“The 
First 
Amendment 
… is subject to appropriate 
limitations on its continued 
and repeated usage.”
Defendants 
named 
in 
the lawsuit include Henry 
Herskovitz, 
Gloria 
Harb, 
Tom Saffold, Rudy List and 
Chris 
Mark. 
The 
lawsuit 
also lists the groups Deir 
Yassin 
Remembered 
and 
Jewish Witnesses for Peace 
and Friends — both led by 
Herskovitz, a former member 
of the congregation — as 
defendants. 
The Southern Poverty Law 
Center placed Deir Yassin 
Remembered on a list of 
hate groups in 2017 due to 
their support of Holocaust 
deniers 
Michael 
Hoffman, 
Eric Hunt, Germar Rudolf 
and the late Bradley Smith. 
Board members have also 
questioned 
historically 
accurate 
facts 
about 
the 
Holocaust.
In an August interview 
with The Daily, Herskovitz 
criticized the SPLC and said 
he believes hate is a name-
calling mechanism.
“They’re 
an 
amazing 
business because all they 
do is sell fear,” Herskovitz 
said. “As it turns out we were 
placed on the hate group due 
to one person, and that was 
with my membership to Deir 
Yassin Remembered, which 
isn’t the vigil group. But 
when you’re slimy people you 
don’t care about the details or 
the facts.” 
Deir Yassin Remembered 
previously campaigned for 
the release of Ernst Zundel, 
a German neo-Nazi who was 
imprisoned for inciting race 
hatred. In 2006, Herskovitz 
and Daniel McGowan, the 
former 
executive 
director 
of Deir Yassin Remembered, 
visited Zundel in Mannheim 
Prison 
in 
Germany. 
Herskovitz told The Daily 
that he wished to meet with 
Zundel in order to “confront 
the issue.”
“Every time I hear that 
someone is an anti-Semite, I 
want to go meet that person,” 
Herskovitz said. “If you put 
‘Holocaust deniers’ in quotes, 
I’ve 
met 
more 
Holocaust 
deniers than you can name 
because I want to go to 
people. I want to see what 
they’re really about … I am 
concerned about Jews, and 
I am very concerned about 
how their history is going to 
be finally written.”

However, 
Herskovitz 
rejects the claim Witnesses 
for Peace and any of its 
members are anti-Semitic. 
Member 
Blaine 
Coleman 
said the protest is generally 
against the military aid of 
Israel. 
“You’ve 
got 
a 
racist, 
violent government in Israel 
that has just shot down 
dozens of unarmed human 
rights protesters in Gaza,” 
Herskovitz said. “Israel is 
about 
killing 
Palestinians 
and taking their land. I don’t 
think it’s about religion.”
In addition to Herskovitz 
and the other protesters, 
the 
lawsuit 
lists 
Mayor 
Christopher 
Taylor, 
City 
Attorney Stephen Postema, 
Senior 
Assistant 
City 
Attorney 
Kristen 
Larcom 
and 
Community 
Services 
Administrator 
Derek 
Delacourt 
as 
defendants, 
claiming the city has not 
required the group to obtain 
a permit to continue their 
demonstrations. 
The 
litigation 
also 
alleges 
that 
by 
allowing 
the 
protests 
to 
continue 
without 
restrictions, 
the 
city 
infringes 
upon 
the 
congregation 
member’s 
First Amendment rights, as 
they are unable to practice 
their 
freedom 
of 
religion 
without being “harassed” by 
demonstrators.
Taylor told The Daily he 
has not yet read the complaint 
or received communications 
regarding the lawsuit from 
city lawyers. He said the city 
has done everything possible 
to 
ensure 
constitutional 
rights are protected.
“The 
city 
honors 
the 
constitutional 
rights 
of 
everyone, no matter what your 
political views,” Taylor said. 
“In my opinion, the protests 
in front of the synagogue 
are 
entirely 
inappropriate 
and disgraceful. The city 
respects the constitutional 
rights 
of 
the 
people 
to 
express themselves and we 
act accordingly.”
The protests are not only 
harmful and irrational, Taylor 
said, but are inconsistent 
with Ann Arbor’s community 
values.
Robert Blumenthal, Beth 
Israel 
Congregation 
board 
president, gave The Daily a 
statement on behalf of the 
synagogue.
“While 
Beth 
Israel 
Congregation is in no way 
associated with this lawsuit, 
the activity outside of our 
house of worship every week 
continues to be offensive and 

