The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Thursday, March 26, 2015 — 3A

Neither bill was brought to a 

vote Wednesday, meaning both 
remain in committee and will not 
be voted on by the full Senate at 
this time.

In an interview Tuesday, State 

Sen. Rick Jones (R–Grand Ledge), 
one of the sponsors for the bills, 
said the delay is not uncommon. 
He added that he expected a vote 
at a future committee meeting.

When Uber came to the Detroit 

area in December 2013, the Michi-
gan Department of Transporta-
tion notified the companies of 
transportation laws in the state. 
However, Uber has stated that it 
doesn’t think their model is bound 
by those laws, causing complaints 
from both lawmakers and tradi-
tional taxi services.

Jones said his bill was designed 

to correct several discrepancies 
between taxicab services and ride-
sharing companies, namely those 
concerning insurance. According 
to Uber, drivers are currently cov-
ered by a commercial insurance 
policy capped at $1 million per 
accident. A minimum $1 million 
insurance policy is also required 
for traditional taxicabs, but under 
state licensing rules, cabs have to 
provide documentation of that to 
the state. Ridesharing companies 
currently do not.

Jones said it’s problematic that 

Uber is not mandated to provide 
proof of appropriate insurance 
coverage.

“What I’m looking for is a 

solution to a problem,” Jones 
said. “Also, what I’m seeking to 
do is to get Uber to carry proper 
insurance.”

Taxicabs are also required to 

have their vehicle inspected, to 
register vehicles for $50 and to pay 
a one-time fee of $300, along with 

a renewal fee of $50, to receive a 
Certificate of Authority.

Uber has not supported passage 

of these bills, but in an interview 
Wednesday, Uber Michigan Man-
ager Michael White said Uber is 
open to having a regulatory struc-
ture that more closely follows their 
business model, citing commercial 
insurance policies in particular.

“We want to make sure every 

trip is covered by commercial level 
insurance by order of regulation 
that codifies that at the city or state 
level,” he said.

Jones said he wants to ensure 

that passengers are legally insured 
by Michigan auto insurance policy. 
He noted that he does not want 
Uber to stop business, just to fol-
low the laws that will allow for fair 
competition.

“We’re not trying to put Uber 

out of business,” he said. “We want 
them to prosper, but they just need 
to play by the rules and be respon-
sible corporate citizens.”

A previous bill was introduced 

during last year’s lame duck ses-
sion that was supported by Uber, 
but failed to reach a vote in the State 
House.

John Etter, president of Blue Cab 

Company, expressed similar views. 
He said these bills would foster pub-
lic safety and bring order to Uber’s 
“chaotic” business model.

“I think it’s a good develop-

ment and I hope it passes and then 
Uber can continue competing, but 
without the massive, pretty unfair 
advantages they currently enjoy, 
such as not paying insurance, 
which, of course, is one of my big-
gest expenses,” he said.

Merlyn Wade, owner of Ann 

Arbor Cab, said the taxicab com-
panies are not concerned with the 
competition presented, but rather 
believe Uber should be subject to 
the same laws.

“It’s not about the competition,” 

he said. “They need to follow the 

same rules everyone else is follow-
ing. What makes Uber better than 
you? Why should you have to follow 
the rules and Uber doesn’t?”

Wade cited incidents in San 

Francisco and Boston in which 
Uber drivers harmed their passen-
gers. He said the incidents demon-
strated that increased regulation 
would improve the safety of pas-
sengers and hold Uber to the same 
standards as other transportation 
companies.

Another common issue taxicab 

drivers highlighted in regards to 
ridesharing companies is surge 
pricing, a pricing model Uber uses 
to increase fares when there is high 
demand. State law doesn’t allow 
taxicab drivers to do this.

Jones said the bills don’t spe-

cifically address surge pricing, but 
added that surge pricing does need 
to be addressed eventually.

Uber’s website says surge pric-

ing “encourages drivers to become 
available,” and notifies the customer 
of the price.

