Schlissel then directly addressed 
points students would be discussing 
during the public comment portion 
of the meeting. 
He first addressed the “dissenting 
views” surrounding the recently 
announced 
felony 
self-disclosure 
policy by saying information helps 
maintain a safe community. Schlissel 
noted the University already has 
felony-related 
information 
about 
new employees through background 
checks, but this policy gives the 
University information about current 
employees.
“To be absolutely clear: history 
of a felony conviction does not 
automatically prevent an applicant 
from working at the University, 
nor would it necessarily result in a 
current employee losing their job,” 
Schlissel said. “Knowing about a 
serious criminal charge allows the 
University to take timely action 
in instances where there could be 
a significant risk of harm in the 
workplace.”
He noted this policy triggers an 
internal review and the University 
will “closely monitor” the policy 
to ensure it doesn’t have disparate 
impacts on certain communities.
Schlissel then discussed carbon 
neutrality by emphasizing he shares 
students’ urgency about the issue. He 
clarified the University will develop a 
plan to achieve carbon neutrality, and 
then will commit to a specific date.
“When we are at our best, our 
impact does not stop at the borders 
of our campuses,” Schlissel said. “We 
seek to change society, to help others 
and to make significant, measurable 
differences on the world we share.”
Schlissel noted the University has 
already achieved carbon reduction 
and carbon emission is down 7 
percent from the 2006 baseline, while 
the physical campus has grown since 
then by 20 percent. He also said he is 
aware of the controversy surrounding 
the plan to expand the Central 
Power Plant, but said the University 
would need to purchase more coal-
based electricity. Functioning as 
a university, especially one with 
a major hospital, requires a lot of 
energy, and fossil fuels are the only 
way to provide enough energy for the 
foreseeable future, Schlissel said. 
He also noted the President’s 
Commission on Carbon Neutrality 
added a public session of the 
commission on April 9. To end his 
speech, he commended University 
athletic teams for their success 
throughout the year.
After Schlissel finished, Regent 
Denise Ilitch (D), vice chair of the 
board, commended Schlissel on 
his election into the John Hopkins 
Society of Scholars. The society — the 

first of its kind in the U.S. — honors 
faculty who have served at least a year 
at Johns Hopkins and have received 
distinction in their discipline while 
not working at the school.
Following Schlissel’s remarks, Joy 
Beatty, vice chair of Senate Advisory 
Committee on University Affairs and 
a professor at U-M Dearborn, said 
faculty care about the University 
and are well-poised to offer advice 
on University affairs. She requested 
faculty to be included in decision-
making processes so there is time 
to offer constructive and helpful 
feedback.
Specifically, 
Beatty 
noted 
faculty’s 
longstanding 
concerns 
about the Office for Institutional 
Equity’s processes, including lack 
of notification, due process and 
opportunity for appeals as well as 
long timelines for investigations. She 
said the Senate Assembly is preparing 
suggestions for improvements and 
passed resolutions to share with the 
Office of the Provost.
“To realize the full benefit to the 
community that stems from the 
consultation with involved faculty, 
elected faculty representatives need 
to be included early in decision-
making processes, so that there 
is time to offer constructive and 
thoughtful feedback,” Beatty said. 
“If we are consulted after decisions 
have already been made or too 
late in the process for substantive 
feedback, the administration risks 
becoming entangled in conversations 
which miss key points of community 
concern.”
During updates from the regional 
campuses, 
it 
was 
announced 
that Schlissel will be on the U-M 
Dearborn campus next week to give 
a speech about the future of higher 
education and the importance of 
a growth mindset. Additionally, 
according to the board, significant 
progress on scholarships and funding 
for student support has been made 
on the Flint campus because of the 
success of the Victors for Michigan 
campaigns.
The board voted on appointments, 
buildings, degree programs, policy 
and partnerships. One action request 
that was approved was a master 
affiliation and related joint venture 
agreement 
between 
Michigan 
Medicine 
and 
Sparrow 
Health 
System of central Michigan.
The 
board 
also 
approved 
an addition of classrooms and 
accessibility improvements to the 
Detroit Observatory, the second-
oldest building on campus. The 
project will cost an estimated $10 
million.
E. Royster Harper, vice president 
for student life, commended Daniel 
Greene, Central Student Government 
president, for his leadership. She 
called him “tenacious” and said his 
leadership has made “the University 
stronger.”

