and they’re disgusted.”

Public 
outcry 
forced 

Potts 
to 
close 
Pangea 

Piercing 
after 
a 
tweet 

accused him of espousing 
white supremacist ideology 
while giving a customer a 
piercing. 
Twitter 
user 
@

LauraStroudd tweeted that 
Potts “began to talk to me 
about 
white 
supremacy, 

and why ‘whites must stick 
together.’ He repeated many 
times that when it came down 
to ‘us vs them’ I would have to 
embrace my ‘white heritage’ 
to survive.” The tweet went 
viral and has been retweeted 
more than 6,000 times.

In a statement posted to his 

YouTube channel in August, 
Potts said his career was 
“over” and he was “completely 
done 
with 
the 
piercing 

business.” He noted he was 
“nowhere 
near 
politically 

correct,” but denied being an 
advocate of white supremacy.

“I can see why I present a 

perfect target in the current 
climate,” Potts said. “Calling 
out 
anti-Blackness, 
anti-

Semitism, 
homophobia 
or 

whatever is celebrated and 
accepted, but extending that 
to anti-whiteness, and quite a 
few people get that Pavlovian 
‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, 
what are you doing?’ — like 
that type of discrimination 
is somehow OK. I’ve always 
steadfastly said that no one 
should ever be disenfranchised 
or dispossessed because of 
characteristics 
they 
have 

no control over. I’ve always 
maintained that I do not want 
dominion over, nor seek to 
exploit, anyone — that’s like 
the exact opposite of white 
supremacy.”

Potts decided to reopen 

Pangea 
Piercing 
in 
late 

November, telling MLive that 
he was “a little nervous, but 
excited to hurry up and get 
back to work.”

Potts said he intended to 

install bars on the store’s 
windows and that he had 

taken steps to guarantee his 
employees’ safety as well as 
his own, installing security 
cameras throughout the shop 
and in the piercing bays.

Stenvig said Potts called the 

police because of the picketers 

on Saturday.

“He 
called 
the 
police, 

and they didn’t stop us from 
doing anything because we 
had the right to picket on the 
sidewalk, but he felt the need 
to have the police, like, escort 

him and the people who work 
there out at the end of the day, 
which is very unsustainable,” 
Stenvig said.

The 
other 
protesters 

outside of City Hall Monday 
night were members of The 
Ann Arbor Non-Lethal Deer 
Management, who held signs 
urging passing cars to “Stop 
the Shoot,” a reference to the 
city’s deer culling efforts. In 
2015, 
following 
complaints 

about what residents saw as an 
outsize deer population that 
resulted in car accidents and 
damage to landscaping, City 
Council voted to establish a 
deer cull to manage the local 
deer population.

Former Ann Arbor resident 

Maggie Sadoff said she moved 
out of the city in part because 
she was so opposed to the deer 
cull.

“I used to live in Ann 

Arbor,” Sadoff said. “I used 
to live in Ward 2, but I moved 
out because I was so disgusted 
by the deer cull. Now I live in 
Scio Township. With guns in 
the park, blood in the snow, 

I could not stomach it any 
longer. I wanted no part of it.”

The city’s third annual deer 

cull took place in January and 
lasted more than three weeks. 
Hunters were hired to kill up 
to 250 deer, but ultimately fell 
short, killing only 115.

Ann Arbor resident Sue 

Nelson said she thought killing 
deer was wrong, and called 
the deer cull ineffective. She 
disagreed with claims the 
deer cull was a humane way to 
kill deer that saved them from 
a slow death due to starvation 
or disease.

“Maybe I would argue there 

are too many humans,” Nelson 
said. “We need to live with 
wildlife and realize that we 
have come in and taken over 
their territory and accept the 
fact that they live here too.”

2019 will be the final year 

of the approved four-year deer 
management plan. The city has 
not yet released specifics for 
“lethal removal” plans for this 
upcoming winter.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, December 4, 2018 — 3

HISTORY OF ANTISEMITISM

MATT VAILLIENCOURT/Daily

Jeffrey Veidlinger, director of the Center for Judaic Studies, discusses the historical background of antisemitism during a panel hosted by the 
International Institute at Weiser Hall Monday afternoon. 

SACUA
From Page 1

“I used to live 
in Ward 2, but I 

moved out because 
I was so disgusted 
by the deer cull”

light of the court ruling may 
impose even more challenge 
around reporting … We need 
to do everything we can in the 
context of this legal limitation 
to 
support 
students 
that 

come forward with claims of 
misconduct to hopefully make 
sure they still feel comfortable. 
Particularly on these stories of 
sexual misconduct, when you 
think or get information from 
people that don’t think the 
University is paying adequate 
attention or if someone accuses 
the University of trying to 
brush under the rug or hide 
these episodes, I can tell you 
that couldn’t be more wrong 
… The darn problem with 
these cases, even this one in 
Music, Theatre and Dance that 
has become a bit notorious, 
the initial complaints were 
anonymous complaints, and it’s 
extremely difficult to follow-
up on anonymous complaints 
but we do … When you don’t 
hear of an investigation it 
doesn’t mean the University is 
ignoring it. It’s just unfair and 
untrue and this notion that it’s 
in the University’s best interest 
somehow to hide misconduct is 
exactly the opposite.

