michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Thursday, March 12, 2015

CELEBRATING OUR ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY-FIFTH YEAR OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

This week, the b-side takes a 
look at The Blind Pig

» 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.

