The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Friday, November 9, 2018— 3A
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Red blood drop cutouts stand are placed around campus advertising the “Blood Battle” between Michigan and Ohio State University on the
Diag Thursday.
BLOOD DRIVE
Earlier
this
semester,
multiple
fraternities
disaffiliated from University
IFC.
The
five
current
unaffiliated fraternities are still
recognized by the University
but they have not completed
necessary paperwork and social
standards in order to join and
be recognized as a member of
the IFC. However, Alpha Sigma
Phi joins the group of seven
“rogue” fraternities who are
not recognized by the IFC or
the University, and are deemed
closed. Alpha Sigma Phi will be
the fourth fraternity to close
this calendar year.
HAZING
From Page 1A
next to the library in perpetuity
and develop a public park, passed
with 53 percent of the vote on Nov.
6, despite opposition from Mayor
Christopher Taylor. The mayor
said in an email to constituents
prior to Tuesday’s elections that
the ballot measure was “unfunded
and unwise.”
Haber
said
he
envisioned
turning what is now a parking
lot into a public commons for the
people of Ann Arbor.
“The notion of the commons is
that it is for everyone,” Haber said.
“A majority did say they wanted
it, also a significant minority
said they didn’t want, or wanted
something else, and the task of
the creation of the commons, is
that while we invite ourselves
to this, we invite everyone. And
this is now the opportunity of the
community that we are doing this
commons to put your best vision,
ideas (on) how to make a beautiful
place in the center of the city
that will be a destination for all
around.”
Proposal A derails a Chicago
developer’s plans to build a 17-story
high-rise on the lot. The proposal
is in direct conflict with City
Council’s decision in April 2017 to
sell the Library Lot to Core Spaces
and its later approval of a $10
million purchase agreement in
June 2018 to allow the company to
build a complex that would include
a hotel, apartments, office and
retail space. Half of the proceeds
from the sale — which amounts
to $5 million — was allocated to
providing affordable housing in
the city.
City Councilmember Chuck
Warpehoski, D-Ward 5, said the
implementation of Proposal A
would be a challenge for the next
City Council, warning that the
ballot measure’s passage will be
a challenge for the new council
members to wrestle with — and
one that could result in legal
complications.
“I was grateful and intrigued
to hear Mr. Haber talk about his
vision of the commons as a place
that nobody is excluded from,”
Warpehoski
said.
“Certainly
the challenge that Mr. Haber
left us with at the end of how
do we include people who are
experiencing homelessness in not
just this space but our broader
community is a big challenge
(because) the loss of the $5
million from the sale of the price
will impair our ability to be an
inclusive community.”
Following Haber’s comments,
Assistant City Administrator John
Fournier discussed a resolution
to approve an interim agreement
with electric scooter operator Bird
regulating the use of the scooters
in the city. The agreement would
last for 90 days, but could be
extended for up to one year.
Fournier said to his knowledge
there had only been one scooter-
related accident reported to law
enforcement since they were
introduced earlier in the year.
“What we have is a record
of the scooters operating in
the city rather safely, but still,
even with that knowledge, the
agreement gives the city quite a
bit of leeway with the operator,”
Fournier said. “The operator has
to provide educational material
to users that the city can approve.
The agreement requires that
the
operator
take
financial
responsibility when scooters are
used inappropriately or parked
inappropriately.”
Fournier said the city had been
active in seizing scooters when
they were parked inappropriately,
charging
$150
per
scooter
impounded. In the first 10 days of
the scooters’ introduction, 30 were
seized, but Fournier said since
then only 10 have been seized.
He noted that compliance with
city ordinances had “increased
substantially.”
City
Councilmember
Jane
Lumm, I-Ward 2, criticized Bird
for launching their scooters in
Ann Arbor without warning city
officials.
