leaders, including the incoming 
majority in the City Council, have 
rallied against this development 
and pushed for the passage of 
Prop A. Councilmembers Jack 
Eaton, D-Ward 4, and Anne 
Bannister, 
D-Ward 
1, 
both 

advocated for Prop A.

Bannister, 
who 
had 
filed 

a separate lawsuit against the 
city regarding the sale of the 
Library 
Lot, 
said 
the 
Core 

Spaces development is a luxury 
development when the city needs 
more affordable housing.

“It’s sort of common sense 

that 
building 
more 
luxury 

housing 
is 
not 
getting 
us 

anywhere near growing our 
affordability,” 
Bannister 
said. 

“We, unfortunately, take down a 
lot of out single-housing homes 
and then put up more luxurious 
multi-home units, and then those 
apartments are displaced.”

Bannister 
expressed 

willingness to withdraw her 
lawsuit because Prop A covers a 
lot of its points.

“(My lawyer’s) direction for 

the settlement suggestion was 
that Proposal A has overcome the 
lawsuit on whether the contract 
was valid,” Bannister said. “It’s 
fairly simple that the Proposal A 
has overcome and remedied the 
lawsuit.”

Bannister also said she would 

be willing to move past any 

previous disagreements on Prop 
A.

“Whether 
you 
disagreed 

before the vote, now is the time 
when people have to forget about 
the way who voted which way 
back then, and stress about how 

people go forward,” Bannister 
said.

Eaton, who previously ran an 

unsuccessful primary campaign 
to challenge Taylor earlier this 
year, 
highlighted 
the 
other 

developments moving forward in 
the city.

“We do have other things in 

the works,” Eaton said. “We’re 
looking at how to develop the Y 
Lot. We should be able to leverage 
the property we have to develop 
affordable housing… The fact that 
we didn’t build that one building 
is not going to have an impact on 
affordability in general.”

Regarding 
Core 
Spaces’s 

ability to take legal action against 
the city for nulling the previous 
sale agreement, Eaton expressed 
little concern.

“Section 16 says the city 

can walk away from the deal if 
legislation is passed against it,” 
Eaton said. “Proposal A is that 
legislation. If there isn’t a valid 
contract, they don’t have grounds 
for suit. Even if they were to 
file suit, they have minimum 
damages.”

Alternatively, Councilmember 

Chip Smith, D-Ward 5, expressed 
his continued opposition to Prop 
A. For Smith, his opposition for 
Prop A was based in the benefits 
that the city would reap from the 
Core Spaces development.

“We would be getting $5 

million for affordable housing, 
we have no money for that right 
now,” Smith said. “We would be 
getting a 1,200 square foot plaza.”

Smith also focused on the 

financial side of Prop A, bringing 
up the potential tax revenue that 
the city was losing by passing the 
proposition and the park’s over 
$10 million price tag.

“I think we lose out as a 

community and as a downtown 
in $2 million per year in tax 
revenue,” Smith said. “We still 
have a structural deficit of 1 to 
3 percent every year… I’d be 
stunned if there was funding for 
the park in the next year’s budget. 
If the Prop A people are honest, 
and if they look at the price per 
square foot for the park, the price 
is extraordinary.”

Office for Institutional Equity 
investigator, a case manager 
from the Office for Student 
Conflict Resolution will be 
present when meeting with 
either one of the students 
involved 
in 
the 
dispute. 

The case manager will also 
serve as the main contact 
for both parties, while the 
OIE investigator will still be 
the individual tasked with 
operating 
the 
investigation 

itself. The changes will be put 
into place beginning Jan. 9. 

In order to comply with the 

Sixth Circuit’s decision, the 
new policy also includes an 
option for students to question 
both each other and additional 
supplementary 
witnesses 

in in-person hearings. The 
hearing officer will also be 
permitted to question relevant 
parties.

LSA freshman Kirsten Lam 

said she felt the changers could 
make the reporting process 
more difficult and intimidating 
for survivors.

“I think that’s a terrible idea. 

