According 
to 
the 
ACT 
website, students can take the 
test up to twelve times, though 
the majority of students take 
it no more than twice. The test 
comes with a price tag of $68, or 
$52 without the writing section, 
though there are fee waivers 
available.
There is no set price for the 
individual sections yet, but ACT 
officials expect it to be cheaper 
than the price to retake the test 
in full, the New York Times 
reported.
For 
some, 
like 
Nursing 
sophomore Zoe Gierlinger, who 
received extra time to take the 
ACT, the decision is a step in 
the right direction toward a 
more equitable testing process, 
especially for those who receive 
extra time to complete the test 
due to medical necessity.
“For someone like me who 
received extra time on the ACT, 
it would most likely be easier to 
focus with the sections divided,” 
Gierlinger said. “Otherwise, you 
test for six straight hours and 
ultimately it becomes harder to 
keep focus, although the extra 
time is necessary. Dividing the 
sections would help improve 
concentration 
and 
allow 
students to perform at their 
potential.”
LSA junior Jason Fernando 
co-founded Excel Tutoring, a 
standardized test preparation 
company, in 2017 to bridge the 
gap between those who receive 
extensive test preparation and 
those who do not. Fernando 
echoed 
Gierlinger’s 
point, 
adding he thinks the new policy 
will allow lower-income college 
applicants to achieve higher 
scores 
on 
the 
standardized 
exams. 
“I think this will allow for a 
less of a barrier for students who 
don’t have the means to take the 
[full] test over and over again,” 
Fernando 
said. 
“For 
lower-
income students, a cheaper 
test that is not as high-stakes 
can 
be 
more 
advantageous 
for them, and let them knock 
down barriers that they hadn’t 
before.”
The score has received mixed 
feedback 
from 
colleges. 
A 
Georgetown University official 
noted the school would not 
accept individual superscore 
results.

According to the Common 
Data Set, 74 percent of the Fall 
2017 incoming freshman class 
at U-M submitted an ACT score 
when applying. The University 
reports the 25th percentile to 
75th percentile of the incoming 
class’s performance on the test.
The Fall 2017 class’s range 
was a 30-33 out of a total of 
36 points — placing the class 
in the 93rd to 98th percentile 
nationally.
In 2016, the state of Michigan 
switched from offering one 
free ACT test to a free SAT for 
all students in the state. Before 
the switch, the state had used 
the ACT as its free college 
assessment exam since 2007.
A 
2018 
study 
from 
the 
National Bureau of Economics 
Research 
found 
that 
while 
half of SAT-takers retake the 
exam after their first try, these 
retake rates are significantly 
lower among students from 
low-income backgrounds. The 
study found that race impacts 
retake rates, as well— students 
classified as underrepresented 
minorities are nine percentage 
points less likely to retake 
the SAT than white students. 
The 
College 
Board 
— 
the 
organization that administers 
the 
SAT 
and 
Advanced 
Placement tests — cited the 
study as evidence that students 
who retake their exams often 
receive higher scores than those 
who choose to take it only once. 
Joshua Goodman, one of 
the authors of the study and 
a professor of economics at 
Brandeis 
University, 
said 
while the data from his study 
is specific to the SAT, it can be 
generalized to the ACT because 
of the similarities between the 
two tests.
“These are two entities that 
are competing over students,” 
Goodman said. “And they are 
competing by offering the test 
as many times a year as they 
can, trying to make it as easy 
to take as possible. And I think 
this move was partly because 
the ACT was sort of trying to 
figure out how they can make 
their test more appealing by 
making students think they can 
get higher scores the easiest 
way.”
Goodman 
said 
higher-
income students often have 
more information about how 
retaking the tests will improve 
their scores, making the ACT’s 
change possibly detrimental to 

