Police 
officers 
followed 

Jermaine Johnston down the 
Hatcher Graduate Library steps 
on a finals week night more than 
20 years ago for no reason. He said 
he was used to it — being treated 
as less intelligent during office 
hours, asked what sport he played 
on the first day of classes and met 
with silence when he walked into 
an all-white room. 

“I had a bookbag on my back, 

a University of Michigan shirt, 
University of Michigan hat, proud 
to be in the place that didn’t 
always accept me,” Johnston. 

Johnston 
stood 
on 
those 

same steps on the Diag Saturday 
morning, addressing a crowd of 
several hundred protesting for 
racial justice after police officers 
in Wisconsin shot Jacob Blake, a 
29-year-old Black man, leaving 
him paralyzed from the waist 
down. 

Johnston, now a minister and 

father to a University student, 
said he was getting into “good 
trouble.”

“I refuse for my children 

to grow up the way I grew 
up, to continue to have these 
same arguments, these same 
discussions, 50 years from now,” 
Johnston told The Daily. “I want 
to close my eyes one day and know 

we really had progress in this 
country.”

University 
students, 

community members and elected 
officials of all ages and races 
took part in speeches on racial 
inequality on the Diag before 
marching 
through 
downtown 

Ann Arbor in an event organized 
by the non-profit Survivors Speak.

Trische Duckworth, executive 

director of Survivors Speak, wore 
a shirt with seven bullet holes 
painted on the back to signify the 
seven times white police officers 
shot Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. 

“We never pose a threat,” 

Duckworth said. “You know what 
the threat is? It’s the color of our 
skin.”

Duckworth and Tracy Van den 

Bergh, a candidate for Washtenaw 
Circuit Court judge, read aloud a 
list of dozens of people killed by 
police in recent years, including 
Tamir Rice and Eric Gardner.

“Don’t forget their names,” Van 

den Bergh said.

She implored the mostly white 

audience 
to 
challenge 
their 

friends and family who respond 
“all lives matter” to the Black 
Lives Matter movement.

“If all lives really matter, there 

would not be the disproportionate 
murder of Black brothers and 
sisters in our streets, and so many 
people would be alive today,” Van 
den Bergh said.

U.S. 
Rep. 
Debbie 
Dingell, 

D-Mich, 
said 
there 
is 
an 

“uncomfortable” 
reality 
in 

America.

“If you are a Black man, you are 

treated differently than a white 
man,” Dingell said. 

Eli 
Savit, 
Democratic 

candidate for Washtenaw County 
prosecutor, held up a pocket knife 
he found on the floor of his car 
a few days ago and compared 
it to the knife police have said 
they found under the floorboard 
of Blake’s car at the time of the 
shooting. Savit said his pocket 
knife had probably been on 
the floor for months before he 
realized it. 

“I never once thought that 

because of the presence of that 
knife in my car that I would be 
dehumanized, that I would be 
presumed to be dangerous,” Savit 
said. “That is the systemic racism 
that we’re talking about.”

After 
remarks 
from 
Nick 

Roumel, candidate for Washtenaw 
County Circuit Judge, and Krystal 
Dupree, candidate for Ann Arbor 
School Board of Education, as well 
as other local activists, protesters 
left the Diag to march. They 
walked down South State Street 
chanting “Black lives matter.” 

masks and maintain appropriate 
distance from one another — are 
supposed to help students adhere 
to public health guidelines and 
manage 
off-campus 
student 

gatherings. 

Since its implementation on 

Aug. 20, the program has faced 
pushback both for its perceived 
lack of enforcement measures 
and for working with police 
officers. 

Now, unarmed DPSS security 

and administrative staff will 
be “provided to support” the 
ambassadors, according to the 
website. 

Prior to this reversal, police 

officers from the Ann Arbor 
Police 
Department 
and 
the 

University’s Division of Public 
Safety & Security patrolled with 
the ambassadors. It is unclear 
if the officers who previously 
accompanied them were armed. 
The 
University’s 
Office 
of 

Public Affairs did not respond 
immediately 
to 
request 
for 

comment.

Critics 
said 
the 
program 

seemed 
tone-deaf 
after 
a 

summer 
of 
protests 
against 

police brutality.

Music, 
Theatre 
& 
Dance 

senior 
Jack 
Williams, 
the 

chaplain of Alpha Phi Alpha, 
a Black fraternity on campus, 
previously told The Daily he 
was worried about the program 
because AAPD has a history of 
over-policing Black fraternities.

“Let’s say we’re not having 

a party, and it’s just a small 
kickback, not a lot of people, but 
that the police will be called on 
us still,” Williams said. “That’s 

my concern, and I think a lot 
of Black students at Michigan 
share that same concern.”

The 
ambassadors 
are 

currently 
walking 
around 

campus 
and 
in 
off-campus 

residential neighborhoods every 
day from noon to midnight. After 
Sunday night, the ambassadors 
will work only Thursday through 
Saturday every week for the rest 
of the semester.

Students are required to wear 

face masks while on campus 
and to stay six feet apart from 
those outside their household. 
Gatherings indoors are limited 
to 10 people, while outdoor 
events are limited to 25. The 
University’s 
Twitter 
account 

garnered criticism for using 
a Drake meme to signal that 
gatherings of 25 people are 
allowed 
while 
discouraging 

larger groups.

