students 
absolutely 
love,” 
Rothfuss said. “I cannot tell 
you how many emails I got 
asking if they were going to 
be there.”
This was Rothfuss’s first 
year organizing the event. 
She said many organizations 
returned 
to 
participate, 
such as Leslie’s Science and 
Nature Center, which gives 
animal demonstrations, and 
MDining, 
which 
teaches 
students how they can cook 
healthy food. The goal of 
EarthFest, 
Rothfuss 
said, 
is 
to 
educate 
students, 
especially on the University’s 
sustainability goals.
“It’s really just to educate 
the 
students 
on 
campus, 
and to help them find out 
how they can get involved 
in sustainability and what 
sustainable 
groups 
are 
available 
in 
their 
area,” 
Rothfuss 
said. 
“And 
it’s 
really to support the six 
sustainability 
goals 
that 
U-M has. It’s just this giant 
come-together 
of 
people 

distributing information so 
the students know what’s 
going on.”
One of the booths involved 
was the University’s Waste 
Reduction 
and 
Recycling 
Program. Program Manager 
Tracy Artley said she’d been 
coming 
to 
EarthFest 
for 
15 years and admired how 
popular it’s become in that 
time.
“It’s grown a lot since the 
earlier days of the fest, where 
it was literally just a couple 
of booths and a band,” Artley 
said. “Now it’s so much more. 
So many more groups at the 
University and outside the 
University are participating 
now, which I think really 
increases our impact with 
the students because when 
it’s bigger, more people come, 
and more people hear your 
message.”
For the Waste Reduction 
Program, Artley said, the 
message is to decrease waste 
products 
and 
make 
sure 
recyclable and compostable 
items go to the right place. 
She also encouraged students 
living off campus to reach 
out via their website if they 

have questions about waste 
reduction.
“Our 
mission 
is 
to 
encourage 
the 
University 
of Michigan community to 
reduce waste by reducing 
the amount of items that are 
consumed, and then anything 
that is generated that needs 
to be disposed of, going to 
the proper location, whether 
that’s composting, recycling, 
or alternative,” Artley said.
All of the stands, Rothfuss 
emphasized, are primarily 
for the students.
“We really do it for the 
students,” 
Rothfuss 
said. 
“That’s what it’s all about, is 
to just inform and educate 
them on ways that they can 
be more sustainable and what 
their school and what their 
environment is doing to be 
more sustainable as a whole.”
When 
asked 
what 
his 
takeaway 
ideas 
from 
EarthFest 
were, 
Wolfson 
highlighted the importance 
of taking care of the Ann 
Arbor community.
“Ann Arbor’s our home 
too,” Wolfson said. “We have 
to make sure we keep it clean 
and keep it safe.”

the 
people,” 
highlighting 
the importance of the First 
Amendment 
in 
allowing 
the 
people 
to 
hold 
the 
government accountable.
Panelist Ashley Messenger, 
the in-house counsel for NPR 
specializing in issues that 
affect news gathering and 
dissemination, said the U.S. 
Constitution revolves around 
the involvement of everyday 
citizens.
“There really is no such 
thing 
as 
government,” 
Messenger 
said. 
“If 
you 
actually 
read 
it 
(the 
Constitution) it says it does 
not establish the government, 
it does not establish authority, 
it establishes a process. The 
way we interpret the First 
Amendment actually means 
all of us in the process, not 
just those in government. 
You 
actually 
need 
the 
participation of others to lead 
this country properly.”
Former 
U-M 
professor 
Vincent 
Blasi, 
currently 
a 
professor 
at 
Columbia 
Law 
School, 
explained 
the 
distinction 
between 
protected 
speech 
and 
sedition has been frequently 
disputed 
throughout 
U.S. 
history.

“Truth was no defense 
(against 
allegations 
of 
libel 
or 
sedition),” 
Blasi 
said. 
“If 
anything, 
it 
undercut 
the 
government 
even 
more. 
Falsity 
was 
applied to conjecture and 
characterization.”
Blasi explained free speech 
was not always protected, 
and laws like the Espionage 
Act of 1917 sent citizens to jail 
for speaking out in criticism 
of the government.
“We take it for granted 
now that we can say what 
we want even if it gives the 
government a bad reputation, 
but it wasn’t then,” Blasi said.
Niehoff 
explained 
potential issues with speech 
and even the Constitution 
that 
the 
government 
continues to encounter today.
“We have this model and 
yet it is sort of fraught with 
problems,” Niehoff said.
Blasi 
and 
Messenger 
agreed the Constitution is 
something that is constantly 
evolving in government.
“The Constitution itself is 
an experiment,” Blasi said. 
“We’ll see how long it works.”
As 
students 
expressed 
uncertainty 
regarding 
whether 
free 
speech, 
particularly that of the press, 
will continue to be protected, 
Messenger said from her 
experience at NPR she does 

