As 
University 
of 
Michigan 
students began school two weeks 
ago, approximately 30 international 
students were unable to matriculate 
because of delays in their United 
States visa applications, according 
to University spokeswoman Kim 
Broekhuizen.
The three students interviewed in 
this article all requested anonymity 
due to fear of retaliation from the 
United States Department of State. 

Other identifying information, such 
as the students’ undergraduate 
institutions and programs of study 
at the University, will also not be 
disclosed.
The students interviewed, who 
are referred to as John, Sue and 
Bob in this article, described poor 
communication 
from 
the 
State 
Department and uncertainty for 
their futures in separate interviews 
with The Daily. 
The University’s International 
Center is aware of approximently 30 
students who could not begin classes 
in Ann Arbor because of delays in 

processing and approving visas from 
the State Department, Broekhuizen 
wrote in an email to The Daily. She 
noted the majority of the students 
affected were enrolled in graduate 
programs at the University.
Foreign policy under the Trump 
administration has led to a sharp 
increase in visa delays and denials, 
according to an article published in 
the New York Times in August.
In an email to The Daily, a State 
Department spokesperson noted 74 
percent of student visa applications 
globally were approved in the 2018 
fiscal year. The spokesperson said 

the department’s top priority when 
reviewing applicants was national 
security, which was the cause of any 
increased vetting.
“While some campuses may 
report delays, we have also heard 
anecdotally that there is variation 
in what different campuses are 
experiencing,” 
the 
spokesperson 
wrote.
The three students interviewed 
all said their applications were put 
through administrative processing, 
which has been likened to an 
elongated security check. 

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tuesday, September 17, 2019

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

In order to commemorate 
Constitution Day, the University 
of Michigan invited Rep. Justin 
Amash, I-Mich, to speak. The 
former 
undergraduate 
and 
Michigan law alum represents 
Michigan’s 3rd District. While 
the first half of the lecture largely 
centered around how Amash’s 
philosophy as a public servant 
centers around the powers of 
the constitution, he also spoke 

about political theatrics and the 
grim side of Congress.
The 
conversation 
was 
moderated by Richard Primus, 
a Theodore J. St. Antoine 
Collegiate Professor of Law. 
Primus, who has previously 
clerked 
for 
Supreme 
Court 
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 
acknowledged 
that 
while 
he 
differs 
with 
Amash 
ideologically, he values their 
political discourse.
“We disagree on things like 
taxation, 
health 
insurance, 

foreign policy,” Primus said. “We 
disagree in the constitutional 
realm about things like from 
the proper allocation of power 
among the federal government 
to 
the 
states. 
And 
these 
disagreements 
matter. 
They 
matter a lot. If Mr. Amash 
didn’t think they mattered, he 
wouldn’t be in public life. But 
when I talk with him about 
Constitutional law, I know that 
I am talking to someone who 
has a deep commitment to be 
principled in the conversation 

and to act upon the principles he 
arrives at.”
Primus used to be Amash’s 
Common Law professor and 
fondly 
recounts 
teaching 
Amash. He remembers Amash 
always having deep reverence 
for the Constitution. 
“Mr. Amash sat, I think fourth 
row, and in the middle,” Primus 
said. “Almost in the center of the 
group. This spatially was not a 
reflection of his place in politics. 

The 
Ann 
Arbor 
City 
Council discussed a variety 
of legislative issues facing 
the community, ranging from 
zoning laws to policing to 
marijuana licensing, at their 
meeting Monday evening. 
To 
start 
the 
meeting, 
Mayor 
Christopher 
Taylor 
acknowledged September as 
National Recovery Month. He 
gave two recovering addicts 
a chance to testify to the 
wealth of addiction recovery 
resources in the Ann Arbor 
area, including the Dawn Farm 
outpatient and detoxification 
programs. 
Sam, 
seven 
years 
clean, 
commended 
Ann 
Arbor’s 
recovery resources. 
“This 
is 
one 
of 
the 
more 
supportive 
recovery 
communities that I have been a 
part of,” Sam said. “I have never 
been to a place that had such 
a celebration of recovery and 
professional 
opportunities... 
where I can stand up in a City 
Council meeting and declare 
that I am in recovery.”
The council then moved 
forward 
with 
a 
resolution 
approving a purchase order of 
new police body cameras to be 

