The University of Michigan 
is freezing its fossil fuel 
investments — for the time 
being. 
On 
Thursday 
evening, 
during 
the 
University’s 
Board of Regents meeting 
at the Richard L. Postma 
Family Clubhouse, University 
Regent Mark Bernstein (D) 
announced 
the 
board 
is 
looking into the University’s 
policy 
on 
investments 
in 
fossil fuel companies. New 
investments will not occur 

during this time.
“We will not bring forward 
new direct investments in 
fossil fuel companies while we 
study the investment policy 
of the University of Michigan 
with regard to all fossil fuel 
investments in a deliberative, 
thorough, 
inclusive, 
and 
responsible 
manner,” 
Bernstein 
said. 
“We 
will 
proceed with this assessment 
as quickly as possible and 
plan to take any appropriate 
actions in the months ahead.”
After 
Bernstein’s 
announcement, the audience 
immediately 
erupted 
in 

applause. The University is 
the first Big Ten school to 
pause future investments in 
fossil fuel companies.
Approximately 
80 
University 
students 
and 
faculty 
and 
Ann 
Arbor 
community 
members 
were 
in attendance to observe the 
meeting. University Regent 
Shauna Ryder Diggs (D) called 
into the meeting from a remote 
location. Acting Provost Susan 
Collins was also present.
University President Mark 
Schlissel took the beginning 
of the meeting to comment 
on 
recent 
allegations 
of 

sexual misconduct that have 
surfaced against prominent 
University 
administrators. 
He encouraged students and 
faculty who were disturbed 
by the allegations to utilize 
University 
resources 
and 
continue supporting those who 
come forward with allegations 
of sexual misconduct.
After 
Schlissel 
said 
he 
condemned 
all 
instances 
of 
sexual 
misconduct, 
an 
audience member interrupted 
his speech, shouting, “You 
knew!” 

The 
campaign 
office 
for 
Sen. 
Bernie 
Sanders 
(D-VT) opened on Stadium 
Boulevard 
in 
Ann 
Arbor 
Thursday 
night. 
The 
Democratic 
presidential 
candidate’s event drew more 
than 150 local supporters 
and featured guest speakers 
former 
gubernatorial 
candidate Abdul El-Sayed 
and state Rep. Yousef Rabhi, 
D-Ann Arbor. 
Sanders 
endorsed 
El-Sayed’s 
campaign 
for 
governor 
in 
2018, 
and 
El-Sayed 
has 
expressed 
his 
support 
for 
Sanders’ 
presidential campaign. 
El-Sayed 
said 
Sanders’ 
consistent beliefs on issues 
like health care and the 
environment resonated with 
him the most. 
“Let me tell you why I am 
so excited to be out here for 
Bernie right now,” El-Sayed 
said. “It’s not just that Bernie 
is the frontrunner among 
candidates for president of 
the United States, it’s that 
Bernie has been talking about 
these issues since before I 
was born; it’s the recognition 
of the kind of policies that 
we need, but even more than 

that, the kind of politics that 
it will take to get it done.”
El-Sayed 
concluded 
his 
remarks 
by 
connecting 
Sanders’ campaign slogan 
“Not 
me. 
Us.” 
to 
the 
Constitution of the United 
States. 
“It goes back to those first 
three words ‘We the People.’ 
That’s not just a statement, 
that’s not just a description, 
it’s 
an 
ideal 
of 
people 
continuously 
choosing 
to 
come together beyond the 
differences that people tell 
them divide them,” El - Sayed 
said. “‘Not me. Us’ is about 
‘We the People,’ it’s about us 
coming together in the best 
interests of our society.”
Rabhi 
shared 
his 
excitement 
for 
Sanders’ 
campaign and vision for the 
United States, especially on 
health care. 
“I am proud to be here with 
so many fantastic people 
to fight for someone who is 
running, not just one person, 
but all of us,” said Rabhi. “To 
fight for an idea that we can 
create a healthcare system 
that leaves more money in 
our pockets and less money 
in the pockets of greedy 
CEOs.”

When 
LSA 
freshman 
Hannah 
Shipley 
started 
learning more about the deaf and 
hard of hearing communities 
in her first-year seminar, her 
interest in taking American 
Sign Language courses piqued. 
Upon further research, Shipley 
found out about the waitlist of 
more than 100 LSA students for 
RCASL 100, the ASL language 
sequence’s prerequisite course, 
which could block her from 
taking any further courses for 
two years. 
After 
speaking 
with 
her 
linguistics professor, Natasha 