That could cause trauma, like 
PTSD is a very real thing for 
sexual assault victims, so just 
even seeing the person, hearing 
that voice, can just trigger the 
bad memory of the whole even 
happening and cause more 
emotional distress,” Lam said. 
“With conversations, people 
can use that to convince the 
accuser to back down and drop 

the charges, because after 
that happens, a lot of people 
are already in an emotionally 
distressed state.”

Students will additionally 

no longer be able to appeal 
decisions on the basis of 
insufficient evidence.

In 
an 
interview 
with 

The Michigan Daily at the 
beginning 
of 
December, 

President Mark Schlissel said 
he felt the OIE had a difficult 
job, but did it well. He did, 
however, also say he was 
worried about how the new 
Sixth Circuit driven changes 
to 
the 
misconduct 
policy 

would impact students going 
forward.

“I think the OIE has a very 

difficult job to do across a 
very challenging landscape … I 
think they do a very good job 
in aggregate,” Schlissel said. 
“The biggest thing I’m worried 
about is we know misconduct is 
underreported, and what we’re 
concerned about is changes we 
make in 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.”

In conjunction with changes 

to 
the 
sexual 
misconduct 

policy, the University has also 
updated its policy on faculty 
and student relationships.

advocating for a multicultural 
lounge. Can you come with us 
to a meeting with V.P. Harper?” 
And I say, sure I’ll come to the 
meeting. Or, students came to 
me and said, “We’re receiving 
hate mail because of this 
American Sniper controversy. 
We’re having a meeting with 
President 
Schlissel 
— 
will 

you come?” Sure, I’ll come 
with you. “We’re advocating 
for a ME/NA box — a Middle 
Eastern/North 
African 

identity checkbox, and will 
you come with us to meet 
with Rob Sellers or Provost 
Philbert?” So a lot of the 
work I’ve done on campus 
has been through students 
asking 
me 
to 
accompany 

them to meetings that they 
are having. I see myself as an 
advocate for Arab, Muslim 
students, 
ME/NA-identified 

students, who are often not 
part of diversity, equity and 
inclusion conversations. So my 
motivation has been to help 
create an environment at the 
University for marginalized 
students 
to 
thrive 
and 

therefore, reach their potential 
in life.

TMD: How have you seen 

the University climate change 
throughout your career here, 
and 
with 
current 
political 

and social climate, what are 
your feelings for the future? 
Do you feel the University is 
inching toward where it needs 

to be to make this an equitable 
space for students who are 
marginalized, and what do 
you see as further spaces for 
improvement?

I have witnessed that the 

University is committed to 
diversity in many ways, and 
they have been for a long time. 
When I was an undergrad 
here, I remember the Race and 
Ethnicity 
requirement 
was 

new and it was one of their 
efforts toward creating a more 
equitable campus and teaching 
about race. But there’s also … a 
lot of reasons why things can’t 
happen or simple things can’t 
happen quickly or can’t happen 
at all.

But what I’ve learned in my 

time here is that administrators 
are not aware of issues that 
students, staff or faculty face 
unless we tell them about it 
and work on it together. So the 
Islamophobia Working Group 
was formed, and it’s been 
very active in trying to create 
spaces for ME/NA-identified 
students and Muslim students 
on campus, and we’re a group 
of over 100 faculty, staff and 
students who strategize on 
how to do this together.

So, we’ve been working on 

three areas. One of the areas 
is increasing the number of 
reflection spaces on campus 
to facilitate prayer for Muslim 
students who pray five times a 
day so they don’t have to walk 
all the way across campus to 
do that, and as a result of the 
Islamophobia Working Group’s 
efforts, there are many more 

reflection spaces on campus. It 
was actually a fairly easy thing 
to do.

We’ve also been advocating 

for a Middle Eastern/North 
African-identity checkbox and 
we’ve had many meetings with 
the administration and it is 
well underway of happening.

