In the fall of 2013, the Black 
Student Union e-board sat in a 
room in Palmer Commons to 
discuss the possibility of a new 
hashtag. They hoped the hashtag, 
#BBUM — or, Being Black at the 
University of Michigan — would 
create an opportunity for Black 
students at the University to share 
their experiences on campus. Little 
did the e-board know, the hashtag 
would lead to a movement that six 
years later resulted in the relocation 
of the Trotter Multicultural Center.
#BBUM went viral and gained 
traction from national media. 
Following the tradition of past 
Black 
activist 
movements 
on 

campus, the e-board created a list 
of demands and announced them 
at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day 
rally in 2014. Their seven demands 
included requests for increased 
representation and affordability on 
campus.
The third demand on the list was 
to move the Trotter Center, once a 
15-minute walk from the Diag, to 
Central Campus. This demand 
was the only one administrators 
agreed to meet in its entirety at 
the time, though they have since 
met the sixth demand of increased 
exposure to documents in the 
Bentley Historical Library.
This Thursday, after six years, 
the new Trotter Multicultural 
Center will open its new location on 
State Street, a 20,000-square-foot 
facility across from the Diag. The 

space will include lounges, quiet 
study and student organization 
space, reflection rooms and a 
multipurpose room that can fit up 
to 300 people.
According to an article in the 
University Record from 2016, the 
funding for the new $10 million 
Trotter Multicultural Center came 
entirely from investment proceeds 
and gifts.
In an email sent to The Daily, 
Julio Cardona, director of the 
Trotter Center, said the opening 
of 
the 
new 
Trotter 
Center 
marks a historic moment for 
multiculturalism and inclusion on 
campus.
“This is a historic time for the 
Trotter 
Multicultural 
Center,” 
Cardona wrote. “The new location 
of the building on State Street 

is an important indicator of the 
commitment of the University 
to increase accessibility to the 
center. As a supportive home and 
environment committed to social 
justice and diversity, the Trotter 
Multicultural Center will continue 
to serve as a space that promotes an 
inclusive campus climate.”
According to a timeline on the 
Trotter Center website, various 
discussions were held between 
student groups as well as Trotter 
Center officials to get input on 
the planning process for the new 
building, including town halls and 
several meetings with groups such 
as the Black Student Union, Multi-
Ethnic Student Affairs and more.

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tuesday, April 9, 2019

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michigandaily.com

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@michigandaily

Mark 
Conger, 
a 
lecturer 
in 
the 
LSA 
Comprehensive 
Studies Program, received the 
Golden Apple Award and gave a 
lecture on Monday in Rackham 
Auditorium. His lecture, titled 
“The Local, the Global, and the 
Nature of Infinity,” discussed 
the relationship between the 

number infinity and his personal 
life.
The Golden Apple Award 
is a student-selected award 
given to professors on campus 
to 
recognize 
those 
who 
demonstrate 
exceptional 
teaching 
abilities. 
More 
nominations 
were 
received 
this year than ever before, with 
close 
to 
1,000 
submissions, 
making it the most competitive 

yet. 
Students 
nominate 
professors 
using 
a 
Google 
form 
circulated 
throughout 
campus groups by the event 
coordinators. Education junior 
Kyle Riebock, president of the 
Golden Apple Committee, said 
Conger received many heartfelt 
nominations. 
“Not only did Mr. Conger have 
the quantity (of nominations), 
but he also really did have the 

quality, which is something 
that is not as common with 
the nominations that we see,” 
Riebock said. “I would say almost 
90 percent of his nominations 
had paragraphs about why he’s 
such an amazing teacher, and so 
it was a no-brainer at that point 
that he deserves the award.”

Following a Jan. 2 drunken 
driving arrest in Novi, Mich., 
Ann Arbor City Councilmember 
Zachary Ackerman, D-Ward 3, 
was sentenced in February to a 
year of probation and five days 
of community service. Despite 
the January arrest, Ackerman 
did not disclose his arrest to 
City Council and the public 
until he released a statement to 
the council on April 1.
After being found with a 
blood-alcohol level of 0.20 
percent, 
Ackerman 
was 
originally 
charged 
under 
Michigan’s 
“Super 
Drunk 
Law,” for which drivers with 
a 
BAC 
over 
0.17 
percent 
face extended punishments, 
even for a first time offense. 
However, after pleading no 
contest 
and 
accepting 
the 
sentence 
in 
late 
January, 
Ackerman’s 
charge 
was 
reduced to a year’s probation.

