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Tuesday, March 29, 2016
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
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Vol. CXXV, No. 98
©2016 The Michigan Daily
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O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
CL A S S I F I E DS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
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WEATHER
TOMORROW
HI: 63
LO: 53
Former factory
worker emphasizes
importance of
monitoring
By CAMY METWALLY
Daily Staff Reporter
At a speak-out Monday, Noi
Supalai, former union president
and garment worker from Bangkok,
Thailand, addressed a group of
students to share her experience as
an employee at a Thai factory where
she produced Nike apparel.
The event was hosted by the
campus chapter of United Students
Against
Sweatshops
to
raise
awareness about proper oversight
of apparel factories overseas,
In
November
2015,
Nike
announced it would stop allowing
independent inspectors, such as
the Worker Rights Consortium, to
monitor work conditions in Nike
apparel factories. Instead, the
company said it would internally
self-monitor its own activities — a
decision that groups like USAS have
said they fear will lead to potential
worker abuse.
Morgan
Currier,
USAS
International
Campaigns
Coordinator, began the speak-out
with an interactive exercise, asking
the attendees to think critically
about the role students play in
perpetuating the abuse of foreign
laborers and ways in which they
can improve worker conditions.
She said institutions such as the
University of Michigan, by signing
contracts with brands like Nike,
indirectly allow such practices to
continue to exist. The University’s
Athletic Department signed an
apparel deal with Nike in 2015 that
does not expire until 2027.
“We believe that we should only
be doing business with brands who
respect the rights of their workers,”
Currier said. “What we do in USAS
is we support the organizing efforts
of workers around the world. We
don’t believe in charity; we believe
in solidarity.”
Students listened to her remarks
as they read one another’s clothing
tags — tags that read made in
Honduras, Indonesia, Cambodia,
Jasmine Rand
delivers remarks
for Diversity and
Inclusion Week
By MADELEINE GERSON
Daily Staff Repoter
Jasmine Rand, the attorney for
the families of Trayvon Martin,
Michael
Brown
and
Tamir
Rice, spoke at the University of
Michigan Monday, discussing
her work work on racial relations
in the United States and human
rights activism.
Rand, a professor at University
of Miami School of Law, is also
active in civil rights movements
and was recognized by the
National Bar Association as one
of the top 40 lawyers under 40 in
the nation in 2013.
The event is one of several
this week sponsored by the
Greek
Life
Diversity
and
Inclusion Task Force, Central
Student Government and the
Black Business Undergraduate
Society as part of a campus-wide
Diversity and Inclusion Week.
During her remarks, Rand
emphasized how her personal
background
and
experiences
led her to discover her passion
for law and commitment to
advocating for underrepresented
communities.
“I am a first generation high
school graduate,” Rand said. “I
was born to a teenage mother.
Do not judge me by my successes.
Judge me by the number of times
I fell down and stood back up
again. Do not judge me by the
number of times I have appeared
on CNN.”
Rand told the audience that she
believes social justice is an issue
relevant to all careers and fields
of study.
“It
doesn’t
matter
what
See RAND, Page 3
KRISTINA PERKINS/Daily
Jasmine Rand, civil rights attorney for the families of Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice and Michael Brown, discusses the importance of collective activism in the Ross
School of Business Monday.
See NIKE, Page 3
Lauren Southern
and Cathy Young
condemn First
Amendment abuse
By ALEXA ST. JOHN
Daily Staff Reporter
Cathy
Young,
Reason
Magazine
contributing
editor, and Lauren Southern,
Canadian
journalist
and
activist, came to the Michigan
League
Monday
night
to
present a joint lecture on free
speech on college campuses.
Both Young and Southern
ultimately
defended
the
importance
of
what
they
characterized as the often
abused First Amendment right.
Hosted by the Michigan
Review, Young and Southern
gave a talk titled “Fighting
the Speech Police.” The event
was attended by about 60
people, including students and
community members.
Young
spoke
first
at
the
event,
discussing
her
experience
coming
of
age
in the Soviet Union and the
ways Russia restricts radical
and controversial free speech.
She connected the country
to college cmpuses, saying
the necessity to conform to
dominant ideology is prevalent
and reminds her of the strict
conditions for free speech in
the Soviet Union.
