expertise.”

Mujovic added that he hopes 

the fellowship will have long-
lasting effects in the sustain-
ability community.

“Although the program is 

one year, I hope that our influ-
ence will last 10 times that and 
will extend beyond our starting 
location,” he said.

3-News

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Friday, January 16, 2015 — 3

with leaders from several East 
Coast higher education insti-
tutions, including Bill Bowen, 
Princeton University president 
emeritus; Peter Salovey, presi-
dent of Yale University; Edward 
Miller, 
and 
Michael 
Johns, 

retired executive vice president 
for health affairs at Emory Uni-
versity. Johns was eventually 
tapped to serve as the Univer-
sity of Michigan Health System’s 
interim chief executive officer 
after the departure of former 
UMHS CEO Ora Pescovitz.

The trip also included several 

development events, including 
a dinner fundraiser at Lincoln 
Center. The events cost $90,000 
and were paid for with Office of 
Development funds.

Regent Katherine White (D) 

wrote in an e-mail interview 
that the meeting is local this 
year because they will not be 
meeting with external higher 
ed officials, as they’ve done in 
the past.

“This meeting is internally 

focused and we will neither be 
meeting with outside speakers 
nor traveling outside the state 
of Michigan,” White wrote. 
“Instead, this session is to give 
the Board an opportunity to 
have long-term strategic ses-
sions with our new President, 
Dr. Mark Schlissel.”

White, who chairs the board, 

did not attend the trips to Cali-
fornia or New York.

Prior to 2013, the regents typi-

cally held a public meeting in 
January, as they do each month 
apart from August.

This semester, Schlissel has 

expressed interest in several 
new initiatives at the Univer-
sity, including streamlining the 

University’s sustainability ini-
tiatives and working to increase 
diversity at the University.

White stressed the impor-

tance of the board in helping 
Schlissel to shape University 
policies.

“The Board of Regents has 

taken the role of overall gov-
ernance and has delegated the 
day to day operations of the uni-
versity to the President,” White 
wrote. “In other words, the 
Board sets and approves policies 
for the university and provides 
oversight. The President, in con-
sultation with the Board, crafts 
university policies.”

Most recently, Schlissel has 

begun efforts to combat sexu-
al assault and misconduct on 
campus. In an e-mail Monday, 
Schlissel notified students of 
a survey aimed at gauging the 
campus climate related to sexual 
misconduct.

In the e-mail, Schlissel said a 

number of students had already 
approached him about their 
encounters with the topic of sex-
ual misconduct.

“During my first semester 

as president, I spent a great 
deal of time engaging with the 
campus community in various 
forums, fireside chats, inter-
views, and other informal meet-
ings,” Schlissel wrote. “At many 
of these sessions, students spoke 
openly and personally about 
sexual assault issues at the Uni-
versity of Michigan, or wrote me 
directly to share their views on 
this very important issue.”

Ilitch voiced her support of 

Schlissel’s sexual misconduct 
initiative and affirmed that the 
board would be actively involved 
in crafting any related policies 
during the upcoming semester.

“The Regents will play a very 

active role on this vitally impor-
tant topic,” Ilitch said.

REGENTS
From Page 1

FELLOWS
From Page 2

recognition of the marriages.

Law Prof. Julian Mortenson, 

who argued part of the case as a 
cooperating attorney, said in an 
interview Thursday afternoon 
that though a Supreme Court 
decision on the same-sex mar-
riage bans would set precedent, 
the decision handed down in 
this case was not particularly 
groundbreaking.

“The decision that came out 

today is grounded in — as the 
district court judge found — lit-
erally centuries of Anglo-Amer-
ican precedent recognizing that 
when people have validly been 
married according to the laws of 
the jurisdiction they live in, they 
are entitled to remain married,” 
he said. “So in that sense it is a 
completely unexceptional, well-
reasoned, thoughtful, careful, 
scrupulous application of that 
long-standing grounded princi-
ple of Anglo-American law to the 
particular facts here. I mean, it’s 
certainly enormously significant 
for our clients.”

