After free-speech watchdog 
group 
Speech 
First 
filed 
a 
lawsuitagainst the University of 
Michigan last May, the University 
has restricted the housing staff, 
such as resident advisors and 
diversity peer educators, from 
removing speech from student 
doors — including hate speech.
The lawsuit was filed against 
the University’s Bias Response 
Team and accused the school 
of limiting students’ abilities 
to express themselves freely. 
Since 
then, 
the 
University 
has 
attempted 
to 
show 
its 
commitment 
to 
the 
First 
Amendment by allowing more 
student 
expression. 
In 
the 
dormitories, 
this 
means 
no 
writings or postings can be 
removed from a student’s door 

without the student’s permission.
One RA, who has chosen 
to remain anonymous due to 
legal 
concerns, 
believes 
the 
implementation 
of 
a 
policy 
restricting how racist speech is 
handled could be problematic. 
They think the policy will 
negatively affect the students it 
targets.
“I most definitely think it 
can have an emotional impact,” 
they said. “If you wake up in the 
morning and you open your door 
and see something [offensive], it 
can make you feel like you don’t 
belong, it can make you feel like 
you’re not a valued member of the 
community and that you’re out of 
place.”
The RA also brought up 
past incidents involving racist 
messages 
on 
student 
doors. 
Last year there was an incident 
in West Quad involving three 

Black students’ whose doors 
were 
vandalized 
with 
hate 
speech, including the N-word. 
The RA emphasized how having 
to be in an environment where 
derogatory speech is present 
can have an impact on students’ 
wellbeing.
“Even last year’s event of the 
n-word being on the door... ” 
they said. “I knew some of those 
people [who saw were affected 
by it] and it most definitely has an 
impact on you and other people 
who have those same identities or 
simply empathize with you. It can 
have an emotional toll because 
as a human being, sometimes 
you say, ‘This is wrong,’ but it 
gets a lot into what is right and 
wrong and who constitutes that, 
so I do think it can be difficult 
to maneuver and that’s where 
morality and University policies 
have trouble interplaying.”

LSA 
sophomore 
Ruchi 
Wankhede also reflected on the 
incident in West Quad Residence 
Hall when considering the policy. 
As someone who has lived in 
West Quad for the last two years, 
she recalled how upsetting the 
situation was. She said she’s 
wary of RAs and DPEs losing 
their ability to remove oppressive 
speech.
“Last year, I was in West Quad 
when the whole incident with 
racist slurs on doors happened,” 
Wankhede said. “Those are my 
hallmates. It was so jarring for 
everyone involved, everyone in 
the community. The fact that the 
free speech is there, the fact that 
the University didn’t help out 
that much with the investigation 
is very upsetting. We still don’t 
even know who did it to this day.”

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tuesday, February 5, 2019

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Less than a year after the 
Trump 
administration 
and 
the Environmental Protection 
Agency 
received 
backlash 
for attempting to block the 
publication of a federal study 
that concluded PFAS chemicals 
at low concentrations were 
dangerous, it is expected the 
Trump administration will not 
set a limit for PFAS chemicals in 
drinking water.
According to the city of Ann 
Arbor’s site, samples collected 
from the city’s drinking water 

in the fall of 2018 revealed a 
rise in PFAS levels since 2016. 
Since the reported increase, Ann 
Arbor has been committed to 
monitoring PFAS levels. In late 
2018, City Council approved a 
proposal to replace all of the 
city’s old carbon filters with new 
filters.
PFAS chemicals have been 
used for several decades in 
industrial 
and 
consumer 
products such as cookware 
and 
fire-retardant 
materials. 
Some scientific studies have 
shown PFAS chemicals can have 
significant health consequences 
such as learning and growth 

impairments 
in 
children, 
weakened immune systems, and 
increased risk of cancer. The 
EPA’s decision against a PFAS 
limit in drinking water would 
mean PFAS chemicals would 
remain largely unregulated.
In response to news of the 
EPA’s impending decision to 
continue to allow PFAS levels 
to be unregulated, 20 U.S. 
senators, 
including 
Debbie 
Stabenow, D-Mich., and Gary 
Peters, 
D-Mich., 
penned 
a 
letter this week to acting EPA 
Administrator Andrew Wheeler 
to urge the EPA to set a limit for 
PFAS.

Devin Pascoe, a sophomore 
environmental 
engineering 
major, expressed her displeasure 
with the government’s lack of 
response to the health risks 
associated with PFAS. She said 
she believes the government 
could do more to address the 
health risks.
“It seems like the government 
is not addressing the issue in 
the manner that they should, 
especially 
since 
they 
were 
making citizens pay for testing 
their water themselves,” Pascoe 
said.

