“Through my time organizing 
around affordability issues on the 
Ann Arbor campus, I have seen 
how many Michigan opportunities 
are still more difficult for low-
income students and students of 
color to access,” St. Onge said. 
“As Ann Arbor students are 
increasingly likely to come from 
extreme wealth, I have learned 
how the University’s desire to 
provide an uncommon education 
for the common man has been 
complicated. This is why I, and 
other Ann Arbor students, support 
the 1U campaign.”
St. 
Onge 
said 
many 
Ann 
Arbor 
students 
struggle 
with 
affordability, meaning the struggle 
of Flint and Dearborn students 
is linked to that of students 
on 
the 
Ann 
Arbor 
campus. 
She 
also 
highlighted 
funding 
disparities among the campuses 
— the University runs on a budget 
surplus and Flint and Dearborn 
students graduate with more debt 
on average than students in Ann 
Arbor.
Additionally, St. Onge spoke 
against the new University felony 
self-disclosure policy. The policy 
requires staff to report all charges 
and convictions of felonies within a 
week and has prompted discussion 

and an open letter calling for the 
policy to be rescinded.
St. Onge said the policy limits 
the opportunities of students and 
faculty and reduces access to certain 
viewpoints and experiences. She 
also said this directly contradicts 
diversity, equity and inclusion at 
the University.
LSA sophomore Mani Samei 
attended the meeting in support 
of UMich Behind Bars — a student 
group 
advocating 
against 
the 
self-disclosure policy — and One 
University. He said it is important 
students make their voices heard 
and presence felt.
“This policy is just one more 
example of the University making 
the active decision to extend the 
prison system into the educational 
system and I think as students it’s 
important we show up to these 
things,” Samei said. “Students are 
taking notice and are noticing the 
regents are making these decisions, 
and it really has no place at the 
University.”
Arifa Javed, a sociology lecturer 
at U-M Dearborn, said she’s given 
a third of her life to the University 
and thanked the regents for the 
salary 
increase 
for 
lecturers. 
However, Javed said some policies 
hurt her and other lecturers, and 
the University needs a change in 
the relationship between the three 
campuses.
She specifically noted policies 
that inhibit her ability to receive 

health care, and shared personal 
experiences that she says show how 
the University does not properly 
support her campus. Javed also 
said majors in her department have 
decreased, decreasing students’ 
opportunities.
“With my 20 years of experience 
at Dearborn, I come before you 
asking for a profound but necessary 
change we need in the relationship 
of our three campuses,” Javed said. 
“Since we are under one president 
and one Board of Regents, I 
would request you to take my 
recommendations and help out the 
students, faculty and staff on all 
three campuses.”
Jono 
Sturt, 
lecturer 
of 
architecture 
in 
the 
Taubman 
College 
of 
Architecture 
and 
Urban Planning, said it is hard 
to live paycheck to paycheck and 
advocated for equal treatment for 
lecturers on all three campuses. 
He said the contract has positively 
impacted his life, his teaching and 
his students’ experience.
Sturt thanked the regents for 
the recent contract, which he said 
allows him to set aside money 
for the future for the first time. 
However, he says there needs to 
be a larger conversation about 
lecturer treatment and the funding 
inequalities across the campuses.
“We understand this needs to 
be the beginning of a much longer 
conversation,” Sturt said. “The 
University of Michigan is a public 

institution and as such, should 
serve the public of this state, not 
just those here in Ann Arbor. Our 
University’s faculty and learners 
at Flint and Dearborn deserve the 
same support I am so grateful to 
enjoy here on this campus.”
Food ethics
Kimberly Daley, a University 
staff member and alum, was one of 
four speakers who spoke about the 
University’s food decisions. Daley, 
who works with the Washtenaw 
Solidarity 
with 
Farmworkers 
organization, 
highlighted 
the 
University’s history of supporting 
fair worker policy and ethical 
purchasing policies, but said the 
University should continue to make 
ethical food choices going forward.
Daley urged the University 
to join the Fair Food Program, 
a partnership ensuring humane 
wages and working conditions for 
the workers who pick fruits and 
vegetables on participating farms. 
She specifically noted the Wendy’s 
debate as a situation of having a 
choice between advocating for fair 
worker treatment or not. She said 
WSF will continue to advocate for 
these issues.
“Our campus community has 
a history of supporting labor 
investments,” Daley said. “The 
University of Michigan also has 
a long commitment to ethical 
purchasing 
commitments 
… 
Expanding this work to the food 
system is critically important 

