commercial 
developments. 

However, in February, Dahlmann 
sued the city for his failed 
development plans in hopes to 
gain an additional four years of 
ownership to complete his plans.

At the previous meeting last 

week, the Council was split with 
seven in favor and three opposed. 
Councilmembers 
Jack 
Eaton, 

D-Ward 4, Sumi Kailasapathy, 
D-Ward 1, and Anne Bannister, 
D-Ward 1, all opposed the lot 
purchase. The council also met 
twice during closed sessions to 
discuss the litigation.

Ann Arbor resident Greg Pratt 

supported the resolution in hopes 
that the city will develop the land 
with affordable housing for Ann 
Arbor residents.

“We have the opportunity right 

now to do what’s right to create a 
space downtown for people who 
have been pushed out,” Pratt said. 
“I think that we should purchase 
the land and put affordable 
housing there, workforce housing. 
People need the housing now and 
the time is now to do it.”

Ann Arbor resident Paquetta 

Pratt further highlighted the need 
for wider inclusion through these 
affordable 
housing 
measures 

and believes the city can correct 

its previous mistakes in earlier 
purchase deals.

“Unless you can afford the 

almost $1,000 or more for a one-
bedroom apartment, then you are 
going to be excluded from this 
community,” Pratt said. “Even 
though yes, maybe the city did do 
the wrong thing waiting all this 
time, you can rectify it by doing 
it now. We need the housing now 
and we really need it.”

However, Ann Arbor resident 

Elizabeth Nelson opposed the 
resolution. Based on the previous 
purchase history of the land in 
2003, she believes the City has 
not made any strides to develop 
realistic development goals.

“I want to know from this 

group how buying the ‘Y Lot’ now 
will be different from the last time 
the city bought it in 2003 because 
in 2003 the city had very specific 
goals in buying it related to 
affordable housing and I haven’t 
heard anyone yet pin down a goal 
for city ownership in buying this 
property,” Nelson said. “Rattling 
off every possibility is not a goal 
… Declaring its potential value 
is not a goal — the lot had value 
when the city first bought it in 
2003, too.”

On 
the 
other 
hand, 
Ann 

Arbor resident Jessica Letaw 
supported the resolution because 
she believes it will revitalize 

downtown Ann Arbor and create 
a more diverse economic and 
residential community.

“Diversity of youths is the key to 

unlocking downtown’s potential 
as a focus of economic and social 
activity,” Letaw said. “A core 
goal is to encourage a diversity of 
downtown housing opportunities 
and 
the 
expansion 
of 
the 

downtown resident population to 
strengthen the downtown’s role 
as urban neighborhood and public 
investments 
and 
development 

compliment to private sector 
resident investments.”

Ann Arbor resident Andrew 

Stumpff was also in favor of 
the resolution due to potential 

economic benefits and increase 
in Ann Arbor property value over 
the past four years.

“We know that four years ago 

that this property was worth 
on the market a million more 
than the price the city has the 
opportunity to buy it,” Stumpff 
said. “During the last four years 
the value of Ann Arbor real estate 
has not declined. This property 
is not worth less than the $5.2 
million in 2014. Data shows a 35 
percent increase in those four 
years … The best estimate we 
now have of this lot is now $10 
million.”

She further explained that he 

knew looking for students “would 
be a problem,” according to the 
LSA senior. She said he told her 
that he knew she was in a sorority 
and that he had to “watch out for 
you guys.”

The LSA senior, at this point, 

saw someone leave her building 
and she immediately ran in, saying 
goodbye. In her apartment, she 
checked the time. 1:20 a.m.

She received several texts from 

him (Khan had his students text 
him to schedule office hours).

“I 
just 
want 
to 
stop 

communicating,” she said. “But in 
my head I also had the light again, 
like he could (hurt my grade). He 
(implied to me) a million times 
tonight, ‘I have entire authority 
over your whole grade.’”

Later, he texted her that he just 

graded her exam and that she did 
very well. The text read, “Kind of 
makes me think you motherfuckers 
listen to my rants.”

The LSA senior said she wanted 

to call her mom, but didn’t want 
her mother to get angry at her for 
not walking away.

