from it it’s just a whole better pic-
ture,” she said.

Thompson said misinforma-

tion is a pitfall for many students, 
and perpetuates stereotypes.

“I’m from Michigan, and when 

some people think of a Black girl 
from Michigan, they’re probably 
from Detroit,” Thompson said. 
“But that is wrong; I’m from Mel-
vindale, which is a small subur-
ban city outside of Detroit. The 
mentality of stereotypes have 
to be changed and not just with 
(Intergroup Relations) training.”

LSA 
sophomore 
Nicholas 

Fadanelli said minority groups 
feel they have difficulty getting 
their voices heard, and part of 
the responsibility to change those 
notions rests on the shoulders of 
student government.

“I want to reach out to other 

groups that we mainly don’t hear 
the voices of,” he said.

Mental health

Candidates also proposed mea-

sures that would improve mental 
health on campus.

LSA junior John Steffes, chair 

of the LSA SG health commit-
tee, said he hopes to work with 
campus gyms to make sure stu-
dents are aware of their fitness 
options. Steffes said knowing 
what exercise options are avail-
able is important for maintain-
ing students’ physical and mental 
health — especially for freshman 
and transfer students, who are 
less likely to know their options.

LSA junior Aditi Rao said put-

ting mental health resources 
on syllabi — a proposal that has 
already garnered support from 
CSG — could benefit students.

Read more online at 
michigandaily.com

said. “I was impressed then by 
your intellect and stamina, and 
most importantly with your 
compassion and concern for the 
city. That has not changed with 
the 22 council members I’ve 
worked with.”

Several 
council 
members 

offered words of encouragement 
and farewell to Powers.

“You leave huge shoes to fill,” 

Councilmember Kirk Westphal 
(D–Ward 2) told Powers. “If 
there’s any downside to this, it’s 
the expectations. You’ve set the 
bar very high. I have to admire 
your 
professionalism, 
your 

intents, your listening abilities. 
It’s a really hard job and I 
admire that you’ve genuinely 

respected all the views around 
the 
table 
and 
among 
the 

residents.”

Later in the meeting, the 

council 
discussed 
winter 

emergency 
shelter 
and 

warming 
centers 
for 
the 

upcoming winter. They voted 
unanimously to allocate up to 
$89,040 for the initiative.

“The logic by doing it now 

is that by Dec. 1, everything 
should be in place,” Briere 
said. “It remains my hope and 
expectation that we can roll 
money for the winter shelter 
into the budget for next year.”

The 
Washtenaw 
Housing 

Alliance and the Office of 
Community 
and 
Economic 

Development formed a winter 
shelter work group to address 
winter shelter needs in the 
city. Led by Briere, the group 

reviewed 
shelter 
operations 

from the 2014-2015 winter. 
They found that while the 
city’s response worked well 
overall, several logistics and 
transportation 
challenges 

persisted.

Consequently, 
the 
group 

recommended 
the 
council 

provide 
funding 
for 
two 

overnight 
warming 
centers 

in Ann Arbor, providing a 
temporary shelter for homeless 
individuals at night in churches 
and community centers. The 
group 
also 
suggested 
the 

council 
allocate 
$11,000 
in 

funding for hotel and motel 
vouchers, as well as $18,000 
to 
fund 
transportation 
to 

the 
warming 
center. 
The 

recommendations 
anticipate 

another winter of extreme cold 
and aim to prioritize the needs 

of homeless individuals in Ann 
Arbor.

“This is pretty essential,” 

Eaton said. “It’s not a great deal 
of money, and yet it really goes 
a long way ensuring that no 
one dies on our watch. No one 
should die because of extreme 
weather.”

Councilmember 
Chuck 

Warpehoski (D–Ward 5) said 
the council should consider 
future funding by looking at the 
large picture.

