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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Thursday, September 22, 2016 — 3A

affordability initiative, such as 
Jawad, are aiming to start with 
events that will then lead to other 
projects for the year.

Jawad said CSG also plans 

to talk to about housing issues 
associated 
specifically 
with 

high rises going forward and 
has contacted Tower Plaza and 
Zaragon West to ask questions 
about density.

Ann Arbor resident Ken Clein 

— who chairs the city Planning 
Commission — said there is no 
“silver bullet” to remedy high 
costs of living, but listed several 
options that are often discussed 
by the Planning Commission and 
city government.

These 
options 
include 

incentives for developers to create 
more low-rent housing, increasing 
the amount of property available 

for residential development and 
allowing the construction of low-
density accessory dwelling units 
on existing residential plots. Clein 
noted that these measures can 
only be applied to the city housing 
market as a whole, and cannot be 
specifically targeted at students.

The willingness of property 

developers to lower rents for 
students in response to external 
factors will also be crucial.

Craig Wack, public relations 

director at EdR housing, which 
manages several properties in Ann 
Arbor, said large student housing 
projects in college towns tend 
to compete based on proximity 
to other students and amenities, 
with price as a secondary factor, 
especially because many students 
receive rent assistance from their 
parents.

“In the surveys we’ve had... the 

one thing that came back first and 
foremost is that students want to 
live where their friends live, they 
want to have that community,” 

Wack said. “Price is probably 
number two, a number of our 
students are paying their own way, 
but there are a lot of students who 
get help from their parents.”

LSA junior Ellen Guerra, who is 

living in an off-campus apartment 
for the first time, wrote in an email 
that she’s found of the off-campus 
housing process frustrating.

“Figuring out student housing 

in Ann Arbor is outrageous: 
first, pricing is too high for what 
the homes offer. I know people 
who signed their lease 2 years in 
advance in order to secure a good 
home,” she wrote in an email to the 
Daily. “This makes finding housing 
extremely stressful if you don’t 
have connections to the people in a 
house you want or don’t have a set 
group of friends you want to live 
with.”

She added that pricing is often 

unpredictable, 
especially 
when 

utilities come into play.

“Finally, the prices are high 

and always become higher once 

you move in: I thought my place 
included all extra expenses but 
once I moved in I learned I needed 
to pay more for Internet, parking 
and electricity,” she wrote. “The 
idea of figuring out housing for 
next year stresses me out a lot and 
it’s a full year away (un)til move in.”

LSA 
sophomore 
Elizabeth 

Szeles echoed Guerra’s thoughts 
about off-campus housing.

“I think housing is expensive 

in general,” she said. “As a 
sophomore, I am thinking ‘let’s 
look at off-campus housing’ and I 
am doing that right now, and it’s 
still ridiculously expensive, and 
that’s with the meal plan included. 
I really wish there were more 
options.”

Szeles said she doesn’t know 

what to expect out of CSG’s 
plan to work with City Council, 
but added that she understands 
a project as big as one on the 
housing affordability might not be 
completed within her time at the 
University.

HOUSING
From Page 1A

The second largest group of 

individuals in CSG and LSA SG 
identified as Asian, 9.3 percent 
and 14.7 percent, respectively. 
ESG, 
however, 
was 
42.9 

percent Asian.

A Michigan Daily analysis 

of CSG leadership conducted 
in 2015 found similar patterns 
in executive positions: seven 
men served as president in a 
row, a trend now continued by 
Schafer.

The gender gap in the full 

CSG assembly — 58.1 percent 
of members are male, 40.7 
percent female and 1.2 percent 
preferred not to answer — is 
slightly higher than that of 
the University’s breakdown of 
male students at 51.8 percent 
and females at 48.2 percent, 
according to the report.

The report also measured 

family 
backgrounds 
of 

representatives. 
Only 
9.3 

percent of CSG members are 
first-generation 
students, 

while 37.2 percent of the body 
comes from homes earning 
more than $250,000 a year. The 
University does not publish 
full statistics on student body 
income level.

On 
the 
whole, 
LSA 

and 
Engineering 
student 

governments 
were 
more 

diverse in every category on 
the survey compared to CSG, 

though both bodies are less 
than half the size of CSG.

Surveys of all three bodies 

were administered last week, 
and received a 95-percent 
response 
rate. 
A 
press 

release 
accompanying 
the 

report’s release emphasized 
transparency 
and 
accurate 

representation.

“Diversity 
is 
critical 
to 

ensuring that as a governing 
body, we are representative 
of every student on campus,” 
Schafer said in the release. 
“We look forward to analyzing 
the results of the report and 
conceptualizing ways in which 
we can better represent our 
various constituencies.”

Schafer 
made 
diversity 

a major cornerstone of his 
campaign 
platform 
with 

NewMICH, 
committing 
to 

extending 
the 
University’s 

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion 
initiative into the assembly. 
The 
CSG 
executive 
team 

commissioned the report at the 
beginning of the school year 
as an initial assessment and 
benchmark for future growth.

