michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Monday, March 14, 2016
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
INDEX
Vol. CXXV, No. 88
©2016 The Michigan Daily
michigandaily.com
NEWS......................... 2A
OPINION.....................4A
CL ASSIFIEDS...............6A
SUDOKU..................... 2A
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 A
SPORTSMONDAY..........1B
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WEATHER
TOMORROW
HI: 61
LO: 47
Student governments
aim to increase
communication over
city’s water
By LARA MOEHLMAN
Daily Staff Reporter
As months of public outcry
surrounding
Flint’s
ongoing
water crisis have unfolded, the
University
of
Michigan-Flint’s
Student Government and other
student leaders have launched
initiatives on their campus to
provide resources to both students
struggling with the water crisis
and their community at large.
Cameron Haskins, a UM-Flint
junior in Senior Molecular Biology
and a senator on UM-Flint’s
Student Government, said student
leaders on UM-Flint’s campus are
in the process of planning several
long-term projects that focus
on reaching out to community
members who don’t have access to
safe drinking water.
One such project is a rally to be
held toward the end of this month
with members of the University
of Michigan-Ann Arbor’s Central
Student Government. Students
plan on marching in East Lansing
to advocate for the state to repeal
the emergency manager laws
many have cited that were largely
at the root of the water crisis.
Haskins said he is grateful
for CSG’s support and increased
communication with the UM-Flint
campus. He added before the
crisis, he had not seen much
collaboration between CSG and
UM-Flint’s Student Government.
However, since then, there has
been a significant amount of
communication,
including
a
Tri-Campus Summit promoting
community
organizational
building and activism on each of
the University’s three campuses.
“Together
we
have
more
resources, more minds, more
manpower,” Haskins said.
Cooper Charlton, LSA senior
and CSG president, attended a tri-
campus summit involving students
See FLINT, Page 2A
EVAN AARON/Daily
DJ Scout performs for dancers at VictorThon 2016 in the Intramural Sports Building on Saturday.
Students stand,
dance for 24 hours in
charity fundraiser
over weekend
By BRANDON SUMMERS-
MILLER
Daily Staff Reporter
For 24 straight hours this
weekend, University of Michigan
students stood in solidarity with
disabled children as they raised
money to support both C.S. Mott
Children’s and Women’s Hospital
and
Beaumont
Children’s
Hospital during the 19th annual
Dance Marathon.
The
event
ended
Sunday
afternoon with an announcement
of the final tally of a semester-long
fundraising effort: $475, 807. Last
year, Dance Marathon fundraising
totals reached about $460,000.
As an organization, Dance
Marathon hosts several events
throughout the year including
mini marathons at local high
schools and creative events such
as
pumpkin
carving,
where
participants can interact with
the children benefitting from
the
fundraisers.
This
year,
event organizers rebranded the
capstone dance event from “Dance
Marathon” to “VictorThon” to
better incorporate and connect to
the University community.
Alyssa
Allen,
Dance
Marathon’s public relations chair
and recent University graduate,
said the organization rebranded
the marathon to build a stronger
brand. Choosing to incorporate
the University with the event led
to several new initiatives, such as
naming designated stations after
campus landmarks and setting
the event’s fundraising goal at
$109,901 — one dollar for every
seat in the Big House — she
added.
“I think that it just makes for
more
cohesive
programming
and ‘VictorThon’ gets a lot more
people excited because we’re all
so spirited about this University,”
Allen said.
During VictorThon, dancers
remained on their feet for 24
hours to show their support for
children with mental and physical
ailments. To raise money before
the event, dancers register in
teams that fundraise throughout
the year through campaigns such
as bake sales, asking for donations
on street corners and hosting
See VICTORTHON, Page 2A
In event hosted by
the Daily, candidates
discuss feasibility of
goals
By
BRANDON
SUMMERS-
MILLER and ANNA HARITOS
Daily Staff Reporters
Friday night’s Central Student
Government debate, hosted by The
Michigan Daily, was highlighted
with emotion and tension, with
many candidates using personal
experiences at the University of
Michigan to illustrate their policy
platform.
