question CMENAS’s decision
to hold an event discussing a
movement some equate with
anti-Semitism. He explained
CMENAS
decided
BDS
is

too vital a movement to not
be discussed, claiming the
movement is against a racist
institution rather than a group
of people.

“Why hold an event like

this
after
such
a
terrible

tragedy?” Ali said. “Frankly,
we considered canceling the
event altogether. But violence
is contagious … BDS is the
most important global issue for
thousands of students on the
U-M campus. This nonviolent
movement is part of who they
are. BDS is not against any
group, but against a racist
structure
that
oppresses

millions of people daily.”

The
first
speaker
was

Susan Abulhawa, a political
commentator,
poet
and

founder of Playgrounds for
Palestine.
Abulhawa
began

her presentation by reading
aloud some of Israel’s laws.
One of these was a law put
into effect this summer, which
declared Israel as the nation-
state of the Jewish people and
downgraded Arabic from its
official language status.

Abulhawa then talked about

the history of Palestine and
Zionism. Seventy years ago, she
said, Palestine was a thriving,
pluralistic
country
with

sophisticated businesses and
infrastructure. She said this
changed with the introduction
of Zionism, which was seen as a
movement for Jews to return to
a land devoid of a culture and
a people.

“They said it was a land

without a people for a people
without a land,” Abulhawa
said.

She showed an image of

an online recipe for falafel,
calling it an Israeli dish. This,
Abulhawa said, illustrates how
Israel has co-opted Palestinian
culture.

“You get to see this kind of

stuff,” Abulhawa said. “Israeli
cuisine,
falafel,
shakshuka,

hummus, which has nothing
to do with Israel. Not only has
Israel stolen our home, and
our lands and our dignity, and
our heritage. But they’re also
stealing our culture and our
story and our history.”

Abulhawa
continued
to

describe some of the Israeli
government’s
policies,

including
former
prime

minister
Yitzhak
Rabin’s

instruction to Israeli soldiers
to break Palestinians’ bones
while he was the minister of
defense. She said in response
to these types of policies, and
despite what she described as
the U.S.’s perception of Israel
as a start-up nation, protesters
and
activists
in
the
BDS

movement work to hold Israel
accountable.

The next speaker, Israeli

sociologist and activist Tom
Pessah, spoke of the difference
between
anti-Semitism

and what he called “anti-
Semitizing.” He delved into the
history of anti-Semitism and
explained anti-Semitizing is
a way of equating criticism of
Israel with the hatred against
Jews.

“The most common response

that you see is what I would call
anti-Semitizing, which means
casting the words and the
deeds of the opponents of Israel
as resembling traditional anti-

Jewish posts,” Pessah said.
“This is a way of stigmatizing
people as anti-Jewish in order
to silence opposition.”

This conflation is bad for

everyone,
Pessah
said.
He

said he believes strongly in
solidarity and noted he has
found
that
while
working

with the BDS movement — a
movement which he said works
to end the Israeli occupation
— to recognize equality of
Palestinians,
and
to
allow

Palestinian refugees to return
home. Pessah said BDS is
a strong opponent of anti-
Semitism.

“BDS has been a model of

solidarity from my knowledge
of
participation
in
the

movement,” Pessah said. “You
see many Palestinians, many
Jews, many Israelis working
side by side, acknowledging
the rights of Palestinians as
we said. But also, the BDS
movement has been outspoken
in combating anti-Semitism.”

Huwaida Arraf, a civil rights

attorney and co-founder of
the
International
Solidarity

Movement talked about state
policies targeting institutions
that participate in the BDS
movement. Arraf explained the
foundation BDS is built on.

“In 2004, Palestinian civil

society,
170
organizations,

unions, representing really all

facets of Palestinian society,
political factions came together
and announced this call to
the world to help us achieve
our freedom by instituting
the same kind of pressure on
Israel that the world instituted
against apartheid in South
Africa that helped bring it to
an end,” Arraf said.

Arraf
encouraged
the

audience to research and verify
anything her or the other
panelists discussed in order
to form their own opinions.
But
she
said
she
expects

independent
research
will

affirm her points.

“Anything I’ve said here, I

don’t expect you to take as a
given — please go and research
yourself to learn more about
it,” Arraf said. “Anything that
Susan said, anything that Tom
said. We want people to do the
research themselves and then
I’m confident you will also sign
on.”

