Brian Wright, the father 
of a student targeted by 
the racist comments in a 
Snapchat 
group, 
noted, 
“That’s indicative of what 
these kids are experiencing.” 
Iraola is a Saline resident 
and owner of the popular 
Ann 
Arbor 
Mexican 
restaurant 
Chela’s. 
He 

immigrated 
to 
the 
U.S. 
from Mexico City in the 
1980s. The video recorded 
at the meeting shows Iraola 
responding 
to 
Burtell’s 
comment 
and 
explaining 
why he moved to the U.S. 
“He asked me a question, 
why didn’t I stay in Mexico?” 
Iraola said. “Because this is 
the greatest country in the 
world.” 
LSA 
senior 
Liberty 
Woodside graduated from 
Saline High School in 2016. 

Woodside said when she 
first heard the news, she was 
in disbelief at the blatant 
nature of Burtell’s comment. 
“It’s 
shocking 
to 
hear 
people 
be 
so 
outwardly 
racist,” Woodside said. “I 
feel like subtle racism is 
something that I’m more 
commonly faced with in my 
classes and more commonly 
studying. Subtle racism is 
still in our system, but I was 
definitely surprised to hear 
people just be so outwardly 
racist.”
Woodside also commented 
on how the demographics of 
Saline may contribute to the 
culture of racism, such as 
that displayed in Burtell’s 
comment.
“I 
wasn’t 
surprised 
that people face racism in 
Saline,” 
Woodside 
said. 
“Everybody 
in 
Saline 
is 
mostly white. I didn’t really 
experience 
any 
of 
those 
hardships because I’m a 

white cis female, but I’m not 
surprised that this would 
happen because Saline is not 
diverse at all.” 
Adi Mannari, Engineering 
senior 
and 
Saline 
Area 
Schools alum, said he was 
not surprised upon hearing 
about the incident. 
“I’m not surprised that 
there are people who have 
those views,” Mannari said. 
“But I am disappointed that 
it revealed itself in the way 
that it did.”
Rackham 
student 
Guadalupe 
Madrigal 
commented on Iraola’s role 
as a business owner and 
how he contributes to Ann 
Arbor’s Latinx community. 
“Chela’s is one of the few 
Mexican 
restaurants 
in 
Ann Arbor,” Madrigal said. 
“It’s seen as a pillar and 
as a mini-home for a lot of 
Latinx people in the area, so 
I think that it makes it even 
more personal because it’s 

somebody who’s part of our 
community.” 
Madrigal is currently a 
graduate student instructor 
for a communications class 
about whiteness and the 
media. She emphasized the 
importance of conversations 
about 
race 
on 
the 
University’s campus. 
“The professor brought it 
up in class today and talked 
about it with the students,” 
Madrigal said. “I think (the 
fact that) there is a space in 
which we’re talking to our 
students, our undergraduate 
students, it’s important.” 
Scot 
Graden, 
superintendent 
of 
Saline 
Area 
Schools, 
released 
a 
statement 
on 
Tuesday 
denouncing 
the 
recent 
instances of racism in the 
school 
district. 
He 
also 
commented 
on 
how 
the 
district will respond and 
continue working on the 
problem in the future. 

“The 
Saline 
Board 
of 
Education 
and 
administration 
take 
the 
issue 
of 
student 
and 
adult behavior seriously,” 
Graden 
said. 
“We 
are 
striving 
to 
ensure 
a 
welcoming, 
inclusive 
and 
safe environment for all 
students 
and 
families, 
regardless of their race, 
ethnicity, 
socioeconomic 
status, gender identity or 
any 
other 
identity. 
This 
is an opportunity for us 
— the staff, students and 
community of Saline Area 
Schools 
— 
to 
stand 
for 
anti-racism, 
respect 
and 
inclusion of all students.” 
Following the meeting, 
Saline 
residents 
held 
a 
Diversity 
and 
Inclusion 
rally 
on 
Wednesday 
night. 
More 
than 
100 
community 
members 
attended, marching through 
downtown 
Saline 
and 
calling out bigotry.