Overall, White said, Uber feels it 

is primarily a technology company 
because the app connects part-time 
drivers with passengers, instead of 
arranging rides directly, meaning 
it should not be subject to the same 
regulations as traditional taxicabs.

“The 
drivers 
are 
not 
our 

employees,” White said. “We’re 
partnering with them and they’re 
using our platform to connect 
with their passengers, who are the 
people who have signed up to use 
our platform to connect with these 
drivers.”

Jones disagreed. He said the 

services provided are similar 
enough to warrant regulation.

“We’re not trying to control 

your app, but you are providing 
rides through a system,” Jones 
said. “There needs to be some form 
of licensing, appropriated insur-
ance. (There) needs to be appropri-
ate background checks on drivers.”

flock to South University from 
surrounding neighborhoods to 
dine at food establishments like 
The Brown Jug and Good Time 
Charley’s, to shop for University 
apparel or grab coffee at Espresso 
Royale between classes.

At night, bars along South 

University 
Avenue 
fill 
with 

customers who often opt to bar 
hop from one place to the other. 
A night could begin at the Blue 
Leprechaun, continue at Cantina 
and end up at Rick’s American 
Cafe.

As a result of the street’s loca-

tion, it is not only a cemented 
student destination, but also a 
significant economic engine for 
the city.

Perry Porikos, who graduated 

from the University in the early 
1980s and owns The Blue Lepre-
chaun, The Brown Jug and Study 
Hall Lounge on South Univer-
sity Avenue, as well as The Back 
Room on Church Street, said the 
area has consistently been a focal 
point of the city.

“It’s hard to duplicate some-

thing that South U. has,” he said. 
“It’s already established. It’s a 
walking distance from the major-
ity of the student body. And you 
cannot duplicate that. People 
have tried but it doesn’t work.”

While the nightlife is part of 

the South University neighbor-
hood’s popularity, it can be an 
inconvenience to those living 
close to the area. LSA junior Jona 
Hoxhallari, who lives in Univer-
sity Towers, said the weekends 
can sometimes be a problem.

“Being so close to the bars, it’s 

really loud on the weekends if 
I am trying to study or sleep or 
anything,” she said.

Hoxhallari said she chose 

to live there due to the very 
central location, which she said 
is excellent because it is close to 
restaurants and her friends, and is 
less than five minutes away from 
her classes.

However, she also noted that 

the rent is excessive and is a main 
reason why she would move away 
from the area.

In 2012, the average rents pric-

es in the area ran about $700 per 
month.

Porikos identified three main 

profit sources for both the city 
and for the South University’s 
neighborhood 
specifically 
— 

the University, the University 
of 
Michigan 
Hospital 
and 

Michigan football. He said he 
noticed a decline in the amount 
of business in the area during the 
past two years due to the recent 
performance of the Michigan 
football team.

“Business started going up 

when Jim Harbaugh came in,” 
he said. “I’ve seen right away 
that the culture, the attitude, the 
atmosphere 
already 
changed. 

It’s a positive energy that I felt 
right away as soon as I heard the 
announcement.”

Porikos noted that his overall 

clientele is about 60 percent stu-
dents, while the rest are Universi-
ty faculty and regular customers. 
He said the daily clientele varies 
depending on the time of day, 
with lunches dominated by Uni-
versity faculty and more regular 
customers.

“When you work with, in 

majority, the student body, you 
never have the regular restaurant 
lunch time which is going to be 11 
to 2. You might have people com-
ing in from 3 to 5 as a group. That 
fluctuates a lot and that hurts you 
a little bit with the labor because 
you never know,” he said.

He added that the strongest 

period of the year is football sea-
son and that the weakest is usu-
ally July to the end of August.

The heavy student presence of 

these areas is another reason why 
Porikos went into business on 
South University Avenue, as he 
wanted to be working with young 
people, which makes him feel 
young. He noted however that 
there are difficulties that come 
with this environment.