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

INDEX
Vol. CXXVIII, No. 132
©2019 The Michigan Daily

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

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

CL A SSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

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

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

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

For more stories and coverage, visit

Town hall 
reflects on 
influence of
Blue Ribbon

Graduate students give feedback 
on report about faculty responsibility

BARBARA COLLINS 
& ALEX HARRING
Daily Staff Reporters

Members 
of 
the 
Senate 
Advisory 
Committee 
on 
University Affairs met Monday 
afternoon 
in 
the 
Fleming 
Administrative 
Building 
to 
discuss the Big Ten Academic 
Alliance, which will be held 
this year at the University of 
Michigan starting on Oct. 17.
The BTAA, which is a yearly 
consortium of the 14 Big Ten 
universities, 
convenes 
for 
three days to discuss research, 
academics, university resources 
and faculty governance.
SACUA 
Chair 
Joy 
Beatty 
led 
the 
discussion 
Monday, 
and 
faculty 
representatives 
suggested potential talks and 
panels at the three-day meeting 
next month. The conference 
tends to be attended by several 
faculty 
representatives 
from 
each Big Ten university, Beatty 
said. 
“BTAA is all the heads of 
faculty senate from Big Ten 
schools, so the chair of faculty 
senate, the vice chair of faculty 
senate and any staff members 
they want to bring,” she said. 
“It’s actually kind of a small 
group that’s coming.”

SACUA 
talks Big 
10 event 
themes

ACADEMICS

Annual conference
of 14 universities 
convenes to discuss 
research, academics

BEN ROSENFELD
Daily Staff Reporter

U.S. Rep. Amash talks birth, death
of Constitutionally-based policies

Lawmaker commemorates day founding fathers signed Constitution

Council 
discusses 
marijuana 
licensing

ANN ARBOR

JASON SIEGELIN 
Daily Staff Reporter 

Follow The Daily 
on Instagram, 
@michigandaily

Rackham Graduate School 
hosted a town hall to garner 
graduate 
student 
feedback 
about a Blue Ribbon Panel 
report on Monday. The report 
addressed the question put 
forth by University Provost 
Martin A. Philbert: “What 
ought to be the intersection 
between 
political 
thought/
ideology and a faculty member’s 
responsibility to students?” The 
question and report followed 
last fall’s controversy of faculty 
rescinding 
recommendation 
letters 
for 
study 
abroad 
programs held in Israel and 
the University’s sanctions in 
response. 
Sociology 
professor 
Sandra Levitsky opened the 
town hall by summarizing 
the 
recommendation 
letter 
rescindment 
and 
sanctions 
controversy and why the Blue 
Ribbon Panel was created. 
“What the controversy really 
revealed is that the University 
of Michigan actually has no 
policy in place that governs 
situations of this kind that 

could offer clear guidance 
about what to do in this type 
of situation,” Levitsky said. 
“What should we do when a 
faculty acting on his or her 
perceived freedom of political 
thought conflicts with the 
freedom of another person? 
What should we do when the 
exercise of faculty freedom of 
thought conflicts with faculty 
responsibilities to students?”
After 
gathering 
feedback 
from 
over 
1,100 
students 
through an anonymous form 
and holding four two-hour 
listening sessions at University 
campuses, the panel published 
its report on March 21, 2019 
which included a Statement 
of Principle, stating faculty-
student interactions “must be 
based solely on educational 
and 
professional 
reasons.” 
Levitsky explained that faculty 
need relevant and appropriate 
reasons to decline students 
letters 
of 
recommendations 
or research and lab work. 
Additionally, faculty should 
not treat students differently 
if they share or do not share 
similar political ideologies. 

ALEC COHEN/Daily
U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, I-Mich., shares his reasoning for becoming an independent at an event to commemorate Constitution Day in Jeffries Hall Monday afternoon.

Visa delays force international 
students to defer acceptance

 Chinese admittees left confused following State Deptartment review process

See BLUE RIBBON, Page 3

See CITY COUNCIL, Page 3

SONIA LEE
Daily News Editor

DESIGN BY SHERRY CHEN

See VISA, Page 3

JULIA FANZERES
Daily Staff Reporter

See AMASH, Page 3

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

City representatives 
speak on cannabis 
permits, zoning laws 
and police cameras

