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Ann Arbor, Michigan

Friday, October 24, 2014

michigandaily.com

FOOTBALL
AD: Ticket
prices will
drop nearly
40 percent

In partnership with
CSG, football ticket
packages to be $175
for 2015 season
By GREG GARNO and
ALEJANDRO ZIY&GA
ManagingSports Editors
The Michigan football team has
a much stronger home schedule
next season than it does this fall.
And it'll cost students a lot less to
see the Wolverines play.
TheAthleticDepartment,incon-
junction with the Central Student
Government, announced Thursday
it will lower student season ticket
prices to $175 for next year's seven-
game home slate. At an average of
$25 per game, the price decrease
is a 37.5-percent change from this
year's cost of $280 for the season.
"We listen," Athletic Director
Dave Brandon told The Michi-
gan Daily Thursday afternoon.
"We've been listening.... We really
learned that two really important
components to re-engaging with
our students in trying to create a
more robust, more enthusiastic

and larger student section for next
year's football season was price and
strength of schedule.
"A nearly 40-percent reduction
in ticket prices is, I think it's fair to
say, unprecedented."
The new plan, which incorporat-
ed feedback from a CSG-conducted
survey of University students, will
also implement a new reduced-
pricing structure*for students with
financial need.
The Athletic Department will
charge a $10 processing fee for stu-
dent-ticket purchases, down from
$15 in 2013, and a custom T-shirt
comes included in the package.
The department also announced
that season ticket prices will
remain the same for non-students
for the third consecutive year.
"It's been great working togeth-
er," said CSG President Bobby
Dishell, a Public Policy senior, in an
interview with the Daily. "We real-
ized that the University takes need
into account when you're com-
ing here, so your experiences here
should also take that into account."
Dishell announced his partner-
ship with the Athletic Department
to reduce ticket prices at a meet-
ing of the University's Board of
See FOOTBALL, Page 3

Michigan tooth John Beilein speaks toea crowd of students at the Maize Night Madness rally on the ttiag Thursday night.
Stu-dents, tltsrally on
Diag beoeMUgme

Student performers
and speakers
aim to pump up
football fans
By NEALA BERKOWSKI
Daily StaffReporter
As performances, motiva-
tional speeches, slam poetry
and chants filled the brisk
Thursday night, a few hundred
students gathered on the Diag
for Maize Night Madness, an
event geared toward increasing


school spirit and morale before
the Michigan football team
faces Michigan State this week-
end in East Lansing.
LSA senior John Borger,
who helped organize the event
along with the campus group
Beat OSU, said the pep rally was
designed to highlight the hard
work of University students and
what the school has to offer,
including the work of athletes
and student groups.
"Whether it's on a football
field or in the classroom or in
a research lab or on the stage,
all these performers are doing
incredible things," Borger said.

"We're not the number one
public institution because of
the football team. We're not the
number one public institution
because of any one team, or any
one classroom. It's the whole,
University."
Maize Night Madness includ-
ed performances from several
dance groups and appearances
by the football, field hockey and
men's and women's basketball
teams, as well as two student
poets and a variety of other
groups.
LSA freshman Helen Joa said
she attended the event after she
heard about it online and from

posters around campus.
"There was a lot of hype
surrounding it so I wanted to'
see what it was all about," Joa
said. "I really liked all the dif-
ferent groups that performed
the dances. I thought that was
really cool. I didn't know about
some of the clubs that are here
so it was cool to get to learn'
more about them."
Borger said the rally was
held Thursday to celebrate the
upcomingfootballgame against'
Michigan State and to kick
off the basketball and hockey
seasons. Organizers hosted a
See MADNESS, Page 3


ELECTION 2014
Bernstein
speaks with
students at
Union forum
College Democrats
host event for state
Supreme Court
candidate
By NABEEL CHOLLAMPAT
For theDaily
Metro Detroit attorney Rich-
ard Bernstein, a University
alum, returned to his alma mater
Thursday evening to speak and
field questions from a short panel
hosted by the University's chapter
of the College Democrats.
Bernstein is currently a Demo-
cratic candidate for a seat on the
Michigan Supreme Court. He was
born legally blind, and, referenc-
ing his campaign slogan of "Blind
Justice," said his campaign is
founded upon fairness.
"It is time for our courts to
become blind. Blind to partisan
politics, blind to special interests,
blind to political ideology," he
said. "Fairness is really the key to
justice."
Bernstein is an attorney for the
Detroit-area Sam Bernstein Law
Firm, where he founded and runs
the firm's Public Services Divi-
sion. He previously served on the
Wayne State University Board of
Governors, and his brother, Mark,
currently serves on the Univer-
sity's Board of Regents.
In 2007, Richard Bernstein
See BERNSTEIN, Page 3