In
November
2017,
for

the first time in the school’s
history after years of attempts,
Central Student Government
passed a divestment resolution
calling for the University to
investigate several companies
it had investments in which
have contracts with the Israeli
military. The Board of Regents
later rejected the resolution.

One
student
later
asked

how the panelists felt about
the incidents of faculty and
staff
members
declining

recommendation
letters.

Abulhawa denied these actions
were discriminatory, as the
professors
had
originally

agreed to write the letters
before learning they wanted to
study in Israel.

“I don’t believe the professors

were discriminating against
the students,” Abulhawa said.
“The professors were pointing
out, they were discriminating
against Israel if you want to
call
it
discrimination.
My

understanding is that they
had actually agreed to write
recommendation
letters
for

those students, but when they
learned that these students
were applying to a colonial
institution,
they
exercised

their conscience not to be party
to that.”

After these recommendation

letter incidents, Shay Vaughn,
an administrative partner and
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
advocate in LSA, said she
received many phone calls
about this issue. That’s why
she attended the panel — she
hoped to learn how to support
as many people through DEI as
possible.

“When it comes to being the

DEI advocate, I think there is a
responsibility to know certain
things, and I take that very
seriously, so I shared this event
out to everyone in the office,”
Vaughn said. “I just really
appreciate being allowed to be
here.”

“benchmarks” — university
cities like Berkeley, California;
Austin, Texas; and Madison,
Wisconsin — have nonpartisan
local elections.

Since
2015,
Lumm
has

introduced
three
ballot

proposals before City Council
to allow voters to decide if
they want to get rid of partisan
city elections. Each time, her
proposal was voted down.
Her most recent attempt in
July 2018 fell one vote short of
making the November ballot.

“It
is,
frankly,
very

frustrating, because I think
that while one can debate the
merits of nonpartisan versus
partisan
local
elections,

there’s no argument that I can
see for not allowing voters to
decide the question,” Lumm
said.

Lumm
said
nonpartisan

elections
would
shift
the

focus
from
Democratic

primaries
held
in
August

to
the
November
general

election, when voter turnout
is typically higher.

“Ann Arbor is a clear outlier

in holding local elections on a
partisan basis. We’ve been an
outlier for a very long time,”
Lumm said. “… None of our
traditional benchmarks have
partisan local elections. So
that fact, coupled with the fact
that Ann Arbor residents have
not had an opportunity in 60
years to weigh in on this, are
compelling reasons why this
question about nonpartisan
elections should, I think, be
on the ballot.”

Lumm pointed out that

despite the fact the council
is
composed
primarily
of

Democrats, members still have
disagreements and spirited
debates over municipal issues,
pointing out political parties
are not particularly relevant
in local races. She also said
her efforts were not related
to the fact that she is the only
Independent on the majority-
Democratic City Council.

“This isn’t about me,” Lumm

said. “Local elections are not
philosophical,
ideological

issues where party matters.
It’s best practice. We’ll have
higher turnout, we’ll attract
more
qualified
candidates.

It would require more voter
scrutiny on the issues or
candidates’ positions on the
issues and the candidates’
priorities, and those are all
really good things. I think it’s
just good government, and
that’s why I think we should
be doing this.”

Jeff
Hayner,
D-Ward
1

candidate, disregarded party
affiliation when he ran as
an
Independent
against

incumbent Democrat Sabra
Briere in 2013. Hayner said
he did so to spend more time

talking
about
the
issues

central to his campaign.

“I’ve
been
a
registered

Democrat since ’84,” Hayner
said. “The Democratic Party
is where it’s at. In 2013, I
knew I didn’t really have a
chance to win because the
woman who held the seat
was sort of a beloved figure
in local politics. I ran as an
Independent so I could go all
the way to November and talk
about two issues that I ran
on, which hadn’t been talked
about at the time, which was
the Gelman plume — the
dioxane plume that’s creeping
under our city — and also our
city’s woefully underfunded

pension mandates.”

Hayner said he focused

more
on
the
issues
than

political ideology.

