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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Monday, November 4, 2019
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Each month, The Michigan
Daily’s Administration Beat sits
down with University President
Mark
Schlissel
to
discuss
important
questions
about
University policy, commitments
and challenges. Topics discussed
in the interview included the
Detroit Center for Innovation,
the 2020 presidential debate,
carbon neutrality and more. This
transcript has been abbreviated
and reordered for reader clarity.
Detroit Center for Innovation
The Michigan Daily: Recently,
the University announced it will
collaborate to open the Detroit
Center for Innovation. While
the University states this project
will further the goal of fostering
a collaborative relationship with
Detroit, there has been some
backlash. Specifically, some have
taken to social media calling
on the University to improve
funding to Flint and Dearborn
campuses before beginning a
$300 million project, while others
have referred to the University’s
investment
as
gentrification.
What is your response to both of
these criticisms?
President
Mark
Schlissel:
These (criticisms) may be based
on faulty information. So the
University as a whole has over
300 projects going on in Detroit.
This is just the latest one. Most of
them involve things where we’re
working with the Detroit public
K-12 school students. We have a
new school we’re collaborating
on at Marygrove, at the site of the
old Marygrove College. We’ve
got the Michigan Engineering
Zone, a robotics program for
high school students. We have
a mentoring program for kids
heading into medicine.
LEGISLATION
CPS teachers’ strike, wildfires in CA
may impact early action applications
‘U’ grants exemptions for deadlines on an individual basis under pressing circumstances
ALEX HARRING
Daily Staff Reporter
Democratic group Priorities
USA filed a lawsuit on Oct.
30 alleging Michigan violates
voter rights when allowing
absentee ballots to be thrown
out if voter signatures do
not match those on other
documents held by election
officials.
Priorities USA is a political
action committee originally
founded in 2011 to support
the
re-election
of
former
President
Barack
Obama.
Their lawsuit alleges Michigan
law has clerks compare voter
signatures on absentee ballot
applications with those on
qualified state voter lists.
If the signatures do not
match, the clerk must reject
the
absentee
application.
Similarly, if the signature
on an absentee ballot does
not match the signature on
another reference signature,
the clerk must throw the vote
out.
A Priorities USA statement
said the signature-match law
violates citizens’ right to vote
and to procedural process
under both the First and
Fourteenth
Amendments.
Group files
lawsuit over
violation of
voter rights
ELECTIONS
Priorities USA alleges
unnecessary rejection of
numerous absentee ballots
SONIA LEE
Daily Staff Reporter
DESIGN BY BETSY STUBBS
A
new
Senate
bill
was
introduced
to
the
Michigan
Legislature in mid-October with
the goal to officially include
gender
identity
and
sexual
orientation as protected classes
under Michigan’s hate crime laws.
Currently,
Michigan’s
hate
crime law only enforces penalties
for
those
who
intimidate
individuals based on “race, color,
religion,
gender,
or
national
origin.” The new bill would
offer much needed protections
for individuals in the LGBTQ
community.
State
Sen.
Jeremy
Moss,
D-Southfield, served two terms
in
the
Michigan
House
of
Representatives
before
being
elected as a senator. Earlier this
year, he introduced a bill in the
House that would expand the
Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act
to include protections for sexual
orientation and gender identity,
especially with regard to housing
and employment.
“For the last 30 plus years,
members of the LGBT community
have tried to include sexual
orientation and gender identity
as protected classes here in
Michigan,” Moss said.
Gender identity, sexual
orientation now included
in MI state legislature
ALYSSA MCMURTRY
Daily Staff Reporter
Schlissel talks
2020 debate,
sexual assault
climate survey
U-M president answers questions
regarding policy, campus security
EMMA STEIN &
LIAT WEINSTEIN
Daily Staff Reporters
GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail
news@michigandaily.com and let us know.
