Ann Arbor City Council 
had 
its 
first 
October 
meeting 
this 
Monday, 
discussing issues such as 
a Packard Road rezoning 
ordinance and marijuana 
legislation. 
The meeting began with 
a proclamation from Ann 
Arbor Mayor Christopher 
Taylor and Ann Arbor 
Fire Chief Mike Kennedy 
to kick off Fire Prevention 
Week. The Ann Arbor 
Fire 
Department 
and 
the 
National 
Fire 
Protection 
Association 
are 
collaborating 
to 
promote 
the 
national 
2019 campaign, with an 
emphasis 
on 
ensuring 
smoke 
detectors 
are 
functioning 
and 
practicing 
fire 
safety 
plans.
Lisa 
Jackson, 
vice 
chair of the Independent 
Community 
Police 
Oversight 
Commission, 
then 
spoke 
on 
the 
progress 
of 
the 
commission, 
created 
last March after citizens 
expressed concern over 

the transparency of the 
selection 
process. 
The 
2014 shooting and death 
of Aura Rosser by an 
Ann Arbor police officer 
highlighted the need of 
the commission and City 
Council 
unanimously 
passed 
a 
resolution 
to 
establish 
to 
police 
oversight 
board 
in 
October 2018. 
Jackson described the 
commission’s 
primary 
vision 
to 
foster 
a 
transparent and mutually 
beneficial 
relationship 
between the Ann Arbor 
Police Department and 
the 
community. 
She 
described the numerous 
trainings undertaken by 
the police department and 
encouraged individuals to 
file complaints through 
the committee. Jackson 
said they are optimistic to 
work with newly sworn in 
Police Chief Michael Cox. 
“Transparency 
is 
at 
the heart of earning and 
growing 
that 
trust,” 
Jackson said. “We want to 
hear feedback, we want to 
get criticism and we want 
to learn.” 

The University of Michigan 
held its 2019 Diversity, Equity 
and Inclusion summit on Monday 
to discuss the importance of 
embracing DEI on campus and in 
the broader community. The event 
featured remarks from University 
President Mark Schlissel and Van 
Jones, CEO of REFORM Alliance, 
political commentator and host of 
The Redemption Project and The 
Van Jones Show on CNN. The event 
took place at Hill Auditorium and 

drew a crowd of more than 1,000 
community members. 
The 
summit 
began 
with 
Chief Diversity Officer Robert 
Sellers welcoming the crowd and 
describing the University’s DEI 
goals. Sellers had a message for 
those who criticize DEI initiatives 
for focusing only on marginalized 
identities: that’s the point, he said. 
“DEI is often criticized, and 
it’s often criticized based on the 
belief that DEI efforts are only 
about designating resources and 
attention to benefit some specific 
particular people to the exclusion 

of other people,” Sellers said. “And 
those particular people are the 
individuals who have traditionally 
been 
underrepresented 
or 
marginalized 
or 
considered 
a 
minority. I’m here to tell you this 
morning that when it comes to 
the University of Michigan DEI 
plan, 
they’re 
absolutely 
right. 
Our plan focuses on a myriad of 
forms of diversity and commits to 
provide attention and resources 
to 
those 
who 
hold 
identities 
within these forms of adversity 
that 
have 
traditionally 
been 
underrepresented, 
marginalized, 

under acknowledged.”
Sellers then discussed 
how 
people have multiple identities, 
and how most people have been 
marginalized at some point in their 
lives. This is an advantage and a way 
for people to find common ground 
and create solutions, he said. 
“The DEI is a benefit to all of us, 
and thus is relevant to all of us,” 
Sellers said. “We all hold identities 
in which we are privileged as well 
as identities in which we have 
traditionally been marginalized or 
underrepresented. 

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tuesday, October 8, 2019

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Wallace House, a University 
of 
Michigan 
organization 
that sponsors fellowships for 
journalists and hosts events 
recognizing 
journalists’ 
work, held a panel event 
Monday 
night 
discussing 
the importance of returning 
American 
hostages 
home 
safely. 
The 
event 
centered 
around the story of freelance 

journalist 
James 
Foley, 
who was captured in Syria 
Thanksgiving Day 2012 by 
terrorist 
group 
ISIS 
and 
held for two years until he 
was killed in 2014. Diane 
Foley, 
his 
mother 
and 
founder of the James W. 
Foley 
Legacy 
Foundation, 
and Joel Simon, executive 
director of the Committee 
to Protect Journalists, were 
the panelists. The event was 
moderated by Margaux Ewen, 
the executive director of the 

