On Oct. 8, the U.S. Supreme 
Court heard three cases that 
could end protections for 
LGBTQ employees in the 
United States.
In each of the three cases 
brought up to the Supreme 
Court — Altitude Express, 
Inc. v. Zarda, Bostock v. 
Clayton County and R.G. & 
G.R. Harris Funeral Homes 
v. EEOC — the employers 
dismissed their employees 
on the basis of their sexual 
orientation. In both Zarda 
and Bostock, the employees 
Donald Zarda and Gerald 
Bostock allege their employers 
fired 
them 
because 
their 
employers 
discovered 
the 
men were gay. In the Harris 
Funeral 
Homes 
case, 
the 
employee — Aimee Stephens, 
a trans woman — was fired 
because her boss claimed 
that it would be against his 
religion 
for 
Stephens 
“to 
deny (her) sex while acting 
as a representative of (the) 
organization.”
Title 
VII 
of 
the 
Civil 

Rights Act of 1964 protects 
employees 
from 
being 
discriminated against based 
on their race, color, religion, 
national origin or sex. In 
previous 
Supreme 
Court 
cases, “sex” discrimination 
has been interpreted as not 
discriminating 
based 
on 
gender identity. Now, the 
Supreme Court will decide 
if the language “sex” in Title 
VII covers sexual orientation. 
The University’s chapter 
of College Democrats came 
out strongly in support of 
the Supreme Court including 
sexual orientation as a part of 
civil rights. Camille Mancuso, 
communications 
director 
of 
College 
Democrats, 
emphasized the importance 
of the decision.
“LGBTQ+ rights are civil 
rights,” Mancuso said. “From 
the 
inability 
of 
same-sex 
couples to adopt children, to 
being fired in the workplace 
for one’s sexual orientation or 
gender identity, to the murder 
of trans women of color across 
the country, the rights of 
LGBTQ+ folks are constantly 
being threatened.” 

Love is in the air — and online 
— at the University of Michigan.
More 
than 
2,900 
undergraduate 
students 
— 
approximately one out of every 
10 — have completed a new 
matchmaking service survey, 
dubbed the Michigan Marriage 
Pact, as of Thursday afternoon. 

LSA junior Elien Michielssen, 
one of the survey’s creators, 
said a team of students created 
the online questionnaire for a 
class project in Psychology 223.
“There’s a lot of dating sites 
out there — some that people 
are 
comfortable 
with 
and 
some that people aren’t — and 
we wanted to do something 
that was Michigan-specific,” 
Michielssen said. “We wanted 
to bring it to Michigan and spice 

up the campus a little bit.”
Michielssen 
said 
the 
questionnaire, which opened 
Saturday 
afternoon, 
has 
a 
lifespan of 21 days. At the 
end of the submission period, 
students will be emailed their 
match’s name and potentially 
a message from their match, 
though 
Michielssen 
said 
there is a possibility that not 
every person who completes 
the questionnaire will have a 

match.
Participants 
answer 
a 
series of 40 questions, ranging 
from the likelihood of using 
a 
prenuptial 
agreement 
to 
views on gun ownership. The 
questionnaire also asks students 
to rate the levels of their drug 
and alcohol use, sex lives, 
cleanliness, spending habits and 
other personality traits.

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Friday, October 25, 2019

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Paani, a non-profit started 
by 
University 
alumni 
in 
response 
to 
the 
growing 
water shortage in Pakistan, 
spearheaded a teach-in on 
the 
humanitarian 
crisis 
in 
Kashmir, 
a 
disputed 
territory 
in 
the 
northern 
part 
of 
India, 
Thursday 
night. 
In 
particular, 
the 
event focused on the current 
state of Indian-administered 
Kashmir 
following 
India’s 
tighter control and erosion of 
democratic freedoms in the 
region. 
Paani organized the teach-
in in conjunction with several 
other cultural organizations 
on campus. Rackham student 
Nishita 
Trisal, 
a 
Ph.D. 
candidate 
in 
anthropology 
studying 
Kashmir, 
and 
Rackham 
student 
Safwaan 
Mir, 
president 
of 
the 
University’s chapter of Stand 
with Kashmir, headed the 
teach-in by presenting on the 
current crisis in the region 
and the history and context 
of 
the 
situation. 
Though 
both individuals come from 
Kashmiri backgrounds, Trisal 
noted they are not speaking for 
all Kashmiris, especially since 
the current communications 
blackout in Indian-controlled 
Kashmir means those in the 
region may not be able to 
speak themselves on these 