lower-income students during 
the college application process.
“It seems like higher-income 
students 
already 
understand 
that 
part 
of 
the 
college 
admissions game, which is why 
they are retaking these exams 
so frequently,” Goodman said. 
“But then low-income students 
may not quite realize that. 
So if that’s the case, if there’s 
a disparity in the quality of 
information 
students 
have 
about the value of retakes, then 
making retakes easier to do 
may actually exacerbate gaps in 
college enrollment.”
Hartt, who has already taken 
the ACT, said he feels this change 
is coming too abruptly. He said 
there are already students in 
his graduating class who have 
taken the test more than once 
who may have preferred to only 
retake a section. Hartt also 
said he felt this change has the 
potential to allow students to 
cherry-pick their sections into 
what he called an “artificially 
higher” composite score.
“I’m 
almost 
certain 
that 
for the universities that I’ll be 
applying to will make it so that 
you can’t superscore the ACT, 
so everything will pretty much 
be the same as it was,” Hartt 
said. “But I would say from a 
standpoint of having already 
taken it, it just makes me a little 
bit upset that I worked really 
hard and went through all the 
processes to get the score that I 
got, and that students now will 
be able to get artificially higher 
scores because they’re retaking 
one section at a time.”
Additionally, Hartt said this 
change in layout is catering 
to shortening attention spans 
students 
are 
experiencing, 
which he believes is not a good 
idea. Hartt said even though 
the change has made him less 
anxious about preparing for the 
exam, he still views the policy 
in a negative light.
“I 
am 
against 
the 
new 
development because I don’t 
think that it follows what the 
ACT originally was set to do,” 
Hartt said. “I think it was 
originally created to measure 
intellect, and I think that having 
the sections in a certain order 
and having to take the sections 
one after the next makes the 
test more difficult and really 
tests an individual’s intellect 
and their ability to continue 
focusing on things for a long 
period of time.”

so. The website also mentioned 
the 
Order 
educates 
new 
members about the history of 
the group. Current members 
are committed to promoting 
diversity 
both 
on 
campus 
and within the organization, 
according to the website.
In an email to The Daily, 
University spokeswoman Kim 
Broekhuizen said the Order is 
currently a sponsored student 
organization and is in good 
standing 
with 
the 
Center 
for 
Campus 
Involvement. 
Broekhuizen noted the Order 
is sponsored by the School of 
Information and is entitled to 
benefits — including falling 
under 
the 
University’s 
tax 
exempt 
status, 
using 
the 
“University of Michigan” in 
its name and being eligible for 
funding from the University — 
that accompany its SSO status.
Additionally, 
Broekhuizen 
said SSOs are required to abide 
by a code of conduct set by the 
University.
“The 
Center 
for 
Campus 
Involvement regularly works 
with 
all 
sponsored 
student 
organizations to ensure the 
leaders of these groups fully 
understand 
and 
respect 
both 
students’ 
and 
student 
organizations’ right to freely 
associate,” Broekhuizen wrote.
Multicultural 
groups 
release statements opposing 
the Order
Two 
multicultural 
organizations 
on 
campus 
released statements last month 
condemning 
participation 
in 
the Order and requiring leaders 
in their organizations to forfeit 
their positions upon accepting 
membership in the Order. A 
third organization released a 
statement aligning with this 
position directly to The Daily.
The 
executive 
board 
of 
the United Asian American 
Organizations, 
an 
umbrella 
organization 
for 
Asian 
and 
Pacific 
Islander 
American 
groups, published a statement 
last 
month 
calling 
for 
dismantling 
rather 
than 
modifying the Order, due to 
its “indigenous appropriation, 
elitism and secrecy.” In addition 
to announcing the new policy 
requiring those who accept 
membership in the Order to 
forfeit any leadership position 
held within UAAO, the board 
apologized for board members 
who held membership in the 
Order in previous years.
“UAAO does not stand for 
the 
exclusionary 
practices 
of this organization, James 
Angell, and the manifestations 
of what the Order of Angell has 
done within this campus,” the 
statementreads. 
“This 
group 
has used indigenous and Native 
culture under the name of honor 
and has not advocated for the 
indigenous struggles within our 
student community.”
According to the statement, 
UAAO’s constitution has been 
updated to reflect its stance. 
The statement noted UAAO’s 
advocacy does not exist to 
“decorate 
historically 
racist 
groups” and their resources 
would be better used toward 
assisting 
the 
indigenous 
community 
and 
other 
marginalized groups directly.
UAAO co-chair Dim Mang, 
LSA senior, clarified in a message 
to The Daily that the statement 
applies only to UAAO and not to 
its 20 member organizations, as 
UAAO does not hold jurisdiction 
over them.
Following 
the 
publishing 
of the UAAO’s statement, La 
Casa, 
anorganization 
with 
the goal of supporting the 
Latinx community on campus, 
published a statement aligning 
itself with UAAO’s position. The 
group wrote that it is against the 
Order both in its historical and 
current iterations.
“For over 50 years, students 
and 
student 
organizations 
extended 
every 
opportunity 
for the organization to change 
and 
modify 
practices 
that 
appropriate culture and damage 
the campus climate for students 
of color and other communities,” 
the statement reads. “At each 
point, Order of Angell (formerly 
known as Michigamua) have 
failed to honor those agreements 
and demonstrate the needed 
transparency to ensure that 
their 
current 
practices 
are 
not equally problematic and 
damaging.”
Mang and LSA sophomore 

