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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
CELEBRATING OUR ONE-HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIFTH YEAR OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
SEXUAL MISCONDUCT POLICY
University considers
changes to appeals
process, witness
testimony
By ALLANA AKHTAR
Daily Staff Reporter
University administrators sat
down with students Monday and
Tuesday night to discuss potential
changes to the Student Sexual
Misconduct Policy.
Holly Rider-Milkovich, director
of the Sexual Assault Prevention
and Awareness Center, and Patricia
Petrowski, associate vice president
and deputy general counsel, told
students that revisions to the
policy will be based on a variety of
factors — including comparisons
to peer institutions’ policies and
suggestions voiced by students,
faculty and SAPAC.
“As we’ve been gathering that
information, we’ve been thinking
about what are some ways we can
strengthen the policy and respond
to some of the concerns,” Rider-
Milkovich said.
The pending changes come two
years after the Student Sexual
Misconduct Policy was last revised
in August 2013.
Rider-Milkovich and Petrowski
had already proposed a number
of changes to the current policy,
which
they
discussed
with
students in a round table format.
Under the current policy, either
the complainant or the respondent
can appeal a case’s outcome after
the Office for Institutional Equity
reviews the report and the Office
of Student Conflict Resolution
decides sanctions.
According to Rider-Milkovich,
this
can
render
potential
respondents
and
complainants
unable to agree upon sanctions
because they are not finished
disputing evidence — which could
lengthen the procedure.
Subsequently, she said, the
first and most complex policy
change would involve separating
the appeals process to allow
for objections at both the OIE
and OSCR levels, as opposed to
appealing them collectively.
AMANDA ALLEN/Daily
Political Science Prof. John Chamberlin speaks about the process of electing local public owfficials at “Ann Arbor Elections: Exploring Options” panel discussion
hosted by The League of Women Voters of the Ann Arbor Area at the Ann Arbor downtown public library on Tuesday.
Several members of
City Council attend
discussion on local
electoral system
By ANASTASSIOS
ADAMOPOULOS
Daily Staff Reporter
With a heavily Democratic
electorate, Ann Arbor City Council
elections are typically determined
during primary season. But since a
large portion of Ann Arbor voters
absent in August, some residents
have called for changes to election
dates.
According to an interactive
panel discussion hosted Tuesday
by the League of Women Voters
of the Ann Arbor Area, the dates
aren’t likely to change in the near
future.
About 25 attendees, including
councilmembers Jack Eaton (D–
Ward 4), Julie Grand (D–Ward 3)
and Kirk Westphal (D–Ward 2),
joined a panel of experts inside
the Ann Arbor District Library
to discuss election dates, voter
turnout and partisanship in Ann
Arbor elections.
Panelists first responded to
questions prepared by the LWV
— a nonpartisan organization
that promotes political awareness
and activism — and then took
questions from attendees.
The panel consisted of John
Chamberlin, a professor of public
policy, Lawrence Kestenbaum,
the Washtenaw County clerk and
Joseph Ohren, a political science
professor at Eastern Michigan
University.
The panel stressed that election
dates in Ann Arbor cannot change
without changes to Michigan
Election Law.
“When we talk about changing
the schedules of elections in
Ann Arbor, the elections pretty
much have to be in November
and the primaries in August,”
Kestenbaum said.
According
to
a
2005
GOVERNMENT
After RFRA passes
in Indiana, similar
proposal generates
discussion in Mich.
By EMMA KINERY
Daily Staff Reporter
A
bill
that
would
allow
individuals to claim exemptions
from certain laws on religious
grounds
has
garnered
new
attention in Michigan following
controversy over the passage
of a similar Religious Freedom
Restoration Act in Indiana.
A RFRA bill was originally
introduced to the Michigan state
Senate in January. Currently, 20
states have passed versions of
the RFRA following a 1997 U.S.
Supreme Court decision that
ruled a national version of the
law was not applicable to state
laws. Though they vary between
states,
RFRA
bills
generally
allow businesses and citizens to
claim exemptions from state laws
if they can prove the laws violate
strongly-held religious beliefs.
A similar version of the bill
introduced last year failed to pass
in the year’s lame-duck session.
Opponents of the bill have
said the RFRA will hinder
discrimination protections for
multiple groups, namely the
LGBTQ
community.
These
concerns were highlighted after
several incidents in Indiana have
occurred — including a pizzeria
that gained national attention
saying it would refuse to cater to
same-sex weddings.
Michael
Woodford,
an
assistant professor of social work
at Wilfrid Laurier University in
Ontario, Canada who studies the
LGBTQ community, said RFRAs
are a concern for a variety
of
reasons,
including
their
potential to imply that some
groups have less legal protection
than others.
“We think about the stigma
and marginalization — especially
when
we’re
talking
about
legislation,” Woodford said. “It’s
basically saying the people we
elect to make laws think that
WILLIAM LYNCH/Daily
LSA sophomore Ben Meisel, a CSG representative, asks fellow representatives to consider him as the speaker of
the assembly during the CSG meeting in the CSG chambers on Tuesday.
Director also
suggests changes
to University
Election Code
By LEA GIOTTO
Daily Staff Reporter
The newly elected 2015-2016
Central Student Government
assembly met for the first time
Tuesday night.
The first order of business was
swearing in LSA junior Cooper
Charlton and LSA sophomore
Steven Halperin as the new CSG
president and vice president,
respectively,
and
the
fifth
assembly as a whole.
“I ... do solemnly swear that
I will to the best of my ability
preserve and champion the
all campus constitution of the
Ann Arbor student body,” the
assembly announced together.
After
being
sworn
in,
Charlton promised three things
to the assembly: confidence,
respect and execution.
“If we do not do the first two
— confidence and respect — we
will not be able to execute,” he
said. “I hope we will all be able
to work together to make sure
next year is a hell of a year for
not only our students but for
the University of Michigan as
a whole.”
The
assembly
also
held
elections
for
assembly
leadership positions, including
HEALTH
‘U’ researchers
explain why officials
overestimated the
disease’s spread
By IRENE PARK
Daily Staff Reporter
According to figures updated
generated by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention,
the federal government likely
overestimated
the
extent
of
Ebola’s spread.
In
Septmember,
the
CDC
predicted Sierra Leone, Guinea
and Liberia would experience
1.4 million cases of Ebola cases
by Jan. 20, 2015 without the
implementation
of
additional
interventions.
As of Tuesday, the total number
of suspected or confirmed cases
totaled 25,611 in the three countries
—
far
lower
than
originally
predicted by the CDC.
In a recent study published in the
Proceedings of the Royal Society B,
See EBOLA, Page 3A
See CSG, Page 3A
See RFRA, Page 3A
See ELECTIONS, Page 3A
See POLICY, Page 3A
The year in review
Students and photos of the year
» INSIDE
Admins talk
changes to
misconduct
procedures
Panel discusses election
cycles, term lengths in A2
Snyder vows to
veto religious
freedom bill
CSG swears in leadership
during inaugural meeting
CDC reports
fewer Ebola
cases than
anticipated
INDEX
Vol. CXXIV, No. 103
©2015 The Michigan Daily
michigandaily.com
NEWS......................... 2A
OPINION.....................4A
ARTS.......................... 5A
SPORTS ......................7A
CL ASSIFIEDS...............6A
THE STATEMENT..........1B
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