2 — Wednesday, April 8, 2015
News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
AMANDA ALLEN/Daily
Ari Weinzweig, Zingerman’s co-owner and founding partner, speaks about the creation of Zingerman’s Deli at an event hosted by Alpha Kappa Psi fraternity at the
Michigan Union’s Rogel Ballroom on Tuesday.
WILLIAM LYNCH/Daily
Journalist and author Louisa Lim, a visiting professor, answers questions during her lecture titled “Writing ‘The People’s
Republic of Amnesia’ Tiananmen Revisited” at the Michigan League on Tuesday.
Zingerman’s co-founder talks
successful business practices
CSG hears resolution to
audit ‘U’s endowment
Former NPR, BBC correspondent
discusses Tiananmen Sq. massacre
UMix won’t
screen film
in wake of
complaints
Roughly 200 sign
letter calling for
cancellation of
‘American Sniper’
By LARA MOEHLMAN
Daily Staff Reporter
The Center for Campus Involve-
ment announced Tuesday afternoon
they would cancel a planned show-
ing of “American Sniper” at UMix
following a student petition over the
depiction of certain communities in
the film.
In a statement posted on by Face-
book CCI, which runs UMix, the
organization said the choice was
made in response to concerns raised
by students about the film in the peti-
tion.
“Student reactions have clearly
articulated that this is neither the
venue nor the time to show this
movie,” the statement read. “We
deeply regret causing harm to mem-
bers of our community, and appreci-
ate the thoughtful feedback provided
to us by students.”
LSA sophomore Lamees Mek-
kaoui started the petition Tuesday
morning after discovering that
UMix, a University program dedi-
cated to providing students with
alcohol-free events on Friday nights,
would be showing the 2014 war
drama “American Sniper” this Fri-
day.
Mekkaoui, who is a a member
of Students Allied for Freedom and
Equality and the Middle Eastern and
Arab Network on campus, said she
found the choice of film disconcert-
ing because of its depictions of the
Iraq War and residents of the Middle
Eastern and North African region.
The film, directed by Clint East-
wood and starring Bradley Cooper,
is based on the autobiography of
Chris Kyle, a U.S. Navy Seal who
served in Iraq and has the most con-
firmed kills as a sniper in U.S. mili-
tary history.
“As a student who identifies as an
Arab and Middle Eastern student, I
feel that ‘American Sniper’ condones
a lot of anti-Middle Eastern and
North African propaganda,” Mek-
kaoui said.
She added that she felt the film
was released at a time when negative
attitudes toward Middle Eastern and
Northern African groups were at a
peak.
“It was released at a time when
these anti-Arab, anti-Muslim and
anti-Middle Eastern (and) North
African hate crimes were already
skyrocketing and this movie only
contributed to that,” he said.
In response to the CCI’s announce-
ment on Facebook Tuesday morning
that it would screen the film during
UMix, Mekkaoui sent CCI a personal
letter of concern at 11 a.m.
After posting the letter on her
Facebook page and receiving positive
feedback, Mekkaoui then drafted a
second letter expressing similar con-
cerns to her personal letter that was
circulated to various communities on
campus.
Weinzweig to
jointly deliver
commencement
address
By EMILY MIILLER
Daily Staff Reporter
Ari Weinzweig, Zingerman’s
co-owner and founding partner,
could be found on campus Tues-
day before his commencement
speech next month for students
who knew where to look.
During a “Man Behind the
Sandwich” event Tuesday in the
Michigan
Union,
Weinzweig
spent an hour answering student
questions from students about
the operation of Zingerman’s
and his business philosophy. The
event was hosted by Alpha Kappa
Psi, a business fraternity on cam-
pus, and sponsored by the Cen-
tral Student Government and the
Ross School of Business.
Weinzweig and his partner
Paul Saginaw opened Zinger-
man’s Deli on March 15, 1982.
After
33
years
Zingerman’s
operations are still expanding,
though it continues to operates
solely out of Ann Arbor. Weinz-
weig said even though the deli
originally faced difficulties, hard
work eventually validated their
business model.
“Five to six years after open-
ing, we were geniuses,” Weinz-
weig said.
He drew many of his remarks
from the Twelve Natural Laws of
Business, a series of ideas about
business created by both Zinger-
man’s founders. The laws include
philosophies such as valuing
staff, making the workplace
engaging, and always looking for
ways to improve.
Weinzweig told students he
considers the set of laws to be
universal principles that all suc-
cessful businesses adhere to,
consciously or unconsciously.
At Zingerman’s, he said these
principles were integrated in sev-
eral ways, leading to a structure
that’s different from traditional
businesses.
“Our business is like an old
school family farm,” Weinzweig
said. “It looks messy from a cor-
porate standpoint, but within
itself it is organized, like the fam-
ily farm (it) has a harmony and a
rhythm to it.”
He also referred to these prin-
ciples to dispel what he called
common misconceptions about
business. Weinzweig said people
often consider success to be the
end of logistical and financial
challenges, such as not having
enough money to operate. How-
ever, he said he believes success
can be defined as simply having
more influence over the types of
challenges a business has.
“Success means you get better
problems,” he said. “It’s getting
the problems you want.”
According to Weinzweig, a
“better problem” is Zingerman’s
policy of using higher quality
products that are more expen-
sive, meaning they have to spend
more money to uphold quality.
Another is finding the time to
launch the many new ideas he
has to improve the company,
given how much he’s investing
in Zingerman’s due to its relative
success.
Weinzweig also highlighted
the importance of employees,
describing Zingerman’s process
for engaging employees in the
company and fostering a sense of
individual purpose.
“I realized we were teaching
our employees about business in
a systemic way,” he said.
