The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
2 — Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Art & Afrofuturism panel explores the work 

of late author Octavia Butler

PHOTO

ADMINISTRATION

GENEVIEVE GRUENLER 

Daily Staff Reporter

ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily

An Ann Arbor resident wheels his display of two different worlds through campus during the Climate Strike Friday afternoon.

The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is publishing weekly on Wednesdays for the 
Winter 2022 semester by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available 
free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office 
for $2. If you would like a current copy of the paper mailed to you, please visit store.

pub.umich.edu/michigan-daily-buy-this-edition to place your order.

PAIGE HODDER
Managing Editor phodder@umich.edu

DOMINIC COLETTI and KRISTINA ZHENG 
Managing News Editors news@michigandaily.com

Senior News Editors: George Weykamp, Kaitlyn Luckoff, Kate Weiland, Nadir 
Al-Saidi, Roni Kane, Shannon Stocking
Investigative Editor: Sammy Sussman, Vanessa Kiefer

JULIAN BARNARD and SHUBHUM ‘SHUBS’ GIROTI
Editorial Page Editors tothedaily@michigandaily.com
Senior Opinion Editors: Brandon Cowit, Quin Zapoli, Siddharth Parmar, Olivia 
Mouradian, Jess D’Agostino

SABRIYA IMAMI and LILLIAN PEARCE
Managing Arts Editors 
 arts@michigandaily.com

GRACE BEAL and TESS CROWLEY
Managing Photo Editors photo@michigandaily.com

GRACE TUCKER
Managing Statement Editor statement@michigandaily.com
Deputy Editors: Taylor Schott, Julia Maloney

CAROLINE ATKINSON and ETHAN PATRICK
Managing Copy Editors copydesk@michigandaily.com

Senior Copy Editors: Melissa Kurpiers, Ella Krumerman, Alex Stamell, Lizzie 
MacAdam, Olivia Bradish, Dana Elobaid, Audey Ruhana

DORA GUO and ERIC LAU
Managing Online Editors 
 webteam@michigandaily.com

Project Managers: Zach Breger, Simran Pujji, Christina Tan, 
Aasher Akhlaque, Der-Yu Meng, Salik Aslam

HANNAH ELLIOTT and JULIA RAGUCKAS
Managing Video Editors video@michigandaily.com

Senior Michigan in Color Editors: Yasmine Slimani, Maya Kadouh, Anchal 
Malh, Safura Syed

Senior Sports Editors: Aidan Woutas, Josh Taubman, Brendan Roose, Jack 
Kingsley, Jacob Cohen, Abby Snyder

Senior Video Editor: Jordan Shefman 

Senior Social Media Editors: Christian Juliano, Justin O’Beirne, Martina 
Zacker, Jillian Sacksner, Mishal Charania, Mae Veidlinger, Kirti Aplash, Jacob 
Cohen

Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building

420 Maynard St.

Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327

www.michigandaily.com

ARTS SECTION

arts@michigandaily.com

SPORTS SECTION

sports@michigandaily.com

NEWS TIPS

tipline@michigandaily.com

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

tothedaily@michigandaily.com

EDITORIAL PAGE

opinion@michigandaily.com

AARON SANTILLI

Business Manager

business@michigandaily.com

JASMIN LEE
Editor-in-Chief

eic@michigandaily.com

PHOTOGRAPHY SECTION

photo@michigandaily.com

NEWSROOM

news@michigandaily.com

CORRECTIONS

corrections@michigandaily.com

JARED GREENSPAN and NICK STOLL
Managing Sports Editors sports@michigandaily.com

Senior Arts Editors: Emilia Ferranti, Mik Deitz, Katrina Stebbins, Sarah 
Rahman, Fia Kaminski
Arts Beat Editors: Emmy Snyder, Jacob Lusk, Kai Bartol, Laine Brotherton, 
Matthew Eggers, Meera Kumar

SOPHIE GRAND and ERIN SHI
Managing Design Editors 
 design@michigandaily.com

JESSICA KWON and ELIYA IMTIAZ
Michigan in Color Editors michiganincolor@michigandaily.com

EVAN DELORENZO and ZOE STORER
Managing Social Media Editors socialmedia@michigandaily.com

Editorial Staff

Business Staff

Senior Photo Editors: Julia Schachinger, Jeremy Weine, Kate Hua, Emma Mati, 
Anna Fuder 
Assistant Photo Editors: Dominick Sokotoff, Jenna Hickey, Lila Turner, 
Julianne Yoon, Becca Mahon

IRENE CHUNG

Creative Director

DOUG MCCLURE and MAX ROSENZWEIG
Managing Podcast Editors podeditors@michigandaily.com

