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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