“I think it’s not only going 

to hold us more accountable 
as an organization to improve 
our diversity in the long term, 
but it’s also going to allow us 
to possibly set objectives and 
measures 
going 
forward,” 

Schafer said at a meeting 
earlier this month.

Schafer was unavailable for 

further comment Wednesday 
afternoon.

DIVERSITY
From Page 1A

with 
the 
Office 
of 
Campus 

Sustainability, said EarthFest was 
incredibly important in raising 
campus awareness.

“From our point of view we 

want to make students, especially 
new students, aware of the whole 
Planet Blue idea and what U of 
M is doing towards reaching its 
sustainability goal,” Keeler said.

Taylor Landeryou, a School 

of 
Natural 
Resources 
and 

Environment graduate student, 
was at EarthFest working at a table 
for her organization, UMBees. 
UMBees brings awareness to 
campus about the role of honey 
bees and other pollinators in the 

food systems. An estimated one-
third of all food is dependent 
on pollinators, according to the 
British Beekeepers Association. 
The group keeps six hives at 
the Campus Farm on North 
Campus and also hosts an urban 
beekeeping 
symposium 
in 

October.

Landeryou 
said 
she 
loves 

coming to EarthFest to bring the 
community 
more 
information 

about bees and other pollinators.

“We actually kind of use it as 

our Festifall,” Landeryou said. 
“We appreciate that opportunity 
and we also love being around 
all our neighborly Earth-driven 
groups.”

Members of the Food Recovery 

Network, 
which 
works 
with 

the University dining halls and 
other student organizations that 

serve food to reduce leftover 
waste, attended the event for the 
third year in a row. LSA senior 
Ryan Ouderkirk, in his second 
year as one of the Network’s 
representatives, said the group 
aims to find a more sustainable 
way to reduce leftovers.

“Essentially we are taking the 

leftovers and helping deliver them 
to the hungry,” Ouderkirk said.

During the event, students 

formed long lines to get their own 
succulent plants from the Matthei 
Botanical Gardens table and learn 
about 
volunteer 
opportunities 

at both the Gardens and Nichols 
Arboretum.

Jared 
Alexson, 
a 
Natural 

Resources 
and 
Environment 

graduate student, said EarthFest 
is a great way for the Botanical 
Gardens to connect with the 

student body.

“It’s a great way to promote the 

presence of the garden and the 
arboretum for U of M students,” 
Alexson said. “It’s this underlying 
theme of connecting people with 
plants and connecting people 
with nature.”

Students passed through the 

Diag throughout the day, checking 
out the different tables and being 
treated to apples and Washtenaw 
Dairy donuts in true fall in 
Ann Arbor spirit. Engineering 
senior Srivi Sridhar said she had 
never heard of EarthFest before 
Wednesday, but was pleased with 
the event.

“I 
really 
like 
EarthFest,” 

Sridhar said. “I didn’t expect it to 
be here, but there is so much. I’ve 
learned a lot.”

EARTH
From Page 1A

for him to voluntarily separate 
from the University.

The 
original 
case 
was 

investigated 
under 
UM’s 

previous 
sexual 
misconduct 

policy, which was modified 
in July 2016 to clarify several 
definitions, 
including 
on 

what constitutes consent and 
incapacitation, 
as 
well 
as 

change the sanctioning process.

The male student’s lawyer, 

Deborah Gordon, said Tuesday 
that she thinks the University’s 
choice 
to 
update 
the 
UM 

sexual 
misconduct 
policy 

acknowledges that the previous 
policy was unclear about the 
definition 
of 
incapacitation 

and intoxication. Because of 
that lack of clarity, she said, 
the original case against her 
client was unfair, because her 
client could not tell whether 
the 
female 
student 
was 

incapacitated.

“I 
believe 
I 
am 
going 

to prove the University of 
Michigan violated my client’s 
constitutional rights,” she said. 
“I cannot emphasize enough 
the University has admitted 
the [previous] policies are not 
viable under the law.”

According 
to 
the 
female 

student’s lawsuit, the male 
student agreed to a voluntary 
separation from the University 
during UM’s investigation of 
the female student’s complaint. 
Under a voluntary separation, an 
individual leaves the University 
but it is not considered an 
expulsion, and it does not show 
up as a disciplinary action on a 
transcript.

In a press release Wednesday, 

Jennifer Salvatore, a attorney 
from Salvatore, Prescott and 
Porter representing the female 
student, said the male student’s 
lawsuit breaks the terms agreed 
to by her client during UM’s 
investigation process.

“It’s unfortunate that my 

client had to turn to the courts 
to enforce an agreement that 
the defendant said he would 
honor,” Salvatore said.

Salvatore’s 
assistant 
said 

the attorney was unavailable 
for 
further 
comment 
on 

Wednesday.

