Bryan identified the need for 
accessible food for students, 
especially because a full-service 
grocery store is not located 
on the University’s campus. 
Bryan 
explained 
that 
the 
Food Sustainability Program 
teamed up with organizations 
like the Office of Student Life, 
Wolverine Wellness, the Office 
of Financial Aid and CAPS to 
form a task force and determine 
the need behind this initiative.
“There is need here, there are 
students that are going hungry, 
there are students that are 
surviving on ramen at best, that 
aren’t getting the full nutrition 
that they need,” Bryan said. 

“We put together a working 
group … to make sure that we 
got everyone on the same page 
that we identified, ‘Yes, there’s 
a need.’”
Now that Student Life has 
taken on this project and 
worked to curate a permanent 
location 
on 
campus, 
the 
students behind Maize & Blue 
Cupboard 
are 
working 
to 
establish a new organization, 
temporarily 
named 
“MBCB 
Consulting,” 
that 
ensures 
students are still a part of the 
process. 
Business sophomore Spencer 
Baxter joined Maize & Blue 
Cupboard in 2018 and served 
as vice president of operations 
this past fall. He was recently 
elected co-president. Baxter 
explained Student Life’s role 
in taking over the student 

organization left the current 
students to determine their 
next 
steps 
on 
their 
own, 
which will include smaller 
projects focusing on increasing 
engagement and limiting food 
waste within the new facility. 
Instead of student volunteers, 
Student Life will be hiring full-
time employees to oversee the 
organization
“That kind of defeats our 
purpose because we were sort 
of a less committal organization 
… there are some people that 
would want to volunteer but not 
volunteer if someone is getting 
paid next to them,” Baxter 
said. “We want (to create) a 
part-time paid staff position to 
incentivize people to come.”
Food insecurity has been 
a widely discussed topic on 
campus in recent years, noting 

the lack of food resources 
available on and near campus. 
According to a study from 
2016, 41.4 percent of Michigan 
students had low to very low 
food security. Campus groups 
like Maize & Blue Cupboard 
and Student Food Co. have 
been working to combat the 
issue 
for 
years, 
garnering 
support from Central Student 
Government and other student 
organizations.
CSG has implemented an 
Emergency Meal Fund program 
for 
students, 
which 
offers 
meal swipes to food-insecure 
students while they explore 
further options with the Dean 
of Students Office. Additionally, 
former CSG President Daniel 
Greene, a Public Policy senior, 
signed an executive order to 
establish the Food Insecurity 

and Campus Affordability Task 
Force, which went into effect 
this past fall.
LSA 
sophomore 
Ben 
Gerstein, 
incoming 
Central 
Student Government president, 
also 
noted 
past 
initiatives 
through CSG to help combat 
food insecurity for students and 
explained that the incoming 
assembly will work to prioritize 
this issue for the next school 
year.
“I 
think 
it’s 
a 
great 
development for the student 
body here, and it’s going to be 
a consistent strong resource 
for students,” Gerstein said. 
“In Ann Arbor and on campus, 
food is extremely expensive, 
and being able to have that 
in a pretty good location for 
students to access whenever 
they need … is really important.”

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Friday, April 5, 2019 — 3

CUPBOARD
From Page 1

INSECTS
From Page 1
PREMIE RE OF “THE NOTE BOOK S” BY DA VINCI

The Chamber Choir and Imani Winds group conducted by Eugene Rogers performs the chamber setting premiere of The Notebooks by Leonardo Da Vinci, composed by Jocelyn 
Hagen, in the University of Michigan Museum of Art Thursday evening. 

