“This year we really wanted
to build up the festival,” Singh
said. “So really focusing on
what
different
sections
we
want, so arts and music, live
service, sustainability and so on
… . We really wanted to focus on
bringing out more interactive
organizations — we want this
to be more about showcasing
what exactly your org has to
offer to the University and what
community value you bring to
campus.”
Singh also said the group
invited Ann Arbor artisans to
showcase their businesses for
the first time this year.
“This year we really tried
to reach out to artisans — that
section of the festival is new,
we’ve never had that before,” she
said. “We tried to find smaller
sellers
and
student
sellers
that might want to come to
SpringFest.”
The artisan corner of the
festival featured familiar local
stores,
including
University
Flower Shop and The M Den, as
well as specialty boutiques for
soaps and art. Stacey Hansen,
owner and artist of Slow My
Flow Art boutique, said it was
meaningful to her that the
student organization worked to
include local businesses.
“They reached out going, ‘Hey,
we’re running this and it would
be a wonderful opportunity,’”
Hansen said. “It’s definitely good
for local businesses to be able
to get their name out there, and
you, the students — you guys are
the shopping future.”
SpringFest also showcased
student-run
businesses
like
Star Laces, created by LSA
sophomore Jordan Furr and
Business
sophomore
Julia
Reguera, which makes shoe laces
featuring gender pronouns.
Reguera
said
Star
Laces’
shoelaces are a fashionable way
to make a social statement.
“As a cis person, it’s a really
good way to show you’re an ally
and it can help bridge the gap
between not wanting to assume
someone’s
gender
expression
but also not wanting to target
someone by asking,” Reguera
said.
Furr elaborated further on the
original goal and inspiration for
the project.
“I wanted to make something
that was fashionable so not only
trans people want to be wearing
their
pronouns,”
Furr
said.
“These have a very street style
sort of energy and it’s just really
exciting because there’s a lot
of cis people who want to wear
them and are really interested in
them.”
The lines for trendy food
trucks
like
Shimmy
Shack,
Regina’s Food Truck and the
Detroit BBQ Company extended
down State Street.
Student
organizations
promoting
health,
wellness
and sustainable food practices
on
campus
also
attended
SpringFest, with representatives
from
groups
including
the
campus farm and Counseling
and Psychological Services.
Another of these organizations
was CAPS In Action, an group
for
students
committed
to
improving the holistic health
of the campus community. LSA
freshman Alyssa Moore, a CAPS
In Action volunteer, spoke on
self-appreciation.
“I really like these tabling
events because for mental health
outreach, it’s just really nice
to be able to see people on the
street and see how much they
enjoy spinning the wheel and
saying something good about
themselves.”
MUSIC
Matters’
invited
multiple local artists to perform
during
the
daytime
festival
before A$AP Ferg’s nighttime
concert. Ben Robertson, lead
singer for the band Leland Blue,
spoke about the experience of
performing at SpringFest for the
first time.
“It’s our second time playing
in Ann Arbor and I think this
time was a lot more fun because
it’s right downtown, really in the
heart of the city,” he said. “This
was cool because it was right
by the campus and I felt more
immersed in Ann Arbor as a
city.”
The rule was implemented
by the state of Michigan as
a result of the Flint water
crisis in order to establish
stricter lead in drinking water
protections. Given the issue,
the responsibility for fixing
the water main line falls on
the city of Ann Arbor. The
city would need to replace the
pipe entirely, but Esmael was
told their property would be
put on a waiting list. As of two
weeks ago, there were still
two houses before them on
the list that require the same
replacement.
According to Esmael and
Goldstein, the city employee
asked the residents of their
neighboring
property,
a
house managed by Carlson
Properties, if they paid for
their own utilities. If utilities
were paid for by the landlord,
then the landlord’s permission
would be required. However,
the
residents
confirmed
they paid for utilities and
the city employee received
verbal
permission
from
the
neighbors
to
connect
Goldstein’s house to their
water system. The parties
established an agreement that
Goldstein and her roommates
would pay for the water they
used.