not feel the press’s voice will 
be silenced.
“Media law is actually a 
really well-established law,” 
Messenger said, “It’s not new 
for the government to feel 
threatened by the press. Does 
the law tend to be on our 
side? Yes. Because the First 
Amendment is not partisan. 
It does not discriminate. 
It would be an incredibly 
uninformed and shortsighted 
move to go after the media.”
The panel was open to 
the public and the audience 
featured several of Niehoff’s 
law students, as well as local 
Ann Arbor citizens.
Law School student Scott 
Haeck said the panel was a 
valuable experience.
“I have a personal interest 
in the civil rights law and in 
this day and age, government 
criticism 
in 
particular,” 
Haeck 
said. 
“Besides, 
when else do we get to rub 
shoulders with such highly 
respected people? I thought 
some 
interesting 
points 
were raised and it was a 
valuable experience to have 
these valuable philosophical 
discussions raised in a setting 
where we are not trying to 
get to a particular point.”

“The University is trying, but 
it is not trying hard enough,” 
Garton said. “I feel that we have 
fallen behind in this regard. 
Climate change is the biggest 
problem facing my generation.”
Hansen 
added 
sustainable 
policy and culture on campus is 
crucial, and the entire University 
community including students, 
staff, faculty, alumni and Ann 
Arbor residents play a role in it.
“We were brought together 
to reposition the University of 
Michigan as leaders and best 
in the fight for a clean energy 
future,” 
Hansen 
said. 
“The 
leaders of the University of 
Michigan need to step up.”
Supporting the students were 
Prof. Doug Kelbaugh, former 
dean 
of 
Taubman 
College 
of 
Architecture 
and 
Urban 
Planning, 
and 
Prof. 
Joseph 
Trumpey, 
director 
of 
the 
Sustainable Living Experience. 
Kelbaugh said the University 
should think long-term when 
considering how best to reduce 
their carbon footprint.
“If you don’t act now, who is?” 
Kelbaugh said.
Trumpey 
emphasized 
the 
University is at the bottom of 

the Big Ten. He also reiterated 
carbon 
neutrality 
as 
an 
important focus not only to keep 

up with other universities but 
also for the community.
“I have 25 terrific students 
in 
the 
Sustainable 
Living 
Experience, 
but 
they 
simply 
can’t change the student culture 
on campus,” Trumpey said. “We 

need everyone on board … We 
must create and live a new truth 
together.”
Bernstein 
addressed 
the 
concerns brought up by the 
students and faculty.
“I’d 
like 
to 
add 
to 
the 
examination of our goals, how 
they relate to other universities 
and perhaps an exploration of far 
more aggressive and ambitious 
goals in this arena,” Bernstein 
said. “I urge the University to 
make this a priority moving 
forward.”
The 
board 
also 
expressed 
interest 
in 
listening 
to 
a 
presentation 
from 
the 
U-M 
Climate 
Action 
Movement 
regarding ideas and areas for 
improvement moving forward.
Currently, 
the 
University’s 
largest 
sustainable 
initiative 
is Planet Blue, which has goals 
of 
reducing 
greenhouse 
gas 
emissions, waste sent to landfills 
and 
increase 
locally-sourced 
U-M food.

day,” Carlson said. “I need you 
to live up to your responsibility 
to solve this problem so I can 
do my job.”
Following Carlson, Michigan 
Medicine nurse Tracie Lentz 
spoke about her experience 
being diagnosed with a blood 
cancer last year and urged 
action from the board. Lentz 
also 
criticized 
University 
President 
Mark 
Schlissel’s 
previous comments in support 
of free speech protections, 
noting nurses were not allowed 
to wear buttons and shirts 
in support of their union — a 
major complaint in the lawsuit 
filed against the University last 
week.
Nurse 
Lynn 
Sharrock 
has 
been 
working 
at 
the 
University for more than four 
decades and participated in 
the demonstration. She was 
among the nurses asked to stop 
wearing pro-union clothing 
at work. Sharrock recounted 
details of the difficult working 
conditions she faced when she 
started and said that it is still 
necessary for the nurses to 
fight for better treatment.
“When I first started here, 
we didn’t have a union,” 
Sharrock said. “I made $11 
an hour. And sometimes if 
somebody didn’t show up for 
work, I would just have to stay 
and stay. If I was at home — this 
is before answering machines 
— if my phone rang and I 
answered it, they said you had 

