Content warning: Sexual assault
More 
than 
one 
hundred 

protesters 
gathered 
outside 

the Postma Family Clubhouse 
at the University of Michigan 
Golf Course Sept. 23, where 
the Board of Regents were 
meeting in person for the first 
time since March 2020. The 
crowd protested the University’s 
handling 
of 
allegations 
of 

sexual 
abuse 
against 
late 

University 
athletic 
doctor 

Robert Anderson and demanded 
stronger 
accountability 
from 

the administration on behalf of 
survivors. 

The 
protest, 
which 
was 

organized 
by 
the 
student 

organization Michigan Students 
Against Sexual Assault, took 
place an hour before the Board 
of 
Regents 
meeting 
started. 

The general protest session was 
followed by speeches from some 
survivors of Anderson’s abuse. 
Later, the attendees protested 
on the sidewalk as the Regents 
entered the building. 

In an interview with The 

Michigan Daily, LSA junior 
Porter Hughes, press secretary 
for MSASA, said one of the 
goals of the protest was to 

raise awareness about sexual 
misconduct at the University to 
try to prevent other people from 
having to experience what the 
Anderson victims went through. 
 

“We hope to bring awareness 

to the greater public about 
this issue — it really has not 
gotten the press coverage it 
deserves,” Hughes said. “Also to 
pressure for more reforms and 
push for more action and more 
community dialogue on what 
changes are necessary to make 
sure something like this never 
happens again.” 

In May, hundreds of survivors 

of Anderson’s abuse filed a 
class 
action 
lawsuit 
against 

the University, calling on the 
University to rethink how it 
approaches sexual misconduct 
and abuse. The complaint, led by 
LSA senior Josephine Graham, 
says the University’s lack of 
action against Anderson allowed 
his behavior to continue for 
decades. The University filed a 
response to the suit in August, 
where it argued to dismiss the 
case on the grounds that Graham 
needed “to wait until she has 
experienced 
sexual 
violence 

before bringing her injunctive 
relief claims.”

A Target location officially opened 

at 231 S. State Street in downtown 
Ann Arbor on Sept. 21, the former 
location of an Urban Outfitters.

The 
“small 
format” 
store, 

standing at 12,000 square feet, was 
first announced in December 2020. 
These scaled-down stores provide 
a specifically curated selection of 
goods designed to appeal to students 
on campus, according to A Bullseye 
View. 

Similar 
stores 
have 
opened 

on college campuses across the 
nation, including at Michigan State 
University, New York University 
and the University of Southern 
California.

University of Michigan students 

have previously raised concerns 
about the lack of a more affordable 
grocery store within a walkable 
distance to campus. The addition 
of this Target will offer students a 
walkable, convenient grocery option, 
according to Tricia George, a team 
lead for Target.

“I think it’s going to have a huge 

impact,” George said. “What I’ve 
been hearing just in the last half 
hour, I’ve talked to some of the 
guests, the grocery is the biggest 
thing that they’re so excited about 
because there’s not really a grocery 
store within walking distance for a 
lot of the students.”

Store Director James Newbill said 

he hopes the new Target will not 
only be a place where the students 

can buy groceries but where they can 
find community as well. 

“It was really important to us 

that we entered this community, 
because the students don’t have a 
place that’s really quick for them 
to get those fresh food options, and 
we’re able to provide them,” Newbill 
said. “The service piece is super 
important to me in our entire store, 
making sure that students are being 
helped because sometimes it is really 
fast-paced around here. And they 
don’t really get that service that they 
need.”

Newbill 
said 
he 
encourages 

students to be actively engaged in the 
process of curating Target’s product 
collections so that the store satisfies 
customers’ needs. 

“I want people to tell me the 

collection that they want because we 
can order things,” Newbill said. “We 
can get a different assortment, but 
it’s literally just to serve students on 
campus. We can get items that they 
normally can’t get shipped here or to 
their dorms.” 

LSA freshman Jessi Hinterman 

said she is looking forward to having 
a grocery store within walking 
distance from her dorm. 

“I’m excited to not wait in 

Walgreens for anything,” Hinterman 
said. “I mean, we have (a Target) at 
home, and it’s the nicest thing. I’m 
there all the time. Honestly, (it’s) 
convenient. So having one here is 
amazing.”

Daily 
Staff 
Reporter 
Emily 

Blumberg can be reached at emilybl@
umich.edu.

Pulitzer 
Prize-winning 

journalist 
Nikole 
Hannah-

Jones, founder of The New York 
Times Magazine’s 1619 Project, 
spoke to more than 250 members 
of the University of Michigan 
and Ann Arbor communities in 
Rackham Auditorium on Sept. 
22. The event was hosted by 
the Ann Arbor District Library 
and touched on the impact of 
the project two years after its 
release.

The 
1619 
Project 
is 
a 

multimedia 
initiative 
aiming 

to reframe the United States’ 
history 
of 
slavery 
and 
the 

ongoing consequences of nearly 
200 years of legal enslavement. 
Jones discussed the criticism 
she has faced since the project’s 
release, 
most 
notably 
its 

common conflation with critical 
race theory. 

