michigandaily.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Wednesday, February 10, 2016 ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM INDEX Vol. CXXV, No. 70 ©2016 The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com GOT A NEWS TIP? Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail news@michigandaily.com and let us know. WEATHER TOMORROW Navigating homelessness in the Ann Arbor winter » INSIDE the statement SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily Protestors demonstrate their frustrations with Gov. Rick Snyder (R) and their demands for his recall in a march from Hutchins Hall to the Diag on Tuesday. State representaive aims to reduce expenses for college students By CALEB CHADWELL Daily Staff Reporter In an effort reduce the cost of college, state Rep. Robert Kosowski (D–Westland) intro- duced a bill to the Michigan legis- lature that would exempt college textbooks from the 6-percent state sales tax. The proposed legislation, House Bill 5309, would eliminate the tax from textbooks for col- lege students who purchase them with a valid student identification card. In an interview with the Mich- igan Daily, Kosowski said his primary motivation for introduc- ing this bill was to help students save money while going through school. According to estimates from the College Board, students at public four-year institutions spend an average of $1,298 on textbooks and school supplies each year. The University’s Office of Financial Aid recommends University students allocate $1,048 per year for books and supplies. Kosowski said his office’s research found that the average cost of textbooks to a student is $1,300, Kosowski said. “1,300 dollars is a lot of money for a college student, if we can save them even $78 of that, it’s a positive thing,” Kosowski said. Kosowski said his office did a study in Maryland, a state that also has a 6-percent sales tax and numerous colleges, which deter- mined the state collects about $7 million each year in textbook sales tax revenue. Kosowski said this number would be relatively similar to what could be expected in Michigan with a textbook sales tax exemption. The small decrease in tax rev- enue would be negligible, and Demonstrators connect Flint water crisis to Black Lives Matter movement By RIYAH BASHA and CAITLIN REEDY Daily Staff Reporters Nearly 100 protesters gath- ered outside Hutchins Hall and marched to the Diag on Tuesday afternoon, pushing for a recall of Gov. Rick Snyder (R) in light of the Flint water crisis. The pro- testers marched across campus shouting multiple chants includ- ing “Flint Lives Matter” and “Black Lives Matter.” A coalition of organizations including the Ann Arbor-Flint Solidarity Network and the Ann Arbor Alliance For Black Lives initially organized the protest in response to a panel on Detroit’s bankruptcy hosted by the Uni- versity’s Law School that was set to feature Snyder, however, The Law School indefinitely post- poned the event last week, but protestors still decided to have the protest. LSA senior Cassandra Van Dam, an Ann Arbor-Flint Soli- darity Network organizer, said she believes pressure from protesters motivated the Law School’s decision. “Snyder is humiliated,” she said. “It is clear that, had the event gone on, it would have been disrupted and he would have had to answer to the human rights violations that he and his administration have committed against the people of Michigan.” “The Detroit bankruptcy event was postponed because its organizers don’t wish to dis- tract from efforts devoted to higher priorities in the state,” the Law School’s communca- GREG GOSS/Daily Dr. Lee Gill, associate vice president for inclusion and equity at the University of Akron, speaks about his undergraduate experience at the University at the Rackham Amphitheater on Tuesday. In fireside chat, University President also discusses Greek life culture By JEN CALFAS Daily Staff Reporter Greek life and mental health dominated the conversation at University President Mark Schlissel’s monthly fireside chat Tuesday. Held in the Michigan Union’s Willis Ward Lounge, students asked Schlissel and E. Royster Harper, vice president of student life, about specific initiatives to improve the mental health ser- vices the University offers, and the aftermath of a controversial all-chapter meeting of Greek life members in September. “I don’t think it was appropri- ately structured,” Schlissel said of the September meeting. “You can’t very often force people to show up and listen. I was disap- pointed in the fact that people didn’t listen and showed disre- spect.” In September, Schlissel required all chapters of the Uni- versity’s Greek community to send at least 70 percent of their members to a meeting in Hill Auditorium, where Schlissel said Greek life culture “devalues” a University degree and voiced his disappointment in the party cul- ture and sexual misconduct that occurs within the Greek com- munity. LSA sophomore Clare Nien- stedt, a member of the Uni- versity’s Phi Beta Pi chapter, asked Schlissel if anything has improved since the meeting. She also agreed with Schlissel that the meeting wasn’t structured appropriately. Schlissel said he has since learned more about the positive attributes of Greek life, including the philanthropic work done in the community and the fact that members of the Greek commu- nity have higher GPAs then the overall average at the University. However, he said the Univer- sity is still working to improve the party culture he voiced dis- satisfaction with in September. “My worry is toxic behavior — University of Akron diversity adminstrator delivers Black Heritage Month address By ADAM HIYAMA For the Daily University of Michigan alum Lee A. Gill, vice president for inclusion and equity at the Uni- versity of Akron, addressed a group of more than 40 students at Rackham Amphitheatre Tuesday to outline connections between the Black Action Move- ment at the University during the 1970s and the #BBUM campaign launched in 2014. The hashtag and social move- ment surrounding its use gar- nered national attentionwhen thousands of people took to social media to describe their experi- ences being Black at the Univer- sity of Michigan. Hosted by the Office of Multi- Ethnic Student Affairs, the event was the inaugural lecture for a slate of University Black Heritage Month events. In the lecture, Gill highlighted connections between missions of activism during his time as a student and now. “If we had social media then, we would be saying the same things you’re saying,” Gill said, referencing the #BBUM move- ment. Discussing the 2003 Supreme Court ruling in Bollinger v. Grut- ter to uphold affirmative action at the University’s Law School, Gill referenced Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s opinion for the case in which she wrote she hoped diversity would not be an issue in 25 years. Change caused by decline in market, University Plant operations says By KEVIN LINDER For the Daily Effective Jan. 1, the Univer- sity of Michigan Plant Build- ing and Grounds Services has suspended the collection of glass for recycling. This change comes in response to a decline of local glass recycling markets. The University’s current sys- tem is single-stream recycling, where recyclable materials such as paper and recyclable plastics are all collected in the same bin and sorted at a recycling facility. Western Washtenaw Recycling Authority has been the organi- zation providing recycling ser- vices to the University, but due to the decline in the glass mar- ket, it has ceased its acceptance of glass materials. In an e-mail interview, Andrew Berki, who is the See SNYDER, Page 3A See TAX, Page 3A See GLASS, Page 3A See LECTURE, Page 2A See PRESIDENT, Page 3A NEWS......................... 2A OPINION.....................4A SPORTS ......................7A SUDOKU..................... 2A A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 A S TAT E M E N T. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 B NEW ON MICHIGANDAILY.COM Sanders, Trump win New Hampshire primaries MICHIGANDAILY.COM/SECTION/NEWS HI: 24 LO: 11 GOVERNMENT Crowd fills Diag in protest to recall Governor Snyder Schlissel talks mental health improvements Lecture highlights history of student activism on campus ‘U’ stops recycling glasswear in 2016 Michigan bill seeks to remove book taxes ADMINISTRATION SUSTAINABILITY