In particular, Young cited
recent incidents such as a recent
occurrence at Yale University.
Former Yale official Erica
Christakis sent out an e-mail
to students saying warnings on
showing appropriate cultural
sensitivity in the selection of
Halloween costumes were too
restrictive, sparking backlash
that ultimately led to her
resigning from her position.
“We are not talking simply
about
disagreement;
we’re
talking about punishing people
who voice their own kind of
speech,” Young said. “When
they restrict speech based on
its ideological content, as I
think has been documented,
there’s a blatant use of double
standards
with
regard
to
left-wing
and
right-wing
inflammatory
comments.
This certainly promotes the
view that these ideas are not
legitimate speech.”
Young
said
she
thinks
certain forms of expression
should be excluded as free
speech, especially viewpoints
that are generally considered
unacceptable
in
society.
However, she warned these
selective
restrictions
could
cause problems later on.
“When we make the decision
to stigmatize certain ideas, we
should be very, very careful to
draw the circle of ideas which
are considered beyond the pale
very, very narrowly, so that
we don’t end up stigmatizing
legitimate ideas,” Young said.
Southern,
in
contrast
outlined
a
more
radical
approach
to
free
speech.
She said there should be no
restrictions for speech, even
See SPEECH, Page 3
SACUA says
ART 2.0 could
perpetuate poor
faculty relations
By ISOBEL FUTTER
Daily Staff Reporter
The University of Michigan’s
release
of
course
evaluation
data continued to be a topic
of
controversial
discussion
among
faculty
at
Monday’s
Senate Advisory Committee on
University Affairs meeting.
On Friday, the University
relaunched a tool initially only
available to faculty, ART 2.0,
which
now
allows
students
to see select data from course
evaluations for University classes.
The launch came after months of
dispute following the University’s
initial announcement that they
were exploring releasing the
data, which drew significant
pushback
from
faculty
over
concerns of bias and misuse. Joint
committees of SACUA members
and Central Student Government
representatives
have
been
working over the past few months
in an effort to mitigate the
concerns, and recommended the
release of the data with several
stipulations in February. How
many of those stipulations will
be followed with the University’s
tool wasn’t clear Monday.
At the meeting, Physics Prof.
Gus Evrard, team leader for ART
2.0, said the release of course
evaluations with the tool aims
See SACUA, Page 3
Students emphasize
need for religious
tolerance at
gathering on Diag
By TIM COHN
Daily Staff Reporter
Monday night, more than 70
students attended a vigil held
by Michigan Pakistanis after
a suicide bombing Sunday in
Lahore, Pakistan, left at least 72
civilians killed and more than
300 injured.
The vigil attendees included
students
affiliated
with
Michigan Pakistanis as well as
other University of Michigan
students. LSA junior Shahrooz
Ali, who was not a Michigan
Pakistanis member, noted the
event was an opportunity for
students to come together to
mourn in solidarity.
“What happened on Sunday
was an unnecessary act that
left
those
innocent
lives
murdered,” Ali said. “Those
people were just at the park,
celebrating a day of God with
their families. As a Muslim, I do
not understand the reason why
the bombers felt it necessary
to commit this crime. Islam
preaches a message of peace,
for all people to come together,
and love each other.”
During the vigil, student
members
of
Michigan
Pakistanis spoke about the
impact of the suicide bombing.
President
of
Michigan
Pakistanis Eman Hijab, an
LSA junior, told the crowd
it was important to not be
desensitized
to
senseless
acts of violence like Sunday’s
bombing.
“At a time when hope has
diminished, faith in humanity
weakened and overwhelming
grief pervades, we stand in unity
with one another.” Hijab said.
“We must remind ourselves
to never become complacent
GRANT HARDY/Daily
LSA junior Eman Hijab, president of Michigan Pakistanis, takes a moment of silence, along with other members at
Michigan Pakistanis, at a vigil for the Lahore, Pakistan bombing victims in the Diag Monday.
See VIGIL, Page 2
ADMINISTRATION
Trayvon Martin’s attorney
explores U.S. race relations
Speak-out
condemns
Nike, calls
for action
Activists share
experiences of
curbed speech
CAMPUS LIFE
Faculty still
questioning
‘U’ release of
course evals
ACADEMICS
Vigil remembers victims of
park bombing in Pakistan