The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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Wednesday, February 8, 2017 — 3A

“We are aware of an email 

such as the one you describe 
and our IT security team is 
looking into it,” he said. “I’m 
not even sure what names are 
that may be associated, but 
clearly that’s one of the first 
things they’ll be looking at, is 
whether 
someone’s 
account 

has been compromised.”

The uniqname of J. Alex 

Halderman, 
a 
professor 

of 
computer 
science 
and 

engineering, 
was 
used 
in 

the original emails sent out. 
His name was also signed at 
the bottom of the third anti-
Semitic 
email. 
Halderman 

acknowledged the incidents in 
an email statement to the Daily 
early Wednesday morning.

“This evening many EECS 

undergrads received emails 
with racist and antisemitic 
content that appeared to be 
addressed from me or from my 
Ph.D. student Matt Bernhard,” 
Halderman 
wrote. 
“These 

messages were spoofed. Matt 
and I did not send them, and 
we don’t know who did. As I 
teach in my computer security 
classes, it takes very little 
technical 
sophistication 
to 

forge the sender’s address in 

an email.”

Halderman also addressed 

this incident as in response 
to his position as an election 
security expert.

“This 
appears 
to 
be 
a 

cowardly action by someone 
who is unhappy about the 
research that Matt and I do in 
support of electoral integrity,” 

Halderman wrote. “We study 
cybersecurity and elections, 
and in recent months we were 
involved in efforts to recount 
the presidential election to 
confirm 
that 
the 
outcome 

hadn’t been changed by a 
cyberattack. I wrote about why 
these efforts were necessary 
shortly after the election. In 
any case, the content of these 
emails is contemptible, and I’m 
sorry that the EECS student 
body was subjected to them. 
The university is aware of 
the situation, and I expect an 

official response soon.”

The University Division of 

Public Safety and Security 
also tweeted a message stating 
actions are being taken in 
an 
investigation 
of 
these 

incidents. 

In response to the emails, 

a post was made in the public 
Computer Science Facebook 
group 
for 
the 
University. 

Comments 
on 
the 
post 

speculated as to how and why 
the messages were sent.

“The uniqname is probably 

being faked to a moderator/
owner on the group so the 
email will bypass moderation,” 
one comment reads. “The name 
is being set to the victim’s name 
along with reply-to field so he 
receives the complaint.”

Engineering 
junior 
Noah 

Martin-Ruben wrote in an 
email interview he would not 
speculate the named senders 
are at fault. 

“It looks like the person 

sending the emails is trying to 
anonymize themselves by using 
a fake, somewhat untraceable 
email,” Martin-Ruben wrote.

On 
the 
same 
Facebook 

page, it was speculated that 
the emails did not come from 
the senders they appeared to. 
Instead, posters believed the 
messages were routed from a 
fake emkei.cz email.

EMAILS
From Page 1A

rather than from Christianity. 

Murray 
discussed 
the 

importance of the “Golden 
Rule,” the concept that rather 
than treating others kindly 
because of a selfish desire 
for 
reciprocal 
kindness, 

humans 
should 
empathize 

with all humans and foster 
relationships bound by love.

“I want to leave you with 

that,” he said. “Because if we 
take in that message, and live 
as somebody else, regardless 
of 
their 
beliefs, 
regardless 

of their creeds, regardless of 
their backgrounds, regardless 
of their ethnicities, if we can 
take in that message and live 
like that, then maybe our 
correct idea of what it means 
to be human will ultimately be 
restored.”

Murray 
also 
believes 

relationships are failing due 
to humans passing judgement 
onto 
others 
rather 
than 

deriving intrinsic worth from 
God.

“Our sense of connectedness 

is cracked,” Murray said. “If our 
connection to God is cracked, 
our connection to each other is 
cracked.”

Zacharias expanded upon 

Murray’s 
idea 
of 
intrinsic 

worth 
by 
explaining 
how 

relationships are what help 
make human beings unique, 
despite being made in the 
image of God.

“How God manages this 

is absolutely remarkable, by 
introducing the notion of the 
family and love between the 
fellow human being,” Zacharias 
said. “While you and I share 

the image of God, you have a 
distinctive uniqueness where 
your relationships give you the 
privilege of a kind of love that 
they cannot give to anybody 
else. You are in a relationship 
with that privilege to God.”

Zacharias 
said 
citizens 

put too much value in their 
governments rather than in 
their own self-worth.

“Some 
nations 
actually 

believe that the value of an 
individual is made by those in 
power,” he said. “That’s not 
what the Bible reminds you and 
me; it reminds us that you are 
made with such essential worth 
and intrinsic worth.”

