michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Friday, February 23, 2018
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
After 25 years with the Ann
Arbor Police Department —
the last two as the head of the
department
—
Police
Chief
Jim Baird will be relocating to
Breckenridge, Colo., according
to the Summit Daily of Summit
County, Colo. Howard Lazarus,
Ann Arbor city administrator
announced Baird’s retirement
from the AAPD Tuesday at the
City Council meeting, though not
where he would be relocating.
“I will leave it up to him to
share as he deems appropriate
what life’s next great adventure
is, but we will be preparing for an
orderly turnover and transition,”
Lazarus said. “We all wish the
chief well as he chases what lies
around the curb and the trail.”
Baird, who currently lives in
Stockbridge, will officially step
down on March 24, at which
point Robert Pfannes, AAPD
deputy police chief, will take
over as interim chief. Baird will
begin the job in Breckenridge on
April 23.
Breckenridge,
a
town
known for its ski resorts, has
a population of approximately
5,000, much smaller than Ann
Arbor’s population of about
120,000. However, due to the
town’s large tourism industry,
thousands more can flow in on
short notice –– circumstances
Baird
compared
to
football
games at the University of
Michigan.
“From what I’m hearing, on
Breckenridge’s busiest days, the
town will swell up to 30,000
people,” Baird told the Summit
Daily. “For a home game, the
University of Michigan Stadium
in Ann Arbor holds over three
times that. So that difference in
scale will be significant.”
Baird’s departure comes as the
city is considering the creation
of a police review board that
would review and potentially
investigate complaints against
the department.
AAPD chief
to relocate
to Colorado
skiing town
ROSEANNE CHAO/Daily
ANN ARBOR
Chief Jim Baird finishes 25 years with
department, replacement unconfirmed
ANDREW HIYAMA
Daily News Editor
University has not begun considering firms for review of its sexual misconduct policy
The University of Michigan
will be hiring an “outside
expert” to perform a review
of how the University handles
sexual misconduct reports and
the policies that guide these
practices. The announcement
came eight days after the
University’s
revised
sexual
misconduct policies went into
effect on Feb. 7.
At the Feb. 15 Board of
Regents Meeting, University
President Mark Schlissel laid
out the purposes behind the
Feb. 7 revision, which was in
accordance with the policy’s
annual review, and the decision
to hire an outside firm.
“Now we will seek a broader
examination
of
our
entire
community,”
Schlissel
said.
“This
includes
students,
faculty,
staff,
visitors
and
patients. We will ask an outside
expert to assess the quality of
our current efforts and suggest
what we can be doing better, so
that we can make any fixes that
are necessary.”
University
of
Michigan
spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said
while staff at the University
“are already working on it,”
many details of the review,
such as which firms would be
considered or how the review
would be structured, were not
yet worked out. Still, Fitzgerald
said, the University wanted to
demonstrate its commitment to
overseeing an effective review.
“I think what the president
wanted to make clear very
quickly last week is that we’ve
done a lot of work in this area,
but of course we always want
to take the opportunity to see
if there’s more we should be
doing, or if there’s a process
that can be refined,” he said.
“I would say that’s how we’ve
done things in the past — pretty
open and transparent. I don’t
know how exactly this process
will work because we haven’t
gotten to that point yet.”
A
report
released
by
the
University’s
Office
of
SHANNON ORS
Daily Staff Reporter
See REVIEW, Page 3
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 83
©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
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Confronting failures at MSU, ‘U’
begins prep for external review
Despite being a member of
Oneida Nation of Wisconsin,
historian
Heather
Bruegl
had never been particularly
passionate
about
Native
American history or culture ––
until she went to Wounded Knee,
S.D., the site of the Wounded
Knee Massacre in which 300
Native American men, women
and children died at the hands
of U.S. cavalry. Bruegl now
travels the U.S. delivering talks
on Native American history,
and on Thursday gave a talk
titled “A History of Native
American Policy and Activism:
From A.I.M. to Standing Rock
to Present,” to about 40 people
gathered
in
the
Michigan
League. The lecture, hosted by
the University of Michigan’s
Native
American
Student
Association and Multi-Ethnic
Student Affairs, focused on
defining moments in the history
of Native American policy and
activism.
