Thursday, June 20, 2019

INDEX

Vol. CXXVIII, No. 114
 © 2019 The Michigan Daily 

NEWS ....................................
OPINION ............................... 
ARTS......................................
MiC.........................................
SPORTS................................

MICHIGAN IN COLOR
My name

Subarna Bhattacharya shares 

sentiments behind her

Bengali name, which trans-

lates to “the color of gold”

 
 >> SEE PAGE 9

NEWS
Flu vaccine

Researcher leads team in 

finding universal influenza 

vaccine

>> SEE PAGE 3

OPINION
Pura Vida 

Anne Else highlights Costa 

Rica’s commitment to 

environmental policy

 
 >> SEE PAGE 5

ARTS
Hippo Campus 

The band sat down with 

the Daily after their 

energetic Bonnaroo 

performance
 >> SEE PAGE 6 

SPORTS
Baseball

Team is one win away 

from College World Series 

Final

 
 >> SEE PAGE 12

inside

2
4
6
9
10

Arraignment 
results in 
Sept. 9 date for 
pre-trial

On 
Monday 
morning, 
six 
demonstrators 
charged 
with 
trespassing 
from 
March’s 
Climate Strike appeared in court 
for the first time. All parties 
pleaded not guilty to the charges 
and the pre-trial was set for Sept. 
9 at 9 a.m.
On 
March 
15, 
2019, 
10 
individuals, 
including 
two 
minors, 
were 
arrested 
and 
given citations for trespassing 
following 
a 
seven-hour 
sit-
in at Fleming Administration 
Building. Demonstrators, who 
came 
from 
the 
Washtenaw 
County Climate Strike earlier 
that day, refused to leave until 
administration addressed a list 
of demands, which included a 
one-hour public meeting with 
University of Michigan President 
Mark Schlissel in which questions 
regarding the University’s plan 
to address climate change and 

carbon 
neutrality 
were 
not 
screened beforehand.
In a March 21 letter addressed 
to members of the Climate 
Action 
Movement, 
Schlissel 
responded to the requests of the 
demonstrators, where he said 
the University has been “actively 
engaging” 
with 
community 
members and Climate Action 
Movement organizers on issues 
regarding carbon neutrality.
“To achieve our shared goal 
of carbon neutrality as soon as 
possible, it is essential that the 
community engage in identifying 
and understanding the challenges 
and contributing to the solutions 
necessary to convert from fossil 
fuels to non-carbon sources of 
energy,” Schlissel wrote. “I will 
continue to look for opportunities 
to engage with your membership 
and the broader community on 
these issues — everyone has a role 
to play.”
Following 
the 
Climate 
Strike, Schlissel held a public 
meeting on April 9 to discuss the 
University’s actions to address 
climate change. Issues discussed 
at the meeting included divesting 
from fossil fuels and the makeup 
of the President’s Commission 
on Carbon Neutrality, which 
includes 
energy 
industry 
representatives.
Two months after the Climate 
Strike, all individuals except the 

two minors were charged with 
trespassing misdemeanors. The 
trespassing complaint is identical 
in all cases, and the maximum 
sentence that can be imposed is 
$250 fine and/or 30 days in jail.
When asked about the decision 
to 
charge 
demonstrators, 
University spokeswoman Kim 
Broekhuizen wrote in an email to 
The Daily the University does not 
decide whether to bring criminal 
charges and directed The Daily 
to 
the 
Washtenaw 
County 
prosecutor’s office. 
“Thousands 
of 
students 
participate 
in 
the 
climate 
action rally without incident,” 
Broekhuizen 
wrote. 
“Hundreds 
others 
protested 
in the president’s office in the 
following weeks. Still others 
addressed the Board of Regents 
in public meetings. Only a small 
number are now facing charges 
because they refused to leave 
the Fleming Building.”
In response to why the office 
pressed charges, Steven Hiller, 
chief 
assistant 
Washtenaw 
County prosecuting attorney, 
wrote in an email to The Daily 
the prosecutor’s office cannot 
discuss the facts of a case before 
it is adjudicated to respect the 
defendant’s right to a fair trial. 

District judge 
files response 
to ‘U’ petition

Response criticizes 
attempts from ‘U’ 
lawyers to excuse 
Schlissel from court

U.S. District Judge Arthur Tarnow 
responded to an order from the 
U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals 
on Monday afternoon, criticizing 
University of Michigan attorneys 
for not participating in “good faith” 
and accusing the University of going 
“extraordinary” lengths to ensure 
President Mark Schlissel did not have 
to publicly appear in court during the 
ongoing Doe v. University of Michigan 
lawsuit.
“The University’s attorneys appear 
to be more concerned with keeping 
the President out of the public eye 
than with prompt resolution of this 
case and providing a fair process 
for adjudicating sexual misconduct 
claims,” Tarnow wrote.
Tarnow’s response is filed after the 
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals granted 
a last-minute appeal by the University 
to delay the June 13 public settlement 
conference for the lawsuit at which 
Schlissel was scheduled to appear. 
In the response, Tarnow addressed a 
University petition filed at the same 
time asking the Sixth Circuit Court to 
not require Schlissel’s attendance and 
move the conference off-the-record 
and closed to the public.
Deborah Gordon, the plaintiff’s 
attorney, has not yet filed a response. 
In the order, Raymond Kethledge, 
circuit judge for the U.S. Sixth District 
Court of Appeals, requested responses 
from Gordon and Tarnow within 
10 days and wrote the settlement 
conference would be delayed until 
further notice.

ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Read more at michigandaily.com

ALEX HARRING & 
CLAIRE HAO
Summer Managing News Editor & 
Summer News Editor

BARBARA COLLINS 
& CLAIRE HAO
Summer Managing News Editor & 
Summer News Editor

Read more at michigandaily.com

michigandaily.com

Climate Strike demonstrators 
appear in court for trespassing

Photos by DARBY STIPE/Daily & BARBARA COLLINS
The University students and other demonstrators are arrested and given citations during a sit-in in President Mark Schlissel’s office on March 19 (left) 
and attend their arraignment hearing on Monday morning (right).

