The 
panel 
then 
discussed 
college 
affordability 
and 
its 
impact on students at the 
University. Benji Timpf, 
regional 
coordinator 
for 
U.S. 
Sen. 
Gary 
Peters, 
stressed 
the 
senator’s focus on college 
affordability.
“The 
Senator 
has 
been doing work to hold 
the Department of Ed 
accountable 
to 
ensure 
that the loans students 
are receiving, they know 
the conditions of those 
loans,” Tim said. “The 
Senator has been pushing 
to hold the Department of 
Ed accountable, increase 
the availability of those 
programs’ work … (and) 
making 
Department 
of Ed more accessible 
and 
understandable 
to 
students.”
City Council members 
weighed in on housing 
affordability 
and 
efforts to address the 
issue. 
Councilmember 
Zachary 
Ackerman, 
D-Ward 3, discussed the 
disparity 
between 
the 
10,000-person 
increase 
in University enrollment 
and the 6,000-bedroom 
increase in housing.
“That 
doesn’t 
quite 
add up,” Ackerman said. 
“Simple 
math 
tells 
us 
there’s an imbalance. We 
have a supply issue. So, 
we need to address supply 
by building new housing.”
Ackerman 
said 
City 
Council 
is 
working 
on 
zoning 
rules 
and 
increased incentives for 

building. The council is 
also looking into building 
on land already owned by 
the municipality as well 
as regulating the market 
of 
short-term 
rental 
properties.
Councilmember 
Julie Grand, D-Ward 3, 
suggested 
thinking 
of 
campus affordability in 
relation 
to 
community 
affordability.
“One way to reframe 
the 
issues 
is 
that 
a 
lot of issues that are 
important to affordability 
are 
important 
for 
our 
community 
more 
broadly,” 
Grand 
said. 
“Sometimes 
we 
put 
student 
issues 
in 
this 
bubble where they really 
don’t 
belong 
because 
you’re a really important 
part of our community. … 
What’s good for students 
is what’s good for our 
community.”
Following a question 
from 
the 
audience 
regarding divisiveness in 
public discourse, Dingell 
addressed her role in this 
and her interactions with 
President Donald Trump 
via social media.
“I think the biggest 
fear to our democracy is 
the hatred and division in 
this country right now,” 
Dingell said. “I have seen 
hatred and vitriol and 
some of the worst rhetoric 
you can ever imagine. It’s 
simply not okay.”
Dingell, whose husband 
John Dingell passed away 
last February, said she 
plans to collaborate with 
Cindy McCain, the widow 
of Senator John McCain, 
for a tour centered around 
civility.
“We 
were 
both 

married 
to 
great 
men 
and 
heroes 
that 
we 
loved, and we’re going 
to talk about civility,” 
Dingell said. “You’re all 
communicators. You have 
to tell people it’s not okay. 
We have to stand up to the 
hatred in this country.”
In 
response 
to 
a 
question 
from 
the 
audience 
regarding 
health 
care, 
Dingell 
reinforced her message 
on 
the 
importance 
of 
engagement in this area.
“If you care about an 
issue, become engaged,” 
Dingell said. “Advocate, 
put the face on it, on 
the issues and … as we 
go into this year, we 
need 
to 
tell 
people 
about the importance of 
Medicaid and have people 
understand … it’s a child, 
it’s a senior that has 
nobody to care for them.”
LSA freshman Timothy 
Marvin, 
who 
attended 
the event, thought the 
conversation 
on 
the 
social media divide was 
especially 
pertinent 
to 
today’s 
political 
environment.
“I liked the kind of 
tangent we had about 
social media and more 
broadly 
the 
public 
discourse 
and 
where 
that’s at in the United 
States 
today,” 
Marvin 
said. “I think that’s like a 
real problem. Policy starts 
with how people talk, and 
the way people talk isn’t 
very collaborative right 
now. And you notice we’re 
very divided, so we don’t 
really get anything done.”
Reporter Remy Farkas 
can 
be 
reached 
at 
rsfarkas@umich.edu.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, February 19, 2020 — 3A

