The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, November 1, 2016 — 3

homophobia,” Schlissel said. “I 
think that faculty have a big role 
to play in helping our students.”

Schlissel 
also 
noted 
that 

throughout 
his 
interactions 

with various groups on campus 
about the incident, students have 
expressed disappointment that 
many professors did not bring up 
the incidents in their classrooms 
to discuss.

“It was on the forefront of the 

minds of a lot of our students, 
almost in a way that distracted 
from learning,” Schlissel said.

In the discussion that ensued, 

Schlissel and many committee 

members 
talked 
about 

increasing faculty interaction 
with the Center for Research on 
Learning and Teaching, a center 
dedicated to improving teaching 
responses to events that impact 
campus climate, by having the 
center facilitate trainings on 
having 
difficult 
discussions 

in classrooms and phasing in 
training for faculty new to 
campus.

SACUA 
member 
Robert 

Ortega, a professor of mechanical 
engineering 
and 
naval 

architecture and engineering, 
suggested extensive resources 
should be made available to 
faculty.

“I think some of the students 

have difficulty with the kind 

of language to engage in these 
conversations; some don’t even 
have the words,” Ortega said. 
“Our approach really has been 
one of humility and that is, even 
the instructors don’t have the 
answers — we certainly can aim 
the discussion, but it has to be 
done with great care.”

Though 
Schlissel 

acknowledged 
that 
making 

the use of CRLT resources 
mandatory for faculty members 
might 
receive 
an 
adverse 

response, he said he hoped 
faculty would want to use 
resources the community had 
deemed important.

“Mandatory 
scares 
people, 

but 
if 
it’s 
something 
that 

really touches our values as 

a community, I don’t think 
mandatory should be threatening 
... but something that we as a 
community agree is important 
enough 
to 
make 
mandatory 

ourselves,” Schlissel said.

In response to the concerns of 

member of SACUA regarding the 
DEI plan, Schlissel stressed that 
a quota system is not part of the 
University’s strategies.

“There is no quota system,” 

Schlissel said. “There are no 
quantitative targets as part of 
the plan.”

Specific racial quotas 
are 

illegal 
in 
college 
admission 

policies, after the Supreme Court 
ruled setting aside specific seats 
for minorities went too far in 
diversifying schools in 1978. The 

Supreme Court has since upheld 
a Michigan proposal banning 
race-based affirmative action of 
any kind in 2014.

The University stopped using 

affirmative action in 2006, when 
voters approved the statewide 
ban, 
and 
Black 
enrollment 

slipped from around 10 percent 
at the time to under 5 percent 
today.

In 
addition 
to 
discussing 

the posters and the DEI plan, 
Schlissel and members of the 
committee 
also 
discussed 

improvements in financial aid, 
an issue heavily emphasized in 
the upcoming University Board 
of Regents’ elections, especially 
as tuition prices continue to 
increase each year.

“We’ve increased our shared 

investment and financial aid 
has gone up over 10 percent 
per year,” Schlissel said. “The 
quality and the depth and the 
size of our pool is fantastic. What 
we really have to do is work hard 
on socioeconomic diversity and 
all the other points of diversity.”

Ortega 
echoed 
Schlissel’s 

remarks and stressed outreach 
as a crucial factor in changing 
the way financial aid is allocated.

“When we talk about the 

Michigan difference, that’s part 
of the difference,” Ortega said. 
“The other one is what they get 
while they’re here as part of the 
difference and what happens 
after.”

SACUA
From Page 1

students, faculty and alumni 
were in attendance.

Wallace, who grew up in East 

English Village on Detroit’s 
east side, said in an interview 
after the event that he believed 
O’Cleireacain 
painted 
lower-

income 
citizens 
of 
Detroit 

as 
projects 
for 
research, 

something he found particularly 
demoralizing as a resident.

“I found that referring to 

Detroit as a laboratory for public 
policy experiments (was) very 
offensive because you’re dealing 
with people’s real lives,” Wallace 
said. “I am very fortunate to 
come out of my neighborhood 
and go to one of the best schools 
in the world, but I had a lot of 
opportunities that some people 
don’t have and to refer to 
their lives and their futures as 
experiments … is a very slippery 
slope. It causes you to view 
the city and the people in it as 
something less than human.”

When asked about Wallace’s 

question 
after 
the 
lecture, 

O’Cleireacain 
declined 
to 

comment.

