In 
light 
of 
sub-zero 
temperatures 
and 
extreme 
wind 
chills 
predicted 
for 
Wednesday and Thursday, the 
University of Michigan has 
decided to cancel all events and 
classes on campus, beginning 
12 a.m. Wednesday and intends 
to resume activity 7 a.m. Friday. 
This will be the third time in 40 
years the school has closed due 
to weather.
The 
University 
Record 
announced 
classes 
were 
canceled 
at 
3:30 
p.m. 
on 
Tuesday.
The last time the University 
halted activity was in February 
2015, due to a winter storm that 
resulted in 18 inches of snowfall. 
Before that, there was a closure 
in 2014 due to extremely cold 
temperatures, 
specifically 
a 
wind chill of minus 30 degrees. 
The first time the University 
closed was in January 1978 
due 
to 
climate 
conditions. 
Weather projections estimate 
a wind chill of nearly minus 
40 degrees for Wednesday and 
part of Thursday. 
Gov. 
Gretchen 
Whitmer 
declared a state of emergency 
early Tuesday morning.
The 
decision 
to 
cancel 
classes comes after of closures 
on 
campus 
and 
of 
local 
businesses around Ann Arbor 
on Monday. University student 
groups, such as the Michigan 
Student 
Power 
Network, 
also took to advocating for a 

campus closure through their 
#UMichColdShoulder petition, 
which 
currently 
has 
over 
13,000 signatures. The petition 
also encouraged students to 
call Schlissel as well as other 
University administrators. 
The 
University 
joins 
Michigan State University and 
Wayne State University, as well 
as other public universities in 
the state, in canceling classes 
due 
to 
extreme 
weather 
conditions. The delay prompted 
a 
flurry 
of 
social 
media 
posts critical of University 
administration, 
particulary 
Schlissel, although the official 
announcement was signed by 
Provost Martin Philbert; Preeti 
Malani, chief health officer; 
Laurita Thomas, chief human 
resources officer; and Eddie 
Washington, executive director 
of the Division of Public Safety 
and Security.
LSA 
sophomore 
Kirsten 
Lanigan expressed her surprise 
at the class cancellation. 
“It 
definitely 
was 
an 
unexpected pleasant surprise,” 
Lanigan said. “I was definitely 
not sure whether a state of 
emergency would be enough 
for Schlissel to cancel, but it’s 
nice that he was willing to 
stoop to our level and pity us as 
students.”
Lanigan said getting to class 
in this weather would have 
been difficult due to living off-
campus. 
“It definitely would have 
been a really big struggle to get 
to campus,” Lanigan said. “I’m 
not sure exactly what I would 
have done because I definitely 

live the distance where any of 
my classes would have been 
more than 10 minutes away and 
it would have been dangerous, 
so 
I’m 
really 
happy 
they 
canceled.”
Though the University has 
ultimately decided to cancel 
classes, disabled, injured and 
commuting 
students 
have 
already been feeling the harsh 
effects of the weather for days.
LSA 
freshman 
Madeline 
Walsh has a torn ACL, an injury 
that makes it difficult for her 
to get around campus. Walsh 
said the University has been 
doing a good job of getting 
the pathways clear in a timely 
fashion.
“Slipping was a very real 
possibility, but the snow hasn’t 
been too bad,” Walsh said. 
“They’re doing a pretty good 
job of keeping it off the most 
important sidewalks, so getting 
to the more populated areas 
hasn’t been too bad.”
Amir 
Baghdadchi, 
senior 
associate director of University 
Housing Association, told The 
Daily in an email the University 
staff 
works 
tirelessly 
day 
and night to maintain the 
campus conditions and keep 
the sidewalks walkable for all 
students.
“We have a full Facilities 
team that is always ready, at 
all hours, with shovels and 
snow machines,” Baghdadchi 
wrote. “Instead of ‘shutting 
down’ during the cold, our 
efforts ramp up, because cold 
can disrupt so many systems, 

LSA senior Aly Nedell is 
taking a course titled The 
Italian Mafia this semester. 
Any other student might elect 
to take Italian 240 out of pure 
curiosity, or to fulfill the 
distribution requirement in 
the humanities. But Nedell is 
receiving credit for this course 
as her language requirement.
Nedell took three years 
of Italian in high school but 
placed 
into 
the 
beginner 
Italian 101 course after taking 
her University of Michigan 
foreign language placement 
exam. After taking a portion 
of the course and dropping 
it, fearing poor performance 
would lower her grade point 
average, Nedell was told by 
her academic adviser that she 
would have to take Italian 102 
in order to compensate for 
not completing Italian 101. 
Unable to find information 
about 
alternatives 
online, 
she met with her academic 
adviser, who led her in the 
direction of petitioning the 
requirement. Soon after, she 
began exploring the process 
of finding an alternative to the 
LSA language requirement.
“It was honestly one of the 
most emotionally exhausting 
experiences 
as 
a 
student 
because 
there’s 
so 
much 
research into people who 
just struggle with foreign 
language,” Nedell said. “But 