“It’s hard for me to get past the
fact that I think it’s irresponsible
for Bird rides just to show up in
Ann Arbor unannounced and
drop off their scooters, forcing the
city and the University to jump
through hoops,” Lumm said. “I
mean, that to me demonstrated
zero concern for safety.”
Additionally,
City
Council
unanimously approved amended
bylaws to a citizen-led police
oversight commission, clarifying
that city council liaisons will
appoint members to the oversight
commission
among
other
procedural details. Taylor noted
the contentious path surrounding
the drafting of the commission,
including
a
competing
proposal from a citizen task force
convened by the city’s Human
Rights Commission.
“This brings the prelude of the
commission to a close,” Taylor
said. “It’s been a long process. It’s
been a difficult process, but I think
the substance of what we have,
the substance of the ordinance,
the substance of the commission
is going to be, I believe, good for
everyone.”
While he said he did not plan to
address the ordinance’s preamble
during
the
meeting,
Taylor
mentioned he had heard from law
enforcement officers that they
found some of the implications
about racism in policing to be
hurtful, especially to officers of
color.
“I’m going to look to us to how
we can address this problem going
forward,” Taylor said.
The council also unanimously
passed a resolution requesting
immigration
authorities
stay
the deportation of a man from
Guinea who has taken refuge in
a Quaker house of worship.
Mohamed Soumah, who works
as a custodian at the University,
is residing in the Ann Arbor
Friends
Meeting
House
to
avoid deportation. Soumah has
a genetic kidney disease that
requires frequent dialysis, and
says he will die if deported
because he will no longer have
access
to
adequate
medical
equipment.
Soumah came to the United
States in 2002 and has regularly
applied for and received U.S. work
visas. However, Immigration and
Customs Enforcement declared
him a fugitive alien for overstaying
his allotted term.
Warpehoski said ICE had a
policy
against
apprehending
people in sensitive places, such
as houses of worship or medical
facilities.
“This resolution is a show of
support for him by the council
… Because his doctors and other
medical professionals who have
reviewed his case do believe that
for him to be deported would be a
death sentence,” Warpehoski said.
CITY
From Page 1A
Trump’s
potential
ties
to
Russia. Sessions’s recusal had
left Deputy Attorney General
Rod J. Rosenstein in charge of
the investigation. Rosenstein
was responsible for appointing
Special Counsel Robert Mueller
to the case.
The march was organized
and led by Stop Trump Ann
Arbor, an organization created
in the wake of the 2016 election
to
protest
against
Trump’s
policies. Thousands of other
protests were staged across the
country in a display of solidarity
with Mueller’s investigation.
The Ann Arbor march started
at the Federal Building on East
Liberty Street, before crossing
the Diag, around in front of the
University Museum of Modern
Art and back to the Federal
Building.
The protest began with a
number of speakers outside of
the Federal Building in front
of a crowd packed with anti-
Trump and pro-Mueller signs.
Most of the speakers touched
on issues relating to Trump’s
perceived misuses of power or
his hostility toward women,
minorities
and
immigrants.
After the speeches concluded,
protest organizers lead the
group to the Diag and back,
flanked by police cars. Once
the march made it back to
the
Federal
Building,
the
organizers held an open mic,
allowing any of the protesters
to come and speak before the
event concluded.
Adam
Nash,
one
of
the
leaders of Stop Trump Ann
Arbor and a march organizer,
said he thought the march
was a good start to opposing
Trump’s
actions
through
organizing. However, he also
said there was still more to
do, and going forward, this
wasn’t simply about voting in
the 2018 midterm elections or
participating in one march.
“I
feel
like
people
are
realizing that we can’t just vote
in the right people and trust
them to do the right thing,”
Nash said. “That was reflected
in the open mic, when people
came up, and the spontaneous
chants people started, like ‘Let
Mueller do his job, or we’ll give
Trump his angry mob,’ that’s
pretty good. I don’t know if it’s
radical, but I feel like people
are waking up.”
