The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Thursday, September 26, 2019 — 3

There will be undergrad 
and 
either 
graduate 
or 
professional students on it, 
there will be some student 
affairs people, there will be 
some regular professors, I 
think a dean might be the 
chairperson of the search 
committee. So it will be a 
broad group that represents 
many 
of 
the 
different 
constituencies that depend 
upon the success of this 
person, the new VP… We can’t 
expect someone that we hire 
brand new to be as talented 
at this job as Vice President 
Harper, who had been in this 
position for 19 years as Vice 
President of Student Life, and 
before that she was dean of 
the college. So she’s not really 
replaceable. We’ll try our best 
and we’ll get somebody good, 
but on day zero they’re not 
going to be Royster Harper.
TMD: How long does the 
process take? 
MS: 
It 
takes 
several 
months. The first thing we 
do is come up with a good 

job 
description, 
then 
we 
advertise, then we try to 
build up lots of applicants. At 
the same time, we’re doing 
this outreach where we’re 
talking to groups and trying 
to get a sense of everyone’s 
expectations and what we 
really should be looking for. 
It takes a while and it’s worth 
the time and investment. VP 
Harper is going to step away 
in mid-January. It’d be great 
if we had a new person then, 
but we also might appoint an 
interim person to tide us over 
while we finish doing a good 
search. 
Commission 
on 
Carbon 
Neutrality
TMD: 
Following 
the 
Washtenaw 
County 
Climate Strike last March, 
demonstrators 
staged 
a 
sit-in 
in 
the 
Fleming 
Administration Building to 
demand a one-hour meeting 
with the administration about 
climate 
change 
concerns 
and the University’s plan to 
reach carbon neutrality. 10 
demonstrators were arrested 
or remaining in the building 
past 8 p.m., including two 
minors, 
and 
were 
given 

trespassing citations. In June, 
six of the demonstrators 
appeared in court for the first 
time and plead not guilty to 
all charges, and a pre-trial 
date was set for September 
13. What do you expect the 
Commission 
on 
Carbon 
Neutrality 
to 
accomplish 
in the upcoming semester? 
The commission’s goal is to 
provide 
recommendations 
to the University on how to 
achieve 
carbon 
neutrality 
through the collaboration of 
students and faculty.
MS: They’ve been working 
all 
through 
the 
summer. 
They’ve divided up the big 
task of figuring out how and 
how quickly we can go carbon 
neutral into a bunch of 
smaller tasks … They’ve also 
put out a request for students 
who want to come and work 
for the commission for pay, 
doing research in support of 
the mission … The biggest 
thing 
I’m 
nervous 
about 
in our ability to go carbon 
neutral is how we heat the 
campus. 