“Some of them you get really 

close (with). You start with them 
as a freshman. You become a 
friend or a father figure, what-
ever you want to call it, and then 
in four years they are gone. And 
then I have to start again. So it’s a 
challenge, too.”

South University Avenue is 

also the connecting corridor 
between the South University 
and Tappan neighborhoods.

Tappan

In many ways, the Tappan 

neighborhood exemplifies the often 
unclear spatial lines that separate 
the University and the city.

East Quad Residence Hall is 

across from Rick’s American 
Café; the Ross School of Business 
and the Law School are a few 
steps away from Dominick’s; and 
the School of Social Work is right 
on South University Avenue. 
The area also includes the Ford 
School of Public Policy and main 
city thoroughfares such as State 

Street and Packard Street.

Other important University 

organizations can also be found 
throughout the Tappan neigh-
borhood, including University 
of Michigan Hillel on Hill Street 
and a variety fraternities and 
sororities.

LSA 
junior 
Olivia 
King, 

who 
lives 
in 
the 
Tappan 

neighborhood, said the location 
is convenient due to its close 
proximity to campus buildings 
like the Law School and the 
Business School, as well as the 
Intramural Sports Building. One 
of the benefits she finds is the mix 
between student residents and 
permanent residencies.

“I like the location a lot 

because it feels safer because it 
is so close to campus,” she said. 
“I am always sure that (DPSS) 
will be just a block of my house. 
I think that was an attraction for 
me and my parents.”

King noted that sometimes the 

area gets a bit noisy, but beyond 
this small issue she hasn’t expe-
rienced many problems living in 
the neighborhood.

The large size of the Tappan 

neighborhood means that benefits 
and drawbacks of the location vary 
depending on the exact location.

LSA junior Emily Carl who lives 

in the Tappan neighborhood near 
Hill Street, also noted the location 
was a big plus. She said her house is 
about six minutes from her classes 
and has easy access to State Street, 
South University Avenue and 
Main Street.

“We are definitely paying for 

location,” Carl said. “The rooms 
are decent-sized and we have a 
huge kitchen and living room, but 
it is more expensive when I hear 
other people talking about their 
rent, who live a little bit farther 
off campus.”

In 2012, rent prices in the area 

averaged $700.

Tappan has also seen a sig-

nificant amount of the high-rise 
apartment building construction 
over the past five years.

The Landmark and Zaragon 

Place high rise buildings are more 
luxurious and pricier than other 
apartments and houses in the 
area, and the self-described “lux-
ury-student housing” ArborBLU 
apartments are currently under 
construction above Pizza House 
on Church Street.

With the heavy student pres-

ence, several traditional meet-
ing spots and a changing skyline, 
the neighborhoods are likely to 
remain a center of student life off 
campus.

three weeks before the festivities 
to develop precautions.

“Given the amount of scrutiny 

of Greek life in the recent events in 
this past semester, both the Panhel 
President Maddie Walsh and all 
the other presidents of all the other 
Panhellenic 
sororities, 
myself 

included, feel as though we need 
to ensure better responsibility 
and safety of all of our members,” 
Brown said.

She said the measures included 

offering breakfast and lunch at 
several of the sorority houses and 
creating “accountability partners,” 
matching girls to watch out for one 
another throughout the weekend.

However, efforts to ensure the 

weekend went smoothly extended 
beyond Greek life.

Joy Pehlke, a health educator at 

Wolverine Wellness and Universi-
ty Health Services, co-coordinated 
a St. Patrick’s Day committee. The 

committee included representa-
tives from the Dean of Students 
Office, the Center for Campus 
Involvement, Greek life, Recre-
ational Sports, Dance Marathon, 
Beyond the Diag, Residential Life, 
the University Department of Pub-
lic Safety, the AAPD and local bars 
and restaurants.

