He also said each campus gets 

individual funding from the state of 

Michigan and sets its own tuition rates. 

He said the U-M Flint and Dearborn 

campuses’ tuition are around 80 

percent of the cost of tuition for the 

Ann Arbor campus. 

Schlissel said there are different 

communities on each campus, and this 

is reflected in the faculty on the three 

campuses. He said Ann Arbor is part 

of a global market, while U-M Flint 

and Dearborn are focused on hands-on 

education for students from the areas 

they are located in.

“It wouldn’t really be either right 

or good for Flint or Dearborn for me 

to sit here in Ann Arbor and tell them 

how they should spend their money and 

who they should be serving,” Schlissel 

said. “I don’t think if we had three 

Ann Arbors, one of which was in Flint 

and one of which was in Dearborn, we 

wouldn’t be serving the people of the 

state the same way or as well, as if we 

have one global research university and 

two regional campuses that are much 

more local in their focus.”

He said he oversees the chancellors 

at U-M Flint and U-M Dearborn, but the 

campuses are ultimately different with 

only partially overlapping populations. 

Schlissel noted the University’s Ann 

Arbor campus is the most selective 

university campus in the state and 

the Flint and Dearborn campuses are 

accessible to a broad range of students 

within their communities.

Part of this, he said, is because 

the Ann Arbor campus is noticeably 

comprised of students who come from 

wealthier 
backgrounds, 
while 
the 

Dearborn and Flint campuses better 

reflect the diversity of the state in the 

student populations on those campuses. 

He said this was one reason for the 

creation of the Go Blue Guarantee on 

the University’s Ann Arbor campus.

“The demographics of the campuses 

are different, so they really are three 

very 
distinguishable 
campuses,” 

Schlissel said. “The socioeconomic 

diversity of Flint and Dearborn much 

more closely mirror the diversity of 

our state, whereas Ann Arbor is skewed 

much more to students from wealthier 

background. The reason we’ve begun 

the Go Blue Guarantee here is to try to 

improve the socioeconomic diversity of 

students here on this campus.”

1U listed the Go Blue Guarantee’s 

nonexistence at U-M Dearborn and 

Flint as one main campaign issues, 

though 42 percent of U-M Dearborn 

students and 39 percent of U-M Flint 

students are eligible for the Pell Grant, 

a federal grant awarded to high-

achieving students with financial need. 

Schlissel said financial aid is a priority 

of all three campuses and a higher 

percentage of students receive financial 

aid at U-M Flint or Dearborn compared 

to students at the University’s Ann 

Arbor campus.

Schlissel 
also 
addressed 
1U’s 

complaints over the University’s Flint 

and Dearborn campuses not receiving 

any of the $85 million earmarked for 

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion over 

five years nor any of the $1 billion in 

funding for student support from the 

Victors for Michigan campaign. He 

said the three campuses have separate 

fundraising and budgets for these 

University services and act differently 

within the contexts of the campus.

According to Schlissel, leaders from 

each campus have the opportunity to 

lobby independently for more resources 

to be allocated to their respective 

campuses and plans to continue to 

work with those leaders to increase 

funding 
allocations 
for 
all 
three 

campuses. Additionally, he said he 

would like the state to increase direct-

to-student 
financial 
aid, 
meaning 

a student can receive a need-based 

scholarship directly from the state that 

can be taken to whichever university 

the student chooses to attend.

“We’re lobbying together to try to 

grow the pot for each campus, keeping 

in mind each campus serves different 

communities 
and 
has 
different 

resources come to it,” Schlissel said. 

“I’m committed to working with Flint 

and Dearborn to grow their state 

allocation at the same time we work 

to grow the state allocation for Ann 

Arbor.”

