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INDEX
Vol. CXXX, No. 73
©2022 The Michigan Daily
NEWS............................ 2
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
STATEMENT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
M I C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
O P I N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 1
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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY ONE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Former music
professor sentenced to
prison for sex crimes
In the mid-1980s, a North
Carolina School of the Arts
student took a brave step that
affected the rest of her high
school career: she met with
Robert Hickok, the school’s dean,
to report that Stephen Shipps, her
violin teacher, had attempted to
kiss her during her lesson.
The
student
requested
anonymity, citing professional
concerns. As in The Michigan
Daily’s previous reporting about
Shipps’s alleged harassment and
abuse, she will be referred to as
Meghan. In a Dec. 2018 interview
with The Daily, the student
remembered Hickok’s response.
“(Shipps is) a very affectionate
man: ‘Are you sure you didn’t
misunderstand
it?’”
Meghan
recalled Hickok saying. (Hickok
is
deceased;
two
students
attending the school at the time
corroborated
that
they
were
aware of Meghan’s allegation.)
A few years later, in the summer
of 1989, another faculty member
became aware of allegations of
Shipps’s abuse. By that time,
Shipps
had
left
the
North
Carolina School of the Arts;he
was scheduled to begin teaching
at the University of Michigan in
the fall.
In a Dec. 2018 interview with
The Daily, an Ann Arbor musician
with extensive ties to the School
of Music, Theatre & Dance
community alleged that she spoke
with a Music, Theatre & Dance
School professor about the rumors
of sexual misconduct that had
followed Shipps to the University
of Michigan. This musician also
requested
anonymity,
citing
professional concerns.
“I heard this guy is a scumbag,”
the musician told the professor,
adding
some
details
about
the
aforementioned
sexual
misconduct allegations.
This past Thursday, Shipps was
sentenced to five years in prison
for repeatedly transporting a minor
across state lines in 2002 while
committing
sexual
misconduct
against her. This sentencing came
over three years after a Michigan
Daily
investigation
uncovered
numerous previously undisclosed
allegations of sexual harassment,
misconduct and assault against
Shipps at the University of Michigan,
the North Carolina School of the
Arts and the University of Nebraska-
Omaha.
In 1995, according to reporting
from
The
News
&
Observer,
administrators at the North Carolina
School of the Arts were made aware
of eight complaints against Shipps.
It is unclear if Meghan’s allegation
comprised one of these reports.
It is also unclear if the school
communicated these complaints to
the University of Michigan.
In 2017, a former student of
Shipps’s emailed the then-interim
dean of the Music, Theatre & Dance
School to report her experience
of alleged statutory rape while
studying with Shipps in the late
1970s at the University of Nebraska-
Omaha. At the time of this email,
Shipps was a tenured professor of
music, the chair of strings and the
director of a youth music program
through the Music, Theatre &
Dance School. He had previously
served as the school’s associate
dean.
The former student that emailed
the dean requested anonymity,
citing professional concerns. As
in The Daily’s previous reporting
about Shipps’s alleged harassment
and abuse, she will be referred to as
Jane.
“Stephen Shipps raped me when
I was sixteen,” Jane wrote in her
email to the interim dean. “Over the
years, I’ve heard stories similar to
mine regarding Mr. Shipps.”
SAMMY SUSSMAN
Daily Staff Reporter
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Stephen Shipps receives five years after
guilty verdict on exploitation of a minor
The
Arab
Heritage
Month Closing Ceremony
took place at the Trotter
Multicultural
Center
Thursday night. Hosted by
the office of Multi-Ethnic
Student Affairs (MESA), the
event concluded a month
of Arab cultural festivities
featuring
workshops,
performances
and
guest
speakers.
The
ceremony
began
with Arabic food and people
gathering
around
tables.
MESA Program Manager
Jesús
Galvan
greeted
students and families as they
walked into Trotter Center.
Taubman
freshman
Lynn Samman, the event
coordinator for the closing
ceremony,
began
by
thanking MESA and the
Arab Student Association for
their support in empowering
the
Arab
community
on
campus.
She
then
recognized each of the Arab
Heritage Month committee
members, thanking them
for their work in putting on
various events throughout
the past month.
“We
would
like
to
recognize all our committee
members
for
all
their
hard
work,”
Samman
said. “Starting with the
programming
committee,
then
the
marketing
committee, and the finance
committee,
and
special
thank you to our manager
and coordinators.”
Arab Heritage Month
takes place in April every
year and celebrates Arab
heritage and culture, paying
tribute to the contributions
of over 3.7 million Arab
Americans in the United
States. It wasn’t until 2017
that the Arab America
Foundation began a national
initiative to coordinate all
states under National Arab
American Heritage Month.
In 2019, U.S. Rep. Debbie
Dingell, D-Mich., and U.S.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.,
introduced a resolution to
Congress to proclaim April
as National Arab American
Heritage Month.
SAMANTHA RICH
Daily Staff Reporter
MESA hosts Arab Heritage Month closing
ceremony, celebrating stories and culture
Students gather at Trotter Multicultural Center to engage in workshops, live shows
LUCAS CHEN/Daily
Asian American
& Pacific
Islander
Heritage Month
concludes
with black-tie
Acapella, dance performances
highlighted at University of
Michigan Museum of Art
The
Office
of
Multi-Ethnic Student
Affairs
(MESA)
hosted
a
black-tie
gala
to
close
out
this
year’s
Asian
American and Pacific
Islander
(AA&PI)
Heritage
Month
Wednesday
night.
