Thursday
evening,
the
Defend
Affirmative
Action
Party, eMerge and Movement,
three of the four parties running
for Central Student Government
office, gathered in Hutchins
Hall for the first presidential
and vice presidential debate of
the season.
Moderator
Aaron
Kall,
the University of Michigan’s
director
of
debate,
asked
candidates questions chosen
from
nearly
100
potential
questions
sent
in
online
by
University
students.
Presidential candidates were
the first to take the floor.
The
debate
began
with
a
question
regarding
the
Leadership
Engagement
Scholarship and its $5 student
fee discussed at a recent CSG
meeting.
While
candidates
did
agree
the
scholarship
itself is beneficial for students,
LSA
junior
Evan
Rosen,
the
Movement
presidential
candidate,
emphasized
the
presence
of
bigger
issues
involving financial strains for
students.
“The facts are that one in
every five students that get
accepted here don’t enroll at the
University of Michigan because
of financial reasons, and we
were just ranked the number
one least socioeconomic diverse
public university in the nation,”
he said. “It’s $5 here, but where
does that end?”
Continuing with the theme
of underrepresented students,
candidates
responded
to
a
question
regarding
the
University’s
status
as
a
sanctuary city, and whether or
not they believe the University
should be declared as such. All
presidential
candidates
gave
support
for
the
University
becoming a sanctuary city.
On the topic of improving
campus
climate,
candidates
each
presented
different
approaches to advocating for
underrepresented
students
and increasing awareness of
diversity. LSA junior Anushka
Sarkar,
eMerge
presidential
candidate, gave four specific
objectives she feels are crucial
to improving campus climate.
The initiatives she listed
included extending the Race
and Ethnicity requirement to all
colleges within the University,
mandatory
Intergroup
Relations engagement for every
incoming
freshman,
making
the
University
a
sanctuary
campus and increasing minority
enrollment.
“Rhetoric that implies that
we have to go to Detroit to get
students and to make sure they
are qualified to apply to the
University is condescending and
About 35 people gathered
on the steps of the Rackham
Graduate
School
Thursday
evening to hold a vigil for recent
hate crimes — in particular, in
remembrance of the murder
of Indian immigrant Srinivas
Kuchibhotla in Olathe, Kan.
Kuchibhotla was murdered in
Kansas last month when a man
named Adam Purinton shot him
after supposedly yelling “get out
of my country,” as reported in the
New York Times. Purinton was
apprehended and charged with
premeditated murder.
Event co-organizer Brendan
Wu, a University of Michigan
alum, said they wanted to both
commemorate
Kuchibhotla,
but also, more generally, bring
attention to other victims of hate
crimes in the United States.
“We wanted to mourn those
deaths and, more broadly, we
wanted to hold a vigil just to
bring attention to victims of hate
crimes, because they’ve been
on the rise,” Wu said. “We just
wanted to help unite people in
their pain and build strength in
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Friday, March 17, 2017
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 47
©2017 The Michigan Daily
N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
CL A S S I F I E DS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
See HATE CRIMES, Page 3
Vigil brings
attention to
victims of
hate crimes
CAMPUS LIFE
The event was specifically
mourning the death of
Srinivas Kuchibholta
CALEB CHADWELL
Daily Staff Reporter
JEREMY MITNICK/Daily
Candidates representing their parties running for Central Student Government discuss their positions on various
campus issues at a debate in Hutchins Hall on Thursday.
Candidates discuss campus climate,
divestment, other topics at CSG debate
The debate was the first of the Central Student Government election season
JORDYN BAKER
Daily Staff Reporter
michigandaily.com
For more stories and coverage, visit
See DEBATE, Page 3
The first of the University
of
Michigan’s
Teach-Out
Series will be released online
on March 31 and will focus on
how countries transition from
democratic
to
authoritarian
rule. University President Mark
Schlissel announced this online
Teach-Out Series on Monday at
the Academic Innovation Forum
hosted by the Office of Academic
Innovation.
The format and name of the
Teach-Out series were based on
University’s tradition of teach-
ins, which were established in
the 1960s and have continued
to the present. However, it will
be distributed as an edX course.
In an email interview, James
DeVaney,
the
associate
vice
provost for Academic Innovation,
wrote the use of edX to promote
the series is part of a goal to reach
the largest audience possible.
