2-News
3-News
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