The Michigan Daily sat down
for an interview with University
President
Mark
Schlissel
to
address several current issues
on campus, including a potential
visit
from
Richard
Spencer,
Central Student Government’s
vote for #UMDivest and more.
The Michigan Daily: Starting
with Richard Spencer — in the
Regent’s Meeting called last
week, safety seemed like a big
topic of discussion, that’s your
top priority that you’re stating in
your negotiations and that was a
major concern for students. So, in
the negotiation process, how are
you defining safety? Obviously
there are many components,
physical, mental and emotional,
but how do you work through
that?
University
President
Mark
Schlissel: I think the most
unambiguous one is the physical
safety of our community, and not
just our students but the people
that will come here, or may come
here, to protest for or against
and the safety of the speaker, the
physical safety of the speaker and
then of Ann Arbor. You know,
the town and the University are
intimately linked and we want
to be sure as we move forward, if
we do move forward, that we’re
taking everyone’s physical safety
On
Tuesday
evening,
a
crowd of about 100 students,
faculty
and
community
members joined together in
the Diag for the #StopSpencer
Speak Out with one common
message: Richard Spencer is
not welcome at the University
of Michigan.
The Speak Out was one of
the 11 #StopSpencer Week of
Action events taking place
to protest the University’s
decision to cooperate with
Spencer — an American white
supremacist — and his team’s
request to speak on campus.
The event was organized by
a coalition of student groups
including Stop Spencer at
the University of Michigan,
Students4Justice and more.
The goal of the Speak Out was
to offer individuals who feel
they have been ignored by the
administration a platform to
voice their concerns.
Many
speakers
and
audience
members
at
the
event
expressed
their
frustration
with
the
University’s willingness to
put the safety and comfort of
minority students at risk in
order to work with Spencer’s
request.
One of these individuals
was LSA junior Alex Chow,
who explained by choosing
not to deny Spencer’s request,
the University was leaving
students of color to fend for
themselves.
“The University and its
administration has made it
clear that they’re not going
to protect us so we have to
protect
ourselves,”
Chow
said. “The burden is now
put on people of color, LGBT
people, Muslim people and
Jewish people. All of us have
to protect ourselves because
they refuse to say ‘no.’”
Chow also felt the issue
involving Spencer was not one
of free speech, but instead one
involving hate speech.
“They’re claiming that they
can’t say no to him because
there is a risk of litigation, but
they’ve said no to speakers in
the past,” Chow said. “They
have a world-renowned law
school, but I don’t think that’s
what the main issue is. The
issue is that someone wants to
come here and tell us that we
shouldn’t exist, and that we
should be killed, and that our
lives aren’t important.”
Calls for continued action
against Spencer were heard at
the Speak Out, whether it be
student laborers refusing to
work for the Spencer event or
students continuing to show
up at events in protest.
The
Central
Student
Government meeting Tuesday
night
revisited
the
recent
passing of #UMDivest and the
prospect of white supremacist
Richard Spencer speaking on the
University of Michigan’s campus.
Post #UMDivest debate
The meeting began with a
guest presentation from history
professor Victor Lieberman, who
had not been allowed to speak at
the divestment resolution vote
after objections arose from CSG
representatives. These objections
stemmed from a concern that
Lieberman, who has taught on the
Arab-Israeli conflict, would cause
a power imbalance during the vote
by expressing his anti-divestment
views.
While speaking to the assembly,
Lieberman
took
a
historical
approach to examining the Arab-
Israeli conflict, citing examples of
human rights violations by other
countries, which he believes to be
greater than the alleged violations
by Israel.
“Because there’s a growing
American political lobby against
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 38
©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
See SCHLISSEL, Page 2A
AYUSH THAKAR/DAILY
Students on the Diag gather to protest the University’s consideration of hosting Richard Spencer Tuesday.
ADMINISTRATION
Handmade posters littered
the floor of the Lecturers’
Employee Organization office
on East Liberty Street while
a
half-open
laptop
played
music on Monday night. On
the whiteboard, someone had
written several guiding slogans
in blue Expo marker; “Hail Not
Heil”
and
“#SchlisselWYA”
provided go-to options should
inspiration otherwise fail. Stop
Spencer at the University of
Michigan, a coalition of student
organizations
protesting
the University’s decision to
proceed with negotiations with
Richard Spencer, began their
Week of Action with a sign-
making party.
It was a calm start to what
has been a week packed with
teach-ins, student walkouts and
rallies, all aiming to dissuade
the University from giving
Spencer, a white supremacist
and
Nazi
sympathizer,
a
platform to speak.
Nearly a dozen left-leaning
groups
on
campus
have
banded together to organize
in
opposition
to
Spencer’s
request, from radfun and the
University’s chapter of College
Democrats to the Lecturers’
Employee Organization.
Lauren
Schandevel,
See CSG, Page 3A
See SIT IN, Page 3A
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
SARAH KUNKEL/Daily
LSA Professor Amanda Armstrong presents at the #StopSpencer Week of Action Teach In in Rackham Tuesday.
michigandaily.com
For more stories and coverage, visit
See #STOPSPENCER, Page 3A
LSA Dean Andrew Martin
and Elizabeth Birr Moje, dean
of the School of Education,
announced in separate emails
that
LSA
and
Education
classes would not be canceled
in response to ongoing student
protests this week as part of
the #StopSpencer campaign.
The
“#StopSpencer
Week
of Action” is holding events
on campus to protest the
University
of
Michigan’s
decision to consider allowing
white
supremacist
Richard
Spencer’s request to speak on
campus.
Students4Justice
and
other student organizations
called
upon
faculty
and
administration in an open
letter to waive classes on
Thursday
for
the
student
strike
against
Spencer,
in
which students plan to strike
all classes Thursday. There
are also plans for a walk-out
Wednesday morning morning,
at which time students are
gathering to protest in the
Diag.
See STRIKE, Page 3A
GOVERNMENT
CSG talks
resolution,
prospect of
Spencer
BAMN also calls on the
assembly to condemn
white nationalist’s visit
HAYLEY MCLAUGHLIN
For the Daily
Sit in, teach-out attempt to educate
students on controversial speaker
Law student explains University could face legal ramifications if Spencer is denied
Deans urge
professors
not to strike
Thursday
Email announces LSA,
Education classes will not
be cancelled for protest
KATHERINA SOURINE
Daily Staff Reporter
Schlissel
talks Board
of Regents,
#UMDivest
Campus organizers unite to block
Richard Spencer speaking request
Emphasizes top priority, physical safety
of community, Ann Arbor in interview
Left-leaning student organizations form #StopSpencer, launch ‘Week of Action’
ELIZABETH LAWRENCE
& LEAH GRAHAM
Daily Staff Reporter
& For The Daily
ANDREW HIYAMA &
KAELA THEUT
Daily Staff Reporters
AMARA SHAIKH &
REMI MURREY
Daily Staff Reporters
statement
THE MICHIGAN DAILY | NOVEMBER 29, 2017