NEWS
over the
YEARS

2013
2014

APRIL 22: The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the state of Michigan’s 
ban on affirmative action, specifically the consideration of race in public 

universities’ admissions. In the majority opinion, Justice Anthony 

Kennedy held that under the Constitution, the voter-enacted ban in 

Michigan could not be overturned at the national level. 

SEPTEMBER 5: Mark Schlissel bacame the 14th president of 

the University, succeeding Mary Sue Coleman. Schlissel, who was 

previously the provost at Brown University, discussed his vision for an 

inclusive and accessible campus in his inaugral address. He encouraged 
the exchange of diverse viewpoints and experiences to attain “true 
excellence.” Schlissel’s term began July 1.

Black Student Union 
issues seven demands 
aimed at increasing 
campus diversity

By SAM GRINGLAS and ALICIA 

ADAMCZYK

Daily Staff Reporter and Daily 

News Editor 2013

University 
students 
took 

to Twitter in droves Tuesday 
afternoon to share their experiences 
as Black students in Ann Arbor and 
bring attention to issues of race 
and diversity on campus using the 
hashtag #BBUM.

“Being Black at the University 

of Michigan has many shades and 
many levels to what someone might 
want to speak on it. It can go from 
someone being the only Black 
person in their class to someone 
with no problems at all.”

-LSA senior Eric Gavin
The campaign, initiated by the 

University’s Black Student Union, 
has built up over the past few 
days before trending nationally 
on Twitter Tuesday. The hashtag 
gained 
momentum 
after 
the 

student organization distributed an 
e-mail to community members and 
other campus groups encouraging 
them to participate in the online 
conversation.

LSA 
senior 
Tyrell 
Collier, 

BSU’s president, said the #BBUM 
campaign was planned to raise 
awareness of the experiences of 
Black students and for the BSU to 
collect subjective data it can couple 
with University statistics to address 
pressing issues Black students face.

Collier said BSU encouraged 

students to tweet both negative and 
positive experiences, though the 
tweets have been predominantly 
negative, which he expected.

He said the issue is especially 

pressing on campus because while 
the University frequently discusses 
ways to increase diversity, many 
communities have yet to witness 
tangible results.

“I would like to see the lives of 

Black students valued more,” Collier 
said.

By 10 p.m., over 10,000 tweets 

included the hashtag from Ann 
Arbor and beyond.

“I don’t think this is a problem 

specific to the University, I think it’s 
an experience that Black students at 
predominantly White universities 

across the nation are facing,” he said 
of the far-reaching responses.

Black 
enrollment 
at 
the 

University has fallen precipitously 
over the past decade largely due 
to Proposal 2, an amendment to 
the state constitution that bans 
affirmative action policies that 
was passed by Michigan voters 
in 2006. The proposal, formally 
named the Michigan Civil Rights 
Initiative, bars the University from 
considering race in its admissions 
process.

Immediately after the passage of 

the proposal, University President 
Mary Sue Coleman gave a dramatic 
address on the Diag promising 
to 
maintain 
the 
University’s 

commitment to diversity. However, 
the institution has been unable 
to stanch the decline in minority 
enrollment 
through 
alternative 

outreach policies in the wake of the 
affirmative action ban.

In Fall 2006, Black students made 

up around seven percent of the 
undergraduate population. In Fall 
2013, the University reported that 
Black undergraduate enrollment 
had fallen to 4.65 percent. Hispanic 
enrollment as a percentage of the 
overall undergraduate body also 
declined over the same period.

At a search forum for the next 

University president in September, 
the Presidential Search Advisory 
Committee — which includes the 
University’s Board of Regents — 
heard from a number of students 
about diversity issues. Several 
student speakers at the event said 
many minorities feel they lack a 
voice on campus and occasionally 
experience bias incidents with both 
students and instructors.

Collier 
said 
the 
University 

has not yet contacted BSU about 
Tuesday’s campaign. University 
spokesman Rick Fitzgerald stressed 
that the University’s next step will 
be to listen to the students and their 
experiences on campus.

“I think at this point the listening 

is the most important part and how 
we might respond is the next step 
and we haven’t gotten there yet,” 
Fitzgerald said.

He said the University is aware of 

students’ concerns and recognizes 
that there is always room for 
improvement in any organization.

However, the University’s social 

media team responded to the 
campaign via Twitter Tuesday 
afternoon: “Thanks for engaging in 
this conversation. We’re listening, 
and will be sure all of your voices 

are heard. #BBUM”

E. 
Royster 
Harper, 
the 

University’s 
vice 
president 
for 

student life, created a Twitter 
account late Tuesday to address the 
issue.

“Got on Twitter to hear and 

support your voices. Proud of our 
students. 
More 
later,” 
Harper 

wrote.

LSA senior Eric Gavin, BSU’s 

public relations chair, said several 
recent campus events spurred the 
organization to plan a campaign, 
including a recent controversy 
involving 
Theta 
Xi 
fraternity 

members who branded a party with 
racialized images and words.

