H.G. 
approached 
the 
front desk staff bleeding, 
received no help and was 
taken back upstairs by her 
trafficker. 
Further, 
the 
plaintiff argues that, in 
addition to the “constant 
stream of male visitors to 
her room,” there were clear 
indications 
crimes 
had 
occurred.
According 
to 
Tiffany 
Ellis, an associate attorney 
for Weitz & Luxenberg 
representing H.G., hotels 
profit from traffickers and 
are therefore not motivated 
to ensure employees are 
reporting trafficking.
“All of these (signs) add 
up over time in a hotel 
… If the cleaning staff 
sees some of these things 
and the front desk staff 
doesn’t, they should know 
who to tell about it,” Ellis 
said. “There should be a 
common point of contact 

and a common reporting 
period. There should also 
be 
auditing 
procedures 
that go into place to ensure 
that 
these 
policies 
are 
being followed. I think 
that at the root of it, this 
is about greed and turning 
a blind eye to things that 
they should have stopped.”
Law 
School 
student 
Ashleigh Pelto, fellow at 
the 
Human 
Trafficking 
Institute, told The Daily 
she believes this lawsuit 
will pressure the hotel 
industry to begin making 
more 
drastic 
policy 
changes.
“I 
think 
that 
the 
discovery 
that 
(hotel 
brands) 
could 
be 
held 
responsible for trafficking 
that’s going on in their 
own 
hotels 
is 
probably 
the biggest thing towards 
prevention,” 
Pelto 
said. 
“Because, 
if 
it’s 
going 
to be something where 
they could lose money or 
even be held criminally 
responsible, I think that’s 
going to be the biggest 

incentive and push for them 
to start figuring out how to 
stop it from happening.”
Pelto said it is easy to 
forget trafficking is local 
and that training should 
not 
be 
limited 
to 
the 
hospitality industry.
“I think a lot of times 
there’s a perception that 
trafficking is something 
that 
happens 
overseas 
or only in major cities or 
at major sporting events 
like the Super Bowl … 
but it’s something that’s 
happening 
every 
day, 
and it’s going on in Ann 
Arbor,” Pelto said. “And 
so … learning to recognize 
those signs is something 
that anyone can learn how 
to do.”
Portfolio 
Hotels 
and 
Resorts, the operator of 
the Ann Arbor Fairfield 
Inn 
franchise, 
provided 
The Daily with a statement 
condemning 
human 
trafficking and establishing 
that the company took over 
management of the hotel 
in 2013 after the alleged 

events occurred.
“We 
take 
human 
trafficking 
with 
the 
utmost seriousness and are 
committed to the training 
and engagement of our hotel 
teams … All Fairfield Inn 
Ann Arbor employees have 
successfully completed the 
required Marriott training 
on 
preventing 
human 
trafficking,” the statement 
reads.
In an email to The Daily, 
IHG spokesperson Jacob 
Hawkins wrote that he is 
not able to comment on 
pending 
litigation, 
but 
that IHG is committed 
to 
combatting 
human 
trafficking 
in 
their 
properties.
“We 
condemn 
human 
trafficking in all forms and 
are committed to working 
with hotel owners to fight 
human trafficking across 
our industry and in local 
communities,” 
Hawkins 
wrote. “As part of this, we 
provide mandatory human 
trafficking 
prevention 
training 
for 
all 
IHG-

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Friday, February 7, 2020 — 3