INDEX
Vol. CXXIX, No. 23
©2019 The Michigan Daily
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O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
CROSSWORD................6
M I C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 B
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Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
New bill adds
to protected
classes for
hate crimes
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
ADMINISTRATION
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
In response to the recent
announcement, the University of
Michigan will work with the city
of Detroit to build a $300 million
Detroit Center for Innovation,
University students created a
petition urging the University to
reconsider the facility. According
to an email from University
President Mark Schlissel, the
education and research complex
will provide undergraduate and
graduate teaching in subjects
like
artificial
intelligence,
cybersecurity and technology.
The
petition
specifically
condemns the University’s choice
to build the Center on the failed
site of the proposed Wayne County
jail, the construction of which was
halted in 2013 when the project
went $91 million over its initial
budget. It also criticized the
University for investing in Detroit
Renaissance Real Estate Fund
LP, a firm with ties to a string of
evictions in Detroit.
“Yet with this decision, the
University
Administration
signals its priorities in Detroit
do not lie with Detroiters,” the
petition reads. “Surely, a genuine
commitment to the city would not
include investing in a company that
profits off of evicting Detroiters
from their homes, despite criticism
from students and community
members on the investment. Nor
would it ignore plans from the
Detroit Justice Center to develop
a restorative justice initiative on
the once-failed jail site where the
Innovation Center will now lie.”
The petition, which was started
by One University spokesperson
and LSA junior Amytess Girgis,
calls on the University to discuss
future
building
plans
with
residents of Detroit and consider
the needs of the city’s population.
Students sign petition opposing
Detroit Center for Innovation
Creation of document follows the University’s announcement of new facility
DESIGN BY LIZZY RUEPPEL
LIAT WEINSTEIN
Daily Staff Reporter
See SCHLISSEL PAGE 2A
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
In the past few weeks,
Chicago students have dealt
with the consequences of an
11-day teacher’s strike, while
millions of California residents
have lost power and have
even been forced to evacuate
their homes.These unforeseen
circumstances have presented
barriers for high school seniors
applying to colleges, including
the University of Michigan, in
time for early deadlines.
When
LSA
sophomore
Anna Nedoss was applying
to colleges two years ago, she
relied on her counselor in the
Chicago Public School System
throughout the process.
However, Chicago students
like Nedoss who are applying
this
year
were
unable
to
contact their counselors for
11 days, as the CPS staff and
teachers had been on strike
through Thursday, when a
contract
between
the
city
and union was agreed upon.
Classes resumed on Friday.
“When I was applying, my
counselor was definitely a big
resource to me,” Nedoss said.
“If you don’t have access to
your counselor — the person
who actually sends your info to
the colleges you’re applying to
— it’s not pointless, but there’s
definitely barriers you just
can’t get past.”
Similarly,
in
Southern
California
many
schools
have
been
closed
for
the
past week as a result of the
fires.
Engineering
junior
Courtney Bagnall lives near
the Getty area, the location
of wildfire that began early
Monday morning and was
only 15 percent contained by
Wednesday. Bagnall lives far
enough away that her family
was not required to evacuate,
but close enough that her
family members could see
smoke through the window. As
a result, the local high school
was closed multiple days this
week.
In
addition
to
needing
counselors
to
submit
information on behalf of their
students, teachers —who are on
strike in Chicago and possibly
evacuating their homes in
South California — often write
letters
of
recommendation
for students. These letters are
considered part of a complete
application for colleges and
cannot
be
submitted
by
students in most cases.
The situations high school
seniors in these areas face
highlight obstacles students
encounter
when
trying
to
submit
early
college
applications this year. Nedoss
noted a lack of access to
internet at home and public
transportation to get to a public
library like many students in
Chicago. Bagnall questioned
how students and faculty could
submit documents online with
the widespread power outages
and mandated evacuations.
“I don’t know how you
would deal with not having
a computer and not having
your
counselor
reading
the
application
or
simply
just sending in the teacher
recommendations,”
Bagnall
said. “I don’t know how that
would happen by the deadline
if class is still cancelled and
the fires are still going.”