The Office of Greek Life 

received the messages in an 
envelope 
during 
the 
2018 

winter semester and turned 
over the documents to the 
Ann Arbor Police Depart-
ment last March. The case 
was closed because the AAPD 
were unable to verify the stu-
dent was injured during the 
fraternity pledging process 
and because his parents were 
uncooperative with investiga-
tors.

It was this “40-yard dash” 

which prompted Blake Jones’s 
statement to MLive, in which 
she questioned the nation-
al 
headquarters’ 
response 

to the “heinous behavior” 
and shared that hazing was 
found to have taken place 
at the chapter over multiple 
decades. 
Broekhuizen 
said 

the Fraternity & Sorority Life 
office supports Blake Jones’ 
statements.

Blake Jones went on to say 

Alpha Sigma Phi had an “utter 
lack of consideration for the 
well-being” of new members 
and the evidence “confirms” 
the 
fraternity 
leadership’s 

knowledge of hazing-related 
behavior.

The University and IFC 

agreed on sanctions against 
the chapter and remain com-
mitted to their original deci-
sion to close the chapter for 
five years. However, their 
position differs from that 
of the fraternity’s national 
headquarters and the AAIFC, 
which say the chapter is in 

good standing but is no longer 
affiliated with the University 
or IFC.

Gordy Heminger, president 

and chief executive officer of 
Alpha Sigma Phi, denied Blake 
Jones’s allegations of inaction 
from the national headquar-
ters in an email to The Daily. 
He said within 24 hours of 
being informed of the incident 
national members were in 
Ann Arbor to meet with chap-
ter members and investigate. 
He also said Alpha Sigma Phi 
national employees offered to 
work with the Office of Greek 
Life multiple times but weeks 
went by without a returned 
phone call.

Heminger 
said 
he 
sees 

these recent actions from 
the University as retaliation 
for the chapter’s disaffilia-
tion from the IFC, which he 
said was primarily because of 
the new zoning restrictions. 
Heminger said it wasn’t until 
six months after the national 
headquarters concluded its 
internal 
investigation 
and 

after its decision to leave 
the IFC when the University 
decided to hold a hearing, 
at which point the frater-
nity was no longer affiliated 
with the University and was 
advised by legal counsel not 
to participate.

“I would strongly encour-

age the University to hold 
its 
students 
accountable, 

much like Alpha Sigma Phi 
did, and not use a chapter of 
150+ members as a scapegoat 
or a mechanism to retaliate 
against because the chap-
ter voluntarily surrendered 
campus recognition because 

of 
zoning-related 
issues,” 

Heminger said. “We don’t dis-
pute that some former mem-
bers violated our Health and 
Safety policy, but we strongly 
dispute that the entire chap-
ter was involved or that the 
headquarters turned a blind 
eye to policy violations.”

Heminger noted the nation-

al headquarters’ investiga-
tion resulted in disciplinary 
action against certain mem-
bers and officers, a new pro-
tocol, a live-in staff member 
and other educational sanc-
tions and restrictions. He said 
the fraternity is still open to 
working with the University 
in the future and believes the 
mandatory changes have been 
well-received by the chapter.

According 
to 
Heminger, 

there were no health or safe-
ty violations at the chapter 
in the fall semester, which 
he sees as a sign of the effec-
tiveness of the national head-
quarters’ 
intervention. 
He 

also said there were no crimi-
nal or code of conduct charges 
against any members of the 

fraternity as a result of the 
police investigation.

He also said there will be 

no foreseeable changes in 
the chapter’s rush process or 
social calendar.

The disagreement between 

the 
University 
and 
Alpha 

Sigma Phi regarding the “40-
yard dash,” the proceeding 
investigations by the frater-
nity and University and the 
chapter’s suspension persists 
going into winter semester. 
While the national headquar-
ters says it and the chapter 
have been falsely character-
ized by the University and that 
the chapter remains operat-
ing, the University and the 
IFC uphold the sanction.