Julianna 
Collado, 
La 
Casa 
external director, issued the 
following joint comment to The 
Daily when contacted about 
providing further comment.
“Both La Casa and UAAO 
decline to comment further 
on 
their 
public 
statements 
criticizing the Order of Angell 
for the following reasons,” the 
statement reads. “La Casa has no 
additional comments concerning 
organizations that historically 
and currently appropriate and 
bastardize Native culture. La 
Casa continues to strive to 
holistically support the Latinx 
community and remains aligned 
with our allies. Our principles 
and actions remain grounded in 
the legacy of previous activism 
on our campus.
“The 
United 
Asian 
American 
Organizations 
declines to comment due to 
the Michigan Daily’s history of 
misrepresenting our statements. 
Especially 
with 
a 
delicate 
matter such as this, we believe 
that we must decline in order 
to prevent any possible harm 
towards our community. La 
Casa and UAAO stand together 
on this issue and will continue 
to work in tandem with each 
other and other communities 
against this historically racist 
organization.”
According to a new statement 
from the executive board of the 
Arab Student Association sent to 
The Daily, the ASA will also be 
following the UAAO’s position 
and taking a “formal stance” on 
membership in the Order. After 
releasing the statement to The 
Daily, the ASA posted it to its 
Facebook page Monday evening. 
“We refuse the sentiment that, 
through the mere participation 
of our community members, 
the Order of Angell can evolve 
into a platform for diversity,” 
the 
statement 
reads. 
“An 
honest platform for diversity, 
inclusion, 
and 
transparency 
cannot be built on a foundation 
of the oppression of the Native 
community. We will not be 
complicit in the tokenization of 
leaders in our community and 
others, and oppose all secret 
societies who have attempted to 
do so.”
All three statements noted 
the groups’ positions apply both 
to the Order and all other “secret 
societies” at the University. 
The 
statements 
of 
the 
multicultural 
organizations 
follow the lead of the Black 
Student Union, which asked 
a student to step down from 
organization 
leadership 
in 
2011 because of ties to the 
Order. According to the then-
BSU spokeswoman Samantha 
Martin, holding membership 
in the Order violates the BSU 
constitution, 
meaning 
any 
member — not just one holding 
a leadership position — will no 
longer claim membership if they 
accept a spot in the Order.
The Black Student Union did 
not respond to multiple requests 
for comment.
Current Order members 
respond
In an interview with The 
Daily, four members of the 
Order — LSA seniors Roland 
Amarteifio, Vidur Prasad, Kevin 
Ashwood and Public Policy 
senior 
Hannah 
Davenport— 
responded to the statements. 
They did not speak on behalf of 
all current 22 members of the 
Order.
Davenport said the group is 
different in many ways from 
when it was founded, including 
its composition. She said the 
current group is more than half 
female and approximately 50 
percent people of color.
There are few details about 
the current selection process 
available to the public, but 
Davenport said the Order looks 
to bring in students from many 
different 
areas 
of 
campus. 
Davenport described the Order 
as being a place where leaders 
from various corners of campus 
can collaborate, though they 
are aware the approximately 25 
members selected each year do 
not represent all students at the 
University.
“In 
terms 
of 
Michigan, 
it’s actually one of the most 
diverse spaces I’ve ever been 
in,” Davenport said. “I think 
that moving forward, we’re 
only trying to continue that 
and trying to make sure that 
different corners of campus are 
represented and different voices 
are heard. It kind of is like a 
symbolic ‘table’ that people get 
to sit at, and getting as many 
different people to that table I 

