In November 2015, while 

other students were focusing on 
midterms, football games and 
the fast-approaching Michigan 
winter, then-LSA senior Zachary 
Ackerman had something else 
on his mind. He was running for 
Ann Arbor City Council.

“I grew up in Ann Arbor and 

grew up as a pretty nerdy kid. 
When I was 15 and a student 
at Pioneer High School, that 
nerdiness 
channeled 
itself 

into an interest in politics and 
government. 
Figuring 
local 

government 
was 
the 
most 

approachable, I started attending 
City 
Council 
meetings,” 

Ackerman wrote in an email 
interview. “By early 2015, I had 
grown pretty unhappy with my 
representation on City Council 
and went out to find an alternative 
candidate. 
Unfortunately, 
I 

couldn’t find one, so I threw my 
hat in the ring instead.”

He was not the first person to 

run for or sit on City Council as 
a student, but his involvement 
in local politics is certainly not 
the current norm for University 
of Michigan students. When 
Ackerman ran in 2015, The Daily 
reported a voter turnout of 0.81 
percent of those registered in 
Ward 1’s first and second precinct 
and a voter turnout of 1.15 percent 
for Ward 4’s first precinct — all 
student-heavy areas. At Palmer 
Commons that year, a total of 
seven ballots were cast.

Ann Arbor has over 117,000 

residents, but the University has 
over 44,000 students. Students 
make up a sizeable portion of 
the city, and many issues in town 
directly affect them. So why 
aren’t they voting?

“Students were obviously a 

very big part of that” 

Low voter turnout among 

students is nothing new, nor is it 
unique to the University.

According to the Center for 

Information and Research on 

Civic Learning and Engagement 
at Tufts University, voter turnout 
at universities across the country 
in 2014 was just 19 percent. 
People under 30 voted at a rate 
of only 21 percent. The rest of the 
nation had a much higher turnout 
rate of 36 percent.

As director of the Campus 

Vote Project, an arm of the 
Fair Elections Legal Network, 
Michael Burns is hoping to 
change that reality.

Business 
junior 
Matthew 

Mansour was granted a personal 
protection order against his 
roommate, 
Business 
senior 

Abhishek McFarland, based on 
a tense living environment in 
which Mansour was too afraid 
to come back to his apartment at 
Landmark Apartments on South 
University Avenue. McFarland 
will have to move out of the 
apartment with police present.

The terms of the PPO also 

mandate 
McFarland 
cannot 

have any contact with Mansour. 
While 
McFarland’s 
attorney 

pointed out the two were in the 
same school and possibly the 
same apartment, Washtenaw 
County judge Patrick J. Conlin 
said McFarland should take 
the effort to avoid him and 
that Mansour should not go to 
the police if he simply passes 
McFarland in the apartment.

Close to 40 students packed 

the Washtenaw County Trial 
Court 
Thursday 
afternoon 

to 
support 
Mansour, 
who 

claimed in a viral Facebook 
post yesterday evening he was 
targeted for being a gay man.

While McFarland’s attorney 

argued it was an eviction 
situation to be kept at a 
Landmark level and Mansour 
sought a PPO for his own 
convenience, 
Conlin 
ruled 

the environment was hostile 
enough to grant the order. 
Conlin expressed disbelief at 
the McFarland’s stories and said 
his witness recount involved 
too many people and was too 
inconsistent. 

The case is also currently 

an open investigation with the 
Ann Arbor Police Department. 
AAPD detective Jessica Oliverio 
testified Thursday, but did not 
have many details to add to the 
case. 

Mansour 
said 
while 
he 

was out on Fall Break, his 
friend Michelle Vander Lugt, 
Engineering senior, went to 
borrow groceries from him 
when she noticed all his kitchen 
utensils and dog toys — later 
estimated to be $600 in worth 
— were missing. Additionally, 
she said the roommate who 
opened the door for her warned 
her she might not find anything. 
She then took pictures of knife 
marks 
on 
Mansour’s 
door, 

a 
damaged 
doorknob 
and 

windowsill. Mansour said the 
environment felt more life-
threatening after he came out 
on National Coming Out Day 
earlier this month.

Mansour 
previously 

petitioned the Office of Diversity, 
Equity and Inclusion on the 
basis of sexual discrimination. 
Conlin, however, said he did 
not see evidence of anti-gay 
behavior strictly by McFarland, 
but agreed there have been too 
many incidents that targeted 
Mansour.

Mansour testified Landmark 

randomly assigned Mansour 
to 
McFarland’s 
apartment 

with two roommates. Mansour 
owned a service dog for his 
anxiety, to which McFarland 
reacted harshly on the first 
day and continued to call him 
expletives. 