For several days, Goldstein
said the issue seemed to be
resolved, at least until the city
could replace the pipe. Their
water worked until the Friday
before Spring Break. Esmael
then received a call from a man
who identified himself only as
a representative of Carlson
Properties. Esmael claims the
man berated him, accused him
of being a “water thief” and
screamed profanities at him.
Esmael told the man he could
check with the city about the
legality of the connection, but
the man hung up the call.
Allegedly,
the
representative from Carlson
Properties
unhooked
Goldstein’s house from his
property’s water system and
took the spigot with him,
leaving Goldstein and her
roommates
without
water
again.
“What he did was a gross
violation
of
our
rights,”
Goldstein said. “Water is a
human right. You can’t just
turn off somebody’s water —
it’s not okay.”
Nursing
senior
Olivia
Hamilton
resides
in
the
house next to Goldstein’s,
managed
by
Carlson
Properties. Hamilton claims
her landlord, Garret Carlson,
who
manages
Carlson
Properties, came to their
house to fix a maintenance
issue they were having when
he
saw
the
neighboring
property,
Goldstein’s
house, was connected to his
property’s
water
system.
According
to
Hamilton,
Carlson asked her roommate
if she knew the neighbors
were “stealing their water.”
Although
Hamilton’s
roommate assured Carlson
they had spoken with a city
employee,
Carlson
called
Esmael
from
Hamilton’s
roommate’s cell phone and
then told his tenant to block
Esmael’s phone number.
“He
basically
told
my
roommate
to
block
that
number,”
Hamilton
said.
“I was like, ‘That’s really
unacceptable.’
I
was
like,
‘Why did you even let him
use your phone?’ That’s really
sketchy.”
Esmael
said
a
landlord
has no right to interfere in
an agreement between two
tenants if the tenants pay
for their utilities and the
bill is in their names. While
Esmael did not verify that
the neighboring tenants pay
for their own utilities, they
verbally confirmed they do to
the city employee. Hamilton
confirmed to The Daily that
she and her roommates pay
for their own utilities, and
on the website for Carlson
Properties, there is a list of
rules and regulations that
directs all tenants to set up
their own utilities.
“He has no right to say
anything about the water,”
Esmael said.
According to Esmael, he
contacted
Paul
Matthews,
Ann Arbor assistant public
works manager, and told him
about the situation. Matthews
then
attempted
several
times
to
contact
Carlson
Properties to assure Carlson
the connection was legal, but
was not able to reach anyone.
Esmael said his encounter
with Carlson Properties was
especially frustrating because
instead of contacting him
and sorting the situation out,
Carlson Properties chose to
shut off Goldstein’s water
connection.
“This is a human rights
violation,”
Esmael
said.
“Water is the first necessity.
You can’t use your power, your
position or your influence
with whoever you are to cut
water on any human being.”
Carlson
Properties
and
Garret
Carlson
did
not
respond to multiple calls and
messages from The Daily.
Goldstein said she wanted
to
speak
up
about
this
experience because Carlson
Properties manages several
properties
in
Ann
Arbor.
Goldstein
said
seeing
the
way this company treated her
landlord made her concerned
for how they may be treating
their tenants.
“I think there’s a general
feeling on campus that Ann
Arbor landlords can kind of
drop the ball sometimes, and
this is a prime example of
landlords abusing their power
and walking over students
and
taking
advantage
of
students,” Goldstein said. “I
think it’s important that we
call out this bad behavior and
keep them accountable.”
Hamilton
said
she
and
her
roommates
have
had
numerous issues with the
property but claim Carlson
is not responsive to their
concerns.
According
to
Hamilton, their washer and
dryer have been broken for
seven
months.
Hamilton
claims Carlson was actually
at their property the day he
accused Esmael of stealing his
properties’ water to look at
the washer after they had to
“bug him” about the issue.
In
addition
to
other
issues that Carlson ignored,
Hamilton claims they also
had a wasp infestation in their
home, but Carlson would not
address it until she got stung
twice in her own bedroom.
“I just sent him several
messages — he won’t answer
his phone,” Hamilton said.