Also in an interview Thurs-

day 
afternoon, 
Jay 
Kaplan, 

staff attorney with the ACLU of 
Michigan’s LGBT project, said 
the key distinction in Caspar v. 
Snyder was that it focused on the 
right of couples to stay married, 

not whether same-sex couples 
can get married.

“The DeBoer case, though the 

incredibly important case that 
it is, is about the right of same-
sex couples to get married,” 
Kaplan said. “In this case, our 
couples are married. They were 
legally married in Michigan in 
accordance with Michigan law 
on March 22nd of 2014. And our 
case is about the right to stay 
married because the state, in 
saying that these marriages are 
legal but we’re not recognizing 
these marriages, are in essence 
invalidating these marriages. 
They can’t constitutionally do 
that. And the judge agreed with 
us.”

Gov. Rick Snyder’s office did 

not respond to a request for com-
ment on how the state will pro-
ceed with the ruling. However, 
following the Sixth Circuit’s 
decision in November, Snyder 
released a statement stating that 
he does not see the marriages as 
valid under the state constitu-
tion.

“The Court of Appeals deci-

sion does not allow for state 
benefits of marriage for those 
same-sex couples in accordance 
with our state constitution,” the 
November statement read. “That 
decision only can be changed if 
today’s Appeals Court ruling is 
overturned.”

MARRIAGE
From Page 1

gift from the Sangers mark a 
major leap forward in achiev-
ing this important vision.”

The donation comes as part 

of the Victors for Michigan 
campaign, a University-wide 
effort to raise $4 billion. As of 
early December, the campaign 
surpassed its halfway point, 
with $2.49 billion raised thus 
far.

The Business School has 

been the beneficiary of sev-
eral other campaign contribu-
tions, including half of a $200 
million donation gifted by real 
estate tycoon Stephen Ross in 
2013. His landmark gift was 
the University’s highest mon-
etary donation received in the 
school’s nearly 200-year his-
tory.

More recently, the Univer-

sity announced a $50 million 
donation by Ron and Eileen 
Weiser for several construc-
tion projects, including ren-
ovations to the Dennison 
building.

Business sophomore Jor-

dan Katz said he thought that 
if implemented right, which 
he added he was confident it 
would be, the center would 
attract high levels of student 
participation.

“I think it’s great,” Katz said. 

“I think a big focus here at Ross 
is on leadership and leading 
successful companies that do 
the right thing, and I think it 
gives students a great opportu-
nity to learn about that.”

Daily Staff Reporter Nabeel 

Chollampat contributed to this 
report.

DONATION
From Page 1

established 
last 
year, 
was 

designed particularly for Univer-
sity students living off-campus.

CSG President Bobby Dishell, 

a Public Policy senior, said that 
until Wednesday, CSG was under 
the impression the program 
would be discontinued, noting 
that CSG never intended to per-
manently run the program.

“The intent was always for the 

University to pick it up,” Dishell 
said. “We’re incredibly grate-
ful that the budget for this year 
has been set and the University 
found a way to pick up the cost of 
this bus route.”

According to the CSG press 

release, Night Owl has trans-
ported 12,598 riders in the past 
year.

“That time period when Night 

Owl runs is the highest period 

for crime,” Dishell said. “The 
fact that the University has rec-
ognized that is saying ‘Hey, this 
is important to us, and we want 
to make sure that students get 
home safely.’ ”

A 2014 CSG release stated 

that 84 percent of University 
crime alerts occurred late at 
night, with 67 percent of inci-
dents happening off-campus.

Steve Dolen, executive direc-

tor of Parking and Transporta-
tion Services, said Night Owl 
is an underused transportation 
service and its utility will have 
to be further evaluated.