“Every St. Patrick’s Day, a num-

ber of different units on campus 
get together in a proactive measure 
to make sure that there is a coordi-
nated effort around some of these 
times that can be higher risk,” 
Pehlke said. “So St. Patrick’s Day 
for us is not any different, necessar-
ily, than Halloween can sometimes 
be, football tailgate Saturdays.”

Pehlke said the committee 

began meeting two months prior to 
St. Patrick’s Day to plan events for 
both the weekend before and the 
weekend after the holiday.

This year, the committee devel-

oped a theme for the activities sur-
rounding St. Patrick’s Day — March 
Radness. The initiative spanned 
from March 13 through March 21 

and included a canoe trip, obstacle 
course and rock climbing, among 
other activities.

Pehlke 
said 
the 
student-

designed Stay in the Blue app, 
which was launched in partner-
ship with the University Health 
System’s alcohol safety program 
in 2013 to help students track their 
drinking, recently saw a dramatic 
rise in downloads.

She said the app, which has been 

downloaded over 7,000 times to 
date, was downloaded 159 times in 
the week leading up to March 21.

Pehlke added that the initiatives 

put forth by the committee this 
year were not very different from 
those in past years.

“I don’t feel like anything we 

coordinated was vastly different 
… I think it’s more that every year 
it’s a little more of a moving target 
with different pieces of predict-
ability and unpredictability,” she 
said. “There are so many factors 
— the date, the weather, all sorts of 
things. We do the same proactive 
measures every year.”

UBER
From Page 1A

POLICE
From Page 1A

TAPPAN
From Page 1A

a great network that will go oth-
erwise untapped,” Proppe said. 
“And so, the party leaders try to tap 
into as many networks as possible, 
which leads to a greater diversity 
of candidates. If you did not have 
the party system, you would see 
similar types of people running for 
CSG because no one would ever talk 
them into running.”

Shokar said this practice can be 

dangerous because students begin 
to be “tokenized,” valued for their 
networks rather than their talent.

“Tokenism is a big thing that 

happens on this campus,” Shokar 
said. “It’s an exciting thing when 
a person of color runs, or a woman 
runs, or a woman of color runs. It’s 
the most exciting thing for a lot 
of people, but that’s so sad that we 
should be excited that that’s so far 
from the norm.”

Moreover, though parties may 

allow diversity at the representa-
tive level, they do not guarantee 
that the executive committees are 
diverse. Both Proppe and Public 
Policy senior Carly Manes agreed 
that executive committees are 
often comprised of like-minded 
associates of the president and vice 
president.

Though Proppe said he didn’t 

find this problematic, Shokar felt 
differently. She discussed how, 
as speaker her sophomore year, 
she was the sole woman of color 
in a committee of white men and 
women. Her views were not always 
affirmed by her peers.

“Something I experienced time 

and time again in my two and a half 
years very involved in CSG, I’m in 
a room with four guys and we’re 
meeting and I’m the only woman 
and the only person of color. We’re 
all sharing our perspectives and I’ll 
share something and the response 
is, ‘That’s great, that’s interesting, 
but this is how we think and this is 
how we’re going to proceed.’ And 
it’s like, okay, so I’m interesting, but 
I’m not actually worth taking into 

account? That’s what it feels like.”

Campaigning pains

Some have found success run-

ning without a party backing. Uni-
versity alum Manish Parikh and 
Business graduate student Omar 
Hashwi, president and vice presi-
dent in the 2012-2013 academic 
year, were independent candidates.

Hashwi said his and Parikh’s 

campaigns, while ultimately suc-
cessful, was marred by slander 
and racism that a white candidate 
might not experience. For instance, 
he said a member of the Delta Phi 
Epsilon sorority sent a sorority-
wide e-mail accusing the two men 
of color of homophobia and anti-
Semitism. It was released to the rest 
of campus, requiring the candidates 
to clear their name.