“We hope to reach the broadest
representation of society with
each of our Teach-Outs,” he
wrote. “We are reaching out to
learners through social media,
our partnership with edX, and
See TEACH OUT, Page 3
First teach
out event
slated for
March 31
ACADEMICS
SNRE prof. Arun Agrawal
will discuss authoritarian
governments globally
EMILY MIILLER
Daily Staff Reporter
The University of Michigan’s
Dearborn campus hosted the
year’s second Board of Regents
Meeting on Thursday afternoon.
Central to the meeting were
talks
of
renovations
to
the
Michigan Union and divestment
from Israel — a topic that was not
on the agenda. All regents were in
attendance except Regent Denise
Ilitch (D), who phoned in.
Union renovations
The
regents
unanimously
approved
the
estimated
$85,200,000 budget proposal for
the Michigan Union Renovation
Project
during
the
financial
segment of the agenda. The
construction project itself was
approved at the July 2016 meeting.
Originally constructed in 1919,
the Union has been a University
landmark for many generations
of students and faculty. The
building’s
infrastructural
renovations include the general
improvement of Union facilities,
such as electrical and mechanical
work, as well as architectural
restoration.
Larger
projects
in
design
schematics involve the enclosure
of the courtyard for a student
space, improved accessibility for
compliance with the Americans
with
Disabilities
Act,
the
construction of gender-neutral
bathrooms, new CAPS expansion
and new student organization
space.
Charles Lewis, senior vice
president of Integrated Design
Solutions, the company being
used for the planning of the
renovations,
presented
a
slideshow outlining the blueprints
and graphics, showcasing what
the new Union will look like after
the renovations are completed in
an estimated three years.
One
component
Lewis
presented that received some
questions from Regent Katherine
White (D) and other regents was
the physical renovation to the
North Entrance, on the side of the
Union. The current schematics
UM Regents
cover Union
renovations
in Dearborn
Refugees, panelists give insight into
Michigan’s role in refugee crisis
See REGENTS, Page 3
KEVIN ZHENG/Daily
LSA senior Tina al-Khersan and Oman, a former refugee who works with Access in Detroit to assist refugees new to their communities, present at the “What We
Carried: A Glimpse into the Refugee Crisis” at the UMMA on Thursday.
ADMINISTRATION
At monthly meeting, the University body
also discussed Palestinian-Israeli tensions
JEN MEER &
MATT HARMON
Daily Staff Reporters
Over 100 students and community members gather at UMMA to share experiences
The words of Nigerian author
Chimamanda
Ngozi
Adichie,
“nobody is ever just a refugee,
nobody is just ever a single thing,”
were referenced more than once
during the Michigan Refugee
Assistance Program’s capstone
event: “What We Carried: A
Glimpse Into the Refugee Crisis.”
MRAP
works
alongside
a
nearby
refugee
resettlement
service, Jewish Family services,
Samaritas
and
the
Detroit
Mayor’s
Office
to
connect
University of Michigan students
with opportunities for working
with and on behalf of refugees.
Over
100
students
and
community members gathered
inside the University of Michigan
Museum of Art on Thursday night
to listen as former refugees shared
their stories of resettlement,
and professionals in the refugee
sector
provided
their
own
unique insights into the current
humanitarian crisis.
“What We Carried” was based
on the collaborative storytelling
project
of
photographer
Jim
Lommasson,
who
sought
to
preserve the identities of displaced
Syrian and Iraqi refugees through
the objects they chose to bring
from their destroyed homes.
Lommasson said he began
his project after an Iraqi woman
living in Portland asked him,
“I thank America for removing
Saddam Hussein, but did you
have to destroy my entire country
to do that?” From there, the
photographer began to capture
images of the personal items
refugees took from their homes in
order to tell a story.
Lommasson noted that, though
people often point to photography
as an attempt to humanize its
subjects, it is not the refugees who
need to be humanized.
“The things that I photograph
were sometimes kind of exotic, as
we would expect, but sometimes
there were Barbie dolls, things
that we wouldn’t expect, but it
sends a message that we’re all
alive,” he said. “You don’t need
to be humanized, you’re already
KAELA THEUT
Daily Staff Reporter
See REFUGEES, Page 3