Nash continued on to say he
knows a single protest wouldn’t
reshape anything, but numerous
marches and innovative new
tactics
could
be
extremely
effective in creating change.
He also stressed how it is more
difficult for the government to
ignore large demonstrations,
as opposed to a single march.
He
additionally
commended
the role University of Michigan
students
and
faculty
have
taken in past protests and said
he called on them to continue
protesting innovatively.
“The
entrenched
power
structures have learned how
to weather one day of protests,
they’re good at that,” Nash said.
“The
unprecedented-ness
of
this will wake a lot of people
up and the unity of the people
who came out will motivate
them to continue resisting …
Historically U-M students and
teachers have lead the way
in
resistance.
The
teach-in
was invented here at the U-M
campus and I want to see more
of that … If there’s something
new,
entrenched
power
structures won’t know how
to respond to that. We need
diversity of tactics.”
March
leader
Jessica
Prozinski said she felt the
march was a success and a win
for democracy.
“I think that we did exactly
what we needed to do when
we needed to do it,” Prozinski
said. “I’m looking forward to
going home and seeing what
the protests looked like all
across the country. I think that
this was a good protest because
it was very democratic, we had
the open mic at the end. I feel
like people in Ann Arbor got
a chance to have their voices
heard.”
She
also
likened
the
methodology of the movement
to that of the civil rights
movement
in
the
1960s,
saying she felt voting was not
enough and protesting was
also essential to fighting for
progress.
“We
need
to
keep
this
movement
going,”
Prozinski
said. “And people keep asking,
‘What’s
next,’
or
‘What’s
tomorrow?’ To be honest, to a
certain extent we don’t know.
But we know that we need to
stay active and we need to keep
coming out into the streets.
Voting is not enough … We are
trying to build a mass direct
action movement, to change
things beyond the ballot box,
not within the confines of the
approved, strictly voting-based
system.”
LSA sophomore Zac Kolbusz
said he came to the protest
because he felt it was important
to stand up to injustices, and
the best way to do that was
through protesting. He also
called upon other students to
join the movement as well.
“We live in a nation where
our laws and our constitution
have been compromised by a
complicit (Republican Party),”
Kolbusz said. “As students, we
have a responsibility to stand
up for our future, and to stand
up for people marginalized
by this campus, and the only
way we can do that is through
mass mobilization. I’d like to
call on students to mobilize, to
participate in something bigger
than they are, and to protect
what they can while they still
can do it.”
In addition to organizers and
students, Ann Arbor residents
joined the demonstration to
convey their thoughts about
the
president’s
decision
to
effectively fire Sessions. Ann
Arbor resident Dave Schlenker
said he felt Trump was a fascist,
and people needed to prevent
Trump from weakening the
investigation against himself.
“I’m with the anti-fascists
and
Trump
is
a
fascist,”
Schlenker said. “He’s blatantly
and
flagrantly
abusing
his
power
to
try
and
appoint
crony people who will do
his bidding, essentially. He’s
trying
to
defend
himself
from investigation but we’re
not going to let that happen.
Hopeful,ly Whittaker recuses
himself or resigns, obviously.
Best case scenario, the laws
in place as they are written,
Rod Rosenstein gets put in the
attorney general position and
continues the investigation.”
After
the
first
protest
Thursday,
the
organization
announced they have a second
protest planned for 12 p.m. on
Friday at the Diag.
PROTEST
From Page 1A
Fanning spoke about the
struggles he faced as a gay
man in the armed forces.
“I
didn’t
think
(being
openly gay) was going to be
as big of an issue as it was
— it wasn’t in my training
years, when I was in military
intelligence it wasn’t an issue,
but then I got stationed in
an infantry unit … I got hate
mail, especially, put under
my door for a few months and
then people got used to the
idea, actually,” Fanning said.
Kelley,
however,
spoke
quite
differently
of
her
experiences.