The council also voted to 

postpone the rezoning of the 
Nixon Farm properties until 
the body’s second meeting in 
December. The postponement 
delayed a vote on the site plans 
and zoning changes needed to 
greenlight 472 new residences 
on Nixon Road, near Dhu 
Varren Road.

The proposals both drew 

public 
commentary, 
mostly 

from neighbors to the area. 
Several community members 
voiced their opinion and said 
they felt that the city had not 
conducted 
enough 
research 

on 
traffic 
and 
floodwater 

ramifications.

Kailasapathy rallied for the 

residents who felt the Nixon 
Farm properties would damage 
the nearby areas.

“My 
advice 
is 
fix 
the 

problems, 
we 
don’t 
want 

another flooding lawsuit in our 
hands,” Kailasapathy said.

Eaton also said he did not 

feel 
comfortable 
approving 

the plans. He proposed the 
postponement and said the 
extra time would allow for the 
completion of additional studies 
on traffic and wetland impacts. 

committee,” he wrote in an e-mail 
last spring.

Last March, the University’s 

Central 
Student 
Government 

overwhelmingly 
voted 
to 

support the formation of such a 
committee.

However, 
in 
April, 
then-

CSG President Bobby Dishell 
vetoed a resolution that would 
have encouraged the University 
to 
become 
a 
signatory 
on 

the 
American 
College 
and 

University Presidents’ Climate 
Commitment, 
an 
undertaking 

by colleges and universities to 
address global climate change. 
Signatories pledge to eliminate 
net greenhouse gas emissions 
from certain campus operations.

In an e-mail statement issued at 

the time, Dishell cited investment 
concerns as one of his reasons for 
vetoing the resolution.

“Though the aims and efforts 

of the ACUPCC aspire to positive 
sustainable change — an issue 
that the University aligns with 
and takes very seriously — it also 

sets a specific target date for 
achieving net climate neutrality,” 
he wrote. “The University cannot, 
with sound investment in mind, 
commit to the ACUPCC because 
there is no way to concretely 
determine that these goals will be 
met by that target date.”

The University has divested 

for social reasons just twice in 
the past — first from South Africa 
during the apartheid, and again in 
2000 from tobacco companies.

In 2005, Timothy Slottow, 

the University’s former chief 
financial officer at the time, 
published a statement regarding 
the 
University’s 
divestment 

proceedings.

In 
the 
statement, 
Slottow 

said the regents would only 
appoint an ad hoc committee to 
investigate “the ethical and moral 
implications of our investments” 
if three conditions were met: the 
concern is shared consistently 
across campus, the behavior or 
action contradicts the University’s 
core mission and values and the 
“organization, industry or entity” 
identified is solely responsible for 
the issue.

In a viewpoint written for 

The Michigan Daily last month, 
Jansen said University President 
Mark Schlissel has said he does 
not believe the campaign has 
met the three pronged standard 
for the formation of an ad hoc 
committee.

Though fossil fuel divestment 

campaigns have taken root on 
hundreds of college campuses, 
few universities have divested 
from fossil fuels.

In 
May 
2014, 
Stanford 

University announced it would 
divest 
from 
coal 
companies, 

becoming 
the 
first 
major 

university to begin divesting from 
fossil fuels.

Athletics report

English Prof. Anne Curzan, the 

faculty athletics representative, 
and Business Prof. David Wooten, 
both members of the Academic 
Performance 
Committee, 

presented the committee’s annual 
report to the assembly.

The Academic Performance 

Committee is a subcommittee 
of 
the 
Advisory 
Board 
on 

Intercollegiate Athletics, which 
reports to the provost on matters 
pertaining 
to 
the 
academic 

welfare of student-athletes.

According to the report, the 

University’s athletic department 
is comprised of 25 sports teams 
and 797 student-athletes.

Last 
year, 
the 
University 

recognized 
eight 
Academic 

All-Americans. To receive this 
honor, a student-athlete must 
have a cumulative 3.3 GPA and 
start more than 50 percent 
of his or her games. During 
the 2013-2014 academic year, 
the University recognized six 
Academic All-Americans, and 
before that, the University had 
not recognized more than four 
since 2005.