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

SCHILISSEL
From Page 1

“Some of our employees 
live in Whitmore Lake, a 
number of them live out 
toward the edge of Ann 
Arbor and Ypsilanti in 
the apartment complexes 
on 
Washtenaw 
and 
Packard and areas like 
that,” 
Engelbert 
said. 
“It’s almost impossible 
for them to find housing 
in central Ann Arbor. 
They’re just priced out.”
Engelbert 
echoed 
Hall’s statement about 
the 
added 
difficulties 
a 
commute 
poses 
for 
employees 
working 
in 
Ann Arbor. 
“I 
have 
personally 
tried to help some of our 
staff find housing closer 
to work and it’s a real 
challenge,” 
Engelbert 
said. “We’ve had to alter 
people’s 
schedules 
so 
that they can make it 
back to Ypsilanti with 
what the bus allows.”
Mitch 
Czechowicz, 
kitchen manager at the 
Detroit 
Street 
Filling 
Station, recently moved 
to Ypsilanti due to high 
Ann Arbor rent rates.
“I moved to Ypsilanti 
because 
I 
couldn’t 
really afford to live in 
Ann 
Arbor 
anymore,” 
Czechowicz said. “I was 
living with two other 
guys and our rent was 
just most of the money 
we were making for not 
that much space at all… I 
pay about $200 a month 
less in Ypsilanti for more 
space.”
Czechowicz 
faces 
a 
25-minute 
daily 
commute to work from 
Ypsilanti, 
sometimes 
taking up to an hour due 
to traffic and vehicle 
issues.
“I gotta deal with rush 
hour and dealing with 
either 94 or Washtenaw 
and spending like an 
hour in traffic on a lot 
of days, and then just 
money put into gas and 
wear and tear on my 
vehicle,” 
Czechowicz 
said.
Engelbert 
said 
Ann 
Arbor has become an 
exclusive place for the 
elite because of the high 
rent prices.
“We pay our people 
pretty 
well 
especially 
for 
a 
restaurant, 
but 
Ann Arbor has become 
so exclusive and elite in 
terms of who can afford 
to live here that people 
who 
make 
a 
normal 
amount of money just 
can’t 
find 
housing,” 
she said. “They cannot 
afford to live in the city. 
Ann Arbor as a whole 
is part of that trend 
toward 
gentrification 
and the rich get richer 
and the poor move out of 
town — and it’s not just 
the poor. $38,000 a year 
isn’t poor; it’s normal, 
and people can’t afford 
to live here.”
Engelbert 
stressed 
Ann Arbor should push 
toward more affordable 
housing and be more 
inclusive of those from 
diverse 
socioeconomic 
backgrounds.
“It will have to take 
a concerted effort by 
public 
and 
private 
sectors to make it do 
anything 
different,” 
Engelbert said “There 
has to be a will and a 
desire to see Ann Arbor 
be 
an 
economically 
diverse city. If there’s 
not a will and a desire to 
see that, then we’ll just 
keep trending more and 
more 
toward 
wealthy 
residents.”
Other local businesses 
are facing similar issues. 
Nick Yribar, co-owner 
of 
local 
comic 
book 
store Vault of Midnight 
on 
S. 
Main 
Street, 
expressed the difficulty 
his 
business 
has 
had 
in accommodating the 
rising costs of rent in Ann 
Arbor for employees.
“We’ve been in Ann 
Arbor for 23 years, so 
we have seen how the 
market 
has 
changed 

… 
it’s 
heartbreaking,” 
Yribar said. “We employ 
maybe 10 people just 
at our Ann Arbor shop 
and it’s just increasingly 
difficult for anyone that 
works for us to live in 
this city.”
Vault 
of 
Midnight 
has attempted to keep 
existing employees and 
recruit new employees 
despite 
housing 
unaffordability 
by 
negotiating pay raises 
and offering employee 
benefits that may not 
be 
available 
at 
other 
businesses. 
“We’re in the process 
right now of raising the 
base pay for our staff 
for the entire company,” 
Yribar said. “We try to 
be as competitive as we 
can; we offer SIMPLE 
IRA 
programs 
and 
health care and profit-
based bonuses, and all 
of this is just in an effort 
to keep people around 
given 
that 
they 
can’t 
afford to live in Ann 
Arbor. I don’t think any 
of our staff lives within 
the 
city 
anymore, 
I 
think almost everybody 
is 
commuting 
from 
Ypsilanti or farther.”
Issues 
like 
high 
rent prices aren’t only 
affecting the city at the 
residential level, but also 
entire 
businesses 
and 
their ability to remain 
open 
in 
Ann 
Arbor 
at an affordable rate. 
Yribar’s store has moved 
locations 
on 
multiple 
occasions due to rent 
concerns over time.
“Over the 23 years that 
we’ve been in business 
we’ve had four different 
locations, 
and 
we’re 
always moving due to 
rent concerns and due 
to 
issues 
navigating 
property owners until 
we 
landed 
on 
Main 
Street,” 
Yribar 
said. 
“The number one thing 
we’re worried about is 
‘are we going to be able 
to afford to be in this 
city?’”
Local 
business 
owners worry that as 
rent rates continue to 
rise for both residents 
and 
businesses, 
only 
particularly 
wealthy 
businesses 
and 
chain 
locations will be able 
to afford to stay open, 
eventually 
eliminating 
the ability of current 
local 
businesses 
to 
remain open and local 
residents to open new 
businesses in Ann Arbor. 
“Especially 
long-
standing small and local 
businesses (are at risk),” 
Yribar said. “If you just 
take a look at the number 
of vacant spots on Main 
Street at the moment … 
it’s startling to see these 
businesses leave.” 
Business owners like 
Yribar 
say 
the 
issue 
of 
affordable 
housing 
in Ann Arbor is the 
important 
problem 
facing 
the 
city 
right 
now, as it continues to 
affect 
the 
shape 
and 
direction in which the 
city progresses. 
“Affordable 
housing 
and being able to live 
and work in this city 
are changing Ann Arbor 
more 
than 
any 
other 
single 
factor,” 
Yribar 
said. “There’s nothing 
more pressing happening 
in Ann Arbor than the 
ability 
of 
the 
people 
that work here, make it 
cool and make it special 
being able to live here. 
We think about it every 
single day and there’s 
only so much we can do 
with a small business. 
We can try to take care 
of people, we can try to 
entice them to stay with 
us, but it is a huge issue.”
Yribar 
called 
on 
students 
to 
be 
more 
aware of city issues in 
order to get involved 
and make a proactive 
change.
“Students 
should 
be 
aware 
of 
what 
is 
happening in the city 
that they’re a part of for 
however 
long,” 
Yribar 
said. “Do we think as a 