Issues of diversity, inclusivity,
student mental health and platform
feasibility took center stage as
the president and vice president
candidates from Your Michigan,
newMICH
and
the
Defend
Affirmative Action Party answered
questions from moderators and
Twitter users over the course of the
hour and a half long debate.
All six candidates from the three
parties offered several solutions to
change the current social climate
in CSG, saying it is not currently
not an inclusive student space
that encourages open and honest
dialogue.
LSA junior David Schafer said if
elected as CSG president, his party,
newMICH, would aim to create
a space which encourages the
progressive communication each
party wishes to see by hosting Q&A
periods with not only students, but
also administrators, faculty, staff
and the Division of Public Safety
and Security. Schafer is running
with LSA junior Micah Griggs,
newMICH’s
vice-presidential
candidate.
“The
diversity,
equity
and
inclusion efforts were a fantastic
step, but they didn’t go far enough,”
Schafer said. “I think holding these
open Q&As, which is something
we called for, would provide the
impetus to hold administration,
faculty and staff accountable for
improving diversity on campus
inside and outside of CSG.”
Ford junior Thomas Hislop,
Your
Michigan’s
presidential
candidate, highlighted inclusivity
and diversity as important areas of
Your Michigan’s platform as well.
To best do that, he said, CSG needs
to recruit from new areas of campus
AMELIA CACCHIONE /Daily
Brian Baker, DPSS liaison to student life, discusses campus safety and student-police relationships in regards to
students of color at the Michigan Union on Saturday.
See CSG, Page 3A
Schlissel says
administration
should have
consulted residents
By DESIREE CHEW
Daily Staff Reporter
A proposed project to build a
North Campus transit center was
halted Saturday due to concerns
from Ann Arbor residents.
The University of Michigan’s
Board of Regentsapproved initial
schematic designs and bids for
construction contracts for the
center, slated to include a full-
service bus depot and maintenance
site, called the Transportation
Operations
and
Maintenance
Facility, during a 2014 meeting. In
January of this year, the University
initiated the process for obtaining
a State of Michigan Department of
Environmental Quality permit for
the project. The proposed $38.5
million facility was planned to be
located near several residential
neighborhoods.
However, in a letter to residents
dated
Saturday,
University
See TRANSIT, Page 3A
Michigan snagged one of the
last spots in the Big Dance
By a Hair
See POLICE, Page 2A
AAPD and DPSS
address brutality
concerns with
students
By RIYAH BASHA
Daily Staff Reporter
The Black Student Union
partnered with Students of
Color of Rackham to host a day-
long forum on local policing
Saturday. Security officers and
administrators from a variety
of
University
of
Michigan
departments took part as well,
representing the University’s
Division of Public Security and
Safety and the Ann Arbor Police
Department.
About
50
students
and
police officers participated in
workshops discussing students’
rights, the relationship between
race and safety and the national
conversations
surrounding
police brutality sparked by
incidents such as the 2014
shooting of Michael Brown in
Ferguson, Mo.
Student
organizers
didn’t
shy away from acknowledging
tension between students of
color and law enforcement.
Rackham
student
Pete
Haviland-Eduah, SCOR Vice
President, opened the forum
by noting the need for students
to know law enforcement on a
personal level.
“There is a deep rift of mistrust
between the Black community
and the law enforcement that
serves them,” he said. “But these
are the conversations that must
be had ... we have to employ
humility in order to listen to one
CAMPUS LIFE
U-M Flint,
A2 students
collaborate
on crisis aid
VictorThon raises $475K
in annual capstone event
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
ADMIN
Community, police discuss
race relations in Ann Arbor
City concerns
cause ‘U’ to
pause transit
center plans
CSG executive
tickets debate
campus issues