White supremacist Richard
Spencer
and
lawyer
Kyle
Bristow are pressuring the
University of Michigan to find
a date and “reasonable location
on
campus”
for
Spencer’s
potential speech on campus by
Jan. 15, Martin Luther King Jr.
Day, Bristow announced in a
press release on Thursday.
“Either select a date by
January
15,
2018—Martin
Luther King Jr. Day—at 5:00
p.m., or else be sued in federal
court
just
like
Michigan
State University, Ohio State
University,
Pennsylvania
State University, and Auburn
University,” the release read.
According to the release,
as part of the negotiations
between the University and
Spencer’s team, the University
has also already offered several
dates for an event: Nov. 29
and 30 — just a week after the
University announced it would
be entering negotiations — and
Dec. 27 and 28, when many
students would be away from
campus for Winter Break.
“None of (the dates) have
been convenient for the event
organizers,” Bristow wrote in
the release.
Georgia
State
University
student Cameron Padgett — a
student who has been making
requests on Spencer’s behalf
at
other
universities
such
as
Penn
State
University,
Michigan State University and
the University of Florida, and
who made the original request
for a potential event at the
University — is now requesting
a date between Feb. 24 and
March 4, which covers the
University’s Spring Break. The
administration is considering
the request, Bristow — who
represents Padgett — said.
While the administration
has
repeatedly
emphasized
that students’ safety is their
first priority in negotiations,
students have responded there
are no circumstances under
which they would feel safe.
At the University’s Board of
Regents’ meeting on Thursday,
Central Student Government
President
Anushka
Sarkar,
an LSA senior, presented a
petitionagainst
Spencer’s
presence, which she said had
been signed by over 5,000
students since being sent out
Tuesday. A separate petition
from alumni, she said, has
received over 6,200 signatures.
“I
echo
thousands
of
students
and
community
members when I say we will not
be safe if he and his followers
come to our campus,” Sarkar
said. “Richard Spencer should
not be accommodated.”
According to an email from
Native
American
Studies
students and faculty submitted
a
request
to
University
of
Michigan
President
Mark
Schlissel’s office Wednesday to
investigate whether the land on
which the University’s Biological
Station sits belongs to the Burt
Lake Band of Odawa and Ojibwa
Native American tribes.
According to the statement,
in the late 1800s, Cheboygan
County had been illegally taxing
Native lands granted to them in
the Treaty of Detroit. The Burt
Lake Band failed to pay these
taxes and their deeds were then
sold to Watts S. Humphrey and
John McGinn. However, the Burt
Lake Band refused to leave this
property.
Stanford University professor
Richard
White
wrote
about
this tribe in his ethnohistorical
report that was included in the
request. On Oct. 15, 1900, Sheriff
Fred Ming and his deputies went
into the Burt Lake Band village,
evicted the Native Americans,
poured kerosene on their homes
and lit them on fire as the
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Friday, December 8, 2017
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 46
©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
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
See BIO, Page 3
Bio Station
reportedly
founded on
taken land
ACADEMICS
Native American band
calling for investigation
into land dispute claims
#WeExist movement calls
for identity category on
University documents
REMY FARKAS
Daily Staff Reporter
DANYEL THARAKAN/DAILY
CSG President Anushka Sarkar presents on concerns regarding Richard Spencer’s potential visit and divestment at
the Regents’ Meeting in the Union Tuesday evening.
Deadline from lawyer for ‘U’ to decide
on Spencer visit extended to January
Administration now has more than a month for negotiations until suit is filed
ANDREW HIYAMA
Daily Staff Reporter
michigandaily.com
For more stories and coverage, visit
See SPENCER, Page 3
Despite
issuing
a
letter
signed by over 715 faculty and
staff members, the #WeExist
campaign
—
consisting
of
students
from
all
three
University
of
Michigan
campuses — faced conflicting
opinions
in
response
to
their request to implement a
Middle Eastern/North African
identity category to University
documents
at
the
Regents
meeting Thursday afternoon.