city that there is value 
in having the voice of 
younger people, and of 
renters, and of people 
that 
don’t 
just 
own 
property on the west 
side of Ann Arbor? I 
think that there is, and 
I think that it makes the 
city stronger.” 
Social 
Work 
student 
Laura 
Rall 
is 
the 
president 
of 
Affordable Michigan, an 
affordability 
advocacy 
group on campus. She 
said the organization’s 
main priority for this 
year is to advocate for 
more on-campus dorms.
“U-M 
has 
increased 
the number of students 
enrolled 
each 
year 
over the past few years 
significantly. 
There 
are 
thousands 
more 
students, 
but 
they 
haven’t built any new 
dorms,” Rall said. “We 
are really trying to push 
this year for a new dorm 
being built. Obviously 
the 
less 
on-campus 
housing that’s available 
for 
students, 
they’re 
going to have to go out 
into the city and get 
these places from people 
who live in Ann Arbor. 
Same with students who 
commute from Ypsilanti, 
and it is taking homes 
away from people who 
live in Ypsilanti full-
time.” 
As 
more 
expensive 
forms of student housing 
are being built, students 
are forced to move off-
campus 
for 
cheaper 
options, taking homes 
away from people who 
live and work in the area 
full-time, Rall said.
“I 
think 
it’s 
100 
percent the University’s 
problem 
because 
they 
are 
admitting 
more 
students,” 
Rall 
said. 
“It’s really just not fair 
to the people who do live 
in Ann Arbor full-time, 
and families with jobs 
because 
it’s 
becoming 
more of a University-
focused town instead of 
a town that also has a 
University in it, which is 
what it should be.”
Ambrose 
Wilbanks, 
workforce development 
liaison for Destination 
Ann Arbor, a local visitors 
bureau, highlighted the 
growth Ann Arbor has 
undergone 
over 
time, 
incidentally driving rent 
prices up.
“I was born and raised 
in 
Ypsilanti 
and 
to 
look at the University, 
it’s 
unrecognizable 
compared 
to 
what 
I 
saw 
in 
high 
school,” 
Wilbanks 
said. 
“Plus, 
the 
tax 
sector 
has 
expanded exponentially 
which if you look at 
people in that sector of 
the workforce, they tend 
to be more professional, 
more high income in the 
end. People will charge 
as much as you’re willing 
to pay.”
Wilbanks 
said 
since 
Ann Arbor has expanded, 
it’s well understood the 
demand to live here is 
met with many high-
income residents.
“The reality is that 
to live here you have to 
have a certain amount 
of disposable income,” 
Wilbanks 
said. 
 