“And when he does come over,
he’s just not listening to what
you have to say. I don’t know
what I should do. I don’t know
if there’s someone I can tell, if
there’s a housing department
I can go to with issues. It’s
been frustrating.”
Goldstein said she feels like
there is no real system to hold
landlords
accountable.
On
the Ann Arbor city website,
there is a page with rental
housing
services,
which
includes
tenant
resources.
Through that page, Ann Arbor
renters can file a complaint
about a landlord and check
that a rental property has
been inspected by the city.
However, students may not
be aware of this resource.
Goldstein said she believes
young
people,
especially
students like her, should feel
comfortable speaking up for
themselves.
“We’re students, we’re here
to get an education,” Goldstein
said. “Yes, we’re young, but
it’s important we advocate for
ourselves,” Goldstein said.
Currently,
Goldstein’s
house is connected to the
water system of their other
neighbor’s property. Esmael
said
the
exchange
with
this other landlord was far
different than his interaction
with
Carlson
Properties.
He said this other landlord
volunteered to facilitate the
connection because Esmael
could not be present when
the city returned to hook
Goldstein’s
house
up
to
their other neighbor’s water
system.
Goldstein praised Esmael
for sticking up for her and
her
roommates.
Esmael
said he has children at the
University of Michigan and
as a landlord, and he tries to
treat his tenants as he hopes
other landlords would treat
his kids.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, April 17, 2019 — 3A
LANDLORD
From Page 1A
MUSIC
From Page 1A
FELLOWSHIP
From Page 1A
RESEARCH
From Page 1A
The second area we have done
well is change the culture in
research compliance. We have
a research safety committee
— that committee works with
faculty
and
students
across
campus, trying to improve the
culture around research safety.
We also strengthened an animal
care and use program … In 2016
and 2017, we went through a
transformation of the program
—
integration,
centralization
… Through the integration we
improved the centers of care,
improved the consistency in the
monitoring … Michigan now is
recognized as a university who
went through a transformation
and are achieving excellence
in animal care and use. So our
staff now get invited by other
universities
and
professional
societies to teach them how
to transform animal care and
use programs. So those are
just examples of what we do in
research.
I think a third area is
enhancing
innovation,
continuing to improve faculty
engagement in innovation and
entrepreneurship. I think our
technology transfer every year
we seem to do more, faculty
reports more innovation … We
spent a lot of effort by building
interdisciplinary
initiatives
for research. When you bring
multiple faculty from many
different units together, to bring
faculty from U-M Ann Arbor,
Dearborn, Flint together so we
spent a lot of effort cultivating
the collaboration.
TMD: What is something you
feel you have not quite completed
or seen come to fruition?
JH: We want to create an
innovation
hub
on
campus.
That is still a work in progress
— we’re just at the beginning.
Schools
and
colleges,
they
all
have
entrepreneurship
programs, they’re distributed.
It would be nice to have some
common space where we could
bring faculty startups, student
startups together and also maybe
have space for companies to
locate, whether research centers
or advanced offices. Some place
that is central but closely tied
with our academic operations.
That’s something we just started
discussing, but we’ll need a few
years to really have a finalized
plan.
TMD: Three decades is a
significant amount of time —
what made you stay here for so
long?
JH: I never had to pursue
any outside opportunities —
different
opportunities
just
came. I embraced those, tried
to do my best in each and every
leadership role, so I think
that’s why I have been here. I
mean the University and Ann
Arbor of course — both are
excellent. Outstanding academic
reputation, outstanding quality
of life, really can’t find too many
combinations of such, not many
universities that have such a
combination. I would say it’s the
quality of the faculty and the
quality of the students that is a
draw for outstanding faculty.
TMD: What are you most
looking forward to in your new
position at the University of
Georgia?
JH: The senior vice president
and provost has a very diverse
set of responsibilities, so the vice
president for research reports to
the provost, in addition of course
(to) education, faculty affairs,
public engagement and also IT
— information technology —
they all report to the provost.
In such a role, with such broad
responsibilities, (it) will allow
me to learn how a university
operates in a much more holistic
(sense) rather than just one area.