because with each new corporation 
that joins the Fair Food Program, 
the farms they purchase from join 
this effort that has been proven 
time and time again to eliminate 
abuses.”
WSF member Matthew Hoostal, 
Medical School research fellow, 
shared a report that said the 
University does not make ethical 
food decisions. Hoostal said the 
University should interact with 
the food industry the same way 
it interacts with the garment 
industry, which requires it to avoid 
purchasing from companies that 
practice unethical treatment of 
workers.
WSF member Shane McParland 
added on to Hoostal’s statements 
and asked the University to adopt 
the Fair Food Program policies. 
McParland also mentioned the 
recent Ann Arbor City Council 
resolution to ban Wendy’s and 
other fast food restaurants not 
supportive of the Fair Food 
Program and said the University 
should look at different businesses’ 
policies when deciding which 
have space in the Michigan Union.
“The 
Fair 
Food 
Program 
is 
worker 
driven, 
relies 
on 
workplace-specific 
codes 
of 
conduct, 
worker 
education, 
complaint 
mechanisms, 
comprehensive audits and market 
consequences 
for 
violators,” 
McParland 
said. 
“Vendors’ 
endorsement 
of 
labor 
justice 

should be weighed heavily.”
McParland 
also 
said 
WSF 
asked University President Mark 
Schlissel for a policy favoring 
transparency and endorsing the 
Fair Food Program on campus in 
October 2018. He said a month 
later Schlissel responded saying 
he would share their concerns 
with the president’s Advisory 
Committee on Labor Standards 
and Human Rights. When WSF 
met with the committee chair 
that month, McParland said they 
were told nothing could be done 
without the president’s mandate 
and more research is needed.
Rackham 
student 
Madeline 
Cooke shared similar concerns 
to Hoostal’s and McParland’s. 
She asked University leaders for 
a response and policy in support 
of fair treatment for food workers 
and to join Central Student 
Government and City Council in 
endorsing the Fair Food Program.
“It is clear that students and 
community members care deeply 
about farmworker labor justice 
and, as a community, we want the 
University to take action,” Cooke 
said. “As the largest employer 
in the state of Michigan, what 
this institution does impacts the 
community.”

LSA junior Charlotte Hoppen, 
interim director of education 
for PPE, explained the role 
peer educators play in assisting 
victims of sexual assault both 
on campus and within the Ann 
Arbor community.
“We train all the PPEs on 
how to respond to disclosures 
of 
sexual 
misconduct 
and 
sexual assault and on how to 
provide resources in the campus 
community and around the 
community 
of 
Ann 
Arbor,” 
Hoppen said. “We train them 
to provide presentations on 
consent, 
sexual 
misconduct, 
responding to disclosures and 
resources for all new member 
classes 
in 
the 
Panhellenic 
community.”
Hoppen went on to discuss 

why having resources like PPE is 
crucial to empowering women, 
especially within the Greek life 
community.
“Greek life, in particular, is 
an at-risk group on campus,” 
she 
said. 
“10.3 
percent 
of 
(on-campus rapes) take place 
in fraternity houses … so it’s 
especially important that we 
are empowering women to not 
only to be in safe situations and 
help others in need, but also to 
work and advocate on behalf of 
themselves.”
Recently, the University of 
Michigan announced a revision 
to the student sexual misconduct 
policy, wherein students must 
take 
part 
in 
an 
in-person 
meeting between the accuser, 
the accused and any witnesses 
involved if requested to do so. 
The policy revision follows a 
recent U.S. Sixth Circuit Court 
of Appeals ruling, in which 

public universities “must give 
the accused student or his agent 
an opportunity to cross-examine 
the accuser.”
A student, who asked to 
remain anonymous for privacy 
reasons, 
reflected 
on 
the 
implications the policy revision 
may have on students going 
through the process of reporting 
misconduct.
“In the future, I don’t see 
this policy doing any good for 
survivors,” she said. “What they 
don’t realize is, if survivors have 
to sit in the same room as their 
perpetrator and be questioned 
by them, how traumatizing that 
can be. Reporting as a whole is 
traumatizing in and of itself, 
and seeing the person is so 
awful they’re trying to process 
something already, and seeing 
the person’s face can take so 
much away from you.”
LSA freshman Cammie Dalton 

discussed how events like the 
Speak Out can assist individuals 
in their healing process.
“It’s really important to listen 
to people’s stories and emphasize 
that you believe people’s stories,” 
Dalton said. “It’s important to 
feel like you can come forward, 
because it’s such a big step of 
recovery.”
Additionally, she discussed 
how the aura of acceptance and 
affirmation permeating the event 
allowed for an environment 
conducive to emotional healing.
“Events like this are necessary 
because of the setting,” she said. 
“For people to feel comfortable, 
it depends on who they are 
around. If they get a vibe that 
people are going to be accepting 
and actually be listening — not 
just present — events like this 
will be really helpful for their 
recovery.”

