Students
blared
various
demands for accountability and
administrative action after weeks
of racist provocations on campus
earlier this semester, but one
question echoed throughout all
the protests.
“What
happens
to
racist
students
who
get
caught?”
LSA senior Arlyn Reed asked
at a de-stress event held by the
Black Student Union last month
to rounds of applause from the
audience.
“(A University of Michigan)
investigation just means it is
going to be swept under the rug,
and I actually want punishment
for these people, because I want
to feel safe on campus,” LSA
freshman
Madison
Peterson
echoed at a protest the next day.
Reed, a former Central Student
Government
representative,
went on to propose a student
sanctioning process — similar
to one mandated by the sexual
misconduct policy — in the
face of an uptick in bias-related
incidents. The Dean of Student’s
Bias Response Team has logged
52 bias incidents since this July,
but students are correct to point
out neither University Division
of Public Safety and Security
officers nor administrators have
publicly released apprehensions
of any perpetrators.
The role of OSCR and a
changing statement
The catch to Reed’s proposal
is that the institutional process,
in large part, already exists.
The Office of Student Conflict
Resolution
is
tasked
with
enforcing the Statement of Student
Rights
and
Responsibilities
and litigates cases spanning
from alcohol abuse to falsifying
University
documents.
OSCR
uses a spectrum of tools to
address formal violations of the
statement,
including
conflict
resolution,
restorative
justice
or
adjudication.
Informal
workshops include the option for
unconscious bias training.
OSCR director Erik Wessel
said the unit has handled more
than one case of bias this year. E.
Royster Harper, the University’s
vice president for student life,
however, said in a September
interview she was not aware
of one bias investigation to her
knowledge addressed through
OSCR. The statement’s language
is ambiguous, and does not have a
clause expressly sanctioning bias
or discrimination.
While the statement gives
students the right “to be treated
fairly and with dignity regardless
of race, color, national origin,
age, marital status, sex, sexual
orientation,
gender
identity,
gender
expression,
disability,
religion,
height,
weight,
or
veteran status,” the document
does not task students with
the
reciprocal
responsibility.
The only clause broaching bias
Former
Michigan
House
Rep. Jeff Irwin is launching his
campaign for Michigan Senate,
running in the 18th District. State
Sen. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann
Arbor, currently holds the seat, but
is term limited and is unable to run
again in 2018.
Irwin served in the House from
2011 to 2016 in the 53rd District,
which comprises the southern
part of Ann Arbor and most of the
University of Michigan’s campus.
State Rep. Yousef Rabhi, D-Ann
Arbor, succeeded Irwin earlier this
year.
Irwin, known for his strong
advocacy for public education,
plans to continue to push for
increased
funding
for
public
education, as well as addressing
the
criminal
justice
system,
environmental concerns and the
issues in Flint, among other issues.
“I want to fight for tangible
improvements to the quality of life
for the people in Michigan,” Irwin
said.
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tuesday, October 24, 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. 15
©2017 The Michigan Daily
N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
CL A S S I F I E DS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Jeff Irwin
launches
state senate
campaign
GOVERNMENT
Seat currently held by State
Sen. Rebekah Warren, who
is term limited in 2018
COLIN BERESFORD
Daily Staff Reporter
?
24
52
52
7
7
1
1
incidents reported to
Bias Response team
since July
unknown number of
bias cases resolved
by OSCR
cases of harassment
resolved by OSCR in
2 years
year until revision
process begins
OSCR
& Bias
DESIGN BY AVA WEINER
Students push for new amendment to
Statement of Rights & Responsibilities
Recent incidents expose gaps in reporting and OSCR, lacking language on bias
RIYAH BASHA &
KEVIN BIGLIN
Daily News Editor &
Daily Staff Reporter
michigandaily.com
For more stories and coverage, visit
See OSCR, Page 3
The Detroit Connector, a bus
service connecting Ann Arbor to
Detroit, will now provide service
seven days a week, instead of four,
and open full-time service to the
public Oct. 30.
The
bus
service,
which
used to serve only University
of Michigan staff, faculty and
students, will include stops at the
Central Campus Transit Center,
the
University
of
Michigan
Detroit Center and, newly, at
the University of Michigan at
Dearborn campus. Service hours
are also being expanded, with new
hours on Fridays and Saturdays
beginning at 7 a.m. and ending at
1 a.m.
The bus was piloted in 2013
after student demand was assessed
via survey. The initial results of the
survey indicated over 75 percent of
possible riders were ‘very likely’ to
use the service if it were provided.
The bus was a free service with a
suggested $5 donation, and Mcard
holders were able to bring four
guests on the trip per day. There
was also a rudimentary reservation
system for the bus rides in 2014.
See BUS, Page 3
Patron fee,
rides added
to Detroit
Connector
CAMPUS LIFE
A2 - Detroit bus service
will open to the public
and run 7 days a week
CARLY RYAN
Daily Staff Reporter
Fayrouz
Saad,
who
is
currently running for Congress
in Michigan’s 11th District, says
her political story started right in
her dorm, freshman year at the
University of Michigan.
As a Muslim and Arab 18-year-
old after the terrorist attacks
on 9/11, Saad’s parents took her
home from campus, wary of the
discriminatory backlash against
their identities.
But to Saad’s relief, waiting
at her dorm was a collection
of her roommates and friends,
welcoming her home and ensuring
her they would help combat hate.
From that moment on, Saad knew
she wanted to dedicate herself to
protecting those values.
“It was just this really fine
moment of humanism that was
so very much what our country’s
about
and
really
profound
experience that impacted me
for the rest of my life,” Saad said.
“That is America and that is what
America should represent.”
