City Council passed an affordable
housing ordinance Monday evening
that provided incentives for private
developers to include affordable
housing units and also passed a
resolution for Ann Arbor to achieve
carbon neutrality by the year 2030.
More than 50 Ann Arbor residents
packed the seats of Larcom City Hall
for the first City Council meeting of
the month.
The Roosevelt Institute, a
University of Michigan student
progressive
public
policy
think
tank,
collaborated
with
the
Councilmember
Zachary
Ackerman, D-Ward 3, to draft an
ordinance incentivizing affordable
housing. Ackerman noted that other
policies to foster affordable housing,
such as rent control and inclusionary
zoning, are illegal in Michigan. This
leaves incentives as the only viable
form of policy the city can use to
create affordable housing.
Previously, the city has provided
market incentives for developers to
invest in residential housing. The
goal of these market incentives
was to ensure that Ann Arbor’s
new developments were more than
40 percent residential, but most
developments in Ann Arbor are
currently 90 percent residential.
Ackerman questioned why the city
continuously incentivizes projects
that developers are interested in
financing.
“As of now we highly incentivize
market rate housing,” Ackerman
said. “And market rate premium is so
lucrative that we see it used in every
downtown development and rarely
see other premiums used, premiums
that would incentivize affordable
housing and energy efficiency.”
To
the
public
eye,
the
current
situation
in
Hong
Kong
has
caused
violent
protests,
political
conflicts
and the potential for global
interference.
Behind
closed
doors, the conflict has divided
families.
Engineering research fellow
Leo Tse, who is from Hong
Kong, told The Daily his father
no longer speaks to him because
of their polarizing views on the
Chinese
government.
While
Tse believes there is a lack of
human rights protections in
Hong Kong and is protesting
against the government, his
father
believes
in
China’s
economic success under the
current system and does not
approve any interference with
the country’s policies. These
differences in beliefs are not
uncommon
among
Chinese
families, according to Tse.
“Is there a good outcome for
this?” Tse asked. “I don’t know,
I really don’t know. But that’s
the choice (for) a lot of people.
You know you’re going to piss
off your parents, but you know
what to do to make things right
as well, so you have to do it.”
To try and better the condition
and rights of those in Hong
Kong, in September, Tse formed
the Hong Kong Human Rights
Concern Group at the University.
Made up of about 13 students
and faculty members, this group
is advocating for civil liberties
in Hong Kong through various
initiatives.
“So right now, there are still
different opinions within the
group to be fair, but all of us
agree upon the concept of human
rights … all of us want to fight
for it,” Tse said. “There might
be different political views on
specific events and incidents,
but overall, we support human
rights,
and
that’s
why
we
gathered together and are doing
what we’re doing.”
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tuesday, November 5, 2019
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
The
Senate
Advisory
Committee
on
University
Affairs addressed lingering
questions regarding faculty
free speech and University
sexual misconduct policies in
a meeting on Monday. Topics
included the University of
Michigan’s
new
umbrella
policy for addressing sexual
misconduct across all three
university
campuses
and
an ongoing issue regarding
associate
professor
John
Cheney-Lippold’s
refusal
to write a recommendation
letter for a student’s study
abroad program in Israel last
year.
The University has moved
to
adopt
a
new
sexual
misconduct
policy
which
applies to all three of the
University
campuses.
This
new umbrella policy applies
to all University employees
and students, as well as third
parties involved in a sexual
misconduct
allegations.
SACUA
member
Christine
Gerdes said the content of the
document isn’t much different
from the original.
“The substance of much
of what you’ll see (in the
document)
isn’t
all
that
different from the substance
today,” Gerdes said. “But it
looks a lot different.”
The new policy clarifies
previous policies and includes
a fixed list of definitions
of
prohibited
conduct,
specifying what to do when
an
allegation
falls
under
the jurisdiction of multiple
misconduct committees. The
new policy also reevaluates
the
list
of
responsible
employees and confidential
resources
within
the
University.
The committee addressed
a
policy
issue
pertaining
to how employees couldn’t
appeal against a potential
suspension. The new umbrella
policy doesn’t require the
employee to be notified of a
future suspension or allow
for the employee to submit
a grievance in regards to
their
sexual
misconduct
case.
While
this
doesn’t
apply to tenured or clinical
professors,
SACUA
agreed
all parties should be given
the opportunity to submit an
appeal and be able to get their
affairs in order before getting
their pay taken away.
As
the
House
of
Representatives forges ahead
with an impeachment inquiry,
six
Michigan
Republicans
sent a letter to Speaker of the
House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,
last Wednesday, claiming the
inquiry
violated
President
Donald Trump’s legal right to
due process. However, experts
claim due process may not
apply, since the Constitution
gives the House full control over
impeachment proceedings.
According to an article in
the Detroit Free Press, the
letter complains the House
impeachment
process
bill
“may not guarantee the ’timely
release’of
transcripts
from
depositions.” The letter was
signed by state Reps. Jack
Bergman of Watersmeet, Bill
Huizenga
of
Zeeland,
Paul
Mitchell
of
Dryden,
John
Moolenaar of Midland, Fred
Upton of St. Joseph and Tim
Walberg of Tipton.
The Free Press article said the
letter does not mention Trump
by name or the allegations
against him.
GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail
news@michigandaily.com and let us know.
INDEX
Vol. CXXIX, No. 24
©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
Officials pass resolutions regarding
carbon neutrality, housing incentives
The Michigan Daily sat down with
E. Royster Harper, vice president
for student life at the University
of Michigan, Friday afternoon to
discuss the 2020 Presidential Debate
being hosted by the University, the
University’s
sexual
misconduct
policy, the transfer student credit
policy and more. This interview
has been edited and condensed for
clarity.
The Michigan Daily: The
University announced it will be
hosting a 2020 Presidential Debate
next October. How can students
take advantage of this opportunity?
What potential safety issues does
the University expect and what
will the University do to prepare
for them?
E. Royster Harper: It’s an
opportunity to engage in the
democratic process and to really
think about that. It’s an opportunity
for us to talk about things that
normally we wouldn’t talk about.
I’m excited about the work that
Central
Student
Government
(has done), they’ve had two town
halls to really try to get students
to talk about what their concerns
are. Of course, some students are
Harper:
‘U’ must
talk safety
for debate
CAMPUS LIFE
Student Life VP responds
to conflicting sex assault
statistics, bus detours
SACUA discusses faculty speech,
sexual misconduct policy changes
Professor who declined to write Israel study abroad letter addresses assembly
Michigan
Rs defend
Trump to
House Ds
City Council
says yes to
affordable
housing plan
GOVERNMENT
ZAYNA SYED
Daily Staff Reporter
Follow The Daily
on Instagram,
@michigandaily
KYTO BATT/Daily
SACUA Chair Joy Beatty discusses potential policies on sexual and gender-based misconduct at a SACUA meeting in the Fleming Administration Building Monday.
Hong Kong Human Rights Concern
Group advocates for civil liberties
Activists create community to discuss political climate, protests in China
See CITY COUNCIL, Page 3A
RACHEL CUNNINGHAM
& CLAIRE HAO
Daily News Editor &
Daily Staff Reporter
DESIGN BY LYDIA CHENG
See HONG KONG, Page 3A
See HARPER, Page 3A
ISABELLA PREISSLE
For The Daily
Experts weigh in on
impeachment inquiry,
MI Republicans letter
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
INSIDE:
MEN’S BASKETBALL
TIPOFF EDITION
PARNIA MAZHAR
Daily Staff Reporter
JULIA FANZERES
Daily Staff Reporter
See SACUA , Page 3A