because LSA is so regimented 
with their requirements, it’s 
not easy to find information 
on alternatives.”
After 
meeting 
with 
an 
academic 
adviser 
and 
completing 
an 
interview 
stating her case, Nedell took a 
90-minute Modern Language 
Aptitude 
Test, 
which 
she 
described as similar to the 
placement 
exam 
that 
is 
required of most LSA students 
prior 
to 
starting 
at 
the 
University.
“(I had) to schedule an 
appointment to take an LSA 
language aptitude test, but it’s 
in no particular language — 
it’s a fake language that you 

have to try to teach yourself,” 
Nedell 
said. 
“During 
(the 
exam) they provide you with 
fake words, but you do what 
you would normally do when 
learning a language.”
The score Nedell received 
on the aptitude test, in tandem 
with the academic adviser’s 
report, became her evidence 
to 
prove 
she 
could 
not 
learn and excel in language 
courses. In addition to these 
administered portions, Nedell 
was asked to provide two 
letters 
of 
recommendation 
from past Italian professors, 
explaining her inability to 
learn Italian. She also wrote 
an essay and submitted college 

and high school academic 
transcripts. 
After 
nearly 
nine months of searching 
and 
requesting 
permission 
for an alternative to the LSA 
language requirement, Nedell 
was approved to take two 
equivalent semesters of Italian 
culture classes to satisfy the 
requirement.
The 
LSA 
language 
requirement 
requires 
students 
to 
take 
four 
semesters worth of language 
courses in hopes the student 
will 
become 
proficient 
in a language other than 
English. 

Ann Arbor City Council 
voted to approve a settlement 
for a lawsuit filed against 
the city by Councilmember 
Anne Bannister, D-Ward 1, 
and former Councilmember 
Sumi Kailasapathy, D-Ward 
1, at the Jan. 22 City Council 
meeting. 
Bannister 
and 
Kailasapathy 
filed 
the 
lawsuit in June to invalidate 
a $10 million contract Mayor 
Christopher Taylor and City 
Clerk 
Jacqueline 
Beaudry 
signed with Core Spaces, a 
Chicago-based 
developer 
which planned to construct 
a 17-storey high-rise in the 
Library Lot.
According to the lawsuit, 
the Ann Arbor city charter 
stipulates any purchase or sale 
of a value exceeding $25,000 
be approved by at least eight 
councilmembers. Since Taylor 
and Beaudry did not seek 
the approval of City Council, 
Bannister and Kailasapathy 
argued the contract was not 
valid.

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, January 30, 2019

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

COLD AS HAIL
‘U’ PUTS A FREEZE ON CLASSES

See SNOW, Page 3A

CALLIE TEITELBAUM &
EMMA STEIN
Daily Staff Reporters

See LIBRARY, Page 3A

City signs 
deal on 
Library 
Lot suit

ANN ARBOR

Ann Arbor decides to settle 
case concerning proposed 
development downtown

RACHEL LEUNG
Daily Staff Reporter

WILLA HUA/ DAILY

Students, faculty talk pros and cons 
of the LSA language requirement

Mandated 4 semesters draw varying opinions across University departments

DANIELLE PASEKOFF
Daily Staff Reporter

On 
Tuesday, 
Professor 
Mabel Wilson from Columbia 
University’s 
Graduate 
School 
of Architecture, Planning and 
Preservation read an excerpt 
from her upcoming book about 
race 
and 
architecture. 
The 
30-minute event was part of 
the University of Michigan’s 
Institute for the Humanities 
FellowSpeak series and explored 
the racial history behind the 
architecture of the Virginia 
statehouse 
and 
Thomas 
Jefferson’s history of belittling 
African-American intellect.
Wilson is a Norman Freehling 
Visiting Fellow at the University’s 
Institute for the Humanities. 
Her talk was delivered to an 
intimate audience of 25 people, 
mostly consisting of department 
faculty and other fellows.

Gretchen 
O’Hair, 

administrative 
assistant 
and 
fellows coordinator, said the 
FellowSpeak 
serves 
as 
an 
opportunity for fellows to share 
their research and learn from 
one another.

See ARCHITECTURE, Page 3A

Professor 
discusses 
interplay of 
race, design

CAMPUS LIFE

Visiting fellow examines 
the racism in origins of 
American architecture

ZAYNA SYED
Daily Staff Reporter

GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail 
news@michigandaily.com and let us know.

INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 64
©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
michigandaily.com

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Night Shift Issue

See LANGUAGE, Page 3A

MADELINE HINKLEY/ DAILY