“I 
think that people are 
very welcoming across 
the 
board 
with 
the 
understanding 
that 
you can only be their 
neighbor 
if 
there’s 
housing you can afford.”
Czechowicz, who has 
lived in Ann Arbor for 
about 15 years, agreed 
the area has changed 
significantly over time.
 “I mean there are a 
lot 
more 
corporations 
for 
one,” 
Czechowicz 
said. “Even just having 
things like Subways and 
7-11’s 
right 
downtown 
seems 
kind 
of 
weird 
sometimes. I’m used to 
having a more localized 
feel to it, like when I was 
a kid… I wish it was the 
way it used to be. Ann 
Arbor 
definitely 
feels 
more pretentious than it 
used to be.”

RETENTION
From Page 1

When the case reached the 
U.S. district court in August 
2018, Parker rejected Speech 
First’s request for a preliminary 
injunction against the BRT and 
sided with the University. In 
her statement signed Aug. 6, 
2018, Parker wrote in a court 
opinion the BRT does not violate 
the First Amendment rights to 
freedom of speech but instead 
may only “chill” these rights. 
“Speech First alleges, and 
Defendants do not deny, that 
students engaged in ‘bullying’ 
and ‘harassing’ behavior can be 
and have been punished through 
(Office 
of 
Student 
Conflict 
Resolution) 
proceedings,” 
Parker wrote. “Speech First, 
however, fails to demonstrate 
that the BRT poses anything but 
a ‘subjective chill’ on students’ 
free speech rights.”
While Speech First’s lawsuit 
was filed over a year ago, 
issues of free speech are still 
being debated on campus and 
throughout the state. On Sept. 5 
two bills related to campus free 
speech passed in the Michigan 
House 
of 
Representatives’ 
House Oversight Committee. 
The two bills — “The Campus 
Free Speech Act” and “The 
College Campus Intellectual 
and Expressive Freedom Act”— 
aim to set standards for how 

universities in Michigan create 
policies relating to freedom of 
speech. 
LSA junior Lincoln Ballew, 
chairman of the University’s 
chapter of Young Americans for 
Freedom, said she was happy 
to learn the federal appeals 
court ruled in favor of Speech 
First Monday. Ballew said Bias 
Response Teams like those at 
the University have a known 
record of violating the rights to 
freedom of speech on college 
campuses. 
“I absolutely think the Bias 
Response Teams are a violation 
of the First Amendment and 
our Constitution, and so I 
personally believe that vacating 
the ruling is a huge win for the 
First Amendment and for free 
speech,” Ballew said. “People 
are afraid to share their points 
of view and their opinions 
because 
of 
these 
response 
teams — they’re afraid that 
their comments in class will be 
reported and they’re going to get 
in trouble with the University.”
Maria 
Muzaurieta, 
LSA 
senior and president of the 
University’s chapter of College 
Republicans, issued a statement 
on behalf of the organization. 
Muzaurieta 
said 
the 
group 
continues to support Speech 
First and the ideas they promote 
about freedom of speech. 
“We stand behind Speech 
First in their efforts to rid U-M 
of oppressive rules that mock 

the spirit of our great First 
Amendment,” 
Muzaurieta 

wrote in a statement to The 
Daily. “The University seems 
keen on providing ex post 
facto 
justification 
of 
their 
commitment to free expression 
when the reality for the students 
represented in the case was 
so 
much 
different. 
College 
Republicans 
stand 
foremost 
behind principles of free speech, 
and hope that the University 
better 
adheres 
to 
those 
principles in the future.”
When 
contacted 
by 
The 
Daily, the University’s chapter 
of College Democrats declined 
to comment about Monday’s 
ruling because they felt they had 
nothing to add. 
University spokesperson Kim 
Broekhuizen wrote in an email 
to The Daily the University 
maintains 
their 
existing 
policies 
regarding 
freedom 
of speech, which are outlined 
in the University’s policy of 
Freedom of Speech and Artistic 
Expression.
“The 
panel’s 
decision 
did not address the merits 
of 
the 
university’s 
existing 
policies, and we are confident 
the university will prevail,” 
Broekhuizen 
wrote. 
“U-M 
is deeply committed to the 
protection of free speech by 
students, faculty, and outside 
speakers alike, regardless of 
their views.”

