The Ford School of Public 
Policy at the University of 
Michigan 
hosted 
a 
panel 
featuring leading figures in 
current 
electoral 
reform, 
bringing together nearly 100 
students 
and 
community 
members for a discussion 
on the future of Michigan’s 
electoral system and midterm 
proposals on Monday. 
The 
event 
consisted 
of 
several panelists organized 
to discuss the costs and 

benefits of two specific ballot 
initiatives to be voted on in 
less than a month on Nov. 6. 
Proposal 2 would establish 
an independent redistricting 
commission to replace the 
current process of drawing 
district lines. Proposal 3, 
otherwise known as “Promote 
the Vote,” would make several 
changes 
to 
the 
Michigan 
Constitution, 
incorporating 
practices such as straight-
ticket voting, automatic and 
same-day voter registration 
and unconditional absentee 
voting for Michigan residents 
overseas.

According 
to 
John 
Chamberlin, 
professor 
emeritus of Public Policy, 
the moderator of the event, 
each initiative would greatly 
reform the electoral system 
of the state of Michigan, 
allowing for greater citizen 
efficacy and minimizing the 
possibility of partisan activity 
in the redistricting process.
Panelist Sharon Dolente, 
a voting rights strategist for 
the American Civil Liberties 
Union 
of 
Michigan, 
was 
adamant in her support for 

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In 
WeListen’s 
second 
session of the semester, after 
nationwide protests brought 
surivors 
of 
sexual 
assault 
together 
against 
the 
confirmation of Justice Brett 

Kavanaugh to the Supreme 
Court, University of Michigan 
students 
came 
together 
to 
debate 
the 
institution’s 
politicization.

The session consisted of 
small group discussions, which 
are prefaced by an introductory 

CAMPUS LIFE

ADMINISTRATION

Discussions focus on how many Supreme Court 
decisions result in 9-0 vote, lifetime appointments

Activist Diane Guerrero kicked off week of events 
aimed at improving diversity initiatives at University

ROSEANNE CHAO/Daily

Ford School panel considers 
benefits, issues with electoral 
reform proposals on ballot
Proposals 2 and 3 on the November ballot make substantial 
changes to Michigan redistricting and voting day procedures

The 
Senate 
Advisory 
Committee 
on 
University 
Affairs met on Monday to 
discuss initiatives to better 
engage 
Senate 
Assembly 
members 
and 
incentivize 
attendance 
of 
assembly 
meetings.
The meeting began with 
members recapping motions 
discussed during past meetings 
this school year, including the 
upcoming Regents Candidate 
Forum. On Oct. 15, SACUA will 
host all the candidates for the 
University’s governing body 
to discuss their candidacy and 
qualifications. 
The 
key 
issue 
on 
Monday’s 
agenda 
was 
absenteeism 
among 
Senate 
Assembly 
members 
during 
their monthly meetings. As 
achieving 
a 
quorum 
for 
each meeting has become a 
recurring issue, many SACUA 
members 
including 
Sarah 
Lippert, associate professor 
of Art History at the U-M 
Flint, 
offered 
suggestions 
to 
encourage 
attendance 
both 
during 
assembly 
and 
committee meetings. 
“I’m wondering if there are 
mechanisms to reinforce lines 
of 
communication 
between 

The University of Michigan’s 
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 
Summit began Monday morning 
with a community assembly at the 
Power Center featuring activist 

and actress Diane Guerrero. The 
summit includes a number of 
events and public discussions over 
the week with a focus on fostering 
dialogues 
and 
addressing 
shortcomings in diversity, equity 
and inclusion at the University.
Three years ago, the University 

Assembly 
considers 
issues with 
attendance

WeListen meeting talks 
SCOTUS politicization

Summit keynote looks 
to better DEI programs

ACADEMICS

SACUA members suggest 
incentives, alternating 
members to meet quorum

MATT VAILLIENCOURT/Daily
Sharon Dolente, voting rights strategist of the ACLU of Michigan, discusses electoral reforms that are on the 
Michigan general election ballot during a panel lecture at the Ford School Monday afternoon. 

Columbus Day, a holiday 
previously 
commemorated 
across the United States that 
is now partially replaced by 
Indigenous 
Peoples’ 
Day, 
marks 
for 
many 
on 
the 
University 
of 
Michigan’s 
campus and across the country 
a time to consider historical 

and 
current 
treatment 
of 
Native American communities.
Earlier on Monday, students 
hung a banner in the Diag which 
read “Stolen Land Stolen Lives 
F*** Columbus Day,” before it 
was taken down by University 
staff in the afternoon. On last 
year’s 
Indigenous 
Peoples’ 
Day, Law School student John 
Petoskey organized a protest to 

