michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, March 16, 2016

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

INDEX
Vol. CXXV, No. 89
©2016 The Michigan Daily
michigandaily.com

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
DEQ releases new Dioxane standards
MICHIGANDAILY.COM/SECTION/NEWS

GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail 
news@michigandaily.com and let us know.

WEATHER 
TOMORROW

HI: 51

LO: 31

A look at how technology has 

changed University classrooms

» INSIDE

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 
MichiganDaily.com