In his final address to the board, 
Greene, a Public Policy senior, said he 
struggled to decide what to discuss. 
He began by thanking faculty 
members and DPSS, then discussed 
how to build a better University in 
the future.
He said in the past he has 
spoken on a variety of topics — 
from food insecurity to mental 
health awareness on campus — but 
reflected on how the University can 
be more accessible and inclusive 
going forward. Greene emphasized 
it is important every student feels 
welcome and safe on campus.
Greene noted the University’s 
strides in these areas, including 
the Go Blue Guarantee, the Maize 
and Blue Cupboard, the Trotter 
Multicultural Center and the holistic 
well-being model. However, he said 
he realizes the campus community 
at-large still has a long way to go. 
Greene said CSG ideally represents 
all students, but he hoped his role 
has also been as an advocate for 
those voices who were not heard on 
campus.
“Our institutional values include 
equity, diversity, liberty and justice,” 
Greene said. “Our mission statement 
calls for developing leaders and 
citizens who will challenge the 
present and enrich the future. 
Unfortunately, those values and 
mission are not always upheld. We as 
a campus community still fall short 
in our mission and, unfortunately, 
oftentimes fall short for the most 
vulnerable members of our campus 
community. For me, the Michigan of 
the future has a campus community 
where visible and invisible identities 
… do not predict the quality nor the 
potential of each student’s Michigan 
experience.”
Public comments
During the public comments 
portion of the Board of Regents 
meeting on Thursday, 15 students 
and community members addressed 
the board and University of Michigan 
administration. 
They 
discussed 
carbon 
neutrality, 
the 
felony 
disclosure policy and undocumented 
students.
Carbon Neutrality
The first speaker was U-M 
alum Jan Culbertson, leadership 
council chair of the Ann Arbor 2030 
District partnership. She discussed 
setting standards on University 
buildings as part of its goal to reach 
carbon neutrality. Culbertson said 
because the University is such a big 
institution, it has the opportunity 
to make a huge impact and asked 
the board to actively set standards 
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 
from University buildings.
LSA 
sophomore 
Hallie 
Fox, 
member of the Climate Action 
Movement, then asked University 
President Mark Schlissel and the 
Board of Regents to take stronger 
action and show the same level of 

commitment to achieving carbon 
neutrality as the students have. 
She noted while she and her fellow 
students are passionate about climate 
change, they need Schlissel’s help to 
achieve their goals.
“You say it’s not reasonable for us 
to divest from carbon-based energy 
sources,” Fox said. “If we’re lucky 
enough to spend millions of dollars 
renovating University office space, 
then we’re wealthy enough to invest 
in the urgent need for true carbon 
neutrality on campus. President 
Schlissel and the regents, I challenge 
you to take meaningful action like 
the rest of us. Time and time again, 
us students have been brave enough 
to take a stand… We’ve showed our 
commitment to carbon neutrality. So 
far, you showed us your commitment 
to taking small actions that aim to 
appease the masses.”
Rackham student Gordon Fitch 
also spoke about the University’s path 
to carbon neutrality. Fitch claimed 
when he signed up to speak at this 
meeting, he had hoped he would 
be congratulating Schlissel and 
the regents on their excellent work 
setting an achievable goal to reduce 
emissions. Instead, Fitch discussed 
his disappointment in the University 
for its treatment of student protesters 
during the Climate Strike on March 
15.
“You decided it was preferable to 
arrest peaceful protesters, including 
minors, rather than simply agreeing 
to an open meeting,” Fitch said. “Since 
then, we have heard from those high 
school student organizers that they 
are no longer interested in attending 
the University of Michigan, so long 
as it continues to refuse substantive 
action on climate change. These are 
some of the brightest, most dynamic 
young people in Ann Arbor — if any 
of the 15- to 18-year-olds out there fit 
the description of leaders and best, 
it’s them.”
Fitch said he hopes the University 
will begin creating more substantive 
policies on carbon neutrality going 
forward.
“It would be a shame — and I 
really mean a shame — on you,” Fitch 
said. “If you continue to allow this 
issue to drive a wedge between this 
great university and the current, 
future and former students that are 
its lifeline, but I hope that you will 
reconsider your position to commit to 
neutrality before it’s too late.” 
Felony Disclosure Policy
Cozine Welch, a Prison Creative 
Arts Project member and a formerly 
incarcerated individual, discussed 
how he often feels like an outsider 
on campus and how this policy 
reinforces those feelings. He said he, 
as well as other formerly incarcerated 
people, provide an opportunity for 
the community to grow.
“I don’t see myself reflected on 
campus in race, in culture or socio-
economic status and circumstance,” 

