For many Michigan residents, 
Gov. Whitmer’s executive actions 
are seen as the fulfillment of contin-
ued campaign promises to pursue 
anti-discrimination measures.
In her inaugural address, Gov. 
Whitmer assured her voters that she 
would cross party lines to address 
their concerns.
“I will be a governor for every-
one, and I am committed to working 
across party lines to ensure that all 
Michiganders have opportunity,” 
she said.
This sentiment was echoed in 
the text of both directives, as the 
first directly states, “all Michigan 
residents deserve fair treatment and 
respect from their government — in 
employment, state contracting, and 
when accessing services from state 
government.”
According to Katie Kelly, Public 
Policy junior and communications 
director for the University of Michi-
gan’s chapter of College Democrats, 
both of these directives will ben-
efit Michigan residents, particularly 
those soon to enter the workforce.
“I only see this as impacting 
future workers in a positive man-
ner,” Kelly said. “Especially for 
women, we have grown up in a 
world where we are not always con-
sidered equal. Having a governor 
sign something like this into law 
shows that the state of Michigan 
values women’s hard work.”
Directive 2019-09, which bolsters 
opportunities for members of the 
LGBTQ community, expands on 
previous legislation signed by outgo-
ing Gov. Rick Snyder. However, Gov. 
Snyder’s policy made exemptions for 
churches and similar religious orga-
nizations, allowing these groups to 
choose who they extend service and 
employment to on the basis of reli-
gious belief. 

While Gov. Whitmer’s directive 
only applies to public employers, 
Kelly sees the omission of a religious 
exemption as eliminating the possi-
bility of discrimination.
“By allowing for exemptions, 
(Snyder) created loopholes that 
organizations could jump through 
to discriminate against certain 
people,” Kelly said. “Governor 
Whitmer’s covers all aspects of pos-
sible discrimination against LGBTQ 
people.”
Will Sherry, director of the Uni-
versity’s Spectrum Center, was also 
optimistic about the effects of Whit-
mer’s new legislation, particularly 
for LGBTQ students at the Univer-
sity.
“A lot of the work we do is advis-
ing and working with students to 
figure out what they want for their 
own lives, and how they want to 
contribute to the world,” Sherry said 
of the Spectrum Center. “When we 
talk about building a diverse work-
force, I think these are the kind of 
initiatives that can really help retain 
talent in Michigan and bring new 
talent to the state.”
Gov. Whitmer’s two directives 
have also garnered a considerable 
amount of bipartisan support, sug-
gesting an increased support for 
government reform.
Dylan Berger, LSA sophomore 
and president of the University’s 
chapter of College Republicans, 
explained in an email interview both 
directives were a step in the right 
direction for the people of Michigan.
“We applaud Governor Whitmer 
for working to ensure that all Michi-
ganders, regardless of gender and 
sexual orientation, have a chance 
to succeed,” Berger said . “By build-
ing on the progress made by Gov-
ernor Snyder, Governor Whitmer 
has proved that fighting against 
discrimination is truly a bipartisan 
issue.”
Berger went on to state that this 
collaborative policy-making effort 

should be used by Gov. Whitmer 
in resolving other issues facing the 
state.
“Governor Whitmer ought to 
build on this bipartisan momentum 
with other key issues for Michigan 
such as fixing our infrastructure,” 
he wrote.
Nonetheless, arguments have 
arisen pointing out flaws in Gov. 
Whitmer’s plan. In an interview 
with Michigan Radio, Holly Wetzel, 
communications coordinator at the 
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, 
said Gov. Whitmer’s policy would 
change little in the way of wage dis-
crimination.
“Unfortunately, 
(Whitmer’s) 
well-intentioned solution is a flawed 
approach to solving the wrong prob-
lem,” she said. “It has long been ille-
gal for employers to discriminate 
financially or otherwise based on 
one’s gender.”
While these two directives dem-
onstrate top priorities of the Whit-
mer administration, they represent 
only a fraction of the goals the new 
governor has aimed to achieve at the 
start of her term in office.
The other eight directives put 
forth within Gov. Whitmer’s first 
several weeks in office are aimed at 
increasing government transparen-
cy and minimizing ethics violations.
In her inaugural address, Gov. 
Whitmer expressed an optimism 
for government reform, and a desire 
to build off her early directives with 
future legislation and grassroots 
involvement in policy-making.
“I am so looking forward to 
working with you over the next 
weeks and months and years,” Gov. 
Whitmer said. “We may belong to 
different parties, but we are all here 
today for the same reason — we are 
proud Michiganders first and fore-
most, and we owe it to the people 
we serve to cast partisanship aside, 
to roll up our sleeves and to build 
bridges together.”