DANYEL THARAKAN/Daily

Hilary Gustafson said she was 
excited to see Literati’s name on 
the nominations list among so 
many bookstores that are “doing 
innovative things in the industry.” 
She attributed the win to the 
bookstore’s staff over all other 
factors.
“Their 
expertise 
and 
commitment to the written word 
and love for books has really made 
our business what it is today,” 
Hilary Gustafson said.
Gina Balibrera Amyx, creative 
programs and floor manager at 
Literati, also emphasized Literati’s 
booksellers as a major factor in the 
bookstore’s success. Some of these 
employees previously worked at 
Borders, which was previously the 
main bookstore in downtown Ann 

Arbor before it closed in 2011.
“We have people who spent 
decades working at Borders … and 
we have a lot of poets and fiction 
writers on staff from the U-M 
Helen Zell writing program — so 
MFA students and graduates of 
that program — so people who are 
deeply immersed in that world and 
so they bring a lot of passion to the 
business as well,” Balibrera said.
Literati’s staff has grown from 
seven booksellers to 27 in the 
six years it has been in business. 
According to Hilary Gustafson, 
booksellers 
stock 
the 
shelves 
according 
to 
what 
they 
see 
customers looking for on a daily 
basis.
Hilary Gustafson also cited 
Literati’s social media presence and 
community engagement as factors 
that have led to its success in its 
short time in business.
“We do pride ourselves on being 

community focused in events and 
book clubs,” Hilary Gustafson said. 
“We have over 150 events a year, 
both in store and off site, and most 
of them are free and open to the 
public.”
One of Literati’s most well-
known 
factors 
is 
the 
public 
typewriter in its basement on which 
visitors are free to leave notes. 
Hilary Gustafson said her husband 
and co-owner, Michael Gustafson, 
reads through the notes left on the 
typewriter every day.
“The 
public 
typewriter 
really invites the community to 
participate,” Hilary Gustafson said. 
“A lot of good writing comes out of 
it.” 
Michael Gustafson published 
a collection of notes left on the 
typewriter last year with co-editor 
Oliver Uberti.
Those 
who 
frequent 
the 
bookstore were not surprised that 

the store was awarded Bookstore of 
the Year.
The coffee shop on the top floor 
of Literati attracts students as a 
place to study or write. According 
to 
Hilary 
Gustafson, 
many 
MFA students use it as a space 
to write. The Gustafsons invite 
visiting authors to leave notes of 
encouragement to such writers on 
the “author wall,” which is crowded 
with their writing.
The cafe does not only attract 
English graduate students. Many 
undergraduates use the space to 
work as well.
LSA freshman Julia Kravchenko 
said she and a group of friends spend 
about three to four hours working 
in the coffee shop at Literati every 
Thursday.
“Literati is special because it’s 
very quaint,” Kravchenko said. “It 
has a phenomenal atmosphere that’s 
the textbook definition of a coffee 

shop you would see in a movie or 
read about in a book, plus the music 
is always different each time we go 
depending on who’s working.”
Kravchenko said she thinks the 
Bookstore of the Year award was 
well deserved.
“From what I’ve browsed in 
their bookstore, it has a really wide 
variation of genres and books for a 
small store,” Kravchenko said. “I 
once found a Frankenstein Pride 
and Prejudice crossover work and I 
sort of lost it because I didn’t think 
that existed.”
University alum Sierra Bain said 
she spent a lot of time at Literati 
while earning her undergraduate 
degree.
“I feel like it’s a no brainer that it 
was named Bookstore of the Year,” 
Bain said. “I like the coffee shop 
upstairs, and I like the light in the 
space and how it overlooks our little 
town.”

