3-News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Monday, February 16, 2015 — 3A
NEWBERRY, Mich.
Arctic deep freeze
blankets Michigan
An Arctic cold front gripped
Michigan on Sunday, sending
temperatures plunging to minus
27 in the Upper Peninsula and
minus 22 in the northern Lower
Peninsula and shattering at least
five record lows for the date.
The deep freeze came with
an easing of the snow and windy
conditions that forced a number
of Upper Peninsula roads to close
Saturday. At 6 a.m., state police
announced the reopening of U.S.
2 between Manistique and Rapid
River and Michigan 35 between
Lathrop and Perkins.
“Both of the roadways closed
yesterday and throughout the
night due to inclement weather
where snow and high winds
were causing whiteout condi-
tions,” the state police Negaunee
post said in a statement.
NEW YORK
New York Times
writer David Carr
died of lung cancer
New York Times media col-
umnist David Carr died of com-
plications from metastatic lung
cancer, according to autopsy
results released Saturday.
Julie Bolcer, a spokeswoman
for the New York City medical
examiner’s office, said the autop-
sy shows heart disease also con-
tributed to his death.
Carr, 58, collapsed at the
newspaper’s headquarters and
died on Thursday.
He wrote the newspaper’s
Media
Equation
column
and
penned a memoir about his fight
with drug addiction. He was laud-
ed as “the finest media reporter of
his generation” by Times’ Execu-
tive Editor Dean Baquet.
PHOENIX
Boyfriend of ISIS
captive describes
effort to free her
Kayla Mueller was in a deten-
tion cell, face to face with her
Syrian boyfriend. Had she told
her captors she was married to
Omar Alkhani, she might have
been freed from the hands of
Islamic State militants, he said.
Instead, she denied being his
wife.
After posing as Mueller’s hus-
band and persuading a string of
people to let him plead for her
release, Alkhani left the room
empty-handed. He said he saw
her face for just a few seconds
when guards uncovered it.
The guards had assured Muel-
ler, 26, that Alkhani would not be
harmed if she told the truth, so
she apparently stuck to honesty
to save him rather than take the
slim chance to save herself, he
said.
“Since she’s American, they
would not let her go anyway. No
sense to stay here, both of us,”
Alkhani said. “Maybe she want-
ed to save me. Maybe she didn’t
know I came back to save her.”
COPENHAGEN
Danish authorities
say shooter had
criminal record
The slain gunman suspected
in the deadly Copenhagen attacks
was a 22-year-old with a history
of violence and may have been
inspired by Islamic terrorists —
and possibly the Charlie Hebdo
massacre in Paris, Danish authori-
ties said Sunday.
Prime Minister Helle Thorn-
ing-Schmidt mourned the two
people killed and vowed to protect
freedom of speech and Denmark’s
Jewish community.
The suspect was killed in a gun-
battle with a SWAT team early
Sunday. He had opened fire Sat-
urday at a cultural center hosting
a seminar on free speech with an
artist who had caricatured the
Prophet Muhammad and then
later at security forces outside a
synagogue, police said.
—Compiled from
Daily wire reports
NEWS BRIEFS
directed their complaints to
the new supervisor Donna
Navarre, a call center coor-
dinator, in March and April
2013. The lawsuit charges that
Navarre did not do anything
about the complaints.
“Biggs and Mercurio also
complained to Navarre about a
coworker who Biggs and Mer-
curio felt was leering at them,”
the lawsuit reads. “Navarre
responded by telling Biggs and
Mercurio to drop a pen and pick
it up in front of the co worker to
‘give him a show.’ “
Violation of the
Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990
The lawsuit notes that Biggs
has a disability that is eli-
gible for coverage within the
definition of the ADA. Biggs
claims that in September of
2013 she requested a different
chair because of a back-related
problem and despite filing the
appropriate paperwork, did not
receive it.
Violation of Elliott-Larsen
Civil Rights Act
In January 2014, Biggs was
terminated for performance
issues and Mercurio was placed
on temporary unpaid leave.
The lawsuit notes that neither
of the two women had been
criticized or disciplined prior
throughout their employment.
“Biggs was fired because
she complained about sexu-
al harassment,” the lawsuit
reads. “Mercurio was placed
on unpaid leave of absence
because she complained about
sexual harassment.”
The lawsuit also charges that
after Biggs was fired, Navarre
mailed her a box of rocks, as
well as created a hostile work
environment
for
Mercurio
when she returned to her posi-
tion.
The plaintiffs, represented
by Gold Star Law P.C., are cur-
rently awaiting the University’s
response.
Normally, a defendant has
21 days to respond to this type
of lawsuit. However, Caitlin
Malhiot, one of the attorneys
representing the two plaintiffs,
said in an interview Friday
they have granted a request
from the University for a two-
week extension to provide a
response to the allegations.
Once the response is received,
court dates will be set.
Malhiot said resolving the
issues
through
a
mutually
agreeable settlement without
going to court is always prefer-
able, though she added that it’s
unclear whether such a settle-
ment exists because the Uni-
versity has not yet replied to
the complaint.
“This is a very upsetting
issue for my clients,” Malhiot
said. “They just want the issue
to be done, but at the same
time what happened to them is
wrong and they do want it to be
addressed, they do want justice
for that. They do want the com-
pensation that they are owed.”
Malhiot
said
monetary
compensation at some level
is always a significant option.