“I 
am 
proud 
of 
the 
great 
events, 
community 
collaborations, 
programming 
and 
park 
improvements 
that 
our 
board 
of 
directors 
and 
volunteers have facilitated in 
the past few years,” Meisler 
said. “I look forward to more 
success for the best public 
skatepark in the Midwest 
under the leadership of the 
new president and founding 
board member of Friends of 
the Ann Arbor Skatepark, 
Nina Juergens.”
Business 
junior 
Jordan Stanton has been 
skateboarding 
since 
he 
was 14. In Ann Arbor, he’s 
familiar 
with 
the 
skate 
shop scene. But he grew 
up in New York, where 
many skateparks have tried 
producing skate programs, 
specifically for girls, since 
he started skating seven 
years ago.
“I 
have 
seen 
a 

definite increase in girls 
skateboarding 
since 
I 
started seven years ago,” 
Stanton said. “Specifically 
in New York, there’s been 
momentum for a while, but 
I believe it usually takes 
longer for that to spread to 
the Midwest.”
Though 
Juergens 
has 
many long-term goals on her 
agenda, she emphasized in 
a press release that her goal 
from the beginning of her 
involvement in the skatepark 
was to increase girls’ interest 
in skating and to allow them 
to feel included in the Ann 
Arbor skating community.
“The 
goal 
from 
day 
one was to have a larger 
presence of girls and women 
skateboarding 
and 
using 
skateparks,” Juergens said. 
“We’ve run the All Girls 
Skate 
instruction 
free 
for participants since the 
opening of the park, and 
we’ve 
had 
professional 
skateboarders 
such 
as 
Samarria 
Brevard, 
Nora 
Vasconcellos 
and 
Jordyn 
Barratt come to be a part of 
the All Girls Skate program.”

Currently, 
Michigan 
law 
only covers the restrictions 
on 
texting 
while 
driving. 
Reactions to the bill have been 
positive from campus leaders 
on both sides of the political 
aisle.
In an email interview with 

The Daily, Public Policy senior 
Katie Kelly, communications 
director for the University’s 
chapter of College Democrats, 
lauded 
the 
initiative 
for 
improving 
the 
safety 
of 
everyone on the roads and 
commended 
Whitmer 
for 
supporting it.
“Governor 
Whitmer’s 
initiative to pass a bill for 
hands-free driving in Michigan 
will help improve the safety 
of everyone on the roads,” 
Kelly wrote. “Be it texting 
while 
driving 
or 
scrolling 
through social media, looking 
at a screen while driving 
drastically 
increases 
your 
chances of an accident.”
Notably, the new bill does 
not restrict adult Michigan 
drivers 
from 
talking 
and 
listening on their phones while 
driving. Kelly also praised this 
part of the bill, framing it as 
a smart decision that avoids 
over-restricting 
drivers 
on 
what they are able to do while 
driving.
“The bill still allows for 
cell phone use through voice 
operated methods so no one 
will miss any crucial calls while 
driving,” Kelly said. “This bill 
is meant to ensure the safety of 
the citizens of Michigan, and I 
commend Governor Whitmer 
for supporting it.”
Likewise, Kinesiology junior 
Jackson Schleuning, treasurer 
of the University’s chapter 
of College Republicans, also 
had a very positive reaction, 