Personal travel to China is 
also discouraged.” 
As a result of the outbreak and 
ensuing travel restrictions, many 
students said they are struggling 
to adjust their study abroad plans. 
LSA freshman Erik Reyna was 
also planning on doing a summer 
abroad program in Shanghai 
and was recently informed via 
an email from CGIS that it’s still 
unclear whether or not these 
programs will be canceled.
“I wanted to study abroad in 
Shanghai but then the University 
sent me an email saying that the 
University put a travel restriction 
on China,” Reyna said. “So 
undergraduates like me aren’t 
able to go, and they say that if 
they don’t lift the ban before 
March 1 then they’ll just cancel 
all China programs.” 
The email was sent out last 
Tuesday from Rachel Reuter, 
CGIS international health and 
safety adviser, and explains the 
travel situation to students that 
had an open spring/summer or 
fall application for a program in 
China. 
“At this time we do not know 
if U-M spring/summer programs 
in China will be affected by the 
travel restriction. If you are still 
interested in studying abroad in 
spring/summer or fall, you have 
several options,” Reuter wrote. 
“If China is the only program 
you are interested in, then 
you should still complete your 
CGIS application as normal by 
February 1st. CGIS will review 
your application and wait to 
see how the situation unfolds 
in China. If the restriction has 
not been lifted by March 1st, 
then we will cancel the program 
altogether.”
The email also suggested that 
students fill out applications 
for other CGIS programs or 
withdraw their China application 
and wait to attend in 2021. 
Reyna said he thinks the 
decision to set a deadline for 
programs more than a month 
before 
they 
begin 
may 
be 
preemptive.
“Right now, it’s probably too 
early to decide because there’s 
still a possibility that they’ll 
lift their travel restrictions if 
the whole virus gets better,” 
Reyna said. “I feel like March is 
too early to say ‘Hey, you can’t 
do this’ ... the University says 
they don’t know about summer 
programs, but then again they 

kind of do because they already 
put a deadline on it.”
Business 
senior 
Kirtana 
Choragudi 
also 
planned 
on 
studying abroad in China this 
May through a program in the 
Ross School of Business. She said 
she was informed recently about 
the program’s cancellation. 
“Most of the work would have 
been done in China,” Choragudi 
said. “I was looking forward to 
learning the content of the class, 
which is corporate strategy in 
China.”
Choragudi said other students 
enrolled in the course this 
semester were also informed of 
the program’s cancellation right 
before the add/drop deadline. 
“They emailed me I think the 
day of the add/drop deadline or 
maybe the night before because 
that’s when U of M released 
that there was an official ban,” 
Choragudi said. “Essentially they 
said that the trip was canceled 
due to the U of M undergraduate 
travel ban to China and that they 
would look at alternate options if 
we wanted to keep the course on 
our transcript.”
According 
to 
Choragudi, 
the late confirmation made it 
difficult to adjust schedules.
“There hadn’t really been any 
communication from the office 
before then, even though we’d 
all been wondering obviously,” 
Choragudi said. “Since it was 
the day of the add/drop deadline, 
there weren’t any full semester 
three-credit classes I could add 
because it’s already pretty late 
into the semester.” 
Mary 
Gallagher, 
professor 
and director of the Center for 
Chinese Studies, discussed the 
travel restrictions and health 
concerns. She said she expects 
study 
abroad 
programs 
to 
continue to be canceled until the 
public health emergency is under 
control.
“I would imagine that that will 
happen throughout the winter 
and spring semesters, that travel 
to China will be questionable,” 
Gallagher said. “It could go 
into the summer in which case 
summer programs would be 
canceled.”
Gallagher said while it may 
cause inconvenience, limiting 
travel to China as much as 
possible for the safety of the 
general public and monitoring 
potential incoming cases is the 
best thing to do.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Thursday, February 6, 2020 — 3

CORONAVIRUS
From Page 1

SALINE
From Page 1

“It’s so cool to see people 
like 
Bernie 
Sanders 
and 
AOC and Rashida Tlaib and 
Ilhan Omar, and what kind 
of leaders they can be when 
they’re 
just 
unapologetic 
champions 
for 
what 
the 
people need. And they don’t 
need to get their permission 
slip 
signed 
from 
their 
corporate donors before they 
can make any statement.” 
In the corner of the cafe 
checking 
in 
volunteers 
was 
LSA 
freshman 
Gina 
Liu, 
the 
campaign’s 
campus coordinator for the 
University of Michigan. As 
more students filed into the 
cafe, Rajput began greeting 
them personally. He aims to 
not only campaign on a strong 
ideological platform but to 
rely on passionate grassroots 
volunteers while doing so.
“His 
experience 
is 
grassroots and his experience 
aligns with a lot of the 
constituents in this district 
and the young people in this 
district,” Liu said. “Seeing 
someone 
who 
actually 
is 
willing to fight the issues and 
also just not accept corporate 
money, that’s inspiring to 
me.”
Rajput’s 
platform 
is 
built on key policy pillars, 
including 
aggressively 
fighting climate change and 
rejecting 
corporate 
PAC 
money. He believes Congress 
needs to pass a Green New 
Deal. 
Since 
District 
12 
has 
six colleges and a large 
student population, Rajput 
also believes it’s necessary 
to make college free and 
eliminate student debt. He 
argues that Medicare for All 
and single-payer healthcare 
should not only be supported 
as an opportunistic political 
move, but as a steadfast 
Democratic ideal. 
“Part of the reason why I 
decided to run was because 
I was taking a look at how 
progressive 
our 
district 
actually 
is,” 
Rajput 
said. 
“Unfortunately, 
(Dingell’s) 
not the progressive champion 
that we need on these issues.”
As Rajput recounted his 
experiences 
canvassing, 
he claimed voters are not 
necessarily 
excited 
about 
having 
Dingell 
as 
their 
representative, but feel like 

