“I can say ‘I’m gay’ so easily 

now, but for the majority of 
my life those words held me 
hostage,” one performer said.

Public Policy junior Lena 

Dreves 
recently 
started 

approaching 
student 
groups 

and organizations for support 
to create a LGBTQ Monologues 
event 
happen, 
which 
was 

ultimately co-sponsored by the 
Spectrum Center and LGBT+ 
Michigan. Dreves wanted to 
bring to light the experiences of 
members of this community, and 
saw this come to fruition at the 
first annual event Wednesday 
night.

LGBTQ Monologues consisted 

of 11 student speakers detailing 
their experiences as members of 
the community and the different 
struggles they have faced. Dreves 
emphasized people need an 
outlet to express the range of 
emotions associated with coming 
out.

“Not 
only 
is 
this 
event 

beneficial for the people sharing, 
but for the people hearing, I 
think it really puts a face to the 
LGBT community,” Dreves said. 
“I think a lot of times we hear 
about statistics and everything’s 
institutionalized and political, 
especially around this topic 
today. I think by hearing stories, 
when people are reading these 
statistics 
they’re 
going 
to 

remember a face and a story.”

Speakers talked about the 

different intricacies associated 
with coming out, focusing on 
topics such as parental dynamics, 
acceptance 
and 
reconciling 

identity with faith. LSA senior 
Michael 
Miller-Perusse, 
who 

was a co-chair of the event and 
is the community outreach chair 
for LGBT+ Michigan, mentioned 
the importance of attending 
monologue events and holding 
supportive events for community 
members.

“We thought Coming Out 

Week would be a great time 
to 
do 
this,” 
Miller-Perusse 

said, referring to the week of 
Oct. 4 to Oct. 11. “I think it’s 
really beneficial for students to 
hear different people in their 
community 
with 
different 

backgrounds and life experiences 
and really listen to their story, 
as well as attend events held by 
people from communities I’m not 
a part of and learn more about 

their experiences.”

Public Policy junior Daniel 

Greene spoke about coming out 
and dealing with unexpected 
backlash after a Michigan Daily 
article about his experience 
as a gay man in Greek life ran 
the same day. He changed his 
monologue after the article was 
released.

The 
Ann 
Arbor 
chapter 

of 
Puerto 
Rico 
Rises, 
a 

nonprofit organization from 
Florida, 
will 
be 
collecting 

donations for those affected 
by the catastrophic damage 
of 
Hurricane 
Maria. 
The 

Category 4 hurricane, which 
struck the island on Sept. 
20, has created a total power 
outage across the nation and 
left only 20 percent of the 
island with water service. As of 
right now, seven percent of the 
island has power back and 47 
percent have access to potable 
water.

Puerto 
Rico 
Rises 
Ann 

Arbor is composed of local 
Puerto Ricans related to the 
University of Michigan as staff, 
graduate students, alumni or 
through some other affiliation. 
According to a press release, 
drop-off locations will be on 
campus to provide students 
and faculty with direct access 
to donate until Oct. 12.

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Thursday, October 5, 2017

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail 
news@michigandaily.com and let us know.

INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 4
©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

Community
increases
aid given to
Puerto Rico

CAMPUS LIFE

Organizations work to 
collect household items
through drop-off locations

JORDYN BAKER
Daily Staff Reporter

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily

Ford junior Lena Dreves speaks at the LGBTQ Monologues at the Union Wednesday.

LGBTQ monologues bring to light
concerns of safety, inclusion on campus

Students spoke about their experiences as a member of this community at Michigan

RHEA CHEETI
Daily Staff Reporter

michigandaily.com

For more stories and coverage, visit

With the two Jewish High 

Holidays — Rosh Hashanah, the 
Jewish New Year, from Sept. 20 
to 22, and Yom Kippur, the Day 
of Atonement, from Sept. 29 to 
30 — only 10 days apart this year, 
Jewish University of Michigan 
students have been struggling 
to juggle academics and their 
religious 
responsibilities. 
The 

University’s long-standing policy 
regarding the religious holiday 
schedule is outlined on the Office 
of the Provost’s website; however, 
while many Jewish students are 
able to accordingly compromise 
with their professors to work 
around their religious schedules, 
some say they find their professors 
to be rather unaccommodating.