KATIE LYNGLIP

Sales Manager

ADVERTISING

wmg-contact@umich.edu 

AYA SALIM
Digital Managing Editor ayasalim@umich.edu

ANDY NAKAMURA and RIPLEY NEWMAN 
Chairs of Culture, Training, and Inclusion accessandinclusion@michigandaily.com

Senior Podcast Editors: Sofia Terenzio, Isaac Mintz

Associate Editor: Lilly Dickman

Senior Layout Editor: Ellie Orlanski

Experts discuss intersection of Black popular culture, science fiction and activism

The 
LSA 
Institute 
for 
the 

Humanities and the University of 

Michigan Arts Initiative explored how 

Afrofuturism — a cultural aesthetic 

emerging in the 1990s that combined 

elements of science fiction and Black 

popular culture — manifests in art today 

in a virtual panel Wednesday night. 

The panel was a part of the 

University’s 
Octavia 
Butler 
Week 

programming in honor of African 

American author Octavia Butler who 

received a MacArthur Genius Grant in 

1995.

Four panelists were featured and the 

panel was moderated by Christopher 

Audain, managing director of the U-M 

Arts Initiative. The panel discussed the 

intersection of art and Afrofuturism in 

light of the upcoming U-M theatrical 

adaptation of Octavia Butler’s post-

apocalyptic novel Parable of the Sower. 

Naomi 
André, 
professor 
of 

Afroamerican and American studies 

and women’s and gender studies, began 

the panel discussion by talking about 

the function of art in an Afrofuture. 

Andre said Afrofuturism is a space of 

possibility and art can help realize that 

possibility.

“Metaphorically 
art 
can 
be 

a 
spaceship,” 
Andre 
said. 
“The 

destination of the spaceship is that space 

of possibility … a place where Black 

people are treated as fully human. A 

place where Black folks do not need 

handouts or special treatments. It is a 

space where all people are part of the 

same whole where the smartest and 

the best people come from all racial 

backgrounds and ethnic backgrounds. 

Art can help us think of these places, 

envision these landscapes.”

Tananarive Due, a lecturer in the 

department 
of 
African 
American 

studies at the University of California 

at Los Angeles, spoke about her work 

with horror. As a genre, Due said, horror 

can be a form of escapism for members 

of the Black community because the 

danger portrayed is not real, unlike 

the ever-present threat posed by white 

supremacy.

Due then spoke about her mother’s 

experience as an activist in the 1960s. 

She said that her parents were living 

proof that change was possible through 

action and that through activism, 

change was already happening. 

“I’m often struck by the irony of 

how that social agitation in the 1960s 

was in sort of a futuristic vacuum,” 

Due said. “Because you’re fighting for 

a future you do not know how to even 

anticipate, and in fact, some of the 

things that those activists in the 60s 

would have considered futurism were 

already happening, but just outside of 

their knowledge, which is one of the 

things about Afrofuturism that is so 

exciting. It’s not only the arts, but it’s the 

activism.”

Susana M. Morris, an associate 

professor and scholar of Black feminism, 

Black digital media and Afrofuturism at 

Georgia Institute of Technology, then 

spoke about the power she felt when she 

first met Octavia Butler.

“The idea that the only constant 

(in the world) is change and that we 

humans, even working class Black girls 

with big ideas have the power to truly 

shape our world for the better or worse, 

was thrilling,” Morris said.

Morris then spoke about the idea of 

a “positive obsession,” something that 

Butler described herself as having. 

“(Butler) called her deep unmitigated 

desire to create art and share her work a 

positive obsession,” Morris said. “Butler 

said her positive obsession became a 

higher calling and wished everyone to 

have a positive obsession. 

John Jennings, professor of media 

and cultural studies at the University of 

California at Riverside, also spoke at the 

panel about the rise of Afrofuturism and 

his work translating Octavia Butler’s 

novels into graphic novels. 

“I can’t relate how difficult it was to 

work with but also the amount of pressure 

it was … thinking about this from a kind 

of vantage point of us collaborating with 

Octavia Butler and trying to figure out 

how to translate her words into a graphic 

novel,” Jennings said.

In the question and answer portion 

of the event, Rackham student Symone 

Campbell asked the panelists for 

recommendations of texts or films for 

Black students who want to learn more 

about Afrofuturism.

“Start with the dark matter series,” 

Jennings said. “These are collections 

of speculative fiction by and about 

people of color. They are a really good 

subsection of work in various genres.”

Morris added that Afrofuturism is 

closely tied to the idea of Black joy, which 

celebrates the accomplishments and 

experiences of the Black community, 

despite centuries of discrimmination 

and trauma.

“Afrofuturism 
as 
a 
cultural 

movement is fundamentally Black 

joy centered, because to posit a future 

where Black folk are centered, not 

marginalized, where we are absolutely 

necessary for the continuance of human 

society is a hopeful project, is a project 

that is joyful,” Morris said.

