3
NEWS

Thursday, July 23, 2015

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Ann Arbor resident sues ‘U’ to allow open carry

Lawsuit claims 

campus guns ban is 
unconstitutional

By EMMA KINERY

Daily Staff Reporter

After igniting controversy at 

Ann Arbor’s Pioneer High School 
in March for openly carrying a gun 
to his little sister’s choir concert, 
Ann Arbor resident Joshua Wade 
advocated for the right to open 
carry again by suing the University 
for restrictions on bearing arms on 
campus.

The lawsuit, filed in June, 

claims the University’s ban of guns 
on campus to be unconstitutional.

University spokesperson Rick 

Fitzgerald said the University 
intends to file a response.

“We expect to file a response to 

the lawsuit in accordance with the 
deadline established by the Court 
of Claims,” Fitzgerald said.

Wade is not affiliated with the 

University but feels strongly about 
the University’s ban on guns. He 
has said he would like to be able to 
carry his gun on campus.

After Wade carried his gun into 

Pioneer, Ann Arbor Public Schools 
announced a ban of all guns on 
school grounds — despite the state 
law which allows citizens with 
concealed carrying licenses to 
have guns on school grounds.

Currently, the University only 

allows military and law enforce-
ment officials to carry weapons 
on campus. In September a Naval 
ROTC 
student 
carrying 
what 

appeared to be a gun was incor-
rectly reported as a possible gun-
man in the chemistry building, 
though it was “non-weaponized 
equipment.”

Article X, Section 2 of the Uni-

versity’s 
Regents’ 
Ordinances 

prohibits non-military or security 
personnel from carrying weapons 
on campus.

Fitzgerald said the reason for 

the ban is to create a safe learn-
ing environment for students and 
campus visitors.

“The University will vigorously 

defend its right to regulate weap-

ons on campus to ensure the safety 
of students, faculty, staff, patients, 
health-care providers and hun-
dreds of thousands of visitors, 
and to foster a supportive learn-
ing environment where students 
and faculty can feel free to explore 
challenging topics without fear of 
violence,” Fitzgerald said.

In an e-mail to the Daily, Phillip 

Hofmeister, president of Michigan 
Open Carry Inc., an organization 
promoting lawful open carry of a 
holstered handgun, said he sup-
ports Wade and his legal pursuit.

“We feel that places where 

guns are banned (by state statute 
or private property policy) create 
a criminal empowerment zone,” 
Hofmeister said. “These are places 

where criminals carry guns and 
can use them to harm others (as by 
their nature, criminals don’t care 
about the law or private property 
rights), but law abiding citizens 
are not given the opportunity to 
protect themselves with their own 
arms.”

Hofmeister said open carry 

privileges on campus may protect 
students from crimes such as sex-
ual assault.

“Many 
college 
and 
univer-

sity campuses have what some 
describe as an epidemic of rape,” 
Hofmeister said. “A handgun is the 
perfect tool for someone to equal-
ize the ground against their attack-
er, regardless if they are physically 
overpowered.”

City council votes down nonpartisan election proposal

Term limits, housing 

projects, and city 

primaries discussed

By ALAINA WYGANT

Daily Staff Reporter

Voting reform and housing 

development projects were key 
issues discussed at the Ann Arbor 
City Council meeting Monday. 
Members of council voted down 
proposed resolutions on local 
official 
term-limits, 
switching 

to non-partisan elections and 
moving city primary elections. 
If passed, the resolutions would 
have gone on the November 3rd 
ballot for voters to consider.

Regarding housing develop-

ment projects within Ann Arbor, 
a number of amendments to 
the zoning chapter of city code 
passed. Many Ann Arbor resi-
dents voiced disapproval of one 
specific project, Geddes Avenue 
Improvement Project on Monday.

Among the election reform res-

olutions discussed was Council-
member Jane Lumm’s (I–Ward 2) 
proposal to put on the November 
ballot a proposal to switch elec-
tions from partisan to nonparti-
san elections — for both mayoral 
and city councilmember elections 
— which was voted against by 
Council in a 7-4 vote.

Kirk Westphal’s (D–Ward 2) 

resolution was for mayor and city 
councilmember terms to be four 
years instead of the current two-

year term system. Like Lumm, he 
also proposed a resolution to have 
non-partisan elections.

Another resolution to go on the 

ballot asked for increasing term 
numbers from two to four years 
and moving city primary elec-
tions to August and have elections 
starting in 2016 and on even years. 
This would eliminate odd-year 
elections.

None of the resolutions were 

approved to go on the November 
ballot.

