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Tuesday, April 21, 2015 — 3
Imports will break even.
“We always envisioned being
able to do something at both ends
of the supply chain, in the com-
munity and Costa Rica where we
import from,” Olson said. “This
was the first opportunity at such
a low budget that we’re able to do
something. Hope Center could
obviously go out and get Gordon
Food Service coffee for many dol-
lars less but the point is that this
coffee is good enough to be in snob-
by coffee shops so you’re offering a
great quality product in a great aes-
thetically pleasing environment.”
Olson said he also hopes to have
a section on their website where
customers can pay a couple extra
dollars for their coffee and choose
a nonprofit to donate the money
to, which will be matched by Red
House Imports. This would give
these nonprofits small, consistent
donations, rather than large, incon-
sistent lump sums, which can be
difficult to manage.
Olson said Red House Imports
their coffee from farmers in Costa
Rica. The connection to Costa Rica
was made while Heeren participat-
ed in a University Program in the
Environment trip to Costa Rica.
“Some high-quality coffees will
have a really distinct citrus flavor
or something like that, but that’s not
really what ours is,” Olson said. “It’s
distinctly smooth and that’s what’s
known for Costa Rican coffees.”
By
importing
their
coffee
beans already roasted, Red House
Imports also supports their farm-
ers in Costa Rica. The company is
able to pay the farmers $4.50 per
pound, while the fair trade price is
only $1.40 per pound.
The farmers also have a low
impact on the environment by
growing the coffee under a canopy
of trees with high biodiversity in
low light. This is how coffee is nat-
urally adapted to grow.
“If you’ve got more tree species
then you’ve obviously got more
diversity in trees, more diversity
in food sources, more diversity in
space, so more ecological niches
for other species to survive,” Olson
said. “The point is these are much
better than a monoculture like
where you would grow corn. It
really doesn’t make sense to grow
coffee in a monoculture like that
because it doesn’t do better when
it’s exposed to more sun.”
Olson said some other coffee
companies intentionally deceive
buyers by using buzzwords like
“local roasting” to create the idea
that they are helping the local
economy.
However, local roasting offers
little benefit to community because
the coffee was still grown else-
where and that’s where a lot of the
money goes. Local roasting also
has a more negative environmental
impact because unroasted beans
are heavier than roasted beans,
meaning the plane burns more car-
bon dioxide when flying them to
the U.S.
Other businesses also import
unroasted beans because they stay
fresher for longer, so they don’t
have to pay the farmers as much
money, Olson said.
“We try to combat that fresh-
ness issue by having really frequent
shipments so that we can offer it
close to fresh,” he said. “We know
that our farmers are great at roast-
ing and by importing it with it
roasted already, we kind of put that
part of the supply chain on them
and their expenses might be higher
but it allows us to pay them a lot
more.”
Though running a business is
challenging and time-consuming,
Olson said, he likes the daily obsta-
cles and freedom to do things his
own way.
“I like that we’re not really
trained in it and so there’s so much
to learn and that challenge is fun,”
he said. “And then we can do it
our own way. Like coming from a
direction of this is how you’re sup-
posed to do it, we can solve how we
think is the best way to do it. And
it’s a learning process definitely.
Our first cold e-mail was probably
like a page of text. But no one will
ever read that, so just refining that
and getting better and better at it is
awesome.”
Because of the hard work it
takes to run a business, Olson said,
he enjoys the victories.
“Friday I think I delivered 700-
some dollars in coffee and then I
invoiced two or three stores and
it was just like, ‘This is awesome.
You’re actually doing this,’ so that’s
pretty fun,” he said.
hindsight, he’s glad he didn’t do
the same.
“My mother said, ‘This is the con-
dition that other people have to work
in,’” he said. “‘You’ve been given
privilege to not have to do this.’”
Just as he was preparing to gradu-
ate, Watters said, he learned he would
have to remain at the University for
another semester to take required
100-level art courses. Because of
this, Watters said he chose not to
walk during graduation. Instead, he
moved to Chicago to start his career,
but he always knew he would come
back to Detroit.
Watts started his first busi-
ness called SCIDE Design while
he was still in college, and took
his business with him when he
moved to Chicago. He sold high-
end products, but found little suc-
cess in the fading market of the
early 2000s. He tried to continue
SCIDE Design when he returned
to Detroit, and on a whim, start-
ing making T-shirts so his friends
could afford something he was
selling. That was when One Cus-
tom City began.
His first big job was for activist
and author Grace Lee Boggs, who
is famous for founding the Boggs
School and Detroit Summer. Wat-
ters said he viewed Grace Lee
Boggs as a grandmother — he was
a part of one of the first groups of
students to attend Detroit Sum-
mer, and grew up admiring Boggs
and everything she stands for. He
made Grace Lee Boggs T-shirts for
her 92nd birthday with the slogan
“Revolution Evolution” on them.
