Sulfaro 
has 
since 
filed 
complaints with the University, 
MSU, MPSA and two other 
professional 
organizations. 
After filing the complaint with 
the 
University, 
Sulfaro 
said 
Elizabeth Seney, U-M deputy 
Title IX coordinator, contacted 
her but never followed up with 
her or her witnesses. University 
spokesman Rick Fitzgerald stated 
the University does not confirm 
nor deny the existence of the 
investigation against Jacoby by 
the Office of Institutional Equity.
Rebecca 
Gill, 
an 
associate 
professor of political science at 
the University of Nevada, Las 
Vegas, was also propositioned 
by Jacoby for a relationship. 
Following 
a 
presentation 
of 

her paper at a 2001 conference, 
Jacoby approached Gill and gave 
positive remarks on her work. 
Jacoby encouraged her to take 
an ICPSR course he taught in the 
summer of 2002 at Michigan, and 
she did.
After the last day of Jacoby’s 
course, Gill, Jacoby and others 
went to a pub to celebrate the end 
of the session. Jacoby told Gill 
about “how mysterious and good-
looking she was” and that they 
would both be working together 
at MSU.
Jacoby then asked Gill to 
consider having an affair with 
him, implying the relationship 
would be a way to advance her 
career at MSU.
Gill spoke to Jacoby once after 
this incident, soon before her 
graduation from MSU. According 
to Gill, at the time Jacoby’s wife 
was the graduate director of 

Gill’s 
doctoral 
program. 
The 
program’s policy required that 
Ph.D. students with specializing 
in American politics had to 
have Jacoby on their doctoral 
committee. Gill requested not to 
have Jacoby on her committee 
because of her discomfort with 
him, and when meeting with 
Jacoby, was told she was mistaken 
about the pub incident.
“I expected him to say, ‘Oh I 
never meant to make you feel that 
way,’” Gill said. “But, he just said, 
‘That didn’t happen. You must be 
mistaken.’”
Gill 
told 
The 
Daily 
she 
graduated late from the program, 
finishing after Jacoby’s wife’s 
role as the Graduate Director 
ended in 2007.

3
NEWS

Thursday, May 3, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

City Council votes to repurchase 
property on South Fifth Avenue

At a special session 
councilmembers 
supported affordable 
housing for downtown

By RACHEL CUNNINGHAM

Summer Daily News Editor

During their fourth and final decision 
on the “Y lot” repurchase, Ann Arbor 
City Council voted 11-0 to purchase the 
lot for $4.2 million at 350 South Fifth 
Avenue.
The special session on Tuesday 
comes after postponing the decision in 
previous meetings. The city had sold the 
lot to local real estate developer Dennis 
Dahlmann in 2014 for $5.25 million with 
a promise to create affordable housing 
and commercial developments on the lot. 
The lot is still vacant, and Dahlmann has 
sued the city in order to extend his own-
ership of the lot for another four years.
Many residents called for the afford-
able housing prices to be based on medi-
an income instead of a fair-market value. 
The fair-market rent is determined by 
the market value of a unit, but many 
residents voiced their preference for 
rent to be based off Ann Arbor’s median 
income to make the units more afford-
able. According to the 2016 census, Ann 
Arbor’s median income is $57
,697 and 
the city’s poverty rate is at 23.4 percent.
In the city’s decision, rent will be 
based on a fair-market rent of 110 percent 

of fair market range. The city has not yet 
determined the number of units to be 
built on the property.
Ann Arbor resident Sharon Ongaro 
called upon City Council to repurchase 
the lot to help those who work in the 
downtown area have affordable housing.
“There’s opportunity for the city of 
Ann Arbor to step in, take control of that 
lot and hand it to a developer with the 
requirement that some number of the 
units be affordable housing,” Ongaro 
said. “We all know that it’s needed. We all 
know that gentrification has taken place 
and shoved people out of their homes 
through the years and we need to have 
affordable housing so the people that are 
making our downtown tick have a place 
to stay.”
Ann Arbor resident Sandi Smith, a 
local realtor and president of the Washt-
enaw Housing Alliance, was also in favor 
of City Council repurchasing the lot as 
a way to address housing affordability 
issues in the city.
“Y
ou (City Council) need to take 
some action,” Smith said. “This won’t 
solve everything, but you need to take 
some action to make sure that you get 
some money into the affordable housing 
trust fund. A good way to find affordable 
units is to use government-owned land. 
It’s smart.”
Councilmember Zachary Ackerman, 
D-Ward 3, sponsored the resolution as a 
means of improving Ann Arbor’s afford-
ability and quality of life for citizens.
“I think as we build a community 
with a high quality of life and a sustain-

