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Wednesday, November 4, 2015
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
INDEX
Vol. CXXV, No. 24
©2015 The Michigan Daily
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NEWS......................... 2A
OPINION.....................4A
ARTS.......................... 5A
SPORTS ......................7A
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T H E S TAT E M E N T. . . . . . . .1 B
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WEATHER
TOMORROW
HI: 74
LO: 62
First-generation student experiences
» INSIDE
THE STATEMENT
Student wins
Ward 3 seat
LSA senior is first
‘U’ student to
secure council seat
in two decades
By EMMA KERR and
CAMY METWALLY
Daily News Editor and
Daily Staff Reporter
LSA senior Zachary Ackerman
secured a seat on Ann Arbor’s City
Council in an uncontested race
Tuesday night, with 90.68 percent
of the vote. With all precincts
reporting, Ackerman garnered 730
votes from the 3rd Ward.
It has been more than two
decades
since
someone
in
Ackerman’s age range has been
elected to City Council. Ackerman
is 22 and spending an extra
semester at the University as a
fifth-year senior due to taking time
off to work on campaigns.
The low frequency of students
See STUDENT, Page 3A
Incumbent Jane Lumm
retains post on A2 Council
Democratic
challenger Sally
Hart Petersen loses
by 29-point margin
By BRIAN KUANG
Daily Staff Reporter
In Ann Arbor’s only contested
City Council race, incumbent Jane
Lumm (I) defeated Sally Petersen
(D) for the open seat in Ward 2,
garnering 64.46 percent of the
vote over Petersen’s 35.34 percent,
with 100 percent of precincts
reporting.
The turnout rate in Ward 2 was
7.7 percent. On Tuesday, 1,283
votes were cast. The ward has
16,650 registered voters.
The result will prevent Petersen
from returning to elected office in
Ann Arbor, after serving on the
council from 2012 to 2014 until she
forgoed her re-election campaign
to
conduct
an
unsuccessful
mayoral run. Petersen and Lumm
were not available for comment by
telephone Tuesday evening.
Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher
Taylor and Councilmember Kirk
Westphal (D–Ward 2) endorsed
Petersen. Councilmembers Mike
Anglin (D–Ward 5), Jack Eaton
(D–Ward 4), Sumi Kailasapathy
(D–Ward
1)
and
Stephen
Kunselman (D–Ward 3) endorsed
Lumm.
The endorsements illustrates
a split between members of the
council
aligned
with
Taylor
and those who more frequently
disagreed with his policy agenda.
The city’s forthcoming deer
cull featured prominently in the
Ward 2 race, and has generated
debate in council over the last few
months. The City Council voted
in August to move forward with
plans to manage the city’s deer
population with a cull.
Lumm
campaigned
as
a
proponent for a deer cull while
Petersen has voiced opposition to
the plans.
Other
key
issues
included
CAMPUS LIFE
Writer, activist
talks Russian
totalitarianism
Masha Gessen
presented with
24th annual
Wallenberg Medal
By LYDIA MURRAY
Daily Staff Reporter
Russian
journalist
and
activist Masha Gessen was
awarded the 24th Wallenberg
Medal
on
Tuesday
night
before a 250-person crowd in
Rackham Auditorium.
Gessen has written 11 books
and is known for taking a strong
stance on the deteriorating
human rights condition in Syria
as well as her open criticism
of Russian president Vladimir
Putin. She is also an activist for
gay rights in Russia. According
to a press release, Gessen
received the award for “her
willingness to write and speak
truth to power whatever the
personal cost.”
The Wallenberg Medal is
given annually to an outstanding
humanitarian. The award was
named for University alum
Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish
diplomat who saved tens of
thousands of Jews in Nazi-
occupied
Hungary
during
World War II. After accepting
the medal, Gessen presented a
lecture on the current state of
affairs in Russia.
Gessen focused on the ways
totalitarian systems are formed
and how she sees this playing
out in Russia. She said it’s
difficult for Western countries
to accept the existence of
totalitarian societies.
“It was very difficult for the
West to talk about totalitarian
regimes because they seem
preposterous,”
Gessen
said.
“Who could really believe that
you could use these simple ideas
like the idea that certain races
were fated to do better would
lead to the extermination of
millions of people.”
See GESSEN, Page 2A
Vigil focuses on impacts of
violence in Palestine, Israel
Students gather
to discuss recent
conflict in region
By ALYSSA BRANDON
Daily Staff Reporter
Lights illuminated the Diag
on Tuesday evening as students
gathered at the steps of Hatcher
Graduate
Library
to
honor
victims of violence in Israel and
Palestine.
The vigil was organized by
LSA junior Nicole Khamis and
LSA senior Devin Jones, who are
both Palestinian-Americans with
extended family members who
have been affected by the area’s
history of conflict.
Most recently, tensions have
been high in the area following
a spate of terrorist attacks in the
region largely aimed at Israelis,
with four attacks occurring Oct.
13.
Khamis began the event by
sharing statistics on the number
of Palestinians killed and injured
due to violence in either Palestine
or Israel from live gun fire — 921
in the past 30 days, according to
the Palestinian Health Ministry.
She said it’s important to
recognize statistics on the recent
attacks in context of those deaths,
ANDREW COHEN/Daily
LSA freshman Alina Haque registers to vote during the CSG Voice Your Vote commission’s campaign on the Diag on Tuesday.
ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily
LSA senior Zachary Ackerman at the Ann Arbor Brewing Company on Tuesday after
he was elected to Ward 3 City Council.
See LUMM, Page 3A
RUBY WALLAU/Daily
LSA juniors Nicole Khamis and Gabrielle Borg honor lives lost during the Vigil for the Victims of Recent Violence in
Palestine and Israel on the Diag on Tuesday.
See VIGIL, Page 3A
CSG plans
student
statement
additions
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Assembly also
approves inclusion
of mental health
resources in syllabi
By JACKIE CHARNIGA
Daily Staff Reporter
Central Student Government on
Tuesday discussed seven proposed
changes to the Statement of Stu-
dent Rights and Responsibilities
and passed a resolution to include
mental health services in course
syllabi.
The statement governs non-
academic behavioral conduct at
the University. Amended every
three years, the statement features
expectations for student conduct,
and suggests sanctions and disci-
plinary procedures for violations
such as illegal drug and alcohol use,
hazing and sexual misconduct.
CSG proposed seven amend-
ments this cycle: establish formal
See CSG, Page 3A
ELECTION DAY 2015