The second Democratic 
presidential debate will be 
hosted in Detroit on July 
30 and 31. The Democratic 
National 
Convention 
approved 12 debates, which 
will start in June 2019.
The 
DNC 
told 
the 
Detroit 
Free 
Press 
the 
primary 
debate 
will 
host 
approximately 
20 
candidates including Bernie 
Sanders, 
Kamala 
Harris, 
Beto O’Rourke, Cory Booker, 
Kirsten 
Gillibrand 
and 
Elizabeth Warren. 
DNC 
Chairman 
Tom 
Perez told the Detroit Free 
Press the debate is being 
held in Detroit because of 

the character of the city.
“Detroit 
embodies 
the 
values and character of the 
Democratic 
Party,” 
said 
Perez. “It’s a city of grit and 
determination, a city that 
has gotten knocked down, 
only to get back up stronger 
… Detroit is the perfect 
place for our party’s second 
debate.”

Camille 
Mancuso, 

LSA 
sophomore 
and 
communications director for 
the University of 
Michigan’s 
chapter 
of 
College 
Democrats, 
said 
the debate in Detroit is a 
reflection of the state of 
Michigan’s important role in 
the upcoming election.

In the first meeting of 
the 
Ninth 
Assembly, 
the 
University 
of 
Michigan 
Central Student Government 
elected 
15 
members 
to 
different positions on the new 
assembly. CSG President Ben 
Gerstein, LSA sophomore, and 
CSG Vice President Isabelle 
Blanchard, LSA junior, were 
officially sworn into their 
positions and gave their first 
executive communications of 
the semester.
The meeting began with 
Gerstein, Blanchard and new 
members of the Assembly 

taking the Oath of Office. 
In the March 27 to 28 CSG 
election, 
Gerstein 
and 
Blanchard 
won 
executive 
seats as president and vice 
president, respectively. Both 
Gerstein and Blanchard ran 
with the Engage Michigan 
Party, which also elected 
31 
individuals 
to 
CSG 
representative positions.
The Assembly then settled 
a 
tie 
between 
Education 
junior Cameron Keuning and 
Education junior Isra Elshafei 
for the School of Education 
representative, 
ultimately 
choosing Elshafei by a secret 
ballot vote. Both candidates 
had the opportunity to speak 

to the Assembly for two 
minutes about why they chose 
to run as a representative.
Keuning said he decided to 
run after discovering no one 
was running for the position.
“I want to do this because 
I want to serve the other 
(School 
of 
Education) 
students 
because, 
like 
myself, they wouldn’t have 
gotten represented in this 
body,” Keuning said. “I like 
to hold high the democratic 
values that Central Student 
Government 
also 
holds 
up (and) to represent my 
fellow students and to serve 
them, just as you do to your 
classmates.”

Elshafei, who was unable 
to 
attend 
the 
meeting, 
wrote 
in 
a 
statement 
to 
the Assembly she believes 
the 
School 
of 
Education 
is 
underrepresented 
on 
campus and would love the 
opportunity to represent the 
school through CSG.
“I 
am 
an 
Afro-Arab 
American 
who 
was 
born 
and raised in Ann Arbor to 
immigrant parents, so I was 
raised to be a Wolverine,” Elshafei 
wrote. “Truthfully, it was a little 
disheartening to see that there 
were not any candidates running 
for the position for the School’s 
assembly representative. 

University of Michigan alum 
Lori Lightfoot won Chicago’s 
mayoral race Tuesday night, 
making her the first Black 
woman to be elected to the 
position. 
With 
Lightfoot’s 
victory, Chicago is now on track 
to become the largest U.S. city 
with an openly gay mayor.
Lightfoot, a former federal 
prosecutor, 
beat 
out 
Toni 
Preckwinkle, 
Cook 
County 
Board president, in a landslide 
victory. The two emerged from 
a field of a dozen candidates to 
compete in Tuesday’s runoff 
election.
Lightfoot, who has never 
held elected office, said she 
looked forward to taking on 
the role, noting Preckwinkle’s 
efforts to portray her as a 
political novice.
“I feel very humbled and 
honored,” Lightfoot said. “I’m 
going to do everything I can to 
earn it. We were hoping, based 
on our polling, that we would do 
really well. But, this is amazing. 
More than I ever dreamed of.”