In the morning, she said she 

woke up to another text from him, 
this time reminding her to register 
for classes and that he could grab 
dinner with them again.

She said she missed discussion 

that day and met with Hussain, 
the class professor. Her email 
referenced another recently filed 
student complaint against Khan.

In emails obtained by The Daily, 

she wrote, “This has been weighing 
on me for about 1.5 weeks now, 
and I know some sort of action 
is already underway, but I would 
really like to meet with you to talk 
about my experience with Naz.”

She said during her discussion 

with Hussain, he was visibly upset 
with her story even before she 
discussed how Khan’s behavior 
veered 
towards 
inappropriate 

behavior. She said she was pleased 
how supportive he was in the 
process.

She said she also met with 

Title IX coordinators, including 
Pamela Heatlie, associate vice 
provost for Academic and Faculty 
Affairs, and Alexandra Matish, 
associate director of Academic 
Human Resources. The LSA senior 
said during her meeting with the 
officers—in which she recounted 
her experiences rather than filing a 
formal report— they appeared to be 
more concerned with how Khan’s 
actions violated GSI academic 
policy rather than the harassment. 
She said they asked more questions 
about his academic behavior.

“They seemed to be more upset 

about the schoolwork,” she said.

She also explained she did not 

get to tell her whole story — though 
she did send them a full written 
draft of her experience. She 
clarified OIE staff did not appear 
intentionally uninterested in her 
story, but were more concerned 
about the details and the timeline 
of that night.

“They are not counselors. It 

didn’t shock me,” she said, further 
saying that they were welcoming 
in their the conversation. At that 
point, the LSA senior said she had 
told her story so many times, she 
wasn’t as anxious. 

She didn’t follow up with the 

coordinators she spoke with, she 
said, but she did not get an update 
either. However, the LSA senior 
said she didn’t expect Khan to still 
be around following her complaint.

“I passed him on the street this 

year and had a mini-panic attack, 
like, in the 30 seconds that we 
passed each other … But he didn’t 
say anything to me,” she said. “I 
don’t even know if he recognized 
who it was, but I called my friend 
and she was like ‘Yes, he’s still 
around and I see him at the gym 
all the time,’ so I don’t go to the 
IM Building (Intramural Sports 
Building) because I am really not 
trying to run into him in any other 
circumstances.”

As it turns out, a very similar 

story 
was 
happening 
to 
her 

classmate.

***
Earlier 
this 
semester, 
the 

University released its 2017 report 
on prohibited student conduct, 
finding a 40 percent increase in 
reported misconduct from the 
previous year. The Office for 
Institutional 
Equity 
received 

281 reports and conducted 28 
investigations.

The OIE concluded after 28 

investigations that eight policy 
violations occurred over the past 
year. The cases comprised five 
sexual assaults, two incidents of 
stalking and a violation of interim 
measures. The report stated the 
OIE carried out disciplinary action 
for these violations, including 
educational measures, restriction, 
suspension and expulsion.

University 
spokesman 
Rick 

Fitzgerald said though there is no 
way to determine a definitive cause 
for the increase in reports but 
that an increase isn’t inherently 
negative 
— 
an 
increase 
can 

signify heightened support for 
survivors and more awareness 
of the University’s system for 
investigating assault.

“Reports go up each year, 

but that is possibly a good sign,” 
Fitzgerald said in an interview 
with The Daily from January.

In a Februrary interview with 

The Daily, Heatlie commented on 
the proportion of appeals cases.

“I 
don’t 
know 
what 

normal would be under these 
circumstances,” 
Heatlie 
said. 

“Unlike, for example, a court 
system where only the party 
doesn’t appeal. In our system, 
either system can appeal.”

She said reasons why many 

people may not report incidents 
they experience vary on a case-by-
case basis.

It’s been a year since Heatlie 

was hired as a Title IX coordinator. 
She previously worked as the 
associate director in the OIE and 
before that, she was a general 
assistant 
counsel 
at 
Oakland 

University.

Heatlie 
was 
previously 

embroiled in a 2000 scandal at 
the University of Vermont, where 
hockey players were partaking 
in severe hazing. The Vermont 
Attorney General criticized the 
administration’s handling of the 
investigation. Heatlie was part of 
the investigative team.