Jones submitted a comment 
card to MDining explaining the 
second incident.
She expressed her displeasure 
with the encounters and suggested 
MDining work more carefully to 
maintain the quality control of 
their products.
“I’m assuming it’s because they 
mass-produce 
everything, 
but 
that’s still gross,” she said. “They 
could still, like, quality control it.”
Rachel Christensen, food and 
occupational safety manager for 
MDining, explained in an email 
to The Daily that these types of 
incidents most often happen with 
products that grow out of the 
ground.
“Where a product grows in the 
ground, for instance, can increase 
the likelihood of exposure to dirts, 
bugs, rocks and other undesirable 
objects,” she wrote. “We never 
want to serve a product that 
contains foreign objects.”
LSA freshman Nora Sharba 
described an incident just this 
past February in which her friend 
found a cricket in their salad at 
South Quad Dining Hall.
“I came back from the bathroom 
and all my friends were standing 
around our table at South Quad 
freaking out, so I got over there and 
at first I couldn’t see it because it 
blended in with the salad,” Sharba 
said. “I didn’t know what the big 
deal was, but then I saw the cricket 
in there and my jaw dropped.”
Sharba said the discovery has 
prevented her from eating salad at 
the dining halls since.
“I wasn’t completely surprised 
because dining hall food can be 
made pretty carelessly when you’re 
trying to feed so many people in a 
short amount of time,” she said. “I 
definitely lost my appetite though 
and didn’t eat in the dining hall for 
a few days — I haven’t had a salad 
ever since.” 
She was disappointed with 
the apparent lack of care from 
MDining in maintaining quality 
assurance over their ingredients.
“I 
think 
that 
the 
lettuce 
ingredients should be washed 
more carefully because anyone 
who was paying attention would 
have noticed something like that, 
and it’s pretty unsettling to find 
bugs in your food,” Sharba said.
Soster said MDining was not 
aware of these recent incidents, 
and has continued to increase the 
frequency with which they train 
their staff on inspecting their 
products.
“It’s 
unfortunate 
that 
the 
student 
didn’t 
feel 
it 
was 
appropriate to ask for a manager 
because we want to take care of 
stuff on the spot,” he said. “What 
I’d like to communicate is: If 
there’s an issue, let us know right 
then and there.”
He emphasized students are 
highly encouraged to approach 
MDining with the issue so it can 
be handled appropriately.
“When you approach me in a 
dining hall and go, ‘Here’s what I 
found,’ I can go right back to the 
kitchen and go, ‘Where did this 
come from?’ and then contact the 
vendor,” he said. “The emphasis 
I’m placing here is we want to fix 
it. We’ll fix it right on the spot. 
It’s frustrating, it’s unfortunate 
and we just want the community 
to know that we keep the highest 
standards, and we don’t want that 
to happen either.”
MDining Marketing Manager 
Kelly Guralewski also highlighted 
MDining’s readiness to resolve 
such issues.
“Even 
if 
a 
student 
isn’t 
comfortable 
or 
a 
guest 
isn’t 
comfortable with going to a 
manager, they can write on the 
comment card, email us, send us a 
message on social media,” she said. 
“At the end of the day if they do 
post it for their friends to see, then 
we’re still going to comment and 
try to make it right.”
Soster 
explained 
when 
situations like these happen, it is 
best to report them immediately 
so MDining can then contact 
the correct vendor who supplied 
the product and resolve the 
issue. Christensen echoed this in 
MDining’s statement.
“Our first line of defense, and 
what is critical to our quality 
control, is that we only purchase 
food from approved, reputable 
suppliers,” she wrote. “Any incident 
of this nature is immediately 
reported to the vendor to ensure 
they are held accountable. This 
ensures our vendors are aware 
of an issue, so they can review 
their food production process and 
adjust if needed to increase safety 
precautions.” 

The administration also focused 
efforts 
on 
preventing 
sexual 
misconduct on campus through 
initiatives 
like 
the 
Survivor 
Empowerment Fund and events 
like “Empowering Survivors: A 
Forum on Sexual Misconduct 
Policy.”
The Survivor Empowerment 
Fund provides finances to groups 
on campus striving to educate the 
University of Michigan on sexual 
assault prevention and aiming to 
empower survivors. These funds 
are allocated toward costs for 
bringing guest speakers and general 
programming.
The two-hour forum comprised 
of professional presentations on 
issues related to sexual misconduct, 
such as the Sixth Circuit Court 
Ruling and the proposed Title 