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Thursday, January 24, 2019 — 3A

WHITMER
From Page 1A

GOVERNMENT
From Page 1A

PENNY STAMPS DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER SERIES

RUCHITA IYER/Daily
Roman J. Witt Resident JuYeon Kim speaks on her artistic journey as part of the Penny Stamps 
Distinguished Speaker Series at the UMMA Wednesdy night.

Ann Arbor’s fourth annual deer 
cull ended a week ahead of schedule, 
the 
city 
announced 
Monday, 
resulting in the reopening of a dozen 
parks and nature areas. From Jan. 2 
to Jan. 20, sharpshooters removed 
112 deer, failing to meet the city’s 
goal of bagging up to 150. 
In a statement, Lisa Wondrash, 
communications director of Ann 
Arbor, said White Buffalo, the 
contractor hired to carry out the 
effort, decided to finish the cull 
early.
“The earlier than anticipated 
completion date is a result of optimal 
weather conditions since Jan. 2 that 
enabled White Buffalo to operate on 
consecutive days without significant 
breaks in between and within 
budget,” Wondrash said. “Per the 
contract, White Buffalo is paid for 
time and materials, not per deer.”
Ann 
Arbor 
City 
Council 
approved the deer management 
program — which takes both 
lethal and nonlethal approaches 
to reducing the size of the local 
herd — four years ago in response 
to complaints from residents about 
damage to landscaping and deer-
vehicle collisions. Ecologists have 
also pointed out the problems an 
overabundance of the animals 
causes 
to 
the 
environment, 
especially to tree saplings.
A total of 386 deer have been 
killed and 78 surgically sterilized as 
a result of the program, which has 
been the subject of long-running 
debate in the community and cost 
the city upwards of half a million 
dollars.
Bernie 
Banet, 
member 
of 
Washtenaw Citizens for Ecological 

Balance, said if the city was able 
to reduce the deer population to a 
sustainable level, then only smaller 
culls would be necessary in the 
future to maintain a healthy herd 
size.
“If we have, indeed, reached 
a level where the population is 
acceptable 
according 
to 
those 
measures, then, by virtue of deer 
biology, further culling will still be 
needed, probably each year, to keep 
the population stable,” Banet said. 
“These maintenance culls will be 
smaller than the more aggressive 
culls that have been needed to 
actually reduce a population.” 
A 2016 report from the city found 
54 percent of residents supported 
the cull while 45 percent were 
against it.
Banet 
said 
residents 
have 
generally become more accepting 
of the deer cull now that it has been 
around for a while but noted that 
“passionate opposition from some 
groups has not gone away.” One 
of those organizations is Friends 
of Ann Arbor Wildlife in Nature, 
which has called the program 
unethical and ineffective. Since 
this year’s cull started, protestors 
have 
demonstrated 
near 
the 
sharpshooters’ perches around the 
city, including some on University 
property.
Disruptions 
from 
anti-cull 
protestors were blamed in part 
when White Buffalo failed to meet 
the city’s goal in 2018, killing less 
than half of the 250 deer quota. 
Earlier this month, City Council 
voted down a resolution to take legal 
action against the demonstrators 
who interfered with White Buffalo’s 
sharpshooters. 
The 
measure, 
introduced by Jane Lumm, I-Ward 
2, was based on a state statute 