Carbon Commission

Schlissel then addressed questions 

concerning 
student, 
faculty 
and 

corporate involvement in his new 

Commission on Carbon Neutrality. At 

the beginning of February, Schlissel 

officially announced the charge and 

members of his new Commission on 

Carbon Neutrality. The commission 

will define a goal and clarify the 

parameters for the University to 

achieve carbon neutrality, looking to 

achieve and surpass the University’s 

2011 goal of a 25 percent carbon 

emission reduction from the 2006 

standard by 2025. 

Noting the presence and direct 

involvement 
of 
students 
on 
the 

commission, Schlissel said the shared 

motivation between students and other 

commission members will be beneficial 

for the productivity of the board.

“We share the same goal,” Schlissel 

said. “The goal is to figure out as 

quickly as possible how to put us on a 

pathway to becoming carbon neutral in 

a way that’s sustainable, that allows us 

to continue our mission and continue 

to be an attractive place to come and 

study and to learn and to do research, 

and to do it in a way that serves as an 

example and in collaboration with the 

city around us, the county, the state, 

and to do it as a permanent rather than 

a short term fix.”

The 
committee, 
composed 
of 

University 
students 
and 
faculty 

members, also includes two members 

from 
major 
energy 
corporations. 

According to Schlissel, the members 

were meticulously chosen for their 

input.

“I quite purposefully asked those 

two 
major 
energy 
companies 
to 

suggest someone they thought would 

be helpful, and the reason why is they 

provide the overwhelming amount of 

energy throughout our state and region 

and to say we don’t want to hear their 

thoughts and learn their plans because 

of their emissions of greenhouse gas,” 

Schlissel said. “They’re not going 

away, they are the major suppliers of 

electricity for the University, the city of 

Ann Arbor, et cetera, so ignoring them 

because of past behavior, I don’t think 

that serves any purpose.”

Schlissel also noted that the two 

corporations, DTE and Consumers 

Energy, have personal incentive to 

improve their sustainability practices.

“Each of those companies recognizes 

that they are as adversely affected by 

global climate change as the University 

is,” Schlissel said. “Their business may 

go out of business because of it and 

they’re incentivized how they are going 

to shift from non-renewables and high 

carbon to low carbon sources of energy. 

One of them, DTE, their CEO told me 

our trajectory to get to 80 percent 

carbon free in their renewables in their 

portfolio over the coming decade so I 

would like to understand how they’re 

going to do this at the scale of the 

state of Michigan in a place where it 

gets to be minus 30-degree wind chill 

factors in the winter, so I wanted their 

expertise. 

He also noted that because the 

individuals from the energy industry 

only make up a small portion of 

commission, he is not too concerned 

about 
their 
opinions 
being 
too 

domineering. 

“The two industry folks are two 

members of a 16-person commission 

advisory so I’m not incredibly worried 

about the thoughtful students and 

the faculty and the campus leaders 

being overwhelmed by two people of 

industry.”

According 
to 
Schlissel, 
the 

commission’s first town hall will be a 

good opportunity for pressing student 

issues and concerns to be recognized.

“I’d 
love 
to 
understand 
which 

questions 
are 
front-of-mind 
for 

students,” Schlissel said. “In the 

flipside, I’d love the students to see the 

thoughtfulness and seriousness with 

which the members of the commission 

are taking this really important task.”

Felony Self-Disclosure

The University has implemented 

a new policy this February 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 

potentially face serious consequences, 

possibly including dismissal.

While University officials have said 

the policy was intended to ensure 

campus safety, some have raised 

concerns with the policy. Those against 

the policy say it infringes on rights, 

unfairly targets minorities, adds to 

invasive hiring procedures and lacked 

community input.

According to Schlissel, the creation 

of the policy is motivated by student 

and faculty safety, however there is 

a challenge to ensure the process is 

conducted in a fair way.

“The core of the policy change is 

to make sure we can provide a safe 

environment on our campus, in our 

health system, in all the different 

things we do as possible,” Schlissel 

said. “I think the advocates are very 

correct to be concerned about the 

disproportionate impact of the legal 

system on different subpopulations in 

our country. I think the evidence that 

that happens is incredibly strong. What 

we have to balance is being fair to every 

individual employee or applicant one 

person at a time, with the responsibility 

to keeping our community safe.”

