With a new initiative headed
by Michigan first lady Sue
Snyder, sexual assault on college
campuses is set to face spirited
bipartisan activism, as discussed
at the third annual sexual assault
prevention summit at Eastern
Michigan University.
“We all must work together
to create an environment where
survivors feel safe and encouraged
to be heard,” Snyder said.
Nearly
500
students,
representatives
from
the
University
of
Michigan
Police
Department,
Title
IX
investigators,
health
care
practitioners, university faculty
and
survivors
attended
the
daylong summit that featured
speeches and discussions by
notable officials such as Gov. Rick
Snyder and Rep. Debbie Dingell,
D-Mich. Multiple small-group
discussions were also offered to
discuss topics such as masculinity,
trauma and campus norms.
First lady Snyder released a
handbook written by the sexual
assault workgroup task force
she organized in May. The
handbook, which will also be
released online, is geared toward
survivors of sexual assault and
aims to streamline the often
tedious, overwhelming process
of navigating options after sexual
assault.
“Too often they don’t know
what they can do, where to turn,
what kind of help they can get, and
this is going to be a great tool for
them,” she said.
While prevention is often
the focus of sexual assault
activism, keynote speaker Dr.
Rebecca Campbell, professor of
psychology at Michigan State
University, reiterated Snyder’s
idea that post-assault care is
important, but often neglected.
She suggested everyone prepare
positive social reactions that can
help the survivor feel in control if
ever trusted with the disclosure of
a sexual assault.
“How
you,
me
and
we
react to disclosures can have a
profound effect on sexual assault
survivors,” Campbell said. “It can
affect if there will be any more
disclosures made. Disclosures are
like a stepping stone that could
eventually lead to help seeking.”
First daughter Kelsey Snyder,
an LSA senior, said Campbell’s
words helped inspire her to
become involved with sexual
assault prevention. Kelsey Snyder
expressed excitement for these
education-based efforts. Having
conducted many talks through
the
University’s
Panhellenic
Association, she found a large
part of the sexual assault problem
on campus stems from many
students’ inability to recognize it.
“A lot of times, when I do
presentations on the University
Fifteen minutes away from its
current location on Washtenaw
Avenue, ground is breaking on
the construction of the new
Trotter Multicultural Center.
Students
first
began
advocating for a new Trotter
Center in 2013. In January 2014,
the Black Student Union released
seven demands to the University,
requesting a space be made on
central campus for students of
color to gather and share their
experiences at the University.
After several years of meetings
and proposals, in April 2017,
the Board of Regents gave final
approval for authorization to
issue the project for contracts
and bids.
Students at the Trotter Center
thought the move presented
both benefits and drawbacks.
Information
student
Alieh
Kimbeng said the move might
bring a more diffused audience.
“People who make the walk
actually want to be a part of
Trotter,” she said. “You won’t
get that (near) Mason Hall or
any building on State Street. I
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Tuesday, September 26, 2017
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVii, No. 97
©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
CROS SWO R D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
See TROTTER, Page 3
Students
weigh in on
building
for Trotter
CAMPUS LIFE
Construction has begun
for the new multicultural
center approved last April
AARON DALAL
Daily Staff Reporter
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
The Snyder family gathers for the sexual assault prevention summit at Eastern Michigan in 2016.
Gov. Snyder, students, officials convene
for sexual assault prevention summit
Third annual event highlights reporting options, prevention and education
CARLY RYAN
Daily Staff Reporter
michigandaily.com
For more stories and coverage, visit
See SUMMIT, Page 3
University Council, the body
comprising representatives from
each
student
government
on
campus, convened its biweekly
meeting Monday evening in the
Michigan Union. Council members
heard from guest speaker Efe
Edevbie, Kinesiology junior and
Central
Student
Government
Kinesiology
representative,
on
recent racist incidents on campus.
“All of you are probably very well
aware of some of the things that
have been happening on campus in
the last couple weeks, and I think
that shows more than anything our
responsibility as student leaders to
take initiative and work on ways to
remedy these situations,” he said.
He
proposed
a
“Day
of
Discussion” hosted by CSG, during
which participants can discuss
social issues and concerns. With a
long-term goal of creating a more
centralized
campus,
Edevbie
encouraged the council to lead the
initiative.