“I know we’re a heavily

Democratic
city
—
that’s

pretty evident — but there’s
all kinds of people that live
here and some of them aren’t
as interested in politics as
issues, so I’m just more of an
issues guy,” Hayner said. “I
guess that would make me a
moderate.”

Councilmember
Sumi

Kailasapathy,
D-Ward
1,

announced she would not be
seeking re-election in April,
and endorsed Hayner, who
then narrowly won the Aug.
7 primary in a contentious
race against Ron Ginyard,
who was backed by Ann Arbor
Mayor
Christopher
Taylor.

Ginyard, a retired financial
adviser, faced criticism for his
failure to vote in an election
since moving to Ann Arbor
four years ago, while Hayner
received scrutiny over several
uncouth tweets as well as his
membership in the National
Rifle Association.

“It was closer than I would

have hoped since he had never
voted, which I think is sort of
a big red flag for a Democrat,
you know, but people are

involved and active,” Hayner
said. “There was a lot of get-
out-the-vote efforts on one
side or another. He had a
backing
from
the
current

council majority, so you know,
that’s a powerful lobby.”

In the general election,

Hayner is facing off against
Ryan Hughes, a Democratic
Socialist.
Hughes
said
he

ended
up
running
as
an

Independent rather than a
Democrat because, by the
time Kailasapathy announced
she
was
not
running
for

re-election,
he
felt
there

wasn’t enough time for him
to
marshal
the
resources

necessary
to
compete
as

Democrat.

“I was worried if people

saw the word ‘Independent’
on the ballot they would think
I was just a Republican who
was too ashamed to admit it or
something like that,” Hughes
said. “So I said, ‘I got to
write Democratic Socialist on
everything that I do.’ People
have to know that’s what I
stand for — I think this is the
time and this is the place to be
a Democratic Socialist right
now.”

Hughes
centered
his

campaign around the issue
of affordable housing in Ann
Arbor. He has called for the
city
to
intervene
directly

to provide low-cost public
housing. Hughes said there
was a dichotomy between
those
who
believed
the

problem
could
be
solved

with market forces alone and
those who were preoccupied
with concerns that building
new housing would cause the
price of existing housing to
increase.

“That’s kind of been the

spectrum of debate in the city,
and I don’t think that either of
those are very realistic plans,
just in and of themselves,”
Hughes said. “My whole point
in running was kind of to say,
there’s something else we
could be doing. We could be
tackling this problem more
directly than either of those
things will allow us to do.”

Lumm said she plans to

introduce the ballot measure
again after the November
election,
once
the
new

members of City Council are
seated.

“So in terms of next steps,

where we go from here, I
remain determined to provide
voters
an
opportunity
to

decide
this
question
and

obviously
I
very
much

believe that we should afford
residents the opportunity, not
force folks to collect ballot
signatures,” Lumm said. “If
council
rejects
the
ballot

question for the fourth time,
I am fully prepared to help
folks obtain the necessary
signatures.”

come in and seek the support, we
will find a way to work with your
concerns.”

Housing prices in Ann Arbor

have long been on the rise.
According to the U.S. Census
Bureau, the median rate for rent
in Ann Arbor has increased 14
percent from 2010 to 2015 and now
sits at approximately $1,075 per
month.

Last
spring
CSG
received

backlash
for
its
Campus

Affordability Guide, which offered
tips to make University living
more affordable. Suggestions such
as cutting down on housekeeping
services,
laundry
delivery
or

limiting impulse purchases were
deemed out of touch by much
of the student body. Students
responded negatively to the Guide,
calling it “out of touch.” Public
Policy senior Lauren Schandevel
and LSA senior Griffin St. Onge, in
collaboration with other student
groups, wrote an abridged guide
called Being Not-Rich at UM
which improved the advice from

“So in terms
of next steps,
where we go
from here,
I remain

determined to
provide voters
an opportunity
to decide this

question ”

“You see many
Palestinians,
many Jews,
many Israelis

working

side by side,

acknowledging

the rights of
Palestians as

we said. ”

2018 FIR ST GE N WE E K

NATALIE STEPHENS/Daily

Students attend the First Gen? First Year? community gathering in a series of 2018 First Gen Week events in Couzens Hall Monday evening. First Gen Week continues until this Friday,

with events on topics like mentorship, mental health, and networking.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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Tuesday, October 30, 2018 — 3A

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