michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Friday, February 7, 2020

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail 
news@michigandaily.com and let us know.

INDEX
Vol. CXXIX, No. 65
©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

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
michigandaily.com

For more stories and coverage, visit
Follow The Daily 
on Instagram, 
@michigandaily

As part of University of 
Michigan 
Housing’s 
new 
commitment 
to 
redesign 
and update all 18 of the 
multicultural 
lounges 
on 
campus, Abeng Lounge in 
East Quad Residence Hall, 
Audre Lorde Lounge in Helen 
Newberry 
Residence 
Hall 
and Yuri Kochiyama Lounge 
in South Quad Residence Hall 
are set to be renovated this 
summer. The project, which 
launched in 2015 based on 
student feedback, is set to be 
completed in 2021, in time 
for the 50th anniversary of 
the 
Multicultural 
Lounge 
program. 
According 
to 
Amanda 
McLittle, 
director 
of 
diversity and inclusion, the 
renovation 
plan 
includes 
a 
redesign 
of 
the 
walls, 
furniture 
and 
technology 
of each space as well as 
structural 
improvements. 
These changes come at no 
additional cost to students or 
University Housing.
“One thing we’ve learned, 
if you want a space to look 
and work great not just for 
this generation of students 

Angela Washko, an artist, 
writer and activist, began 
her lecture speaking about 
her project targeting hate 
speech 
in 
public 
video 
games — specifically World 
of Warcraft — at a crowded 
Michigan Theater. 
“I thought that I could 
use 
my 
background 
in 
performance art, grassroots 
activism 
and 
collective 
organizing to directly talk 
to players about why the 
community had become so 
homophobic, 
misogynistic, 
and 
racist 
in 
its 
public 
communication channels, at 
least on all the servers that 
I’ve played on,” Washko said.
As part of the Penny Stamps 
Speaker Series, Washko spoke 
to Art & Design students 
and 
community 
members 
Thursday evening about her 
various art pieces targeting 
misogyny 
and 
promoting 
inclusivity in niche online 
spaces. 
Hate speech is especially 
prevalent on online games 
with users targeting certain 
players once they realize the 

Lecturer 
examines 
misogny 
in gaming

TECHNOLOGY

 ISABELLA PREISSLE
Daily Staff Reporter 

Columbia professors address sexual 
assault prevention in college setting
Jennifer Hirsch, Shamus Khan discuss new book ‘Sexual Citizens’

CAMPUS LIFE

Penny Stamps Speaker 
Series brings activist, 
artist Angela Washko 
to Michigan Theater

Plan includes updates 
to spaces in South Quad, 
Helen Newberry and 
East Quad by 2021

IULIA DOBRIN 
Daily Staff Reporter

See GAMING, Page 3
See LOUNGES, Page 3 

Cultural 
lounges in 
dorms to 
be redone

ALICE LIU/Daily
Columbia University professor Jennifer Hirsch speaks about campus sexual assault at a talk and panel about her and Shamus Kahn’s new 
book, “Sexual Citizens,” at Rackham Amphitheater Thursday afternoon..

MEGHANA LODHAVIA
For The Daily

A woman who reports 
she was held in captivity 
and abused at two southeast 
Michigan 
hotels 
filed 
a 
lawsuit 
that 
contends 
Marriott International, Inc. 
and 
the 
InterContinental 
Hotels Group are liable for 
failing to notice she was being 
trafficked at their properties.
The lawsuit, filed in the 
U.S. District Court for the 
Eastern District of Michigan 
in December, provides details 
of how the victim, identified 
as H.G. due to the sensitive 
nature of the case, withstood 
repeated abuse at the hotels 
over the span of several years.
The case is one of 26 
similar lawsuits filed across 
the country against 15 major 
hotel brands. Attorneys filed 
a movement to consolidate 
the cases under a single 
federal judge, but it was 
denied Feb. 5 by the Judicial 
Panel 
on 
Multidistrict 
Litigation.
Court filings claim H.G. 
was first trafficked in 2003 
when she was a 17-year-old 

living in Detroit, not under 
the custody of her parents. 
The lawsuit states H.G.’s 
traffickers would frequently 
kidnap her and hold her 
captive for days at a time at 
the Ann Arbor Fairfield Inn 
or the downtown Detroit 
Holiday Inn Express and 
Suites. 
These 
hotels 
are 
franchises operated under 
the Marriott and IHG brands, 
respectively.

“H.G’s 
trafficker 

specifically 
chose 
the 
hotels in Detroit and Ann 
Arbor because they had a 
reputation for commercial 
sex and illegal activity,” the 
complaint states.
While at the hotels, H.G. 
was 
allegedly 
verbally, 
physically 
and 
sexually 
abused by the traffickers 
and buyers. If she did not 
sexually 
service 
enough 
buyers to meet daily quotas, a 
trafficker would beat her, the 
complaint says. 
The 
lawsuit 
details 
instances at the Detroit 
hotel in which hotel staff 
did not attend to H.G.’s 
screams and in which 

Woman takes legal action against 
Ann Arbor hotel for neglecting abuse

Lawsuit says 
Fairfield Inn 
ignored signs 
of trafficking

DOMONICK SOKOTOFF
For The Daily

See TRAFFICKING, Page 3 

See ASSAULT, Page 3

Students, 
faculty 
and 
community members filled 
Rackam 
Amphitheaterto 
hear 
Jennifer 
Hirsch, 
professor of sociomedical 
sciences 
at 
Columbia 
University 
and 
Shamus 
Khan, chair of sociology 
at Columbia speak about 
the prominence of sexual 
assault on college campuses. 
Education 
graduate 
student 
Kamaria 
Porter 
spoke 
alongside 
epidemiologist 
and 
2018 
gubernatorial 
candidate 
Abdul El-Sayed on a panel 
addressing campus sexual 
assault.