issues right now. 
Mir explained both India 
and Pakistan are interested 
in the Kashmir region for 
its natural resources, such 
as water, and because of its 
strategic 
military 
position 
between the two countries 
and China. Mir emphasized 

the suffering of the Kashmiri 
people is lost in the struggle 
for dominance between these 
two powerful countries. 
“(India 
and 
Pakistan’s) 
interests 
are 
primarily 
going to be in their strategic 
political position, not in the 
interest and the well-being of 

the Kashmiri people who have 
suffered the most,” Mir said. 
“Instead, the truly legitimate 
way to look at the situation is 
for Kashmiris to have a right 
to choose for themselves what 
they want to be and what their 
future is.”

University of Michigan alum 
Alex Lieberman spoke about 
Morning Brew, the startup he 
founded after graduating from 
the Ross School of Business 
in 
2015, 
at 
the 
Robertson 
Auditorium Thursday.
Lieberman is the co-founder 
and CEO of Morning Brew, 
a daily email newsletter that 
condenses business news into 
content that appeals to a younger 
audience. During his time at the 
Business 
School, 
Lieberman 
said he realized there wasn’t 
a platform that made business 
news interesting for students 
and young adults. 
“These students are working 
their asses off to have careers 
in business, and yet they don’t 
have content that’s storytelling 
the business world in a fun and 
engaging way,” Lieberman said. 
“So I just started writing a daily 
business roundup — which at the 
time looked very different from 
Morning Brew — but I would say 
had a lot of the same DNA.”

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INDEX
Vol. CXXIX, No. 18
©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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 B
michigandaily.com

For more stories and coverage, visit

Campus talks 
LGBTQ rights 
case before US 
Supreme Court
Community examines impact of 
workplace discrimination lawsuit

About 70 faculty, staff and 
students were in attendance 
on Thursday at LSA’s Office of 
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion 
panel 
focused 
on 
bringing 
awareness 
to 
Asian 
Pacific 
Islander 
Desi/American 
and 
Middle Eastern/North African 
identities at the University of 
Michigan. The event featured 
five speakers, all of whom were 
faculty and staff members at the 
University. 
The event began with questions 
from the hosts directed to specific 
panelists. 
The 
first 
question 
was for Melissa Borja, assistant 
professor in A/PIA studies, about 
the history of APID/A individuals 
at the University. 
Borja explained the importance 
of individuals claiming a specific 
identity and then allowing it 
to be counted in the school’s 
demographics. She explored the 
concept by using the example 
of how Asian Americans have 
changed the way they identify 
themselves over time. 

DEI panel 
discusses 
uncounted 
statistics

CAMPUS LIFE 

Faculty respond to 
underrepresented 
demographic groups

Teach-in raises awareness about 
Kashmir humanitarian crisis
Paani hosts event aiming to provide Kashmiri perspectives

Morning 
Brew CEO
highlights 
 
 
storytelling

BUSINESS

JASMIN LEE 
Daily Staff Reporter

Follow The Daily 
on Instagram, 
@michigandaily

KEEMYA ESMAEL/Daily
Rackham student Nishta Trisal speaks about the crisis in Kashmir and what the University can do to help at a teach-in held in 
Annenberg Auditorium Thursday evening.

Business alum Alex 
Lieberman reflects 
on entrepreneurship

ALEX HARRING
Daily Staff Reporter

CLAIRE HAO
Daily Staff Reporter

DESIGN BY ROSEANNE CHAO

See DEI, Page 3A
See BUSINESS, Page 3A

JULIA FANZERES
Daily Staff Reporter 

See SCOTUS, Page 3A
See DATING, Page 3A

JULIA FORREST
Daily Staff Reporter

Match made in algorithm: 
students turn to dating survey

2,900 undergraduates take quiz in hopes of finding the one on campus

FootballSaturday
Defensive line coach 
Shaun Nua’s journey from 
American Samoa to the 
sidelines at Michigan.

 » Page 4 and 5B

See PAANI, Page 3A