INCARCERATED
From Page 1

but decades down the line, 
it’s wise to save and plan 
ahead, which is what we 
now do,” McLittle said. “It’s 
part and parcel of caring for 
these spaces.” 
One of the lounges set to 
be renovated this summer 
is Abeng Lounge, located 
in East Quad. It is named 
after 
the 
abeng 
musical 
instrument 
of 
the 
Akan 
people of Ghana, and it was 
created 
in 
1971, 
making 
it the first multicultural 
lounge on campus. Besides 
the redesign, the lounge will 
move from the basement to 
the first floor, where it will 
be taking the place of the 
Madrigal Lounge. 
As current co-chairs of 
East Quad’s multicultural 
council, 
LSA 
freshmen 
Gabriella Dias and Janna 
Girotto are in Abeng Lounge 
often, 
both 
for 
council 
meetings and socializing. 
They said they hope the 
lounge’s 
relocation 
will 
bring more attention to the 
space. However, with the 
increased foot traffic, they 
said they had some worries 
the meaning of the space 
would be lost. 
“It’s not just a lounge 
area, 
it’s 
an 
area 
that 
is 
commemorating 
important 
history,” 
Dias 
said. “It’s meant to be the 
multicultural area, not just 
a place where there are 
couches.” 
In an effort to maintain 
the 
space’s 
historical 
significance, 
Girotto 

suggested that they place 
a plaque in the lounge’s 
original spot in the basement 
after 
they 
complete 
the 
renovation, similar to the 
current plaque in the lounge 
that 
defines 
abeng 
and 
talks about the heritage 
represented in the space.
“It will be nice to move 
us into a more modernized 
space but still keeping that 
history, and also moving 
us 
somewhere 
more 
accessible,” Girotto said. “I 
am definitely on board with 
that.”
LSA junior Mya Gibson is 
the Diversity Peer Educator 
for South Quad, where the 
Yuri Kochiyama Lounge is 
housed on the first floor. 
Due to its proximity to the 
front doors of South Quad 
and the dining hall, it is more 
used than the Abeng Lounge 
is in East Quad. Gibson said 
she believes the renovations 
will be more focused on 
aesthetic 
changes 
rather 
than functionality.
“(Yuri 
Kochiyama) 
is 
an 
incredible 
woman,” 
Gibson said. “She’s done 
a lot of work for Asian 
Americans, so there’s a lot 
of information that you can 
read on that. I hope they’re 
able to push that more 
because currently, it’s kind 
of put in the background. 
You don’t really notice it 
unless you’re looking for 
it, whereas other lounges 
such as the Afro American 
(Lounge) in the basement 
of South Quad, they have a 
lot of paintings and murals 
to celebrate and to discuss 
Afro American history, so I 

think that would be cool to 
see.”
In previous years, some of 
the multicultural lounges, 
such as the Afro American 
Lounge, have only been 
open 
to 
residents 
who 
completed an orientation 
about the lounge’s history 
and 
rules. 
Engineering 
sophomore 
Thomas 
Oscar, 
vice 
president 
of 
Residence Halls Association 
Executive, 
hoped 
the 
renovations would continue 
to bring safe spaces that are 
inclusive to all students. He 
added that opening up the 
spaces to all students makes 
them more accessible.
“If 
they 
don’t 
have 
knowledge of the room and 
its history, being in the 
room can allow them to get 
that knowledge,” Oscar said. 
“The fact that attention 
is being brought to them 
through 
renovations 
will 
allow people to come and 
learn about the purpose of 
those rooms and what they 
originally stood for.”
While the RHA has not 
yet been requested to give 
input on the spaces, Oscar 
said they would be open 
and willing to give their 
feedback.
“We find this to be an 
important 
moment 
of 
the 
University 
and 
the 
Housing’s history,” Oscar 
said. 
“I 
just 
hope 
that 
there can be a merger of 
functionality and usability 
while 
maintaining 
the 
history.”

grads, it was really up to every 
independent school to make their 
own decision … I did some research 
and put together some information, 
and when we had the meeting with 
the dean, we presented this and the 
dean okayed the new policy to ‘ban 
the box,’ as some people call it.”
 
Welch 
was 
involved 
with UMich Behind Bars and has 
touched on their work at Regents 
meetings, including the February 
2019 meeting. 
 
Since 
Welch 
mostly 
works with people who are inter-
ested in fighting the stigma sur-
rounding 
incarceration 
and 
improving conditions for those who 
are currently incarcerated, he said 
he doesn’t feel racially discrimi-
nated against on a daily basis but is 
still affected by “smaller” aspects of 
discrimination. 
 
