…After the Graduate Employees’ Organization voted to accept the University of Michigan’s proposal and end its strike, Rackham student Bec Roldan posted their feelings about the offer on TikTok. “To be frank, it’s a pretty s— offer,” Roldan said on the popular social media app, where they have been posting updates about the strike since it began Sept. 8. Roldan said in the TikTok that they were frustrated they had to accept t...…
…The Graduate Employees’ Organization found broad support for their demands for greater accommodations against COVID-19, but its anti-policing demands became a lightning rod issue for those trying to criticize or delegitimize the union’s strike. Negotiations between the University of Michigan and the Graduate Employees’ Organization have been at the center of conversation on campus since GEO announced their stri...…
…“This time is for us to come together and say, ‘Well, the University’s cruelty is on full display, we gave them every opportunity not to be cruel, they have every opportunity not to be, it’s a choice, in a big way,’” Peterson said. “These people have real power: President Schlissel has real power, Provost Collins has real power, Anne Curzan has real power, the regents have real power. So that all of them pander to us by saying th...…
…Solomon Rajput decided to put medical school on hold in September 2019 and run for U.S. Congress in Michigan’s 12th district against incumbent Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, D-Mich. After losing the primary election in August, Rajput went back to medical school and started Done Waiting, an organization working to get other progressive candidates elected. “That night of the election and the day after we were thinking, ‘You k...…
…The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com News Wednesday, September 23, 2020 — 5 COVID-19 reported at Brown Jug as semester began The Brown Jug, a popular student restaurant and bar on South University Avenue, has reported at least six positive COVID-19 cases among staff since late August. A server, who requested to remain anonymous due to fear of retaliation from their employer, told The Daily six employees tested positive for COV...…
…The Remarkable Brevity of Grief The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Michigan In Color 6 — Wednesday, September 23, 2020 So it begins. The bass drums through me as I move my body to the music, my eyes closed. Psi U is full of bodies, all moving in a haze. If I swing my hips too quick- ly to one side, I find myself grazing a hip, but if I miss the rhythm, a hand creeps along my side. The dance floor is a careful game, where if y...…
…Wednesday, September 23, 2020 — 7 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Michigan In Color Twitter has always been my social media drug of choice. My timeline — essentially Arab twit- ter, Muslim twitter and Leftist twitter, speaks to my personal- ity and beliefs to a concerningly accurate degree. As my relation- ship with Twitter has adapted — what was once a 30 minute daily check-in has seamlessly transitioned into a pandemic ritua...…
…7-Opinion Opinion I f you’ve been on the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan between 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. this past week, you’ve likely heard chants of “Solidarity Forever,” impassioned speeches about quarantine conditions and a noticeable lack of construction noise. If you haven’t figured it out by now, the Graduate Employees’ Organization, non-unionized resident advisers and a host of MDining staff have been striki...…
…W hen I think of a social media influencer, I typically think of a young, white woman promoting skin care products and niche clothing brands to her 10,000 or more followers between posts about her glamorous life. I follow a couple of influencers, vaguely interested in the pseudo-fame that comes with having an Instagram platform and occasionally taking their book recommendations or recipe ideas. I associated these influencers a...…
…Opinion The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com T his week, President Donald Trump came to Michigan to ask for our votes in an election that’s now less than 50 days away. But Trump didn’t come to Michigan to campaign to undecided voters. At no point did he make any discernible attempt to have an honest conversation with Michigan voters about issues and policies that affect their lives. Instead, Trump’s superspreader grievance tou...…
…2-News Wednesday, September 23, 2020 — 11 Arts The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com FILM REVIEW ‘The Babysitter’ is gory, mindless fun In need of a laugh and looking for a Tarantino knockoff with a B-list cast? Look no further than “The Babysitter: Killer Queen,” released last Thursday on Netflix. This film is a sequel to Netflix’s 2017 film “The Babysitter.” At the time of writing this, “Killer Queen” is #3 in th...…
…Last spring, the Daily Film beat was inspired by the doldrums of quarantine and the introduction of Disney+ to watch and review a number of Disney Channel Original Movies — DCOMs for short. There are many ways to look at DCOMs — as relics of the 2000s, as problematic attempts at representation, as textbook examples of the power of nostalgia — but there is no denying that they are somewhat trivial in the grand scheme of things. If w...…
…Arts Wednesday, September 23, 2020 — 13 Pepe the Frog’s fall from grace in ‘Feels Good Man’ This review has taken longer to write than I, or my editors, expected. In the last few days my time has been spent digesting the insidious darkness that characterizes “Feels Good Man.” This documentary follows the tale of Pepe the Frog and the character-turned-meme’s journey to become a symbol of hate. But it is also a tale of ...…
…I put my fingers on the scanning screen for the third time, as the machine was unable to recognize my fingerprints. After finally succeeding, I quickly put my mask back on as my fingers fumbled with my immigration documents. “Please come with me,” a U.S. Customs and Bor- der Protection officer sig- naled in my direction after I passed the Canadian bor- der into the United States, proceeding to walk me to a door on ...…
…W hat does it mean to live in a community? In one sense, a commu- nity is a group of people who have something in common. When I reflect on what I have in common with my fellow students, faculty and staff, two things come to mind. The first is our affiliation with the University of Michigan. The mere fact of affiliation, however, confers little significance within Ann Arbor. Meeting a fellow Wolverine in your hometown or on...…
…The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com statement Wednesday, September 23, 2020 — 16 Take a seat BY TAYLOR SCHOTT, STATEMENT CONTRIBUTOR H ave you ever tried to count all of the benches in Nichols Arboretum? I tried once and have only an estimate to show for it: 72. Though I know that an estimate is bet- ter than nothing, better than not trying at all and better than letting that curios- ity fade into the recesses of a cluttere...…
…The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Sports Wednesday, September 23, 2020 — 17 T he last Michigan team to win a national title was men’s gymnastics. The last one before that was also men’s gymnastics. By any measure, it’s among the most success- ful programs in the school’s history, with six national titles and three in the last decade. In short, when Kurt Golder — the coach who won those championships — talks, you sho...…
…On Aug. 23, a video went viral of a police officer shooting a Black man named Jacob Blake seven times in his back in front of his family in Kenosha, Wisc. Yet another disturbing story of police brutality, the shooting of Blake sent shockwaves to the growing protests and marches that had been happening since June in cities across the country. Three days later, the Milwaukee Bucks’ players decided that it was not appropriate to co...…
…The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Sports Wednesday, September 23, 2020 — 19 Report: Jalen Mayfield hoping to opt back in for 2020 season When Michigan begins its season on Oct. 24, it will do so with one of its top prospects for the 2021 NFL Draft. On Friday afternoon, Rivals reported that offensive tackle Jalen Mayfield was hoping to opt back into the 2020 season after originally declaring for the draft in August. Mayfiel...…
…For years, Joe Milton’s talent has been a mercurial talking point at the tip of Michigan coaches’ tongues. There are the stories, repeated ad nauseum, of his arm strength. Early in his Michigan career, the stories go, he injured receivers with passes zipped in at warp speed. Eighty- five yards, allegedly, is his maximum throwing distance. Giles Jackson has one of those stories too, as told in a Zoom call with reporters Thursday. “In pr...…
