The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, April 14, 2021 — 3
ANN ARBOR
Ann Arbor residents debate replacing Woody Allen
mural amid resurfacing of sexual assault allegations
Screenwriter’s portrait is among four other writers on the painting at the corner Liberty Street and State Street
A prominent mural on the
corner Liberty St. and State St.
has acted as a central hallmark
for downtown Ann Arbor since
1984. The mural — commonly
referred to as the Bookstore
Mural — depicts portraits of
five well-known writers: Franz
Kafka, Hermann Hesse, Edgar
Allen Poe, Anaïs Nin and Woody
Allen.
A new HBO docuseries, Allen
v. Farrow, revisits the sexual
abuse allegations against Allen
made by Dylan Farrow, Allen’s
adopted daughter, in 1992 when
she was 7 years old. Farrow is
now 35 years old.
Allen is known for his career
as a screenwriter, actor, author
and American film director, but
allegations against Allen have
followed him for decades. After
the #MeToo movement began
gaining momentum in 2017, the
allegations became debilitating.
Many actors and filmmakers
alike have now denounced Allen
and have refused to work with
him.
With Allen’s sexual assault
allegations
resurfacing,
Ann
Arbor residents are engaging
in
a
renewed
debate
over
replacing Allen in the mural
downtown. A discussion in the
Ann Arbor Townies! Facebook
group garnered attention from
residents, raising questions of
the mural’s feasibility and ethics.
A majority of the residents
wanted the mural taken down.
The debate with Allen’s mural
isn’t the only one of its kind.
Especially after the Black Lives
Matter
protests,
numerous
monuments
and
campus
buildings across America that
have come under scrutiny due
to its memorialization of white
supremeicists.
Ann Arbor resident Mikki
Moscara said she would like to
see the painting of Woody Allen
either taken down or repainted
with a new writer.
“I think Woody Allen should
be replaced or removed (from
the mural) mainly because of
the situation that transpired,”
Moscara
said.
“Having
that
(mural) up in Ann Arbor, is it
really good for the reputation of
Ann Arbor?”
Allen has consistently denied
the allegations and has never
been tried or convicted for
the sexual abuse accusations.
Citing these reasons, two Ann
Arbor residents who wish to
remain anonymous due to fears
of personal and professional
retribution
have
told
The
Michigan Daily they believe the
painting should be kept in place.
They will be referred to as Julia
and Philip for the remainder of
the story.
Julia called discussion around
the depiction of Allen in the
mural “old news.”
“I
don’t
understand
the
resurgence
of
this
culture
where if someone is accused
of a crime, they are deemed
immediately guilty,” Julia said.
“Who gives you the right to
destroy something because you
have a misguided idea of what
happened, and you don’t even
have the facts?”
Ypsilanti
resident
Andrea
Krueger, a semi-retired social
worker and yoga instructor,
agreed, saying she believes the
mural’s original purpose was
only to acknowledge Allen’s
work as an artist.
“At the time the mural was
commissioned, it wasn’t known
about his proclivities,” Krueger
said. “And the spirit was not
even to highlight his personal
life at all; it was merely to
acknowledge him as a renowned
filmmaker.”
Others like Philip, who has
requested anonymity, said some
of the other writers on the
mural have also had their share
of scandal. Edgar Allen Poe
married his 13-year-old cousin
when he was 27. Anaïs Nin had
two husbands — one in New York
and the other in Los Angeles —
who each did not know the other
husband existed. Franz Kafka
allegedly
had
contradictory
views on sex, who was described
by a friend as being ““tortured
by his sexual desires.”
“None of the people on that
painting are innocent,” Philip
said. “The one person in that
whole group we couldn’t say had
some weird sexual tendencies is
Hermann Hesse.”
Allen is the only one of the
five accused of sexual assault.
Philip said they would like
to keep the mural as a point of
discussion about the past.
“It’s
been
there
since
1984,” Philip said. “If we start
censoring the past, we’ll never
learn from it.”
Similarly, Krueger said she
believes keeping Allen on the
mural
can
prompt
critical
thinking about his controversial
past.