NRA
From Page 1A

FOOD
From Page 1A

CHIEF
From Page 1A

ROUNDTABLE
From Page 1A

Some 
proactively 
called 
for public apologies from 
members of City Council and 
Mayor Christopher Taylor, 
asking about how damages 
could be repaid.
Attendees 
had 
many 
questions 
about 
the 
investigation into Cox by a 
private law firm and who 
would receive their report. 
Jackson 
also 
commented 
on the lack of a Human 
Resources 
Director, 
who 
would normally be involved 
in the process. Commission 
members pointed out there is 
little precedent and they are 
not entirely sure what will 
happen. 
The 
discussion 
quickly 
moved to City Administrator 
Howard 
Lazarus, 
who 
City 
Council 
voted 
to 
remove 
Tuesday 
night. 
Councilmembers Jane Lumm, 
I-Ward 2, and Jack Eaton, 
D-Ward 4, sponsored the 
resolution to separate with 
Lazarus, which includes a 
severance of one year’s salary, 
amounting to $223,600, and 
an additional $1,000. Lumm 
is part of the ICPOC and 
Eaton was present for the 
majority of the meeting. 
After the announcement 
about the resolution to remove 
Lazarus, many community 
members 
grew 
frustrated 
and began shouting at Lumm. 

She explained his possible 
removal was unrelated to the 
situation with Cox. 
“The separation agreement 
is not in the least related,” 
Lumm said. “The timing, 
of 
course, 
is 
furious, 
but 
coincidental. 
Your 
assumption 
the 
two 
are 
related 
is 
understandable, 
but they are not related. 
This 
was 
discussed 
with 
Lazarus in various settings, 
well in advance of our email 
(announcing it).”
Many 
commission 
members 
and 
attendees 
expressed anger with the city 
government at all levels and 
especially with City Council. 
They said Cox’s placement 
on leave was a demonstration 
of the inefficacy of Ann 
Arbor’s government and the 
community’s 
underlying 
racial tensions. 
Jackson 
commented 
on 
how the situation reflects on 
Ann Arbor, regardless of the 
final outcome for Cox and 
Howard Lazarus. 
“I have no knowledge of 
what 
happened; 
I 
don’t,” 
Jackson said. “But what I do 
know is that it is not a good 
look for the city of Ann Arbor. 
It doesn’t speak well for us; 
it doesn’t speak well for the 
process.” 
Councilmember 
Eaton 
spoke to the commission, 
explaining the City Council 
has no information about 
Cox. He also said he thinks 
the public should be given 
more 
information 
and 
that 
City 
Council 
would 

investigate how the current 
situation evolved. Eaton said 
City Council did not know of 
any issues with Cox and that, 
if he is reinstated, they will 
look into repairing the harm 
that was done. 
After Lumm and Eaton 
left for the City Council 
meeting, 
the 
commission 
and 
community 
members 
expressed 
their 
gratitude 
for 
the 
opportunity 
to 
have ICPOC meet and hear 
community input. 
Ann Arbor resident Lori 
Saginaw, 
who 
has 
been 
involved in previous police 
reform efforts in the city, 
spoke about the importance 
of 
the 
community 
being 
involved in ICPOC meetings 
and how activism can affect 
the city government. 
“I cannot tell you how 
grateful I am that all of you 
are doing what you are doing,” 
Saginaw said. “There were so 
many times I was the only 
person sitting here during 
these meetings, in contrast, 
to tonight when you can 
know this community cares 
and wants to be a part of this 
work. So, talk about activism, 
here it is. We are going to 
continue to talk (about these 
issues).”
The meeting ended with 
calls 
for 
transparency 
regarding 
both 
Cox 
and 
Lazarus, as well as demands 
for the release of data about 
policing in Ann Arbor. 
Reporter Emma Ruberg can 
be reached at eruberg@umich.
edu.