Abner, Shipley started a petition 
in hopes of increasing the 
opportunity to learn ASL at the 
University of Michigan for both 
the deaf and hard of hearing 
communities and her hearing 
classmates. 
“She explained to me how 
small the program was, that 
there’s 
only 
one 
professor, 
that the Intro is only offered 
every other year and that the 
waiting list is so long that some 
graduating seniors will never 
get it,” Shipley said. “I was 
really frustrated … The only 
thing that came to mind was the 
petition. So really it started out 
of frustration that a program 
for a community that’s so 

marginalized is so small.” 
According to the University’s 
ASL professor, Paula Berwanger, 
ASL 100 consistently has a 
waitlist of more than 100 LSA 
students in addition to more 
than 20 students from other 
schools across campus.
In RCASL 100, Introduction 
to Deaf Culture, students do not 
learn ASL; rather, they learn 
about deaf culture in the United 
States, deaf identity and the 
historical roots of the language. 
After completing RCASL 100, 
students 
are 
permitted 
to 
continue on to elementary and 
intermediate 
sign 
language 
courses. 
Because all students still 

have to take ASL 100, those who 
place into ASL 102 or further 
get precedence in registering 
for 
ASL 
100. 
Additionally, 
Berwanger wrote in an email 
to The Daily that students who 
are deaf, hard of hearing or 
who have immediate family 
members 
using 
ASL 
get 
preference. LSA students are 
also shown preference. 
“As 
more 
high 
schools 
now offer ASL, the number 
of students testing into ASL 
beyond 
the 
first-semester 
language class has steadily 
increased,” Berwanger wrote.

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Friday, February 21, 2020

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INDEX
Vol. CXXIX, No. 75
©2020 The Michigan Daily

N E W S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

C L A S S I F I E D S . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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
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on Instagram, 
@michigandaily

The 
University 
of 

Michigan’s 
NCAA 

Division I standing and 
Big 
Ten 
membership 
provide 
students 
on 
campus with a source 
of spirit. However, not 
all athletes on campus 
compete at the varsity 
level. Many students find 
their desire to compete 
athletically fulfilled by 
membership to club or 
intramural sports teams, 
which 
are 
primarily 
student-based 
and 
organized. 
To achieve club status, a 
team must apply through 
the 
University’s 
Club 
Sports 
Office. 
Before 
this process can occur, 
the Club Sports Program 
must assess their ability 
to add more teams. 
Laurel Hanna, assistant 
director of Club Sports, 
explained how the Club 
Sports Program decides 
to open up more spots for 
student organizations to 
achieve club status.

Amid the usual bustling activity 
in Mason Hall, more than 200 
University of Michigan graduate 
student instructors lined the walls 
on Tuesday afternoon to display the 
labor of graduate student workers. 
The demonstration comes on the 
heels of the University’s multiple 
rejections to contract proposals 
from the Graduate Employees’ 
Organization.
GEO began contract negotiations 
with the University administration 
last November. The organization 
met 
with 
University 
Human 
Resources twice a week for a few 
hours to introduce proposals and 
language crucial to the bargaining 
process.
GEO’s initial bargaining with HR 
resulted in productive developments 
on expanding trans health care 
access and building union security, 
according to GEO’s press release. 
However, GEO’s frustration with 
the University’s administration is 
due to HR’s rejections — with no 
counteroffers — of proposals related 
to climate, housing and food justice, 
a demilitarized workplace, disability 
and mental health accommodations 
and protections against sexual 
assault. 
Both 
GEO 
and 
HR 
have agreed to reach a tentative 
agreement by Mar. 1, 2020. 

GSI’s line 
Mason in 
protest of 
contracts

ACADEMICS

KRISTINA ZHENG
Daily Staff Reporter

Petition calls for expansion of 
American Sign Language program
Long waitlists show growing interest in learning ASL, supporting Deaf culture

CAMPUS LIFE

Graduate Employees’s 
Organization arranges 
‘grade-in’ after issues 
negotiating with admin

Successful applications 
give teams access to 
resources, status, usage 
of block ‘M’ imagery

SOFIA URBAN & 
ROSE CRAMTON 
Daily Staff Reporter & 
Daily Sports Writer

See GRADE-IN, Page 3
See CLUB, Page 3

Student 
rec sports 
talk club 
standing 

SONIA LEE
Daily Staff Reporter

Bernie is second candidate to have 
staff in Ann Arbor, after Bloomberg

Sanders sets 
up campaign 
office in A2, 
 
150 attend

SARAH PAYNE
Daily Staff Reporter

See ASL, Page 3

See REGENTS, Page 3A

Board of Regents announces freeze 
on future fossil fuel investments 
 
‘U’ becomes first Big 10 school to do so following student activism

DOMINICK SOKOTOFF/Daily
Engineering senior Logan Vear holds up a sign to encourage divesting from fossil fuels at the Regent’s meeting at the Richard L. Postma Family 
Clubhouse Thursday afternoon.

ARJUN THAKKAR & 
PARNIA MAZHAR 
Daily Staff Reporters

See BERNIE, Page 2A

DESIGN BY MARIAH PARKER