Jane Lumm (I–Ward 2) said 

part of her reasoning for propos-
ing her resolution was that only 
three other counties in Michi-
gan have partisan elections and 
that Ann Arbor is an outlier. She 
said nonpartisan elections would 
encourage elected officials to go 
out and see, by going door-to-
door, what the community wants.

Voter participation was a factor 

discussed with election reform, 
and many council members dis-
cussed the problem of low voter 
turnout. Many councilmembers 
also pointed out that the signifi-
cant student population of the 
city is a large contributing factor.

Sabra Briere (D–Ward 1) said 

she has spent a lot of time looking 
for conclusive data on voter turn-
out for partisan versus nonpar-
tisan local elections. She added 
there needs to be an increase in 
student participation in city poli-
tics.

“If it wasn’t about marijuana, 

it wasn’t interesting,” Briere said 
of past student participation in 

local government. “Even when 
local races are on the same bal-
lot as state and national races, 
local races receive fewer votes — 
partisan and nonpartisan,” she 
said. “My observation has always 
been the nonpartisan ballot gets 
the least attention, has the least 
awareness and we are already 
fighting an uphill battle.”

Councilmember Sumi Kailasa-

pathy (D–Ward 1) said 5 percent 
of registered voters voted in the 
last election and that the system 
was not working to represent 
everyone in the city.

“Is it really working for the 

average voter? I don’t think so. 
Just getting more people into the 
voting booth and voting is a good 
thing,” Kailasapathy said.

Stephen Kunselman (D–Ward 

3) said the low registered voter 
turnout might be an inflated num-
ber since many students do not 
change their voter registration 
from their parents’ home address 
to the city of Ann Arbor.

Members of council ultimately 

rejected the resolution calling for 
nonpartisan elections, the motion 
calling for four-year terms and 
eliminating odd-year elections.

Council did approve, however, 

four ordinances to amend to the 
city’s zoning code. In response to 
Ann Arbor residents’ continued 
concern about the over-develop-
ment of the city, some of these 
amendments will add tighter 
restrictions on future develop-
ment plans.

One of these restrictions is the 

East Huron Character Overlay 
Amendment, proposing the maxi-
mum height be reduced for build-
ings in the D1 and D2 districts 
while adding a 130 feet maximum 
tower diagonal height.

Although the construction of 

Foundry Lofts, a student hous-
ing high-rise being built on East 
Huron that calls itself “Ann 
Arbor’s most exclusive residence,” 
will be completed this year, simi-
lar buildings as tall as the Found-
ry Lofts will not be allowed under 
the new East Huron Character 
Overlay Amendment.

During the public hearing sec-

tion about the plans for rezoning 
East Ann Street, quite a number 
of residents spoke in favor of the 
zoning revisions that they say 
would preserve the historic dis-
trict of Ann Arbor and stop more 
buildings like Foundry Lofts from 
being built there in the future.

At the public hearing for a reso-

lution to amend the re-zoning 
code in the Nixon road area area, 
three residents opposed the reso-
lution for development because of 
traffic concerns.

During 
discussion, 
council-

member Briere said the zoning 
code in downtown Ann Arbor will 
need to be continually revisited 
with care in the future and that 
building plans and their ramifica-
tions for the community need to 
be looked at not after developers 
build the structures, like in the 
case of Foundry Lofts, but before 
they are built.

Councilmember Mike Anglin 

(D–Ward 5) agreed, adding the 
rent in these areas is becoming 
too high due to these luxury high-
rises and is only getting higher.

“I think the public outcry about 

what buildings we are getting 
in terms of design are not being 
taken as significant. The public 
speak, and it’s dismissed,” said 
Anglin. “Well, that’s not good 
governance. I would like us to be 
really alert to this and not to keep 
going forward for the sake of get-
ting some more money into our 
city as if that’s going to improve 
it. Actually, what you’re going to 
do is increase expansion outside 
the city: as people can’t afford to 
be here, they’ll move out of the 
city — just the opposite effect of 
what you thought was going to 
happen.”

Councilmembers 
also 
dis-

cussed the issue of flooding with-
in the city. Because of a recent 
history of severe flooding due to 
climate change, the council is also 
looking at an ongoing creation 
of an ordinance for a floodplain 
management overlay. Members 
of council unanimously approved 
a proposal to go to the Ann Arbor 
Planning Commission for recom-
mendations for the ordinance. 
Councilmember Jack Eaton (D–
Ward 5), a sponsor of the reso-
lution along with Jane Lumm, 
worked with University gradu-
ate students to come up with the 
beginnings of the plan.

See CITY COUNCIL, Page 9

