To mark the beginning of the
University of Michigan’s Martin
Luther King Jr. Day Symposium,
the Institute for Social Research
held
a
panel
Wednesday
afternoon discussing the various
effects of gentrification in Detroit
and across the United States.
The University’s theme for this
year’s MLK symposium is “The
Fierce Urgency of Now,” which
Dory Knight-Ingram, a senior
editor for the Institute of Social
Research, explained relates deeply
to the topic of gentrification.
“Gentrification is now and
it is urgent,” she said. “It is a
multifaceted situation, and there
is no simple answer, but we are
trying to raise awareness.”
Piper Simmons, a coordinator
for
the
Inter-University
Consortium for Political and
Social Research which organized
the day’s events, explained the
consortium chose the topic of the
panel with care. Gentrification,
she noted, engages with both the
MLK symposium theme and the
University’s ongoing diversity,
equity and inclusion initiative.
The panelists examined the
effects of gentrification through
diverse lenses of sociology, social
work,
architecture,
personal
experience
and
population
studies. Their overarching goal,
explained Margaret Levenstein,
director of ICPSR, was to provide
the audience with the tools to
think about this multifaceted and
fast-growing issue.
“I think this is a great panel,
and one of the things I really
like about having a discussion
like this is that people often feel
like gentrification is something
which happens to them,” she said.
“I’m hoping that having these
various perspectives will help us
to understand better how we can
all have agency in determining
the future of the communities in
which we live.”
Panelist Shayna Brown, a 2017
Music, Theatre & Dance graduate,
revealed she has been thinking
about the effect of gentrification
since her freshman year at the
University when she came home
from school and asked her mother
about new construction in Detroit.
Many have hailed the city’s
comeback in recent years, with
millions of dollars in investments
pouring
into
development
downtown, but residents like
Brown’s family found themselves
left behind.
“She was like, ‘That’s not for us,
that’s for tourists,’” Brown said. “I
thought, ‘That’s an odd thing to
say,’ and I didn’t understand, so I
decided to do research.”
Brown
conducted
an
independent
study
on
gentrification and, like all four
panelists, remains invested in the
complex issue.
Other
panelists
included
Tam
Perry,
assistant
social
work professor at Wayne State
LSA
Student
Government
convened for the first meeting of
the winter semester Wednesday
evening
to
discuss
three
upcoming resolutions regarding
the academic calendar and
building
conditions
at
the
University of Michigan.
Public Policy junior Lauren
Schandevel and LSA junior
Meaghan
Wheat
attended
the meeting to discuss their
resolution that would create
a new minor: Collaborative
Learning Across Socioeconomic
Statuses. Schandevel and Wheat
said they hope to bring related
courses together and encourage
students to take courses across
departments, including African
and
Afro-American
Studies,
American Culture, Economics,
History,
Psychology,
Public
Policy, Sociology and Women’s
Studies.
The pair said they have
gathered support from various
department chairs, and have
received
expressed
interest
from
the
Sociology
and
Women’s Studies Departments
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Thursday, January 11, 2018
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 54
©2018 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 LSA SG, Page 3
LSA SG to
deliberate
on building
renovation
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Group also pushes toward
new changes to academic
calendar in coming year
ABBY TAKAS
Daily Staff Reporter
MICHAEL BARSKY/Daily
U-M alumna Shayna Brown speaks during a panel titled Examining the Effects on Gentrification at the Institute for
Social Research as part of the MLK Symposium event Wednesday.
Panel kicks off MLK weekend events
with discussion on gentrification in MI
Students can often be culprits of rising urban inequity in both Detroit, Ann Arbor
KATE JENKINS
Daily Staff Reporter
michigandaily.com
For more stories and coverage, visit
See MLK, Page 3
Activists
demonstrating
against Ann Arbor’s deer cull
discovered a homeless man
living in a designated shooting
zone for the cull Tuesday.
The deer cull began in 2015
after City Council approved
sharpshooters to reduce the
population of deer.
The demonstrators said their
discovery
demonstrates
the
city’s negligence in organizing
the cull, which is currently in
its third day of operation. City
administrators were unaware
the man was sleeping near one
of the bait piles used in the cull.
The homeless man, who
was visited and interviewed
Tuesday by The Ann Arbor
News, said he is aware of the
culling operations and has not
been in any immediate danger.