AAIFC President Michael 

Salciccioli, a Business junior, 
said in a statement to The 
Daily the chapter is still 
in good standing with the 
AAIFC. He said the coun-
cil took the actions of Alpha 
Sigma Phi national headquar-
ters into consideration and 
sees no problems for the chap-
ter moving forward under the 
AAIFC.

“Alpha Sigma Phi’s nation-

als already adjudicated the 
issue 
and 
suspended 
or 

expelled members who were 
involved in policy violations,” 
Salciccioli said. “Because of 
this and the fact that, to our 
knowledge, Alpha Sigma Phi 
has not violated any of our 
policies since becoming mem-
bers, the Ann Arbor Interfra-
ternity Council believes no 
further disciplinary action is 
needed.”

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Thursday, January 10 2019 — 3A

ME/NA
From Page 1A

asked by Hobbs to resign 
with the threat of being 
fired if she did not comply. 
As a result, the subject was 
moved 
to 
a 
disciplinary 

review conference where 
Wang was fired for “failing 
to meet expectations” on 
July 13.

However, the University 

did not admit any liability 
in 
the 
settlement, 
and 

claimed they had corrected 
the 
employee’s 
visa 

issue 
without 
Wang’s 

involvement. 
University 

spokesman Rick Fitzgerald 
responded 
to 
Wang’s 

allegations.

“The 
University 
of 

Michigan 
categorically 

denies the allegation that 
Wang was ever asked to lie,” 
Fitzgerald said in an email to 
The Daily. “The university 
also denies that Wang was 
a ‘whistleblower’ because 
the university, on its own, 
discovered the visa issues 
with another employee and 
took action to correct that 
situation 
independent 
of 

Wang.”

Hobbs retired from the 

University in late 2018.

The University offered 

Wang 
$219,000 
in 
lost 

wages and damages and 
$81,000 in legal fees. Wang 
agreed to never work for 
the University again and 
eliminated any new claims 
related to her termination. 

According to the agreement, 
the 
University 
also 

agreed to to let Wang’s 
record indicated she had 
voluntarily resigned.

“U-M 
agrees 
to 

characterize 
Wang’s 

termination as a resignation 
and expunge the personnel 
file 
of 
any 
documents 

reflecting she was fired.” 
The 
agreement 
goes 
on 

to state, “Wang and U-M 
agree that they will keep 
this Agreement confidential 
and will not disclose any 
information to any third 
party.”

Law 
professor 
J.J. 

Prescott, whose research 
interests 
include 

employment 
law 
and 

settlement, discussed the 
reasoning behind why the 
University may have chosen 
to agree to a settlement even 
though they did not claim 
any sort of liability for the 
situation.

“Parties 
often 
settle 

to reduce risk and lower 
costs” Prescott said. “Going 
to trail costs is expensive 
and 
time 
consuming, 

and there is always the 
uncertainty about the trial 
outcome. Even if you are 
very confident you will win, 
you can never be sure, so 
settlement can make sense 
for both parties.”

Wang and her lawyer from 

Gasiorek, Morgan, Greco, 
McCauley and Kotzian P.C. 
could not be reached for 
comment.

LAWSUIT 
From Page 1A

HAZING
From Page 1A

FLE ET WOOD DINE R

RUCHITA IYER/Daily

Opened in 1949, the Fleetwood Diner continues to serve classic American fare, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

comment at a later date. At 

the time of publication, The 
Daily was unable to reach a 
manager for comment.

Business 
sophomore 

Cameron Zurawlow lives in 
University Towers. He said 
he had not heard much from 
his landlords in regards to the 
notice.

“I don’t really know what 

it’s for so I don’t know how 
it will affect me, but I do 
know that there has been no 
email or any communication 
in regards to this fine from 
management, which reflects 
on management as a whole,” 
he said. “As a resident, it would 
be nice to be on the same page 
as 
management 
and 
know 

all things that are going on 
with the apartment, but that 
definitely hasn’t been met.”

He said he was disappointed 

with 
the 
management 
of 

University Towers and was 
willing to move elsewhere.

“Living here kinda has its 

comment at a later date. At the 
time of publication, The Daily 
was unable to reach a manager 
for comment.