that makes it illegal for people to 
interfere with the “lawful taking of 
animals” such as Ann Arbor’s deer 
cull.
On Jan. 9, an officer from 
the Division of Public Safety 
and Security warned protestors 
on 
Hubbard 
Road 
about 
the 
consequence of disrupting the 
work of a sharpshooter stationed on 
University property, a misdemeanor 
offense that carries a maximum 
penalty of 93 days in jail and a fine of 
up to $1000.
Melissa Overton, deputy chief 
of police at University of Michigan, 
said the officer did not issue a 
citation — just a verbal warning. 
She said a DPSS officer was placed 
at each of the locations throughout 
the University where the cull was 
conducted.
“We have officers assigned to 
those areas during the deer cull 
for safety reasons and the specific 
complaint that we got came from 
the cull operator,” Overton said. 
“That was the first time that we had 
received that complaint that they 
were actually interfering with that, 
so that’s when we took action.”
Overton said the warning does 
not mean anti-cull protestors can 
no longer demonstrate and that they 
continued to do so on University 
property.
“They can, and they have,” 
Overton said. “One night there were 
six of them in the Arb, and they 
did not interfere, so they weren’t 
screaming into the woods, they 
weren’t obstructing or interfering in 
the actual cull. They were standing 
there, they were chanting, they were 
all in one area. We had no problem.”
In 
an 
email, 

Read more online at 
michigandaily.com

City concludes annual deer cull early

Sharpshooters kill 112 deer in parks and nature areas across Ann Arbor

LEAH GRAHAM 
Daily News Editor 

Major universities like Harvard 
and the University of Chicago have 
offices in Washington, D.C. to over-
see their federal lobbying. The Uni-
versity has had one since 1990, one 
of only a few institutions to do so at 
the time, which Wilbanks said put 
the University ahead of the curve. 
“We manage the interactions 
with the members of Congress,” 
Wilbanks said. “We partner lots of 
campus faculty and staff who have 
their own interests in federal pol-
icy, try to help them advance their 
interests.”
Lobbying in Higher Education
Higher education has come to 
inhabit a prominent place in the 
capital’s lobbying scene. Accord-
ing to the Center for Responsive 
Politics, as of Oct. 24, the latest 
reporting deadline, the educa-
tion industry spent more than 
$58 million on federal lobbying in 
2018, employing a total of 991 indi-
vidual lobbyists. The top spender 
was the Association of American 
Medical Colleges at $3,370,000, 
followed by $920,000 from the 
Apollo Education Group, which 
owns the for-profit online degree 
program University of Phoenix. 
The University of California sys-
tem ranked third, with $900,000 
in expenditures. The University 
spent $385,000 on federal lobbying 
in 2017 and, according to Wilbanks, 
$290,000 in total in 2018.
Following the inauguration of 
a new class of elected officials ear-
lier this month, Wilbanks said her 
office has remained consistent in 
its approach to working with politi-
cians and government agencies.
“You don’t walk in with an agen-
da right away, that’s not our favorite 
thing to do,” Wilbanks said. “Our 
first thing is getting acquainted: 
We’re here, we’re going to be really 
interested in getting acquainted, 

you know, you have legislative pri-
orities, we have legislative priori-
ties, they are not going to be terribly 
different than what we hear from 
other universities, but we’re here 
in the capital so you’re going to see 
more of us, and what you’re trying 
to do is just build rapport.”
Policy Interests
Research funding is one of the 
University’s main policy goals. In 
fiscal year 2018, research expendi-
tures totaled a record $1.55 billion, 
more than half of which came from 
$852 million in federal funds. Given 
the school’s status as the top public 
research university, Wilbanks said 
securing funding for those pro-
grams was a priority.
“That whole research agenda 
is really important for the Univer-
sity,” Wilbanks said. “I could pick 
out individual policies, but it’s real-
ly policies that support expanding 
opportunities for our researchers, 
our faculty to be successful in pur-
suing really interesting ideas that 
benefit the public good, so that’s 
sort of number one.”
Like other schools, the Univer-
sity focuses on issues that impact 
institutional 
operations 
beyond 
research money, such as education 
policy or health care financing. 
Wilbanks said state and federal 
tax policy was another one of her 
office’s interests.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, 
which was signed into law in 
December 2017, introduced a tax on 
the endowments of private colleges, 
affecting schools like Harvard and 
Cornell. Wilbanks said the change 
did not apply to the University’s 
nearly $11 billion endowment, given 
its status as a public institution.
“Many of the private universi-
ties were affected by it,” Wilbanks 
said. “There’s one thing that most 
private universities are focused on 
right now: repealing that certain 
section of the tax policy.”
Dealing with New Controlling 
Parties

