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