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Tuesday, March 20, 2018

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Vol. CXXVII, No. 94 
©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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BUSINESS

Less than two weeks after 

the mass shooting at Marjory 
Stoneman Douglas High School 
in Parkland, Fla., more than a 
dozen corporations, including 
Delta 
Airlines, 
MetLife 
and 

Hertz cut ties with the National 
Rifle Association. Ann Arbor 
businesses 
like 
Bivouac, 
an 

outdoor clothing and supplies 
store, are following suit. These 
companies will no longer offer a 
discount to NRA members, and 
many asked for their information 
to be removed from the NRA 
website.

After the outdoor clothing and 

equipment company REI released 
a statement announcing it would 
no 
longer 
carry 
CamelBak 

products in its stores after it 
discovered CamelBak’s owner, 
Vista Outdoor, is a major firearm 
and ammunition manufacturer 
and failed to make a statement 
following the Parkland shooting. 
Local 
Ann 
Arbor 
business 

Bivouac decided to follow suit 

and agreed to stop carrying 
CamelBak 
products 
after 

concerned customers of Bivouac 
emailed Bivouac Vice President 
AJ Davidson, demanding they 
confront the gun control issue.

“It’s not so much that they 

sell guns — that’s not the issue,” 
Davidson said. “It’s just that after 
these mass shootings, they refuse 
to put out any kind of statement 
or make any kind of change that 
would help prevent these mass 
shootings, and as a company, 
they’re in a prime position to do 
something, or at least issue some 
kind of statement to show that 
they actually care.”

Jerry Davis, associate dean for 

Business and Impact at the Ross 
School of Business, has written 
several 
books 
on 
corporate 

activism, and most recently, an 
article for The Conversation. 
Given the speed and volume of 
companies severing ties with the 
NRA, Davis said he found this 
wave of corporate activism to be 
unprecedented.

“And now with the NRA 

boycott, it took two days (for 

Businesses 
cut ties with 
NRA in wake 
of Parkland

City Council appoints members 
to local police review task force

DARBY STIPE/Daily

Councilmember Jack Eaton (D-Ward 4), proposed an amendment to reaplce a member of the Police Oversight Taskforce with Shirley Beckley at City Hall Monday.

Social media, calls for public statements 
impact local, national corportations

JULIA FORD

Daily Staff Reporter

Controversy arises over Mayor Taylor’s omission of task force member at meeting

Monday 
night, 
in 
the 

culmination of years of the 
public 
calling 
for 
increased 

accountability of the Ann Arbor 
Police Department, Ann Arbor 
City Council finalized a roster 
for a task force to develop a police 
review board.

In response to recent racist 

incidents in Ann Arbor, including 
the shooting of Aura Rosser by a 
white police officer in 2014 and 

the Blake Transit Center incident, 
where a Black teen was dragged 
into the bus station and put in 
handcuffs, Transforming Justice 
Washtenaw has continued to 
press for increased transparency 
and accountability for the AAPD. 
Amid pressure from TJW, the 
council had previously decided to 
assemble a task force in order to 
establish parameters for a police 
review board with the perspective 
of everyday citizens, especially 
those with unique insights such 
as affected minorities and social 
workers.

With a list of 13 recommended 

members from the Human Rights 
Commission and two alternates, 
the council settled on 11 members 
for the task force. Among the 11 
individuals, the council selected 
HRC member Dwight Wilson, 
high school student Keyshon 
Cotton as well as three task force 
members who have Ann Arbor 
addresses, but reside in Pittsfield 
Township, Scio Township and 
Ypsilanti.

Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher 

Taylor emphasized the diversity 
of the task force, saying the force 

includes active HRC members, 
a member from the LGBTQ 
community, social workers, public 
defenders, civil rights attorneys 
and community educators.

“The 
resolution 
asked 
for 

increased diversity, and I believe 
that we have it,” Taylor said. “The 
task force is majority women 
which I believe is a good thing and 
majority-minority which I also 
believe to be a good thing.”

Though the council seemed 

to accept many of the HRC’s 
recommendations, taking nine of 

GRACE KAY

Daily Staff Reporter

Parties running for executive 

positions 
on 
University 
of 

Michigan 
Central 
Student 

Government met Monday night 
and discussed their platforms 
in a debate hosted by CSG in the 
Rogel Ballroom of the Michigan 
Union. The presidential and vice 
presidential 
candidates 
from 

MVision, 
MomentUM, 
True 

Blue, eMpower, aMplify, Let’s 
Keep Michigan Time, Defending 
Affirmative Action Party and 
Serfdom USA discussed their 
party platforms and their goals 
for the upcoming year. CSG’s prior 
successes and failures, issues 
of discrimination, and campus 
affordability were some of the 
topics addressed at the event.