BSU also timed its Twitter 

campaign to correspond with a 
forum this evening hosted by the 
Department of Afroamerican and 
African Studies, the Black Student 
Union, We are Michigan and 
Students of Color of Rackham.

BSU hopes to not only engage 

members of its organization but also 
Black campus leaders from an array 
of groups, Gavin said. However, 
leaders didn’t believe the student 
organization would receive national 
attention for its efforts.

“I definitely could not have 

foreseen the national attention 
we have garnered in such a short 
amount of time,” Gavin said. “We 
felt it necessary to push for an 
initiative that would bring more 
awareness to these issues and to the 
larger Black community.”

Though 
traditional 
methods 

such as campus demonstrations 
play a role in raising awareness, 
Gavin said BSU decided social 
media could serve as an additional 
method for sparking dialogue.

“It kept it open ended and that’s 

why it so successful,” Gavin said. 
“The hashtag leaves for open ended 
interpretation so people can say 
what they feel instead of imposing 
somebody’s thoughts on them.”

So far, students have voiced an 

array of perspectives.

“Being Black at the University 

of Michigan has many shades and 
many levels to what someone might 
want to speak on it,” Gavin said. 
“It can go from someone being the 
only Black person in their class to 
someone with no problems at all. 
It’s a spectrum, but we want people 
to be aware of everyone’s different 
ideas on the issue of being Black at 
the University of Michigan.”

Renowned journalist Michele 

By LARA MOEHLMAN

Summer Managing News Editor 2015

As news that the Supreme 

Court ruled in favor of same-sex 
marriage swept across the U.S. 
Friday morning, supporters rallied 
in both downtown Ann Arbor and 
Washington D.C. in celebration of 
this historic decision. 

The Jim Toy Community Center, 

an advocacy group for gay, lesbian, 
bisexual, transgender and queer 
residents of Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti 
and the greater Washtenaw County 
area, hosted a “Day of Decision 
Rally” so supporters could gather 
in response to the Court’s decision. 

After quieting the crowd, April 

DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, one 
couple represented in the string 
of cases considered by the Court, 
offered remarks under rainbow 
colored streamers during the press 
conference portion of the event. 
DeBoer thanked her lawyers for 
their determination and hard 
work.

In January 2012, Michigan 

residents April DeBoer and Jayne 
Rowse filed a lawsuit in the 
U.S. District Court, challenging 
Michigan’s ban on adoption by 
same-sex couples.

DeBoer and Rowse separately 

adopted 
one 
son 
and 
two 

daughters, respectively, but were 
unable to jointly adopt their 
children because Michigan law did 
not recognize same-sex marriages, 
and only granted joint parent 
adoption rights to married couples.

“It’s been a long, long, hard 

road,” Deboer said. “It’s been four 
and a half years in the making… We 
would not be here if it weren’t for 
many people, and first and foremost 
our attorneys: Dana Nessel and 
Ken Mogill, Bob Sedler and Carole 
Stanyar. So I want to thank you 
guys as well. My last comment is to 
my beautiful children: We did this 
for you,” DeBoer said.

Carole Stanyar, one of the 

attorneys for DeBoer and Rowse, 
also spoke at the press conference, 
praising her team and clients for 
their hard work and resilience. 
She 
expressed 
pride 
in 
the 

accomplishments of her case.

“This 
was 
a 
definitive 

statement under equal protection, 
fundamental right, liberty, due 
process,” Stanyar said. “It was for 
now, and it’s for future generations. 
The bans are unconstitutional. 
States cannot treat people this 
way. They cannot treat people 
unequally. Same-sex couples, their 
families, their children, have to be 
treated with dignity and respect,” 

Stanyar said. 

In an interview with the press, 

Attorney General Bill Schuette 
said 
throughout 
litigations, 

his main argument challenged 
who would decide if same-sex 
marriage should be recognized 
in different states. 

“We argued this case is a 

question of who decides: the 
voters across the United States 
of America, or the Justices of the 
Supreme Court,” he said. “It was 
about voters and who decides, that 
was what the case was about.”

Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher 

Taylor 
also 
offered 
remarks 

during 
the 
celebration. 
In 

an interview with the Daily, 
Taylor was enthusiastic about 
this progressive milestone in 
Michigan’s history.

“I could not be more excited for 

the people of Ann Arbor and for 
all Americans. This is a day when 
the Supreme Court has redeemed 
the American promise of equality 
before the law. It has ratified 
that gay, lesbian, transgender 
and bisexual people are fully 
and finally embraced into the 
American family. It’s just — it’s 
wonderful,” Taylor said. 

Beth 
Sherman, 
assistant 

professor of social work at the 
University and her wife, Karen 
Hawver, owner of Precision 
Accounting 
in 
Ann 
Arbor, 

attended the celebration and 
press conference at Braun Court 
with their two children. 