“It’s 
strange, 
right?” 
Welch said. “Because for me, my 
background and my story is so 

much of my work that I don’t nec-
essarily every day face the kind of 
prejudices that I know other people 
have. I have a friend who is also a 
(formerly incarcerated person) 
and works at a technology firm 
and his experience has been so 
different from (mine) on the 
micro level. Macro, we’ve kind 
of had the same experience, 
but on a micro level, day to day 
interactions, at the workplace, 
his has been completely differ-
ent from mine.”
 
LSA senior Hannah 
Agnew, president of the stu-
dent executive committee for 
PCAP, said she feels strongly 
about finding ways to eliminate 
the discrimination and social 
stigma surrounding those who 
return after being incarcerated. 
 
Agnew also spoke on 
the value of making Ann Arbor 
an inviting place for those of various 
backgrounds. During her time as a 
sociology major with a crime and 
justice minor, she said she has seen 
powerful insights directly from 
those who come from that back-

ground, rather than just reading 
about it.
 
“I think it’s really impor-
tant to elevate the voices of folks 

who’ve experienced (incarceration) 
and know what the system is like,” 
Agnew said. “And in my personal 
experience, it is so important to have 
folks on campus that have been pre-
viously incarcerated because there’s 

nobody better to learn from.”
 
Welch said he worries 
about his future career at the Uni-
versity as the school hesitates to 

hire those previously convicted of a 
felony. He pointed to the story of his 
friend Asia Johnson, who was not 
hired despite being highly qualified 
for a job. The position entailed shar-
ing her own story of incarceration 

and working with students to fur-
ther the de-stigmatization of incar-
ceration.
 
Johnson attended the 
University before she was con-
victed. She wasn’t able to speak 
to The Daily in time for publi-
cation, but she is continuing to 
pursue a career in reform and 
works as a bail disruptor for The 
Bail Project.
 
In an email to The Daily, 
University spokesperson Rick 
Fitzgerald said the University 
does not turn away students due 
solely to their previous conduct, 
but that it is taken into account.
 
“The University does not 
reject an applicant for admission 
solely because they answered 
‘yes’ to a conduct question, nor 
does it determine applicant eli-
gibility based on past conduct 
history,” Fitzgerald said. “Con-
duct is only reviewed after an appli-
cant is determined to be admissible 
to the university based on a holistic 
review process.”
 
Welch is involved in mul-
tiple communities working to sup-

port those in Ann Arbor who have 
been previously incarcerated. A pre-
viously incarcerated person is still a 
person, Welch said. 
 
“This favorite quote of 
mine, ‘Education is the only thing 
given that cannot be taken,’” Welch 
said. “Oftentimes, we assume that 
just means like collegiate education 
and things like that, but really, any 
type of learning or growing. Spaces 
that (cultivate learning and grow-
ing) have to be created more in Ann 
Arbor because what I found from 
my own personal experience is that 
once someone learns who I am, is 
that I’m just a person, too.” 
 
He said it is important 
to focus on the humanity of those 
affected by incarceration while 
highlighting their struggles.
 
I get sad, and you’d be 
surprised at the things that we have 
in common, but once you know that, 
‘Oh my God, here’s this person that 
grew up completely different from 
me, but we have these things in 
common because we’re both peo-
ple,’” Welch said.