“The Oxford bus route is 

similar to Night Owl, but Night 
Owl has roughly 30 percent of 
the ridership of Oxford, and the 
Oxford bus route itself is lightly 
used,” he said.

Dolen also said Safe Ride is a 

viable alternative to Night Owl 
for late night off-campus trans-
portation. The program is a 

free University ride service that 
transports students, faculty and 
staff to their homes or vehicles 
within one mile of campus.

“Off-campus 
is 
broadly 

defined,” Dolen said. “Night Owl 
does not touch that much of the 
off-campus neighborhoods.”

Though it has only been con-

firmed that Night Owl will oper-
ate this semester, both Dishell 
and CSG Vice President Emily 
Lustig, a LSA senior, hope the 
service will expand and con-
tinue to run following the end of 
this semester.

“We’d like to expand it up 

into the North Campus area 
and 
serve 
those 
students,” 

Lustig said. “That’s a lot of the 
feedback we’ve been given, but 
unfortunately 
that 
doubles, 

or more, the budget and time. 
Eventually, in the coming years 
that would be the ultimate goal 
— to really reach all of the off-
campus population.”

NIGHT OWL
From Page 1

that are inappropriate and disre-
spectful.

Burde said the goal of the lec-

ture was to clarify some aspects 
of French society which are 
lesser known to Americans and 
to help explain why Charlie 
Hebdo is so controversial as a 
publication. Under French law 
it is illegal to publish anything 
attacking a racial group; how-
ever, it is legal to publish attacks 
against ideologies such as reli-
gion.

“There 
are 
considerably 

stronger speech laws in France, 
hate speech laws, than there are 
in the States,” Burde said.

France has two major satiri-

cal magazines, Charlie Hebdo 
and Le Canard enchaîné. Hebdo 
publishes in a similar style to 
that of Mad Magazine: “male 
adolescent humor,” as Burde 
puts it, “on a very serious topic.”

“There are two essential char-

acteristics, I think, of French 
society that you need to be aware 
of, without which you will not 
really fully understand why 
Charlie Hebdo did what they did 
and why so many people are so 
fervent in defending their value, 
their right to do what they did,” 
Burde said.

These 
characteristics 
are 

“la gouaille” and “laïcité.” “La 
gouaille” is the French tradition 
of satire, typically between peo-
ple of different classes. Burde’s 
presentation exhibited examples 
from the late 1700s to show how 

embedded “la gouaille” is in 
French culture.

The second component, “laïci-

té,” is France’s separation of 
church and state, which extends 
to other aspects of life to mean a 
general space without religious 
interference.

LSA freshman Isaiah Zeavin-

Moss, who is in the Residential 
College, said he and other stu-
dents benefited from the lecture.

“I think Mark did a really 

great job of introducing us all to a 
little bit of the context of Charlie 
Hebdo and where they’re com-
ing from, who they are, and what 
the general satirical landscape 
is in France, and incorporating 
that into how to compare it to the 
satirical landscape in America,” 
he said.

FRANCE
From Page 1

sion.

Zemke said he hoped to do 

this last term, but the initiative 
didn’t materialize.

“When we got into this 

term, I said ‘You know what, 
we’re going to set a precedent. 
It’s a new term. We’re starting 
fresh,’ ” he said.

He 
added 
that 
citizens 

should know what the govern-
ment is doing, which is why he 
wants to improve the trans-
parency of his actions.

“There’s going to be a lot 

issues that are going to be 
posted that they probably will 
have not much interest in and 
we recognize that,” he said. 
“We’re going to try and be as 
concise as possible and make 
the information available.”

SESSION
From Page 2
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all sections.

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MASS MEETINGS

THEY’LL BE AT 420 MAYNARD (NEAR THE CUBE)

AT 7:30 P.M. ON...

Wednesday, January 21
Thursday, January 22
Sunday, January 25
Monday, January 26

WE WILL ALSO HAVE OPEN HOUSES ON 

Wednesday, January 28

Monday, February 2

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