Welch said. “But the University 
is lacking in the diversity a public 
university needs in order to be fully 
prepared to educate students and it’s 
this. These are not just my words — 
any students that have been fortunate 
enough to teach will tell you the 
same. Their parents will tell you, 
student evaluations will tell you, the 
formerly incarcerated are an asset 
to this university, this thing in this 
country at large, we are even without 
the advantage of equal opportunity 
or former education. Through self-
taught means and Herculean efforts 
in a system set to deny us, we acquire 
education, the only thing that cannot 
be taken.”
Welch 
said 
this 
policy 
disproportionately targets people 
of color and those of lower socio-
economic statuses. He then called on 
Schlissel and the board to rescind the 
policy.
LSA senior Hannah French, 
a PCAP member, said the felony 
disclosure policy does not follow 
through on its claims to promote 
campus safety. French discussed 
how she has learned a lot from 
the formerly incarcerated and she 
claimed the policy promotes mass 
incarceration and is harming the 
community rather than making it 
more secure.
“As a student, I am ashamed to 
be paying tuition that supports mass 
incarceration, especially when my 
best learning on the subject comes 
from interactions with people who 
have lived experience,” French said. 
“This policy is not preventative, it 
does not mitigate risk; its safety is 
really presumed and it is limited to a 
very specific population. This is not 
the only way that the University is 
further repressing and harming our 
communities. The University claims 
to uplift student voices, but it remains 
silent on issues which target and 
suppress them.”
Policy 
regarding 
undocumented students
Taubman 
freshman 
Juan 
Muñoz-Ponce is an undocumented 
student 
and 
member 
of 
the 
Student Community of Progressive 
Empowerment. He discussed the 
University’s 
policy 
that 
allows 
undocumented 
students 
to 
get 
in-state tuition. He claimed the policy 
has a requirement of applying within 
28 weeks of graduating high school, 
but he said many undocumented 
students live in poverty and often 
need more time.
Muñoz-Ponce and fellow SCOPE 
members asked Schlissel and the 
board to consider changing the policy 
to give students more time to apply. 
Muñoz-Ponce said he was not able to 
apply for in-state residency within 28 
months and his appeal was denied. 

“This elections season has 
been nothing short of electric 
- we thank the student body for 
their enthusiasm for our party, 
our ideas, and most importantly 
our candidates,” they wrote. 
“Tonight serves as a win not 
only for the executive ticket, 
but for our representatives, 

street team, and our entire core 
who all invested their time 
and energy into the campaign. 
Managing a full party and 
running a campaign is no easy 
task, and without the work of 
our team, it never could have 
happened.”
Argha 
ran 
independently 
under 
a 
three-pronged 
platform. 
He 
hoped 
to 
implement initiatives including 
“Ban the Bottle” to eliminate 

all plastic water bottle sales on 
campus, “Change the Cycle” to 
provide free feminine hygiene 
products in campus restrooms 
and “WTH is CSG?” to help 
increase awareness of CSG 
through hosting social events. 
His platform also included 
plans to tackle diversity, mental 
health, 
affordability 
and 
sustainability.
Students 
selected 
representatives 
for 
their 

respective colleges: 14 for LSA, 
six for Engineering, seven for 
Rackham, four for Business and 
one for each of the remaining 13 
colleges.
Also on the ballot was an 
amendment to add a CSG 
commission to select justices 
of the judiciary committee. The 
amendment passed with 1,759 
votes in favor. 
At the end of their statement, 
Gerstein 
and 
Blanchard 

emphasized their commitment 
to the student body. 
“We will work tirelessly 
on behalf of the students of 
this university, to make this 
university work for you, and to 
make each and every student 
feel that this is their home,” 
they wrote. “We can’t say that 
this will be an easy journey, or 
that we’ll never misstep, but at 
the end of the day, we will never 
stop working for you.”