When 
asked 
who 
was 

responsible for UVM’s missteps, 
General William Sorrell said, “I’m 
not sure where the buck stops. 
Attorney (Pamela) Heatlie was 
in charge of the investigation … 
Attorney Heatlie could have asked 
to do more.”

***
She didn’t think much of texting 

Khan for office hours. He had put it 
on the board during discussion for 
everyone to reach out.

When they met up, the second 

student in Hussain’s lecture — also 
an LSA senior — was interested 
in the conversation and saw 
opportunity for academic guidance 
and reference. The conversation 
drifted to her family, in a little 
more than friendly manner. Then 
a blonde woman walked into the 
coffee shop.

“He had said something like, 

‘You know what? Like I’m not 
attracted to blondes,’” she said. 
“And I was like, ‘Why?’ Like it had 
nothing to do with the context 
because I remember being like 
super, super, like, shocked by that. 
And he was like, ‘Yeah, I mean I 
think they all look the same.’”

Khan said he liked brunettes 

better. This LSA senior is a 
brunette.

She said it was hard for her to 

rebuke him: he was a source of 
information for many students and 
offered help on exams. Khan even 
told her he would help her with 
her internship applications. Again, 
office hours turned into personal 
conversation.

“He said that he and Hussain, 

the professor, go way back,” she 
said. “I felt like I couldn’t approach 
the professor at one point because 
if they’re so close, it’d be this 
weird thing for me to be like, ‘Hey, 
your good friend … is doing these 
things and it’s making me feel 
uncomfortable.’”

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, April 17, 2018 — 3

Studies Program at its peak was 
that it was really intersectional,” 
Villarosa 
explained. 
“When 

I talked to current students 
today about the A/PIA Studies 
Program … so many key folks 
are either being pushed out 
or 
feeling 
unwelcome. 
The 

program kind of seems like a 
shadow of what it was before, 
which is really too bad because 
it is a really critical piece of your 
identity.”

Villarosa remembers similar 

complaints of toxic environment 
and racial discrimination being 
discussed in the department 
when she was a student 10 years 
ago.

***
Lawsin went up for a standard 

employment review last year. All 
lecturers undergo what they call 
“major reviews” every few years, 
but after 18 years of teaching at 
the University, Lawsin faced 
a “presumption of renewal” — 
her reviewers were supposedly 
coming into this process with 
the assumption her contract 
would be renewed.

“I 
received 
(the 
report) 

in 
November, 
right 
after 

Thanksgiving, and you read 
the report and it’s actually 
going pretty good — really good 
teaching observations, effective 
teacher, a really good evaluation 
score,” Lawsin said.

But as she read on, Lawsin 

realized 
both 
departments 

had decided not to renew 
her contract. Though she did 
not wish to disclose to The 
Daily specific reasons cited 
by the departments for her 
non-renewal, Lawsin felt the 
reasons, combined with the 
breach in procedure by denying 
her a presumption of renewal, 
gave her a strong enough case 
to submit a rebuttal letter to the 
LSA Executive Committee.

As a member of the Lecturers’ 

Employee Organization, Lawsin 
is supported throughout the 
review 
process 
by 
Kirsten 

Herold, vice president of LEO 
and Lawsin’s appointed union 
representative. Herold was just 
as shocked by the outcome of the 
review as Lawsin.

“The University has the right 

to academic judgement when 
it comes to lecturers,” Herold 
said. “They have the right to 
decide who is or isn’t good. But 
they don’t have the right to be 
arbitrary ... In a general way, 
we’ll argue that the judgement 
that was exercised was arbitrary. 
They found things they didn’t 
like about her because they 
didn’t like her.”

Both 
departments 
agreed 

to review Lawsin’s case once 

more. In February, they again 
recommended her termination. 
In March, Lawsin found out the 
decision would be upheld by the 
LSA Executive Committee. She 
will continue teaching at the 
University for two “terminal” 
years, at which point she’ll 
undergo 
another 
review. 
If 

her contract is not renewed 
again, she will have to leave the 
University.

University spokesman Rick 

Fitzgerald, speaking on behalf of 
LSA administration, declined to 
comment. 