Today, Watters has two appren-
tices who work with him at One
Custom City — Jovan Naves and
Elijah Ford. One of the biggest ben-
efits of working as an apprentice,
Naves said, is being able to work on
his own projects on top of the work
he does for One Custom. His line is
called Bare All Clothing.
“Since coming to the studio,
it’s been nothing but positives,”
Naves said. “Working here, you
learn a lot about hard work, dedi-
cation. Working under Ron, I’ve
learned a lot about business.”
Since his return to Detroit,
Watters has focused a lot on
embedding himself in the city.
He has taught graphic design to
some of the city’s leaders through
Detroit Future Media, and he
works with local artists to help
produce T-shirts or other goods.
His goal is to inspire and be
inspired, with a greater mission to
serve Detroit’s communities.
Watters participated as an art-
ist in residency at Detroit Com-
munity High School as a part
of the School of Art & Design’s
Detroit Connections program.
“That’s really what my mission
is,” Watters said. “I want to teach
product design to kids that aren’t
exposed to knowing where they
can take their artistic abilities.”
The program was supposed
to run for one month, with local
youth who were interested in
product design specifically.
Watters said the program itself
was chaotic. He was put in anoth-
er classroom that accommodated
a robotics program. Students
were pulled randomly to come to
the class instead of chosen based
on skill or interest.
Watters ended up staying for
three and a half months. He said
the experience helped him realize
he wants to have a space of his own
big enough to teach Detroit students
that they can succeed as he did.
“Usually when they have some-
body from Michigan, they don’t
look like them, you know, it’s some
white dude or Asian guy that will
be teaching these classes,” Wat-
ters said. “So to have a Black guy
from Detroit come and say, ‘Hey,
I can do it here, I was living in
Chicago, I was doing all this other
stuff, I traveled all over the world
but I picked to be in Detroit.’
In the end, Watters explained,
Detroit needs something. He’s not
sure what that something is or if
he’s a part of it, but he said he’s
sticking around to find out.
RED HOUSE
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PRINTER
From Page 1
ballot and then considered again by
both houses of the legislature.
Currently,
the
University
and other state institutions are
required to follow provisions out-
lined in the state of Michigan’s
Open Meetings Act. The act, which
took effect in 1977, requires public
bodies, such as public university
governing boards, to give notice of
meetings, make all decisions avail-
able to the public and allow attend-
ees to record the proceedings.
“In enacting the OMA, the leg-
islature promoted a new era in
governmental accountability and
fostered openness in government
to enhance responsible decision
making,” the act states.
After the Michigan Supreme
Court ruled in Federated Pub-
lications, Inc. v. MSU Board of
Trustees that governing boards
of public universities can decide
when to hold “formal” and “infor-
mal” sessions, McBroom said
boards began to choose which
meetings were subject to the
Open Meetings Act. The decision
also allowed governing boards to
make decisions in private with a
voting quorum.
The Open Meetings Act also
contains additional limitations for
the jurisdiction of public meet-
ings. For example, the act allows
bodies to hold closed sessions
when negotiating collective bar-
gaining if a party requests a closed
session. Additionally, if a can-
didate for public office requests
their application to be confiden-
tial, representatives are allowed
to review appointments for public
office in a non-public setting.
The Open Meetings Act does
not apply to “a social or chance
gathering or conference,” though
if the public body meets to discuss
matters of public policy, the meet-
ing must be open.
“The OMA does not define the
terms ‘social or chance gathering’
or ‘conference,’ and provides little
direct guidance as to the precise
scope of this exemption,” the act
states.
Several complaints have been
filed alleging public universities
were violating the Open Meetings
Act. Most recently, the Detroit Free
Press <a href=http://www.michi-
gandaily.com/news/detroit-free-
press-sues-university-ove...
the
University in July, alleging that the
Board of Regents holds most dis-
cussion and makes most decisions
on University issues in private.
According to the Free Press,
the regents held discussion on
only 12 out of 116 votes held, with
with one or more regents voting
no on a proposal only eight times.
The
University
potentially
violated the Open Meetings Act
again in November, after the
regents meeting was interrupted
by a protest from the organization
By Any Means Necessary.
The regents moved from their
usual meeting place in the Ander-
son Room in the Michigan Union
to the Regents Room in the Flem-
ing Administration Building. Uni-
versity officials did not publicly
announce where the proceed-
ings would be located, signs on
the building read “The building
is LOCKED” and security guards
blocked the public from entering
the building.
University administrators said
the meeting location changed due
to public safety concerns. Univer-
sity spokesman Rick Fitzgerald
said the University upheld provi-
sions of the Open Meetings Act
because members of the media
were present.