Public Policy professor Paul 

Courant, former interim provost, 
emailed the University’s religious 
holidays policy to faculty and 
staff in late August. The current 
policy states the University does 
not cancel classes for religious 
holidays but does require faculty 
and 
staff 
to 
work 
together 

in 
accommodating 
students’ 

academic 
needs 
with 
their 

Concerns
voiced over 
holy day 
flexibility

CAMPUS LIFE

Jewish students discuss 
many inconsistencies with 
religious accommodations

ALEX COTT

Daily Staff Reporter

Wednesday afternoon, the 

University of Michigan settled 
its FOIA lawsuit with the 
Mackinac Center for Public 
Policy to release University 
President 
Mark 
Schlissel’s 

personal 
emails 
from 
his 

University 
email 
account 

during and following the 2016 
presidential election.

Prior 
to 
the 
election, 

Schlissel’s 
concerns 
about 

Trump were prevalent, as the 
emails indicate.

“I realize that some may 

interpret this as anti-Trump 
although 
there 
is 
nothing 

explicit 
in 
the 
remarks,” 

Schlissel 
wrote 
to 
Lisa 

Rudgers, 
the 
University’s 

former vice president for global 
communications and strategic 

initiatives, on Aug. 24, 2016, 
discussing why his freshman 
convocation 
speech 
was 

planning to be heavily focused 
on the election. “I would 
feel awful if Trump won the 
election and I was too afraid of 
appearing political to make any 
effort to encourage our students 
to thoughtfully participate.” 

In one of the emails, Schissel 

remarked 
on 
conservative 

students’ feelings to Daniel 
Little, 
the 
University 
of 

Michigan-Dearborn’s 
chancellor. 

“An 
(sic) 
also 
some 

compliants 
(sic) 
from 
our 

minority of Trump supporters 
who now feel marginalized and 
ostracized in our campus milleu 
(sic) and post election activity,” 
he wrote on Nov. 11. “Ironic.”

The emails later revealed 

Schlissel’s anxiety during the 
aftermath of Trump’s election, 
citing this as a pivotal moment 
of 
his 
term 
as 
University 

president. 

‘U’ releases 
Schlissel’s 
emails harsh 
on President

Hundreds rally at Blake Transit 
Center for teen arrested by AAPD

DANYEL THARAKAN/Daily

Protesters respond to last week’s violent arrest of a teenager by an Ann Arbor police outside the Blake Transit Center downtown Wednesday.

ADMINISTRATION

After suit, settlement documents show 
election season critiques, changes to FOIA 

NISA KHAN, 

COLIN BERESFORD 
& ALEXA ST. JOHN

Daily News Editor, 

Daily Staff Reporter & 
Managing News Editor

Fallout from violent arrest due to miscommunication, concerns of police brutality

Hundreds 
of 
Ann 
Arbor 

residents 
marched 
Wednesday 

night from the Blake Transit Center 
to City Hall to protest last week’s 
violent arrest of Ciaeem Slaton, a 
Black 16-year-old who was waiting 
at the BTC for a bus home.

According 
to 
University 
of 

Michigan 
alum 
Anna 
Lemler, 

an organizer with local activist 
group Collective Against White 
Supremacy, the arresting officer 

was responding to reports of a fight 
that had occurred there earlier.

“It sounds like there was some 

high energy because of that fight 
and so he got there for a different 
reason, to take the bus home, and 
the cop said, ‘You need to leave,’” 
she said in an earlier interview. “So 
he started to walk away from the 
crowd and the cop came up and 
approached him again, and that’s 
when he asked for his ID.”

At that point, Slaton told the 

officer he didn’t have any ID because 
his school had not yet issued them. 
It is unclear if anything transpired 

in between, but the officer then 
proceeded to arrest Slaton, putting 
him face-down on the ground and 
pinning him with his knee. In the 
video, Slaton’s friends can be heard 
telling him not to move, and others 
saying, “F--- 12.”

Ahead of the march, DaQuann 

Harrison, a friend of Slaton’s who 
organized the rally, noted the 
historical context of police brutality 
against young Black men, and the 
history of police brutality in Ann 
Arbor.

“(Ciaeem) is one of many youth 

of color who are targeted by police 

in here. His situation is also one of 
many that has historically appeared 
here in Ann Arbor,” Harrison said. 
“And we cannot forget the many 
young Black people who have been 
brutalized around the country 
by police: Tamir Rice, Jordan 
Edwards, 
Oscar 
Grant, 
Mike 

Brown, Freddie Gray, just to name 
a few. And here in Ann Arbor, Aura 
Rosser, a Black woman shot and 
killed while in crisis by an AAPD 
officer.”

ANDREW HIYAMA

Daily Staff Reporter

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Read more at MichiganDaily.com

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