she will always hold the seat. 
In these instances, Rajput 
makes his case a viable 
alternative. 
“There’s this perception 
that Rep. Dingell is beloved 
in the community or that 
she is very active,” Rajput 
said. “(But) when we go 
and 
talk 
to 
voters, 
it’s 
remarkable how infrequently 
Congresswoman 
Dingell’s 
name is brought up.”
However, because he is 
new to the political sphere, 
Rajput’s 
understanding 
of 
some of the issues important 
to voters in the district 
is less developed. One of 
the 
predominant 
issues 
in District 12 is the man-
made water crisis, where 
toxic PFAS chemicals have 
seeped 
into 
Michigan’s 
waters. These chemicals are 
linked to numerous health 
concerns, including cancer. 
Dingell 
co-authored 
the 
bipartisan PFAS Action Act, 
which passed the House of 
Representatives on Jan. 10. 
While Rajput noted the 
work that Dingell has done 
to combat PFAS, he said 
he believes she and the 
Democrats are only making 
incremental legislation and 
not considering the larger 
issue at hand — climate 
change. 
“Although we need to be 
focused on these more local 
environmental 
concerns, 
we can’t lose sight of the 
big picture,” Rajput said. 
“We can talk about this 
one chemical, or these few 
chemicals that are going to 
impact your health, but at 
the same time, are we putting 
blinders on when it comes to 
… the fact that our house is on 
fire when it comes to climate 
change?”
While Dingell has received 
criticism for not supporting 
the Green New Deal, she 
disagreed with the suggestion 
that 
local 
environmental 
concerns should be ignored 
and 
emphasized 
her 
record 
as 
a 
progressive 
congresswoman with a focus 
on environmental issues. In 
an interview with The Daily, 
Dingell said environmental 
groups such as Sierra Club and 
the League of Conservation 
Voters name her as one of the 
few representatives pushing 
for environmental bills every 
day. 
“If you call any of the 
environmental 
groups 
… 

they will tell you that I 
have introduced the leading 
legislation in the Congress 
that is called the 100% Clean 
Energy Bill, which follows 
the UN recommendation in 
achieving the 100 percent 
clean energy economy by 
2050,” Dingell said. “I am 
actually one of the only 
people getting bills through 
the Congress. So, I take great 
umbrage at his comment, to 
be perfectly frank.”
In 
November, 
three 
members 
of 
the 
Sunrise 
Movement held a sit-in protest 
at Dingell’s office in Ypsilanti 
where three were arrested. 
The 
young 
protestors 
demanded a meeting with the 
representative and urged her 
to sign on to the Green New 
Deal. 
Dingell added that while 
she hasn’t come out in support 
of the Green New Deal, she 
has 
spoken 
with 
several 
stakeholders, including the 
Sunrise Movement and the 
Labor Coalition, to come to 
a conclusion all constituents 
will agree on. 
“I 
met 
with 
Sunrise 
leadership 
and 
representatives, the Attorney 
General, 
Rashida 
(Tlaib) 
... 
We’ve 
been 
having 
conversations,” Dingell said. 
“I respect the work of those 
who are working on that.” 
Rajput 
also 
opposes 
“forever wars,” and in an 
interview 
with 
Michael 
Arria of progressive news 
site 
Mondoweiss, 
Rajput 
took issue with the fact that 
Dingell had never made a 
statement 
against 
going 
to war in Iran, and only 
spoke out against its having 
congressional 
approval. 
Dingell rebuked the criticism, 
saying that she was one of the 
first Democrats to speak out 
against war in Iran.
“He’s got a way of … not 
telling the truth,” Dingell 
said. “I was one of the very 
first on the floor of the House 
to speak out about what the 
President did.”
Dingell 
stands 
by 
her 
record, noting that she is 
the co-chair of the Medicare 
for 
All 
caucus 
and 
has 
always passionately fought 
for 
quality 
affordable 
health care. She said she 
has consistently fought for 
progressive legislation and 
is proud of her ability to 
pass bipartisan legislation in 
Congress. 