Even today, Saad keeps up
with events on the University
of Michigan campus, and the
racially charged incidents that
have happened recently have only
reiterated what she wants to fight
against.
“It broke my heart when I heard
about the racially charged hate
crimes on campus because I don’t
remember hearing about any of
that even after 9/11. I remember
quite the opposite,” Saad said.
“That got me thinking about why
I want to get in public service. I
really want to protect ... our values.
I want to fight for those values that
I know we all believe in.”
Rep.
Dave
Trott,
R-Birmingham, decided not to
run in the 2018 congressional
race, leaving no incumbent to run
against, and making what used
to be a clearly Republican leaning
district more of a toss-up between
new Republican and Democratic
runners.
College
Republicans
did not respond to requests for
comment.
Still, Saad said she has a long
road ahead of her. If elected, she
will be the first Muslim woman
in Congress, setting a precedent
Alum begins
historic run
for House in
11th District
Debate ensues over appropriate
gestures of kneeling, solidarity
GOVERNMENT
Newcomer Saad, a Democrat, would be
first Muslim woman elected to Congress
Councilmembers facing backlash for kneeling at last week’s meeting, defend their decisions
CARLY RYAN
Daily Staff Reporter
Aug. 26, 2016, San Francisco
49ers
quarterback
Colin
Kaepernick
remained
seated
during the national anthem of a
National Football League preseason
game to protest the oppression of
people of color and ongoing issues
of police brutality in those
communities. Over a year
later and thousands of
miles away from Levi’s
Stadium, Councilmember
Chuck
Warpehoski,
D-Ward 5, tweeted he
would take a kneeduring
the
evening’s
City
Council meeting “out of
respect for the aspiration that
we be a nation ‘with liberty
and justice for all.’”
Four of the 11 City Council
members decided to follow in suit
of Kaepernick — Jason Frenzel,
Sumi Kailasapathy, Chip Smith and
Warpehoski. During the council’s
meeting, Kailasapathy explained
her decision to kneel, wanting
others to judge her patriotism “by
her actions.” In an interview with
CNN later in the week, she touched
on about inclusion — citing her
experiences as a refugee — and
brought up police brutality with
The New York Times on Thursday.
Smith had not planned to
kneel before the evening, but
upon entering the City Council
chambers,
Kailasapathy
approached him and asked him
to join her in protest.
“She is the only member of
Council who’s a person of color,
she’s a woman, she’s a refugee, she’s
a naturalized citizen,” Smith said.
“If she asks me to kneel in solidarity
with her — for this absolutely, I
didn’t give it a second thought.”
He later released a statement,
stating he knelt to stand in solidarity
with those who experience racism,
sexism, classism and homophobia
every day.
Councilmember
Graydon
Krapohl, D-Ward 4, was one of
the council members who chose to
remain standing, citing disrespect
to military service members.
Kaepernick,
however,
switched
from sitting
to kneeling
over a year
ago
after
consulting
with
veterans
on
an
appropriate
action.
“Personally I didn’t think it was
appropriate, that’s not something
I would do; I would like people
not to do it,” Krapohl said. “But I
understand and respect the folks
that do do it, that they feel that they
have a message, something they
want to say, and it’s their right to do
it. From my perspective I’ve served
30 years in the military and I think
it’s disrespectful.”
Following
the
evening’s
meeting, council members who
knelt received criticism, echoing
Krapohl’s
sentiment
that
the
gesture was disrespectful to the
U.S. military. Others condemned
the council’s “empty gesture,”
noting a lack of political action in
regard to issues of police brutality
in the Ann Arbor community.
Austin McCoy, a postdoctoral
fellow at the University, took to
Twitter to call on City Council to
do more to address racial inequality
than kneel during the Pledge of
Allegiance.
In an email interview with
The Daily, McCoy explained
his condemnation of the
council’s actions centered
largely
around
their
failure
to
mention
the fatal shooting of
Aura Rosser in their
reasoning for kneeling.
Rosser, a Black woman,
was shot by an Ann Arbor
police officer in her home
on Nov. 9, 2014 — her death
sparked dozens of local protests
and calls for police reform.
“The original intent
of Colin Kaepernick’s protest was
not just to highlight structural
racism, but to call attention to police
killings of African Americans,”
McCoy wrote. “Failing to link that
intent explicitly with Rosser’s death
demonstrates a denial of local law
enforcement’s role in contributing
to the national trend of the police
killings of African Americans. It
also continues the troubling trend
of rendering black women like
Rosser invisible in conversations
about racism and policing.”
More recently, the Ann Arbor
Police Department came under fire
for a violent arrest of local Black
teen Ciaeem Slaton September at
the Blake Transit Center. AAPD
Police Chief Jim Baird wrote
an email to the council that a
personnel
complaint
is
under
review. Council members have not
brought the arrest up at meetings
in the last month.
McCoy
noted
City
Council
members have the ability to
actually influence policy and if
they care about racial inequality
in policing, they should use their
position to change local law.
“I think it is important for
elected officials, and those in
power, generally, to be more
specific about how they plan
on going about addressing the
relationship
between
policing,
structural racism and sexism, and
poverty here in Ann Arbor,” McCoy
said.
Last month Rackham student
Dana Greene knelt on the block ‘M’
for 21 hours. While he appreciates
the thought behind City Council
members’ kneeling, he too believed
as public officials, they can do more.
“The reason I protest and many
other people protest is we feel like
we don’t really have the ability to
make progressive change outside
of our ability to protest and so that’s
why we decide to do it,” Greene
SOPHIE SHERRY
Daily News Editor
ILLUSTRATION BY HANNAH MYERS
See KNEELING, Page 3
See ALUM, Page 3
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com