Last February, a resolution
in favor of creating a ME/NA
identity category was passed by
Central Student Government
unanimously, while a similar
resolution was passed by LSA
Student Government earlier
this fall.
Initially
spearheaded
by #WeExist in November,
the
letter
describes
the
problematic nature of failing
to
include
the
ME/NA
identification
category
on
official documents, especially
pertaining to bias incident
reporting
and
identifying
trends in hiring faculty, staff
See IDENTITY, Page 3
ME/NA
category
addressed
at Regents
ADMINISTRATION
KAELA THEUT
Daily Staff Reporter
In
partnership
with
the
University of Michigan, the
national organization HeForShe,
hosted Professional Women in
ConversationThursday evening,
a panel that highlighted the
gender inequality and other
challenges professional women
face, especially those pursuing
traditionally
male-dominated
careers.
HeForShe is a campaign
founded in 2014 by UN Women
to promote gender equality
and encourage women and
men alike to become agents of
change. It arrived campus in
the fall of 2016 to reduce sexual
violence and educate on gender
issues on campus.
LSA junior Meghan Brody,
education chair of HeForShe,
said Thursday’s panel was a part
of a series of events held over
the course of the week to raise
awareness about these issues.
“I really wanted to give
undergraduate students who
are in male-dominated fields,
be that men or women or people
who don’t identify as either, an
opportunity to talk to someone
who is a part of (those fields) in
a comfortable space where they
didn’t have to feel like there was
a dumb question and where if
they wanted to learn more about
the issues surrounding these
fields they would have a space to
do that.”
The two panelists, Chloe
Siamof
and
Stephanie
Wightman, spoke about their
experience in the sports and
software development words,
respectively. Siamof is a 2016
Yale graduate and a designer
for
the
sports
architecture
firm ROSETTI. Wightman is a
University of Michigan alum and
currently a software developer
at ProModel Corporation.
University alum Stephanie
Wightman, panelist and the
president of the Detroit chapter
of Women in Sports and Events,
said she first experienced the
sexism ingrained in her field in
her high school robotics class.
HeForShe
panel talks
occupational
disparities
Spencer visit, lecturer bargaining
debated at Dec. Regents Meeting
See HEFORSHE, Page 3
DANYEL THARAKAN/Daily
University President Mark Schlissel leads the Regents’ Meeting in the Union Thursday evening.
CAMPUS LIFE
Women in male-dominated fields talk
gender inequalities in the workforce
JULIA YOUNG
Daily Staff Reporter
Criticsms target adminstation response to Spencer’s lawyers, lecturer demands
University
of
Michigan
President
Mark
Schlissel
opened the University’s Board
of Regents December meeting
on Thursday by expressing his
dissatisfaction with the two
tax bills recently passed by the
U.S. House and Senate and their
impacts on graduate students at
the University. Schlissel said the
bills end tax benefits that help
students pay for college.
“If enacted, (the tax bills)
would
make
it
harder
for
students to earn a college degree
or to pursue a Ph.D. here at the
University
of
Michigan
and
across the nation,” Schlissel
said. “Higher education is a key
driver of social mobility and
economic growth in American
society. College degrees prepare
students to compete in a rapidly
evolving job market and to live
more enriching lives. Several
provisions in these bills would
undermine our students.”
The meeting then continued
and covered several other topics
such as Richard Spencer and
LEO bargaining.
Richard Spencer
Several
students
and
other speakers during public
comment vocally opposed white
supremacist Richard Spencer’s
request to speak on campus,
which the University announced
it would proceed with at an
emergency Board of Regents’
meeting on Nov. 21.
Rackham
student
Naomi
Wilson, president of Rackham
Student Government, said it
would be “careless” to allow
Spencer
on
campus.
After
initially
denying
Spencer’s
request
to
speak
on
their
campus, the University of Florida
allowed a speech in October
after Spencer’s team threatened
a lawsuit. Following the event,
three White supremacists were
charged with attempted murder
after shooting at protesters.
“I urge you all to focus and
hone in on the need of students
to be physically and emotionally
ANDREW HIYAMA &
MATT HARMON
Daily Staff Reporters
See REGENTS, Page 3