91̽��

“Are you going to join the Black Student Union?” a fellow University of Michigan student asked Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni in her first semester of college. Ms. Cox DiGiovanni hesitated: Her heritage couldn’t be summed up in one word. She’s Jamaican, Cherokee, Blackfoot Indian and Danish, she explained to her classmate.

“You don’t get to decide what race you are,” the other student told her. “They’ve already decided for you.”

Performing her one-woman multimedia show “One Drop of Love,” Ms. Cox DiGiovanni periodically scanned the faces of students in the Fitzgibbons Convocation Center as if she were collecting United States census data, using methods from the 1700s up to the present day.

This year, the Community Engagement Program has been dedicated to lots of projects involving students, staff and faculty, aimed at helping others. After Hurricane Matthew devastated areas of Haiti in early October, the program raised more than $2,000 for hurricane relief efforts. The donation was divided among four Haiti-based organizations focused on health and education. 91̽�� has a history of contributing to Haitian relief efforts; many staff members have close connections with the country, with family and friends living there.

Students in 91̽��’s Model UN traveled to Brown University this fall for a day of debate and collaboration. At the Model UN Conference, students took the perspective of a country or political figure, engaging with peers from around the country, debating and writing proposals on issues like cybersecurity, counterterrorism, and global social and military threats.

Caleb Rhodes (I), co-head of Model UN, earned Best Delegate for his representation of Lt. Col. Manuel da Costa Braz in the Alvor Agreement of 1975.

“Before this conference, I didn’t know much about Portuguese history and how they controlled Angola until the early 1970s,” says Caleb. “The Alvor Agreement was supposed to unite the different factions within the country after Portugal left. With my character, I had a lot freedom. He was a moderate socialist, and my goal was to create stability between all the competing factions. It was an opportunity to correct history, because in real life the agreement fell apart.”

On November 29, the United States Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, spoke with students and faculty as 91̽��’s 49^th Alumni War Memorial Lecturer. Both in Straus Library, and later in the Fitzgibbons Convocation Center, Vice Admiral Murthy answered students’ questions about his role and about some of the most pressing public health issues facing America.

“I came here today because I believe you, young people, are the best shot we have in this country of overcoming the challenges that we face,” said Dr. Murthy. “It’s easy to think it’s someone else’s job to solve the country’s problems. You have to be that someone. … A leader is someone who has a voice and chooses to use it.”

“We think history is understanding the facts, but facts aren’t always clear. Historical narratives are shaped by the individuals doing the telling.”

Independent documentary filmmaker and alumna Sarah Colt ’88 spoke with Class I and II students as this year’s Henry R. Heyburn ’39 Lecturer. Ms. Colt shared her process of developing documentaries of historical subjects, specifically the work involved in creating her film “Geronimo,” one part of the PBS American Experience series on Native American history.

After a warning by her filmmaking mentor to steer clear of the project because “native history is too complicated,” Ms. Colt teamed up with co-director Dustinn Craig, a White Mountain Apache filmmaker based in Arizona. Ms. Colt learned quickly that not all Apaches view Geronimo as the venerated hero he’s often portrayed to be, and that Apache culture—which values the collective group—rejects the idea of exalting one individual above others. Together, the pair set about finding a way to tell the story of an historical legend that respected Apache culture, incorporating Apache stories and perspective.