The third thing we’ve been 

working on over the last two 
and a half years is changing the 
Arabic language textbook or 
modifying it or supplementing 
it 
in 
some 
way, 
because 

students pointed out that it is 
orientalist and militaristic and 
Arabic language is not taught 
in the same way as other 
languages. … Students have 
been working on this, raising 
awareness about it, and their 
task force in Near-Eastern 
Studies to figure out how to 
resolve the issue.

The larger point is that we 

need to get more involved and 
inform the administration and 
work with them to make the 
kinds of changes that we want 
to happen on campus.

TMD: Can you talk about 

your new and exciting position 
coming up and what you’re 
most looking forward to?

My new position is in the 

Department 
of 
American 

Studies 
and 
Ethnicity 
at 

the University of Southern 
California, 
and 
that 

department 
is 
considered 

to very comparable to the 
Department 
of 
American 

Culture at U of M, so I feel 
very fortunate to be going to 
a similar kind of structure in 

the department. I’m hoping 
to collaborate with colleagues 
there to create a minor for 
Arab and Muslim American 
studies. They don’t have one, 
but there is a critical mass 
of faculty there that make it 
possible, so I am excited about 
that. I have to say that a lot 
of what I’m looking forward 
to is unknown right now. I’ve 
been here 18 years — 4 years as 
an undergrad, 14 as a faculty 
member, and so this next 
step really represents a new 
chapter, being challenged in 
new ways, a new adventure. 
So I’m looking forward to see 
where the future takes me. But, 
since I write about television 
and film, I’m curious about 
how or whether the proximity 
to Hollywood might shape my 
work in new ways.

TMD: 
What 
is 
a 
final 

sentiment 
you’d 
like 
to 

leave 
with 
the 
University 

of 
Michigan, 
and 
more 

specifically, the communities 
in which you’ve played such a 
prominent role?

My final sentiment is one of 

gratitude to all the people that 
I’ve had the opportunity to 
collaborate with on making U 
of M a more inclusive campus 
and 
also 
gratitude 
to 
my 

colleagues for supporting the 
vision in creating this Arab 
and Muslim American studies 
program that’s so unique and 
necessary given the social and 
political context that we’re 
living in today.

Since 2004, there have only 
been three instances in which 
a vote could occur due to the 
requirement that a minimum of 
100 faculty members be present.

University President Mark 

Schlissel discussed initiatives 
he hopes to implement next 
semester and in the future. 
Schlissel said he is working to 
promote access, affordability 
and equity for all students and 
applicants. 
He 
claimed 
the 

new Go Blue Guaranteeprogram, 
which provides in-state students 
with an annual family income of 
$65,000 or less with free tuition 
and fees, has increased in-state 
applications by 24 percent. 
However, there has only been a 
6 percent increase in those who 
actually attend.

Schlissel also discussed the 

Wolverine Pathways program, 
which aims to help students in 
grades 7 through 12 prepare 
for college. He said while these 
younger students still need to 
do the work to be accepted to 
the University, this is an effort 

to prepare them as much as 
possible when that time comes.

“A lot of these students come 

from schools where it is kind 
of harder to show how talented 
you are,” Schlissel said. “So 
we have to work on better 
ways to identify talented kids 
coming out of less advantaged 
communities.”

Schlissel discussed academic 

innovation and posed questions 
regarding the meaning of having 
a degree from the University 
and whether the University 
should focus on teaching skills 
that lead to employability. 

He also pushed for University 

professors and students from 
all schools to work together to 
get the University on a “path 
towards carbon neutrality.”

During the second half of 

the assembly meeting, Schlissel 
discussed sexual misconduct at 
the University for both student-
student 
relationships 
and 

faculty-student 
relationships. 

Schlissel 
claimed 
his 

administration has always been 
aware of sexual misconduct on 
campus, but now he is placing 
more emphasis on preventing it. 

“My executives and I — 

the deans, the provost — we 

really increased our attention 
and tried to figure out ways 
to be increasingly proactive,” 
Schlissel said. “This is an area 
we have always tried to stay on 
top of, but we’re really doubling 
down because of the level of 
importance and the level of 
scrutiny that the University and 
society has placed itself under.”