Hirsch 
and 
Khan 
discussed 
their 
research 
regarding 
sexual 
assault 
and their book, “Sexual 
Citizens: A Landmark Study 
of Sex, Power, and Assault 
on Campus,” which was 
published in January. 
Allison Alexy, assistant 
professor 
of 
women’s 
studies 
and 
modern 
Japanese culture at the 
University, described her 
experience working with 
survivors of sexual assault.
“Sexual 
assault 
is 
something that looms large 
in our society,” Alexy said. 
“Students regularly share 
their 
experiences 
with 
me. 
Sometimes 
because 
they are looking for formal 

or 
informal 
support, 
sometimes 
because 
they 
need my help specifically, 
sometimes 
because 
they 
are reflecting on how their 
experiences 
with 
sexual 
assault 
— 
or 
university 
responses to it — have 
shaped their lives and their 
world views.”
Before 
discussing 
her 
research in sexual assault, 
Hirsch spoke directly to 
her audience and reassured 
them that they have her 
support.
“To the survivors in the 
room,” she said. “We see 
you.”
Hirsch 
continued 
by 
sharing a story of a freshman 
girl at Columbia who was 

sexually assaulted at the 
beginning of her college 
career. Hirsch said that, as 
most survivors do, the girl 
partially blamed herself for 
the events that took place. 
She added young people 
should know that it is their 
right to set boundaries, a 
message 
that 
resounded 
with the audience.
Hirsch 
also 
said, 
though this example she 
used 
exemplified 
toxic 
masculinity, there are many 
other types of assault that 
can take place.
“Sexual Citizens outlines 
how to prevent campus 
sexual assault,” Hirsch said. 

‘You will see you don’t belong’

Cozine Welch holds multiple posi-
tions at the University of Michi-
gan, including managing editor of 
The Michigan Review of Prisoner 
Creative Writing, co-instructor of 
the Prison Creative Arts Project, 
researcher for the Carceral State 
Project and producer of the “While 
We Were Away” podcast, among 
others. Welch is not a student at the 
University but hopes to enroll in an 
MBA program in the fall. 
In addition to occupying these 
roles, Welch was formerly incar-
cerated for 20 years in the state 
of Michigan and since then has 
worked to publicize and fight the 
injustices within the carceral sys-
tem in this country. 
Welch spends most of his day 
on the University campus, but is 
unable to find housing nearby due 
to the high cost of living in Ann 
Arbor, as well as the discrimination 
that those with a felony record face 
in renting a home.
Welch said that after almost three 
years of working in Ann Arbor he 
is still living at friends’ homes. He 
said the process of divulging prior 
incarceration records to 
landlords, through 
checking 
a 
crimi-

nal history box, feels personally 
demoralizing.
“I still can’t find housing,” Welch 
said. “I’m really still staying here 
off the kindness of a friend. I’m 
trying to find housing, and maybe 
now I will since I’m doing this cam-
paign (fighting against ‘the box’ on 
housing and employment applica-
tions) but that’s the reality of Ann 
Arbor. (The issue) is the price point 
and the fact that you have a felony.”
This also occurs with applica-
tions to the University of Michi-
gan’s undergraduate and graduate 
programs: students must disclose 
if they were formerly convicted of 
a felony.
The University 
does not 
admit 
stu-
dents on 
parole, 
which 
often lasts 
three years, 
and requires 
appli-

cants to check a box if they have a 
felony. This topic is currently being 
reviewed in many states as part of a 
larger debate over voting rights.
Welch said he feels unwanted on 
the University of Michigan-Ann 
Arbor campus. 

“If you come to Ann Arbor, you’re 
Black before you even get to wheth-
er or not you actually have a felony, 
right?” Welch said. “And if you 
walk down the street in Ann Arbor, 
you will see you don’t belong, 
because you don’t see anybody 
that looks like you. The 
only 
time you 
see 

somebody else that looks like you 
is in the reflection or a storefront. 
It’s based largely on the University 
because they’re like, ‘Well, that’s 
what Flint and Dearborn campuses 
are for.’”
Welch pointed out the disparities 
between the Flint and Dearborn 
campuses in comparison to the 
Ann Arbor campus, specifically 
noting the diversity of Flint and 
Dearborn classes.
“(Those campuses are) under-
served, 
under-staffed, 
under-
everything 
satellite 
campus,” 
Welch said. “I’ve guest lectured 
at Dearborn a couple of times and 
when you go to Dearborn, you’re 
like, ‘Oh, this is what collegiate 
life should look like; my class looks 
really diverse.’”
School of Social Work alum Yusef 
Shakur is an activist, author and 
formerly 
incarcerated 
person. 
He said he hopes the future may 
be different for other formerly 
incarcerated people look-
ing to become involved in 
academia in Ann Arbor. 
Shakur said after talking 
with Lynn Videka, Social 
Work School dean, in the 
spring of 2019, the School 
of Social Work will no 
longer place a box asking 
about previous felony con-
victions of applications . 
The move follows pres-
sure from the undergrad-
uate campus organization 
“UMich Behind Bars.”

“We benefited from an 
undergrad organization,” 
Shakur said. “Once it hap-
pened with the under-

JENNA SITEMAN
Daily Staff Reporter

See INCARCERATED, Page 3

Formerly incarcerated students, community members 
find difficulties navigating University environment

Design by Erin Ruark