Though he agreed it is a challenge 

to maintain fairness in the process, 

Schlissel said disclosing felony charges 

or convictions is important to ensure 

specific people are not a risk to certain 

positions on campus.

“Let’s 
say 
we 
have 
somebody 

working in the Treasurer’s Office 

of the University that had been 

convicted or charged elsewhere with 

embezzlement, with stealing money, 

and they do the same thing here and 

we never asked (about the charge or 

conviction),” Schlissel said. “It’s not an 

unreasonable thing for an employer to 

know whether a particular job a person 

is doing poses a particular risk based on 

them having been charged or convicted 

of a serious crime — not a trivial crime, 

but a serious crime. The challenge, in a 

way, is how to do that in a way that isn’t 

unfair to people.”

While the policy requires all faculty 

to report these felony charges or 

convictions, Schlissel said the findings 

are not always applicable, depending on 

the job the individual has.

“Just because you’ve been convicted 

of a serious crime doesn’t mean you 

should never work — you have to be able 

to support yourself,” Schlissel said. “So 

the idea is to do this as a confidential 

process where the leadership and our 

campus-wide human resources group 

looks at these self-reports and says, 

‘Well, this person was arrested or 

convicted or a crime that has nothing 

to do with their job, they’re not a risk, 

we’re going to keep that information 

confidential, the supervisors are not 

going to know about it,’ and that person 

will go about their business.”

Schlissel 
also 
stressed 
the 

importance of keeping track of the 

demographics of those impacted by the 

policy. 

“It’s a balancing act,” Schlissel 

said. “What we’re going to have to 

do prospectively is look at how the 

demographics 
works 
out 
in 
this 

program. If we were to get 100 reports 

a year out of our 40,000 employees of 

someone being convicted of a felony, we 

want to make sure the peoples whose 

jobs are being moved or changed or 

lost aren’t disproportionately in one 

identifiable group or another.”

Free Speech

Schlissel then moved on to discuss 

free speech and the upcoming visit from 

conservative 
political 
commentator 

Ben Shapiro. This is not the first time 

the University has dealt with issues 

regarding the First Amendment, as 

seen with last year’s potential visit 

from Richard Spencer and a lawsuit 

from Speech First.

Shapiro’s visit, which will occur on 

Tuesday evening, will be hosted by 

the University’s chapter of the Young 

Americans for Freedom. While Shapiro 

has been accused of using transphobic, 

homophobic and anti-choice rhetoric, 

free tickets reserved for students sold 

out in less than two minutes of being 

released.

Schlissel explained it was important 

for the University to allow student 

groups to invite the speakers they want 

on campus, even if the individual may 

have offensive rhetoric.

“To be a University we have to be 

open to ideas, even ones that many of 

us may find offensive,” Schlissel said. “I 

don’t have to go listen to the talk, but 

similarly we can’t set up a way to tell a 

student group who they’re allowed to or 

who they’re not allowed to invite. Once 

you give away that right, someone will 

decide they don’t want to hear about 

your issue because it’s too difficult.”

He also explained the University 

remains neutral with issues regarding 

free speech because deciding what 

qualifies 
as 
“offensive” 
can 
be 

challenging.

“Who would you trust to make the 

call about what’s offensive?” Schlissel 

said. “No one has figured out how to do 

that. So, you really have to be content-

neutral. Just because someone speaks 

here at the University, in no way means 

the University as an entity is endorsing 

what they have to say.”

However, 
more 
than 
issues 
of 

the 
First 
Amendment, 
Schlissel 

emphasized his responsibility is to 

protect students’ rights to choose 

whom to listen to and whom to invite 

on campus.