Schlissel said campus climate 

surveys have revealed a lot of 
gender-based 
mistreatment 

at the University. He said all 
staff and students should feel 
comfortable 
and 
valued 
on 

campus, and noted this could 
lower the number of sexual 
misconduct allegations.

To 
combat 
these 
sexual 

misconduct 
issues, 
Schlissel 

said the University is making 
an effort to change its sexual 
misconduct policies. One aspect 
of this effort is recruiting a 
former employee of the Obama 
adminstration with Title IX 
experience to lead a critique 
of the current Department of 
Education policy changes to 
Title IX.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, December 11, 2018 — 3

“It’s sort of 

common sense 

that building more 

luxury housing 
is not getting us 
anywhere near 

growing our 
affordability”

Read more online at 

michigandaily.com

19 hate crimes were reported 

by UMPD in 2017, while 11 
were reported in 2016 and 
two in 2015, according to data 
obtained 
directly 
from 
the 

University of Michigan Police 
Department. From 2015 to 2017, 
the Black community reported 
the 
highestnumber 
of 
hate 

crimes (14) followed by hate 
crimes 
against 
multiple 

racial groups (4), the LGBTQ 
community (4), the Muslim 
community 
(4), 
the 
Jewish 

community 
(3), 
the 
white 

community (2) and females (1).

LSA 
senior 
Timberlee 

Whiteus, 
vice 
president 
of 

the 
University’s 
National 

Association 
for 
the 

Advancement of Colored People 
chapter, said the data reported 
does not surprise her.

“These 
numbers 
don’t 

surprise 
me,” 
Whiteus 

wrote in an email interview. 
“These 
things 
happen, 
and 

administration does their best 
to ensure they happen covertly 
so that the university’s name is 
not tarnished.”

According 
to 
Whiteus, 

the 
University’s 
history 
of 

inadequate 
responses 
to 

hate crimes and other bias 
incidents 
may 
cause 

marginalized communities to 
feel hesitant about reporting 
hate crimes.

“People don’t feel supported,” 

Whiteus wrote. “Looking at the 
history of how the university 
responds to bias incidents, it 
can make it difficult to make 
a report when one sees that 
the university has historically 
not responded in a way that is 
progressive.”

Business senior Mohammad 

Shaikh, president of the Muslim 
Students’ 
Association, 
said 

the Muslim community feels 
comfortable 
reporting 
hate 

crimes to Division of Public 
Safety and Security. He noted 
it is something they have had to 
do relatively frequently in the 
past couple years upon finding 
condoms and urine in University 
reflection rooms, a space where 
many Muslim students pray.

Shaikh also noted DPSS has 

repeatedly 
encouraged 
the 

Muslim community to use them 
as a resource and have been 
sensitive 
and 
understanding 

when contacted.

Still, Shaikh said he will 

never 
forget 
the 
anti-Islam 

speech written on the Diag 
in 2016 or the University’s 
response to it. The incident was 
not recorded as a hate crime and 
the University did not remove 
the statement.

“Literally the first day, I won’t 

forget it, it was a Wednesday 

in the middle of April, kind of 
like the midst of finals,” Shaikh 
said. “Someone wrote ‘Stop 
Islam’ in huge black letters on 
the Diag. They used the bronze 
‘M’ on the Diag to be the ‘M’ in 
Islam. I think the frustrating 
thing was that the University’s 
response 
in 
these 
kind 
of 

situations, 
where 
it’s 
‘free 

speech,’ is called into question, 
because it’s something that’s 
hateful and potentially makes 
Muslim students feel unsafe 
on campus, that there’s people 
with these views. That was a 
big concern, the University isn’t 
washing this off, they’re not 
taking a strong stance. In those 
situations, the University was 
very, as expected, very cautious 
and not very prompt with their 
response. I think it took over a 
week for (University President) 
Mark Schlissel to say anything 
about it.”