The debate began with each 

party 
introducing 
themselves 

and their platforms. Engineering 
freshman 
Noah 
Tappen, 

Let’s Keep Michigan Time’s 
presidential 
candidate, 
began 

by thanking CSG for inviting 
all the parties to participate in 
the debate. His comment was 
in reference to The Daily only 
hosting five of the larger parties 
to participate in the debate held 
last Thursday.

“I want to thank you for having 

me at this event, as you may know, 
me and two of the other running 
parties weren’t invited to the first 
debate — it’s a shame,” Tappen 
said. 

The first half of the debate 

consisted of questions formulated 

by CSG, and each party was 
allotted one minute to formulate 
a response.

Another one of the parties who 

was not at The Daily’s debate on 
Thursday was the Serfdom USA 
party. 
Presidential 
candidate 

Liam Stewart, an LSA junior, 
explained the parties platform to 
establish a “feudal society” at the 
University.

“I 
support 
diversity,” 

Stewart said. “I want nobles 

to be representing the LGBTQ 
community, I want nobles to be 
representing ethnic and racial 
minority communities, I want 
nobles to be representing non-
gender binary communities. I 
want nobles to be representing 
every single aspect we have on 
campus.”

The first question posed to 

each party asked what they 
saw as CSG’s biggest successes 
and disappointments this past 

year. MVision praised last year’s 
CSG for demonstrating what 
diverse leadership looked like. 
However, LSA sophomore Izzy 
Baer, MVision vice presidential 
candidate, 
pointed 
out 
the 

continued need to talk about 
“invisible identities” in order to 
create a campus supportive of the 
student body.

“I think one of the biggest 

improvements we can draw on is 

The University of Michigan 

Senate Assembly met Monday 
afternoon to elect three new 
representatives to the Senate 
Advisory 
Committee 
on 

University Affairs and vote 
on the Faculty Statement on 
Safety, Speech, and Academic 
Freedom 
Endorsed 
by 

Committee for an Inclusive 
University.

The Faculty Statement on 

Safety, Speech, and Academic 
Freedom 
Endorsed 
by 

Committee for an Inclusive 
University passed with no 
opposition and a handful of 
abstentions. 
The 
statement 

is not a formal policy, but 
rather a declaration of values. 
It includes support of rights 
to safety and free speech, 
denouncement of hate speech 
and 
discrimination 
and 
a 

commitment 
to 
activism 

regarding these issues. The 
statement is intended to be 
a starting point for further 
discussion and activism.

Afterward, 
the 
Assembly 

began 
the 
SACUA 

Three new 
reps to join 
SACUA in 
late April

ACADEMICS

Over half the seats on the 
governing body will now 
be occupied by women

JULIA FORD

Daily Staff Reporter

RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily

Parties running for Central Student Governemtn executive positions met and discussed their platforms in a debate 
hosted by CSG in theUnion Monday night. 

Crowded field of candidates consider 
representation at CSG-hosted debate

Representatives discussed party platforms, relationship with administration

AMARA SHAIKH
Daily Staff Reporter

See DEBATE, Page 3

See COUNCIL, Page 3
See NRA, Page 3

The University of Michigan’s 

Academic Reporting Tool released 
its grade distribution feature over 
the weekend, allowing students 
to explore grade distributions of 
courses before registration. The 
new feature caters to the voices 
of many students, according to 
Innovation Advocacy Lead Amy 
Homkes-Hayes.

“As you can imagine, students 

have asked for us to show course 
information 
in 
a 
University-

sanctioned tool,” Homkes-Hayes 
said.

The 
Office 
of 
Academic 

Innovation created ART 2.0 in 2016 
and has been adding new features 
and mechanisms to aid students 
ever since, listing 9,273 University 
courses. The Office of Academic 
Innovation works closely with the 
Office of the Provost, individual 
schools and colleges, the Senate 
Advisory Committee on University 
Affairs 
and 
Central 
Student 

Government to identify what kind 
of academic data would be most 
helpful to the student body.

Homkes-Hayes referred to ART 

2.0 as a helpful tool that attempts 

Update of 
ART 2.0 to 
show grade 
scope data

ACADEMICS

University tool includes 
grade distributions, major 
info before backpacking

REMY FARKAS
Daily Staff Reporter

See ART 2.0, Page 3
See SACUA, Page 3