During the 2014-2015 fall and 

winter semesters, 184 student-
athletes 
received 
University 

Honors. To qualify for this award, 
the student must have a 3.5 GPA 
for that semester and must be 
taking 14 credits, 12 of which 
must be graded.

An additional 260 student-

athletes 
were 
honored 
as 

Academic All-Big Ten, the most 
in recent history. Academic All-
Big Ten honorees must maintain 
a 3.0 GPA and must letter in their 
sports. 

Advisory 
Committee, 
which 

is comprised of 12 faculty 
members, four students and 
one liaison from the Senate 
Advisory 
Committee 
on 

University 
Affairs. 
SRAC 

is 
currently 
charged 
with 

reviewing 
the 
initial 
batch 

of proposals, including those 
offered 
by 
Central 
Student 

Government.

Statistics 
Prof. 
Edward 

Rothman, who serves as SRAC 
chair 
during 
the 
current 

amendment 
cycle, 
said 
the 

committee aims to clarify the 
proposed 
amendments, 
but 

not question the merits of each 
change.

“We spent about an hour 

or 
so 
going 
through 
the 

proposed amendments student 
government brought forward,” 
he said.

Rothman said he had been on 

the committee for several years, 
and proposals from students 
are of particular interest to 
the committee. He said the 
committee heard a presentation 
in 
which 
Public 
Policy 

sophomore 
Jacob 
Pearlman, 

CSG general counsel, outlined 
amendments suggested by CSG.

CSG 
proposed 
seven 

revisions: 
establish 
formal 

venues to gather input on 
revisions, an honor pledge, 
implement 
formal 
education 

about the student statement 
during new student orientation 
and a consistent three-year 
amendment cycle.

CSG 
also 
proposed 
an 

amendment to ensure students 
aren’t disciplined for violating 
revisions 
to 
the 
statement 

enacted after the action in 
question occurred. They also 
proposed 
formalizing 
the 

University 
president’s 
need 

to select amendments before 
the end of the school year, and 
allowing CSG access to records 
related to the process.

Pearlman spearheaded the 

process of composing CSG’s 
proposals, and Rothman noted 
that having a single person 
author all the proposals was 
incredibly useful.

“When proposals are written 

by committees you’re trying 
to incorporate a myriad of of 
perspectives in the document,” 
Rothman 
said. 
“It’s 
much 

more difficult to get a cohesive 
message than what you might 
get from having a single person 
write the amendments.”

Pearlman 
said 
he 
was 

surprised by the lack of student 
knowledge about the statement, 
considering it pertains only to 
students.

“The statement is supposed 

to 
be 
a 
‘community-owned 

document’ 
that 
highlights 

the values of our institution,” 
Pearlman said. “Unfortunately, 
most 
students 
are 
entirely 

unaware of what the statement 

is, and how it can affect them.”

He also said the current 

CSG 
administration 
focused 

on increasing student voice 
and input in the University 
decision-making 
processes, 

which resulted in amendments 
pertaining 
to 
the 
revision 

process itself.

“The 
amendment 
process 

as 
it 
stands 
is 
potentially 

restrictive to student voice, and 
much of the true power is held 
by faculty and administrators,” 
Pearlman said. “Faculty are not 
subject to the rules outlined in 
the statement.”

Though the process begins 

with students’ participation, 
it does not always end with 
their input informing the final 
amendments. During the 2001 
amendment cycle, none of the 
proposed 
amendments 
put 

forth by student government 
— then called the Michigan 
Student Assembly — made it 
into the statement.

Erik 
Wessel, 
director 
of 

the Office of Student Conflict 
Resolution, said his office helps 
guide the statement revision 
process since they receive all 
the 
amendments 
proposed 

before they are sent for SRAC’s 
consideration.

