The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Thursday, September 19, 2019 — 3A
“I don’t know that
it will be such a
significant impact
just raising taxes
a little bit more
to apply towards
higher education.”
“The
campus
climate
on free speech reflects our
school’s diversity — racially,
ethnically, socioeconomically,
etc. — though it often struggles
to incorporate diversity of
thought,” Burnstein said. “Ann
Arbor is a liberal, progressive
college town, so it lends itself
well to including those voices,
but it struggles to incorporate
ideas which go against that
grain.”
Burnstein
reflected
on
when Richard Spencer tried to
book space on the University’s
campus in 2017, resulting in
widespread
student
outcry
and protests.
“He threatened to sue U-M
if they were to bar him from
campus,” Burnstein said. “I
don’t think blocking a speaker
from campus is effective. I
firmly believe the only way to
truly eradicate the ideas he
espouses is with better ideas.”
\University
spokesman
Rick Fitzgerald praised the
University’s
current
free
speech policies in an email to
The Daily.
“Free speech is a bedrock
principle at the University of
Michigan,” Fitzgerald wrote.
“The university has had a
strong
freedom
of
speech
policy in place for decades that
often is used as a model for
policies at other universities.”
The University’s freedom
of speech policy is detailed
in the U-M Standard Practice
Guide Policies page under
“Freedom
of
Speech
and
Artistic Expression.” The page
asserts the University values
different points of view and
that the rights of speakers and
protesters at events should
be protected. At the same
time, however, the right to
free speech does not protect
“undue interference” in which
a protester disrupts an event
or prevents a speaker from
expressing their viewpoint,
though the policy makes it
clear the interference has to
be egregious and prolonged in
order to be deemed undue.
“Expression
of
diverse
points of view is of the highest
importance,
not
only
for
those who espouse a cause
or position and then defend
it, but also for those who
hear and pass judgment on
that defense,” the SPG reads.
“The belief that an opinion
is pernicious, false, or in any
other way detestable cannot be
grounds for its suppression.”
In a statement released
in
April,
Reilly
testified
before the House Oversight
Committee to explain the
legal basis for the creation of
these bills.
“The state’s public colleges
and
universities
have
the
responsibility
to
uphold
the constitutional rights of
students and the community
on campus grounds,” Reilly
said. “Right now, students
at multiple universities live
under speech policies that
infringe on their rights to
free speech and assembly.
Due to some schools’ ongoing
unwillingness to ensure their
rights, the legislature must do
so.”
That same day in April,
state Rep. Darrin Camilleri,
D-Brownstown.,
issued
a
statement in defense of the
current freedom of speech
policies
on
public
college
campuses while criticizing the
bills for what he described as
overreach.
“All of Michigan’s colleges
— both in policy and in
practice — already respect
and protect the rights of all to
engage in free speech, but they
do so with the simultaneous
obligation to guarantee the
safety and security of those
who attend their institutions,”
Camilleri
said.
“This
legislation would tie the hands
of college officials by creating
a one-size-fits-all approach at
the expense of student safety.
Our
Constitution
already
protects free speech on and off
college campuses. These bills
are unnecessary and negligent
as they not only seek to fix
a system that is not broken,
they invite hate speech and
potential violence onto our
college campuses.”
Fitzgerald
explained
the
University would not comment
on the bills at the moment.
“We do not have anything
to add regarding the proposed
legislation,
but
we
will
continue (to) watch closely
as (these) bills move forward
through
the
legislative
process,” Fitzgerald said.
Michigan is not the only
state in which legislatures
are pursuing free speech bills.
Several other states, including
Illinois, South Carolina and
New Jersey are considering
pieces of legislation that would
influence the way in which
freedom of speech is handled
on
college
or
university
campuses.
FREE SPEECH
From Page 1A
“UC3 membership will provide
U-M
the
opportunity
to
collaborate with key research
institutions
and
external
partners to share and gain
knowledge
to
accelerate
climate change solutions.”
This
decision
comes
after a semester of climate-
related activism, primarily
from
the
Washtenaw
County
Climate
Action
Movement. In March, the
group hosted a climate
strike, which resulted in a
sit-in at Schlissel’s office
and 10 arrests.