TMD: 
Given 
the 
recent 

midterm 
regents 
elections, 

the new partisan makeup of 
the board is seven Democrats 
and one Republican. Although 
the members of the Board are 
supposed to be nonpartisan, 
how do you believe this shift 

towards 
a 
large 
majority 

Democrats will influence the 
decisions made on behalf of the 
University and the issues the 
Board decides to undertake?

MS: Rarely do partisan issues 

show up in discussions by the 
board. 
They’re 
responsible 

for supervising me and then 
general 
oversight 
of 
the 

University, and there are way 
more similarities than there 
are differences between the 
members of different parties 
… With two new people, that’s 
a quarter of the group that’s 
different so there’s a whole new 
dynamic and people come in 
with their own background and 
the issues they care about … but 
I wouldn’t parse those things 
into Democrat or Republican.

TMD: Why do you think we 

are one of the only three public 
universities in Michigan that 
hold statewide elections for the 
regents?

MS: It’s historic. It was 

done here in a moment in time 
as part of the bylaws of the 
University of Michigan. The 
other universities in the state 
that do this are Wayne State 
and Michigan State University. 
The other publics all have 
appointed boards.

TMD: Do you foresee that 

changing in the future?

MS: I don’t see the politics 

that would lead to a change.

TMD: In terms of political 

platforms, 
candidates 

like Jordan Acker and Paul 
Brown 
were 
running 
on 

affordability, which, as you 
said, is very nonpartisan, but 
what about issues like Richard 
Spencer last year and free 

speech, which are very partisan 
issues?

MS: I don’t think Democrats 

or Republicans were thrilled 
with the content of what Richard 
Spencer would speak about. I 
don’t think either party would 
be excited about the specter of 
potential violence and spouting 
racist, misogynistic discourse 
… I think that members of 
both parties recognize that 
free speech is essential for 
a 
university 
… 
We’ve 
had 

discussions 
on 
the 
board 

about whether the campus is 
sufficiently welcoming to more 
conservative political points 
of view or whether they get 
suppressed … The commitment 
to free speech is bipartisan. 
People look at different groups 
and worry differently but the 
commitment is that same.

TMD: At our last meeting, 

you discussed the formation 
of a committee to address 
the 
University’s 
goals 
for 

carbon 
neutrality. 
Students 

have expressed a hope that 
the “proper individuals” will 
be placed on the committee to 
ensure success. How are you 
taking into account the voices 
of 
student 
environmental 

advocates or supporting faculty 
when 
selecting 
committee 

members?

MS: The goal of making us 

carbon neutral is very hard … 
Experts say the same thing, 
they’re not sure how we’re 
going to get there. There are 
lots of ideas and it’s going to 
take a window of time … It’s 
going to be complicated. It’s an 
area that’s so important that 
there’s so much activism not 

just by students, but by faculty 
and staff, citizens of Ann 
Arbor and the state. Everybody 
would want to be a part of this 
commission because everybody 
wants to help. What I have 
found is that for a group to be 
effective it can’t be too large. 
I’m going to try to keep it to 
a reasonable size that allows 
it to be high functioning and 
schedule 
frequent 
meetings 

… To make up for the fact that 
we can’t possibly have every 
constituency represented on the 
committee or all the expertise 
we need, we’ll encourage the 
committee and help it set up 
other advisory groups who will 
be turned to for thoughts and 
advice.

TMD: How is the University 

also looking into other facets of 
anthropogenic climate change 
(wildfires, 
food 
shortages, 

coral reef depletion, etc.)?

MS: 
There 
are 
faculty 

interested in a large number 
of aspects of global climate 
change and sustainability. For 
instance, one of the initiatives 
funded through the Biosciences 
Initiative 
is 
global 
change 

biology … fascinating research 
but not directly related to our 
carbon neutrality process. This 
commission will be focused on 
advising the campuses on how 
to become carbon neutral in as 
rapid a time frame as we can 
handle economically and in a 
way that others can replicate so 
we make more of a contribution 
than just the campus.