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Friday, March 29, 2019 — 3

REGENTS
From Page 1

BORDER
From Page 1
ONE L A ST TIME

Redshirt junior wing Charles Matthews scored just 12 points on 3-for-9 shooting in a game widely-presumed to be his last at U-M before he turns pro this spring.

NATALIE STEPHENS/Daily

RESULTS
From Page 1

“I would hope that for those 
folks (who have a direct connection 
to this issue) that we’re doing this 
(exhibition) respectfully, that we’re 
raising awareness, and that with 
what we’re doing, for those folks we 
can memorialize those who have 
been lost,” De León said. “But we’re 
also doing this for the people who 
have never even thought about this 
issue, so we can emotionally connect 
with an audience, also, that has never 
thought about this issue previously.”
Though the first iterations of the 
exhibit featured tags filled out by the 
project’s team members, hundreds 
of University students were involved 
in filling out each tag’s information 
by hand in the days preceding the 
exhibit’s opening.
LSA senior Daniel López is one of 
the project’s team members and has 
worked as an undergraduate research 
assistant with De León for two years. 
Some of López’s responsibilities 
include photographing and videoing 
the installation of the exhibit, 
documenting 
its 
process 
and 
publicizing the project online and 
through social media.
He said De León’s approach 
to communicating the stories of 
undocumented immigrants through 
photography 
and 
multimedia 
distinguishes 
the 
project 
from 
written research.
“I think I have a personal 
connection to the project, just 
because 
I 
am 
undocumented 
myself,” López said. “He (De Léon) 
humanizes immigrants in a way that 
other researchers don’t — he talks 
about them, he provides a platform 
for them to have a voice, and I think 
that that’s what, like, drew me to 
work with him.”
One of the intentions of the exhibit 
is to raise awareness of the deaths 
and suffering that have been occurring 
along the Mexico and United States 
border for more than 20 years.
In the 1990s, the U.S. Border Patrol 
enacted a policy that redirected paths 
of migration between Mexico and 
the United States toward extremely 
dangerous terrains. The policy, titled 
“Prevention Through Deterrence,” 
entailed militarizing the traditional 
points of entry along the border. With 
these points of entry cut off, migrants 
had to to seek out paths in more 
remote areas, where it was hoped the 
dangers of the natural environment 
would discourage migrants from 
undertaking the journey.
“One of the understandings was 
early on was that if enough people died 
from this policy, that they would stop 
coming,” De León said. “But what has 
happened is that a lot of people have 
died, but they still have not stopped 
coming.”
This policy was put into place 
in 1994, which is the reason 94 
communities will host the exhibit in 
the future.
The 
Sonoran 
Desert, 
which 
blankets the area where Arizona, 
California and Mexico intersect, 
contains one of the hostile paths that 
migrants travel along when crossing 
the border. Thousands of people have 
died on this journey since 2000 due 
to dehydration, hyperthermia and 
other consequences of the natural 
environment.
“The implication of the full policy 
is knowingly putting people in harm’s 
way, (and) it knowingly leads to the 
death of a lot of people,” De León said. 
“And yet it’s still in place, and no one 
seems to want to keep talking about it.”
De León is the director of the 
Undocumented Migration Project, 
based at the University of Michigan, a 
“long-term anthropological analysis of 
clandestine border crossings” between 
Mexico and the United States. “Hostile 
Terrain” is a smaller project within the 
UMP.
The UMP uses “a combination 
of ethnographic and archaeological 
approaches” to study the process and 
experience of these border crossings. 
De León’s research focuses on the 
material culture of border crossings, 
which refers to the material items 
such as clothing and water bottles 
that migrants leave behind on their 
journeys.
López said he thinks the exhibit 
will 
encourage 
viewers 
at 
the 
University to think about the realities 
of undocumented migration outside of 
popular contexts.
“I feel like we don’t humanize 
people, you know,” López said. “We 
just talk, like, about policy and stuff 
like that, but what about the people 
who are suffering, what about the 
people who are dying, for example?”
LSA senior Moncerrat Llamas 
first heard about the exhibit through 
friends on social media who are 
involved with the project. 

Read more online at 

michigandaily.com

Read more online at 
michigandaily.com