Zacharias ended the event 

with his disappointment in 
the amount of social division 
in 
the 
modern 
world. 
He 

questioned what civil rights 
activist Martin Luther King 
Jr. would think of the hatred 
being spewed — believing that 
the words of intolerance send 
a terrible message to today’s 
youth.

“What has happened to us 

now?” Zacharias said. “If we 
can’t even talk to each other 
in a civil way, we are sending 
a horrible example to our 
young — to say that unless you 
think like me, I’m going to be 
intolerant of you.”

Regardless of their religious 

views, students in attendance 
shared the opinion that the 
speakers presented interesting 
points and thought-provoking 
ideas.

LSA sophomore Mary Kate 

McNamara said she appreciated 
how the talk allowed people of 
many different worldviews to 
come together and discuss a 
topic relevant to all humans.

“I really liked the Q&A at 

the 
end,” 
McNamara 
said. 

“I found it very interesting 
and refreshing that people 
with 
such 
different 
world 

perspectives, whether they are 
Christian, of another religion 
or non-religious, could discuss 
a topic as important as human 
worth and dignity with such 
respect for one another.”

LSA senior Erin Finn said 

she was excited to take part in 
a forum where the Christian 
perspective on the purpose 
of life was illuminated, as too 
many people view Christianity 
as a strict set of rules rather 
than guiding purpose of life.

She explained that message 

of the speakers and how they 
voiced her beliefs accurately 
to a large group of people, 
resonated within her. 

“Ravi 
and 
Abdu 
really 

touched on how Christianity 
is about an ultimate gift of love 
from God, and how God’s love 
for us gives our life purpose,” 
Finn said. “They noted how 
this his necessitates nothing 
from us, but rather arises from 
our intrinsic worth as human 
beings made in God’s image. 
As a Christian, I was really 
happy that other people could 
hear what I actually believe, 
not what they might think I 
believe.”

CHRISTIAN
From Page 1A

passed with two dissenting 
votes, from Councilmember 
Jack Eaton (D–Ward 4) and 
Councilmember Jane Lumm 
(I–Ward 2).

“I am vividly aware of the 

cost of smoking, but I can’t 
support this ordinance,” Eaton 
said in a July City Council 
meeting. 
“The 
Michigan 

Tobacco Products Tax Act 
says that we shall not impose 
any 
new 
requirements 
or 

prohibitions 
pertaining 
to 

the sale of tobacco, and that’s 
exactly what we’re doing here. 
I think that when there’s a 
state law that tells us not to do 
something, we’re ill-advised 
to do it regardless of how 
passionate we are about the 
intent behind the law.”

The opinion, also issued 

Monday, was requested by 
state Sen. Rick Jones (R–Grand 
Ledge). In it, Schuette argues 
state law preempts local laws 
in this case, and that it is 
specifically in conflict with 
the state’s Age of Majority Act.

“The Act expressly bars 

laws that prescribe duties, 
liabilities, 
responsibilities, 

rights and legal capacity of 
persons who are 18 to 20 years 
old that are ‘different’ from 
those who are 21 years old,” 
Schuette wrote. “The Age of 

Majority Act’s rejection of a 
difference of laws for those 
between the ages of 18 to 20 
years as a class from those 21 
years and older was predicated 
on the existence of a duty, 
liability, responsibility, right, 
or legal capacity related to the 
sale or furnishing of tobacco 
products.”

Though the minimum age of 

21 for the purchase of alcohol 
in the state appears in conflict 
with this act, the Michigan 
Court of Appeals ruled in 1984 
that the general provisions in 
the Age of Majority Act “did not 
alter” the Liquor Control Act 
passed by the state legislature, 
which raised the minimum age 
for purchase from 18 to 21.

Noting 
that 
Schuette’s 

opinion did not have legal 
weight, Grand implied the 
opinion also might be factually 
incorrect.

“Not being an attorney, I 

won’t comment much on the 
legal merits of the opinion, 
except that I would like to point 
out that the attorney general 
has been wrong before,” she 
said.

Furthermore, 
Grand 

questioned 
the 
motives 
of 

Attorney 
General 
Schuette 

in issuing the opinion, saying 
it was a failure of his duty to 
protect the health of Michigan 
residents, and making her own 
motives clear.

“We have a couple public 

officials who are supposed to 
defend the health of Michigan 
citizens,” she said, referring 
to Schuette and Jones. “Why 
would they have the audacity 
to make it easier for our youth 
to have access to tobacco 
products?”

Grand referenced a study, 

published in March 2015 by the 
Institute of Medicine, which 
concluded that Tobacco 21 
ordinances would achieve their 
intended effect of preventing 
adolescents from taking up 
smoking in the first place.

