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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Thursday, March 12, 2015
CELEBRATING OUR ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY-FIFTH YEAR OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
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» INSIDE
the b-side
IRENE KIM/Daily
E. Royster Harper, vice president of student life, discusses diversity and campus inclusion at the Trotter Multicultural Center Wednesday.
Officials have yet to
provide requested
records from federal
Title IX investigation
By SAM GRINGLAS and
MAX RADWIN
Managing News Editor and
Daily Staff Reporter
The University has yet to release
dozens of documents related to
the U.S. Department of Educa-
tion’s ongoing Title IX investiga-
tion of the University, which were
requested and paid for in part
by The Michigan Daily over two
months ago.
The Daily made a request to the
University in December under the
purview of the state’s Freedom of
Information Act, and paid one of
two $445 fees in January for the
collection of documents related
to sexual misconduct — including
written complaints, e-mails from
administrators and witness state-
ments, among other documents.
The state’s Freedom of Informa-
tion Act, or FOIA, provides for the
release of records by public insti-
tutions in the state of Michigan,
including the University. However,
after the documents are requested,
FOIA does not specify a deadline
by which an institution must pro-
duce the documents.
In a February phone interview
with the Daily, Patricia Sellinger,
the University’s FOIA coordinator,
said she could not provide a time-
line for when the Daily’s document
request would be filled.
She could not be reached for
comment Wednesday.
Frank
LoMonte,
executive
director of the Student Press Law
Center, said he believes the Univer-
sity has surpassed what he consid-
ers a “reasonable time.”
“Because of the national spot-
light that has been focused on
campus sexual assault, colleges
everywhere are being asked for
documents about how they handle
those cases,” he said. “Understand-
ably, there is sensitivity about
records that might reveal confiden-
tial information about victims and
some degree of redacting is prob-
ably legitimate. But that process
really should not take months.”
Though the FOIA does not
specify a time frame for producing
records, Jane Briggs-Bunting, an
attorney, president of the Michigan
E. Royster Harper
facilitates dialogue
on inclusion, U. of
Oklahoma incident
By ALLANA AKHTAR
Daily Staff Reporter
E.
Royster
Harper,
vice
president for student life, sat
down with a group of students
Wednesday evening from all
parts of campus to discuss
diversity and the role adminis-
trators can play in facilitating it.
According to Jackie Simpson,
director of the Trotter Multicul-
tural Center, the conversation,
titled “Keepin’ It Real with VP
Harper,” is part of a new effort
by the Trotter Center and the
Office of Multi-Ethnic Affairs
to engage students and adminis-
trators personally. The initiative
is meant to facilitate the discus-
sion of and to combat issues of
equity and inclusion on campus.
The group discussed a vari-
ety of topics related to issues
of diversity on campus, includ-
ing methods for fostering a
welcoming
campus
climate,
the drawbacks of the race and
ethnicity requirement and the
recent racial controversy at the
University of Oklahoma.
Royster said promoting an
accepting campus climate is an
important factor in preventing
issues related to discrimination.
However, she said that because
“campus climate” is a nebulous
word, it can be hard to measure.
“How do you measure this
feeling that’s almost like air,”
Harper said. “It’s there, but it’s
hard to describe and you know
when it isn’t there. That’s one of
the challenges around climate.”
She added that a welcom-
ing campus climate can include
using pipeline programs, where
universities begin recruiting
in high school, to encourage
lower-income and minority stu-
dents to attend the University.
Harper also noted that it is
difficult to teach about racial
differences and micro-aggres-
sions in the first place, as many
times people become desensi-
tized to these conflicts.
“The question is how do
we respond in light of the way
Report alleges lack
of due process in
Office of Institutional
Equity procedures
By SHOHAM GEVA and
CARLY NOAH
Daily News Editor and
Daily Staff Reporter
In a report sent to media
Wednesday, the Senate Advisory
Committee on University Affairs
said the body sees several major
flaws with how the University’s
Office for Institutional Equity
treats faculty members who are
subjects of harassment and dis-
crimination investigations.
The report’s central concerns
are the adequacy of due process
protections in OIE procedures,
and OIE’s application of those
procedures in the cases of three
faculty members who submit-
ted complaints to SACUA. OIE is
tasked in part with investigating
and resolving instances of discrim-
ination and discriminatory harass-
ment at the University.
“The evidence available to us,
examined in the course of review-
ing OIE’s practices, raises serious
doubts about the validity of the OIE
findings in these cases,” the report
read. “SACUA does not take a posi-
tion on the outcome of these cases.
But our findings regarding lack of
due process necessitate reconsid-
eration of these cases.”
In regards to the identified
issues with due process, Wednes-
day’s report recommended that
OIE consult with SACUA to incor-
porate “fair and adequate notice,
fair investigation processes and the
ability to obtain an independent,
meaningful and timely appeal of
findings,” into its operations. The
recommendation
mirrored
one
provided in an April report to Uni-
versity Provost Martha Pollack.
SACUA, the executive commit-
tee of the body that formally rep-
resents faculty, first began looking
into OIE’s policies in 2012 when
DELANEY RYAN/Daily
Activist and author Tawana Petty discusses the current status of education in Detroit and opportunities for
change in the future at the Ford School Wednesday.
Discussion
examines loss
of stability with
closing schools
By COLLEEN HARRISON
Daily Staff Reporter
The future of education in
Detroit was the focus of con-
versation Wednesday at the
Ford School of Public Policy.
Part of the Education Pol-
icy Initiative speaker series,
the panel consisted of active
members of the Detroit com-
munity who spoke about
education
issues.
It
was
co-sponsored by the Public
Policy School and the School
of Education. Across the
board, each speaker stressed
the dysfunction of the city’s
school system.
One of the four speakers,
Bridge
Magazine
report-
er Chastity Pratt Dawsey,
focused largely on the finan-
cial issues plaguing education
in the city. Dawsey noted that
schools in Detroit often close
due to eliminated funding
and children often have to
switch from school to school.
Dawsey said when students
lose their school, they lose the
resources and connections
they have built there. She
explained that students gain
important stability from the
support systems they develop
while in one school.
“There are people in these
schools who care that the
Executive action to
increase oversight
of lenders, work to
decrease loan burden
By EMMA KINERY
Daily Staff Reporter
Following several announce-
ments earlier this year, President
Barack Obama again addressed
higher-education policy in a speech
Tuesday at the Georgia Institute of
Technology.
The president announced a pres-
idential memorandum he signed
earlier that morning, which he
called a Student Aid Bill of Rights,
that will direct the U.S. Depart-
ment of Education to increase sup-
port for students to repay their
student loans.
In a White House conference
call with college reporters Wednes-
day, the president said the creation
of the Student Aid Bill of Rights
would help alleviate concerns over
See DIVERSITY, Page 3A
See FOIA, Page 3A
See SACUA, Page 3A
See DETROIT, Page 3A
See WHITE HOUSE, Page 3A
INDEX
Vol. CXXIV, No. 80
©2015 The Michigan Daily
michigandaily.com
NEWS......................... 2A
OPINION.....................4A
SPORTS......................6A
SUDOKU..................... 2A
CL ASSIFIEDS............... 5A
B - S I D E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 B
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WEATHER
TOMORROW
HI: 55
LO: 40
ADMINISTRATION
Student Life V.P. discusses
diversity issues on campus
SACUA asks for
modifications to
disciplinary body
FACULTY
Detroit education panel
considers lack of funding
White House
announces
new financial
aid initiatives
GOVERNMENT
‘U’ declines
to estimate
timeline for
FOIA docs.