LOUNGES
From Page 1

“Our focus is on the social 
roots of sexual assault.” 
Hirsch 
and 
Khan 
said 
their study aims to make 
sexual assault a less common 
feature of college life.
Khan 
discussed 
ways 
to reduce campus sexual 
assault: 
starting 
sexual 
education 
from 
a 
young 
age 
and 
acknowledging 
gender dynamics so that 
people will know what to 
expect as they mature and 
contacting policymakers and 
demanding 
comprehensive 
sexual education.
“Those 
silences 
around 
sex are the kinds of things 
we want to focus on,” Khan 
said. “Refusing sex can be 
awkward, but it’s a teachable 
skill.”
Khan shared a story about 
another Columbia student 
who 
said 
that 
“having 
unwanted sex felt easier 
than 
having 
a 
difficult 
conversation.” He explained 

only 5 percent of sexual 
assault cases on campuses 
are reported, which is likely 
because most victims are 
assaulted by people they 
know. 
Throughout 
the 
event, 
students 
were 
visibly 
nodding 
their 
heads 
in 
agreement as the speakers 
described 
their 
efforts. 
Students were also able to 
text questions to the panel so 
the speakers could elaborate 
on ideas during the event. 
El-Sayed spoke on the 
panel and said he grew up 
in a culture where sex was 
considered “fundamentally 
taboo.”
“I 
have 
a 
2-year-old 
daughter … and I think a lot 
about the world she’s going 
to grow up in,” El-Sayed said. 
“I’m walking into parenting 
without being parented (on 
this issue).”
Khan concluded the event 
with a positive outlook on 
the issue at hand.
“We wanted to give you a 
sense of empathy and hope,” 
he said.

TRAFFICKING
From Page 1

ASSAULT
From Page 1

If you come to Ann Arbor, you’re Black 
before you even get to whether or not you 
actually have a felony, right?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. 

player is a woman, a person 
of color or part of the LGBTQ+ 
community. Christian Sandvig, 
a faculty member in the School 
of Information, spoke about this 
commonality in his introduction of 
Washko. 
“All you have to do is turn on 
the audio and wait,” Sandvig said. 
“I know that there are gamers in 
the audience and I think you know 
what happens next. I mean it’s 
reliable, it only takes a couple of 
minutes before you hear something 
horrific. It is disturbing, offensive, 
it could be racist, it could be sexist, 
homophobic, 
Islamaphobic. 
It 
really thinks of something that 
bothers you and It’s likely to come 
up if you wait long enough.”
To combat the prevalence of 
hate speech, Washko would host 
public 
meetings 
in 
populous 
towns within World of Warcraft. 
Her project gained large scale 
attention in World of Warcraft and 
an intentional inclusive in-game 
guild was created as a part of 
these discussions. Washko’s work 
was displayed in galleries though 
large-scale projections of these 
conversations, as well as in writing. 
While this wasn’t the first time 
Washko promoted feminism in 
her pieces, this project became a 
baseline for future works.
The second project Washko 
spoke about was an online video 
game titled The Game: The Game. 
A play on words of the book “The 
Game: Penetrating the Secret 
Society of Pickup Artists” by Neil 
Strauss, The Game: The Game 
players navigate the world of 
“Pickup Artist Gurus,” featuring 
real-life gurus, who approach 
players using the tactics the gurus 

market as successful in on their 
websites, online modules, books 
and lectures. 
The Game: The Game is based 
on Washko’s research in the 
community, which she called 
misogynistic 
alt-right 
or 
the 
Manosphere. In The Game: The 
Game, players have to interact with 
“pickup artists” who aim to seduce 
the player, blurring the lines of 
consent and manipulating women 
into sleeping with them. 
Washko was able to get an online 
Skype interview with “pickup 
artist” Guru Roosh V, a notorious 
figure in the Manosphere, as part 
of her research, but she said she 
had to act submissive and ditzy 
and cater to what Roosh wanted 
to talk about to keep the interview 
running smoothly. 
“If you don’t feel like a creep 
you’re not pushing hard enough,” 
Washko read from one of Roosh’s 
books. “You must always be making 
the first move. You must always be 
pushing. If you’re scared that she’s 
going to think you’re a creep, that 
means you’re on the right path.” 
Following her vocal criticism of 
Roosh, his online community began 
harassing Washko on social media 
platforms, though direct messages, 
in comments in new stories and 
across the internet. Washko noted 
the difference in reactions between 
the World of Warcraft community 
and the Manosphere was related 
to her personal position within the 
communities.
“In WoW, I was recognizable as 
a long term, a high-level member 
of the community with high-level 
gear only obtained through years of 
commitment to the game,” Washko 
said. “Clearly a participant in that 
space and not outside. By virtue of 
just being myself, a woman, a self-
identified feminist, a person with a 