The panel, moderated by LSA 
freshman Hannah Kim, consisted of 
Palmer; Urban Planning Professor 
Lesli Hoey; Jennifer Petoskey, city 
of Ann Arbor solid waste outreach 
and compliance specialist; and LSA 
sophomore Chase Dautrich.
Palmer shared the procedures 
campus chefs practice to reduce 
waste and recycle dining leftovers. In 
addition to training kitchen staff, he 
emphasized the importance of cross-
utilization of ingredients in reducing 
waste in menus. 
“Food waste is at the forefront of 
all chefs’ minds,” Palmer said. “For 
chefs, it’s about training, really … It’s 
always an ongoing process.” 
To inform attendees on procedures 
taken on a university-wide scale, 
Hoey 
shared 
her 
experience 
co-leading the Internal Analysis Food 
Team on the President’s Commission 
on Carbon Neutrality. According to 
Hoey, the team’s mission is to broadly 
analyze anything related to food on 
the University of Michigan’s three 
campuses. In an effort to reduce 
carbon emissions, Hoey said the 
team 
suggests 
waste-preventing 
procedures before food is prepared 
and suggests protocol to follow after 

waste has been produced. 
“A major part of what we are 
going to suggest is some systems 
that better keep track of what we’re 
actually wasting still — even despite 
certain initiatives — and also try to 
understand what the impact is once 
you do implement more initiatives,” 
Hoey said. 
Hoey said the team is facing a 
lack of data concerning food waste 
and composting on the campuses. 
Hoey said her team struggles 
with a fragmented system of food 
production, consisting of units such 
as athletics, medicine, dining and 
autonomous consumption in schools. 
Hoey noted about 40 percent 
of food waste occurs at the retail 
and customer levels. She said this 
means changes on the individual 
level will make the largest impact on 
greenhouse gas emissions.
As someone who has always had 
a problem with throwing food away, 
Hoey said that she will even eat off 
others’ plates when feasible to prevent 
leftovers from being discarded. 
Adding to personal examples, Palmer 
shared that if he cannot find a way to 
utilize food scraps, he will feed them 
to his chickens at home. 
“It is something we constantly talk 
about,” Palmer said. “It is extremely 
important that we use our foods to 
the fullest.”
According to Prenevost, one of the 

steps in reducing waste at the event 
was using an RSVP list to estimate 
how much food would be needed. 
Prenevost said she believes this can 
help prevent excessive leftovers at 
campus events. 
LSA junior Anastasia Bergeron 
said she signed up to expand what 
she has learned through Net Impact, 
a student organization collaborating 
with businesses for environmental 
and social impact. 
“Food 
waste 
is 
really 
an 
interesting topic that I just never 
heard about before,” Bergeron said. 
“I was interested in learning more 
… I always knew it was good for the 
environment, but I never really knew 
scientifically why it’s so much better 
to compost.”
Dautrich 
discussed 
his 
involvement with the Food Recovery 
Network. The organization will host 
a regional summit on campus on April 
4. Dautrich shared that his main goal 
in reducing waste was increasing 
conversation among students. 
“One big way that people can 
promote sustainable food systems is 
just talking about it,” Dautrich said. “I 
feel like communication is one of the 
biggest challenges for this generation. 
There are a lot of problems, but there’s 
also a lot of solutions. Maybe they just 
haven’t been able to spread yet.”
Reporter Ayse Eldes can be reached 
at aeldes@umich.edu.

“City staff are making political 
decisions,” 
Michniewicz 
said. 
“I don’t think this most recent 
iteration of what is a political tiff 
between two factions is going 
to get our community anywhere 
closer to addressing the climate 
crisis or housing crisis at the scale 
necessary.”
When presenting the resolution 
to 
fire 
Lazarus, 
Eaton 
said 
the decision came from a long 
discussion 
that 
began 
when 
Lazarus applied for a job as a city 
manager in Gainesville, Florida. 
His application referenced conflict 
with councilmembers, offending 
some of his colleagues. Eaton 
offered no further explanation 
for the reason of the proposed 
termination.
“While 
the 
council 
is 
concluding 
his 
employment 
without cause under the contract, 
it’s mostly because we don’t wish 
to state those causes, and we don’t 
wish to engage in litigation over 
whether or not the cause existed,” 
Eaton said. “It’s really of mutual 
benefit to the city administrator 
and the city to conclude this 
through negotiation rather than 
acrimony.”
Lumm said the decision came 
from a need for a more positive 
and 
productive 
relationship 
between councilmembers and the 
city administrator. 
“I don’t believe it’s appropriate 
to go into specific details about 
our city administrator or his 
performance,” Lumm said. “I 
know it is fair for anyone to 
ask why I would vote for this 
… I’ve served on council a long 
time and with quite a few city 
administrators, and I’ve seen 
the 
evidence 
that 
council-
administrator 
relationships 
are important to the effective 
functioning of city government 
both internally and externally … 
I want to support and promote 
relationships that are healthy and 
what you would expect to see on a 
high performing team.”
During the comments in support 
of the resolution, some residents in 
attendance interrupted with yells 

