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Tuesday, March 19, 2019
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVIII, No. 89
©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
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Ann Arbor City Council met
Monday night to discuss the
affordable housing resolutions
and the appointments of the
police oversight commission.
Affordable
housing
issues
addressed
the
Lockwood
development and developments
on Main Street and Industrial
Street. The Lockwood of Ann
Arbor
senior
development
resolution
failed,
while
three
resolutions
dedicated
to
an
affordable
housing
development
passed.
The
appointment of 11 nominees to
the Independent Community
Police Oversight Commission
appointment
was
passed
despite
community
member
interruption during the vote.
The Lockwood of Ann Arbor
Apartments
development
is
a three-story senior housing
facility proposed to be built
on a controversial area of
residential
land
near
the
intersection of Wagner and
Jackson roads. The developer
guaranteed
40
percent
of
the units to be dedicated to
affordable
housing
ensured
for 99 years. Many opposing
councilmembers cited zoning
ordinances as the reason to
decline the resolution, as the
area is currently a single family
unit zone and the Lockwood
development
would
require
the council to change it to a
planned
unit
development
zone.
Councilmember
Jeff
Hayner, D-Ward 1, voted no to
Lockwood specifically because
of zoning.
“It’s a zoning question before
us,” Hayner said. “To decide,
I’m going to be asking myself,
‘Do the community benefits
offered meet the standards of
the PUD?’”
Other
opposing
councilmembers
cited
environmental
concerns.
Councilmember
Anne
Bannister, D-Ward 1, discussed
her
concerns
with
the
development impinging on the
dioxane plume treatment site.
“I am very convinced by
three experts who have told
us that this property is a key
location for remediation of the
plume,” Bannister said. “It is
near the main plume the source
site of the dioxane and it is the
best location, that I’m aware of,
to pump and treat this chemical
out of the ground if possible.”
LSA senior Krishna Motta
and LSA sophomore Hannah
Bradshaw
spoke
to
the
council about the importance
of
affordable
housing
in
Ann Arbor. Both Motta and
Bradshaw
discussed
how
affordable
housing
affects
students,
senior
citizens
and
people
with
a
lower
socioeconomic
status.
They
pointed
councilmembers
to
multiple resolutions that offer
various options for the city to
pursue affordable housing.
“There’s a lot of options that
the city has passed up even
though they say they support
affordable housing,” Bradshaw
said.
“There’s
some
great
resolutions in front of you today
where you can take action on
affordable housing and start
providing for the community.
Even
though
(Ann
Arbor)
claims to be a diverse and
welcoming place, the reality is
that it’s not for a lot of people in
a lower socioeconomic status,
and that’s making your city less
diverse and less welcoming to a
lot of people.”
On
Monday
night,
the
University of Michigan Central
Student Government hosted
a candidate debate for the
upcoming election March 27
through 28. The event included
a presidential debate followed
by a vice presidential town hall,
which consisted of 12 questions
asked by Senior News Editor
Remy Farkas. The questions,
compiled by The Daily, touched
on topics including campus
climate,
sustainability
and
student body unity.
The event was moderated by
Director of Debate Aaron Kall.
This
year’s
candidates
include presidential candidate
Ben
Gerstein
and
vice-
presidential candidate Isabelle
Blanchard, members of the
Engage Michigan Party. The
other presidential candidate
is Engineering freshman Shub
Argha, who is running without
a party.
LSA
sophomore
Gerstein
is from Highland Park, Ill.
and represents the Engage
Michigan Party. In his opening
statement, he described how the
party’s platform aims to ensure
students’ voices are heard.
They also plan on bridging the
gap between CSG and other
student organizations, as well
as
increasing
accessibility
across campus.
“Between Isabelle and I, we
each have a combined four years
of experience in CSG.” Gerstein
said. “(We will work) to make
sure that every single student
on
Michigan
feels
valued,
recognized, heard, has their
voices and passions elevated
and understands that CSG’s
purpose is to work for them
and to elevate their needs to
the school’s administration.”
See CSG, Page 3
Two
presidential
hopefuls
made their cases before Michigan
voters for the first time on Monday
as they seek the Democratic
nomination for the nation’s highest
office in 2020, preceding a rally for
President Donald Trump planned
for next week in Grand Rapids.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand,
D-New York, taped a town hall
forum with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes
in Auburn Hills, later appearing
with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at a
“Fems for Dems” rally in Clawson.