SMTD to add 
transparent 
doors amid 
misconduct
Dean announces all rooms will include clear 
panels after professor sexual assualt allegation

Rackham 
student 
David 
Helps, 
a 
member 
of 
the 
Graduate 
Employees’ 
Organization, is heading up a 
working group in collaboration 
with 
other 
student 
organizations on campus on the 
new felony disclosure policy. 
The policy, which requires the 
immediate disclosure of all 
felony charges and convictions 
for all University of Michigan 
employees, does not apply to 
those protected by a union. 
Even though the policy does 
not apply to union members, 
Helps said he has other roles 
at the University that are 
impacted by the policy and 
GEO has an obligation to 
advocate for the entire student 
body.
“I have other capacities at 
the University, including as 
a research assistant, that are 
impacted by this,” Helps said. 

GEO voices 
concern for 
new felony 
policy at ‘U’

ADMINISTRATION

The union, students orgs 
explain the pratice could 
target minorities on campus

Mark Conger wins Golden Apple Award, 
discusses nature of infinity in life

Professor gives lecture on mathematics and his personal life after winning teaching prize

Ackerman 
admits to 
receiving 
DUI in Jan.

ANN ARBOR

In an email to staff and 
faculty in the School of Music, 
Theatre & Dance sent out on 
Feb. 14 by SMTD dean David 
Gier, the school announced it 
will be replacing all faculty, staff, 
practice room and instrument 
storage 
doors 
to 
include 
transparent panels. The change 
has not been announced publicly, 
but according to the email it is 
due to a “heightened climate … 
surrounding sexual misconduct 
prevention.”
Gier’s email explained the 
specifications of the doors, which 
will be installed over the summer.
They will be “...consistent in 
size, 
completely 
transparent, 
wide enough to support broad 
room visibility, and low enough 
to support wheelchair height 
visibility.” 
Gier explained they come after 
“a review of our buildings … in 
partnership with the Office of 
the Provost,” Dean Gier wrote. 
“We have come together unified 
in the opinion that in order 
to foster a community ethos 
around occupant safety and the 
prevention of sexual misconduct, 
we must alter our physical 
spaces.”
These 
changes 
come 
on 
the heels of the publication of 
multiple 
sexual 
misconduct 
allegations against former SMTD 
professor Stephen Shipps and 

professor David Daniels. In both 
instances, further investigation 
into the situation has brought 
administrative 
responses 
to 
these allegations into question. 
In the case of Daniels, SMTD 
awarded Daniels’s tenure in 
May 2018 despite being made 
aware of misconduct allegations 
against him as early as March 
2018. In the case of Shipps, an 
email regarding an allegation 
of “statutory rape” to the then-
interim dean of SMTD went 
unanswered for more than a year.
In an email to The Daily, Mark 
Clague, SMTD associate dean 
for academic and student affairs, 
spoke of the administration’s 
response to heightened concerns 
around sexual misconduct.
“We believe the update to 
SMTD studio and office doors 
increases transparency within 
the SMTD community both 
literally 
and 
symbolically,” 
Clague 
wrote. 
“Literally 
it 
makes the activities in what 
have historically been limited-
view 
or 
unviewable 
spaces 
more public. Symbolically it 
sends an important message 
to our community and beyond 
that 
everyone 
deserves 
an 
environment that is safe and 
in which they can comfortably 
and 
confidently 
accomplish 
the artistic work that is our 
educational mission.”

See SMTD , Page 3

See GEO, Page 3
CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily
Professor Mark Conger presents a lecture titled “The Local, the Global, and the Nature of Infinity” after receiving the Golden Apple Award in recognition of his out-
standing commitment to his students at Rackham Auditorium Monday.

New Multicultural Center location 
inspired by Black activism on campus

After six years, the new Trotter building will open Thursday on State St. 

SAMMY SUSSMAN
Daily Staff Reporter

Councilmember given 
lesser punishment after 
0.2 blood alcohol content

See TROTTER, Page 3

BEN ROSENFELD
Daily Staff Reporter 

LANE KIZZIAH/Daily

 ZAYNA SYED & 
ATTICUS RAASCH
Daily Staff Reporters

JULIA JOHNSTON
Daily Staff Reporter

See DUI, Page 3

EMMA STEIN
Daily Staff Reporter

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com