of disapproval and accusations 
of corruption. One held up a sign 
that read, “Good luck with a 
replacement!”
Councilmember Jeff Hayner, 
D-Ward 1, who voted in favor 
of 
firing 
Lazarus, 
addressed 
the 
crowd’s 
concerns 
about 
transparency.
“There’s personnel matters that 
don’t allow us to speak to some 
certain issues publicly,” Hayner 
said. “I certainly am sympathetic 
with the public who feel perhaps 
cheated of their opportunity to 
opine on this matter … there’s 
not much I can do to increase 
transparency around this matter 
and for that I apologize.”
Mayor 
Christopher 
Taylor 
voted against the resolution and 
expressed his disapproval of the 
council’s decision in a statement 
to The Daily.
“This action will waste more 
than $275,000 of taxpayer money 
and, as the Council majority 
admits, is entirely without cause,” 
Taylor’s statement reads. “Mr. 
Lazarus has done nothing wrong. 
This is a political termination that 
is bad for Ann Arbor.”
Taylor wrote that Lazarus is 
well qualified for his position and 
more needed than ever as the city 
faces critical stages of developing a 
$400 million budget, negotiations 
regarding 
the 
Gelman 
plume 
and the administrative leave of 
the police chief, among other 
challenges. 
He 
accused 
the 
council of punishing Lazarus 
for his resistance to “backroom” 
demands.
“Mr. Lazarus worked every day 
for Ann Arbor with intelligence, 
grace, and honor, to provide basic 
services and deliver real and 
meaningful change in pedestrian 
safety, affordable housing, and 
climate action,” Taylor’s statement 
continues. “The Council majority’s 
campaign of backroom pressure 
has culminated tonight in a 
grave public error. Ann Arbor, its 
residents and its reputation, will 
suffer from this deeply unwise 
decision for years to come.”
Councilmembers 
Zachary 
Ackerman, 
D-Ward 
3, 
Julie 
Grand, D-Ward 3, and Chip Smith, 
D-Ward 5, all of whom voted 
against the resolution, released 

an open letter addressing the 
decision. Their letter states that 
the majority made their decision 
out of dislike for Lazarus.
“Put simply, the City Council 
majority didn’t like Mr. Lazarus,” 
the letter reads. “They didn’t like 
that he pushed back when they 
pressured him to ignore city policy 
established through legislation 
passed in years prior. They didn’t 
like that he reminded them that 
their role is to set policy, not to 
micromanage and publicly berate 
public servants.”
Ackerman, 
Grand 
and 
Smith assert that the decision 
is 
unprofessional 
and 
fiscally 
irresponsible.
“Removing 
the 
City 
Administrator 
without 
cause, 
throwing away his skills when 
they are needed most, and using 
your money to pay him to leave is 
offensive to our most fundamental 
values,” the letter continues. “The 
Ann Arbor we represent believes 
in and expects transparency.”
During general public comment, 
a number of attendees expressed 
outrage at the council’s decision. 
Speakers were critical of the lack 
of cause for terminating Lazarus.
Sally Hart Peterson, executive 
policy 
adviser 
for 
economic 
development at the Office of the 
City Administrator and former 
City Councilmember representing 
Ward 2, urged the councilmembers 
to rethink their vote, calling 
their decision detrimental to the 
interests of the community.
“The decision to terminate 
our city administrator without 
cause undermines the long-term 
integrity and stability of the 
administrative role of the city,” 
Peterson said. “It undermines 
the morale of our city employees, 
it is fiscally irresponsible and 
it is an insult to all who rely on 
our administrator’s leadership, 
authority 
and 
keen 
decision-
making to keep the city running 
on a day-to-day basis … (Lazarus) 
has a clear sense of right and 
wrong, a respect for authority, 
and understands the clear line and 
division between city council and 
city administrator.”
Reporter Angelina Little can be 
reached at angelit@umich.edu.