In her final remarks, Due said 

that younger people have a different 

perspective and that the younger 

generation has the ability to question 

aspects of the world that older 

generations have settled into.

“There’s a part of us that has settled 

for what reality is and the way the 

younger generation has not, they look 

out and say why,” Due said. “So let’s … 

have the imagination at least to listen 

to someone who’s trying to picture and 

point a path toward a different way.”

Daily 
Staff 
Reporter 
Genevieve 

Gruenler can be reached at gruenler@

umich.edu.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

 Jonathan Vaughn working with private 
investigator on allegations the University 
sanctioned Anderson study on athletes

ANNA FIFELSKI
Daily Staff Reporter

California-based company GET BIT to handle the case pro-bono

Jonathan Vaughn shared a press 

release on March 11 announcing he 

hired a private investigation company 

based in southern California, GET 

BIT, to investigate allegations that the 

University of Michigan “sanctioned” 

a study by Dr. Robert Anderson that 

researched the sperm of “elite athletes.” 

The press release alleges Anderson 

forced athletes to provide sperm 

samples and illegally sold the sperm to 

unknowing parties. According to GET 

BIT, the Private Investigator company 

is handling the case pro-bono.

In May 2021, WilmerHale, an 

independent law firm hired by the 

University to investigate allegations of 

sexual assault against Anderson, found 

that hundreds of the allegations are 

credible. The report also stated that 

several University officials were aware 

of Anderson’s misconduct.

University 
spokesman 
Rick 

Fitzgerald wrote in an email to The 

Michigan Daily that WilmerHale didn’t 

find evidence of the new allegations 

against Anderson. 

“While the WilmerHale report 

contains references to Anderson’s 

interest in male reproductive health, 

including the collection of semen 

samples, the investigative team found 

no evidence of the activities alleged in 

the press release you cite,” Fitzgerald 

wrote. 

Fitzgerald added that the University 

provided 
many 
documents 
and 

pieces of evidence to the WilmerHale 

investigation, but he did not directly 

respond 
to 
inquiries 
about 
the 

University participation in the GET BIT 

investigation. 

“It’s also worth noting that the 

university provided WilmerHale with 

unfettered access to more than 200 

individuals, 2 million documents from 

the Bentley Historical Library, 125 

boxes of paper personnel files and tens 

of thousands of other documents.”

According to Luis Bolaños, founder 

of GET BIT Investigations and the 

private investigator for Vaughn’s case, 

the “Hail to the Victims” investigation 

is considered a criminal investigation. 

Bolaños 
said 
he 
reached 
out 

to Vaughn about conducting an 

investigation when he saw a headline 

about Anderson and was reminded of a 

2020 lawsuit in California that was filed 

against a late sheriff who was found to 

have been involved in one of the largest 

child molestation and sexual assault 

cases.

“I had no idea what was happening 

in Michigan,” Bolaños said. “I’ve never 

heard of Jon. I had no idea who he was. 

I had no idea of Dr. Anderson and the 

allegations against him. But between 

(Anderson and Duffy), there are 

thousands and thousands of victims, 

so that’s why I first heard about it and 

(what) made me want to reach out to 

(Vaughn) and talk to him a little more.”

Vaughn said he decided to work 

with GET BIT because he and other 

survivors are still looking for answers. 

“There were two times specifically I 

remember offhanded comments where 

Dr. Robert Anderson said (he was) 

trying to figure out how to create the 

perfect Black athlete,” Vaughn said.

Vaughn said he began his personal 

investigation 
into 
his 
and 
other 

allegations against Anderson in 2020 

after hearing similar stories from other 

survivors.

“This is something that I have 

been investigating since early into the 

mediation process, (which) dates back 

to probably September or October of 

2020,” Vaughn said. “It was just very 

clear to me and to several of us survivors 

that there was an issue with the location 

of not only our medical reports, but 

we got several stories that they were 

destroyed or they kept them for 10 years 

and then destroyed (them) or they don’t 

exist.”

Bolaños said GET BIT and Vaughn 

are working with Promoting Awareness 

| Victim Empowerment (PAVE) to 

schedule virtual and in-person press 

conferences surrounding this issue.

PAVE founder Angela Rose told 

The Daily she was inspired to start this 

organization after she was abducted 

and assaulted by a repeat sex offender 

when she was 17. Rose said PAVE is 

working on setting up a half-day virtual 

summit dedicated to supporting male 

survivors. 

“People knew that these things were 

happening (and) I don’t know if they 

just don’t know what to say, or do, or if 

their moral compass is broken or who 

knows what the reason, but there are a 

lot of men in a lot of pain right now and 

so I feel like it’s our job to try and do 

something proactive,” Rose said. 