“When I say it’s difficult for 

minorities to attain these high-up 
positions, I mean it, and mean it 
based on previous experiences,” 
Hashwi said. “It all had to do with 
my race and my religion, not my 
political beliefs or my beliefs on 
how to improve campus.”

Hashwi said the pushback he 

faced was often not based on his 
views, rather his identity as a Mus-
lim Arab American. He credited 
his support from Jewish, LBGTQ, 
Muslim, Arab and other communi-
ties to clear his name.

“It sounds cliché, but this was 

one of the moments where I real-
ized love truly is greater than hate,” 
Hashwi said.

During her candidacy in 2014, 

Manes found similar resistance 
as a result of her and her running 
mate’s, LSA senior Pavitra Abra-
ham, female identities. Within CSG 
and as president of Students for 
Choice, she has led campus-wide 
discussions on sexual health work. 
This work, she said, was minimized 
and mocked during the campaign.

Manes said she and Abraham 

were also called “the feminist can-
didates” in a derogatory fashion. 
Other coded language poked at 
their accomplishments and plat-
form; they were called idealists 
without a proven track record, not 
pragmatic.

“Holding liberal ideals and being a 

female is perceived as being idealistic, 
fluffy and intangible,” Manes said.

Such barriers might explain why 

there’s a negative 48-percent dis-
parity between numbers of females 
on campus and those leading CSG 
as president. With current Vice 
President Emily Lustig replacing 
Shokar, 2014-15 is the first academic 
year with a female vice president 
since 2006.

However, 
there’s 
indication 

that CSG has been more inclusive 
of females in the past. Females — 
two Black, one Asian and three 
white — held the vice presidency 
every year between 2002 and 2006. 
What’s missing now, according to 
the data, is the lack of a pattern of 
female representation. Until Shokar 
was selected by Make Michigan to 
run along current president Bobby 
Dishell, winning parties had not 
been in the habit of selecting female 
leaders, and students have not voted 
in women.

Yet there was a consensus that a 

more diverse student government is 
the most effective sort.

“We have a way to go in terms of 

gender diversity,” Proppe said. “The 
University of Michigan is a fairly 
diverse place, and I think people see 
a lot of value in electing somebody is 
a minority. So much of what we talk 
about here at Michigan is diversity, 
and how do we recruit more minor-
ity students to campus. Who better 
to talk than a minority student? I’m 
a white male, I can’t talk about how 
to get more Black students on cam-
pus, I don’t know that.”

Potential for change?

In favor of more diversity on 

CSG, Shokar said, “Disagreement 
can be a really beautiful thing.”

She and Manes both expressed 

their belief in the power of CSG, 
despite its flaws as an institution. 
It is what inspired them to run ini-
tially.

“I think when the student gov-

ernment has a lot more voices of 
people from different backgrounds, 
who have grown up differently, have 
experienced different challenges in 
their lives, you just come together as 

a stronger student government,” Sho-
kar said. “There’s so much more you 
can do because you have all of these 
different perspectives.”

Hashwi, who said he comes from 

a low-income background, said stu-
dents like him might be unable to work 
in CSG and represent a unique while 
supporting themselves in school.

A lack of communication CSG 

and campus organizations may also 
be at fault. Candace Curtis, presi-

dent of Latina sorority Delta Tau 
Lambda, said she’s never been con-
tacted by CSG, despite serving as 
a leader in seven different Latina 
organizations.

“I feel like we’re put on the back 

of priority list because there’s so lit-
tle in number of us,” Curtis said.

In a potential explanation, Proppe 

said he was not aware of any unified 
Hispanic student organization.

Nevertheless, CSG is students’ 

gateway to student organization 
funding and the administration.

“They may not represent them 

but the student gov does represent 
them,” Proppe said. “...If you don’t 
like it, you can work to change 
it. And that’s really the beauty of 
democracy. If you look at the current 
CSG leadership, and you say they 
don’t represent me, well, there’s a 
process to get involved and you can 
work to change that.”

CSG
From Page 2A