In the midterm elections, Demo-
crats won the House of Representa-
tives while Republicans defended 
their majority in the Senate, leaving 
the chambers of Congress divided 
between the two parties.
Wilbanks said her office was 
comfortable advocating for policy 
objectives with members of the 
majority and the minority party as 
needed, but noted the partisan split 
between the Republican-controlled 
state legislature and Gov. Gretchen 
Whitmer, a Democrat who was 
elected in the “blue wave” that 
swept the state’s top elected offices.
Whitmer was a state representa-
tive from 2000 to 2006 and served 
in the Michigan Senate from 2006 
to 2015, where she was the Senate 
minority leader for four years. Wil-
banks said she already had a work-
ing relationship with Whitmer. 
“This is the first time in a while 
that we will have a governor of one 
party and legislature in Michigan 
of the other party, so we’re going 
to learn how to navigate and what 
the interests are in the legislature 
in the majority and the governor 
who is of the opposite party, but we 
know the governor,” Wilbanks said. 
“I worked with her when she was in 
the state legislature.”
Although Wilbanks said the 
University’s policy agenda was not 
particularly dependent on officials’ 
party affiliation, she added the new 
partisan makeup could alter the 
landscape for certain pieces of leg-
islation.
“There may be issues in the U.S. 
Congress, for instance, that the U.S. 
House is going to be really support-
ive on, but you have to get it through 
the Senate and the Senate still is the 
opposite party,” Wilbanks said. 
“There’s going to be some chal-
lenges. If life doesn’t bring you 
challenges, then you’re going to be 
bored and I don’t want to be bored. 
We look forward to it. It’s exciting 
in many ways.”

HOPCAT
From Page 1A

“Hopcat is changing the 
name of their crack fries 
because of the crack epidem-
ic in America,” Brosofske 
wrote. “y’all are getting way 
too soft [sic].”
However, others on social 
media 
applauded 
HopCat 
and expressed their belief 
the 
original 
name 
was 
insensitive. David Sampson, 
CEO of Mariners Inn, a sub-
stance abuse treatment and 
recovery center in southeast 
Michigan, published an edi-
torial representing Mariners 
Inn in the Detroit Free Press 
supporting the change.
“Comparing 
a 
delicious 
food item with an illicit sub-
stance that is responsible 
for devastating our commu-
nities is objectively hurt-
ful,” Sampson wrote in the 
editorial. “While I was not 
surprised to see negative 
social media commentary in 
response to HopCat’s deci-
sion, I was certainly dis-
appointed that a company 
would receive such back-
lash over a move that was 
intended to create inclusion. 
The perspective that people 
are being too sensitive, too 
politically correct or that 
they are “just fries” is a sur-
face-level look at a disease 
that has destroyed the lives 
of millions.”
While 
eating 
lunch 
at 
HopCat 
Ann 
Arbor 
with 
family, LSA freshman Jake 
Moody, kicker on the Uni-
versity of Michigan foot-
ball team, said he comes to 
HopCat particularly for the 
fries. While he thinks the 
name change is unnecessary, 
he does not mind as long as 

