Thursday, June 11, 2020

INDEX

Vol. CXXIX, No. 120
 © 2020 The Michigan Daily 
NEWS ....................................
OPINION ............................... 
ARTS/NEWS..........................
MiC.........................................
SPORTS................................

MICHIGAN IN COLOR

The American 
Dream: Impossible
Communities of color 
perpetually have their 
inalienable rights 

restricted from them

>> SEE PAGE 9

NEWS
Students go to bars

Experiences & opinions of 

students going to bars that 

reopened amid COVID-19 

>> SEE PAGE 2

OPINION
Deconstruct 
America’s youth

Commentary on the histories 

of Tulsa, Juneteenth and east 

Oklahoma. >> SEE PAGE 4

ARTS
“Braiding 
Sweetgrass” 
A book that asks us to 
reconsider our place in 
nature.

>> SEE PAGE 6

SPORTS
Perfect storm
Race in America and how 
the lacrosse community 
needs to do better

>> SEE PAGE 10

inside

2
4
6
8
10

The University of Michigan’s 
Board of Regents passed the 
administration’s 2020-21 budget 
in a 5-2 vote during a special 
meeting Monday night, days 
after a 4-4 vote at their June 25 
meeting had appeared to sink 
proposed increases in tuition 
and fees. The approved budget 
includes a 1.9 percent increase 
in tuition for the Ann Arbor 
campus; a 3.9 percent increase 
for UM-Flint and UM-Dearborn; 
a 1.9 percent increase in room 
and board fees and a $50 COVID-
19 student fee. 
 Regents Paul Brown (D), 
Jordan Acker (D), Ron Weiser 
(R), Mark Bernstein (D) and 
Michael Behm (D) voted in favor 
of the budget, with Brown and 
Acker changing their votes from 
Thursday. Regents Shauna Ryder 
Diggs (D) and Denise Ilitch (D) 
voted against the budget. Regent 
Katherine White (D) was not 
present, though she called in to 
vote for the proposed budget at 
the previous meeting.
 After the budget initially 
failed to pass on June 25, 

University 
President 
Mark 
Schlissel said he anticipated the 
budget proposal the executive 
team would present at the July 
Regents meeting would diminish 
or eliminate a tuition increase for 
the Ann Arbor campus.
 Schlissel explained that the 
Board called for the special 
meeting on Monday because, 
without a budget, the University 
would not be able to operate and 
continue paying employees in 
the new fiscal year, starting July 
1. Half of the revenue from the 
tuition increase will go toward 
increasing 
financial 
aid 
to 
address the pandemic, according 
to Schlissel, and the new budget 
also doubled the funds provided 
to Flint and Dearborn campuses 
from $10 million to $20 million. 
Schlissel 
defended 
the 
proposal 
and 
cited 
the 
University’s ongoing efforts to 
protect students and families 
from the pandemic and economic 
recession 
including 
COVID-
19 testing, hiring freezes, the 
suspension of nonessential travel 
and spending, and the use of $400 
million from the endowment.
“We’re committed to do 
our very best to make sure that 
the COVID-19 pandemic does 
not result in a lost generation 
of students who are unable 
to continue or complete their 

Michigan 
education 
because 
of the circumstances we find 
ourselves in,” Schlissel said. 
Students have criticized the 
University for trying to increase 
tuition, claiming their learning 
experiences will not be the same 
with online classes and more 
students are now struggling 
financially due to the recession 
sparked by the pandemic.
After Schlissel’s introduction, 
most of the meeting was devoted 
to 
Regents 
explaining 
their 
support for or disapproval of the 
budget.
Weiser, who supported the 
budget last Thursday and on 
Monday, 
addressed 
demands 
made by students and activists to 
use the endowment to balance the 
budget and cover financial losses. 
He said much of the endowment 
funds are restricted to particular 
units of the University and thus 
cannot be redirected legally.
 “While we are a university 
that’s blessed by having an 
endowment that’s gonna give 
us 400 million dollars this year, 
most of that money is restricted 
to certain areas,” Weiser said. “… 
It’s not a 12 million (sic) dollar 
endowment where we can take 
the income and spread it, put it 

Transgender
rights at risk
in new policy

Rules from the Trump 
administration and 
Supreme Court seemingly 
at odds

ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Read more at michigandaily.com

JULIANNA MORANO
Daily Staff Reporter

 CALDER LEWIS & 
ARJUN THAKKAR 
Summer News Editor 
and Daily Staff Reporter

Read more at michigandaily.com

michigandaily.com

Regents approve new budget with 
tuition increase in special meeting

Dominick Sokotoff/Daily

On 
June 
12, 
the 
Trump 
administration announced a rollback 
of 
Obama-era 
anti-discrimination 
policies for trans and nonbinary people 
in the healthcare system. According to 
a statement from the Department of 
Health and Human Services, the federal 
government will no longer recognize 
gender identity as protected categories 
under the civil rights section of the 
Affordable Care Act, and will curb the 
interpretation of “sex” to pertain only 
to “the plain meaning of the word” as 
“male or female and as determined by 
biology.”
Three days later, the Supreme Court 
followed with its own ruling on sex 
discrimination in employment, arguing 
sex discrimination does encompass 
discrimination on the basis of sexual 
orientation and gender identity. These 
seemingly contrasting federal rulings 
have raised questions in terms of what 
that ultimately means for trans and 
nonbinary people’s rights. 
LSA junior Hazel Gordon voiced 
her concerns to The Daily in the wake 
of the Trump administration’s ruling, 
stating that trans discrimination in 
this country is not necessarily new, but 
explicit government backing for it is.
“It is worth noting that it does 
happen already,” Gordon said. “This 
just provides, I guess, legal backing 
for it … I think it opens up a lot of 
already vulnerable people to further 
discrimination.”
Gordon, who identifies as a trans 
woman, said the Supreme Court’s 
decision is a sign of progress, on the 
other hand, but shouldn’t be met 
without 
skepticism, 
especially 
in 

michigandaily.com
Thursday, July 2, 2020
ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
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