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Monday, February 16, 2015
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ADMINISTRATION
‘Food Love’ theme
encourages produce
awareness, nods to
Valentine’s Day
By SAMANTHA WINTNER
and SAMIHA MATIN
For the Daily
University students, together
with food lovers, entrepreneurs
and farmers, filled Rackham
Auditorium on Sunday for the
seventh annual Local Food Sum-
mit.
Billed as a sustainable food
conference, the event promot-
ed stronger relationships with
local food businesses, as well
as encouraged local entrepre-
neurs to adopt environmentally
responsible business plans.
“The intent is to bring people
around local food so that they
can experience learning from
multiple different angles,” said
Ann Arbor resident Jason Fren-
zel, one of the event’s organiz-
ers. “So we have participants
here who are very new to the
Local Food Summit and we
want to allow them an opportu-
nity to meet people who are very
involved in the system and learn
a few basics. We also want to
create opportunities for people
who are currently involved in
the system so that they can get a
chance to increase networking.”
Slow Food Huron Valley led
the Food Summit, which was
Community
members stage
protest for Global
Divestment Day
By JING JING MA
Daily Staff Reporter
Dozens of students and com-
munity members in matching
bright-orange shirts emblazoned
with the phrase “Global Divest-
ment Day” rallied on the Diag on
Friday afternoon in support of
fossil fuel divestment.
Global Divestment Day was
sponsored by the Divest and
Invest campaign, a coalition of
students, faculty, staff and com-
munity members. The protest
aimed to urge University officials
to divest the school’s interests
from fossil fuel companies.
LSA
junior
Nicholas
Jan-
sen, the event’s director, said
he hoped the rally on the Diag
would raise awareness of the
fossil fuel divestment movement
and mobilize students in support
of the cause. He said he believed
Grand Rapids-
based chain opens
new location on
Maynard Street
By LAURA SCHINAGLE
For the Daily
About 300 people lined up
outside 311 Maynard St. on
Saturday
morning,
braving
frigid temperatures and bit-
ing winds, as workers inside
finished up preparations for
the grand opening of Hopcat, a
Grand Rapids-based craft beer
bar.
The chain, which focuses on
specialty craft beer and sells
food as well, announced in
July that it would open its fifth
location in the 8,600-square-
foot
space
that
formerly
housed part of the Borders
flagship store.
Leading up to the event,
HopCat advertised that it
would offer free “crack fries,”
a signature dish of beer-bat-
tered French fries, during the
grand opening. It also said the
first 200 people waiting in line
would receive free crack fries
every week for a year.
Though the heat of July may
have seemed distant on Satur-
day, patrons waiting outside
— several of whom camped
out overnight — said they were
especially looking forward to
both the free fries and the beer
selection.
Public
Health
graduate
student John Lee, along with
friends Megan Hayes, physical
therapy doctoral student at the
University of Michigan—Flint,
and Public Health graduate
student
William
Weichsel,
scored a spot in line at 5 a.m.
Weichsel said the beer selec-
tion was the main reason he
tagged along.
“Two of the beers they have
are super rare, by Founders —
Canadian Breakfast Stout and
Students volunteer
at Franklin-Wright
Settlements on
city’s East Side
By CAROLYN GEARIG
Daily Staff Reporter
On Valentine’s Day, 40 Uni-
versity students showed their
love for the city of Detroit.
For the third and final event
of Detroit Week, students spent
Saturday painting walls and
building a cardboard school
bus at Franklin-Wright Settle-
ments, a human services orga-
nization in the city.
Detroit Week was a series of
three Detroit-focused events
organized by the Detroit Part-
nership, the Black Student
Union, Semester in Detroit,
LSA Student Government and
the Black Volunteer Network.
The other two events included
a dinner called The Soup and a
panel on race and food justice.
The events aimed to raise
awareness of challenges fac-
ing Detroit, and promote action
among the University commu-
nity.
LSA senior Arnold Reed,
BSU speaker, and Public Policy
junior Blair Sucher, educa-
tion director for the Detroit
Partnership, began planning
Detroit Week at the end of fall
semester.
“We had the same vision,”
Reed said. “When we came
together, we were like, let’s do
it. We said, ‘What if we could
bring other organizations into
the fold? There’s a lot of com-
munity service organizations
on campus and a lot of orgs that
would love to do this type of
work.’ ”
Franklin-Wright
Settle-
ments is a neighborhood ser-
ENVIRONMENT
BUSINESS
Current and
former employee
make claims on
three counts
By ANASTASSIOS
ADAMOPOULOUS
Daily Staff Reporter
One former and one current
University employee are suing
the University and the Univer-
sity’s Board of Regents in fed-
eral court over three alleged civil
rights violations.
The two plaintiffs are Lorie
Biggs, who began work in Novem-
ber in 2010, and Jamie Mercurio,
who joined in April 2012. Both
worked as patient service associ-
ates. The two women claim they
were sexually harassed by co-
workers, and Biggs also claims
a documented disability was not
properly accommodated.
The lawsuit was filed on Jan.
13, 2015. It includes one count
of sexual harassment under fed-
eral law, one count of failure to
accommodate in violation of the
American with Disabilities Act
of 1990 and one count of violation
of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights
Act, a state statute.
Sexual harassment
The lawsuit alleges that the two
women were initially harassed by
the same person, fellow employee
Richard Page, who took photos of
Biggs during work that she “con-
sidered to be inappropriate and
of sexual nature,” asked Biggs for
sex, and sent “sexually explicit”
messages about Biggs and Mer-
curio through his work computer.
Page is listed as a patient reg-
istration and insurance specialist
in the University’s directory.
Biggs complained to her then-
supervisor Jenny Wilson who,
according to the lawsuit, told her
“there had been previous sexual
harassment complaints against
Page, but nothing was going to be
done about his behavior.”
After Wilson left the Univer-
sity in 2013, Biggs and Mercrio
ROBERT DUNNE/Daily
Jason Frenzei, Huron River Watershed Council member, shows off the local food hero cape at the closing ceremony of the
Sustainable Food Conference at the Michigan League Ballroom Sunday.
CONNOR BADE/Daily
Andrea Semiglia and LSA senior Talia Gerstle, Executive Director of the Detroit Partnership, prepare cardboard to be made into theater props at the Franklin
Wright Settlement in Detroit Saturday.
See DETROIT, Page 2A
See LOCAL FOOD, Page 2A
See DIVESTMENT, Page 3A
See HOPCAT, Page 3A
See LAWSUIT, Page 3A
Regents, ‘U’
face lawsuit
for violating
civil rights
Third Detroit Week event
focuses on direct service
HopCat grand
opening draws
hundreds with
local craft beer
Seventh Local Food Summit
addresses food sustainability
Students
rally for
fossil fuel
divestment
INDEX
Vol. CXXIV, No. 67
©2015 The Michigan Daily
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