reprehensible, and includes 
anti-Semitic 
hate 
speech,” 
the statement reads.
Rabbi Nadav Caine, from 
the Beth Israel Synagogue, 
told 
The 
Daily 
he 
and 
members of the congregation 
are often distressed about 
the protest. Caine said it is 
disconcerting that a city such 
as Ann Arbor would allow 
these 
demonstrations 
to 
continue for so long.
However, Caine said Beth 
Israel Congregation has a 
very 
positive 
relationship 
with Taylor, the Ann Arbor 
City Council and the city 
attorney. However, he still 
questions if more can be done 
to limit the volume of the 
protests, which he called hate 
speech.
“I 
value 
the 
First 
Amendment. 
I 
value 
my 
relationships with the City, 
but I sometimes wonder if 
this were happening to an 
African 
American 
church 
or to the mosque, whether it 
wouldn’t be more of a topic 
of conversation,” Caine said. 
“When it comes to the City 
Council and local ordinances, 
that’s really what it comes 
down to.”
Caine 
also 
said 
the 
synagogue has chosen to not 
participate in the lawsuit but 
could not comment as to why. 
Congregation members at 
Beth Israel often try to ignore 
the 
protesters 
and 
signs, 
Blumenthal said, though the 
members often find them 
very upsetting. He said many 
members of the congregation 
feel the city could do more, 
but they understand there are 
some limitations.
Blumenthal said said the 
city has responded to the 
protesters when contacted 
by Beth Israel Congregation 
in the past. Previously, the 
protesters had blocked the 
driveway into the synagogue, 
Blumenthal explained, which 
restricted 
congregation 
members from entering the 
parking lot.
Blumenthal said the police 
came 
after 
the 
city 
was 
notified and drew lines to 
prevent the protesters from 
surrounding the parking lot. 
“We 
(Beth 
Israel 
Congregation) 
are 
fairly 
resilient as a group, we’ve 
had to be over history,” 
Blumenthal said. “Some of us 
have young children there, 
and (the protest) has been 
going on 16 years … it’s been 
every week with sometimes 
very hateful signs.”

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, January 8, 2020 — 3A

LAWSUIT
From Page 1A

Ursula 
Jakob, 
the 
lab’s 
primary investigator, said the 
researchers 
observed 
that 
oxidative 
stress 
in 
juvenile 
worms 
resulted 
in 
longer 
lifespans, leading them to begin 
their experiments. 
“The worms that have the 
highest levels of reactive oxygen 
species during this early stage 
were the ones that were most 
stress-resistant and the longest 
lived of the whole population,” 
Jakob said. “That was something 
that was very intriguing because 
it suggested that you can have 
these events very early in life in 
an organism that triggers this 
production of reactive oxygen 
species, and that will then 
extend the lifespan of that sub-
population of worms.”
Bazopoulou said they induced 
specific amounts of oxidative 
stress in these worm populations 
during early-life stages to test if 
it increased lifespan. 
“The main message is that 
oxidants in early life might 
predispose 
the 
organisms 
to 
withstanding 
stress,” 
Bazopoulou said. “They were 
becoming preconditioned; they 
were experiencing some early-