The 
female 
student’s 

complaint alleges that during 
the January 2016 fraternity 
party, the male student took the 
plaintiff to his bedroom, where 
he removed all of her clothing. 
The female student states she 
told him, “No sex,” but that 
he both vaginally and orally 
assaulted her.

The female student’s victim 

statement, provided by her 
lawyers, says a female witness 
and her friends who walked into 
the male student’s room helped 
her home after the incident, and 
that later that night she went 
to the hospital, where doctors 
performed a rape kit.

In response to the female 

student’s lawsuit, Gordon said 
she thinks the female student’s 
claims have no value and are 
based on threats.

University 
spokesperson 

Rick Fitzgerald said he has 
nothing to add on the lawsuit 
filed Wednesday morning by 
the female student.

Employees named in the 

male student’s case against the 
University include David Baum, 
assistant dean of the University 
Law School, Rackham student 
Tabitha Bentley, Nadia Bazzy, 
assistant director of the Office 
of Student Resolution and E. 
Royster Harper, vice president 
for student life.

The 
connection 
of 
these 

individuals to the case is not 
specified in the documents, 
but the boards used to review 
sanctions in the University’s 
process of investigating sexual 
assault claims are typically 
composed of a mix of professors 
and students.

Under the University’s new 

policy, those review boards and 

the overall review process have 
changed in several ways.

In particular, the appeals 

process has moved from a sole 
representative responsible for 
determining the sanction to 
a separate board, composed 
of two faculty or staff and a 
student. Under both policies, 
the sanctioning occurs after a 
review board looked at the case.

The previous policy also 

stated that if the respondent 
and complainant agreed to a 
sanction without appealing, the 
agreement would be binding 
and the respondent would be 
required to fulfill the sanctions 
or 
interventions 
included. 

Neither 
complainant 
nor 

respondent would be permitted 
to appeal the sanction if the 
parties agree to the sanctioning.

Under 
the 
new 
policy, 

if either the respondent or 
claimant takes issue with the 
sanctions, they can appeal to an 
external, third-party reviewer, 
chosen by the office of the 
general counsel and the vice 
president for student life.

This 
story 
has 
been 

updated 
with 
responses 

from representatives for the 
University 
and 
the 
female 

student. This is a developing 
story, check back for more 
updates.

LAWSUIT
From Page 1A

as well as the death of 13-year 
old Tyree King, who was shot by 
police earlier this month.

“The purpose of The Speak 

Out is to uplift the community 
overall,” the NAACP wrote in 
an earlier email statement to the 
Daily.

Speakers also spoke on an 

incident at EMU early Tuesday 
morning, when staff members 
discovered 
racial 
slurs 
and 

the letters “KKK” painted on 
buildings. Later that day, more 
than 150 protesters marched 
to the home of EMU president 
James Smith, where he delivered 
a statement with other campus 
officials, according to the Detroit 
Free 
Press. 
EMU 
students 

present at the speakout claimed 
more graffiti was discovered 
Wednesday morning as well.

The 
University’s 
Black 

Student Union tweeted videos of 
its members standing alongside 
other community members at 
the protest Tuesday at EMU, 
and much of Wednesday night’s 
remarks 
centered 
around 

solidarity with Black students at 
EMU.

Darius Anthony, president 

of the NAACP chapter at EMU, 
addressed the crowd about the 
importance of protest on both 
campuses.

“We shut shit down, that’s 

what we do,” Anthony said, 
referring to a rally Tuesday that 
blocked traffic on Washtenaw 
Avenue.

During the speakout, Kyla 

Fordham, another member of 
the EMU NAACP, applauded 

University 
students 
for 

demonstrations 
on 
UM’s 

campus, and urged them to band 
together with EMU students.

“We 
have 
questions...how 

they always got security cameras 
to give us traffic tickets, but 
not to figure out who did that 
graffiti?” she said. “But we’ll 
encourage one another because 
y’all are right next door to us. It 
doesn’t take an organization to 
change things, it starts in your 
classrooms and it starts with 
yourselves.”

Speakers also discussed issues 

surrounding diversity at the 
University at large, including 
campus climate and resources 
afforded to Black students. In 
recounting racially insensitive 
remarks made by a professor 
earlier this week, LSA senior 
Dorian 
Ballard 
highlighted 

the current historically low 
enrollment of Black students at 
the University.

“We’re only 4 percent here, 

but we’re the best 4 percent,” she 
said.

Black Student Union speaker 

Diego Zimmerman, a Music, 
Theater & Dance junior, reflected 
on the recurring nature of fatal 
shootings of African-Americans 
at the hands of police officers. 
Above all, Zimmerman stressed, 
the Black community needs self-
love.

“What if I’m next?” he asked. 

“When I see you, with your 
melanin and natural hair...I am 
extremely happy. When someone 
tries to take our lives away from 
us without out permission, I am 
extremely angry. But...I love you 
and that anything you need, we 
are here for you.”

NAACP
From Page 1A