the fries themselves do not 
change.
“I don’t really think the 
(name change) was needed, 
but as long as everybody’s 
happy and the fries stay 
the same, I’m okay with it,” 
Moody said.
Regardless of the name 
change, Cosmik Fries remain 
as popular as ever. Accord-
ing to Emmeline Jurek, gen-
eral manager of HopCat Ann 
Arbor, 202 orders of Cosmik 
Fries were served to over 
900 customers on Saturday 
at the Ann Arbor location 
in celebration of HopCat’s 
11th anniversary, equaling 
to about 50 pounds of free 
fries. This does not include 
the fries set aside for the 
annual fries eating contest, 
which Jurek estimates con-
tribute roughly another 20 
pounds.
A tradition since HopCat’s 
first anniversary, the fries 
eating contest collected $5 
from each competitor, which 
was then matched by Hop-
Cat for donation to a charity 
chosen by each HopCat loca-
tion. According to Jurek, 12 
people competed in the Ann 
Arbor contest, resulting in 
$120 raised for the Humane 
Society of Huron Valley.
Plymouth resident Mat-
thew Holowicki won the 
contest, eating 3.4 pounds of 
Cosmik Fries in six minutes. 
He received a HopCat prize 
package valued at $500 and 
will advance to compete for 
the championship against 
winners from other HopCat 
locations at the 22nd Annual 
Michigan Summer Beer Fes-
tival in Ypsilanti in July. He 
has won the last four HopCat 
Ann Arbor fries eating con-
tests and has been the over-
all champion twice.

“(Cosmik Fries) are excel-
lent, and there’s a reason 
they’re so popular,” Holo-
wicki said. “Eating contests 
are better when you’re eat-
ing good food. When they’re 
tasty, it’s a lot easier to get 
it down … Though if they 
want to call them Cosmik 
Fries, that’s fine, but they’re 
always going to be Crack 
Fries to me.”
Jurek said there have been 
comments from customers 
about the transition from 
Crack Fries to Cosmik Fries. 
She said the change is in line 
with HopCat ideals.
“When a HopCat opens 
in a community, part of our 
mission is to enrich that 
community,” 
Jurek 
said. 
“We’re a ‘people first’ com-
pany. That shows in the way 
that we serve, in the way 
that we buy beer, the brew-
eries that we promote, the 
ideals that we promote. The 
fact that we made the (name) 
change based on our ‘people 
first’ mentality is what we’re 
sticking to, which to us just 
embodies more of who we 
are.”
Each HopCat restaurant is 
unique depending on the city 
that it is in, Jurek explained. 
HopCat 
Ann 
Arbor, 
for 
example, focuses on hiring 
local and supporting local 
charities. This investment 
in the community, according 
to Jurek, is part of what con-
tributes to HopCat’s long-
standing success.
“I think we vibe really 
well with the funky, diverse, 
open-minded part of Ann 
Arbor,” Jurek said. “We’re 
a chain because people like 
us, not because we’re this 
conglomerate that’s going to 
take over the city.”

“It is rare to have someone 
who is a good poet but also a 
good teacher who is committed 
to 
teaching, 
because 
artists 
aren’t always the best teachers,” 
Mahalingam said. 
Joseph began the workshop 
by instructing the cohorts to 
maintain an open mind and 
proceeded to guide them through 
a number of exercises revolving 
around a topic as simple as food. 
Through 
the 
exercises, 
the 
cohorts reflected, reminisced and 
were able to share their diverse 
array of experiences and specific 
memories attached to them.

LSA 
senior 
Jessica 
Selzer 
said this workshop dispelled 
misconceptions she had about 
poetry and motivated her to write 
more poetry in her spare time.
“I was never a fan of creative 
writing,” Selzer said. “It’s more 
abstract, and there was always 
an assumption that poetry has to 
rhyme and be in a certain format. 
But the (techniques we learned in 
this workshop) are so simple, and 
make me want to continue writing 
what is on my mind since it broke 
the myth that poetry is supposed 
to be a certain way.”
Joseph’s poetry is unique, 
drawing on her experiences as 
an immigrant from India and 
a member of the small Indian-
Jewish minority and diasporic 

community. These themes, as 
well as those tackling identity, are 
central to her workshops. Joseph 
has cited these experiences as 
motivating her to become more 
inclusive and sensitive to diverse 
backgrounds in her work.
As the workshop continued, 
the 
BLI 
cohorts 
journeyed 
through 
vivid 
and 
poignant 
personal stories. According to 
LSA sophomore Olivia Chan, the 
workshop provided her with the 
specific techniques to advance her 
creative writing.
“Although I have been dabbling 
in poetry, Zilka has encouraged 
me (to pursue it further) and I will 
use the techniques to declutter my 
mind and when I journal,” Chan 
said.

POETRY
From Page 1A