life stress which made them 
battle stress that they were 
encountering later in life.”
Bazopoulou 
said 
the 
lab 
planned 
to 
investigate 
this 
specific mechanism throughout 
an organism’s lifespan and how 
it may affect predisposition to 
age-associated diseases. 
“We are also interested now 
in seeing whether those early-
life oxidants can predispose 
organisms to better battle age-
related 
pathologies 
such 
as 
neurodegenerative 
disorders 
like dementia and Alzheimer’s,” 
Bazopoulou said.
LSA freshman Liam Thew 
Forrester, 
an 
undergraduate 
research 
assistant 
in 
a 
different lab at the molecular 
and 
behavioral 
neuroscience 
institution, 
studies 
stress-
induced mood disorders. He 
shared his excitement at the 
findings of this stress-related 
research. 
“I was really surprised by it, 
it’s really interesting to think 
that the stress can actually be 
beneficial if it’s early on because 
that could vastly change how we 
do things, not just for longevity, 
it could help with the stress-
induced 
disorders 
as 
well,” 
Forrester said. 
Jakob said she hopes to 
eventually develop interventions 

to help people combat the health 
and lifestyle struggles of aging. 
“This suggests that at a 
very early stage in life you can 
positively affect lifespan by, in 
this case, changing the levels of 
reactive oxygen species,” Jakob 
said. “If we can find out what 
are the mechanisms that are 
set in motion at a juvenile stage 
but ultimately are responsible 
later in life for higher stress 
resistance and longer life, maybe 
we can find an intervention that 
targets directly those processes 
so that we actually still have 
a chance to benefit from this 
information.”
Jakob explained the goal 
of this research is to have a 
real impact on human health 
and physiology. Her lab plans 
to continue investigating the 
unknown factors that affect 
aging. 
“If we understand all the 
long-term effects that have 
been set into motion in early 
development, maybe we can 
mimic those long-term effects by 
pharmacological interventions 
or other interventions,” Jakob 
said. “What are ultimately the 
changes in these organisms 
when it comes to aging and 
death that allows them to live 
longer?”

STRESS
From Page 1A

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GAME
From Page 1A

“This is the fruit of great 
interdisciplinary teamwork 
and also really working with 
the parents and the kids that 
are testing the game, they 
are also a part of it.”
Graf said he was grateful to 
be able to engage in this type 
of applied research. 
“Developing 
technology 
explicitly to promote social 
change and the removal of 
social and physical barriers 
is just something that feels 
very fulfilling to make steps 
towards,” Graf said. “I’m just 
privileged that the University 
gives me the freedom to 
decide in which direction I 
want to develop technology. 
The freedom I have as a 
researcher and academic is to 
go for the truly life-fulfilling 
work.”
Hun-Seok 
Kim, 
an 
Engineering 
assistant 
professor, 
also 
found 
the 
project’s goal to be important. 
“It is a unique project 
for our research team as it 
directly connects technology 
development 
and 
research 
to 
an 
application 
with 
immediate social impacts,” 
Kim said. “Unlike other more 
theoretical 
research, 
this 
project allows us to directly 
engage with people outside of 
academia.”
Graf said participants have 
had positive responses to 
the project. He said players 
appreciated 
its 
inclusivity 
for both those with mobility 
disabilities and those without.
“We had a couple of kids 
ages 7 to 16 years test the 
system, and they found the 
game competitive, regardless of 
whether they use wheelchairs 
or not,” Graf said. “My favorite 
quote from our studies that 
sums beautifully the idea of 
what inclusive play can be is 
a participant who played the 
game using a wheelchair said 

it’s basically adapted for everyone, 
even people with no physical 
disabilities.” 
Information 
senior 
Emma 
Shpiz, who has been a research 
assistant on the project since the 
winter 2017 semester, noted her 
previous experience working with 
children with disabilities.
“I have a lot of background 
in working with kids, especially 
throughout high school,” Shpiz 
said. “I was really involved in 
clubs where we were using sports 
to build relationships and have a 
combination of fun and learning 
for different kids with different 
disabilities. Also, having a couple 
different family members who 
have various disabilities (made) 
this something that was really 
important to me.”
Shpiz said she was drawn to 
iGYM because of how unique the 
project was.
“I was honestly shocked that 
nothing like this had been done 
before.” Shpiz said “It’s kind 
of very different in the field. 
Obviously, there’s a lot of work 
towards 
different 
games 
for 
people with different disabilities, 
but just finding this really niche 
space where it keeps it competitive 
for both sides was really exciting 
for me.”
Shpiz 
realized 
how 
iGYM 
could improve inclusivity for 
people with disabilities when she 
interviewed a 5-year-old girl with 
a disability and her mother, who 
found the game very effective for 
her daughter.
“We 
were 
sitting 
in 
the 
interview 
asking 
her 
pretty 
generic questions after she had 

