Dozens filed in and out of 

Seek Refuge’s first clothing 
line launch party held in the 
Michigan League’s Hussey 
Room on Tuesday evening. 
Seek Refuge is an organization, 
founded by Dearborn native 
Shazia Ijaz, committed to 
bringing awareness to aid 
refugees, empower women 
and 
represent 
Muslims 

through its clothing line. The 
organization currently gives 
a portion of its proceeds to a 
refugee aid program and was 
recently featured in Vogue 
magazine.

In its mission statement, 

Seek 
Refuge 
stresses 
the 

need to empower millennial 
Muslim women, and says the 
clothing line combines Islamic 
messages and aesthetics with 
American style to produce a 
forward fashion choice for 
millennial Muslim women.

The 
mission 
statement 

continues 
to 
focus 
on 

how 
Muslim 
women 
are 

misrepresented 
in 
society 

and how “in today’s social 
and 
political 
climate, 
it 

is 
crucial 
to 
accurately 

represent American Muslims 
in society.”

The mission statement was 

echoed at the event, as a video 
played on repeat showing 
President 
Donald 
Trump 

exclaiming, 
“Islam 
hates 

us” and other Islamophobic 

comments made by political 
figures and other figures in 
the media. The sequence was 
then followed by a segment 
with Seek Refuge founder 
Shazia Ijaz, a University of 
Michigan alum, who briefly 
explained 
Seek 
Refuge’s 

message.

Four models sported the 

four clothing pieces currently 

released by Seek Refuge as 
the video, mentioned above, 
played in the background, and 
Ijaz spoke with event guests.

Ijaz 
described 
the 

label 
as,“the 
world’s 
first 

streetwear clothing brand for 
Muslim women.”

“What makes Seek Refuge 

different as a brand is that 
we focus on representing 

Muslim 
women 
through 

our Islamic designs and not 
through enforcing a modesty 
standard,” 
she 
said. 
“We 

design clothes that work for 
Muslim women who practice 
all levels of modesty … And 
our American street style 
combined with our Islamic 
designs allow women who 

Central Student Government 

met on Tuesday evening to 
discuss 
the 
University 
of 

Michigan’s 
decision 
to 
end 

Michigan time, the tradition of 
starting classes 10 minutes after 
the hour. Beginning on May 1, 
classes will start on the hour and 
end 10 minutes before the next to 
allow for students to get to back-
to-back classes. The assembly also 
passed resolutions support the 
demands for more representation 
by Latinx students, and increased 
transparency in the Univeristy’s 
endowment investments. 

The 
assembly 
welcomed 

Dean of Students Laura Blake 

Jones, 
who 
explained 
the 

administration’s 
reasoning 

and answered representatives’ 
questions. 
Jones 
said 
the 

University’s professional schools, 
such as the School of Nursing 
and the Dental School, operate 
on the hour. Classes that run on 
Michigan time cannot use rooms 
in these professional schools 
because of the difference in start 
times.

“Other 
schools 
could 
use 

those classrooms, but they’re 
hindered from being able to do 
that currently because if the 
classes start at 10 after the hour 
and that room needs to be ready 
for transition at 10 until the hour,” 
Jones said. “It’s not possible to 
schedule them as efficiently as we 

Michigan State University 

is facing three new lawsuits 
as of Saturday with regard 
to the handling of the sexual 
assault 
allegations 
against 

Larry Nassar, a former USA 
Gymnastics doctor and MSU 
sports 
medicine 
doctor, 

according to the State News on 
Tuesday. Just days after these 
lawsuits 
were 
announced, 

Bob Noto, MSU vice president 
for Legal Affairs and General 
Counsel, 
announced 
his 

retirement in a press release. 
Former chief justice of the 
Michigan 
Supreme 
Court, 

Robert 
Young 
will 
now 

coordinate 
the 
legal 
team 

managing these lawsuits. 

