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Wednesday, March 16, 2016
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
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Vol. CXXV, No. 89
©2016 The Michigan Daily
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the statement
April concert part
of nationwide tour
spurred by BDS
protests
By ALYSSA BRANDON
Daily News Editor
Reggae artist Matisyahu will
touch on several themes relevant
to current campus discourse in
his April 4 at Hill Auditorium,
themed around peace and unity.
In an interview with The
Michigan Daily, Matisyahu said
he began to conceptualize the
theme of his campus tour of 12
universities after being implored
to make an anti-Israel comment at
a music festival last summer.
Matisyahu
said
after
he
declined to make the comments,
he was thrown off of the festival,
which caused significant uproar
both in and outside of Spain from
his supporters and fans. Despite
the controversy, he said he was
invited to perform in Spain again,
though Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions Movement protesters
heckled
him
throughout
the
performance. BDS advocates for
the end of United States public
funding to Israel and boycotts
institutions
that
financially
support Israel, in protest of
what they say is Israel’s ongoing
restriction of Palestinian rights.
“They wanted me to make
a political statement basically
denouncing Israel and promoting
Palestine. They did it specifically
because I’m Jewish and because
they had gotten pressure from the
BDS movement.”
He said he initially felt angry
toward the protesters and wanted
to fight back against them, but
as
he
continued
performing
throughout
night,
his
anger
turned to compassion.
“I realized what these people,
regardless what they think or what
they’ve been taught or what they
feel, they are right now susceptible
to the sounds, to the actual waves
that are coming forth and there
was no escaping that,” he said.
“I thought if I can somehow sing
from a place and make music from
See MATISYAHU, Page 3A
Event features
panel discussion
on international
economics
By TIMOTHY COHN
Daily Staff Reporter
On
Tuesday,
the
Center
for Japanese Studies hosted a
discussion with Shuji Shimokoji,
the former Japanese ambassador
to Venezuela and Panama. The
event, “Walk in the U.S., Talk on
Japan,” was part of a national
discussion series sponsored by
the Office of the Prime Minister
of Japan that aims to increase
awareness about the relationship
between the U.S. and Japan.
The panel, attended by about
30 people, focused on the close
economic
ties
between
the
United States and Japan as well
as the importance of continued
cooperation in the development of
security policies.
Shimokoji was joined by a
panel that included public sector
officials such as Dr. Toshiyuki
Miyawaki, a former Major General
in the Japanese Air Self-Defense
Force, as well as individuals
from the private sector, such as
Hirokichi Nadachi, a prominent
businessman in the Japanese
automotive industry and Takaki
Minamoto, a former investment
banker for Morgan Stanley and
current CEO of a Tokyo-based
tourism agency. Saho Miyashita, a
Japanese college student who has
studied in the United States, also
participated in the panel.
In their opening addresses,
each panelist spoke about their
areas of expertise and how their
experiences could help promote
greater understanding of relations
between Japan and the United
States.
Shimokoji
highlighted
the
Japanese government’s economic
policies, which he said are aimed
at
encouraging
collaboration
between the United States and
See JAPAN, Page 3A
University Housing
security director
was involved in Aura
Rosser case
By RIYAH BASHA
Daily Staff Reporter
It’s been a little more than
six months since John Seto, the
former police chief of Ann Arbor,
took over as the University of
Michigan’s
housing
security
director — and some students
still aren’t comfortable with his
appointment.
“Students should have input
into that aspect of control in
their life,” Rackham student Pete
Haviland-Eduah, vice president
of Students of Color of Rackham
wrote in an e-mail interview. “As
a person of color, I am concerned
with his hiring because of what
happened with Aura last year.”
For
many
community
organizers in Ann Arbor, time can
often be marked as before Aura
and after Aura. In November
2014, Aura Rosser, a 40 year-old
Black woman, was fatally shot by
Officer David Ried, a white Ann
Arbor police officer, in what was
determined to have been self-
defense
The shooting, and subsequent
decision to not indict Ried,
sparked protests and petitions
amid national outcry against
police brutality that began with
the August 2014 shooting of
Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.
The incident is still the motivation
for many Black activists in the
city; the Ann Arbor Alliance for
Black Lives, initially Ann Arbor
to Ferguson, was founded in
the wake of Rosser’s death in
November 2014.
The key distinction in Ann
Arbor, however, is that activism
related
to
the
shooting
as
largely remained restricted to
organizations operating in Ann
Arbor at large, rather than student
groups on campus. Save for
tweets by the Black Student Union
and organizations partnering in
solidarity, there didn’t seem to be
many large-scale apparent effects
See SETO, Page 3A
State Sen. Rick Jones
introduces legislation
to decrease power of
college administrators
By TIMOTHY COHN
Daily Staff Reporter
Last Tuesday, Michigan State
Sen. Rick Jones (R–Grand Ledge)
introduced Senate Bill 0848,
which aims to establish guidelines
for how universities may or may
not censor student publications
and to provide protection for
student journalists.
The
Student
Free
Press
and Civics Readiness Act was
co-sponsored by Sen. Patrick
Colbeck (R–Canton), Sen. Tom
Casperson
(R–Escanaba),
and
Sen. Steven Bieda (D–Warren).
Jones, the primary sponsor of
the bill, cited frequent cases of
censorship of student journalists
at Michigan State University as
the cause for introducing the
Student Free Press and Civics
Readiness Act.
“I was approached by students
from
MSU
who
expressed
concerns over censorship,” he
said in an interview. “I want
their constitutional rights to be
observed.”
Senate
Bill
0848
includes
provisions
to
prevent
school
officials from regulating content
GREG GOSS/Daily
Ann Arbor resident J Kincaid performs one of her poems during ‘Skazat!’, a monthly poetry slam held at Sweetwaters
Coffee and Tea on West Washington Street on Tuesday.
See CENSORSHIP, Page 3A
Michigan opens
NCAA tourney
in First Four on
Wednesday night
By SIMON KAUFMAN
Daily Sports Editor
When the Michigan men’s
basketball
team
tips
off
against Tulsa on Wednesday
night in its First Four game in
Dayton, Ohio, its two seniors
— guards Caris LeVert and
Spike Albrecht — will be
watching from the bench.
Meanwhile, on the other
end of the floor, the Golden
Hurricane (12-6 American
Athletic Conference, 20-11
overall) will run out four
seniors
in
their
starting
lineup. They’ll have five more
on the bench. Their nine
seniors are the most of any
team in the country.
PE RFOR MING POETRY
SAMII STOLOFF/Daily
Shuji Shimokoji, former Ambassador of Japan, answers a question about American, Japanese and Chinese foreign policy at the 2016 Walk in U.S., Talk on Japan
event at the School of Social Work on Tuesday.
In ‘U’ visit,
Matisyahu
to focus on
unification
CAMPUS LIFE
Former Japan ambassador
discusses global relations
Six months in,
students remain
unsure of Seto
PUBLIC SAFETY
Student journalists focus of
new bill against censorship
Wolverines
prepare for
experienced
Tulsa team
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Read more at
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