“The meeting was reconvened
at a different location, but not
until all members of the news
media were present,” Fitzger-
ald said at the time. “We believe
these steps provided for a balance
between keeping those in atten-
dance safe while still providing
public access.”
Regarding the current reso-
lution introduced to the state
House, Fitzgerald said in a state-
ment: “All I can say at this point is
that we will watch this resolution
closely as it moves through the
legislature.”
McBroom said because of the
bipartisan nature of the resolu-
tion, he does not believe the reso-
lution will encounter problems
passing through the state legisla-
ture.
“I believe that it’s very impor-
tant that the members of those
boards and other elected bodies
see their constituents, and are
present and can look them in the
eye while they give their opinions,
and they’re not at some airport
with the phone on mute, doing
other things just waiting for the
vote to come around,” he said.
OPEN MEETINGS
From Page 1
George Garcia, professor and
chair of medicinal chemistry,
said OIE’s current procedure,
where the same person inves-
tigates and adjudicates a com-
plaint, is not proper due process.
“That is wrong,” Garcia said.
“That is not due process. It’s a
huge flaw in their system.”
In an interview with the
Daily, University Provost Mar-
tha Pollack said two of the three
faculty members who filed com-
plaints to SACUA are no longer
employed by the University. She
also said the University plans to
change the way respondents are
notified of complaints lodged
against them. The process will
now occur in two stages, instead
of simultaneously.
In March, Pollack joined
SACUA to address the report.
During the meeting, Pollack said
she would not discuss the three
individual cases mentioned in
the report and emphasized the
importance of moving forward.
At the time, Pollack said she
hoped to release material in May
that would clarify how the griev-
ance hearing board will specifi-
cally address cases. She added
that she plans to reconvene with
SACUA on the issue by the end of
the summer.
SACUA also provided updates
on the University’s Standard
Practice Guide Fitness for Duty
policy.
In October 2014, SACUA
began working to revise the Uni-
versity’s Fitness for Duty policy.
The policy offers protections to
University faculty and staff if
they find themselves physically
or mentally unable to perform
their jobs, including financial
compensation during the inves-
tigation and one-year severance
pay if they are let go due to their
condition.
The new policy aligns more
closely with the Americans with
Disabilities Act, which places
emphasis on job performance
and not the reason the individu-
al is unable to perform their job.
Though Masten said SACUA
had several additional concerns,
he added that the provost has
made it clear that they are not
willing to address the remaining
issues.
SACUA
also
discussed
a
request for the consideration of a
resolution to support the forma-
tion of an ad hoc committee to
review the University’s invest-
ments in oil and coal.
A similar proposal was also
introduced
to
Central
Stu-
dent Government in March. If
formed, the committee would
research the University’s invest-
ments and use that research to
inform recommendations to the
University’s Board of Regents
about whether or not the Uni-
versity should continue to invest
in fossil fuels.
At an April 6 meeting, SACUA
voted to present the proposal to
the Senate Assembly.
However, not all members
were in favor of this decision.
Masten did not want to bring
it to the assembly because he
thought SACUA should not have
a singular opinion on policy
issues.
“There’s scope for a lot of dis-
agreement,” Masten said at the
April 6 meeting. “I think there’s
a huge variety of opinion.”
Masten noted a 1978 SACUA
statement regarding the Uni-
versity’s decision to divest from
companies that operated in
apartheid South Africa.
The statement said the Uni-
versity should only divest in
cases of extraordinary social
evil and that the decision must
express the broad position of the
campus community.
LSA junior Nicholas Jansen,
the director of “Global Divest-
ment Day,” wrote in an e-mail
interview that because the Uni-
versity is such a large institu-
tion, it has a responsibility both
to continually contribute to and
heed scientific research.
“It is important for the fac-
ulty senate to be aware of this
because the coal and oil com-
panies we are asking to divest
from are on a decades-long
misinformation campaign that
goes against some of the very
research that the Senate Assem-
bly puts out and goes against
some of the very information
that assembly members teach,”
Jansen wrote.
Garcia said public policy
issues like divestment from fos-
sil fuels are more important now
than in the past.
There were not enough fac-
ulty members present to vote on
a resolution.
ASSEMBLY
From Page 1
a bar. Abbey said the results dis-
played alcohol’s role in missing
cues that could warn of potential
risks.
“Women are often not as good
as noticing those cues or say-
ing that they would kind of have
a plan to act on those cues,” she
said.
However,
she
emphasized
that these circumstances do not
provide an excuse for the per-
petrator’s actions or for placing
blame on the survivor.