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, April 3, 2019

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Democratic
debate to be
held in Detroit
this summer 

Ann Arbor-based hate group sues 
AG, state civil rights department

See DEBATE, Page 3A

GOVERNMENT

Presidential hopefuls to make case before 
Michigan audience prior to primaries

Advocacy group flags American Freedom Law Center for promoting anti-Muslim views

BEN ROSENFELD
Daily Staff Reporter

See MAYOR, Page 3A

U-M alum 
will serve as 
next mayor 
of Chicago

GOVERNMENT

Lori Lightfoot to be first 
Black woman to occupy 
city’s highest elected office

SAYALI AMIN & 
LEAH GRAHAM
Daily News Editors

MICHAEL BAGAZINSKI/ DAILY
LSA sophomore Benjamin Gerstein is sworn in as the new CSG President at the Michigan League Tuesday evening. 

Ninth Assembly gathers for first CSG 
meeting, nominates committee chairs

Gerstein and Blanchard, CSG President and Vice President, give first communications

BARBARA COLLINS
Daily Staff Reporter

See LAWSUIT, Page 3A

In November 2018, about 
4,300 
people 
from 
the 
Washtenaw 
County 
area 
applied for 600 spots on 
the Ann Arbor Housing 
Commission’s 
limited 
housing 
choice 
voucher 
waitlist, 
according 
to 
an MLive report. Before 
November, 
when 
the 
waitlist was available for 
five 
days, 
the 
voucher 
waitlist had not been open 
since 2012.
The 
high 
demand 
for 
vouchers 
reflects 
Ann 
Arbor’s 
rising 
housing 
prices and the increasing 
desire 
for 
affordable 
housing solutions. A report 
from the U.S. Department 
of 
Housing 
and 
Urban 
Development found home 
sales in the city increased 
by 4 percent from January 
to December of 2015, with 
an average home sale price 
of $235,200. Currently, the 
median home value in the 
state of Michigan is around 
$150,000.
See VOUCHERS, Page 3A

Over 4,000 
A2 residents
sign up for 
housing list

ANN ARBOR

In search of affordable 
living, applicants vie for 
government vouchers

LIAT WEINSTEIN
Daily Staff Reporter

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

INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 97
©2019 The Michigan Daily

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

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

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

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

CL A S S I F I E DS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

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

For more stories and coverage, visit
Follow The Daily 
on Instagram, 
@michigandaily

See CSG, Page 3A

In March, the Southern 
Poverty Law Center’s released 
its annual Hate Group Report. 
Each year, the nonprofit civil 
rights organization releases 
a report on groups engaging 
in incisive or hateful political 
activity in the United States. 
This year, 31 Michigan-based 

organizations were identified 
for white supremacist, anti-
Muslim, anti-LGBT or general 
hate activity, including one 
group from Ann Arbor — 
the American Freedom Law 
Center. 
The AFLC, a conservative 
law firm, was listed for its 
anti-Muslim 
stance, 
along 
with 
groups 
such 
as 
the 
Sharia Crime Stoppers and the 

Southeast Michigan Tea Party. 
Ann Arbor lawyer Robert 
Muise, the co-founder and 
senior counsel for the AFLC, 
identifies 
as 
a 
“devout 
Catholic,” and his colleague and 
co-founder, David Yerushalmi, 
practices Orthodox Judaism. 
The two attorneys collectively 
founded 
the 
AFLC 
in 
January of 2012 after several 
years 
of 
collaborating 
on 

Constitutional 
law 
cases 
regarding issues such as free 
speech and abortion.
Following its foundation, the 
AFLC gained negative media 
attention as early as 2013 for 
representing 
conservative, 
anti-immigrant 
organizations 
such as the American Freedom 
Defense Initiative. 

statement

the
Repaint the wall, Annie Hall

CALLIE TEITELBAUM
Daily Staff Reporter
Simulation trains participants to 
confront effects of social privilege

DESIGN BY WILLA HUA