“Some people say we’re protecting 

the 
First 
Amendment,” 
Schlissel 

said. “The First Amendment, I’m not 

responsible for that. I’m responsible 

for you. So what I’m really protecting 

is your right to decide who you’d like 

to invite and come give a talk, or your 

choice about who you want to listen to. 

Who you shouldn’t be allowed to listen 

to, I think we should be cautious about 

that.”

Ethical Food Practices

Lastly, Schlissel discussed ethical 

food practices on campus, which 

comes after public comments from 

the last Board of Regents meeting, 

as well as conversation in Central 

Student Government and Ann Arbor 

City Council, about the presence of fast 

food chain Wendy’s at the University. 

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, 

student organizers and community 

members were concerned about the 

chain’s presence on campus because 

of its refusal to join the Fair Food 

Program.

While Schlissel noted that Wendy’s 

decided not to pursue a request to 

come back to the Michigan Union 

when it reopens, he acknowledged the 

importance of discussions regarding 

ethical food practices on campus. He 

explained how, a few years back, the 

University made an effort to look at 

where athletic apparel — anything 

with a Block ‘M’ — came from, and 

considered the possibility of a similar 

process for food on campus.

“Students have proposed that we 

consider a similar approach to the 

sourcing of other things the University 

buys, and that’s a reason issue to look 

at and explore, and the same committee 

(President’s Advisory Committee on 

Labor Standards and Human Rights) 

has been tasked at looking at this issue 

… and to do an analysis,” Schlissel said. 

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, March 12, 2019 — 3

SCHLISSEL
From Page 1

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

Stephen Berrey, associate professor 

of American culture, said blackface 

appearing in yearbooks is a prime 

example of how this form of racism 

was considered “safe” or acceptable 

in 
many 
communities, 
including 

Northam’s medical school, relatively 

recently.

“There’s a reason why this 1984 

yearbook pops out there and then kind 

of disappears for however many years 

it’s been,” Berrey said. “It’s because, 

at the time, it was not a big deal in that 

community for these white people. 

And that’s important to note — if it’s in 

the yearbook, it means that it was safe 

for those white people. Which means, 

of course, that blackface was safe and 

normal all over the country well into 

the 1970s.”

Berrey 
explained 
a 
blackface 

photograph in a yearbook does not 

only represent the beliefs of one or 

two students, but instead reflects the 

culture of an entire community.

“If we look at that yearbook, we may 

think that’s Ralph Northam or maybe 

somebody else,” Berrey said. “It’s those 

two students, but it’s more than that. 

It’s the layout person, it’s the editor, 

it’s the staff, it’s the faculty, it’s the 

administrator, if it’s a high school it’s 

the school board, it’s the community. 

There’s a complicity. The reason why 

we don’t know about all of these axes 

is that nobody cared about them at the 

time who was in these communities. 

There’s a complicity that is perfectly 

okay.”

Similarly, Bethany Hughes, assistant 

professor 
of 
American 
culture 

and Native American Studies, said 

appropriation 
of 
Native 
American 

culture did not arise from offensive 

Halloween 
costumes 
or 
school 

mascots, but actually began as early as 

the Boston Tea Party in 1773. Hughes 

said the Americans’ choice to dress 

in what they believed was Native 

American clothing reflects the deeper 

history of cultural exploitation.

“It was not necessarily to disguise 

their identity, maybe a little bit, but it 

was a way of taking on a persona and 

in some sense claiming indigeneity 

to America, that we are made here, 

and also claiming this sort of warrior, 

aggressive action,” Hughes said. “The 

history of redface doesn’t start in 

popular culture entertainment — it 

actually starts in civic and political 

protest as far as an American identity 

around redface. There is a longer 

history 
of 
redface 
in 
imported 

European entertainment and theater.”

Hughes noted how the popularity 

of redface in contemporary American 

culture disregards and undermines the 

differences between Native American 

communities.