“OSCR is really the keeper of 

the Statement of Student Rights 
and Responsibilities,” Wessel 
said. “Obviously we use it 
everyday in our general work.”

Wessel 
said 
OSCR 

emphasizes 
a 
restorative 

process 
for 
addressing 

statement 
violations. 
After 

a student is notified of the 
allegations against him or her, 
he or she attends an intake 
meeting where OSCR presents 
options 
for 
resolving 
the 

violation.

He said the collaborative 

relationship 
between 
CSG 

and OSCR during this year’s 
amendment process was more 
cohesive compared to recent 
years.

“I think that we’re seeing the 

fruits of that labor here,” Wessel 
said. “I’m not sure if we’ve seen 
this caliber in the relationship 
with CSG ever before.”

Rothman said he appreciated 

that many of the proposals 
focused on raising awareness 
about the statement.

“Students should be aware 

of having the implications of 
having the proposed changes 
in place,” he said. “Students 
are taking the responsibility 
to make modifications to put 
a process in there to assure 
that students coming to the 
University will at least know 
about these issues.”

He also said he respected 

the honor code proposal, and 
deemed it a proactive approach 
to dealing with issues like the 
January ski trip, during which 
fraternity members inflicted 
several 
hundred 
thousand 

dollars worth of damages.

“It’s as though we imagine 

the way to fight crime is by 

building more prisons, and 
that, of course, is nonsense,” 
Rothman said. “We’ve got to 
be proactive, and figure out 
why it is people are engaged in 
crime. And here with respect to 
students, by moving upstream 
and 
attempting 
to 
build 

awareness and engagement by 
the students in these changes, 
we hope to reduce the issues 
that come about as a result of 
bad behavior.”

Rothman said the manner 

in which students treat one 
another is essential to the 
University experience, and the 
statement is the best method of 
clarifying appropriate behavior 
before students enter murky 
situations.

“The notion of what that 

means needs to be made clear 
at a point where you’re not at 
that party and intoxicated and 
reacting to the circumstances 
in a way where your decision-
making skills may not be quite 
as strong,” Rothman said.

After 
SRAC’s 
review, 
E. 

Royster Harper, vice president 
for student life, will again 
review the proposals before 
University 
President 
Mark 

Schlissel has the final say.

“Regardless of our advice, 

President Schlissel will look at 
the recommendations and it’s 
his prerogative to say yea or 
nay,” he said.

asking questions.”

Students 
also 
expressed 

concern that many of the courses 
that 
technically 
satisfy 
the 

requirement actually fail to meet 
the criteria used by the LSA 
administration to classify courses 
as Race and Ethnicity. One such 
course mentioned was Public 
Health 200, which, although 
containing 
a 
unit 
examining 

health care disparities by race, 
focuses on data and fails to 
have any discussion about the 
underlying causes of inequality, 
attendants said.

Evans 
Young, 
assistant 

dean 
for 
undergraduate 

education, 
who 
was 
present 

at 
the 
event, 
acknowledged 

student concerns and laid out 
some tentative solutions, such 
as 
adding 
questions 
to 
the 

course evaluations of courses 
satisfying the Race and Ethnicity 
requirement so that departments 
can have better feedback data, 
and providing more training to 
Graduate 
Student 
Instructors 

of such classes to better engage 
students.

Throughout 
the 
forum, 

participants 
reaffirmed 
the 

importance of the requirement, 
citing ongoing racial tensions at 
the University of Missouri and 
on other college campuses, as 
well as incidences of racism at the 
University. Engineering senior 
Erin Moore spoke at the forum, 
providing a personal example of 
this behavior.