think is a pretty big priority.”
The Order has been criticized 
for 
its 
previous 
selection 
process, which barred men of 
color until the 1940s and women 
until 2000.
Members 
rejected 
the 
branding of the Order as a secret 
society — which it was listed as 
in the statements — though they 
understand why they could be 
viewed as such. Amartedifio 
noted the website lists all 
members and the goals of the 
Order, and said if anything, they 
strive to be the opposite: open to 
and interested in hearing from 
other students.
“When I went through the 
process of being tapped, and 
then becoming a part of the 
organization, there was a large 
focus on really acknowledging 
the history and not trying to 
hide it at all,” Amarteifio said. 
“We don’t try to minimize or 
not address the fact that this 
has had this history, but we also 
don’t believe that that history 
is a representation of who the 
organization is now or the 
current members.”
In 
their 
statement 
about 
participation 
in 
the 
Order, 
UAAO said it “condemn(s) all 
the leaders in the 2019 roster 
and past alumni, some of whom 
were on our Board or in our 
member organizations.” 
Ashwood 
said 
the 
Order 
understands the frustration of 
the multicultural organizations, 
but explains the difficulty for 
those condemned. He speculates 
that these students feel a loss 
of community on campus after 
being barred from groups they 
were a part of throughout 
college. 
“If we’re set out to be 
multicultural 
organizations 
and to be the voice of those 
people on campus … we should 
be that voice for them and be 
that support system for them,” 
Ashwood said. “And so, that’s 
what we would hope would come 
out of this, is understanding that 
being a part of (Order of Angell) 
makes them no less Latinx or 
no less Asian American and 
needing of a support system for 
that.”
Representing minorities on 
campus is sometimes a blind 
side of the University, according 
to Ashwood. He says that being 
able to be a voice for these 
students through the Order is 
an honor for him and a way to 
make positive change for these 
communities. 
Creating this campus synergy 
may not be seen through specific 
initiatives, 
Davenport 
said. 
She did not highlight specific 
initiatives the Order has been 
pursuing, 
explaining 
that 
humility was one of the group’s 
pillars.
“As 
far 
as 
specific 
programming, 
one 
of 
our 
tenants is really supposed to be 
humility,” Davenport said. “So 
with the initiatives we do, we 
try not to stamp Order of Angell 
on it, because the goal there is 
more to quietly serve, not in 
a way that is really bringing 
attention to the organization.”
Davenport said a main goal of 
the Order is to promote campus 
synergy, which is described 
on the website as an avenue 
“to 
facilitate 
organizational 
interaction 
between 
student 
groups and their leaders that 
may not have existed before; and 
to enable them to make positive 
change in the best interest of 
Michigan, without recognition, 
either collectively or through 
their respective organizations.”
Members of the Order noted 
they have reached out to La 
Casa and the UAAO “very 
recently” and are hoping to start 
a dialogue.
The 
question 
the 
multicultural groups posed — 
why the Order is a modified 
version 
of 
Michigamua 
rather 
than 
a 
completely 
new 
organization 
with 
no 
connection to the past — is the 
same question current order 
members are asking themselves, 
Davenport said.
“The present is connected 
to the past and the present is 
connected to the future, and 
we’re in the position where 
we get to define the future,” 
Davenport 
said. 
“That’s 
a 
question that we’re asking and 
that we really are wrestling 
with, because that does lie on 
us.”
Disclaimer: Maya Goldman, 
Editor-in-Chief of The Michigan 
Daily, is a member of Order of 
Angell and played no role in the 
editing process of this piece.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, October 29, 2019 — 3