Katherine Gordon, one of 

the victims of Nassar’s abuse, 
spoke at Nassar’s trial in 
Ingham County in January, 
where he received 40 to 175 
years for sexual assault. She is 
now the first to sue MSU, the 
university’s Board of Trustees 
and various MSU officials and 
members of the medical staff 

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, February 21, 2018

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

CSG calls for 
transparent 
decisions on 
student life 

New York Times columnist talks 
power of free speech, disagreement

See CSG, Page 3A

IBRAHIM IJAZ/Daily

LSA senior Sahr Yazdani, Alum Sidra Kader, Ross senior Shaheda Islam and LSA senior Nazmun Nahar model at the 
Seek Refuge Launch Party at the Michigan League Tuesday. 

STUDENT GOVERNMENT

Resolution calls for endowment investigation, 
reps. argue over Michigan Time changes

Bret Stephens rails against Trump, echoes Navarro on understanding other viewpoints

Bret Stephens, a columnist at 

the New York Times, spoke on 
the importance of free speech 
and disagreement Thursday at 
the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre 

in a talk titled, “Free Speech and 
the Necessity of Discomfort.” 
The talk, presented by Wallace 
House, was part of the “Speech 
and 
Inclusion: 
Recognizing 

Conflict 
and 
Building 
Tools 

for Engagement” series, which 
previously brought speakers such 
Joshua Johnson of NPR, and 
was put on by the University of 

Michigan’s Office of Diversity, 
Equity & Inclusion.

Stephens 
joined 
the 
New 

York Times in April 2017, having 
previously worked for The Wall 
Street Journal and The Jerusalem 
Post. 
A 
neoconservative 
and 

political commentator, he is a 
member of the “Never Trump” 
movement 
of 
conservatives 

opposing 
President 
Donald 

Trump. 

Stephens 
began 
his 
talk 

speaking briefly about his past 
journalism 
experience. 
He 

discussed the effects of the 2016 
election on free speech and went 
on to say both sides of the political 
spectrum 
were 
responsible 

SONIA LEE
For The Daily

See MSU, Page 3A

More call it 
quits from 
admin. at 
Mich. State

CRIME

After flood of new lawsuits, 
VP of Legal Affairs steps 
down in Nassar fallout

HALEY MCLAUGHLIN/Daily

Bret Stephens, New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner, discusses the roles of free speech and personal discomfort in education in the League Tuesday. 

Alum’s streetwear brand featuring 
Muslim women launches at the League

Ijaz kicks off Seek Refuge clothing line, will donate proceeds to intl. refugee aid

An Afternoon Tea
This week, the Statement 

took a look at the historical 

contexts and stark 

traditionalism of Martha 

Cook Residence Hall

» Page 1B

See STREETWEAR, Page 3A

See COLUMNIST, Page 3A

Ann 
Arbor 
City 
Council 

convened Tuesday evening to 
discuss the Housing and Human 
Services 
Advisory 
Board’s 

financial constraints, including 
cutbacks on housing vouchers 
and the council’s vote to amend 
the city’s zoning ordinance, 
which 
prohibits 
front 
yard 

installments of solar panels.

According to Anne Bannister, 

D-Ward 1, the Housing and 
Human Services Advisory Board 
discussed during their meeting 
on Feb. 9 how funds from the 
mental health millages—a new 
tax approved in last November’s 
midterm elections—will be spent 
in the 2019 fiscal year to support 
the Affordable Housing Fund. 
The millage was projected to 
raise $15 million in sum. 

“That’s an eight-year millage 

and we’re expecting a million 
dollars 
coming 
from 
the 

40 
percent 
designated 
(for) 

affordable housing,” Bannister 
said. “Of that money, we are 
recommending to council 25 
percent pass through supportive 
services with a handful of 

See COUNCIL, Page 3A

Council to 
change city 
solar panel 
guidelines

ANN ARBOR

Ordinance clears up “blind 
spots,” health millages will 
fund affordable housing 

ALEX COTT

Daily Staff Reporter

MATT HARMON

Daily News Editor

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podcast, The 
Daily Weekly 

INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 81
©2018 The Michigan Daily

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O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

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For more stories and coverage, visit

ALICE TRACEY
Daily Staff Reporter

RAFI KUBERSKY

For The Daily

statement

THE MICHIGAN DAILY | FEBRUARY 21, 2018