ANN ARBOR
Updated law
widens scope
of protections

Slam poet Sonya Renee performs pieces exploring racism, body shaming and Identity at 1 In 3's Abortion Speakout at
the Michigan Union Thursday.
Wo-men share their storiles
atAbortion Speak Out

Additions to non-
discrimination
ordinance expand
inclusivity
By GENEVIEVE HUMMER
For the Daily
With a new revision to Ann
Arbor's Non-Discrimination
Ordinance, the City Council is
aiming to extend legal protec-
tions to a broader spectrum of
the city's residents,
The Council approved a
revamped ordinance Monday
that includes provisions for
gender expression and iden-
tity, survivors of domestic vio-
lence, political beliefs, genetic
information, arrest record and
familial status.
Councilmember Chris-
topher Taylor (D-Ward 3)
applauded the city's Human
Rights Commission for their
commitment to improving the
existing ordinance.
"It has been an example of
a commiission doing right and
doing good, so thank you,"
Taylor said at Monday's meet-
ing. "These changes, I believe,
reflect Ann Arbor's values of
openness and tolerance and
will constitute a great step for-
ward for us."
Councilmember Sumi Kai-
lasapathy (D-Ward 1), the
Council's liaison on the city's

Human Rights Commission,
said the commission was moti-
vated to revise the existing
ordinance because of a techni-
cal flaw.
The city's original Non-
Discrimination Ordinance
was passed in 1972 and later
became one of the first in the
state to include protections for
sexual orientation and.gender
expression.
The original ordinance
also provided for a city direc-
tor of human rights to oversee
human rights investigations,
but such a position doesn't cur-
rently exist. The commission
wanted to clarify the language
so future investigations can be
managed more efficiently. The
new ordinance states that the
Human Rights Commission
is responsible for overseeing
these investigations.
Ann Arbor's ordinance is
now more comprehensive than
similar legislation in Berke-
ley, Calif., Boulder, Colo. and
Austin, Texas. The ordinances
in these college towns afford
protections for race, color,
religion, sexual orientation,
gender, age and ancestry. How-
ever, they do not include provi-
sions for survivors of domestic
violence, members of the mili-
tary, an individual's political
beliefs or arrest record, and do
not differentiate between gen-
der identity and gender expres-
sion.
See ORDINANCE, Page 3

Closed forum
creates safe space to
exchange personal
experiences
By AMRUTHA SIVAKUMAR
Daily StaffReporter
Developing an inclusive and
supportive space for those who
have had one or more abortions
in their lifetime isn't easy. But, on
Thursday evening, the Abortion
Speak Out did just that.
The "1 in 3" Abortion Speak
Out gave University students,
faculty and staff the oppor-
tunity to share their personal

experiences with reproductive
choices. In its second year, the
gender-inclusive event allowed
any speaker to either share his or
her story directly or have it read
anonymously during the hour.
"We need a space that isn't
about shame," said award-win-
ning slam poet Sonya Renee as
she introduced a series of per-
formances that would transform
the Michigan Union's Pendleton
Room into this venue.
Renee, founder of the "The
Body Is Not An Apology" move-
ment, began the evening by
relaying reproductive justice
messages through spoken word
and poetry. She said the goal
was to create a space of "joy and
acceptance for people who will

come and share this evening."
"This is less about a show than
it is about a truth-telling session,
which is ritual, which is cere-
mony in my community," Renee
added.
To maintain respect in the
room throughout the event,
members of Students for Choice
recited rules for the audience to
follow once the eventbegan: Only
those who have had an abor-
tion were allowed to speak, and
speakers were advised to avoid
making generalizations about
abortion. All stories were also to
be kept confidential. Social work
volunteers were available after
the event to speak to attendees.
One by one, people walked
See ABORTION, Page 3


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