to come in, I had to come in or 
else I could be losing my job.”
The nurses were joined 
by members of the UMPNC 
leadership. Donna Carnahan, 
vice chair of the UMPNC, was 
present at the demonstration 
and expressed her hope that the 
board would respond promptly 
to 
the 
nurses’ 
demands. 
Carnahan 
expressed 
her 
frustration with the situation, 
noting that she has been part of 
the contract negotiations since 
they started in January and 
that the UMPNC has gained 
little.
“Today we’re here to get the 
regents’ help,” Carnahan said. 
“Our contract is based with the 
regents, and things have shut 
down at the table, and it’s now 
time to get the regents involved 
in trying to get a contract for 
the hospital. We don’t want to 
do any of this. We don’t want 
to do this work stoppage if 
we don’t have to. We would 
like to continue to take care 
of our patients. But we need 
to stand up and have ratios in 
the contract for safe patient 
staffing … We can’t get this 
done without them because 
nobody is listening.”
Regent 
Mark 
Bernstein 
(D), responding to the nurses 
speaking at the meeting, said 
he was “saddened to hear” 
the 
relationship 
between 
University 
nurses 
and 
the 
board has “frayed” and urged 
a collaborative future effort 
from 
all 
parties. 
Several 
other regents agreed with his 
sentiments.
Nurse 
Rebecca 
Bertha 

also spoke at the meeting 
and voiced concerns shared 
by many nurses about anti-
union sentiment in the nursing 
leadership. Bertha specifically 
cited 
an 
interview 
with 
Chief Nurse Executive Ann 
Scanlon McGinity, a member 
of the Michigan Medicine 
executive 
leadership, 
from 
2015 in which she expressed 
strong anti-union views and 
an unwillingness to work with 
union leaders.
“The change in nursing 
leadership since (former Chief 
Nurse 
Executive 
Margaret 
Calarco) 
left 
has 
really 
hurt the climate of mutual 
respect between nurses and 
management,” Bertha said.
Michigan 
Medicine 

denounced the strike in an 
email statement, saying they 
provided 
competitive 
and 
reasonable offers to the nurses, 
which 
were 
subsequently 
rejected. 
According 
to 
Michigan 
Medicine 
spokeswoman Mary Masson, 
the organization offered the 
nurses raises of at least 3 
percent. Masson also said the 
nurse-to-patient ratio is in the 
top 2 percent in the nation.
“We are disappointed that 
our 
UMPNC 
nurses 
have 
voted to approve a strike,” 
the 
statement 
reads. 
“We 
have been bargaining in good 
faith since January and have 
offered a competitive package. 
… We remain ready to continue 
bargaining with the UMPNC 
and are eager to resolve the 
contract negotiations.”

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Friday, September 21, 2018 — 3A

NURSES
From Page 1A

CHANGE
From Page 1A

“The University 
is trying but it is 
not trying hard 
enough. I feel 
that we have 
fallen behind 
in this regard. 
Climate change 
is the biggest 
problem facing 
my generation.”

SPEECH
From Page 1A

EARTHFEST
From Page 1A

University 
of 
Michigan 
professor John Cheney-Lippold 
made waves on campus this 
week from rescinding his offer to 
write a letter of recommendation 
for LSA junior Abigail Ingber 
after realizing she requested the 
letter to apply to a study abroad 
program in Israel. The email 
exchange between the professor 
and 
Ingber 
was 
posted 
to 
Facebook in a screenshot Sunday 
by Club Z, an organization that 
works to empower and network 
Jewish 
students 
who 
are 
committed to Zionism.
Throughout the week, the 
letter has continued to garner 
positive and negative attention 
from the campus community.
According 
to 
the 
Detroit 
Free 
Press, 
Cheney-Lippold 
has received death threats for 
his email to Ingber. But some 
campus organizations, such as 
Students Allied for Freedom and 
Equality, a Palestinian solidarity 
organization at the University, 
have come out in support of the 
American 
Culture 
professor. 
SAFE released a statement on 
Facebook 
Tuesday 
evening 
stating the organization stands 
in solidarity with the students 
and staff members boycotting 
Israeli universities.
Cheney-Lippold has received 
criticism and claims of anti-
Semitism from students and 
community members regarding 
his 
decision 
to 
revoke 
his 
recommendation letter.
SAFE’s 
statement 
begins 
by presenting examples of the 
human 
rights 
violations 
on 
Palestinian land, writing “there 
is no question of the violence and 
inequity perpetuated by settler-
colonial Israeli apartheid.”
“We 
support 
and 
affirm 
Professor 
John 
Cheney-
Lippold’s right to boycott Israel,” 
SAFE statement reads. “His 
actions are the same demanded 
by Palestinian civil society, and 
serve to recognize and resist 
forces committing human rights 
violations. To punish Professor 
Cheney-Lippold for his actions 
would curtail his own academic 
agency.” 
SAFE also points out how 
quickly the University responded 
to this incident. SAFE claims 
students have been placed on a 
political blacklist for speaking 