Sherman and Hawver were 

one of the 300 couples married 
in Michigan in March 2014 after 
a U.S. federal judge struck down 
s the state’s ban on same-sex 
marriage. Both were excited that 
the Supreme Court’s decision 
would further legitimize their 
marriage. 

“We’ve been together for 21 

years and we have two kids, and 
now it just means eventually 
we’ll be able to both be their legal 
parents. We were able to marry 
the one day in Michigan, but now 
it just means our marriage will 
be recognized, so it’s good for us 
and for our children.”

University 
alum 
Alanna 

Maguire, a project manager of the 
National Marriage Challenge, 
a 
non-profit 
committed 
to 

legalizing same-sex marriage in 
the U.S., said she was proud of 
her team. She also said she was 
proud of her fiancé Dana Nessel, 
also a University alum and an 
attorney for the April DeBoer 
and Jayne Rowse case. She said 
she was also excited that she 
and Nessel could now obtain a 

marriage license themselves. 

“I can get married in my 

home state. Dana Nessel and I 
are both from Michigan. We’re 
both University of Michigan 
graduates. We love our state. We 
just wanted to make it better, 
and I’m so, so proud of Dana 
particularly today. She carried 
this case from start to finish,” 
said Maguire. 

Brad 
O’Connor, 
president 

of the Jim Toy Community 
Center, expressed enthusiasm 
for his own marriage, which 
was officiated in Illinois, to be 
officially recognized in his home 
state of Michigan. 

“It means that...my family, 

that was only recognized in two-
thirds of the country, is now 
recognized nationwide. I can go 
to Texas or I can go to Louisiana 
and Maine and California and 
have my marriage valid there,” 
said O’Connor.

However, although O’Connor 

reserved today for celebration, he 
added that the Supreme Court’s 
decision resolves only one aspect 
of the LGBTQ community’s 
current struggle for equality in 
the U.S.

“This is just something that 

we check off the list. There’s 
so much more left to do with 
regards to bullying in high 
schools, transgender rights — 
that’s huge— making sure that 
we’re protected at work, because 
we could be fired, still, for being 
gay. The fight’s not over. It’s just 
the battle’s won. It’s a big battle, 
but this battle’s won, and now 
it’s time to move on and keep 
fighting,” O’Connor said.

Aside from granting same-sex 

couples the right to marriage, the 
Supreme Court’s decision could 
have further legal stipulations 
on health and work benefits. 

University spokesperson Rick 

Fitzgerald said the University 
will review the Court’s ruling 
and adjust benefits for same-sex 
couples in both a legal and timely 
fashion. 

“We 
realize 
that 
some 

members of our community 
will be anxious to change their 
benefit enrollment status and we 
will study the ruling carefully 
to ensure that we offer new 
eligibility in a manner that is 
legal and timely,” Fitzgerald 
said. 

In an interview with the Daily, 

University law professor Julian 
Mortenson said the Court’s 
decision could have an impact 
on health benefits the University 
offers. 

“For 
every 
category 
as 

to 
which 
marriage 
triggers 

rights and responsibilities, like 
benefits, 
access, 
permissions 

to health care facilities, etc., 
same-sex marriage couples will 
have exactly the same rights as 
opposite-sex couples,” he said. 

The Supreme Court’s ruling 

was thorough enough to address 
any other potential issues, he 
added, saying it was clear in its 
decision. 

“There 
were 
more 

complicated scenarios that could 
possibly have emerged from this 
opinion before it was released, 
but as it turns out, the Supreme 
Court has written a decision that 
is very straightforward and is 
very emphatic,” he said. 

Sen. 
Gary 
Peters 
(Mich.) 

lauded April DeBoer and Jayne 
Rowse in a statement for their 
courage in taking their case to 
the Supreme Court. 

“With 
this 
decision, 

thousands of Michigan same-sex 
couples will finally be afforded 
the same opportunity to marry 
as other Americans, including 
April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse 
of Michigan, who courageously 
took their case all the way to the 
United States Supreme Court,” 
Peters said.

See BBUM, Page 3

Community reacts to legalization 
of same-sex marriage

#BBUM twitter campaign 
garners national attention 
to the University 

SEPTEMBER 2: The University of Michigan adopted a new sexual 
misconduct policy that emphasized investigation over testimonials 
of complaints. Its implementation followed a 2011 mandate from 

the Department of Education, which clarified Title IX such that 

University investigations into sexual misconduct became obligatory. 

The Office of Student Conflict Resolution, the Office of Institutional 

Equity and the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center 
worked together to amend the policy. 

NOVEMBER 19: In a Twitter campaign that prompted over 

10,000 tweets, the Black Student Union gained national distinction. 

Central to the conversation were issues of race and diversity on campus. 
Students incorporated the hashtag #BBUM, which stands for “Being 
Black at the University of Michigan” to bring awareness to the lives and 
experiences of Black students. 

2 — Saturday, April 29, 2017
News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