played the game, and all of a 
sudden her mom, she starts crying 
and was like, ‘This is so incredible, 
I’m so glad you guys are doing 
this, I’m dying for this game 
to be placed in my daughter’s 
school,’” Shpiz said. “For this to be 
something that I think could have 
a really big impact is my biggest 
takeaway.”
Kim said iGYM has merited 
positive reactions from children, 
parents and researchers alike, 
who found the project very 
rewarding.
“We had a case where these 
two brothers had never played 
a physical game before because 
their abilities are quite different,” 
Kim said. “We saw some teary 
eyes from the parents, and it was 
a very rewarding moment to see 
them and also researchers having 
a lot of fun.”
Graf said he and his team 
foresee iGYM entering the market 
in the future and are currently 
working on making the system 
more robust before consulting 
with an industry partner. The 
Houston YMCA and spaces in 
New York have made inquiries 
about having the system installed.
Kim said the future of iGYM 
holds many different possibilities 
due to the versatility of augmented 
reality systems.
“Possibilities 
are 
virtually 
limitless,” Kim said. “AR systems 
can 
overcome 
the 
limitation 
of 
physical 
surroundings 
by 
augmenting 
the 
reality. 
For 
example, iGYM augments each 
player’s ability to allow inclusive 
play among people with different 
physical abilities.”

“As someone that’s interested 
in policy, this would add that 
to what I’m already learning 
in school,” Abdelbaki said. “It 
would allow me to keep econ 
and international studies as my 
priorities.”
To complete the 16-credit 
minor, students will enroll 
in PubPol 201, a four-credit 
survey course of current policy 
issues, as well as PubPol 320, 
a four-credit class on the 
relationship between politics 
and public policy that all Ford 
School majors are required to 
take. Students who have not 
taken Econ 101 will take PubPol 
310, a four-credit class aimed 
at using economics to analyze 
policy, while those who have 
taken Econ 101 can substitute 
an elective instead. To complete 

the minor, students must also 
take four credits of electives.
Maccini said the minor is 
geared towards students like 
Abdelbaki, who hope to add 
public policy skills to their 
degrees. 
“The idea is to provide this 
supplementary set of tools that 
really focus in on policy change, 
social 
change, 
and 
more 
generally leadership, analytical 
skills, critical thinking skills, 
drawing primarily from an 
interdisciplinary social science 
perspective,” Maccini said. 
In a December email to 
students and faculty, Dean 
Michael Barr clarified that 
certain 
benefits 
would 
be 
reserved 
for 
Public 
Policy 
majors.
“Please note that while we 
hope to actively engage our 
new BA minor cohort into the 
Ford School community, some 
resources, such as our dedicated 
career counselor, will remain 

available only to students who 
are majoring in public policy,” 
Barr wrote.
Public Policy senior Nicholas 
Martire serves as the president 
of the Public Policy School’s 
undergraduate student council. 
He noted the minor provides a 
good sampling of the classes 
and skills public policy majors 
learn.
“For me, Ford has been an 
opportunity to look at real-
world issues and figure out 
policy issues to solve them,” 
Martire 
said. 
“The 
minor 
sounds like it will offer a similar 
opportunity.”
Martire said he is looking 
forward to seeing more students 
get involved with public policy.
“It 
seems 
like 
a 
great 
opportunity for more students 
to have a chance to receive a 
Ford education,” Martire said. 
“I think the more people that 
have the opportunity to have 
some sort of public policy 