Engineering senior Gabi May,
chair of the Native American
Student Association, discussed
how the talk aimed to raise
awareness of Native American
culture among students at the
University of Michigan.
“We’re trying to do more
publicly engaged events that are
focused on educating the U-M
students on Native American
culture and history since I
think it’s something we miss in
our curriculum a lot,” she said.
Bruegl began the talk by
explaining
key
government
policies
toward
Native
American
tribes.
She
highlighted how many of these
policies, including the Indian
Removal Act, the Dawes Act and
more, worked against the tribes’
favor, often stripping them of
land, rights and representation.
She explained the somewhat
demeaning attitude U.S. policies
have
typically
had
toward
Native American individuals.
“You find through a lot of
policies that there is kind of a
parental relationship between
the United States government
and Native populations,” she
said. “Every policy, they say,
is an act to cut ties and lose
custody of us — they don’t
want to have to deal with us
anymore.”
While the policies often
inflicted pain on the Native
American community, Bruegl
stated they lead to the American
Indian Movement, founded in
1968. The organization focuses
on representation and action
among the Native American
community.
She went on to discuss
some defining instances of
activism from the group, all
in an effort to raise awareness
of
injustices
against
their
community and their generally
painful history. While not all
of their goals were achieved,
they reportedly did succeed
in effectively communicating
Native American struggles to
the larger population.
“We didn’t exactly get what
This Wednesday, hundreds
of Ann Arbor high school
students
joined
the
scores
of teenagers participating in
national walkouts to protest
gun violence in the wake of
the Feb. 14 Marjory Stoneman
Douglas High School shooting
that killed 14 students and
faculty members in Parkland,
Fla.
According to MLive, the Ann
Arbor School Board is working
to support students in the fight
to secure the safety of their
local schools. The district’s
response contrasts with other
national reactions, including
Needville Independent School
District near Houston whose
superintendent threatened a
three-day suspension for any
student who participated in a
walkout.
Jeanice
Swift,
superintendent of Ann Arbor
Public Schools, has for years
worked to maintain weapon-
free school zones and mental
health
support
systems
throughout the school district
See TEENS, Page 3
Local teens
participate
in national
gun protest
ANN ARBOR
Ann Arbor school board
gives encouragement to
students after walkouts
REMY FARKAS
Daily Staff Reporter
Historian outlines Native American
political movements, activism in talk
Heather Bruegl, member of Onieda Nation tribe, discusses legislation at MESA event
MADELINE MCLAUGHLIN
For the Daily
See ACTIVISM, Page 3
When she was younger, LSA
junior Felicity Harfield always
took longer than her classmates
to
read
and
complete
assignments in school. As a
result, she was separated from
the rest of the students in her
high school and placed in the
special
needs
department.
Hartfield’s high school special
education teacher told her she
was crazy for applying to the
University of Michigan since
she has dyslexia. Harfield is
now a member of the Services
for Students with Disabilities
Advisory Board.
Harfield said her disability
is something she has learned
to deal with on her own. Other
than the additional time she
receives on exams and the
permission to use a laptop
in
the
classroom,
Harfield
explained she just spends more
time on her coursework than
others might need to.
“My disorder, you can’t see
it,” Harfield said. “You don’t
even know unless you’ve read
See DISABILITIES, Page 3
Allowances
for learning
disabilities
improving
ACADEMICS
Students with disabilities
find ‘U’ accommodations
“helpful”, individualized
SAYALI AMIN
Daily Staff Reporter
SARAH KUNKEL/Daily
Heather Bruegl speaks about Native American policy and activism at a talk titled “A History of Native American
Policy and Activism: From A.I.M. to Standing Rock to Present” in the Michigan League Thursday.
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com