“It provokes questioning, and
I think that’s a very good thing,”
Krueger said. “By whitewashing
out Woody Allen, there’s nothing
to think about, is there?”
In contrast, Moscara said
she believes Allen should be
replaced to reflect Ann Arbor’s
progressive culture.
“In regards to honoring the
past, … things change, and it’s
okay to change,” Moscara said.
“He doesn’t have to be there, I
feel like it’s not as important for
him to be there as it is more so
to change and be a little bit more
progressive.”
Moscara suggested a few
people she thinks could replace
Allen.
“I
think
having
someone
from Ann Arbor would be really
great,” Moscara said. “Some
people
suggested
Iggy
Pop.
Robert Frost lived in Ann Arbor
for a little while.”
LSA sophomore MacKenzee
Van Buren said she believes
adding writers of color or female
writers would be a welcome
addition to the mural, which
currently showcases four white
men.
“I think there are more
influential, deserving writers
out there that can be put on the
mural instead of Woody Allen,”
Buren said. “I think removing
Allen opens the potential for
making a more representative
mural.”
Moscara also said she believes
adding different writers from
diverse
backgrounds
would
better represent Ann Arbor’s
diverse culture.
“I think that in itself would
be more progressive, and that
would show Ann Arbor’s true
face, or what makes Ann Arbor
great,” Moscara said.
Daily Staff Reporter Cynthia
Huang
can
be
reached
at
huangcyn@umich.edu.
DOMINICK SOKOTOFF/Daily
Ann Arbor residents argue debate replacing the Woody Allen portrait in the Bookstore Mural on the corner of Liberty St. and State St. due to sexual assault allegations against him.
CYNTHIA HUANG
Daily Staff Reporter
BUSINESS
Ross School of Business Dean
steps down from position
Scott DeRue to enter private sector after five years at University
University
of
Michigan
Ross School of Business Dean
Scott
DeRue
announced
April 9 he would be stepping
down from his position on
May 23 to take on a new role
as a senior executive in the
private sector.
There
is
currently
no
replacement dean following
DeRue’s
departure.
University
Provost
Susan
Collins
will
appoint
an
interim dean at the end of
the semester, who will work
closely with DeRue to ease
the transition.
DeRue became the Business
School Dean in 2016. In the
time since, every program
in the Business School rose
to a Top 10 ranking while
others made it even further.
In a personal message to the
Business School community,
DeRue
said
he
felt
very
fortunate to have had this
role.
“Serving as your Dean for
the past five years has been
the
greatest
professional
honor of my life,” DeRue
wrote.
“Because
of
your
commitment
to
excellence
and passion for our mission,
over the past 5 years, we
have been able to achieve
great things, for which I am
extraordinarily proud of and
grateful for all of you.”
While
DeRue
has
been
Dean, he wrote the Business
School also made significant
strides
to
become
more
inclusive,
with
an
20%
increase in enrollment and
introducing Diversity, Equity,
and Inclusion requirements
into the core curriculum..
However, many students have
called out the business school
for its lack of diversity.
Moving
forward,
DeRue
wrote he was confident that
the Business School is heading
in the right direction.
“The road ahead will be
full of new opportunities
and challenges, all of which I
am excited about, especially
knowing that I will continue
to have the University of
Michigan and Ross School
community in my corner,
supporting me every step of
the way,” DeRue wrote.
In his message, DeRue said
Collins will release more
details about the interim
dean soon.
Daily Staff Reporter Lily
Gooding can be reached at
goodingl@umich.edu.
LILY GOODING
Daily Staff Reporter
MEGAN OCELNIK/Daily
ADMINISTRATION
Has Ron Weiser been ‘canceled’?
Following recent calls for regent’s resignation, use of
‘cancelation’ ties into political, social connotations
Before the Board of Regents
voted to censure one of their own,
Ron Weiser (R), for statements
he made referring to presumably
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary
of State Jocelyn Benson and
Attorney General Dana Nessel as
“witches” and contemplating the
assassination of Republicans who
voted to impeach former President
Donald Trump, he offered a
statement in defense of his words.