Students,
faculty
and
community
members
gathered
at the University of
Michigan Museum of
Art for a festive night
celebrating
AA&PI
culture and history.
The theme of this
year’s
celebration,
“Are You Listening?
Oral
Histories
and
Storytelling
from
AA&PI
Communities,”
was
introduced
at
a
virtual
opening
ceremony
March
17. LSA sophomore
Aarushi
Ganguly,
a member of this
event’s
planning
committee,
spoke
about
the
significance of the
theme at the March
17 opening ceremony.
“AA&PI
populations have long
been
characterized
as silent, which is
a
result
of
being
washed
over
by
imperialism,
monolithic
stereotypes
and
white
supremacy,”
Ganguly said. “This
Heritage
Month,
we
hope
to
call
attention to the vast
diversity
within
these
communities.
We will create space
for individuals both
in and outside of the
AA&PI
community
to learn, reflect and
grow.”
Public Policy
Dean Michael
Barr nominated
to Federal
Reserve Board of
Governors
If confirmed, will serve as
Vice Chair for Supervision,
oversee banks’ compliance
with capital regulations
President Joe Biden
announced he would
nominate Michael Barr,
dean of the University of
Michigan’s Ford School
of Public Policy, as Vice
Chair for Supervision
of the Federal Reserve
Friday
morning.
If
confirmed, Barr would
be one of seven members
of the Federal Reserve
Board of Governors.
If appointed, Barr
will propose monetary
policy to the board
and oversee national
banks to ensure they
are
meeting
capital
requirements.
Barr
worked
in
several roles at the
Treasury
and
State
Departments during the
Clinton administration
and served as Assistant
Secretary
of
the
Treasury
under
the
Obama administration.
He
also
contributed
to the creation of the
Consumer
Financial
Protection Bureau and
the 2010 Dodd-Frank
Act,
which
changed
financial regulations to
reduce the economic
impact of the 2008 Great
Recession.
Barr’s
selection
comes
after
Biden’s
first nominee, Sarah
Bloom Raskin, failed
to secure the Senate
majority needed for her
confirmation.
Raskin
submitted a letter to
President
Biden
on
March 15 requesting
her
nomination
be
withdrawn after Sen.
Joe Manchin,D-W.Va.,
ASHNA MEHRA
Daily Staff Reporter
Read more at Michigan-
Daily.com
KATE WEILAND
& ELI FRIEDMAN
Daily News Editor
Daily Staff Reporter
Read more at MichiganDaily.
com
Read more at Michigan-
Daily.com
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
UMich R.A. finds Black History Month
bulletin board vandalized, raises
concerns over racism and housing
Incident draws hundreds of campus community reactions on social media, DPSS:
declines to comment on whether vandalism will be treated as a hate crime
NIRALI PATEL
Daily Staff Reporter
Design by Reid Graham
On April 9, LSA senior Solomon Lucy,
a resident adviser at Mary Markley
Residence Hall, posted an Instagram
video showing the bulletin board hanging
in his hall vandalized with several papers
torn down. Lucy’s board had featured
posters celebrating Black History Month
and Women’s History Month with
photos of prominent Black women in
history alongside a photo of himself as an
introduction for his residents.
When Lucy walked by the bulletin at
3 a.m. on Friday, April 8, the board was
destroyed and several of the photos
were missing.
“No Black RA, student, faculty
member, etc should EVER feel unsafe
and targeted on this campus,” Lucy
wrote in the caption of his Instagram
post. “Although this truly breaks my
heart, I am DETERMINED to bring
more awareness to the situation &
fight for change for the betterment of
future Black wolverines & Black RAs
to come.”
Lucy also posted the video to
Twitter on April 9. Faculty, students
and various campus organizations
shared photos and thoughts in the
comments section of Lucy’s post to
express their support.
Rackham
student
Mario
Gaviria
responded to Lucy’s tweet, criticizing
the University’s lack of support for
marginalized communities on campus.
“@UMich !?!?” Gaviria wrote. “Y’all
need to actually do something concrete
bc all these ‘diversity committees’ and
‘diversity trainings’ don’t accomplish
anything other than providing the
illusion that y’all actually care — when in
reality you don’t. This is unacceptable.”
Following
the
incident,
Lucy
posted multiple signs in his hallway
calling attention to this vandalism
incident targeting students of Color
at the University of Michigan. The
three flyers called out the “ignorance,”
“privilege” and “racism,” saying each “is
very much real and … very much lives in
this hall.”
Shortly after Lucy posted these
new signs, however, they too were torn
down and scattered across the floor in
his hall, which Lucy said he noticed
Saturday morning.
“Initially, I was a little hurt, but
(later) I was more angry and upset and
hurt,” Lucy said. “It’s 2022, and Black
people on this campus have been
experiencing things like this forever.
It’s sad that we’re still fighting for the
same things that people were fighting
for during the first Black Action
Movement and still asking for respect
and dignity when that should be
something that’s given to everybody
here.”
The Black Action Movement