MINOR
From Page 1A

To 
conclude 
his 
talk, 
Wallace said he had a dream 
where he was in a sinking 
boat. 
In 
the 
dream, 
he 
decided to save the children 
drowning at the bottom of 
the ship instead of himself. 
He explained this dream was 
a metaphor for him deciding 
to risk his career in order 
to share his opinion about 
journalistic integrity. 
Ann 
Arbor 
resident 
George 
Feldman 
said 
he 
found 
the 
sinking 
ship 
metaphor the most moving 
part of Wallace’s talk. 
“It was a metaphor for 
a situation we all feel,” 
Feldman said. “What would 

you do (in a situation) when 
it’s important … What do you 
do when you risk your job, 
or even when you risk your 
promotion, or you risk your 
friends cutting you off when 
you take an unpopular or 
difficult choice?”
After the book reading, 
Wallace held a question-
and-answer 
session. 
Audience members praised 
his skills as a storyteller 
and debated the need for 
facts 
versus 
storytelling. 
Some said people are only 
interested 
in 
compelling 
stories and others said facts 
are of interest when they are 
from trusted sources. 
When asked to define the 
role of journalists, Wallace 
said the profession should 
encourage 
unconventional 
journalistic writing to keep 

up 
with 
current 
media 
trends. According to Wallace, 
traditional 
journalism 
styles, 
which 
prioritize 
key 
facts 
over 
narrative 
storytelling, 
were 
only 
relevant when news traveled 
slower, such as when people 
had to ride horses to deliver 
newspapers.
Ann 
Arbor 
resident 
Anna 
Brunner 
said 
she 
found Wallace’s ideas of 
reinventing 
the 
role 
of 
journalism was inspiring. 
“My 
favorite 
part 
was 
how he talked about the 
fundamental change that is 
needed in journalism today,” 
Brunner said. “Providing the 
different ways with being in 
community and reimagining 
a profession in a way that is 
centering justice and equity 
was really inspiring.”

JOURNALIST
From Page 1A

“I’m just not sure when I 
weigh the pros and cons that 
the value to those individuals 
overrides the value of a family 
being able to live in a house or 
someone not living next to a 
commercial enterprise.”
Ann 
Arbor 
Mayor 
Christopher Taylor said he 
supported 
the 
resolution, 
noting 
neighborhoods 
with 
homes used for short-term 
rentals often lose their sense 
of community.
“There’s incomplete data as 
to safety, there are incomplete 
data as to the effect on pricing, 
but I think that the absence of 
community is unanswerable 

and for me is of particular 
importance.”
The council voted to approve 
the resolution. Additionally, 
councilmembers 
voted 
to 
add 
a 
full-time 
lieutenant 
position to the Ann Arbor 
Police Department to audit 
and review reports and video 
footage. They also approved 
annexing 
parcels 
of 
Ann 
Arbor Township and Pittsfield 
Township.
Local 
environmental 
toxicologist 
Mozhgan 
Savabieasfahani spoke during 
public 
comment. 
At 
the 
last City Council meeting, 
Savabieasfahani 
announced 
her candidacy for the Ward 4 
seat in 2020, where she will 
be running against Eaton and 
Ann Arbor resident Jen Eyer, 

a former journalist for MLive 
and the Ann Arbor News. Last 
week, Savabieasfahani said her 
platform would be focused on 
advocating for the immediate 
cleanup 
of 
the 
Gelman 
Dioxane 
plume 
and 
PFAS 
contamination in Ann Arbor.
Savabieasfahani said she did 
not support putting the site of 
the Gelman Dioxane plume on 
the Environmental Protection 
Agency’s list as a Superfund 
site.
“It takes up to 30 years for 
sites that are already on the 
EPA list to be cleaned up,” 
Savabieasfahani 
said. 
“If 
we want to go that route it’s 
basically just being forced to 
wait for a really long time if it 
comes to be clean.”

COUNCIL
From Page 2A