“There’s this embodied knowledge of 

what it means to see and recognize an 

Indian, that then is imported directly 

into film and television,” Hughes said. 

“The markers that are identifiably 

Sioux … that are Oglala, that are 

Lakota, all of those get imported into 

a generic Indian identity that then get 

picked up and can be utilized in film 

and television.”

LSA 
freshman 
Caroline 
Reed 

attended the panel and said the 

discussion 
made 
her 
think 
more 

deeply about a blackface incident she 

experienced.

“I was at a relative’s house helping 

them clean out some stuff and came 

across a photo of them in blackface, 

and I got nervous so I put it back in the 

box and didn’t say anything about it,” 

Reed said. “I didn’t acknowledge that I 

even found it, I just kind of went about 

my life. Obviously it’s a generational 

difference, but as an 18-year-old, I felt 

really angry at why they would even 

do that. I was just wondering how to 

address it and learn from that negative 

problem.”

Reed said the panelists’ presentations 

on redface and yellowface allowed 

her 
to 
understand 
that 
cultural 

appropriation is an issue that affects 

many different communities in equally 

devastating ways.

“I hear about blackface a lot, but 

I never really thought about the 

implications of redface and yellowface 

and how that affects other races,” Reed 

said. “I think that stood out to me a lot, 

that it’s not limited to one stereotype 

and extends to all kinds of different 

people.”

APPROPRIATION
From Page 1

“There 
will 
be 
plenty 
of 

opportunity for the public and 

community to comment suggestions 

and priorities and so on, but you 

have to keep in mind that this is an 

advisory panel only,” Forrest said. 

“We make recommendations, we are 

not the ones who make the decisions, 

that is the sole purview of the Board 

of Regents, the president and the 

executive officers.”

An 
audience 
member 
asked 

how 
residents 
can 
ensure 
the 

commission’s work will not be 

guided by interests of corporations. 

Haverkamp said the commission 

needs to take in the perspective of 

different stakeholders in order to 

have accurate representation.

Forrest 
said 
because 
the 

commission 
does 
not 
make 

decisions, corporate interests are 

not as relevant.

“There is not a lot of self-interest 

here,” Forrest said. “This is a 

volunteer board. Again, we do not 

make the decision. So it separates 

the money interest from the decision 

making conference. Our job is really 

to distill data and to do the best we 

can to recommend the best path 

forward.”

Another audience member asked 

how the commission is going to 

foster long-term solutions and keep 

the community updated on any 

progress made. Haverkamp said the 

commission will produce interim 

reports along the way that will be 

made public, and the committee is 

always open to suggestions from 

residents.

Forrest said open communication 

between the commission and the 

community is integral to reducing 

carbon emissions.

“So much of the commission’s 

work 
will 
be 
communication,” 

Forrest said. “If we can’t engage the 

entire University community, that 

is a sign that people just don’t care. 

But that’s not something I believe, I 

think people care.”

Rackham student Aaron Gladstein 

said he attended the event to have 

an accurate understanding of how 

the University is working to reduce 

its carbon footprint. He was pleased 

with 
the 
receptiveness 
of 
the 

commission. 

“I like how open the commission 

currently 
is,” 
Gladstein 
said. 

“I thought I was coming into 

something, like a premade game 

plan, and instead this is more they 

are ready to listen.”

LSA freshman Lena Swirczek is 

the co-president of the University’s 

chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby. 

She 
said 
she 
also 
appreciated 

how open the commission was 

to audience suggestions and how 

dedicated they seemed to the cause. 

However, she discussed how she is 

worried the Board of Regents will 

not put as much effort into reducing 

the University’s carbon emissions.

“I’m more confident now that 

the commission is actively working 

towards making recommendations 

and solutions,” Swirczek said. “My 

one concern is how regents are going 

to handle that. My biggest takeaway 

is that they’re going to do their best 

to do their research and put in the 

time and the effort and consult with 

who they need to consult so that we 

can move forward on this issue, but 

I’m just concerned that the regents 

will not act with the same urgency 

and expertise.”