CSG Vice President Nadine
Jawad, a Public Policy senior,
expressed her interest in the
initiative.
She
explained
the
See RENAMING, Page 2
‘U’ council
discusses
renaming,
reactions
STUDENT GOV.
Reps. introduce “Day
of Discussion” event
proposal across schools
JORDYN BAKER
Daily Staff Reporter
At 10:15 in the morning, the C.C.
Little bus station was unusually
empty.
In response to the racist
graffiti on name tags in West
Quad Residence Hall and recent
responses from the University of
Michigan administration, Black
students associated with the
#BBUM movement organized
barricades on North University
Avenue in an effort to halt the
bus routes and disrupt the flow
of a Monday morning at the
University of Michigan.
The demonstration organizers
posted non-Black allies at the
intersections of Geddes Avenue
and Church Street as well as
Fletcher
Street
and
North
University
Avenue
just
after
9:30 am. Soon after, Ann Arbor
police vehicles came to secure the
barrier and redirect traffic away
from the demonstration.
Black students camped out at
the crosswalk in front of the C.C.
Little bus station and the Natural
History Museum with laptops
ready to do homework.
LSA
sophomore
Travon
Stearns, one of the three Black
students whose dorm tags were
vandalized with a racist slur, could
not complete his assignments the
day of the vandalism because he
had to talk to campus police and
respond to other inquiries from
media and students. Because of
this intrusion into his academic
schedule, he said, he wanted to
show the students who wrote the
remarks and all students who are
not involved with the cause what
he felt like that day.
“Our mission statement for
being here is they inconvenienced
me when they wrote the N-word
on my door deck,” Stearns
said. “My plans for the day
were completely ruined so the
purpose for us being here is … you
inconvenienced me for a day, I’m
going to inconvenience you for an
hour.”
Organizer Nando Felten, an
LSA sophomore, said the protest
Protestors
rally, block
bus access to
C.C. Little
Student leads 24-hour kneeling
protest against racism on campus
See BLOCKADE, Page 3
KATELYN MULCAHY/EMMA RICHTER/Daily
Students gather on the Diag to support Rackham student Dana Greene who kneels in protest of racism and racist incidents Monday.
CAMPUS LIFE
Rally is first of AGITATE , a week of
action organized by Black-led coalition
COLIN BERESFORD &
MATT HARMON
Daily Staff Reporters
Hundreds join Kaepernick-style kneel-in conducted by Rackham student Dana Greene
Responding to recent racist
events on campus and a national
controversy brewing around NFL
players taking a knee during the
national anthem, Rackham student
Dana Greene kneeled at the block
‘M’ in the Diag starting at 7 a.m.
Monday morning. As of 9 p.m. on
Monday, Greene remained on the
Diag, with plans to complete a full
24-hours of kneeling.
“I’ve been on this campus for five
years, I did my undergraduate here
and each year the campus climate
has gotten worse and worse,”
Greene said. “The recent election,
the man who holds the highest
office the land, the president of the
United States (Donald Trump), has
made this issue even worse.”
Close to 100 students, faculty and
staff knelt with Greene throughout
the day, with many more standing
around the block ‘M’ on the Diag
in solidarity. By the afternoon,
protesters had two tents pitched
above their heads and dozens of
cartons of water bottles at their feet.
University
of
Michigan
President Mark Schlissel wrote in
a statement that though he is off-
campus on University business,
he supports Greene’s protest and
will meet with him “as soon as he
is back on campus.” Schlissel and
Greene spoke by phone early in the
afternoon.
“I share with many the belief
that our nation does not always live
up to its highest ideals, including
the equal rights we hold dear,”
Schlissel
wrote.
“To
me,
the
American Flag represents many
things, including those very rights. I
support (Greene’s) right to engage in
peaceful protest.”
Greene
continued,
adding
Trump’s policies and responses
have made it harder to be a Black
person in the United States.
“He’s made it harder for people
who look like me and don’t look
like me to walk this campus, to feel
comfortable in our own skin and
I’m here to tell him, and our own
campus president that what we are
dealing with is not OK,” Greene
said. “It’s not right. If I have to sit
COLIN BERESFORD &
MAYA GOLDMAN
Daily Staff Reporters
See KNEELING, Page 3