“I take full responsibility for
what I said,” Weiser said at the April
2 meeting. “I agree with part of this
resolution, but I will not resign… I
will not be canceled.”
The majority of the Board of
Regents went on to vote in favor
of his censure — with Katherine
White (D) absent from the meeting
and Weiser and Sarah Hubbard (R)
both abstaining — and called on
him to resign. Weiser seems to have
left the Zoom call shortly after the
resolution passed, and he did not
respond to The Michigan Daily’s
request to comment.
Weiser said he would not be
“canceled,” which is a phrase that
has been used online since at least
2013 but began to take on new
political meanings with Trump’s
election, academics say. It started
as slang among Black Twitter users,
and since has become a nebulous
term
that
refers to calling out
people for words or actions deemed
harmful, racist or inappropriate.
The
term
“canceled”
has
developed different uses across
political and social spaces, typically
meaning people should remove
support for high-profile figures
due to their behavior. Celebrities
have been “canceled” for racist,
sexist and illegal actions — and
they have lost sponsorships and
platform monetization as a result.
For politicians, the impacts of
“cancelation” typically end with
online shaming, since it becomes
difficult for those doing the
“canceling” to translate internet
buzz to real-world change in the
form of recalls or resignations.
Born on Black Twitter,
“canceled” takes on different
meanings
Though Weiser used the word
canceled to liken his situation to
ongoing
conversations
around
free speech and accountability,
canceling began with a far different
meaning — it was slang specific to
Black spaces on Twitter.
Phrases like “dragging” someone
or something or “reading” them,
which both refer to a type of sharp
rebuke, have similar origins to
“canceling.” These phrases began
to pick up traction in majority Black
online spaces for being catchy,
according to Lydia Kelow-Bennett,
an associate professor in the
Department of Afroamerican and
African Studies.
As these phrases started getting
used more and more on social
media, they eventually got picked up
by mainstream culture, though the
meaning of the term shifted slightly.
Early
on,
“canceled”
was
used simply as a term to refer to
celebrities
like
cook-turned-TV
star Paula Dean, who was called
out for racist behavior and lost
her Food Network contract. The
phrase then went on to become a
“culture” as early as 2013. When
the term transformed into a
more mainstream culture, this
inspired “moral panic” within
predominantly
white
spaces,
Kelow-Bennett said.
“It’s just the word that we use to
say, ‘I don’t want to pay attention to
you anymore,’” Kelow-Bennett said.
“To call it a ‘culture’ is to suggest that
it has more firm meaning and more
practice behind it than it actually
does. By calling something a culture,
you consolidate it in a way that makes
it easier to have a panic about.”
When performed collectively,
“cancel culture” is a form of online
boycotting, says Montana Miller,
an associate professor in the
Department of Popular Culture at
Bowling Green State University.
This form of protest provides
people — those who, unlike Weiser,
do not hold elected seats or their
own businesses — with an avenue
for publically voicing their qualms,
Miller said. Though the term can
be meant frivolously when used
to call out celebrities, she said
the cancellation of businesses or
public officials is often the product
of meaningful online grassroots
organizing.
“The whole purpose of cancel
culture is that a wide swath of real
people who do not sit in seats of
power can voice their displeasure
with powerful people who do
horrible things,” Miller said.
The politics behind cancel
culture
In recent years, politicians,
usually those right of center, began
using the phrase to decry what
they see as an attack on their right
to free speech or unnecessary
concern with their lack of political
correctness.
Michael
Traugott,
research
professor at the Center for Political
Studies who has taught in both the
Communication and Media and
Political Science departments, said
Weiser and other conservatives
will apologize for what they were
“canceled” for saying but will
maintain that they had a right to
say it. These politicians will also
attempt to frame the cancellation
as a challenge to their freedom
of speech. The argument that
cancellation is a political weapon
used by liberals is exacerbated by
the nation’s hyper-polarization,
Traugott said.
ALEX HARRING
Daily Staff Reporter
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com