’s role in the building’s move to State St. 

Read more online at 

michigandaily.com

Courtesy of Na’kia Channey & Alec Cohen/Daily
Students, faculty, alumni, and community members join together for the grand opening of the new location for Trotter Multicultural Center Thursday afternoon.

BEN ROSENFELD
Daily Staff Reporter