“I was on a bus in North 

Campus and I was reading an 
article and watching videos about 
what’s happening on another 
college campus,” Moore said, 
referring to the protests occurring 
on the University of Missouri’s 
campus, “and someone tapped me 

on my shoulder and said, ‘We’re 
sharpening our knives in case 
you guys are planning on doing 
something — just so you’re aware.’ 
” 

A number of students also 

argued 
that 
the 
Race 
and 

Ethnicity 
requirement 
should 

be universally required across 
all 
other 
undergraduate 

schools, including the College 
of Engineering and Ross School 
of Business. Currently, only LSA 
students are required to satisfy 
this requirement.

“We are in a moment where we 

can change this requirement and 
apply it to the entire University,” 
said LSA senior Branden Shafer, 
a CSG representative. “You can 
take all the science courses you 
want, all the engineering courses 
you want and be brilliant, but 
you also need that broader 
knowledge of the people that you 
interact with and the world you 
live in.” 

RACE & ETHNICITY
From Page 1

CANDIDATES
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SENATE ASSEMBLY
From Page 1

CITY COUNCIL
From Page 1

STUDENT CODE
From Page 1

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, November 17, 2015 — 3

Body found in river 
at Ann Arbor park

Police responded to a call 

Monday afternoon after a body 
was discovered floating face down 
in the river at Gallup Park.

The name of the man found has 

not been released.

Police 
are 
currently 

investigating how the man died, 
but have ruled out foul play. 

Gov. Snyder refuses 
to allow in more 
Syrian refugees

Sunday, Michigan Gov. Rick 

Snyder joined 23 other states that 
have announced they will not 
accept Syrian refugees in their 
states.

The statement came in response 

to the Paris terrorist attack by 
ISIS, which killed 132 people and 
injured hundreds.

Governors have taken different 

approaches to the blocking of 
refugees. Some have completely 
banned refugees from entering, 
while others 
— like Snyder — have 

put a temporary ban on refugees 
entering.

Snyder 
has 
welcomed 

immigrants 
and 
refugees 
in 

the past. In September, Snyder 
said he was working with the 
federal government to increase 
the number of Middle Eastern 
refugees.

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, 

Florida, 
Georgia, 
Idaho, 

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, 
Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, 
Mississippi, 
Nebraska, 
New 

Hampshire, 
North 
Carolina, 

Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, 
Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin 
governors are among the other 
states who are banning the 
admittance of refugees from Syria.

Study abroad 
increases 15 percent

More and more students are 

packing their bags to experience 
college life abroad.

For the second consecutive 

year, the number of U.S. students 
studying abroad increased by 15 
percent, according to a Univer-
sity release Monday. In 2013-14, 
the University had 2,719 students 
earning credit abroad, compared 
with 2,365 in the 2012-13 school 
year.

This 
increase 
in 
students 

abroad raised the University in 
standings among higher education 
institutions with the most stu-
dents overseas. According to the 
Open Doors report by the Insti-
tute of International Education, 
the University rose from sixth to 
fifth place. This puts the Univer-
sity behind New York University, 
the University of Texas at Austin, 
Texas A&M University and the 
University of Southern California, 
in that order.

The Open Doors report is the 

most complete census of education 
abroad in the United States. How-
ever, the study does not include 
students who are not U.S. citizens. 
It also does not include students 
who go abroad for noncredit activ-
ities, like internships or volunteer 
opportunities. 

Michigan attorney 
general to lead 
national association

The 
Republican 
Attorneys 

General Association announced 
Monday that Michigan’s Attor-
ney General Bill Schuette will be 
appointed chair of the national 
association.

The association is composed of 

27 Republican attorneys general.

In a press release, Schuette said 

he is eager to take on the role.

“It is my honor to serve as chair 

during this critical time in which 
federal government overreach is 
hurting job creation and economic 
growth in our states and our coun-
try as a whole,” Schuette said. “I 
look forward to working with the 
other 26 Republican attorneys 
general in the fight to protect free 
enterprise, liberty and our consti-
tution.”

—EMMA KINERY

NEWS BRIEFS

STORY
SLAM

this Friday
Nov. 20
7 - 9 pm

at 420
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