“I think that we gotta work 
with everybody, and (that) if 
you want to get a bill enacted 
that you’ve got to work across 
the aisle, because I know how 
to count votes,” Dingell said. 
“So if I can get a bill passed 
that will lower the cost of 
prescription 
drugs 
for 
a 
person in my district, that is 
a good bill. Then I’m going to 
work across the aisle … And 
that’s what I do. I put together 
friends across the aisle, and I 
try not to demonize people.“
Rajput said bipartisanship 
in this polarized era isn’t 
realistic. 
“So I understand when 
people are saying … have the 
Republicans and Democrats 
figure out a way to work 
together across the aisle,” 
Rajput said. “That appeals 
to my emotions, like how it 
appeals to many other people 
in this country. However, I 
do believe that at this point, 
bipartisanship is a myth.”
As Rajput and a campaign 
fellow, LSA sophomore Alec 
Schlotterback, parked outside 
a residential neighborhood, 
they put on their campaign 
embroidered knit hats and 
gloves to bear the snowstorm. 
They divvied up the houses 
and trudged through the 
neighborhood as the snow 
and winds thickened.
“Canvassing with him is a 
pretty interesting experience 
because people react to him 
a lot differently than they 
do with a volunteer like me,” 
Schlotterback said. “They’re 
much more willing to listen 
to him and to share the 
things they care about when 
they see the candidate face-
to-face as opposed to hearing 
about them from a volunteer. 
It’s also nice to know that 
he’s out there canvassing 
with us. It definitely helps me 
stay motivated knowing he’s 
out there knocking doors just 
like I am. Plus he’s got tons of 
energy and charisma and that 
really helps too.”
Rajput 
disappeared 
for 
a moment, having stepped 
inside of a house to talk to a 
constituent. While this action 
breaks traditional campaign 
protocol, he felt strongly 
about it. He said he spoke to 
a former Dingell supporter 
who left the conversation 
undecided.
“Knocking 
door-to-door, 
that’s how you change votes,” 
he said.

RAJPUT
From Page 1

A public lecture and reception. 
 
For information please 
 
call (734) 615-6667.

Liliana Borcea

Peter Field Collegiate 
Professor of Mathematics

MATHEMATICAL AND 
COMPUTATIONAL 
ASPECTS OF 
IMAGING WITH
WAVES

Weiser Hall, 10th Floor
4:00 p.m.
Thursday,
 February 6, 2020

A public lecture and reception. For information please call (734) 615-6667

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

Organizers set up an altar 
of candles, surrounded by 
bags with various customized 
messages 
and 
flanked 
by 
several signs that contained 
messages 
and 
statistics 
about sexual assault at the 
University of Michigan from 
the 2019 Campus Climate 
Survey. 
One read “34.3% of Umich 
Undergraduate 
Women 
Experience Sexual Assault,” 
and another said that more 
than 5,000 women at the 
University have been sexually 
assaulted. 
Four 
students 
spoke 
in 
front of this altar about their 
experiences 
with 
and 
the 
stigmas attached to sexual 

assault.
One 
common 
sentiment 
was 
frustration 
with 
the 
University’s 
dealing 
with 
sexual 
assault. 
A 
speaker 
discussed 
the 
University’s 
policy that requires victims 
of 
sexual 
assault 
to 
face 
cross-examination on behalf 
of their accused perpetrator. 
The policy came after a 2018 
ruling from the Sixth Circuit 
Court mandating the change.
Another speaker said she 
“realized over a year ago that 
(she) couldn’t name more than 
5 friends” of hers who had 
not experienced some form of 
sexual assault. 
Anil Bansal, Engineering 
senior 
and 
co-founder 
of 
SAVA, clarified that sexual 
assault is not only a problem 
that affects women.
“Even though a lot of people 
think that this is just an issue 

for women, it’s not … A lot of 
my best friends have been 
sexually assaulted and it’s 
hard on me to see that … and 
realize that there’s not much 
that I can do about it,” Bansal 
said.
Jessica, 
a 
prospective 
University transfer student 
from Henry Ford Community 
College, spoke at the event. In 
an interview with The Daily, 
she discussed the emotional 
impact of her speech.
“I’m 
happy 
that 
people 
ended up staying around (in 
the bad weather),” Jessica 
said. “The first thing that 
Anil said to me after I read my 
speech was that I made him 
cry. That was the first time 
that I had given my speech to 
anybody.”
Candice emphasized that 
they were planning on holding 
more 
events 
in 
warmer 

weather, specifically one in 
the summer. Candice then 
gave advice to anyone who 
feels the urge to help victims 
of sexual assault.
“I want people to know that 
if you’re a person who hasn’t 
experienced sexual assault or 
sexual violence, but you want 
to be an ally, the best thing 
you can do is be a friend,” 
Candice said. “Even saying 
something as simple as like, 
‘Hey, I went to a vigil, or I read 
this article and it was really 
interesting.’ You can start 
that conversation even if you 
haven’t had the experience. 
People will open up to you 
and people will come to you. 
You will make them feel less 
alone.”

VIGIL
From Page 1

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com