Much of the backlash — 

such 
as 
former 
President 

Donald Trump’s creation of a 
1776 commission to promote 
“patriotic education” in response 
to the 1619 project — has resulted 
in various attempts to pass bills 
prohibiting the teaching of the 
project, or critical race theory, 
in public schools. 

Michigan state Sen. Lana 

Theis, R-Brighton, introduced a 
bill in May to decrease annual 
funding of public schools by 5% 
if critical race theory, or related 
content like The 1619 Project, is 
included in school curriculum.

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., 

one critic of the project, has 
tried to prohibit it from being 
taught in public schools and 

introduced a federal bill to do so 
in July 2020.“(The) 1619 Project 
is a racially divisive, revisionist 
account of history that denies 
the noble principles of freedom 
and equality on which our nation 
was founded,” the bill says. 

Jones dismissed the project’s 

critics, defending the research 
behind her project. 

“I have to say I think I’m a 

pretty good journalist, but I 
didn’t know how a single word 
of journalism in the New York 
Times could threaten the very 
integrity of the United States of 
America,” Hannah-Jones said. 

Jones 
criticized 
the 

American 
education 
system 

for inadequately critiquing the 
social inequities that underlie 
the country’s history. 

“They 
really 
want 

propagandistic 
history 
to 

be taught in the classroom,” 
Hannah-Jones 
said. 
“A 

classroom that teaches American 
exceptionalism, when really, of 
course, the classroom should be 
teaching us to question and have 
skepticism.”

LSA 
freshman 
April 

Hamilton, 
who 
attended 

the discussion, said she is 
frustrated with the hyper-
focus on critical race theory 
in conversations about public 
school curriculum. 

“There’s so many other issues 

that we could be focusing on,” 
Hamilton said. “But this is 
something that the Right has 
really fixated on.” 

Public Policy graduate student 

Jessica 
Hartshorn 
said 
she 

thinks the reality of American 
history 
that 
Hannah-Jones 

portrayed cannot be disputed.

I 

f the city of Ann Arbor needed 
any 
further 
indication, 

the musical “Heat Waves” 

radiating from the Crisler Center 
on Sept. 23 made it official: The 
Wolverines are back on campus. As 
the first “Welcome to Michigan” 
Concert in recent years, Thursday 
night’s event featured British indie 
rock band Glass Animals and was 
completely free for the more than 
8,000 
University 
of 
Michigan 

students in attendance.

Darin 
Martin, 
assistant 

director for the Center for Campus 
Involvement, wrote in an email to 
The Michigan Daily that Big Ticket 
Productions — the University’s 
concert production organization 
— chose Glass Animals to play at 
the Crisler because of their rising 
popularity worldwide.

“Big Ticket Productions’ mission 

is to bring quality, big name 
entertainment to campus that 
students want to see and can enjoy 
at an affordable rate,” Martin wrote.

The concert was a stop on the 

band’s international “Dreamland” 
Tour, showcasing Glass Animals’ 

latest album released Aug. 7, 2020. 
On Sep. 11 of this year, their song 
“Heat Waves” peaked at no. 1 on the 
Billboard Hot Alternative Songs list. 
Glass Animals performed “Heat 
Waves” as the final song of the 
night, turning the mic to the crowd 
during the chorus to encourage 
students to sing along.

LSA sophomore Rié Vander 

Schuur attended the concert and 
said she was only familiar with 
“Heat Waves” and one other Glass 
Animals song going in. Still, Vander 
Schuur said she enjoyed watching 
Daya’s opening performance and 
being exposed to some of the lesser-

known numbers on Glass Animals’ 
setlist.

“My favorite part was definitely 

the ending because ‘Heat Waves’ … 
is their most popular song, so it was 
fun for everyone to sing along and 
jump around,” Vander Shuur said.

The University first announced 

the concert Sept. 12, with tickets 
— one per student — at first only 
being available for first- and second-
year undergraduate students at the 
Michigan Union Ticket Office and 
online beginning at 10 a.m. on Sept. 
14. 

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, September 29, 2021

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British band Glass Animals performs 

for new students at Crisler Center

More than 100 people demand accountability for allegations against former athletic doctor

GEORGE WEYKAMP

Daily Staff Reporter

CAMPUS LIFE

Nikole Hannah-Jones 

gives talk on 1619 Project

NYT journalist talks impact of digital initiative

GABBY CERITANO/Daily

BUSINESS

‘Welcome to Michigan’ concert was free for 8,000 undergrads in attendance

NIRALI PATEL & 
ELISSA WELLE
Daily Staff Reporters

BECCA MAHON/Daily

Glass Animals perform for 8,000 undergraduates on Sept. 23 in a University-sponsored concert.

‘No one on campus should have to fear’: Anderson 

survivors protest outside of Regents meeting

Target officially opens 
‘small-format’ store at 

231 S. State St.

New location provides groceries close to campus

RONI KANE

Daily Staff Reporter

EMILY BLUMBERG

Daily Staff Reporter

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

CAMPUS LIFE

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

R

A

Y

E
1

S

3

1

GEORGE WEYKAMP

Daily Staff Reporter

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Protestors stand outside of the Board of Regents meeting on Sept. 23 to demand better protections for survivors of sexual assault.