IX policy. Prior to the event, CSG 
worked with other departments to 
spread knowledge on how to write 
comments and notify the necessary 
parties as a result of sexual 
misconduct.
The executive team further 
worked on bettering inclusivity 
and equity on campus, specifically 
through 
the 
announcement 
of the Narratives, Equity and 
Transformation Plan.
“The program, led by CSG 
executive diversity officer Lloyd 
Lyons, aims to provide student 
organizations 
with 
a 
clear, 
individualized overview of key 
areas of improvement as well as a 
toolkit to help those organizations 
achieve their full potential,” a CSG 
information release stated.
Former CSG President Daniel 
Greene, a Public Policy senior, 
spoke about how valuable he 
believes the NET plan is for all 
students and organizations on 

campus.
“The first thing many students 
do on this campus to make this 
big campus small is join a student 
organization, and until we can 
improve the inclusivity of the 
culture mentality behind student 
organizations … we’re not actually 
going to see the improvements on 
the DEI front,” Greene said.
In regards to housing, the 
executive team introduced the 
Housing Management Guide last 
semester — now the most visited 
page on the CSG website according 
to Greene — which provides 
students with specific information 
to assist them in finding the best 
housing options to fit their needs 
off-campus.
LSA junior Isabel Baer, the 
former 
CSG 
vice 
president, 
believes one of the largest impacts 
they had on campus was through 
the Big Ten Voting Challenge. CSG 
pursued social media campaigns, 

made 
two 
public 
service 
announcement videos on voting 
and contributed to the Buses to 
Ballots initiative to help students 
get to and from polling stations. 
In 2018, voter turnout at the polls 
in the University campus precincts 
tripled in comparison to the 2014 
voter turnout. 
“I think (the turnout rate) 
proves that it’s not that students 
don’t want to vote and are actively 
not, it’s more a feeling of not 
knowing where to go or not caring, 
especially with the midterms,” 
Baer said. “I think that was really 
important moving into a general 
election that’s happening and the 
first time Michigan is considered 
a purple state officially, so … I 
hope students can continue and 
obviously will continue as well to 
do that promoting.”
In 
addition 
to 
the 
larger 
initiatives 
the 
administration 
pursued, former Communications 

Director Lydia Barry, an LSA 
senior, 
believes 
the 
smaller 
initiatives they accomplished are 
just as important, specifically ones 
in which CSG had one-on-one 
interactions with students, such as 
the recent Division of Public Safety 
and Security event registering 
students for emergency alerts.
“I think every time a student 
interacts with us in that way or we 
just want a suggestion from them 
or just want to give them breakfast 
during finals or something, I 
think that leaves a really positive 
impression with them,” Barry said. 
“I’ve seen students who you know, 
come to get a snack or something, 
but then they end up saying ‘I 
have this idea’ … So I think CSG 
being that middleman is really 
important.”

CSG
From Page 1

Read more online at 

michigandaily.com

In an interview with The 
Daily after the event, College 
Democrats Chair Ruby Schneider, 
an LSA junior, discussed the 
importance of creating a space for 
the LGBTQ+ community to share 

their experiences.
“It’s really important to provide 
a space for queer folks on campus 
to be able to share out, hear from 
others and be comfortable with 
the identities and where they’re 
at in their coming-out process,” 
Schneider said.
Grogan expressed she was 
pleased 
with 
the 
audience 
participation and story diversity.

“I was very pleased with the 
participation of people in the 
audience,” Grogan said. “We 
weren’t sure people would be 
willing to put themselves in 
this really vulnerable position, 
but people were willing and 
able. And I think we had a lot of 
diversity of voices, in experience 
and background, which is really 
important when talking about 

coming out since there is not one 
coming-out experience.”
LSA 
senior 
Kallie 
Bernas, 
former co-chair of Stonewall 
Democrats, 
expressed 
she 
is 
happy to see how the event has 
grown since the first time it was 
hosted.
“It’s really interested to see 
how things have grown over 
time,” Bernas said. “We were 

pulling teeth at the first one, and 
people were a little bit timid … 
Hearing one person talking about 
how the first event inspired him 
to come out was really powerful. 
And it just felt like the atmosphere 
in that room was like family, 
everyone could relate to bits and 
pieces of the story, so I felt really 
strengthened and really proud to 
be a member of this community.”

LITERATI
From Page 1

SPEAKOUT
From Page 1

