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