Additionally, she noted that
Biggs would be willing to con-
sider reinstatement at the Uni-
versity, in a position away from
the alleged harassers.
Navarre, Page and Wilson
declined requests for com-
ment via e-mail, referring The
Michigan Daily to the UMHS
Department of Communica-
tions.
In response to a request for
comment Friday, Mary Mas-
son, a media relations repre-
sentative for UMHS, said she
couldn’t provide any informa-
tion on a pending litigation.
LAWSUIT
From Page 1A
Divest and Invest’s goal resonat-
ed with many students.
“This is our future we’re
fighting for and divestment is
definitely one tactic through
which students can make an
impact,” Jansen said.
Volunteers and Divest and
Invest members set up a table
and encouraged passersby to
sign an online petition as well
as a large banner in support of
divestment that lay on the Diag.
“Invest in your future, divest
today,” one volunteer handing
out flyers called to a group of
students.
Supporters later wore their
orange
shirts
and
gathered
around the signed banner at
the center of the Diag. Jansen
engaged the crowd in a series of
call and response chants.
“Invest!” Jansen called to
group. “Tomorrow!” the group
yelled back in unison.
“Divest!”
Jason
screamed.
“Today!” the group responded.
The protest was part of “Glob-
al Divestment Day,” an interna-
tional series of events planned
for this past weekend to call for
governments, universities and
other organizations to divest
from companies that produce
fossil fuels.
More than 400 events were
planned in several dozen coun-
tries on six different continents,
according to 350.org, which
organized the protests. 350.
org is an international environ-
mental organization that aims
to mobilize grassroots action
and pressure leaders around the
world to address climate change.
Schools with groups par-
ticipating in Global Divestment
Day included Harvard Uni-
versity, Columbia University,
Syracuse University and Univer-
sity College London. The United
Nations has also endorsed the
international event.
Nineteen
colleges
in
the
United States have pledged to
divest from fossil fuels, though
most have only done so in mod-
est amounts. Stanford Univer-
sity is the largest and wealthiest
school to have pledged to divest.
Last May, Stanford administra-
tors promised in a statement
that they would not make finan-
cial investments in coal mining
companies.
About $1.04 billion of the
University’s $9.16 billion endow-
ment was categorized as fossil
fuel investments as of 2012. The
Divest and Invest campaign has
asked the University’s Board of
Regents several timesto divest.
In a November 2014 inter-
view with The Michigan Daily,
University
spokesman
Rick
Fitzgerald said the University
purposely sets stringent stan-
dards for divestment.
“The bar is set intentionally
high ... to somewhat insulate the
investment office from the polit-
ical winds that could change
from one direction to the other,”
Fitzgerald said.
The regents have only voted
to divest twice — from South
Africa in 1978 during apartheid
and, more recently, from tobac-
co-related companies in 2000.
While Jansen conceded that
the University has been “pretty
unresponsive” to Divest and
Invest’s calls to action, he cited
the success of those two divest-
ment movements as inspiration
for the organization.
“We’ve been working a lot
with the administration and
they have specified certain cri-
teria that we have to meet for
them to take action,” Jansen
said. “The main criterion they
said we have to meet is to show
that it’s an issue students care
about.”
Jansen also emphasized the
urgency and global nature of
the problem of climate change
as key drivers behind Global
Divestment Day.
“With climate change, we’re
running out of time — it’s a prob-
lem we have to address now,”
Jansen said. “Because it’s such
a global issue, the perfect way to
portray that is to have a global
day to support the cause.”
CHANMEE CHUNG/Daily
Rackham student Kevin Li signs in support of the divestment movement during Global Divestment Day on the Daig Friday.
ROBERT DUNNE/Daily
Patrons wait in the cold outside HopCat on its opening day Saturday.
DIVESTMENT
From Page 1A
Kentucky Breakfast Stout,” Lee
said. “They’re only on tap in a
given city maybe three times a
year.”
In
an
interview
Saturday
morning, HopCat founder and
owner Mark Sellers said the beer
list was given special consider-
ation for the grand opening.
“We challenged our ‘beer
guy’ … to come up with the best
100-tap list any bar’s ever had,”
he said. “It’s arguable whether
we’ve done that, but we’ve got an
amazing list.”
Sellers said most HopCat loca-
tions are typically near universi-
ties, so they’re used to a customer
base of faculty and students, but
thus far the clientele here has
had slightly different tastes.
“The thing I’ve noticed just
in the couple of days that we’ve
had some customers come in is
that they seem to be very knowl-
edgeable about beer, right from
the start,” he said. “That’s not
always the case. Some of the
places we’ve opened we’ve had to
teach the customers a lot about
the beer.”
HopCat
waitress
Meg
Schemanske, a University alum,
said she had been interested in
beer before working at HopCat,
but the training process gave her
a new perspective.
“It’s definitely a culture,” she
said. “That’s one thing that I
think I learned the most.”
She said the company put on
a week of “beer school” for the
staff, in addition to two weeks of
general service training.
“We spent an entire week in
class learning different beer
styles, different aromas, differ-
ent hops, different yeasts,” she
said. “As much as you can learn
about beer, we learned it.”
Seller said he thought several
factors would distinguish Hop-
Cat from the other bars down-
town.
“We have a very laid-back
family environment with our
employees, so it’s like a big fam-
ily that works here,” he said. “We
have 100 beers on tap, all craft
beer, and we have a pretty cool
interior design, with a lot of inte-
rior artwork.”
HOPCAT
From Page 1A