Business 
sophomore 

Cameron Zurawlow lives in 
University Towers. He said 
he had not heard much from 

his landlords in regards to the 
notice.

“I don’t really know what 

it’s for so I don’t know how 
it will affect me, but I do 
know that there has been no 
email or any communication 
in regards to this fine from 
management, which reflects 
on management as a whole,” 
he said. “As a resident, it would 
be nice to be on the same page 
as 
management 
and 
know 

all things that are going on 
with the apartment, but that 
definitely hasn’t been met.”

He said he was disappointed 

with 
the 
management 
of 

University Towers and was 
willing to move elsewhere.

“Living here kinda has its 

ups and downs,” he said. “So 
to be honest, I don’t think 
management does its best. 
When looking into UT last year 
as a freshman, I was promised 
all new furniture when I would 
move in my sophomore year. It 
turns out that when I showed 
up this year, I did not have new 
furniture in my apartment, and 
when I asked the front desk 
about the situation, they told 
me that they never said that 
and that I was not promised 
new 
furniture, 
which 
was 

completely wrong on their 
part.”

LSA 
sophomore 
Areesha 

Shahab also lives in University 
Towers and felt similarly to 

Zurawlow. She said she hoped 
the 
noncompliance 
notice 

would push management to 
improve their performance.

“I think the fine will cause 

many to rethink their stay in 
UTowers for future semesters 
and feel as though they can 
detest management more than 
they think since the city of Ann 
Arbor pointed out their flaws as 
well,” Shahab said.

Shahab 
said 
friends 
of 

hers who also rented units 
in University Towers were 
frustrated as well.

“Management isn’t all that 

great either,” Shahab said. 
“Some are very rude and 
unwelcoming. I’ve had a friend 
visit me in my apartment and 
get yelled at by a woman at 
the front desk for walking 
in the building, (which is) 
something that I hear other 
apartment buildings don’t yell 
at residents for as long as they 
don’t seem like strangers or 
pose a dangerous threat. I feel 
like by doing so, management is 
deterring future tenants.”

Howard Lazarus, Ann Arbor 

city 
administrator; 
David 

Kaiser, Ann Arbor city building 
inspector; and the city’s Rental 
Housing Services department 
did not respond to requests for 
comment.

This is a developing story. 

Please check michigandaily.com 
for updates.

TOWERS
From Page 1A

strategic plan could mean 
for the Arab community. 
However, they soon real-
ized the Middle Eastern/
North African community 
was not included on any 
University 
of 
Michigan 

documents. Arab students 
marked themselves as white 
or other.

Kedra Ishop, vice provost 

for 
enrollment 
manage-

ment, oversees key offices 
within the University that 
supervise 
the 
collection 

and reporting of student 
data. Ishop said input from 
the Islamophobia Working 
Group, 
the 
organization 

in charge of the #WeExist 
campaign, provoked con-
versations with Rackham, 
which eventually led to an 
inclusion of Middle Eastern 
and North African identi-
ties.

“We made the change in 

large part in response to 
input from groups, such as 
the Islamophobia Working 
Group and student organi-
zations including CSG, that 
sought better reflection of 
MENA identities in Univer-
sity statistics,” Ishop wrote 
in an email interview with 
The Daily.

LSA junior Silan Fadlal-

lah, who is currently the 
group coordinator for the 
IWG, believes the inclusion 
of a ME/NA identity helps 
Arab 
students 
feel 
they 

belong.

“(Inclusion 
of 
ME/NA 

identity) 
is 
important 

because it gives an extreme-
ly large community a sense 
of belonging on campus,” 
Fadlallah wrote. “You con-
stantly see the “You belong 
here” signs on campus and, 
honestly, not even having 
a box that represents your 
racial group doesn’t give 
me that sense. How can 
you belong in a place that 
doesn’t even recognize your 
existence? And forget the 
feelings aspect, giving us a 
ME/NA checkbox opens the 
doors to opportunities with 
communities of color on 
campus, scholarships, etc.”

Jad Elharake, program 

lead at the Office of Diver-
sity, Equity, and Inclusion 
and the Office for Health 
Equity and Inclusion, said 
that the lack of data on the 
ME/NA community creates 
problems with identifying 
trends.