Former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke,
D-Texas, made two campaign
stops in metro Detroit the same
day, visiting Center Line and
Ferndale.
Following
a
two-month
exploratory
phase,
Gillibrand
officially announced her candidacy
on Sunday. At the Auburn Hills
town hall just the next day, she
faced questions about her plan
to stand out in the crowded
Democratic primary.
Students not
shocked by
admissions
controversy
Some at ‘U’ say wealthier families can
provide children with legal and illegal benefits
The Ford School of Public
Policy and the Center for Russian,
East
European,
&
Eurasian
Studies hosted former ambassador
William J. Burns on Monday
afternoon
in
the
Annenberg
Auditorium of Weill Hall to detail
the inner workings of American
international
relations.
The
event was this year’s Vandenburg
Lecture, a series of presentations
named after former U.S. Sen.
Arthur
Vandenburg,
a
U-M
alum, and funded by the Meijer
Family Foundation. About 35
people from the Ann Arbor
community attended the event,
entitled “American diplomacy in a
disordered world: A conversation
with Ambassador William J.
Burns.”
Burns has held several high-
level positions within the U.S.
State
Department
spanning
decades of administrations. He
joined the Foreign Service as a
career ambassador in 1982.
William J.
Burns talks
U.S. foreign
policy goals
CAMPUS LIFE
Former diplomat looks
at workings of American
international relations
ARJUN THAKKAR
For the Daily
CSG candidates debate issues facing
campus ahead of March 27 election
Discussions touched on issues of U-M emergency response, climate action, Title IX
Presidential
hopefuls
campaign
in Michigan
GOVERNMENT
REMY FARKAS
Daily News Editor
BARBARA COLLINS &
PARNIA MAZHAR
Daily Staff Reporters
For
many
University
of
Michigan students, the recent
college admissions scandal —
in which federal prosecutors
charged 50 people for various
offenses
related
to
college
admissions, including buying
their children entry into some
of the nation’s most selective
schools — was not wholly
surprising.
Lauren Schandevel, Public
Policy senior, said last week’s
events highlighted how common
it is for wealthier families to give
their children advantages in the
college process through both
legal and illegal measures.
“In actuality, this kind of
stuff happens all the time,”
Schandevel said. “If not through
explicitly breaking the law, there
are plenty of legal ways through
which
wealthy
parents
can
give their children a leg up into
college. I was not surprised when
I found out that these families
are actually breaking the law to
make that kind of thing happen
because I’ve heard so many
stories about the legal ways in
which these things happen.”
The
scandal,
which
was
revealed
to
the
public
on
Tuesday,
was
the
largest
college
admissions
scheme
ever prosecuted by the United
States Justice Department and
sparked discussions nationwide
about economic inequality in
selective public and private
schools. Parents were charged
with bribing athletic coaches
and standardized test proctors
to
secure
their
children
acceptances into schools such as
Stanford, Yale and the University
of Southern California, among
others.
The list of parents indicted
in the scandal included actress
Lori Loughlin and her husband,
fashion
designer
Mossimo
Giannulli, along with actress
Felicity Huffman. After the
scandal unfolded, USC launched
an internal investigation into
the scam and Loughlin was
fired by Crown Media, the
media production company that
previously employed her on
Hallmark Channel.
According to the indictment
unsealed in federal court on
Tuesday, the leader of the
scheme, William Rick Singer,
founded the Edge College &
Career Network in 2007 to
help parents bribe coaches and
entrance exam proctors. The
indictment
revealed
parents
involved in the scandal paid
Singer between $15,000 and
$75,000 to have members of the
organization either take the ACT
or SAT for the student or correct
the answers once the test was
completed.
See COLLEGE , Page 3
See POLICY, Page 3
KATELYN MULCAHEY/Daily
CSG presidential candidates Shub Argha and Ben Gerstein share their platforms at the CSG Presidential Debate in the Michigan League Monday night.
City Council discusses police oversight
commission, housing affordability
Meeting included rejection of a senior living development, while affordable living resolutions passed
LIAT WEINSTEIN
Daily Staff Reporter
Former U.S. Rep. Rourke,
U.S. Sen. Gillibrand make
their case to MI voters
CATHERIN NOUHAN
Daily Staff Reporter
Ann Arbor City council congregates to discuss various resolutions at city hall monday night.
See CITY, Page 3
LEAH GRAHAM
Daily News Editor
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
KAYLEAH SON/Daily