michigandaily.com
Thursday, June 14, 2018
INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 120 | © 2018 The Michigan Daily
michigandaily.com
NEWS ....................................
OPINION ...............................
ARTS/NEWS ......................
MiC.........................................
SPORTS................................
MICHIGAN IN COLOR
Why ‘Dear White
People’ is impor-
tant
“I loved every second of it.”
>> SEE PAGE 9
NEWS
“Magic Skoolie”
U-M grad student converts
school bus into artistic
living space
>> SEE PAGE 2
OPINION
The digital health
initiative
Explore our digital
addiction and to combat it
with Julia Montag.
>> SEE PAGE 5
ARTS
Bo Burnham talks
‘Eighth Grade’
Comedy star discusses his
critically acclaimed new
film.
>> SEE PAGE 6
SPORTS
Ben Flanagan
Fifth-year senior Ben
Flanagan records an
personal best in an upset
win in the NCAA Outdoor
Championships.
>> SEE PAGE 12
inside
2
4
6
9
10
DOJ supports free speech
lawsuit against University
Trump
administration
attacks U-M
speech code
By GRACE KAY
Summer Managing News Editor
The Department of Justice joined
Speech First Monday in challenging
the University of Michigan’s free
speech code. In a 25-page statement of
interest, the DOJ concludes the lawsuit
is likely to succeed on the merits of the
Bias Response Policy violating the First
and 14th Amendments.
The DOJ’s statement of interest
follows a May 8 lawsuit filed by
Speech First, a national organization
of students, citizens and alumni
advocating free speech on college
campuses. Speech First claims a bias
response team that can mete out
discipline and a vague speech code
create a hazardous environment for
free speech.
In an interview with Speech First
President Nicole Neily in May, she said
the organization is filing the injunction
against the University based on three
main factors.
“We have multiple members of the
organization at the University,” Neily
said. “The University of Michigan
also has a combination of a very bad
speech code that is very vague, a very
active Bias Response Team that is very
proud of its achievements because
it keeps a log and we have numbers
there, though not all were listed in
the complaint. These were the three
things we needed.”
In the statement of interest, the DOJ
questioned not only the University’s
speech code but the very U-M
atmosphere.
“The University of Michigan
(“University”)
proclaims
on
its
website that ‘[f]reedom of speech is a
bedrock principle of [its] community
and essential to [its] core educational
mission as a university,’” the statement
reads. “Unfortunately, the University
is failing to live up to that laudable
principle. Instead of protecting free
speech, the University imposes a
system of arbitrary censorship of,
and punishment for, constitutionally
protected speech.”
Similarly, in the official statement
from Speech First, Neilly argued the
speech code has stifled the free speech
of several members of her organization
who attend the University.
“Speech First has brought this
suit to ensure that its members and
other students at the University will
not face investigations or discipline
for engaging in the open and vigorous
exchange of ideas that is at the core
of the First Amendment merely
because a University official or another
student finds their views ‘demeaning,’
‘bothersome,’
‘exclusionary,’
or
‘hurtful,’” Neilly writes.
Students claim in the suit as result
of U-M speech code they have been
forced to refrain from speaking on
topics like gun control, immigration,
identity politics and abortion out of fear
of being reported to the Bias Response
Team. Of the students referenced in
the lawsuit, none were named for fear
of retaliation.
CSG weighs in
on PROSPER
Big 10 schools oppose
reformation of Higher
Education Act
By ALICE TRACEY
Summer Daily News Editor
In collaboration with other student
presidents of Big Ten universities, Daniel
Greene, the University of Michigan’s
Central Student Government president,
released a letter Tuesday night opposing
the Promoting Real Opportunity, Success
and
Prosperity
through
Education
Reform Act.
Proposed
by
U.S.
House
of
Representatives Republicans in 2017, the
PROSPER Act aims to reform the Higher
Education Act by simplifying federal aid
for higher education.
According to the website of the
Committee
on
Education
and
the
Workforce,
the
legislation
would
streamline student aid by combining
all current federal loan options into the
ONE Loan program and offering a single
repayment option. While the PROSPER
Act would expand the Pell Grant program,
it would cut Supplemental Educational
Opportunity Grants, which assist the
country’s lowest-income students. The
PROSPER Act would also limit TRIO
programs — sources of aid for students
from disadvantaged backgrounds — and
Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
Tuesday’s letter, addressed to Paul
Ryan, speaker of the House, House
Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, House
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and House
Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, expresses
Big Ten student presidents’ dissatisfaction
with the extent to which the PROSPER
Act would slash federal programs.
Similar letters of opposition have been
released since U.S. House Republicans
proposed the PROSPER Act. In an
email interview with The Daily,
Greene wrote he signed the Big Ten
letter because the PROSPER Act
threatens college affordability.
PRASHANTH PANICKER / DAILY
ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY SEVEN YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Government
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