O’Cleireacain devoted most of 

the lecture to the city of Detroit’s 
financial strategy. Detroit filed 
for Chapter 9 bankruptcy in July 
2013, making Detroit the largest 
municipality to file for said 
chapter of bankruptcy in U.S. 
history, slashing approximately 

$18 billion in debt. In October 
2014, 
Detroit 
Mayor 
Mike 

Duggan confirmed New Yorker 
O’Cleireacain as the deputy 
mayor 
for 
economic 
policy, 

planning and strategy.

At the lecture, O’Cleireacain 

assured audience members that 
Detroit’s economic operations 
will not be returning to the state 
of the city was in before the 
bankruptcy.

“There are strict recording, 

budgeting 
and 
oversight 

standards 
that 
have 
been 

written both into state law and 
into the bankruptcies … that 
are governing Detroit’s fiscal 
reality and behavior for the 
next 40 years and very strictly 
until 2024,” she said. “Virtually 
nothing 
about 
Detroit’s 

financing and budgeting will be 
the same as before and, folks, 
that’s a really good outcome.”

Along with these guidelines, 

O’Cleireacain discussed what 
Detroit 
offers 
to 
University 

students. Describing the city 
as a “hollowed field,” she said 

students at the University will 
have the chance to implement 
new public policy technology 
in 
a 
city 
without 
common 

infrastructural systems, such as 
a stable school system.

“LED street lighting, mobile 

health units, smartphone-based 
on-street parking meters, and 
Internet bus arrival times have 
been implemented in the last 
two years and that’s just the tip 
of the iceberg,” O’Cleireacain 
said.

During the Q and A, Wallace 

said the litany of infrastructural 
reforms O’Cleireacain listed in 
her speech are not reflected in 
his experiences in Detroit.

“My street had one light 

on it,” Wallace said. “There’s 
abandoned 
buildings 

everywhere, there’s tall grass 
everywhere. Streets are filled 
with 
litter. 
This 
cleanup 

isn’t happening … You don’t 
see the improvement in the 
neighborhoods and with the 
people.”

 O’Cleireacain emphasized 

that economic recovery will not 
occur without the inclusion of all 
Detroit citizens in the process.

“While 
Downtown 
and 

Midtown are well on their way 
to recovery, the recovery has to 
include the Detroiters who live 
in neighborhoods largely left 
untouched by Downtown and 
Midtown,” O’Cleireacain said.

Wallace was approached by 

several students and faculty 
members 
after 
the 
event, 

thanking him for his question 
and comments and asking to 
speak with him in the future 
about public policy projects 
in Detroit. Among those who 
sought out Wallace was Tom 
Ivacko, 
administrator 
and 

program director of CLOSUP, 
who said he believed some of 
O’Cleireacain’s 
remarks 
may 

have 
been 
misinterpreted. 

However, he said Wallace was 
correct 
in 
questioning 
how 

policies impact people.

“(In regard to her public 

policy laboratory comment), I 
interpreted Dr. O’Cleireacain’s 
statement in light of the famous 
phrase 
by 
Louis 
Brandeis: 

The states are ‘laboratories of 

democracy,’ ” Ivacko said. “It’s 
easy to think about policies on a 
theoretical level but they impact 
people’s lives directly and so 
there’s numerous roles for the 
University to be engaged at the 
policy level in neighborhoods 
dealing with people and dealing 
with 
organizations. 
Being 

engaged is the key.”

DETROIT
From Page 1

and brought people together.”

Victor said once she realized 

she was passionate about in 
political 
activism 
and 
the 

diversity and welfare of Detroit, 
she decided to open a bakery 
in 1997 in the Cass Corridor of 
Detroit, using a lot of the same 
equipment from Wildflour after 
they decided to shut down.

“It was a cool handoff,” she 

said. “We even use some of their 
recipes, like their date bars. So 
in some ways my roots are from 
Ann Arbor.”

Noting 
a 
relatively 
new 

bakehouse her company owns 
downtown, Victor said Avalon 
has increased their production 
over the last few years, enabling 
them to be able to open up shop 
so close to campus.

“So we decided to just go for 

it,” Victor said. “There’s always 
been a demand for our product 
in Ann Arbor. Space became 
available 
— 
that’s 
a 
great 

location.”