Foley Legacy Foundation. 
Lynette 
Clemetson, 
director of the Wallace House, 
began the event by discussing 
President 
Trump’s 
recent 
decision to withdraw troops 
from Syria. She told the 
audience Diane Foley would be 
reading a statement from the 
foundation about the Trump 
administration’s decision. 
“This 
decision 
sends 
a 
message that those who take 
our citizens hostage will not 
face American justice,” Foley 

said. “We implore President 
Trump to hold these ISIS 
fighters accountable for their 
barbaric human rights crimes 
against our citizens and to 
protect our country against 
the spread of terror, should 
they escape.” 
Before beginning the panel’s 
conversation, 
they 
played 
the trailer for a documentary 
produced by the foundation: 
“Jim: The James Foley Story.”

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, 
D-Mich., led a town hall at 
the 
Wyandotte 
Boat 
Club 
to 
address 
the 
public’s 
environmental 
concerns 
on 
Monday 
evening. 
The 
event featured a panel of ten 
speakers, including state Sen. 
Stephanie Chang, state Rep. 
Cara Clemente, spokespersons 
from Friends of the Rouge, 
Clean Water Action and other 
members of environmentally 
oriented 
organizations. 
Around 100 audience members 
from the community attended, 
including a group of student 
volunteers representing the 
Sunrise Movement. 
The event began with a 
welcome from Dingell, who 
thanked 
the 
Wyandotte 
Boat Club for hosting. After 
a reminder for the audience 
to remain civil, the panel 
opened the conversation up for 
questions. The first questions 
concerned the preservation and 
protection of Michigan’s waters 
and 
ecosystems, 
specifically 
regarding clean water and the 
prominence of invasive species.

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INDEX
Vol. CXXIX, No. 7
©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

Council also passes resolution to create 
marijuana licensing review board

EMMA STEIN 
Daily Staff Reporter

The Domestic Policy Corps 
and Out in Public, two student 
organizations 
within 
the 
Ford School of Public Policy, 
hosted Samuel Bagenstos, 
Supreme Court civil rights 
litigator and University of 
Michigan law professor, on 
Monday 
afternoon. 
About 
30 students attended the 
event to hear the discussion 
of three pending Supreme 
Court cases centered around 
LGBTQ+ workers’ rights in 
America. 
The Department of Justice 
appointed Bagenstos, where 
he served as the principal 
deputy 
assistant 
attorney 
general for civil rights from 
2009 until 2011. He worked 
as a law clerk for Supreme 
Court Justice Ruth Bader 
Ginsburg and has published 
numerous articles in both 
academic and non-academic 
publications. Currently, he 
is a University of Michigan 
Law 
School 
professor 
specializing in civil rights 
and constitutional litigation. 
He remains an appellate and 
civil rights litigator, having 
argued four cases in front of 
the Supreme Court. 

Policy talk 
focuses on 
LGBTQ+ 
court cases

GOVERNMENT

Domestic Policy Corps 
and Out in Public host 
Samuel Bagenstos to 
discuss civil rights issues

JULIA FORREST
For The Daily 

Panel reflects on life of James 
Foley, safety of journalists abroad 

Wallace House emphasizes understanding U.S. hostage policy

Dingell 
addresses 
fossil fuel 
concerns 

City Council 
rejects prior 
zoning plan 
for Packard

GOVERNMENT 

LILY GOODING
For The Daily 

Follow The Daily 
on Instagram, 
@michigandaily

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Diane Foley, mother of freelance journalist James Foley, discusses the government’s inaction after her son’s death in a panel event presented by Wallace House at the 
Ford School of Public Policy Monday.

Van Jones discusses DEI, 
importance of collaboration

Schlissel, Sellers give remarks at Diversity, Equity and Inclusion summit 

See CITY, Page 3

KATHERINA SOURINE 
Daily Staff Reporter 

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Van Jones, CEO of REFORM Alliance and political commentator, disucusses collaborating with people of different backgrounds as part of his keynote address at the Diversity, 
Equity, and Inclusion Summit in Hill Auditorium Monday morning.

See DEI, Page 3

See POLICY, Page 3

EMMA RUBERG 
Daily Staff Reporter

See FOLEY, Page 3

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

U.S. Representative 
joins other speakers 
to answer questions 
on the environment