During his time living with 

his roommates this semester, 
Mansour argued McFarland 
created a toxic environment, 
cheering on a roommate to 
urinate in his dog’s bowl and 
throwing his property out the 
window. He said the roommates 
were also stealing exit signs, 
and when Mansour brought this 
up to Landmark authorities, he 
said McFarland called him a 
“bitch” several times. He then 
said he banged on the wall while 
Mansour was in his bedroom, 
saying “All gays go to hell.”

In his statement to the 

court, McFarland said he was 
frustrated with the situation 
and admitted to swearing at 
Mansour once. He said he 
was allergic to dogs and did 
not realize the service animal 
was hypoallergenic. However, 
Conlin 
said 
McFarland’s 

frustrations with living with a 
dog were targeted at Mansour 
rather than brought up to 
Landmark.

Mansour played a recording 

of a male voice saying the 
expletives 
to 
the 
court. 

McFarland countered the voice 
belonged to his friend.

When McFarland came to 

the stand, he insisted he would 
be happy to welcome Mansour 
back. While he admitted to the 
other roommate urinating in 
his dog’s bowl, he said he did 
not urge neither did he say the 
anti-gay slurs. He insisted it 
was another friend. McFarland 
also said the knife marks on the 
door was because of another 
friend during the weekend of 
the University versus Michigan 
State football game, not Fall 
Break.

McFarland and Mansour’s 

roommate came as another 
witness on McFarland’s behalf. 
As he approached the stand, the 
witness’s gait was wavering and 
speech slurred, prompting the 
judge to ask him if he was under 
the influence. The roommate 
replied he was not.

The 
witness’s 
story 

conflicted 
with 
Mansour’s 

Former state Sen. Gretchen 

Whitmer spoke to students and 
answered their questions during 
an event at the University of 
Michigan on Thursday night at an 
event sponsored by the University’s 
chapter of College Democrats.

In January, Whitmer declared 

her 
candidacy 
for 
governor, 

following 14 years in Michigan 
legislature. 
She 
previously 

served in the Michigan House 
of Representatives and in the 
Michigan Senate. Whitmer spoke 
briefly about why she decided to 
run, reminiscing on the state she 
knew when she was growing up 
and what she hopes to rebuild. 
Some of her areas of concern are 
public education, repealing the 
emergency 
manager 
law 
and 

getting rid of gerrymandering in 
the state of Michigan.

“And right now I look around at 

the Michigan that you’re in, that 
I’m in, that my kids are growing up 
in and I see a state that ranks 41st in 
fourth grade literacy in our country 
because of 25 years of Betsy Devos 
agenda by the way,” Whitmer said. 
“I am proud of having been the 

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Friday, November 3, 2017

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail 
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 23
©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

SPORTS..........B-SECTION

Hearing held 
for student 
attacked by 
roommates

Black students 519% more likely to 
face discrimination, survey reports

See HEARING, Page 3A

DESIGN BY CASEY TIN

CRIME

Court orders personal protection order
after claims of hostile environment

NISA KHAN & 
RIYAH BASHA
Daily News Editors

Campus-wide DEI survey finds majority of student body satisfied with diversity climate

One in five students at the 

University of Michigan — and 43.8 
percent of all underrepresented 
minority 
undergraduates, 

defined as non-white and non-
Asian — reported experiencing a 

discriminatory event in the last 
year.

These metrics and more were 

released Thursday afternoon in 
results of a campus-wide climate 
survey on diversity, equity and 
inclusion.

While a majority of campus 

–– 72 percent of students, faculty 
and staff –– reported overall 

satisfaction 
with 
the 
campus 

climate with respect to diversity, 
minority students are much more 
likely to feel dissatisfied and 
experience discrimination.

34.8 percent of Asian students 

and 7.5 percent of white students 
said 
they 
had 
experienced 

racial 
discrimination. 
Among 

undergraduates, 
37.1 
percent 

of 
women, 
29.3 
percent 
of 

LGBTQ students, 28.1 percent 
of 
international 
students 
and 

47.7 percent of disabled students 
reported experiencing at least one 
incident of discrimination in the 
past 12 months.

Robert Sellers, vice provost 

for equity and inclusion, said the 

ANDREW HIYAMA

Daily Staff Reporter

See CAMPAIGN, Page 3A

Gretchen
Whitmer
campaigns 
on campus

GOVERNMENT

Democrat vying in race 
for governor stumps on 
education, gun control

COLIN BERESFORD

Daily Staff Reporter

A2 council considers lack of 
student voters before election

As elections approach, data suggests few students turn out

MAYA GOLDMAN

Daily Staff Reporter

Sarasota success

Karan Higdon beat the odds 

in his hometown and used 

football to get out Florida. He 
couldn’t have done it without 

the help of his mother and 

high school coach. 

» Page 1B

michigandaily.com

For more stories and coverage, visit

See ELECTION, Page 3A

See CLIMATE, Page 2A

DESIGN BY ROSEANNE CHAO

