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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
michigandailycom
ADMINISTRATION
'U': Regents
complied
wit state
meeting law
Officials to members of the general public.
Though members of the press
prevented public were alerted to the venue change;
University officials did not pub-
from attending licly announce that the proceed-
ingswould be relocated.
November session "It was a complicated deci-
sion," said University President
By CLAIRE BRYAN Mark Schlissel in an interview
Daily StaffReporter with The Michigan Daily. "We
certainly didn't want to move it
November's University Board out of the public eye."
of Regents meeting did not go The state of Michigan's Open
according to schedule. Meetings Act requires public gov-
Ten minutes into the meeting, erning bodies such as the regents
members of the organization By to host meetings "in a place avail-
Any Means Necessary rose from able to the general public."
their seats in the audience and The law says votes must occur
began disrupting the proceedings in the presence of the public and
with shouting until the regents members of the public must have
and executive officers vacated the opportunity to comment on
the room. the proceedings.
The regents later reconvened That evening, signs on the
in the Regents Room of the Flem- Fleming Administration Building
ing Administration Building read "The building is LOCKED."
to approve the month's agenda Security guards explicitly
items, including a $49 million blocked members of the public
renovation to the Dennison from entering the building.
Building and the construction of After he reopened the meet-
a $261 million Biological Sciences ing inside Fleming, Schlissel said
Building. The meeting was closed See OPEN, Page 3A
AMANDA ALLEN/Daily
Students participate in the Black Lives Matter Silent Vigil held at the Winter Garden in the Ross School of Business on Tuesday.
Silent Vigil onors vic tims
"
I1
t
t
of police violence, pOfiling
Business school universities gathered in the Win- to raise awareness about police local authorities (on) policy, you
ter Garden at the Ross School brutality and racial profiling and all have a part."
organization of Business for a silent vigil for how it affects people across the Edwards added that he was
Michael Brown and Eric Gar- country. pleased with the turnout, not-
mobilizes students ner, two men who recently lost "The purpose of the event was ing the attendance showed the
their lives in police-related vio- really just to have a moment to importance of the conversation
By JACK TURMAN lence. The event was organized honor those lost lives of citizens on college campuses.
and STEPHANIE SHENOUDA by students in the Black Business across America due to police Business graduate student
Daily StaffReporter Student Association to show soli- brutality," he said. "People real- Lonzyo Holcomb, who also
andDailyNewsEditor darity for victims of racialized ize it's not a Black issue; it's an attended the vigil, said it sur-
violence. American issue that we all need passed his expectations and he
Hundreds of University stu- Business graduate student to help and support in some was grateful for the community's
dents, faculty and staff members, Kareem Edwards, BBSA presi- capacity. Whether it's small as a support.
as well as students from other dent, said the event was intended like on a picture or working with See VIGIL, Page 2A
GOVERNMENT
p If passed, bill
would redefine
'religious rights
Businesses could
deny services
based on faith-
based objections
By SHOHAM GEVA
Daily StaffReporter
Passed by the Michigan
House last week, the Religious
Freedom Resoration Act has
potential impact on two pro-
posed amendments that seek to
include LGBTQ protections to
the state's Elliott-Larsen civil
rights act.
Modeled after 1993 fed-
eral legislation, the Michigan
RFRA would grant exemptions
to individuals and businesses
if they feel laws substantially
burden their religious beliefs.
It provides for exemptions both
from state laws and laws in the
state's "political subdivisions"
- a term usually interpreted to
mean municipalities and cities.
Eighteen other states have also
passed their own versions of
RFRA, the original version of
which is only applicable feder-
ally.
However, dozens of cities
and municipalities already have
ordinances protecting status-
es such as sexual orientation,
marital, HIV, political beliefs
and arrest record. These local
laws are more extensive than
the state's civil rights protec-
tions, and are in effect in poli-
ties including Ann Arbor, Royal
Oak and Delhi Township. They
could feel much of the law's
impact - potentially even a
majority of it - especially given
that the ELCRA is unlikely to
be amended this legislative ses-
sion.
In an interview with The
Michigan Daily Tuesday, State
Rep. Jim Townsend (D-Royal
Oak) said RFRA could place
more extensive local nondis-
crimination ordinances and
state law on a "collision course."
"Basically, the bullseye is
going to end up on Royal Oak
and other cities that have done
this, to protect everybody in
their community, and it's just
gratuitous," he said. "It's just
way beyond what is neces-
sary to protect people's First
See FREEDOM, Page 2A
CSG President Bobby Dishell, Public Policy senior, speaks at the CSG meeting at the Michigan Union Tuesday.
CSG passes resolution to
support onsite. admissions.
STAFF ANNOUNCEMENT
Daily staff
elects new
leadership
for 2015
Across sections,
online initiatives
seen as paramount for
publication's future
By MICHAEL SUGERMAN
Daily StaffReporter
After nearly a month of publi-
cation-wide elections, The Michi-
gan Daily staff has chosen its
editor in chief, managing editor
and section leaders for the 2015
calendar year.
While each section of the
newspaper elects its respective
managing editors internally, the
editor-in-chief and co-editorial
page editors were chosen in a
staff-wide vote Nov.14.
LSA junior Jennifer Calfas,
who served as managing news
editor this year, will serve as the
2015 editor-in-chief. Calfas said
one of her main goals is to lead the
paper in a collaborative, transpar-
ent manner. Her barometer for
success will be maintaining stf
enthusiasm and the quality of the
paper's content.
See EDITORS, Page SA
Legislation
includes clause
condemning
threatening action
By ALYSSA BRANDON
Daily StaffReporter
At the Central Student Gov-
ernment meeting Tuesdaynight,
the assembly passed a resolution
supporting an onsite admis-
sions process in Detroit schools,
swore in new representatives
and elected new vice chairs for
the Finance Committee and for
the Resolutions Committee.
CSG passes resolution to
support onsite admissions at
Detroit schools
Following a 35-2 vote, the
assembly passed a resolution
to support onsite admissions at
Detroit schools.
The resolution, introduced
last week by members of By Any
Means Necessary and authored
by members of CSG, highlights
how minority enrollment has
remained stagnant at the Uni-
versity in recent years. The
assembly said one method to
combat low minority enrollment
would be to implement onsite
admissions at schools in the
Detroit area.
BAMN members were pres-
ent Tuesday night to encourage
the assembly to pass the reso-
lution. BAMN organizer Jose
Alvarenga said passing the res-
olution would be the first step
See CSG, Page 3A
WEATHER HI: 38
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