“The inability to collec-

tively identify ME/NA stu-
dents, faculty and staff is 
problematic for several rea-
sons that we’ve stated in the 
past when it comes to reten-
tion rates, academic dis-
parities, bias incidents, or 
really any assessment, espe-
cially DEI focused assess-
ments,” Elharake said.

While 
the 
University 

has started to account for 
Middle Eastern and North 
African identities, the U.S. 
Census does not. According 
to several people involved 
with adjusting University 
data, this has posed a logis-
tical challenge to including 
ME/NA identities on Uni-
versity documents. In order 
to adhere to federal report-
ing requirements, ME/NA 
identities fall underneath 
the white racial category 
in some official documents. 
Internal University docu-
ments, such as surveys and 
admissions 
applications, 

are the exception.

“We concluded that the 

application for admission 
is the most reasonable and 
efficient 
mechanism 
to 

collect extended race and 
ethnicity 
information,” 

Ishop wrote. “It is impor-
tant to understand that we 
remain subject to reporting 
requirements of the federal 
government, the state of 
Michigan, etc. that require 
our use of and alignment 
to the U.S. Census race and 
ethnicity 
categories 
for 

reports to them.”

However, many Arab stu-

dents feel including the 
Middle Eastern and North 
African identities under the 
white racial category is sim-
ply inaccurate to their lived 
experiences.

“The answer is extremely 

simple: 
Middle 
Eastern/

North 
Africans 
are 
not 

white,” Fadlallah said. “We 
are a beautifully diverse 
racial group with sever-
al different cultures and 
customs from the ME/NA 
region. If you go by the Cen-
sus, yes it says we are white, 
but try turning on the news 
and listening to them talk 
about any Arab and/or ME/
NA country because they 
exoticize and villainize the 
hell out of us. So why are we 
only considered white when 
it’s easier and more ben-
eficial, but considered to 
be the enemy or an “other” 
when society says so? We 
are ME/NA, not white, not 
other.”

Ethriam Brammer, assis-

tant dean and DEI imple-

mentation lead of Rackham 
Graduate School, identifies 
as an indigenous Latinx 
person and sees similari-
ties between the Latinx and 
Arab communities.

“The Latinx and Hispanic 

category is very similar in 
that you have racially Black 
identifying Latinx individ-
uals, or racially white iden-
tifying, or my own identity 
which is an indigenous or 
native 
Latinx 
person,” 

Brammer said. “The same 
kinds of combinations obvi-
ously exist with under ME/
NA individuals as well. Ide-
ally (ME/NA) would be its 
own separate ethnic identi-
fier.”

Brammer 
empathized 

with Middle Eastern and 
North 
African 
students 

who feel their identities are 
not accurately represented 
under a white racial cat-
egory.

“Where 
the 
complica-

tions come from and where 
the similarities end is now 
the Census Bureau has a 
Hispanic 
box,” 
Brammer 

said. “Since 2010 census, 
there’s basically a question 
of whether or not you’re 
Latinx or Hispanic, and 
then you move to racial 
identifiers. You can iden-
tify yourself as Latineq-
uis and African American 
and white, or like myself, 
Latinequis 
and 
native. 

However, that’s not possi-
ble with ME/NA right now. 
To consistently report our 
data, it has to be embedded 
with white unfortunately, 
because that’s the kind of 
federal standard for data 
reporting.”

Brammer 
believes 
the 

University’s 
divergence 

from federal racial catego-
ries displays leadership.

“I 
think 
the 
positive 

thing is that we’re showing 
leadership,” Brammer said. 
“This 
is 
important 
that 

Middle Eastern and North 
African individuals, be it 
staff, faculty or students, 
all have the opportunity 
to more accurately iden-
tify their own identity. But 
it’s not the standard way 
of doing it. It means that 
it’s a little bit more com-
plicated, and right now it’s 
still embedded within the 
white racial category, and 
we know that there’s a lot 
of complications that come 
with that.”

I would strongly 
encourage the 
University to 

hold its students 

accountable.

Read more online at 

michigandaily.com