“I mean, for me, my
experience
was
really
positive,” she said. “And
I know that there is some
gender
expectation
from
our society, I can definitely
understand how a gay man
would have a harder time
in the military than a gay
female. If anything, for me, I
was just able to bro out with
the other guys.”
Fanning spoke about the
LGBTQ support group he
joined at his base.
“There was no rank, no
limitations, so we ended
up having a lot of juniors
enlisted and senior officers
who were in this safe space
and could talk about their
experiences,” he said.
The
U.S.
military
maintained an official ban
on all LGBTQ persons in
the military from the time
of World War II until the
passage of the “Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell” policy in 1993. The
policy, signed by President
Bill
Clinton
Clinton,
prohibited LGBTQ members
of the armed forces from
disclosing
their
sexuality
while also prohibiting official
questioning
regarding
sexuality.
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was
repealed in 2011, allowing
gay, bisexual and lesbian
members of the military to
serve openly. This has also
allowed
the
experiences
and struggles of LGBTQ
servicemembers have come
into focus.
Nursing freshman Adam
Dobry,
ROTC
member,
attended the event to try to
improve his own awareness
of
issues
LGBTQ
people
might face in the military.
“I felt like (this panel)
would
be
a
bit
more
interesting than a lot of
the other ones, it seemed
like it would be a bit more
informative,
especially
for becoming an officer, to
know how to treat certain
individuals and be aware of
certain things,” Dobry said.
VMSP
Director
Phil
Larson elaborated on the
purpose of the event.
“In the media and pop
culture, there’s a lot of
stereotyping, the military is
a monolith, but it’s made of
individuals,” Larson said.
After the event, Fanning
told The Daily about why he
joined the army and how he
reflects on his time in the
service.
gained recognition for its
work in exposing the abuse.
“It’s really exciting, our
goal with the podcast too, is
the same goal as this project
— to have as many people
understand as wide of the
story as possible and what the
background and depth (is),”
Wells said.
Each
of
the
panelists
shared
their
backgrounds
and how they came together
to form this network of
survivors.
Trinea Gonczar, another
survivor,
now
works
for
Wayne County SAFE, which
forensically
examines
sexual assault and provides
resources
to
survivors.
Gonczar said education on
the Nassar case and other
instances of sexual assault
is important to help prevent
future abuses.
“Our strongest mission is
to educate the community,”
Gonczar said. “The more
conversations we’re having,
whether it’s 30 people in a
room or 300, they’re just as
important.”
For
survivor
Christina
Barba, she did not realize
she belonged to this cohort
of women until the first news
came out about the trial.
“I was around 14, but my
story is different in that I
did not realize until this year
January,” Barba said. “I’m
listening to all these women
with tears rolling down my
face and the realization that
this is my story.”
Survivors Larissa Boyce
and Jessica Smith also spoke
on the panel.
Detroit
News
reporter
Kim Kozlowski later shared
her experience covering the
stories of these women and
said the survivors deserve
the recognition for bringing
Nassar to trial.
“Even
though
it
was
the media that made it an
international
story,
we
had nothing to do with it,”
Kozlowski said. “What really
happened was these women
came forward and they were
brave.”
Eastern
Michigan
University freshman Georgia
Nagel attended the event.
With an interest in studying
women and gender, Nagel
said she’s hoping to work in
nonprofits relating to that
and wanted to directly hear
the experiences of survivors.
“I wanted to hear exactly
what they had to say,” Nagel
said. “I’m so used to hearing
it secondhand.”
Many of the survivors
reflected
on
how
being
a
parent
affected
their
perspective on what they’ve
been through. Gonczar said
she won’t have the same
level of trust in coaches and
doctors that her parents did.
NASSAR
From Page 1A
The entrenched
power structures
have learned how
to weather one
day of protests,
they’re good
at that. The
unprecendented-
ness of this will
wake a lot of
people us...
Read more online at
michigandaily.
Read more online at
michigandaily.
VETS
From Page 1A