ANGELL
From Page 1

ACT
From Page 1

According 
to 
Akshata 
Kharkar, 
Atharva’s 
sister, 
every morning Atharva would 
wake up at 5 a.m. to finish all 
his work by 8 a.m, and simply 
continue on with his day. As 
an accomplished filmmaker, 
photographer and drawer, it 
seemed there was nothing he 
couldn’t do. 
“If he had a goal in mind, 
he would accomplish it — 
no matter what,” Akshata 
Kharkar 
said. 
And 
this 
tenacity did not go unnoticed. 
“So 
many 
people 
from 
U-M are telling me that they 
knew him — he was really 
compassionate, he would as 
much as he could, try to get 
to know someone,” Kharkar 
said. “He had the best memory 
… he would always remember 
their name and know exactly 
where he met them, what they 
did; he was just really good at 
talking. He would start up a 
conversation 
with 
anyone, 
like we went to Florida one 
year and homeboy just talked 
to this person sitting next 
to him for the whole flight. 
He had no idea who they 
were, they just started up a 
conversation and went for it 
for a couple hours.”
For Zhang, it was that 
effortless, personable quality 
that drew him to Atharva in 
the first place. At a networking 
event for the Alpha Kappa Psi 
business 
fraternity, 
Zhang 
and 
Atharva 
immediately 
clicked. They bonded over 
apertures, or as Zhang says 
“technical nerd stuff.” But, 
because he was stationed in 
El Paso this summer, Zhang 
didn’t hear about Kharkar’s 
diagnosis 
until 
after 
his 
passing. This feels like the 
right way for him to help, he 
said, as he couldn’t be there 
for him before. 
“I can’t pretend I was too 
close with him,” Zhang said. 

“But I felt like I was touched 
enough 
in 
those 
limited 
interactions and I felt like I 
should do this in his honor.”
However, due to a torn 
hamstring Zhang is not able 
to run in Alex’s Great State 
Race. Instead, he will be 
marching from East Lansing 
to Ann Arbor with 35 pounds 
on his back, a task commonly 
known as rucking. Though 
he’s walking, Zhang assures 
this journey is not easy.
“Giving up comes across my 
mind a little bit, but then you 
remember the bigger picture 
and why you’re there for and 
that’s 
motivation 
enough 
to just keep going,” Zhang 
said. “The pain that you feel 
reminds you that you’re alive 
— in this case, it’s a privilege 
to feel pain.”
Business 
sophomore 
Sriram 
Papolu, 
who 
considered Atharva one of his 
closest friends and mentors, 
wanted to emphasize that 
“Atharva means more than 
the running.”
“He had all this — but its 
unfinished,” Papolu said. “So, 
in our time here, as long as 
we get a chance, we owe it to 
people like him to finish. Like 
we have to do this because we 
only have limited time, we 
have to grow and get better 
because somebody else didn’t 
get the chance to.”
This sentiment was echoed 
by Akshata Kharkar, who 
hopes 
the 
ambition 
and 
compassion 
that 
Atharva 
possessed 
is 
not 
only 
remembered, 
but 
used 
as 
a guide on how to live a 
successful and full life.
“I hope that people think 
about their actions and what 
they do now,” Kharkar said. 
“Because my brother lived 
such a great life, in a way that 
he did things that made him 
better and made decisions 
that made his life better. He 
put himself on a path that a lot 
of people can be on and I hope 
that people understand that 

and believe it themselves.”
After his diagnosis, Powell 
received 
treatment 
from 
MSU’s Resource Center for 
Persons 
with 
Disabilities, 
with collaborative support 
from 
U-M’s 
Services 
for 
Students 
with 
Disabilities 
and 
Michigan 
Medicine, 
effectively 
helping 
him 
remain 
in 
East 
Lansing 
and 
begin 
his 
freshman 
year. Similarly to Powell, 
throughout 
his 
treatment, 
Atharva 
was 
frequently 
visited by SSD workers in 
the hospital. All proceeds 
from the event will go toward 
these organizations in order 
to support higher education 
for students with disabilities. 
The proceeds will also allow 
students dealing with chronic 
and 
terminal 
illnesses 
to 
remain enrolled in school and 
get both the financial and 
mental support they need. 
Jill Rice, coordinator of 
services for deaf and hard of 
hearing students at SSD, said 
though the service has been 
operating for almost 40 years, 
many students don’t even 
know it exists. 
“I think this is partly 
stigma,” Rice said. “People 
don’t want to say ‘oh, I have 
a disability.” They think, “I’m 
at the University of Michigan, 
I don’t want to be less than 
my peers.” But we are there 
to help, even for temporary 
disabilities … we want to 
support our students.”
In addition to his walk, 
Zhang 
has 
started 
a 
GoFundMe 
for 
Atharva, 
with all proceeds going to 
the University of Michigan 
Rogel Cancer Center. In total, 
Zhang hopes this race — or 
walk — can bring awareness 
to these sometimes invisible 
illnesses. 
“It’s a really great way to 
bring together and support 
and honor the fallen ones and 
do what we can do to prevent 
this from happening in the 
future,” Zhang said.

RUN
From Page 1