Lawsin 
said 
she 
sees 

the 
failed 
review 
as 
a 

consequence for speaking out 
about the mistreatment and 
discrimination she’s felt at the 
University over the last 18 years. 
She said she doesn’t know how 
likely it is she’ll be able to stay 
on with the University when her 
next review comes in two years.

“I’ve never really met anyone 

who’s in this position,” Lawsin 
said. “It’s very unique. I have a 
lawsuit against the University. 
It’s clear that this is an act of 
retaliation.”

Lawsin filed the lawsuit in 

question 
jointly 
with 
her 

husband Scott Kurashige, a 
former 
University 
professor 

and Asian American Studies 
scholar. Kurashige served as the 
director of the A/PIA Studies 
Program beginning in 2010, 
until he was abruptly removed 
from 
the 
position 
without 

warning before his term had 
finished. In 2016, Lawsin and 
Kurashige filed a legal complaint 
against the University under 
the 
Michigan 
Elliott-Larsen 

Civil Rights Act, making claims 
of racial discrimination and 
harassment.

The Elliott-Larsen Act, passed 

in 1976, prohibits discrimination 
based on “religion, race, color, 
national origin, age, sex, height, 
weight, 
familial 
status, 
or 

marital status,” in employment 
and education, among other 
areas.

Kurashige and Lawsin are 

represented by civil rights lawyer 
Alice Jennings. In an interview 
with The Daily, Jennings said 
this case is unique because the 
University has prided itself on 
prioritizing diversity and equity, 
especially in recent years.

“Despite what some people 

automatically think about U-M 
as a wonderful place, there are 
people who know … It’s not like 
that all the time,” Jennings said. 
“Or even sometimes, depending 
on who you are.” 

Though Fitzgerald declined 

comment for this article, he told 
The Daily in March 2017 the 
University would not acquiesce 
to the charges.

“We will vigorously defend 

the 
University 
against 
this 

lawsuit,” Fitzgerald wrote in an 
email to The Daily. “In fact, the 
University already has filed a 
motion to dismiss much of the 
complaint.”

The 2016 lawsuit cites a 

whole slew of situations Lawsin 
and Kurashige went through 
at the University, including 
pay disputes, conflicts with 
administrators, 
mishandling 

of their requests from the 
Office of Institutional Equity 
and others. The majority of the 
issues described in the lawsuit 
stem from what they feel is an 
inhospitable environment at the 
University for faculty of color 
who speak out about injustice.

“I 
think 
the 
pattern 
of 

discrimination and filing things 
on faculty of color or students of 
color who speak up is a growing 
problem that stretches back 
years and years,” Lawsin said. 
“But the University would like 
to cover that up.”

***
Lawsin, a spoken-word artist 

and scholar with a master’s 
degree from the University of 
California, Los Angeles, began 
teaching as a lecturer at the 
University in 2000. She was 
referred to as a “spousal hire” by 
the University — a term alleging 
she owed her employment to her 
marital status and her husband’s 
accomplishments, rather than 
her own.

Lawsin isn’t the first faculty 

member to feel undertones of 
discrimination in the American 
Culture 
Department. 
Sarita 

See, a good friend of Lawsin’s, 
joined the faculty as a tenure-
track assistant professor in 2002 
with a joint appointment in the 
American Culture Department 
and English Department. At 
first, she said, the job was like a 
dream come true.

“I felt like my scholarship 

was really being challenged 
in 
exciting 
ways, 
because 

there were so many assistant 
professors of color pursuing 
scholarship,” See said. “All of 
that changed in about five years, 
when you started to see these 
colleagues of mine, who became 
very close friends, start to go 
up for tenure and start to get 
denied, and lecturers would get 
fired.” 

See soon went up for tenure 

herself. After obtaining tenure 
in 
American 
Culture 
and 

being denied it in English, she 
appealed the decision, which 
meant her case would go to 
the LSA administration for 
higher review. LSA overruled 
the decision of the English 
department, and eventually See 
received the distinction in both 
of her departments. 

