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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