Following the strike, the
Climate Action Movement
members held an indefinite
sit-in,
attended
events
with Schlissel and spoke
at regents meetings. The
University added a public
session to its series of
town halls in order to hear
community input.
In
June,
six
demonstrators who were
charged with trespassing
during the first climate
strike appeared in court for
a pre-trial, which resulted
in a Sept. 9 court date. At
the September meeting, the
six once again appeared in
court to review the facts of
the case and any evidence
ahead of the Oct. 10 trial
date.
LSA
senior
Dim
Mang, an organizer for
the
climate
strike,
felt
joining the coalition was
a positive step, but she
questioned the timing. She
specifically pointed to an
announcement
from
the
University
of
California
on Tuesday declaring a
climate
emergency
and
committing itself to carbon
neutrality by 2025 as well
as the upcoming climate
strike.
“With all due respect to
the president, I think the
timing is a little strange,
not only because the strike
is coming up, but because
of what the UC system has
just decided to do,” Mang
said. “I’m not questioning
the sincerity of joining
the coalition, I just want
to
understand
why
he
wouldn’t
do
it
sooner
or
what’s
the
point
of
joining it right now, at this
moment, when there are
other ways that he could aid
climate action movements
and other initiatives on
campus.”
Similarly,
LSA
junior
Solomon Medintz, who is
also an organizer of the
strike and a columnist for
The Daily, said he feels the
University needs to take
action beyond this.
“From what I do know,
it seems like a good step,
but what I also know is
that the University just
invested $80 million in
the Central Power Plant, I
know the University has a
billion dollars invested in
fossil fuels and I know that
the University has the least
ambitious carbon neutrality
goals of any school in the
Big Ten,” Medintz said.
“(I’m) super happy that
they’re joining the national
climate change coalition,
but I think it underscores
the amount of work that
needs to be done trying to
push the University to take
real climate action.”
The University has taken
action to achieve Schlissel’s
commitment
to
gaining
carbon neutrality. Some of
these
initiatives
include
coordinating
community
forums,
commissioning
internal
analysis
teams,
engaging
the
student
communities and seeking
proposals
from
external
firms
on
environmental
concerns at the University.
Rackham student Austin
Glass, a member of the
commission,
said
UC3
brings schools of similar
stature together.
“One of the important
parts of UC3 is that it’s a sort
of concentration of passion,
it’s
a
concentration
of
interest, it’s a concentration
of
information,
it’s
concentration
of
resources,”
Glass
said.
“The nice thing about UC3
is that it’s collaborative and
that the sort of logic behind
it is logic that pervades a lot
of work in this area, which
is that we’re stronger when
we’re
working
together,
especially when we have
a common goal, and we do
have a common goal.”
Glass
said
being
in
the coalition allows the
University to hold itself to
the other institutions in the
coalition. He specifically
pointed to the University
of California system as one
member
the
University
could take cues from.
The
Commission
on
Carbon
Neutrality
is
hosting a forum to update
the community on Sept. 25
at 4:30 p.m. in Rackham.
Additionally,
the
University is planning an
Earth
Day
celebration,
which will be the first of a
series of events focused on
sustainability.
Thursday’s
EarthFest is set to take
place 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on
the Diag with the goal
of
bringing
together
environmental leaders to
explore how to create a
better future for the planet.
LSA
junior
Olivia
Thomas, who has worked
in various sustainability-
focused positions at the
University, said this is a
step in the right direction.
Thomas
hopes
this
is
one of many actions the
University will take.
“We need to show that
we;re really focusing on
leadership
and
action,
and
being
a
leader
in
this issue,” Thomas said.
“Students just want to see
more dedication from the
President and the regents
on this issue. I think it’s
certainly important that
we’re
leading
the
way
and I think joining this
coalition is a good idea and
a good step to show our
dedication, but I do think
we need to be doing more
than that.”
CLIMATE
From Page 1A
LSA
junior
Derek
Li
admitted he did not know much
about the higher education
spending in the state, but
found it surprising given the
size of Michigan.
Li also said it makes
sense
given
how
high
tuition is.
“It’s
surprising,”
Li
said.
“I
didn’t
really
know much about this
prior but it is surprising
considering how big of
the University Michigan
is and in terms of our
public ranking and what
not. It does make sense,
though, given how high
tuition is especially for
out-of-state students.”