ADMINSITRATOR
From Page 1A

 The Center for Responsive 
Politics 
reported 
the 
NRA 
spent more than $3 million on 
lobbying expenditures in 2019. 
Anglewicz 
mentioned 
the 
NRA’s 
extensive 
efforts 
to 
ensure gun safety and its 
dedication to education. 
“Even 
if 
we 
can’t 
find 
common ground on policies, 
we can always find common 
ground on how we can be 
safe 
and 
responsible 
gun 
owners,” Anglewicz said. “So, 
a lot of what we do is really, the 
majority, about safety education 
and training.” 
LSA 
senior 
Taylor 
King, 
co-founder of Students Demand 
Action, 
an 
activist 
group 
dedicated to combating gun 

violence, said gun safety must 
be a priority in a conversation of 
gun control. King said she has 
done gun violence prevention 
work for 11 years, is a survivor 
of gun violence and previously 
worked with Moms Demand 
Action 
before 
launching 
Students Demand Action on 
Michigan’s campus. 
“I and Students Demand 
Action as a whole really have no 
problem with members of the 
NRA,” King said. “We promote 
gun safety. We think gun 
ownership, it is a constitutional 
right, but we think there are 
some people who are a threat 
to themselves and others who 
probably should not have guns, 
and that people that do have 
guns should be using them 
safely and responsibly … If (the 
NRA U event’s) focus is on gun 
safety and gun education, more 
power to them.”

Anglewicz 
discussed 
the 
debate surrounding universal 
background checks. She said 
the term Universal Background 
Checks is “dangerous” because 
it gives the impression there are 
no background checks in place. 
She noted the NRA has been in 
support of the National Instant 
Criminal Background System, 
also known as NICS, since it was 
introduced in 1998; however, 
the NRA does not support H.R. 
8, which requires background 
checks between private parties. 
The NRA argues this is a 
private transaction and opposes 
legislation that would enforce 
a universal background check 
requirement for gun transfers 
between 
unlicensed 
sellers, 
such 
as 
transfers 
between 
family members.
“You want to know what 
‘universal’ is?” Anglewicz said. 
“It’s ‘I want to transfer a pistol 

to my father, I have to go get 
paperwork, run a background 
check on him, do all of our 
fingerprinting, then sell him 
the firearm and re-register it’ 
and that sort of thing. That’s 
what they’re calling ‘universal.’ 
We already have background 
checks.”
Anglewicz admitted current 
background 
checks 
fail 
to 
prevent threatening individuals 
from obtaining firearms, but 
gun reform should not come 
from bans on types of assault 
weapons. 
“We 
already 
have 
background checks,” Anglewicz 
said. “They are failing. It’s a 
terrible system and it needs 
help. People who are convicted 
felons, adjudicated mentally ill 
and a danger to themselves and 
others, should not have access 
to firearms. So, this system is 
broken. So, instead of focusing 

on the system, people are 
talking about assault weapon 
bans. Congress is wasting our 
time with these silly things that 
are going to keep nobody safe.”
Anglewicz 
discussed 
the 
term “assault weapons” and 
said the term did not exist prior 
to 1989, calling it a “made-up 
political term.”
In a 2018 article, CNBC 
reported 
that 
the 
firearm 
industry often refers to “assault 
rifle” as a military weapon 
with “select fire capabilities,” 
or the capability to switch 
between 
semi-automatic 
or 
a fully automatic mode. The 
AR-15 only has semi-automatic 
settings and is therefore not an 
assault rifle by this definition. 
Anglewicz 
referenced 
rifles 
more powerful than the AR-15, 
and said despite AR-15 high 
profile media presence, assault 
weapon bans are not the most 

effective approaches to reform. 
“Any gun can be deadly,” 
Anglewicz 
said. 
“But 
to 
demonize one particular rifle in 
the effort to ban it so they can 
create a slippery slope, you have 
to see through that. It’s very 
dangerous rhetoric.”
LSA freshman Nick Schuler, 
College Republicans freshman 
chairman, said he hoped the 
event fostered an educational 
dialogue 
about 
the 
Second 
Amendment and gun control 
debate. 
“Our goal is not to convert 
everyone into a gun lover, but 
just to have more understanding 
on campus,” Schuler said. “We 
think it’s very important to 
understand both sides of the 
political spectrum no matter 
where you lie, and to create 
more of a culture and foster a 
good campus that has diversity 
of thought.”