“It is the acknowledgement
that alcohol affects our ability to
think clearly, to think well,” she
said. “When you’re drinking, you
may not think things through as
clearly as when you’re sober and
that can put you in situations
that sometimes are dangerous.”
Abbey said in sexual assaults
involving alcohol on college
campuses, the perpetrator and
the victim are often both drink-
ing. However, she said, it is hard
to measure whether each person
was equally intoxicated.
“It’s really hard to assess how
intoxicated someone is, exactly,”
she said. “It does seem that there
are some perpetrators that will
kind of look for somebody who is
really fall-down drunk.”
According to a report sub-
mitted to the U.S. Department
of Justice in 2007, 89 percent
of
sexual
assault
survivors
reported drinking alcohol and
82 percent said they were drunk
at the time of the incident. The
research report was a web-based
survey conducted from January
2005 to December 2007, which
surveyed over 6,800 undergrad-
uate students.
Holly Rider-Milkovich, direc-
tor of the University’s Sexual
Assault Prevention and Aware-
ness Center, and Mary Jo Desprez,
director of Wolverine Wellness,
both said alcohol is a tool, but not
the cause of sexual assault.
“Our University is not unique
in that we do see alcohol play a
significant role in the majority of
sexual assaults that are reported
on our campus,” Rider-Milkov-
ich said.
Rider-Milkovich stressed that
statistics on sexual assaults involv-
ing alcohol are hard to determine
due to their underreported nature.
However, she said she thinks
there is a high incidence of alcohol
involvement in sexual assault on
college campuses.
Desprez added that universi-
ties and college students should
challenge the idea of having an
unlimited amount of alcohol at
social events if it’s know to be a
tool that can be used in sexual
assault. She also said responsibil-
ity falls both on the people who are
drinking and people who are host-
ing a social event. She cited “jungle
juice,” or fruity mixed drinks, as
a particularly significant problem
at parties because people may not
realize how much alcohol they are
consuming.
“You serve some sort of a
common source of alcohol that
has lots of fruity flavors in it and
people have no idea how much
alcohol they’re having, that
doesn’t allow people to make the
best choice for themselves about
what they want happening to
them that night,” Desprez said.
Desprez said alcohol is over-
emphasized in collegiate social
settings.
“I think the goal would be
to right-size it, not demonize
it,” she said. “But right-size the
role alcohol plays because what
that allows us to do is acknowl-
edge that we have thousands of
students … who don’t drink for
whatever reason.”
LSA junior Alyssa Gorenberg,
executive vice president of the
University’s Panhellenic Asso-
ciation, said she partnered with
SAPAC to bring workshops relat-
ed to consent, alcohol aware-
ness and the University’s sexual
misconduct policy to sororities.
Gorenberg said this workshop
was piloted with 11 out of the
University’s 17 sororities. She
said these workshops were facil-
itated by sorority members and a
SAPAC volunteer.
“What we talked about in the
workshop in terms of alcohol
is that if you consume alcohol,
you’re not legally allowed to give
consent,” Gorenberg said. So,
it was more informing girls of
their options.”
In an e-mail to The Michigan
Daily, LSA sophomore Chloe
Horowitz, president of the Uni-
versity’s chapter of Kappa Alpha
Theta sorority, said the Pan-
hellenic Council does its best
to educate students on alcohol
awareness and how to drink
safely
through
informative
workshops. However, Horowitz
said not enough is being done to
address this issue.
“I think that Theta individu-
ally, along with the whole Greek
community, could be doing more
to address this issue,” she wrote.
“We could host more events to
raise awareness on prevention,
and just to spread the word in
general. I would love to see
Greek life working to make the
campus a safer place, and I know
we’d like to be involved in what-
ever way we can.”
Gorenberg added that the
Office of Greek Life is commit-
ted to improving this issue on
campus through multiple efforts
across all four Greek councils.
“I think sexual assault will
always be an issue until we elim-
inate it entirely,” she said. “In
especially the Office of Greek
Life across all four councils,
we’re doing a lot of work to com-
bat the issue. I think we always
want to be doing more.”
In January, University Presi-
dent Mark Schlissel announced
a student survey on sexual
assault as a way to hear stu-
dents’ concerns on the campus
climate. During fireside chats
and in interviews with the Daily,
Schlissel has identified alcohol
abuse and sexual misconduct as
two of the most pressing issues
facing the campus. In Septem-
ber, the University shortened
Welcome Week to curb unsafe
drinking,
and
Schlissel
has
pledged to propose revisions to
the University’s Sexual Miscon-
duct Policy by the fall.
“When you see a president say-
ing, ‘I think that (something to
focus on),’ I think what you are
hearing him say is we have genius
on this campus, that we would like
to be realized and we understand
that alcohol harms,” Desprez said.
MISCONDUCT
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