able economy, we need to look to that 
same premise that intentionally pro-
moting affordability is critical to sustain 
quality of life and a healthy economy,” 
Ackerman said.
Councilmember Sumi Kailasapathy, 
D-Ward 1, also supported the resolution, 
expressing a desire to see the city stick to 
its project plans and not turn the prop-
erty into a luxury facility.
“We have seen way too many proj-
ects that are being built that are being 
called affordable units but are really not 
affordable at all,” Kailasapathy said. “I 
don’t want to get into a situation of voting 
on this and then later on saying ‘it’s not 
financially (liable). We are going to put 
luxury units for affordable units which 
are $1600 for a two-bedroom apart-
ment.’ Affordable for who? That’s more 
than the mortgage I used to pay.”
Despite voting for the resolution, 
Councilmember Jane Lumm, I-Ward 
2, supported the city’s attempt to repur-
chase the property but did not support 
the specified resolution proposed at the 
meeting because of the project’s expens-
es.
“Building affordable housing units on 
the city’s most expensive real estate does 
not make economic or financial sense,” 
Lumm said. “It is also not the most cost-
effective way to leverage taxpayers’ dol-
lars in adding affordable housing units.”
Protesters from organizations such as 
Ann Arbor Ozone House were present at 
the meeting calling for the city to repur-
chase the lot and construct affordable 
housing units.

COMMENCEMENT
From Page 1
MISCONDUCT
From Page 1

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Freedom of speech — especially 
in the context of racism and hate 
speech — has been a linchpin for 
the campus community this year in 
light of controversy over a potential 
appearance by white supremacist 
Richard Spencer. 
“If we don’t trust our ideas enough to 
sail them out of harbor once in a while, 
they remain unformed, untested,” he 
said. “Rather than wrapping ourselves 
in a security blanket … we raised a 
collective voice against those who lack 
collective decency.”
Martin ended his remarks with 
the notion that, “in the long run, good 
ideas triumph over bad; integrity beats 
dishonesty.”
Public Policy now-graduate Nadine 
Jawad, outgoing Central Student 
Government vice president, discussed 
the importance of service, following 
the example of the Ford School of 
Public Policy’s eponym, Gerald Ford.
“When I think of the University of 
Michigan and the Ford School, I think 
of the will to overcome challenges 
and in that will I see a very distinct 
opportunity,” Jawad noted, discussing 
the challenges of the year and her 
college tenure but importance of 
looking toward change.“There is 
nothing more important than my 
service to those around me.”
University President Mark Schlissel 
mentioned his special connection with 
this year’s graduates, as he began his 
tenure at the University of Michigan 
in 2014 when the 2018 graduates 
were starting their University careers 
as freshmen. He noted many of the 
athletic triumphs at the University 
in the past four years, gaining cheers 
from the audience with references to 
teams’ runs in the Final and Frozen 
Four championships, among other 
noteworthy events. Schlissel discussed 
graduation as a turning point for a 
“new community of scholars.” 
“Class of 2018, today you graduate 
into an increasingly global society 
where the challenges are enormous 
and there are no simple answers,” 
Schlissel said.
Schlissel expressed the importance 
for graduates to live their lives 
embodying the “Michigan difference.”
“I believe we all change the world 
in ways large and small, and each of 
us through our Michigan experience 
finds a way to make an impact,” he 
said.
Following Schlissel and other 
speakers were presentations to four 
honorary degree recipients, including: 
Jeanne Craig Sinkford, who received 
an honorary doctor of science; Penny 
Stamps, who received an honorary 
doctor of fine arts; David Walt, who 

received an honorary doctor of science; 
and main speaker Woodson, who 
received an honorary doctor of laws.
Woodson, 
the 
1997 
Heisman 
Trophy winner who led the Wolverines 
to the 1997 co-national championship, 
then 
addressed 
the 
graduates. 
Woodson made lighthearted jokes 
noting, “You’re all stuck with me … but 
at least this year you have a speaker.”
This 
referred 
to 
student 
disappointment 
surrounding 
last 
year’s commencement, at which 
no specific speaker was named in 
exchange for a Bicentennial-themed 
ceremony.
Woodson began by drawing several 
parallels between him and Desmond 
Howard, another famed Michigan 
football player, Heisman Trophy 
awardee and national championship 
winner.
“Once you get here, you get to 
witness the tradition of Michigan,” 
Woodson said. “…When you leave here, 
that’s the time when you’re really going 
to appreciate your time being here.”
Woodson 
also 
made 
a 
few 
politically-charged allusions about a 
hypothetical wall between Michigan 
and Ohio — his home state — taking on 
commentary against President Donald 
Trump. 
“If we built that wall, neither me nor 
Desmond (Howard) could have come 
here...so scratch that.”
He later shifted to a message about 
service. Speaking about his childhood 
being raised by single mother of three, 
Woodson said he wasn’t alone, and 
he couldn’t have gotten where he is 
without others.
Then, Woodson touched on the 
recent anniversary of the death of Dr. 
Martin Luther King 50 years ago this 
month, and the significance of King’s 
activism and commitment to racial 
justice.
“Dr. King cared about people, and 
he gave his time, he gave his energy, 
and ultimately Dr. King gave his life,” 
Woodson said. “But those things that 
were happening to people, it never 
stopped him from trying to help 
others. He helped people he knew, he 
helped people that he didn’t know and 
that’s because of one major quality that 
I believe that he had that I hope all of 
you have as you go through your life. ”
He made a request to the graduating 
class: to look around and see people as 
they are.
“I guarantee you, if you can begin 
to see people that way, just as human 
beings, you will begin to treat them 
differently,” Woodson said. “You will 
begin to understand their points of 
views … I’m asking you — I’m begging 
you — do not carry the hate forward.”

