“You were born on purpose,”
Yusef Salaam, public speaker and
one of the Exonerated 5, said. “If
you were born on purpose, then
you were born with a purpose.”
Salaam spoke to a crowd of more
than 400 people at the Michigan
Union Ballroom on Monday night.
Sponsors of the event included
Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs, the
Ford School of Public Policy and
the Department of Afroamerican
and African Studies, among many
others.
The Exonerated 5, previously
known as the Central Park 5, were
falsely accused of rape in 1989
and sentenced for up to 13 years
in prison as teenagers in New
York. The defendants’ assault
convictions
were
overturned
in 2002 and the five agreed to a
$40 million settlement in 2014. A
Netflix series called “When They
See Us” shares the true story of
the Exonerated 5. Salaam was
only 15 years old when he went to
prison and was exonerated when
the actual assailant confessed to
the Central Park rape.
DAAS
Program
Associate
Elizabeth James began the event
with an acknowledgment of the
Union occupying formerly tribal
land. MESA staff Leslie Tetteh
and Saveri Nandigama then gave
the welcoming address. Three
poets performed before Salaam
was introduced to the audience
with a standing ovation.
Salaam
engaged
with
the
audience as he walked across the
stage multiple times to address
the large crowd. He shared stories
about the effects prison had on his
life and how he grew through his
incarceration.
Salaam said an important part
of his identity is his religion and
he spoke about how Islam helped
him grow into a leader during
and after his time in prison. The
presence of his religion brought
him companionship.brought him
companionship.
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
As Iowans cast the nation’s
first
votes
in
the
2020
Democratic
Presidential
primaries
Monday
night,
Iowa
residents
living
in
Michigan descended on the
Ann Arbor District Library
for the state’s only satellite
caucus. Ann Arbor joined 86
other satellite locations from
as far as Paris, France open
to Iowa Democrats living out
of the state, as part of a wider
effort by the Iowa Democratic
Party to expand accessibility
in the caucus process.
The final delegate count
for the satellite caucus was
two delegates for Sen. Bernie
Sanders,
I-VT,
and
two
delegates for Sen. Elizabeth
Warren,
D-Mass.
Those
delegates will be factored in
proportion with results from
the other satellite caucuses.
Nine Iowa Democrats were
caucusing, with more than
30
non-Iowan
community
members
observing.
One
observer, LSA sophomore Neil
Jain, said he came because
he’s
impressed
with
the
caucus system of selecting a
candidate.
“Democracy
is
about
having these conversations,”
Jain said. “It’s about dissent
and disagreement and being
able to work out and discuss
those differences instead of
being able to hide away in
our own little cubicles filling
out ballots. I’m here to see
how the process unfolds on a
microscopic level.”
Non-Iowan
supporters
representing
former
Vice
President Joe Biden, South
Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg,
Sen.
Amy
Klobuchar,
D-Minn.,
Sanders,
Warren
and
entrepreneur
Andrew
Yang courted voters before the
caucus began. Many carried
signs and wore shirts and pins
supporting their candidate.
However,
most
Iowans,
including Engineering senior
Alex
Skillin,
had
already
made up their mind coming
into the caucus.
“I’m pretty well behind
Warren and I have been for a
while following the process,”
Skillin said. “I was back in
Iowa over break and saw a
town hall or two.”
GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail
news@michigandaily.com and let us know.
INDEX
Vol. CXXIX, No. 62
©2020 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
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
michigandaily.com
For more stories and coverage, visit
Therapist
examines
LQBTQ+
wellness
CAMPUS LIFE
LILY GOODING
Daily Staff Reporter
Ann Arbor District Library serves
as Michigan’s only satellite caucus
Out of state Iowans cast their primary votes, Sanders and Warren split delegates
ACADEMICS
Follow The Daily
on Instagram,
@michigandaily
As part of LGBTQ Health and
Wellness Week, the Spectrum
Center hosted keynote speaker
Joy Saniyah, a mental health
professional, at the School of
Social Work on Monday night.
Saniyah spoke to a crowd
of about 25 regarding her
experience
as
a
therapist,
registered
yoga
teacher
and
an
energy
healer,
or
reiki
practitioner.
Saniyah
explained what freedom and
self-expression means to her to
address the guiding question
“what is right with you?” at the
event.
As
a
therapist,
Saniyah
focuses on creating a space
where
any
marginalized
group or individual can feel
supported. As a queer, woman
of color, Saniyah emphasized
the importance of feminist
values,
especially
in
the
realm of healing. Seven years
ago,
Saniyah
founded
the
Integrative
Empowerment
Group, a mental health and
wellness group based in Ann
Arbor and Ypsilanti.