Helping to make the Ann 

Arbor space a reality is Chef 

Maggie Long, who founded 
the Jolly Pumpkin’s Detroit 
location and will make their 
menu. Victor noted in particular 
that Long works closely with 
local farmers, which she said 
is in line with Avalon’s social 
mission of using locally grown 
products.

“She’s an amazing chef and 

has a wonderful relationship 

with local farmers,” Victor said.

In addition to the breakfast, 

lunch and dinner menus, the cafe 
will sell coffee, baked goods and 
all of Avalon’s breads. Almost 
everything, except some baked 
goods, will be shipped directly 
from the Detroit warehouse. 
Additionally, will sell a full line 

of sweets and dessert goods — 
such as the vegan blueberry 
muffin, scones, brioche, granola 
bars and breakfast sandwiches.

The cafe will also serve beer 

and wine, including some from 
Jolly Pumpkin on Main Street.

Victor said the cafe will have 

an easy and simple breakfast 
menu during the weekdays, but 
a more extensive brunch menu 
on the weekends.

“Our cafe will be featuring 

more meals, some highlighting 
our 
breads 
and 
others 

highlighting the ingredients we 
will be using from local farms 
and other vendors,” Victor said. 
“The cafe will be what I call 
an 
ingredient-driven 
menu, 

so it’s going to be driven by 
what’s seasonal, local, fresh and 
delicious.”

Given this new location is the 

first outside of Detroit, Victor 
said it will be a learning process 
for the bakery, relying mostly on 
customer feedback.

“I think how we’ve always 

evolved as a company is in 
response to our customers,” 
Victor said. “That’s what we’ll 
be doing in Ann Arbor as well.”

“We even use 
some of their 
recipes, like 

their date bars.”

BAKERY
From Page 1

spark discussion of the greater 
political discourse, particularly 
amid the upcoming presidential 
election.

“I feel that liberals have 

failed standing for liberal ideas,” 
Carlos said. “They have failed to 
be as critical of communities of 
faith that have attached to them 
communities like ISIS or people 
that are radicalized — who have 
ideas — that are not compatible 
with liberal values.”

A student who wished to 

remain anonymous said he called 
the police upon seeing the man 
for the second time since Sunday 
night.

“He was walking past the Math 

building through the Diag,” the 
student said. “He was walking 
with the flag … There’s a problem 
with, I think, in particular, the 
fake firearm, because that’s not 
legal.”

Police came to the scene, spoke 

to Carlos and patted him down. 
Carlos said police asked him to 
leave both Sunday and Monday 
night.

“Apparently 
this 
guy 

is 
just 
against 
how 
liberal 

media portrays such an open 
environment 
and 
something 

about how they neglect the more 
oppressive culture of Muslims,” 
Carlos said.

DPSS 
spokeswoman 
Diane 

Brown told The Michigan Daily 
Monday night that the man is not 
committing 
any 
determinable 

crime due to his right to free 
speech.

Following his encounter with 

the police, which he filmed on his 
iPhone, Carlos spoke to a number 
of students gathered around him 
to explain his ideology. Among 
the students was one military-
affiliated male who felt especially 
offended and a female student 
who said she didn’t know how she 
felt about it.

LSA senior Nicole Khamis, 

who witnessed the event, said as 
a Palestinian she felt offended by 
the man’s actions, adding that it 
perpetuated a dominant rhetoric 
around Islam being violent.

“He’s perpetrating this by, first 

off, he’s dressing up as Muslim 
or somebody who believes in 
Islam, continuing furthering that 
stereotype that Islam is a violent 
religion,” Khamis said. “When if 
you look at ISIS and you look at 
the text they use, it’s very specific 
and 
it’s 
cherry-picking 
and 

anybody who’s actually Muslim 
and believes in the Quran you can 
see that they disagree vehemently 
with ISIS and their use and 
contextualization of this.”

Carlos said he found much of 

what students told the Daily in 
response to the Sunday incident 
untrue, though he did not mention 
any specific claims. Students 
said they felt offended by Carlos’ 
actions.

“I want to get rid of political 

correctness that keeps us afraid 
of having a real honest debate 
about this, and that’s why I did 
this,” Carlos said. “I knew that it 
would be offensive and I guess I 
feel that there’s costs and benefits. 
The cost being that it is offensive, 
but the benefit is that we get 
attention, we get a conversation 
going here about what’s going on.”

He added that he expected a 

backlash from students; however, 
he said he doesn’t oppose that 
if the people are doing it in 
opposition to radical Islam.

