LSA senior Kathy Zhu, the 
vic LSA senior Kathy Zhu, the 
vice chair of the University of 
Michigan College Republicans, 
made national headlines after 
Miss World America stripped her 
of her Miss Michigan title in July. 
The action was in response to two 
tweets from her public Twitter 
account. According to an email 
the organization sent to Zhu, the 
tweets were deemed “offensive, 
insensitive 
and 
inappropriate 
content.” 
As a new school year begins, 
students have mixed ideas on 
how her comments will affect the 
campus climate at U-M. 
One of the tweets, posted 
in February 2018, responded 
to a “try on a hijab” booth in 
celebration of World Hijab Day at 
the University of Central Florida, 

where Zhu used to attend school. 
Zhu’s tweet equated the use of a 
hijab to the oppression of women 
under Islam. Zhu transferred to 
the University of Michigan the 
following semester of Fall 2018 
after receiving backlash for the 
tweet from thousands of Twitter 
users and UCF students, some of 
which called for her expulsion.
The other tweet brought into 
question by MWA was posted in 
October 2017, and blamed Black 
Americans for violence within 
their own communities. Both 
tweets have since been deleted 
from Zhu’s account, although she 
told Fox News in July she does not 
rescind any of her statements. 
“I stand by all of the tweets that 
I tweeted out from my Twitter 
account, but I don’t think that 
any of them were remotely racist 
or insensitive,” Zhu said in her 
interview with Fox News. “I just 
think I presented the facts and 

presented my own opinion of 
things.”
Zhu did not respond to requests 
for comment from The Michigan 
Daily.
Less than a week after the 
incident, Zhu was named to the 
Women for Trump Coalition 
Advisory Board. More recently, 
founders of a new beauty pageant 
titled Miss MAGA said Zhu’s 
story inspired them to create the 
competition.
LSA senior Maria Muzaurieta 
said College Republicans “fully 
stands behind” Zhu in an email to 
The Daily back in July.
“Although (MWA is) within 
their rights to do this as a private 
organization, we believe that 
this decision shows incredible 
bias 
against 
unextraordinary 
right wing opinion, which we 
expect will come back to hurt the 
organization,” Muzaurieta wrote.
Since her initial comment in 
July, Muzaurieta has not 
responded 
to 
additional 
requests for comment from 
The Daily.
Public 
Policy 
junior 
Camille 
Mancuso, 
communications 
director 
for the University’s chapter 
of College Democrats, wrote 
in an email to The Daily 
in July that the College 
Democrats condemn Zhu’s 
statements and regard them 
as “racist.” 
Now, with the start of a 
new school year, Mancuso 
said Zhu’s comments are 
still 
very 
important 
to 
discuss.
“Unfortunately, 
the 
incident regarding Kathy 
Zhu and her comments 
is not unique,” Mancuso 
wrote in a recent email. 
“Whether it’s in the form of 
racist graffiti in residence 
halls, Ben Shapiro speaking 
on campus, Stephen Ross 
fundraising for Trump or 
the words of Kathy Zhu, the 
racism on this campus is 
unfortunately very present 
and very persistent and 

very reflective of the systemic 
racism that is existent not only 
in Michigan and on Michigan’s 
campus but across the nation.”
Zhu’s actions will diminish 
the 
mental 
well-being 
of 
the 
student 
population, 
and 
specifically students of color on 
campus, Manusco said. She said 
student activists like the College 
Democrats will continue to fight 
for equity and inclusion within 
the University and surrounding 
community. 
“Racism is not welcome on our 
campus, and we will do the work 
as an organization to combat this 
continued 
harmful 
rhetoric,” 
Mancuso wrote to The Daily.
LSA junior Fareah Fysudeen, 
vice president external of the 
Muslim 
Student 
Association, 
received 
infuriated, 
deeply 
saddened 
and 
disappointed 
reaction messages in an MSA 
group chat when Zhu’s comments 
first became public, she told The 
Daily in an email interview.
“As 
an 
active 
community 
member 
in 
the 
Muslim 
community on campus, I believe 
every Islamaphobic remark, no 
matter how little, chips away at 
our general feeling of safety and 
belonging,” Fysudeen wrote. 
However, LSA junior Thomas 
Vance, an Afroamerican and 
African 
studies 
and 
political 
science double major, said he 
believes the campus political 
climate is constantly shifting and 
a significant change will not occur 
solely as a result of Zhu’s actions.
“I don’t think it’s in the 
forefront of anyone’s mind,” Vance 
said. “Because it was over the 
summer, people have internships, 
take classes, but I don’t think 
anyone’s been thinking about it. 
The conversations I’ve had within 
my friend group or the circle that 
I’m in, they haven’t really brought 
it up. It was something that 
happened, and we thought about it 
for a few days.”

OVE RTIME

2A — Wednesday, September 4, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News

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BARBARA COLLINS
Daily Staff Reporter

College Republicans vice chair lost beauty queen title after controversial tweets

Campus reacts to summer controversy 
over student’s insensitive social media posts

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RISKY BISCUIT
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Hurricane Katrina’s effects felt at ‘U,’ school takes 
in displaced students from the storm-stricken coast

September 6, 2005
In response to the devastation 
left by Hurricane Katrina, the 
University has begun admitting 
displaced college students from 
disaster-stricken 
universities 
while continuing to locate missing 
University students from areas hit 
by the hurricane.
Sue Eklund, the University dean 
of students, said yesterday that of 
the 86 current University students 
who are from the disaster-affected 
areas - Alabama, Mississippi and 
Louisiana - her office has yet to 
hear back from 32 students.

“We have not heard of our 
students being seriously injured or 
worse, though it’s important to note 
that some do have missing relatives, 
more have missing friends,” she 
said.
Eklund added that her office is 
using e-mail to contact the missing 
students and offering to pay for 
plane tickets for student who could 
not access their bank accounts. She 
said the Office of Financial Aid 
has also been assisting students 
financially
affected by the disaster on an 
individual basis.

While 
the 
University 
does 
not know the whereabouts of 32 
students, Eklund said many of those 
students may have ignored her 
office’s e-mails or will only begin 
checking their University e-mail 
accounts once school has started. 
With some colleges effectively shut 
down from the flooding, University 
officials said their offices have been 
inundated with inquires
from displaced students hoping 
to attend the University.
Ted 
Spencer, 
director 
of 
undergraduate admissions, said on 
Friday

that his office has received about 
50 inquiries, 31 of which were from
Tulane 
University 
students. 
Tulane, a college of about 8,000 
undergraduate students located 
in New Orleans, canceled its fall 
semester on Friday.
The Office of Undergraduate 
Admissions has so far admitted 12 
as nondegree students, Spencer 
said, adding that the office does 
not plan to limit the number of 
displaced students who wish to 
attend the University.
“We are taking this one on a 
case-by-case basis,” Spencer said. 

“There
is no number associated with 
this. Our primary concern is to help 
the students in the area attending 
a university by helping them 
continue
their education.”
He 
also 
noted 
that 
the 
admissions office has in some cases 
abided by an “honor system” for 
displaced students that have never, 
applied to the University and as a 
result undergraduate admissions 
does not have their
transcript information on hand. 
But Spencer said his office does 

not anticipate any future problems 
because the students who have 
been
admitted either applied to or 
were accepted by the University 
but chose to attend a different 
college. Spencer said he expects the 
inquiries to cease by Sept. 9, when 
fall semester is underway.
The University’s law school 
also announced on Friday it would 
begin accepting displaced students, 
with priority given to third-year 
law students and to students with 
connections to the state or the 
University. 

