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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