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INDEX
Vol. CXXIX, No. 56
©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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
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KRISTINA ZHENG
Daily Staff Reporter
Ann Arbor’s recreational
marijuana
businesses
reported higher levels of
sales since local retailers
took
advantage
of
the
statewide
legalization
of
marijuana. Skymint joined
five other cannabis retailers
in Ann Arbor licensed to sell
recreational marijuana on
Jan. 9.
Skymint, which is owned
by Green Peak Innovations,
is
the
largest
marijuana
company in Michigan. The
dispensary has been open
since November, and is one
of six locations throughout
the
state,
including
one
in Flint, which opened on
Thursday.
Summer
Ransom,
Skymint’s
president
of
retail, said gaining a license
for recreational sale has
transformed business at the
Ann Arbor location.
“It’s been night and day for
how busy we are,” Ransom
said.
“It
has
increased
business by five times —
certain days even more than
that — so it’s been pretty
crazy.”
The University of Michigan’s
Central Student Government will
send five representatives to the
Association of Big Ten Students
winter
conference
at
Indiana
University in Bloomington, Ind., on
Friday.
The
Association
of
Big
Ten Students brings together
representatives from each of the Big
Ten schools’ student governments
to
share
information
about
student governance and represent
students to administrations and
governments.
LSA junior Aidan Sova is
the executive director of ABTS
and said he is excited to bring
20 pieces of legislation to the
conference, up from CSG’s typical
10 items. The legislation includes
tackling student affordability and
developing
ABTS
partnerships
with student advocacy groups. The
flagship piece of legislation urges
all Big Ten universities to invest
with a climate conscious lens.
“Ben Gerstein wrote on behalf of
Michigan a piece of legislation that
would increase our commitment
to sustainability in asking our
respective
administrations
across the Big Ten to no longer
invest in fossil fuels,” Sova said.
Many Big
10 student
councils
to convene
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
JULIA RUBIN
Daily Staff Reporter
Following claims against Philbert,
a look at The Daily’s reporting on OIE
Office has received criticisms for length, effectiveness of investigations
BUSINESS
Indiana meeting brings
together leaders to share
ideas, collaborate on
upcoming legislation
Largest A2 retailer
obtains a license to
sell recreationally after
legalization in 2018
ANGELINA LITTLE
Daily Staff Reporter
See CSG, Page 3
See MARIJUANA, Page 3
Cannabis
company
sees high
sale levels
DESIGN BY MAGGIE HUANG
EMMA STEIN
Daily News Editor
When
remembering
Sam
Epstein,
linguistics
and
cognitive
science
professor,
who passed away on Nov.
29, colleagues and students
reflected on his brilliance.
During his 22-year career
at the University of Michigan,
Epstein
was
the
founding
director
of
the
Weinberg
Institute for Cognitive Science
in 2014 and worked closely
alongside
Noam
Chomsky,
famed intellectual and linguist.
Colleagues say his work in
linguistics
and
cognitive
science
propelled
forward
these
departments
at
the
University, and his teaching
was recognized by a 2009 John
D’Arms Award for Excellence
in
Graduate
Mentoring
and an Arthur F. Thurnau
Professorship in 2013.
Marlyse
Baptista,
Department
of
Linguistics
and the Weinberg Institute
faculty member, met Epstein
during her time as a student
at Harvard University nearly
30 years ago, where he was an
assistant professor. They kept
in touch when Epstein came
to the University, and when
Baptista received a position,
they were able to continue their
close
working
relationship,
which
became
a
life-long
friendship.
His
knack
for
complex thinking, she said, was
one of a kind.
“If you think of Sam Epstein,
one of the first things that
come to mind is his brilliance,”
Baptista said. “The brilliance
of his intellect. And whenever
you had a conversation with
him, both as a colleague and
as a friend, you knew that you
were going onto some type
of academic journey, whose
endpoint would always be so
deeply satisfying, because he
had that kind of mind. It was
always very elegant in the way
that he reasoned and argued for
a specific point. I don’t know
anybody who can match what
he had to offer.”
While Epstein’s excellence
as an academic is undisputed,
Baptista and other colleagues
unanimously
emphasized
the personality, charm and
empathy he brought to campus.