recognize illegal 
land removal at 
the 
University 
Biological Station, 
and later submitted 
an 
inquiryto 
the 
University 
to 
investigate the history 
of the ownership of the 
land. 
The 
University 
is still in the process of 
addressing 
the 
complaint.
A dual-degree student in the 
School of Environment and 
Sustainability, Petoskey said he 
noticed an absence of anything 
recognizing the removal of 
Native Americans when he 
first visited the biostation.
“Growing up on my tribe’s 
reservation in Peshawbestown 
I had always heard stories 
of the event that came to 
be 
called 
‘the 
Burt 
Lake 
Burnout,’” 
Petoskey 
wrote 
in an email to The Daily. 
“The burnout was the illegal 
removal of the Burt Lake band 
from their treaty-guaranteed 
territory by lumber interests. 
The village was located on 
what is called “colonial point” 
not too far from the biostation. 
I found it disturbing that such 
a horrific event had taken 
place so close, but there was 
little to no recognition of 
it. I sought to change that.”
Petoskey said the President’s 
Advisory 
Committee 
on 
University History made a 
recommendation to work with 

local indigenous communities 
to reach an agreeable form of 
commemoration of the removal, 
and that he is “confident that 
the university has listened.”
As November approaches, 
planning for Native American 
Heritage Month is in full swing 
at the University. During this 
time, campus community is 
faced with reminders of its 
debt to the Ojibwe, Odawa 
and Potawatomi tribes who 
all participated in the Treaty 
of Fort Meigs in 1817. The 
treaty 
signed 
between 
the 
tribes and the U.S. allowed 
for the foundation of the 
University 
on 
native 
land 
with the agreement that the 
European 
settlers 
would 
provide 
higher 
education 
for 
native 
youth 
as 
well.
Despite 
this 
agreement, 
none of the tribes who signed 
directly 
experienced 
the 
benefits of the land grant, 
as records show that none 
attended the University for the 
next 130 years. The original 
land was sold and became part 
of the University’s endowment 

when the institution relocated 
to Ann Arbor from Detroit.
The 
University’s 
latest enrollment reports show 
85 Native American students 
attend 
the 
University, 
making up about .1 percent 
of the student body at large.
Today, 
a 
stone 
plaque, dedicated in November 
2002, stands on the ground of 
Ingalls Mall commemorating 
the 
land 
grant.
Now, more than 200 years 
after the treaty was signed, the 
Native American community 
says 
they 
are 
suffering, 
both at the University and 
nationally. American Indian/
Alaskan 
Native 
students 
held the lowest high school 
graduation rate compared to 
other subgroups and in 2016 
had a rate of suicide of 13.37 per 
100,000 people — the highest of 
any minority group. As a group, 
Native Americans maintain 
some of the highest rates of 
alcohol 
and 
drug 
abuse.
In September, the Mashpee 
Wampanoag tribe of Cape 
Cod faced a grim turn of 

events 
when 
the 
Trump 
administration 
reversed 
a 
2015 decision which entrusted 
more 
than 
300 
acres 
of 
land 
as 
a 
reservation 
for 
the 
Massachusetts 
tribe.
LSA 
sophomore 
Samara 
Jackson 
Tobey, 
external 
activist chair for the Native 
American Student Association, 
belongs to the Wampanoag 
Tribe. She’s focused efforts 
on helping to recruit and 
retain 
Native 
American 
students at the University— 
efforts she hopes will improve 
social conditions for Native 
Americans around the country.
“It’s 
important 
to 
understand that when a Native 
student comes to a campus like 
this, responsibilities become a 
burden,” Jackson-Tobey said. 
“There are so little of us that we 

have to represent 
ourselves tenfold, 
and 
we 
find 
ourselves 
in 
this 
position 
where 
our 
work, 
our 
perspective 
and our voice 
is needed. And 
yes 
it 
becomes 
demanding, 
but 
if we don’t do it, 
who’s going to do it?”
Currently, 
the 
University 
offers 
a 
Native 
American 
Studies 
minor, 
but 
Jackson-Tobey 
emphasized the need 
for further maturation 
of 
the 
department, 
especially in terms of a 
language requirement.
“Native 
American 
Studies is a history,” 
Jackson-Tobey 
said. 
“This 
is 
your 
connection 
back 
to 
who 
was 
originally 
here. You don’t have to 
be 
blood-indigenous 
to realize that there 
is a history still here, 
and somehow its small 
role in the American 
Culture 
Department 
seems 
to 
make 
it 
a 
joke. For example, why 
is a language in the 

Indigenous students remember a promise broken 
with Native American Heritage Month approaching

Over a century after Three Fires tribes ceded land to the University of Michigan, zero Native Americans were enrolled 

See WELISTEN, Page 3
See ATTENDANCE, Page 3

See HERITAGE, Page 2

See PROPOSALS, Page 3

See DEI, Page 3

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tuesday, October 9, 2018

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

RILEY LANGEFELD
Daily Staff Reporter

KATHERINA SOURINE
Daily Staff Reporter

MOLLY NORRIS
Daily Staff Reporter

DANIELLE PASEKOFF
Daily Staff Reporter

MATT VAILLIENCOURT/Daily
WeListen holds a discussion where students talk about the powers of the 
Supreme Court, the role of the Senate in the confirmation process, and Justice 
Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation at Weiser Hall Monday evening. 

BENJAMIN ROSENFELD
For the Daily

“None of the 
three tribes 
who signed 
directly 
experienced 
the benefits of 
the land grant.” 

“There are 
so little of us 
that we have 
to represent 
ourselves 
tenfold.”