TOWN HALL
From Page 1

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

about cutting long hair,” Dascola said.

For more than 50 years, Dascola 

has continued the family tradition. 

But he said it may end soon.

“There 
isn’t 
anybody 
coming 

behind me at this point in time,” he 

said. “My granddaughter was talking 

about becoming a hair person, but 

she’s still in high school, so it’s hard 

to say what’s going to happen at this 

point … you can’t make your children 

or grandchildren do stuff they don’t 

want to do and if she decides not to do 

that, that’s okay. That’s her choice.”

Though none of his children aspire 

to become barbers, he said they help 

out at the shop in different ways. His 

youngest daughter used to clean his 

shop as a child, his oldest daughter 

helps out financially and his son has 

built him his website. Dascola said 

he’s proud of his kids because they 

find different ways to help him out.

Dascola said he has had to hire 

outside people to help out in the shop. 

He added it isn’t easy to find qualified 

people.

“Everybody has their own talents 

and finding people that are good with 

people and their skills with doing the 

haircutting is not the easiest thing in 

the world,” Dascola said. “It takes a 

combination of things: You have to 

have the right personality for this 

type of job … and you have to shave 

skills to be able to accomplish good 

hair cutting because if you can’t do 

the good haircutting, there’s no point 

in doing a good haircutting at all.” 

Dascola is proud of his shop’s 

location in the heart of downtown 

Ann Arbor and the University of 

Michigan campus.

“At one point in time, when we 

were getting close to closing the 

original store, somebody tried to get 

me to move off of the campus, and 

I wouldn’t leave and I said, ‘I’m not 

leaving downtown,’” Dascola said. “I 

was born and raised downtown and 

I’m going to continue my whole career 

downtown. And the reason is, I love 

being around the University because 

I need the cultural and intellectual 

experience 
from 
my 
professor 

friends who love to teach outside the 

classroom. For the last 50 years, I’ve 

gotten a pretty good education.”

Dascola said his business has an 

impact on community and culture, 

which he said differentiates his 

business from others in Ann Arbor.

“I would say that when people 

come to my place, it’s more of a 

cultural and intellectual experience 

as opposed to the sports scene and all 

that business,” Dascola said. “I mean, 

I’m okay with football and stuff. I’m a 

really big hockey fan, but I don’t bring 

sports to my business. I bring cultural 

and intellectual things because I’m 

pursuing knowledge and I want to 

learn as many things as I can from 

people because we’re always teaching 

each other things.”

One 
of 
Dascola’s 
long-time 

customers and University alum Chris 

Kushmaul said he’s built a strong 

relationship with Dascola since 1993 

when he first began going to his shop.

“He’s far more than just a barber,” 

Kushmaul said. “I mean, he’s literally 

become a friend. He’s like a father to 

me. And it’s one barber visit at a time. 

We’ve just built a relationship.”

When customers sit down to get a 

haircut, they face a mirror filled with 

pictures of his clients. Some pictures 

showcase customers from birth to old 

age.

“I call it my happy mirror,” Dascola 

said. “Every day when I walk in 

there, and I turn the light on the back 

counter and I hang up my fanny pack, 

the first thing I see is all those smiling 

faces looking at me and so it’s like 

welcoming me back to work.”

LSA junior Eric Donarski said he 

is very excited for the shop’s 80th 

anniversary and added he feels at 

home whenever he gets a haircut 

there.

“Not only is he excellent at 

cutting hair, but Bob has a breadth 

of 
knowledge 
to 
keep 
anybody 

entertained and barely focused on 

their haircut,” Donarski wrote in an 

email interview. “Dascola Barbers has 

become a place that feels like home to 

me and I’m sure it will for anybody 

who schedules an appointment.”

BARBERSHOP
From Page 1

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