On Monday night, Ann Arbor 
City Council passed resolutions 
to 
encourage 
members 
of 
the 
community 
to 
support 
the boycott of Wendy’s, to 
strengthen nuclear emergency 
planning and to support a 
strong Clean Air Act and strong 
Clean Water Rule.
At City Hall, before the city 
council meeting began, the 
A2 Safe Transport, a citizens 
advocacy group working to 
ensure 
pedestrian 
safety, 
rallied for their cause. They 
are attempting to implement 
Vision Zero, a multidisciplinary 
approach to address local traffic 
technologies and policies.
LSA junior Cindy Lin, intern 
for 
Councilmember 
Kathy 
Griswold, D-Ward 2, is on the 
A2 Safe Transport committee. 
She discussed how the New 
York-based organization can 
bring its initiatives to Ann 
Arbor.

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

INDEX
Vol. CXXVIII, No. 67
©2019 The Michigan Daily

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

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

CL A SSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

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

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
michigandaily.com

For more stories and coverage, visit

University 
adopts felony
disclosure 
amendment

Employees must reveal their criminal 
felony charges within week of incident

AMARA SHAIKH
Daily News Editor

The Ford School of Public 
Policy hosted a talk Monday to 
debate different frames of mind 
surrounding gun control and 
its effectiveness. Each panelist 
discussed opposing perspectives 
on firearm policy as well as the 
pros and cons of looking at the 
issue in terms of injury prevention, 
mental health, education, politics 
and journalism.
Michael Barr, dean of the Public 
Policy School, began the event by 
highlighting the frequency of 
mass shootings in the news cycle.
Panelist Rebecca Cunningham, 
professor of emergency medicine, 
said she views gun policy from a 
public health perspective – the 
same way she would look at any 
other harmful situation.
“Firearms 
are 
not 
really 
different than any other injury 
prevention framework, not to be 
thought of any differently from 
a vehicle crash to a fire and 
burn,” Cunningham said. 

Ford panel 
discusses 
gun safety 
perspectives

CAMPUS LIFE

Forum talks firearm 
policy, mental health, 
injury prevention

EMMA STEIN 
Daily Staff Reporter

Trump administration refuses to set 
limit for PFAS chemicals in Michigan

EPA faces pressure by President to leave poisonous substance unregulated in water

RACHEL LEUNG
Daily Staff Reporter

Council
supports
Wendy’s
boycott

ANN ARBOR

Members pass nuclear 
emergency plan for 
Ann Arbor community

CATHERINE NOUHAN
Daily Staff Reporter

See SPEECH, Page 3

Follow The Daily 
on Instagram, 
@michigandaily

See PFAS, Page 3A

The 
University 
of 
Michigan 
implemented 
a 
new 
policy 
Monday 
requiring members of the 
community to disclose all 
charges and convictions of 
felonies within a week of the 
charge or conviction. The 
policy applies to all faculty 
and staff, including student 
employees, volunteers and 
visiting scholars.
According to the policy, 
those who do not disclose 
felonies will face serious 
consequences and potential 
dismissal.
After the felony charge 
or conviction has been self-
reported, 
the 
University 
Human 
Resources 
department 
will 
assess 
the incident based on the 
gravity of the offense, the 
timeliness 
and 
accuracy 
of the disclosure and the 
relevancy to the role held at 
the University.
The reporting of a felony 
does not necessarily mean 
the 
individual 
will 
face 
disciplinary action.
Laurita Thomas, associate 
vice president for Human 
Resources, 
said 
the 
University implemented the 
new policy to ensure the 

campus is as safe as possible.
“We 
became 
aware 
of 
circumstances 
where 
we 
were 
not 
aware 
of 
this 
kind 
of 
situation 
across 
higher ed, not necessarily 
at Michigan,” Thomas said. 
“And many institutions have 
moved to enhance the safety 
of our community and this 
knowledge will help us do 
that.”
When 
asked 
about 
how 
Human 
Resources 
will 
determine 
what 
consequences, 
if 
any, 
are 
deemed 
appropriate, 
Thomas said they will use 
similar standards to the 
criminal history questions 
and background checks all 
applicants are required to go 
through before employment.
“We 
indicated 
in 
the 
announcement 
we 
would 
use criteria similar to our 
background check policy,” 
Thomas said.
According to the U-M 
Graduate 
Employees’ 
Organization, 
the 
new 
policy applies to residential 
advisers but does not apply to 
graduate student instructors 
or other graduate students 
covered by the collective 
bargaining unit.

See SAFETY, Page 3
LANE KIZZIAH/Daily

‘U’ policy prevents residential staff 
from removing hate speech in dorms

Housing no longer allows RAs from interfering with oppressive speech posted on student doors

See WENDY’S , Page 3

See EMPLOYEES, Page 3

EMMA STEIN
Daily Staff Reporter

ROSEANNE CHAO/Daily