Public Policy senior Daniel 

Greene, president of Central 
Student Government, said the 
invisible nature of LGBTQ+ 
identities presents a unique 
challenge 
to 
the 
LGBTQ+ 

community 
when 
reporting 

hate crimes.

“If it’s a severe hate crime, I 

think that what often happens 
with the LGBTQ community 
is that if somebody has to call 
security, call the police, go 
to the hospital in the more 
severe, unfortunate situations,” 
Greene said. “It’s not always 
tagged as an LGBTQ hate crime 
because being LGBTQ is often 
an invisible identity. If the 
question is either not asked by 
the people who are supporting 
the survivor of the hate crime, 
or if the survivor, he, she, 
or 
they, 
themselves 
don’t 

articulate it, then oftentimes it 
falls off radar.”

Greene said as a white male 

and a student leader, he would 
feel comfortable reporting a 
hate crime to DPSS or seeking 
other 
University 
resources, 

something that more private 
members 
of 
the 
LGBTQ+ 

community may not do.

“I’m fully aware I carry a 

lot of privilege as an LGBTQ 
member — I’m a gay male who 
identifies as white, and I’m also 
a student leader, so I’m more 
willing to seek those resources 
here on campus,” Greene said. 
“I do believe there is a barrier 
that exists for closeted or non-
out members of the LGBTQ 
community in articulating the 
hate crimes. I can’t speculate 
to whether or not they’d report 
that harm was done, but I can 
tell you there’s an increased 
likelihood that they won’t link 
it to a sexual orientation or 
a gender identity, if they do 
choose to seek some remedy.”

LSA junior Emma Wergeles, 

external relations officer of the 
University’s Hillel, expressed 

concern and surprise about 
the increasing number of hate 
crimes on campus. She said the 
data collected in aggregate is 
demoralizing.

“It’s 
really 
surprising,” 

Wergeles 
said. 
“It’s 

disheartening. Looking at the 
data from the three years, the 
increase in volume regardless 
of 
which 
community 
was 

attacked is really concerning, 
and really hurtful and kind of 
heartbreaking for the entire 
campus community. The fact 
that there’s that many hate 
crimes at all is really, really 
scary.”

Wergeles 
said 
with 

recent 
events 
targeting 
the 

Jewish 
community, 
such 

as the murder of nine Jews 
worshipping inside a Pittsburgh 
synagogue, 
her 
community 

within 
Hillel 
has 
been 

extremely supportive in dealing 
with hate crimes against the 
Jewish community as a whole.

“I 
personally 
haven’t 

experienced a hate crime, so 
I can’t speak to that, but I do 
feel a really strong community 
and 
support 
system 
within 

Hillel and within the Jewish 
community,” 
Wergeles 
said. 

“I think that my experiences 
within the Jewish community 
has led me to believe that 
we’re really supported by this 
University and we’re really 
supported by the administration 
and 
we’re 
really 
supported 

by the leaders of the Jewish 
community, whether it be at 
Hillel or elsewhere.”

While 
different 

marginalized 
communities 

may express varying levels of 
comfort with reporting hate 
crimes, Whiteus believes many 
people may still be confused 
about how to even report them.

“I 
believe 
people 
are 

sometimes 
confused 
as 
to 

how they can report a hate 
crime to DPSS,” Whiteus said. 
“Once someone experiences a 
hate crime, I don’t think the 
first response is to report it, 
but to ask, ‘Why me?’ Issues 
such as these can cause one 
to 
be 
distraught, 
and 
yes 

uncomfortable when reporting 
the crime because it causes 
them to relive that moment.”

According to Whiteus, the 

solution lies in increased racial 
diversity of University police 
officers.

“To 
increase 
comfort, 
I 

believe DPSS has to increase 
representation,” 
Whiteus 

said. “A student might feel 
more 
comfortable 
reporting 

a crime to someone who can 
understand, and possibly relate 
to them.”

CRIME
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ASSEMBLY
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COUNCIL
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PROF
From Page 2

MISCONDUCT 
From Page 1

Read more online at 

michigandaily.com