“The committee concludes 

that overall, increasing the 
(minimum age of legal access) 
for tobacco products will likely 
prevent or delay initiation of 
tobacco use by adolescents and 
young adults,” the study reads. 
“The age group most impacted 
will be those age 15 to 17 years.”

In addition to adolescents 

who have access to tobacco 
through 
older 
friends 
or 

siblings, the ordinance also 
targets 
18-to-20-year-olds 

who may be on the path to 
addiction, Grand said.

Though the ordinance does 

not provide any resources 
for people under 21 who are 
already addicted, Washtenaw 
County and the University of 
Michigan both run tobacco 
cessation programs to assist 
residents 
and 
students 

struggling 
with 
tobacco 

addiction.

CITY
From Page 1A

recently met during the filming 
process.

The woman, whose name 

was not given, was waiting 
for a local food pantry to be 
opened with two other men, as 
she had not eaten in four days, 
only to be turned down by the 
food bank for not having a 
mailing address.

Toward the end of the event, 

the authors stressed the need 
for action to be taken.

“Whatever those things are 

that we do, it is maybe not so 
much what you do, as how you 
do it,” Shaefer said. 

Shannon 
Powers, 
a 

University 
alum 
who 
now 

works at the Chelsea District 
Library, 
initially 
read 
the 

book as part of the Washtenaw 
Reads Planning Committee.

“It was so informative, but 

in a great way,” Powers said. 
“It was very narrative … so you 

were able to raise awareness 
and reach a larger audience as 
it was accessible to the average 
person.”

Kathy Daly, an Ann Arbor 

resident, said she appreciates 
how the book is so far-
reaching, and added that she 
finds it groundbreaking.

“It’s sort of low-key as 

it recounts stories of how 
people are trying to survive,” 
Daly said. “At the same time, 
because it is low-key, it is 
infinitely profound.”

$2
From Page 1A

If we can’t even 
talk to each other 

in a civil way, 

we are sending a 
horrible example

yet, with 34 against and 13 in favor.

Schrayer said the lunches would 

not be open to the public nor to 
students in general, but to only a 
select group.

“We can very easily get this 

funding from other places, but we 
think it’s a really good thing for 
CSG to pass,” Schrayer said.

CSG President David Schafer, 

an LSA senior, was opposed to 
the idea, as he believes that it’s not 
within CSG’s jurisdiction to fund 
resolutions of that nature.

“Quite simply, it’s not CSG’s 

place to judicate on international 
conflicts and international issues,” 
Schafer said. “Our scope is narrow, 
our priority, first and foremost, 
is to address pressing campus 
issues, and how students on this 
campus feel. I’ll be very honest, 
when people come up to me and 
say, ‘David, why is CSG considering 
(Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions), it 

has no place in CSG’ — I believe that 
BDS is far more relevant to CSG 
than this resolution, because BDS 
more directly impacts students 
on this campus. This is judicating 
on a conflict that ostensibly has 
no effects on the students on this 
campus directly.”

Schrayer disagreed, believing 

CSG is the right avenue to address 
campus climate. He said if Jewish 
student 
organization 
Hillel 

sponsored the event, it would look 
too biased.

“I think this is 100 percent a 

student government issue because 
it’s campus climate, it’s how 
students on campus are dealing 
with 
one 
another 
and 
their 

everyday lives on campus; people 
feel this every single day,” Schrayer 
argued. “If not here, then where 
is the place? This is why I ran 
for student government, to bring 
issues that affect my community 
here. We’re simply buying food for 
people to come together and I don’t 
see a downside to that.”

Rackham student Rep. Andy 

Snow expressed that the amount 
requested wasn’t outside of the 
CSG budget’s means, and stated 
that the resolution was showing 
initiative in trying to improve 
campus climate.

“This is 200 bucks, and we have 

approximately $20,000 — that’s 
0.01 percent of the money we have 
for the next month,” Snow said. 
“I don’t think it’s going to work 
at all, but I see no reason why it’s 
not worth trying when they’re the 
only people who have tried to do 
something through here. I find 
the pushback on this absolutely 
ridiculous.”

Schafer responded to Snow, 

emphasizing that BDS has had little 
consistent change when presented 
to the body and that his opposition 
to the resolution was not because of 
its financial aspects.

“We’ve given BDS the same 

chance that we’ve given this 
resolution, and every year BDS has 
failed, OK?” Schafer said. 

CSG
From Page 1A

This appears to be 
a cowardly action 
by someone who 

is unhappy 

Read more online at 

michigandaily.com