Saniyah
said
healing
requires a multidisciplinary
approach.
CALDER LEWIS
Daily Staff Reporter
RYAN LITTLE/Daily
Nine Iowans partcipate in a satellite caucus held at the Ann Arbor Public Library Monday evening. Michigan held one one of the 87 total satellite caucuse around the globe.
Faculty senate meeting
explores issues regarding
trials for severance pay,
professor misconduct
HANNAH MACKAY
Daily Staff Reporter
See SATELLITE, Page 3
See HISTORIC, Page 3
ANNIE KLUSENDORF/Daily
Dr. Yusuf Salaam discusses pertinent issues in today’s society at the Michigan Union Ballroom Monday evening.
Political organizations knock on doors,
try to garner support for election
‘U’ students
travel to Iowa
in support of
candidates
See IOWA, Page 3
Town hall
discusses
two bylaws
on tenure
Members
of
the
Senate
Advisory
Committee
on
University Affairs hosted the
faculty tenure bylaw working
group at Palmer Commons on
Monday. The group, which
was
established
to
draft
recommendations for potential
changes to Regent’s bylaws 5.09
and 5.10, presented to about 50
faculty and staff at a town hall-
style meeting.
These two bylaws establish
the processes and practices
for firing tenured faculty. The
bylaw working group aims to
make
recommendations
on
potential amendments that are
reflective of faculty wishes. The
group was formed after Music,
Theatre & Dance professor
David Daniels was accused of
sexual assault in August 2018.
Soon after, Daniels was placed
on paid leave and the University
is still in the process of firing
Daniels.
Sharon Glotzer, professor and
chair of Chemical Engineering
and chair of the faculty working
group, explained the specific
purposes of Regents bylaws
5.09 and 5.10, as well as the
time period in which they were
enacted.
See ASSEMBLY, Page 3
Spectrum Center hosts
psychologist Joy Saniyah,
emphasizes importance
of mental health, healing
See LGBTQ, Page 3
JASMIN LEE
Daily Staff Reporter
Member of the Exonerated Five
speaks on criminal justice system
Keynote speaker Yusef Salaam details experiences with wrongful
conviction, exoneration and religion in honor of Black History Month
DAVENPORT, IOWA — Public
Policy junior Camille Mancuso and
LSA junior Jordyn Houle stood
over a kitchen table covered in
campaign fliers of Sen. Elizabeth
Warren, D-Mass., at a house serving
as one of the campaign’s canvassing
headquarters in Davenport, Iowa on
Friday.
Houle and Mancuso, two leaders
of the University of Michigan’s
Students for Warren chapter, arrived
in Iowa late Thursday night with two
other Students for Warren members
to spend the weekend canvassing
for Warren, Democratic presidential
candidate, ahead of Monday’s Iowa
caucus.
They had been planning the
weekend for a while, along with LSA
junior Maya Chamra and Engineering
sophomore Ashvin Kumar. Mancuso
told The Daily ahead of the trip that
they’ve been canvassing for Warren
in Michigan, but they’ve wanted to
come knock doors in Iowa since the
end of last semester.
“We knew it was going to be all
hands on deck,” Mancuso said. “All of
the presidential campaigns have sort
of been cycling with who’s at the top
of the polls, who’s near the bottom of
the polls — it sort of changes pretty
often. So we knew that last weekend
before the caucus was going to be
super important to ensure that
Elizabeth Warren is successful in
Iowa.”
In the kitchen, the students
listened to Jean Simpson, Davenport
resident and a canvass captain for the
Warren campaign as she explained
door-knocking routes and how to
report responses from residents.
“What we’re going to do is I’m
going to give you a script,” Simpson
told the group. “You’re each going
to get a clipboard, and that will have
your script and everything you need,
and I’m going to go through that
now.”
“I guess I’m skipping class on
Monday.”
Students
from
several
other
University of Michigan groups also
planned canvassing trips in Iowa this
weekend to participate in the lead-up
to the caucus.
LSA senior Jessica Kosticak was
inspired to start Students for Pete at
the University after a November trip
to Iowa for Pete Buttigieg, the mayor
of South Bend, Ind., and the youngest
candidate in the race. When she
heard the friends she’d made on that
trip were going back to the state
for the caucus, she knew she
wanted in too.
MAYA GOLDMAN
Daily Staff Reporter