against human rights violations 
in Palestine, and the University 
has never released a statement 
on that issue. 
“There has been no University 
statement on the matter,” the 
statement reads. “This blacklist 
is just one of several tangible 
barriers for students that will 
prevent them from engaging in 
not just study abroad programs, 
but academic programs, jobs, 
and admittance into Palestine/
Israel.”
The University’s chapter of 
College Republicans, on the 

other hand, released a statement 
Monday evening calling the 
incident “deeply disturbing” and 
condemning 
Cheney-Lippold’s 
decision not to write the letter. 
The statement was written by 
Chapter President Dylan Berger.
 “Since the 2016 Presidential 
Election, those at the highest 
levels of this University have 
worked 
tirelessly 
to 
silence 
student who dare to think 
independently,” Berger wrote. 
“As 
President 
of 
College 
Republicans at University of 
Michigan, it is my responsibility 
to 
advocate 
for 
students 
like Abigail who have been 
discriminated against in large 
part due to President Schlissel’s 
remarks. If President Schlissel 
is 
serious 
about 
restoring 
intellectual diversity on campus, 
he will terminate professor John 
Cheney-Lippold 
and 
retract 
his remarks that ostracized a 
significant portion of the student 
body of the of the university that 
he claims to lead.”
University 
President 
Mark 
Schlissel did speak about the 
letter at Thursday’s meeting 

of the Board of Regents. He 
restated 
sentiments 
from 
a 
Monday press release from the 
University’s Office of Public 
Affairs, which affirmed the 
University’s strong opposition to 
a boycott of Israeli universities. 
Schlissel did not say anything 
about the employment status of 
Cheney-Lippold.
 “The academic aspirations 
of our students — and their 
academic 
freedom 
— 
are 
fundamental to the University 
of Michigan and our teaching 
and 
research 
missions,” 
Schlissel said. “We are a large 
and diverse public university, 
and the individual opinions of 
our community range widely 
on many issues. But personal 
views and politics should never 
interfere with our support of 
students. It is counter to our 
support of students.”
Schlissel went on to say the 
University will continue to look 
into the issue.
“It is counter to our values and 
expectations as an institution,” 
he said. “The regents, executive 
officers and I have been deeply 
engaged in this matter. We will 
be 
taking 
appropriate 
steps 
to address this issue and the 
broader questions it has raised.”
 University Regent Denise 
Ilitch (D) echoed Schlissel’s 
statement 
at 
the 
meeting, 
recalling 
the 
University’s 
mission to its students.
 “At the University of Michigan 
the best interest of our students 
is paramount,” she said. “This 
type of profoundly exclusionary 
contact 
by 
a 
University 
of 
Michigan 
professor 
(goes) 
completely against our mission. 
Let’s call this what it really is — 
anti-Semitic.”
Others took issue with Ilitch’s 
description of the event as anti-
Semitic. University alum Yonah 
Lieberman wrote on Twitter 
that attaching that label to the 
event blew it out of proportion.
“This is outrageous conflation 
of being antisemitic and anti-
Israel,” 
Lieberman 
tweeted. 
“When Nazis are marching in 
the streets and Trump is in the 
White House, it is way, way too 
dangerous to conflate the two.”
Lieberman is a founder of 
IfNotNow, a Jewish organization 
that calls on American Jews to 
abolish the Israeli occupation of 
Palestine.
Ingber was unable to comment 
to The Daily earlier this week 
due to waiting on proceedings 
with the University.

Regents and Schlissel promise 
action on prof’s Israel boycott

Cheney-Lippold receives death threats after refusing to sign onto 
reccommendation letter, SAFE and other orgs stand in solidarity

SOPHIE SHERRY & 
MAYA GOLDMAN
Managing News Editor & 
Daily News Editor

“The academic 
aspirations of 
our students 
- and their 
academic 
freedom - are 
fundamental to 
the University of 
Michigan.”