Legislation in
response to last
week’s divestment
proposal is tabled
By TANAZ AHMED
Daily Staff Reporter
Central Student Government
tabled a proposal Tuesday evening
requesting an audit of the Univer-
sity endowment for companies
directly and uniquely responsible
for ethical violations throughout
the world during the final meeting
of its 2014-2015 student assembly.
After a first motion to table the
resolution failed, the legislative
body voted on a second motion with
14 in favor of tabling the proposal, 13
opposed and one abstaining.
If passed, the resolution would
have led CSG to ask the University
Office of Investments to conduct
periodic audits on companies the
University
Endowment
Fund
invests in to assess whether or not
these companies are deliberately,
directly and uniquely responsible
for ethical violations nationally as
well as internationally.
Engineering senior Andy Mod-
ell, an Engineering representative
for CSG, and Education senior
Michael Chrzan, a School of Edu-
cation representative, wrote the
legislation. Modell said it was
written in response to the divest-
ment resolution, which CSG voted
against during the assembly’s
meeting last week.
Modell said he was inspired
by the hundreds of members of
the University community who
attended last week’s meeting,
which he said showed him how
concerned many on campus are
about the University’s invest-
ments.
He said he thought his resolu-
tion addressed many of the con-
cerns raised during last week’s
meeting.
“Hopefully this way the Uni-
versity will be more responsible
in regards to the ethics of their
investments and students will be
overall happy,” he said.
Chrzan echoed Modell’s sen-
timents, adding that the resolu-
tion is meant to be a measure that
keeps the University administra-
tion transparent.
“I think it’s a really good first
step towards what students want-
ed last week,” Chrzan said. “I
think it’s a great first step for the
University holding itself account-
able and not putting it on the stu-
dents to do it.”
The rules were suspended to
allow the resolution to be moved
to second reading, after which the
resolution can be voted on. This nor-
mally occurs in the week following
the introduction of a proposal.
Michael Yee, a School of
Medicine
representative,
first
motioned to have the resolution
tabled because he felt the resolu-
tion needed to be given more time
and thought. That motion was
debated and then failed to pass.
Following the initial motion to
table, several amendments were
made to the resolution. These
included calling for an audit to be
conducted every three years by
the Investment Office as well as
for a CSG representative to meet
with an official from the Invest-
ment Office to learn about the
audit and its implications.
As amendments were being
made to the resolution, Business
junior Maddy Walsh motioned to
table the resolution. The second
motion was voted on and led to its
ultimate tabling.
While those who voted for the
tabling of the proposal said they
felt similar to Yee, others such as
Business sophomore Adam Weiss,
a representative for the Business
School, said they felt as though
this was a subject that was impor-
tant to representatives’ constitu-
ents and thus should have been
addressed at the meeting.
Reporter says
Chinese government
hid the infamous
incident
By EMMA KINERY
Daily Staff Reporter
Though it likely means she will
not be allowed to return to China
for years, Louisa Lim, a former
NPR and BBC correspondent, told
students Tuesday that exposing
details about a shrouded massacre
that occurred almost 30 years ago
in the country made it worth it.
Lim was a correspondent for
both media outlets and is a current
Howard R. Marsh visiting profes-
sor of journalism. She lectured
on her new book, “The People’s
Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen
Revisited,” Tuesday evening in
the Michigan League. Her book
focuses on a culture of silence that
exists in China concerning the
Tiananmen Square massacre and
the Chinese government’s ensuing
cover-up.
She also touched on a series of
similar protests at the same time
in another Chinese city to which
the government responded more
openly.
In 1989, students held politi-
cal demonstrations in Tiananmen
Square after the death of Hu Yao-
bang, the former general secretary
of the Communist Party of China
and a government reformist.
During their protests, the stu-
dents asked for freedom of speech,
freedom of the press and better
opportunities for workers, includ-
ing more control over industry
practices. Groups had been pro-
testing for seven weeks, inciting
protests in more than 400 other
cities. On June 4, the Chinese
government intervened, institut-
ing martial law and killing an
unknown number of demonstra-
tors.
In China, the massacre is
referred to as the Tiananmen
Square “incident” when spoken
about. It is still not known how
many people were killed on June
4, 1989.
Lim said that throughout the
time she spent working on her
book in China, she was terrified
the Chinese government would
detain her. She kept all of her notes
on a laptop that had never been
connected to the Internet, and
locked the laptop in a safe at night.
She was even unable call her editor
to say she had decided to focus on
the topic for her book until she left
the country months later.
“I was terrified,” Lim said. “I
was convinced that I would be
detained or arrested the whole
time I was asking things on cam-
puses, wandering around with this
picture of ‘tank man’ I had sweaty
hands.”
Her lecture began by show-
ing the infamous photo of a pro-
tester standing in front of a line of
tanks. Though this photograph is
recognized by most in the West-
ern world, Lim said it is largely
unknown in China. When she
went to four of the top universities
in Beijing and polled 100 students,
just 15 percent could recognize the
photograph as being taken during
the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Lim said this results from the
extreme media censorship the
government practices.
“If you search Tiananmen on
Google, you will immediately
get pictures of ‘tank man’ and
descriptions of what happened in
1989,” Lim said. “If you search on
the Chinese equivalent you’ll get
photos of Tiananmen Square and
tourist information.”
Lim said the government went
as far as to block the search of
“2^6” because it equals 64 — short-
hand for June 4 — the day of the
massacre. The only time the 1989
event is taught in school is in col-
lege courses for history majors,
and even then, Lim said that in a
500-page textbook, just four pages
mentioned it.
CAMPUS LIFE
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
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