City Council voted down a 

resolution Monday that would 
have directed the city attorney 
to investigate the actions of 
the protesters who sought to 
disrupt Ann Arbor’s annual 
deer cull. The measure, which 
was defeated in a 6-5 vote, 
would have required the city 
attorney to “take any and 
all 
appropriate 
responsive 

actions, 
including 
issuance 

of citations and the filing of 
lawsuits seeking an injunction 
or such other relief that the 
city 
attorney 
determines 

appropriate.”

Ann Arbor established its 

deer management program in 

late August of 2015 in response 
to resident complaints about 
overgrazing 
and 
worries 

about deer-vehicle collisions. 
Since then, municipal deer 
management 
efforts 
have 

racked up costs to the city 
of more than half a million 
dollars, 
with 
City 
Council 

approving more than $182,000 
in 
continued 
spending 
in 

November. 
According 
to 

the city, a total of 274 have 
been killed and 72 surgically 
sterilized. 

Councilmember 
Jane 

Lumm, I-Ward 2, said there 
was an urgent need for the city 
to intervene.

“I’m bringing forward this 

resolution to address concerns 

Researchers 
at 
the 

University of Michigan are 
leading a national collaborative 
effort to study firearm injury 
and death among children and 
teens. The interdisciplinary 
project, comprised of more 
than 30 researchers, health 
practitioners, 
and 
firearm 

owners and a dozen academic 
institutions, seeks a scientific 
approach 
to 
gun 
violence 

prevention with respect to gun 
ownership rights.

The 
project, 
known 

as 
the 
Firearm 
Safety 

Among Children and Teens 
Consortium (FACTS) is led 
by professor of emergency 
medicine and director of the 
Injury 
Prevention 
Center 

Rebecca 
Cunningham, 

professor of public health Marc 
Zimmerman, 
and 
assistant 

professor 
of 
emergency 

medicine 
Patrick 
Carter. 

In November 2018, FACTS 
launched a new website with 
data, research, videos, courses, 
fact sheets and other resources 
on firearm injury prevention, 
less than a week after the 
National 
Rifle 
Association 

prompted 
controversy 
by 

tweeting that doctors should 
“stay in their lane.”

In response to those who 

argue academics and doctors 
should 
not 
be 
involved, 

Cunningham 
believes 
gun 

violence is a public health 

problem, 
one 
that 
should 

be 
addressed 
with 
injury 

prevention 
science 
and 

increased funding for research. 

“The amount of money we 

have 
for 
firearm 
research 

still pales in comparison to 
the amount of funding for 
cancer, which actually kills 
less children,” Cunningham 
said. “Firearms are the second-
leading cause of death among 
children and adolescents in the 
United States. In the same way 
that having less car crashes 
is not political, or less opioid 
overdoses 
is 
not 
political, 

having less firearm injuries and 
deaths is not political.”

The 
five-year 
project 
is 

funded by a $4.9 million grant 
from 
the 
Eunice 
Kennedy 

Shriver 
National 
Institute 

of Child Health and Human 
Development 
(NICHD), 
the 

largest NIH grant for firearm 
research in 20 years. It has 
a number of goals, such as 
developing a research agenda 
through identifying research 
questions 
and 
priorities, 

conducting pilot studies to 
establish groundwork and best 
practices and creating an online 
data repository of existing 
research. 
These 
initiatives, 

according to Cunningham, aim 
to develop resources in a field 

that has been largely neglected 
in the past.

“Firearm prevention is in its 

infancy. It’s been very much 
suppressed,” Cunningham said. 
“FACTS is set up to jumpstart 
research on firearm violence 
that has been mostly absent 
for the past couple of decades. 
At the end of five years, we will 
have helped to create a field 
that is much more active and 
a group of researchers that are 
much more knowledgeable.”

Cunningham 
believes 

preventing 
firearm 
injury 

includes studying topics such 

Ann Arbor City Council passed a 

resolution Monday night directing 
the city attorney to settle a lawsuit 
with a citizens group over the 
sale of a plot of land adjacent to 
the Ann Arbor District Library. 
Local attorney Tom Wieder filed a 
complaint in Augustin Washtenaw 
County Circuit Court on behalf of 
the Ann Arbor Central Park Ballot 
Committee in response to the sale 
of the lot to Chicago developer Core 
Spaces.

