More than 50 University 

of Michigan students and 
community members gathered 
Tuesday night in the Diag as 
part of a vigil commemorating 
the deaths of civilians due to a 
U.S-led coalition of airstrikes 
in Aleppo, Syria, and Mosul, 
Iraq.

On March 16, an explosion 

in a Syrian mosque left 46 
civilians dead, and between 
March 17 and March 23, more 
than 200 civilians were killed 
in Mosul, as the United States 
fought 
to 
clear 
members 

of the Islamic State from 
the city. As many speakers 

mentioned, 
human-rights 

group Amnesty International 
noted the high civilian toll 
in Mosul suggested U.S.-led 
coalition forces had failed to 
take adequate precautions to 
prevent civilian deaths.

LSA 
sophomore 
Abbas 

Alhassan said he attended 
the vigil because he is of 
Iraqi descent and believes it 
is important to represent his 
heritage at the University.

“You know, I really feel 

like 
the 
Arabs 
here 
are 

very 
underrepresented, 
so 

whenever we have a chance 
to come out and show who we 
are, it’s very important,” he 
said. “You have to show up. 
Otherwise, things like this 

Tuesday evening, Central 

Student Government held its 
last meeting for the 2016-17 
school year.

The 
meeting 
began 
by 

featuring 
several 
guest 

speakers, starting with Chief 
Diversity Officer Rob Sellers, 
the University of Michigan 
vice provost for equity and 
inclusion. Sellers presented 
details 
of 
the 
Diversity, 

Equity and Inclusion plan, 
a five-year plan launched 
in October to help create a 
more diverse and inclusive 
campus. Sellers explained the 
planning 
process, 
creation 

and initiatives of the plan, but 
stated the most crucial aspect 
of the plan is accountability.

“It is extremely important 

that the plan be one that 
is 
about 
metrics 
and 

accountability,” he said.

Sellers stated the Board of 

Regents, University President 
Mark Schlissel, and individual 
school and college deans are 
all included when listing the 
members of administration 
who 
should 
be 
held 

accountable 
for 
upholding 

the plan. He explained the 
difficulty faculty has had in 
previous years dealing with 
issues like microaggressions 
in the classroom. Part of 
the plan works to tackle 
this issue, providing faculty 
with 
specific 
training 
to 

understand how to address 
problems of discrimination in 
the classroom and act on this 
understanding.

“Diversity is a necessary 

component but not a sufficient 
one,” he said. “We also have 
to have an environment that 
is equitable and inclusive for 
diversity to work.”

He also highlighted the idea 

that, while it is important for 

the plan to continue to create 
new initiatives, it is helpful to 
recognize the University has 
a number of programs already 
in place that are ready to be 
built upon and improved.

LSA 
senior 
Anna 

Wibbelman and Engineering 
sophomore Jason Comstock 
of Building a Better Michigan 
— 
a 
student 
advisory 

group 
involved 
with 
the 

development 
of 
University 

Unions and recreation centers 
— were also included in the 
lineup of guest speakers. They 
discussed the renovation of 
the Michigan Union, which 
was founded in 1904 and is the 
third-oldest student union in 
the country. They explained 
that 
last 
year, 
architects 

began gathering student input 

As course-backpacking season 

begins, University of Michigan 
students can now use ClassAI, 
a new web app that uses a 
model to analyze the chances 
students have of getting into a 
class based on the date and time 
they register. The web app was 
co-founded and designed by 
Business senior Jordan Katz and 
Engineering junior Tyler Laredo 
to save students an estimated five 
to 10 hours during backpacking 
for open courses.

“The big thing about this is 

this doesn’t exist,” Katz said. “We 
had to create this from scratch. I 
wanted to create something for 
all students to avoid having these 
problems in the future.”

Katz said he has spent hours 

rearranging his schedules and 
searching for courses ever since 
he was a freshman. The app gives 
students the percentage points 
of their chances of successfully 
enrolling for a course, as well as 
graphs on how quickly sections 
fill up.

“I came in as a freshman 

with not the most favorable 

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, March 29, 2017

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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 55
©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

Vigil mourns 
Syrian, Iraqi 
victims slain 
in airstrike

Graduate student labor union
holds sit-in, demands equitable pay

See VIGIL, Page 3A

HALEY MCLAUGHLIN/Daily

Members of the Graduate Employees Organization host a sit-in at the Fleming Administration Building on Tuesday.

CAMPUS LIFE

Students organize commemoration in 
honor of civilians killed in U.S.-led action

KAELA THEUT
Daily Staff Reporter

400 students demonstrate in Fleming Administration Building throughout the day

Hundreds 
of 
protesters 

crowded 
the 
Fleming 

Administration 
Building 
on 

Tuesday afternoon, chanting, 
“UM works because we do,” 
as part of a sit-in organized 

by the Graduate Employees’ 
Organization. GEO — the labor 
union representing about 2,000 
graduate-student 
employees 

at the University of Michigan 
— stated its proposals to make 
graduate 
employment 
more 

equitable 
at 
the 
University 

have not been taken seriously 
during the contract-negotiation 

process.

About 
400 
people, 
most 

of 
them 
graduate 
students, 

filtered in and out of the 
building and the courtyard 
surrounding it between 10 a.m. 
and 2 p.m. to show support for 
GEO. The narrow hallway of 
the bottom floor of the building 
was almost entirely crowded by 

graduate-student 
instructors 

and 
graduate-student 
staff 

assistants throughout the day, 
similar to an earlier “grade-in” 
held by GEO February in Haven 
Hall, when representatives first 
communicated 
dissatisfaction 

with the University’s response 
to their proposals.

ALON SAMUEL
Daily Staff Reporter

See APP, Page 3A

App aids 
students in 
Fall course
selection 

BUSINESS

ClassAl predicts chances 
of getting into classes 
based on registration date

KEVIN BIGLIN
Daily Staff Reporter

JULIA LAWSON/Daily

Dr. Rob Sellers, U-M Vice Provost for Equity and Inclusoin and Chief Diversity Officer, speaks at the CSG meeting at 
the CSG Chambers on Tuesday.

Last CSG meeting of semester brings 
various speakers, final ideas presented

David Schafer, Micah Griggs deliver closing remarks after year in executive positions

JORDYN BAKER
Daily Staff Reporter

michigandaily.com

For more stories and coverage, visit

See CSG, Page 3A

See SIT-IN, Page 3A

As part of the 22nd Annual 

Exhibition of Art by Michigan 
Prisoners, Heather Thompson, 
a 
University 
of 
Michigan 

history professor, discussed 
the Attica Prison Uprising 
and its context within today’s 
mass incarceration, as well as 
her book “Blood in the Water: 
The Attica Prison Uprising 
of 1971 and Its Legacy” in a 
lecture Tuesday night at the 
Duderstadt Center.

Thompson was the first 

to uncover the events that 
unfolded at the Attica Prison 
Uprising in full. She went 
on to discuss the difficulties 
she faced over the course 
of the 13 years she spent 
researching and writing the 
book, including unveiling the 
documents that detailed the 
events that unfolded at Attica 
Correctional Facility in 1971.

Thompson said she hoped to 

give light to incarceration in 
the United States today.

“When we look at our past, 

we don’t do it just because it’s 
interesting — we do it because 

See ATTICA, Page 3A

Prof. talks 
Attica riots 
at inmate 
art exhibit

CAMPUS LIFE

Acclaimed book reveals 
documents on prisoner 
uprising, state cover-up

COLIN BERESFORD

Daily Staff Reporter

statement

THE MICHIGAN DAILY | MARCH 29, 2017