describing road safety as a 
shared interest for everyone.
“No matter if you are a man 
or a woman, black or white, 
gay or straight, everybody 
uses these roads and when 
you make the decision to drive 
distracted, you are putting 
everybody at risk,” Schleuning 
said.
Additionally, 
Schleuning 
also described a personal loss 
he experienced because of 
distracted driving.
“When (Whitmer) initially 
touched on the hands-free 
part, one of the guests in her 
gallery was a family member 
of someone who was killed 
by a distracted driver and 
who was actually one of my 
best friends,” he said. “He 
was traveling about 50 miles 
an hour when he had to slow 
down because there was traffic 
coming on. The woman driving 
behind him did not realize 
that and hit him from behind, 
sending him across the median 
where a tractor-trailer hit him 
right on.”
LSA freshman Rina McClain 
also expressed approval of 
the new bill, even casting it as 
somewhat of an inevitability.
“I guess I would that think 
this would happen sooner or 
later just because any of the 
stuff online can be distracting 
while driving,” she said. “It 
doesn’t really surprise me — 
it makes sense that a bill is 
trying to be passed to expand 
restrictions.”
McClain also commented on 
the impact that this bill would 
have on University students 
who drive, bringing up their 
frequency of phone usage.
“Anyone 
from 
this 
generation… are so dependent 
on their phones,” McClain 
said. “If you’re addicted to 
your phone, then it’s going to 
be a problem for you, especially 
with social media.”

Currently, 
environmental 
policy 
works 
under 
risk 
mitigation 
which 
requires 
polluters 
to 
limit 
human 
exposure to pollutants rather 
than cleaning up the entirety of 
the pollution.
Irwin said this has caused 
more complications than solved 
problems. To highlight this, 
Irwin cited the Gelman lawsuit 
over the contamination of an 
Ann Arbor water supply.
“There was a company on 
the west side of Ann Arbor that 
polluted an aquifer under Ann 
Arbor and because the law only 
requires risk mitigation, the 
company was able to point to the 
fact that people living on top of 
that aquifer were drinking city 
water and because they weren’t 

actually exposed to that city 
water, they shouldn’t have to 
clean it up,” Irwin said.
The aquifer was sectioned 
off as a prohibition zone, or an 
area of natural resources that is 
sealed off for any future use due 
to its contamination.
Irwin 
said 
this 
bill 
is 
necessary for the health of 
Michigan 
residents, 
both 
present and future.
“We’re 
talking 
about 
how 
much 
of 
these 
toxic 
chemicals we’re going to leave 
in the ground and that has a 
translation to the number of 
people in the future who are 
going to be hurt as a result of 
this decision,” Irwin said.
Rabhi acknowledged this bill 
will not be easy to pass because 
the Michigan legislature is still 
controlled by Republicans.
“I 
think 
that 
there 
are 
significant hurdles,” Rabhi said. 
“Corporate polluters still have 

significant allies in the House 
with the Republican majority.”
Sometimes 
lawmakers 
forget 
residents 
when 
making decisions that benefit 
corporations, Irwin added.
“Sometimes in Lansing, I 
think it’s really easy to obscure 
the connection between the 
decisions we’re making to how 
much pollution is allowed and 
the very real cancers and other 
health problems people get as a 
result of these decisions,” Irwin 
said.
In Irwin’s point of view, 
current laws are rewarding 
companies that do not spend 
extra expenses on practicing 
cleaner operations.
“The additional hazard of 
allowing polluters to be let off 
the hook is that you have a whole 
universe 
of 
good 
corporate 
citizens out there, companies 
that are doing the right thing,” 
Irwin said. “Companies that are 

spending money to make sure 
that their operations are more 
sustainable and more in line 
with the public interest and are 
protective of public health.”
The Daily reached out to the 
University’s chapter of College 
Republicans, but they were 
unable to comment in time for 
publication. 
Katie Kelly, communications 
director of the University of 
Michigan’s chapter of College 
Democrats, believes this bill 
will 
help 
both 
Michigan’s 
environment and population.
“I 
think 
the 
new 
bills 
introduced by Representative 
Rabhi and Senator Irwin are 
a great step forward for our 
community,” Kelly wrote in an 
email interview with The Daily. 
“If corporations are dumping 
pollutants into our environment 
it should be their job to clean 
it up… . If this bill passes, I 
believe it will help clean up the 

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Friday, February 22, 2019 — 3A

POLLUTION
From Page 1A

SKATE
From Page 1A
JA ZZ & BOSSA NOVA

Ann Arbor musician Paul VornHagen plays saxophone at the Jazz and Bossa Nova Concert at the University Hospital Thursday.
ZACHARY GOLDSMITH/Daily

Read more online at 

michigandaily.com

SPEAKOUT
From Page 1A

DRIVING
From Page 1A

REGENTS
From Page 2A