Colleagues, students reflect on legacy
of Cognitive Science Institute founder
Sam Epstein
remembered:
‘His door was
always open’
KATHERINA SOURINE
Daily Staff Reporter
KELSEY PEASE/Daily
School of Business senior Maha Zeidan and graduate student Noor Ghali attend the Paani Culture night in UMMA Thurday evening.
See PAANI, Page 3
2nd Paani Culture Night celebrates
history, diversity with food and dance
Student organizations represent countries facing shared sanitation issues
See EPSTEIN, Page 3
See OIE, Page 3
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Michigan Daily is listening.
University of Michigan
President Mark Schlissel’s
announcement
on
Wednesday
of
numerous
sexual
misconduct
allegations against Provost
Martin
Philbert
follows
long-running criticism of
how the University’s Office
of Institutional Equity has
handled such claims in the
past, as reported on by The
Daily.
Philbert,
who
was
Schlissel’s
second-in-
command, was placed on
paid administrative leave
Tuesday after the University
received multiple allegations
of his misconduct on Jan. 16
and 17.
The Office of Institutional
Equity investigates sexual
misconduct claims, among
other
allegations.
OIE
reported directly to Philbert
as of Sept. 2019.
University
spokesman
Fitzgerald
said,
despite
supervising OIE, Philbert
had no direct involvement
with the investigations.
“On a day-to-day basis, he
has no hands-on role with
the office or investigations
at all,” Fitzgerald said.
He
noted
that
any
allegations
made
against
Philbert “absolutely do not”
taint
OIE
investigations
conducted
while
they
reported to the provost.
Fitzgerald
emphasized
the provost did not play a
role in OIE’s investigations,
adding
that
the
office
conducts its investigations
independently.
“It would be a mistake to
think the provost, or anyone,
had power or influence over
investigations,”
Fitzgerald
said.
“The
investigations
are
done
by
trained
investigators in the Office
for
Institutional
Equity
and they’re signed off by
the Title IX coordinator
if it’s a sexual misconduct
investigation.”
Philbert had been on leave
for part of last semester for
medical reasons, Fitzgerald
confirmed. Amy Dittmar,
acting provost at the time, is
not resuming the role as that
particular
administrative
leave has ended.
Before May 2019, OIE
reported to both the Office
for
Diversity,
Equity
&
Inclusion
and
University
Human
Resources.
Fitzgerald
said
the
University
administration
changed who OIE reported
to in order to make the
process more efficient.
“It (the move to have OIE
report to the provost) was
partially to indicate the
importance of this office,
but
it
reported
to
two
different offices,” Fitzgerald
said.
“And
sometimes
a
joint reporting relationship
Just a few minutes before
7 p.m. on Thursday, the front
steps of the University of
Michigan Museum of Art were
dotted with students dressed
in a collection of cultural attire
and winter jackets. Despite
the cold, more than a hundred
students were all there for the
same reason: Paani Culture
Night.
Paani
is
a
non-profit
organization
comprised
of
student volunteers dedicated to
creating sustainable, evidence-
based solutions to supply clean
water
and
improve
health
disparities. The organization
has built more than 200 wells
and donated around $100,000
towards
alleviating
the
sanitation crisis in Pakistan.
To host the event, Paani
partnered with 10 cultural
student
organizations
across
campus,
including
the
Bangladeshi,
Egyptian,
Iraqi,
Jordanian,
Lebanese,
Palestinian, Pakistani, Persian,
Syrian and Yemeni student
organizations.
Last year, Paani launched
their first culture night at
Rackham
Graduate
School
which drew more than 100
attendees not just from the
University but also from across
metro Detroit, including from
schools such as the University
of
Michigan-Dearborn,
Michigan State University and
Wayne State University.
LSA
sophomore
Sukaina
Himmati said the organization
hoped to make this year’s event
even bigger.
“It was very important for
those who initially started it
and for us now to uplift the
community that we started
from,”
Himmati
said.
“We
noticed that a lot of our
friends were a part of cultural
orgs, and all the countries
that we represented, all of
them suffered from serious
sanitation issues that affected
the lives of the people back
home.”
Comedian Abdallah Jasim
emceed the event, entertaining
the crowd and helping to
bring awareness to Paani’s
sanitation
efforts.
Decked
in colored lights and music,
the UMMA was filled with
people of all backgrounds and
interests. From card games
to
papyrus
making,
each
organization set up a booth
where attendees could learn
about traditions and activities
most meaningful to their
organization’s culture.