I will be able to leverage my
experience from Michigan — so
research, faculty affairs, budget,
space, graduate education — and
also strengthen my leadership
experience
in
undergraduate
education because the University
of
Georgia
does
have
an
outstanding
reputation
for
undergraduate education.
TMD:
Is
there
anything
else you want to add about the
University or your time here?
JH: When I was associate
dean for academic affairs in
engineering, I helped recruit
many
faculty
members
to
engineering, so now after 8 to 9
years, they’re all doing extremely
well,
(everyone)
sees
them
getting awards in the University,
in other professional societies —
that makes me very, very happy.
Even though I was just part of
the recruiting, I’m very proud of
the faculty the University has.
The best research is… always
at the leading edge, so you start
something and then other people
will follow and do the research.
That process will never end, if
you’re leading researchers at a
leading research university we
should be creating ideas and
pursuing research in those.
“I know a lot of people who
just simply don’t know what’s
possible or what they’re allowed
and what they deserve, and
that’s part of what we’re being
told from the media, from the
government,” Bazile said. “ ...
I think ‘opportunity’ is a very
loaded word — sometimes people
see it as, ‘Everybody should
pull themselves up from your
bootstraps, everybody should be
able to do it,’ and I think that’s very
harmful and very wrong because
some
people
have
legitimate
blockages to that.”
Paul and Daisy Soros, Jewish
immigrants
from
Hungary,
founded
the
fellowship
to
offer
other
immigrants
and
first-generation
Americans
opportunities to pursue higher
education.
Henry
Dyson,
director of the Office of National
Scholarships
and
Fellowships,
said the Soros family’s generosity
continues to embody the values of
the fellowship.
“They were part of a generation
of Jewish immigrants that came
to New York from Europe and
found a new home there and
were able to contribute vitally,”
Dyson said. “I think that’s the
heart of the Soros fellowship: the
recognition that it’s successive
waves of immigrants and children
of immigrants that have really
been major contributors towards
the vitality and the drive and the
creativity and the ingenuity of
American industry and finance
and culture.”
According to a press release
from Craig Harwood, director
of the PD Soros Fellowship,
the applicant pool for the 2019
cohort included more than 1,700
candidates, resulting in a 1.7
percent selection rate. The fellows
originate from 19 countries and
join distinguished past awardees
like Fei-Fei Li, co-director of
Stanford
University’s
Stanford
Human-Centered
Artificial
Intelligence Institute, and Abdul
El-Sayed, a University alum who
ran as a Democratic candidate in
Michigan’s 2018 gubernatorial
primary election.
To be considered for the
award, applicants must provide
documentation
showing
that
both parents were born outside
of the U.S. as non-U.S. citizens.
The PD Soros Fellowship requires
applicants to submit three letters
of recommendation and two essays
describing what the scholarship
would mean to them and why they
are pursuing their chosen field of
study.
Bazile attributed her success to
her own work, but stressed how
important it was for her to have
supportive friends and family
members during the application
process.
“I do work hard, so (the awards)
are often a product of the work
I do, but also the people around
me,” Bazile said. “I had a group of
friends and we had a day where
everyone would read my essays,
and they’ve seen my essays for
grad school, my essays for the
fellowship, and probably some of
them know the narratives more
than I do. Not everybody has
that, so I feel so lucky to have
people in my life who are
genuinely happy for me when
good things come my way.”
Law School student Akash
Patel, a 2016 recipient of the
PD Soros Fellowship, said the
scholarship is unique in that
it provides awardees a similar
kind of tight-knit community
that stays with them once
they’ve
completed
their
graduate programs.
“Once you’re in, you get
to be part of this really large
immigrant
family,”
Patel
said. “And it really feels like it
and they really treat you like
it. I feel like it’s something
that people feel themselves,
it’s
something
that
the
organization intentionally tries
to cultivate and I definitely feel
personally.”
Dyson said while applicants
must
have
impressive
qualifications and thoughtful
essays to be considered for
the fellowship, the selection
ultimately comes down to fit.
Read more online at
michigandaily.
Read more online at
michigandaily.com