He said he is confident in the
contractor’s safety protocols
and isn’t concerned about his
safety.
Though the city does not
disclose
details
of
culling
operations
while
they
are
happening,
two
years
ago
See DEER, Page 3
Homeless
man found
by activists
in cull park
ANN ARBOR
Some residents point to
new hazards to A2 citizens
imposed by deer cull
RILEY LANGEFELD
Daily Staff Reporter
University alum Sean Smith
graduated last winter, and now
works as a fellow in LSA Dean
Andrew Martin’s office. When
he goes home to visit his family,
Smith says his family relies on
him for more information on
current events. Recently, his
family has been pressing him
about the passing of the tax bill,
but narratives like his family’s
are often left out of resources,
leaving Smith, and many others,
confused.
“When I went home, the first
thing my family asked me was
how I feel about the tax bill,”
Smith said. “They expect me
to have the knowledge being
first-gen, but I just haven’t been
able to find it. The biggest thing
that I can say is that there is no
perspective from my tax bracket
in the conversation. That should
be telling.”
In late December, Congress
passed the most sweeping rewrite
of the U.S. tax code in decades. The
bill slashed the corporate tax rate,
doubled the size of inheritances
shielded from taxes and allowed
pass-through businesses greater
deduction. But most startling to
many students at the University
of Michigan are the changes for
individual taxpayers.
According
to
PBS
News,
Americans
making
over
$500,000 a year would see a
net benefit worth 3 percent of
their income – approximately
$21,000 in 2019. However, all
Americans making $30,000 will
be giving up more in taxes, and
middle-class Americans making
between $40,000 and $75,000
will have tax cuts that dwarf in
comparison to those of upper-
class Americans.
In
Washington,
D.C.,
Democrats
voiced
strong
opposition to the bill. Senate
Minority Leader Sen. Chuck
Schumer, D-N.Y., went so far as
to say the bill is ruining America
because of the financial burden
it will place on low-income
Americans.
But at the University, which
Gaps in tax
plan effects
play out for
‘U’ students
Human Rights Commision wants
transparency, liability from AAPD
See TAX, Page 3
SAM SO/Daily
Ann Arbor residents gather at the Human Rights Commission meeting to discuss the formation of a review board for the AAPD at City Hall Wednesday.
GOVERNMENT
Distribution of higher income brackets
on campus means bill will benefit most
CARLY RYAN
Daily News Editor
Councilmembers echo calls from 70 residents for civilian police review board
Seventy Ann Arbor residents
called for increased accountability
and transparency from the Ann
Arbor
Police
Department
at
the Ann Arbor Human Rights
Commission
Wednesday.
This comes after several local
incidents of police brutality, and
institutional
responses
many
residents view as insufficient.
Because of the unprecedented
number of residents in attendance,
a member of the fire department
stopped by on an anonymous
tip to move the HRC to the City
Council Workroom. Participants
carried signs with slogans such
as “Civilian Police Review Now!”
and “No false solutions.”
Difficulties
with
relations
between the AAPD and the Ann
Arbor community erupted in 2014
when an AAPD officer shot and
killed 40-year-old Aura Rosser,
a Black woman, after the officer
claimed Rosser had charged at
him with a knife.
Rosser’s death was not the
only example of the AAPD’s
questionable use of force. Since
Rosser’s
death,
numerous
incidents such as the violent
arrest
of
Ciaeem
Slaton
at
the Blake Transit Center, the
rough handling of University
of
Michigan
student
Dyshon
Toxey and alleged mistreatment
of several Black students during
tailgates have led residents to
question whether these are issues
of race and how the AAPD can be
held accountable for their actions.
Residents have reacted to the
tenuous
relationship
between
the police and citizens through
various protests and initiatives
calling for a new way of policing
the AAPD. While the Ann Arbor
City Council initially responded
to the uproar in early 2017 by
approving a $200,000 contract
with a consulting firm, Hillard
Heintze LLC, many residents
considered the unsatisfying, and
even counteractive.
Long-time Ann Arbor resident
Shirley
Beckley
expressed
frustration with the long-standing
impasse in relations with AAPD.
GRACE KAY
Daily Staff Reporter
See HRC, Page 2