Proposal A passed by a narrow 

margin in November after months 
of debate and opposition from 
Mayor 
Christopher 
Taylor. 
It 

amends the city charter, nullifying 
a vote by City Council in April 2017 
to sell the lot to Core Spaces, which 
had planned to build a 17-story high 
rise with office and retail space, a 
hotel, apartments and an outdoor 
plaza.

Following 
the 
passage 
of 

Proposal A, which mandated the 
city maintain ownership of the 
Library Lot in perpetuity and 
develop it as an urban park and 
civic center commons, Ann Arbor 
officially called off the $10 million 

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, January 9, 2019

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

City votes
against deer 
cull protest
resolution

Student group creates petition 
criticizing Title IX court ruling

See DEER CULL, Page 3A

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily

The Sixth Circut ruled that the University must require cross-examination by the accused or his agent.

ANN ARBOR

The proposal would have allowed legal 
action against those protecting deer

LEAH GRAHAM
Daily News Editor

Organization calls for reversal of decision ordering cross-examination in misconduct cases

Tuesday afternoon, Jane Roe, 
a newly-formed student group 
at the University of Michigan, 
penned a petition calling for 
the University to adjust its new 
policy in Title IX investigations, 

based on the September Title 
IX ruling by the Sixth Circuit 
Court of Appeals. The ruling 
states students accused of sexu-
al misconduct must be allowed 
the right to cross-examine their 
accuser as a part of due process. 
LSA freshman Emma Sandberg, 
a founding member of the orga-

nization, said adhering to this 
ruling would cause further trau-
ma to survivors and discourage 
students from coming forward 
to report sexual assault.
“The harm that would be 
caused by this policy would be 
devastating,” 
Sandberg 
said. 

“Having to sit face to face with 

the person who raped you and 
be forced to speak, interact, and 
be drilled with questions by 
the person who violated you...I 
consider that to be abusive. A 
process this cruel will have life-
long, emotional consequences 

SAMANTHA SMALL

Daily Staff Reporter

See LIBRARY LOT, Page 3A

Library Lot 
deal called 
off, city to 
settle suit

ANN ARBOR

City attorney directed to 
bring legal battle with 
citizens’ group to an end

LEAH GRAHAM
Daily News Editor

JACK SILBERMAN / DAILY

‘U’ researchers take lead in studying 
gun violence prevention among youth

Collaborative project examines how firearm injury and death relate to gun rights

CLAIRE HAO

Daily Staff Reporter

See TITLE IX, Page 3A

City government consulting 

firm 
Strategic 
Government 

Resources held a community 
hearing 
Tuesday 
night 
with 

Ann Arbor residents and City 
Councilmembers 
to 
hear 

thoughts and concerns regarding 
the search for a new police 
chief. Ann Arbor’s last police 
chief, Jim Baird, transferred to 
Breckenridge, Colo. in February.

The meeting was held by Doug 

Thomas, the senior vice president 
of 
Strategic 
Government 

Resources, a firm that specializes 
in 
aiding 
local 
governments 

across the nation search for new 
government officials.

City 
Councilmember 
Jeff 

Hayner, D-Ward 1, emphasized 
the importance of the new police 
chief’s relationship with the 
community.

“I’m looking for somebody 

who really has a strong sense 
of community and really wants 
to work with the community 
policing aspects,” Hayner said. 
“And also understands that here 
in Ann Arbor, we have a very 

See POLICE, Page 2A

Residents
Search for 
new AAPD 
police chief

ANN ARBOR

Student group calls for 
reversal of court ruling 
in sexual assault case

SAMANTHA SMALL

Daily Staff Reporter

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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 49
©2019 The Michigan Daily

N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

CL A S S I F I E DS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
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the statement
SPORTSWEDNESDAY

See GUN SAFETY, Page 3A