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