job, I would always be an outsider 
in the manosphere.” 
Washko played videos from the 
creators as part of the lecture.
Art & Design senior Elizabeth 
Doyle commented on the impact of 
those videos.
“I found a lot of it difficult to 
watch and disturbing,” Doyle said. 
“A lot of the men she was focusing 
on in the beginning were really, 
really disturbing and hard to 
watch.”
While the content of The 
Game: The Game is in some cases 
disturbing, 
Washko 
said 
she 
didn’t create it to unsettle players. 
Instead, she said she wanted to 
create a platform where players 
can better understand what it feels 
like to be a target of these target 
techniques. 
Washko also commented on the 
personal impact of delving into 
the Manosphere and this online 
community and spoke about how 
her current project is almost a polar 
opposite of what she has worked on 
in the past. 
Washko finished the lecture 
with a bold outlook at what she 
wants to do with her art. 
“I have had a commitment to 
examining the cultural byproducts 
of 
media 
and 
entertainment, 
not only in an effort to rethink 
them and create hopefully future 
cultural objects that are more 
inclusive in a wide range of ways 
that we choose as humans to 
perform and present, live and 
love,” Washko said. “And I hope 
to continue to tell what I think is 
complex, underrepresented and 
unconventional 
stories 
about 
the media that we consume 
from 
unusual 
perspectives 
using a wide range of forms and 
distribution strategies.”
 

GAMING
From Page 1

“The standard for surviving a 
motion to dismiss is incredibly 
low,” Deutsch said. “To beat a 
motion to dismiss, a plaintiff 
basically 
just 
needs 
to 
have stated in their initial 
complaint the elements of 
each legal claim and facts 
backing them up. The facts 

don’t even need to turn out to 
be true.”
Deutsch 
explained 
the 
discovery 
will 
be 
a 
long, 
expensive 
and 
resource-
intensive process that could 
last several months. He said 
he anticipates the defendants 
will then move to summary 
judgment.
“On summary judgment, the 
judge is asked to decide the case 
without a trial if he feels that 
there are no facts in legitimate 

dispute,” Deutsch said. “This 
will be tougher for the AFLC to 
overcome, because at that point, 
the AFLC will need to have a 
case backed by evidence that a 
jury could plausibly believe.”
Muise 
denies 
allegations 
of criminal activity. He said 
the AFLC’s reputation as well 
as 
financial 
contributions 
have suffered as a result of 
being designated a hate group 
by the SPLC, and expressed 
frustration with government 

officials legitimizing the report. 
“We’ve been fighting the 
credibility of this … spending 
a lot of time and resources 
to launch press releases, to 
get in the media, to counter 
the media’s reliance on the 
Southern Poverty Law Center, 
because it does harm us,” 
Muise said. “And now all of a 
sudden you have the Michigan 
attorney general, the state’s top 
law enforcement office, saying, 
‘Oh no, this is a legitimate 

list.’ It’s just raised this to 
another level ... it’s given the 
state’s endorsement to it, it has 
dedicated state’s resources to it 
— this is horrific.”
Nessel and Arbulu’s press 
release defines a “hate and 
bias incident” as one which 
“an 
action 
does 
not 
rise 
to the level of a crime or a 
civil 
infraction,” 
including 
actions protected by the First 
Amendment. According to the 
press release, the database 

initiative is intended to educate 
the community about such 
incidents and combat them. 
Muise believes this initiative 
infringes 
on 
constitutional 
rights.
“No attorney general should 
weaponize 
their 
office 
to 
go after political opponents 
and even threaten to go after 
political opponents, because it 
obviously has a chilling effect 
on the right to freedom of 
speech,” Muise said. 

SPLC
From Page 2