Li
voiced
some
understanding regarding
why Michigan’s ranking,
saying he did not want to
raise spending if it would
have a negative impact on
taxpayers.
“If too high spending is
detrimental to residents
and
if
taxes
were
increased in a way that
would hurt them then
I feel like it would be
understandable to keep
spending low,” Li said.
When he learned of
Whitmer’s
proposal
to
increase the state budget
by 3 percent, Li showed
general approval of it.
“A 3-percent increase
seems
high,”
Li
said.
“As long has Whitmer
evaluated the effects of
this spending though, I
think it should be fine. It
definitely sounds like a
plus for us.”
Engineering
junior
Alex Schiffer, a student
from Indiana, said he
was not too surprised by
the lower level of higher
education spending.
“I come from a very
conservative
state
so
the lack of spending in
higher education is not
surprising,”
Schiffer
said.
LSA freshman Ignacio
Barreras
pushed
back
against
the
sentiment
that spending more on
higher education would
hurt Michigan taxpayers.
“I don’t know that it
will be such a significant
impact
just
raising
taxes a little bit more
to apply towards higher
education,”
Barreras
said.
Barreras also brought
up
tuition
at
the
university
in
relation
to the state’s ranking,
explaining higher tuition
and costs are worth the
superior
education
at
U-M.
“Tuition is very high
considering that I am
an out of state student,”
Barreras
said.
“It
is
definitely
than
other
public schools but my
family decided to take
the investment because
of the competitiveness of
this school.”
However, Barreras said
the U-M itself does not
need additional funding
in his opinion.
Rule 6 also states a person
who violates rule two will be
charged with a misdemeanor
and could face up to six months
in prison and/or a fine of up to
$200 per item.
“A person who violates any
provision of these rules is guilty
of a misdemeanor, punishable
by imprisonment for not more
than six months, or a fine of not
more than $200, or both,” the
rule reads. “Violations of rule 2
are calculated on a per-item and
per-transaction basis and may
be punished cumulatively.”
Police officers are not legally
allowed to randomly stop and
check for contraband, Law
professor
Gabriel
Mendlow
wrote in an email to The Daily.
However, he said if they can tell
someone is smoking a flavored
vape, they are allowed to take it
and arrest them.
“If a police officer can tell
somehow
that
the
product
you’re vaping is flavored – by
smelling it, for example –
then the Constitution allows
the police officer to seize the
product and, in theory, arrest
you,” Mendlow said. “But if the
only thing a police officer knows
is that you’re vaping, then she
isn’t allowed to force you to let
her check whether the product
you’re vaping is flavored.”
Mendlow added if someone
does wind up in court, the
“intent to sell” clause could
be rebutted if there is a good
explanation for why someone
was
in
possession
of
the
prohibited
items,
but
the
prosecutor could argue against
this.
“The
prosecutor
could
argue
that
you
possessed
more flavored products than
someone would possess who
intended to use the products
personally
rather
than
sell
them,” Mendlow said. “Under
the emergency rules, there’s a
rebuttable presumption that
anyone who possesses four or
more flavored products intends
to sell them. This means that
if you possess four or more
flavored products and you don’t
offer an innocent explanation,
you may be convicted on these
facts alone.”
Many University of Michigan
students
expressed
concern
regarding
how
the
AAPD
would implement the ban and
explained vaping has become
a common social activity on
campus. Due to the soon-to-
be illegal nature of the topic,
the three students interviewed
requested
anonymity.
They
will be referred to as Student 1,
Student 2 and Student 3.
Student 1 said she used to
vape a lot, but she felt some
negative health effects from
it and was spending a lot of
money, so now she mostly uses
other people’s products when
she wants to vape.
FUNDING
From Page 1A
WOLVE RINE OF THE WE E K
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
JAIL
From Page 1A
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
How has this year been different from last year?
“The biggest change this year has been feel-
ing more sure of myself on campus. Last
year was all about trying new things and this
year is about accepting my place on cam-
pus. This year is about settling into the plac-
es I have found that are my own, creating
a niche for myself, and finding my people.”
- Rachel Milner, LSA sophomore