TMD: 
On 
the 
topic 
of 

committees, a separate panel 
created to examine “obligations 
to students as instructors with 

regard to letter-writing and 
all other modes of academic 
support” was announced in 
October, reportedly containing 
mostly 
senior 
members 
of 

the 
University 
community 

and 
no 
representation 

from the humanities fields. 
Some faculty members have 
expressed concern regarding 
this 
lack 
of 
diversity 
in 

the 
panel. 
How 
does 
the 

administration 
intend 
to 

address these concerns?

MS: The idea is to appoint a 

committee that’s thoughtful, 
high-integrity, 
(with) 
high 

expertise on it, but empower 
them to reach out broadly 
across 
the 
campus 
where 

lots of people are concerned 
about 
the 
question 
that’s 

been called … The panel’s in 
charge of collecting thoughts 
from 
a 
diverse 
array 
of 

people as possible and then 
gathering 
those 
thoughts 

and presenting to the provost 
some recommendations and 
an analysis. The panel won’t 
make 
decisions. 
They’ll 

capture 
opinions, 
analyze 

them 
and 
present 
some 

recommendations, but then it’s 
really up to the provost and the 
deans and, to an extent, myself 
to decide how to move forward 
with these recommendations.

TMD: Some faculty members 

we’ve talked to said they think 
it would be helpful if lecturers 
and 
younger 
faculty 
are 

included on the panel because 
they’re often asked for letters 
of recommendation.

MS: Although (the esteemed 

professors) are very senior now, 
they weren’t senior for their 

whole lives and they’ve taught 
over decades in many different 
capacities so they do bring a lot 
of different types of expertise. 
But the criticisms are fair. 

TMD: Earlier this month, 

Mohamed Soumah, a University 
custodian, took refuge in an 
Ann Arbor church to avoid 
being deported by Immigration 
and 
Customs 
Enforcement. 

Due 
to 
a 
genetic 
kidney 

disease and a lack of adequate 
treatment in his home country 
of Guinea, Soumah has said: “If 
I get deported, I will die.” Is 
Soumah still an employee at the 
University?

MS: 
We 
don’t 
discuss 

information about employees 
with the media, with anybody 
in general and particularly 
if there are issues around 
status, oh my goodness, we just 
wouldn’t do that.

TMD: 
How 
does 
the 

University 
work 
to 
assist 

employees like Soumah who are 
at the risk of being deported?

MS: 
It’s 
similar 
to 
the 

situation with undocumented 
students. We obey the law, 
we don’t do law enforcement 
work on behalf of outside 
agencies, but when making 
legal requests for information 
that we’re obligated to provide, 
we provide it, but it has to be 
something that we’re legally 
obligated 
to 
provide. 
We 

want to be supportive of our 
employees, and we have to be in 
compliance with the law.

SCHLISSEL
From Page 1

COUNCIL
From Page 1

outlined in CSG’s resolution.

Senate 
Assembly 
Chair 

Neil Marsh wrote a response 
to CSG’s request on behalf of 
SACUA, noting the need for the 
University as a whole to address 
issues of climate change and 
to work toward amending the 
problems at hand as soon as 
possible. 

“SACUA 
joins 
with 
the 

broader University community 
in recognizing the existential 
threat posed by climate change 
and global warming,” Marsh 
wrote. 
“SACUA, 
therefore, 

supports 
the 
goals 
of 
the 

resolution recently passed by 
Central Student Government.”

The 
meeting 
continued 

as 
the 
assembly 
welcomed 

Schlissel and asked him about 
the most pressing issues facing 
University administration is 
facing as the Board of Regents 
will be meeting this Thursday. 
According to Schlissel, the 
most important issue that will 
be discussed at the meeting 
is sexual misconduct and the 
efforts to improve the handling 
of such reports on campus.

“We’re discussing our work 

around 
sexual 
misconduct 

and finding ways to improve 
reporting and make it easier to 
increase support for people who 
report,” Schlissel said. “The 
provost has set up a committee 
to look at various types of 
faculty-student 
relationships, 

and we’ll discuss the emerging 
advice and direction to go on 
that.”

Schlissel 
also 
noted 
the 

recent changes in the Board 
of Regents which two new 
members, Jordan Acker and 
Paul 
Brown, 
who 
will 
be 

joining in January. Though 
they are qualified, Schlissel 
told the assembly, there is an 
onboarding process that they 
will participate in as their 
terms begin.

“I 
think 
I’ve 
spoken 
to 

both (Acker and Brown) and 
they both recognize their full 
enthusiasm and ideas, but they 
recognize they have to learn a 
lot more before they can really 
feel comfortable contributing 
as actively,” Schlissel said.

Schlissel 
closed 
by 

mentioning 
the 
upcoming 

retirement of Jerry May, vice 
president of Development, and 
noting his efforts over nearly 
eight years to raise $5 billion 
for the University through the 
Victors for Michigan campaign. 

Read more online at 

michigandaily.com