“I’m not here to make people 

mad,” Carlos said. “I want to have 
a clear critique of ideas, and I want 
there to be space in our public 
discourse for that critique of all 
systems of belief … I’m not saying 
that what I’m doing is ‘working’ — 
it doesn’t have to ‘work.’ ”

ISIS
From Page 1

text messages, and these public 
displays as well.”

In addition to local efforts, 

Clinton’s 
campaign 
has 

nationally been working to 
appeal to the youth vote in 
addition to encouraging people 
to participate on Election Day. 
Clinton’s 
daughter, 
Chelsea 

Clinton, hosted a conference 
call 
with 
students 
around 

the 
country 
in 
September 

reminding 
them 
of 
the 

importance 
of 
millennial 

participation in the election.

Young people historically 

have low voter turnouts and the 
current millennial generation 
is no exception. While there 
has been a gradual increase 

over the years, the numbers of 
young voters still remains low. 
Less than 20 percent of people 
under 30 voted in the 2014 
midterm elections — the lowest 

youth turnout rate in recorded 
federal election history.

During the primaries, Sen. 

Bernie Sanders’ (I–Vt.) support 
from college students helped 
him up-set Clinton and win the 
state of Michigan. Following 

Sanders’s 
strong 
presence 

on the University’s campus, 
he returned to campaign for 
Clinton for the general election 
in attempt to persuade college 
students to vote for Clinton.

Despite students’ support of 

Sanders in the primary, LSA 
junior Jay Dutcher, campus 
outreach chair of Students 
for Hillary at the University, 
said he believes Clinton is the 
best candidate not just for the 
nation, but also for college 
students.

“Hillary 
believes 
in 
the 

American Dream and believes 
that America is already great 
and believes in the future 
for kids our age and human 
rights,” Dutcher said. “She 
thinks all kids should have 
equal opportunity with their 
education and future.”

HILLARY
From Page 1

MAZIE HYAMS/Daily

Carol O’Cleireacain, deputy mayor for economic policy, planning & strategy for the city of Detroit speaks at an event on 
Detroit’s fiscal issues at Weill Hall on Monday. 

“It causes you to 
view the city and 
the people in it as 
less than human.” 

“Hillary 

believes in 

the American 

Dream.” 

opposing Smith, said Smith’s 
conduct had been disingenuous, 
though he noted his opponent 
was likely to win.

“He 
had 
the 
luxury 
of 

turning his back on the people 
he’s supposed to represent for 
a couple months, forcing the 
rest of the board to appoint an 
interim successor, knowing that 
he’ll get re-elected in November 
because 
of 
straight-ticket 

voting,” Hayner said.

In 
an 
interview, 
Eyer 

was hesitant to discuss her 
opponent’s conduct, focusing on 
her platform to improve access 
to public services and combat 
inequality in the county.

“I can’t pretend what was 

in Conan’s head,” Eyer said. 

“I don’t know at what point 
he made decisions or what the 
timeline was. I feel like it’s not 
my place to second-guess those 
decisions. I will say the net 
result was a confusing situation 
for everybody involved but I can 
only focus on my campaign and 
what my standards and conduct 
will be.”

She 
acknowledged 
the 

difficulty write-in candidates 
face in being elected due to 
greater 
straight-ticket 
voting 

in presidential election years. 
However, 
she 
emphasized 

that she is running a “robust 
campaign,” and has raised $1,500 
for her campaign as of Oct. 24, 
according 
to 
state 
financial 

disclosure forms.

Ann 
Arbor 
resident 
Judy 

Foy, who said she has largely 
agreed with Smith’s agenda as 
commissioner, noted that his 

handling of the OCED issue 
disappointed 
her. 
Foy 
also 

expressed disappointment about 
a lack of awareness on the issue.

“I understand even when you 

have great intentions but are 
still not aware how the process 
should move, you can lose a great 
deal of credibility,” Foy said. “It’s 
kind of sad how many people 
don’t know about this situation, 
he’ll just be the name on the 
ballot.”

Vivienne Armentrout — a 

local blogger and former county 
commissioner 
who 
defeated 

Smith in the 2002 Democratic 
primary — declined to discuss 
whether she believed Smith’s 
behavior 
has 
been 
ethical. 

However, 
she 
was 
more 

optimistic that Smith’s write-in 
opponents could win, saying she 
planned to write in Eyer on the 
ballot.

COMMISSIONER
From Page 2