GSI
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A/PIA
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portal and ship the required texts 
either to their home or to the two 
Barnes & Noble bookstore locations 
on campus — the current store in 
Pierpont Commons and the new 
store in the Michigan Union after 
the renovations are completed in 
winter term 2020.

Students 
can 
receive 
free 

shipping if books are shipped to 
the brick-and-mortar Barnes & 
Noble locations on campus, and if 
students complete returns through 
the physical stores, students will 
not be charged for shipping the 
books back from the store.

Susan Pile, senior director of 

University Unions and Auxiliary 
Services, 
commented 
on 
the 

process of establishing the new 
program with Barnes & Noble, 
noting many factors such as student 

and faculty input and affordability 
concerns went into developing the 
program.

“We were hearing from CSG 

and other students whose concerns 
about textbook affordability,” Pile 
said. “We were also nearing the end 
of our contract with Barnes & Noble 
with the closure of the Michigan 
Union and I think we started to 
hear from some faculty that the 
current system for them to select 
options and make their course 
material selections and for students 
to get the books in their hands was 
also hearing some challenges so 
I think sort of three things came 
together at once.”

LSA sophomore Zainab Imami 

said she has had issues with 
expensive 
textbook 
purchases 

at 
on-campus 
bookstores 
and 

experienced difficulty finding the 
correct edition of a textbook online.

“Usually 
using 
the 
regular 

campus bookstores, the textbooks 

are really expensive especially 
compared to renting them or 
getting them off Amazon,” Imami 
said. “But then with renting 
them, you have to send them back 
eventually also and then when you 
can’t find a book or the new edition, 
that’s also frustrating.”

However, the new shipping 

program means textbooks will not 
be housed in the Barnes & Noble 
locations, but rather everything will 
be ordered and paid for through the 
portal and shipped to the desired 
location. 
Associate 
University 

Registrar Kortney Briske played 
a hand in the decision to partner 
with Barnes & Noble, considering 
the technological implications of a 
fully online system.

Briske said the ability for 

professors to weigh their textbook 
options and merge their Wolverine 
Access pages with the Barnes & 
Noble website will be beneficial for 
both students and faculty.

“This system actually gives 

the faculty member options and 
it will display prices and different 
versions of the books,” Briske said. 
“If the faculty (member) has a 
specific textbook in mind and it’s 
very expensive, they can see that 
price and they might (think) ‘Gosh, 
that’s a lot of money’ and the system 
will display other similar textbooks 
that might be cheaper that would 
then give the faculty member to 
choose something different.”

Given 
the 
second 
Union 

storefront won’t be open until the 
Union renovations are complete, 
Pile said her office is looking into 
establishing a temporary Central 
Campus location for next fall to 
house the shipment facility. She also 
addressed the potential lines with 
students ordering their textbooks 
the first week or two on campus, 
claiming 
the 
online 
payment 

system should shorten delays.

“I feel confident in (Barnes 

and Noble’s) ability to meet those 
needs and do that in an expeditious 
manner and I think the student 
experience when they actually 
come in on-site to pick up, it’s 
really a matter of seconds for 
that transaction,” Pile said. “It’s 
really verifying who you are and 
then retrieving the box of books 
that you’ve ordered … It should 
go actually pretty quickly for 
students.”

According 
to 
the 
program 

description, condition options will 
be provided so students can choose 
whether they want to buy as new, 
used, rental, or digital download 
packages. An additional up-front 
“buy-back” price allows students 
to plan on how much they will 
receive if they want to sell their 
books back to Barnes & Noble 
after the semester, in an effort to 
help students structure finances 
and seek out the best deal on a 
consistently large expense.

Imami said this function of the 

partnership makes the system 
much more appealing for students 
who 
are 
looking 
to 
improve 

textbook affordability.

“If I have the option to look and 

compare (prices) and then it gets 
shipped to Barnes & Noble and I can 
go pick it up, that would be great. It 
makes a lot of things easier,” Imami 
said.

Pile said this system matches 

up with current student buying 
practices 
— 
looking 
online 

and hunting for the best deal. 
While a concern about what this 
partnership will mean for current 
competitor stores like Ulrich’s, 
which 
still 
houses 
textbooks 

in-store, is present, Pile explained 
students still have the option to 
shop where they please.

B&N
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