FREE SPEECH
From Page 1

“It’s really encouraging to 
see 
both 
administrations 
kind of unite in saying that a 
world with the United States 
at the helm is a better place.” 
Power’s memoir follows the 
unique path Power followed 
on her journey to going into 
diplomacy. Beginning as a 
war correspondent on the 
Yugoslav Wars for multiple 
publications 
including 
the Boston Globe and the 
Economist, she transitioned 
to human rights advocacy, 
and 
eventually 
became 
the 
youngest 
American 
to assume the role of U.S. 
Ambassador to the United 
Nations. Powers explained 
her book is a fusion of her 
personal 
memoir 
with 
concrete policy analysis.
“My book is definitely 
unique 
in 
the 
political 
memoir 
domain 
in 
combining ample discussion 
of romance with a darker 
discussion of Putin – but 
with no connection between 
the two,” Power said. 
Powers went on to discuss 
a range of policy issues she 
focused on during her time 
in office, from relations with 
the Middle East to the Ebola 
crisis 
that 
ravaged 
West 
Africa in 2014. She touched 
on what she viewed as her 
greatest failure in office – 
Obama’s inability to secure 
congressional approval for 
a military strike in Syria in 
2013. 
After the event, Public 

Policy 
graduate 
student 
Mohammad Akbar Zadran 
told 
The 
Daily 
that 
he 
attended the lecture in an 
attempt to see foreign policy 
in action. 
“I came to this event in 
order to learn about the 
practicality 
of 
diplomacy 
and foreign policy in the 
United States,” Zadran said. 
“In class we have discussions 
about policy as an academic 
arena, but here we hear about 
its practical implementation 
and implications and the 
effect on the United States 
and around the world. 
Ultimately, 
Power 
concluded by stressing to 
students the importance of 
having specific, streamlined 
policy goals in the field of 
diplomacy, and to celebrate 
every small win. 
“He or she who fights every 
battle fights none,” she said. 
“Figure out what your slice 
of change is…Sometimes we 
get a little grandiose about 
all we can achieve – and 
you’ll get there. But I think if 
each step is a growth, if you 
can identify the minimum 
growth you can achieve, 
then all kinds of good things 
can happen.”United Nations. 
Powers explained her book 
is a fusion of her personal 
memoir with concrete policy 
analysis.
“My book is definitely 
unique 
in 
the 
political 
memoir 
domain 
in 
combining ample discussion 
of romance with a darker 
discussion of Putin – but 
with no connection between 
the two,” Power said. 
Powers went on to discuss 

a range of policy issues she 
focused on during her time 
in office, from relations with 
the Middle East to the Ebola 
crisis 
that 
ravaged 
West 
Africa in 2014. She touched 
on what she viewed as her 
greatest failure in office – 
Obama’s inability to secure 
congressional approval for 
a military strike in Syria in 
2013. 
After the event, Public 
Policy 
graduate 
student 
Mohammad Akbar Zadran 
told 
The 
Daily 
that 
he 
attended the lecture in an 
attempt to see foreign policy 
in action. 
“I came to this event in 
order to learn about the 
practicality 
of 
diplomacy 
and foreign policy in the 
United States,” Zadran said. 
“In class we have discussions 
about policy as an academic 
arena, but here we hear about 
its practical implementation 
and implications and the 
effect on the United States 
and around the world. 

Ultimately, 
Power 

concluded by stressing to 
students the importance of 
having specific, streamlined 
policy goals in the field of 
diplomacy, and to celebrate 
every small win. 
“He or she who fights every 
battle fights none,” she said. 
“Figure out what your slice 
of change is…Sometimes we 
get a little grandiose about 
all we can achieve – and 
you’ll get there. But I think if 
each step is a growth, if you 
can identify the minimum 
growth you can achieve, 
then all kinds of good things 
can happen.” 

DIPLOMACY
From Page 1

