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

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. 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