All students were given the 

choice to opt into a voluntary 
address registry at the beginning 
of the year. When a concern is 
reported through the COVID-
19 hotline, the ambassadors will 
answer the hotline and text or 
call those responsible. 

“Students can receive updates 

from the ambassador program 
if a concern about their address 
surfaces before midnight during 
operating days of the program, 
giving them the opportunity to 
address the situation without 
police involvement as the first 
response,” the website reads.

If a phone number is not 

available 
for 
that 
address, 

ambassadors will respond to the 
location of the reported concern.

Prior to the update, the 

University has said the hotline 
will directly forward to DPSS 

after midnight and on days 
when the ambassadors are off-
duty. Now, “callers will have the 
option of leaving a message (for 
non-urgent concerns) or being 
transferred to dispatch services 
to request a law enforcement 
response,” the website reads.

Some community members 

have 
also 
disparaged 
the 

Michigan Ambassadors program 
for being too lenient in its initial 
outreach. 

In 
a 
previous 
interview, 

Public Health junior Bushra 
Hassan said she does not think 
the 
Michigan 
Ambassadors 

initiative 
will 
be 
effective 

without strong consequences for 
people who break the rules. 

“I 
don’t 
think 
they 
can 

effectively make people go home, 
because students can’t force 
students to do anything,” Hassan 
said.

According to the updated 

website, “repeat reports will 
be 
addressed 
with 
warning 

letters, referrals and citations 
from law enforcement for noise 
and public health violations, as 
appropriate.” Other University 
offices such as Fraternity and 
Sorority Life and the Dean of 
Students may also reach out. 

Depending on the severity 

of the situation, students could 
also face “removal from housing, 
removal from specific courses 
or activities, suspension from 
the University or expulsion,” the 
website reads.

Anyone who sees a violation 

of these policies can call the 
COVID-19 Concerns hotline at 
734-647-3000.

Daily News Editor Claire Hao 

can be reached at cmhao@umich.
edu.

The Faculty Senate Office 

confirmed the meeting was the 
highest attended on record with 
more than 550 attendees.

A faculty member confirmed 

to The Daily that a motion 
of 
no 
confidence 
in 
the 

administration’s reopening plan 
was submitted to be considered. 
Other 
faculty 
members 
told 

The Daily there appeared to be 
support for holding a vote of no 
confidence during a portion of 
the meeting the press was not 
invited to attend.

Information 
Professor 

Kentaro 
Toyama, 
a 
SACUA 

Representative and organizer of 
recent demonstrations against 
reopening campus, asked SACUA 
to consider a vote on a motion 
of no confidence in either the 
University administration or its 
reopening plans.

“In my four years in faculty 

governance, I haven’t yet seen 
the administration give an 
inch on key issues, though they 
are very good at providing 
the impression that they care 
about our opinions. I don’t 
think this is governance, this 
is dictatorship,” Toyama said. 
“And, if that seems a little bit 
alarmist, it’s because I really 
believe we are in a moment in 
which we have to do something 
a little bit more than make polite 
requests.”

Faculty express concerns 

over fall semester

Physics 
professor 
Dante 

Amidei 
echoed 
Toyama’s 

sentiment 
that 
the 

administration 
hasn’t 
done 

a 
sufficient 
job 
of 
taking 

into 
account 
faculty 
input. 

Amidei 
recently 
sent 
two 

petitions 
to 
the 
University 

administration that called for 
a more robust universal testing 
program and to which he said 
received no response from the 
administration.

“What 
we 
have 
heard 

(from the University) is an 
ad-hoc argument to discredit 
the importance of universal 
testing,” 
Amidei 
said. 
“We 

have never seen a model or an 
analysis that predicts the risk 
levels for this U-M plan. Maybe 
there isn’t one and we are flying 
blind. Or maybe there is one and 
we wouldn’t like the answer.”

Amidei said he wished the 

University would follow the 
lead of other peer institutions 
in using the pandemic as 
an 
opportunity 
to 
pioneer 

containment of illness. He said 
the University has no strategy, 
only 
“downstream 
crisis 

control.” 

University 
spokesperson 

Kim Broekhuizen emphasized 
that the University plans on 
increasing testing efforts in an 
email to The Daily. 

“Surveillance 
testing 

asymptomatic students, faculty 
and staff will occur each week. 
We will launch registration 
for our program next week 
and 
anticipate 
ramping 
up 

testing to approximately 3,000 
individuals weekly by the end 

of 
September,” 
Broekhuizen 

wrote. 
“Additional 
testing 

efforts include 1500 tests for 
students moving into affiliated 
fraternity and sorority houses.”

Broekhuizen also said that 

prior to arrival on campus, 91 
percent of undergraduates in 
on-campus housing have been 
tested, while the remainder are 
currently being tested. This 
means that of approximately 
8,300 students living in dorms, 
around 750 are waiting for their 
COVID-19 test results.

Engineering 
professor 

Michael 
Atzmon 
voiced 

his concern for compliance 
with 
University 
guidelines, 

after complaints of housing 
precautions going unenforced 
during dormitory move-in and 
reports of off-campus parties 
that potentially violate public 
health 
mandates. 
Atzmon 

criticized 
the 
University’s 

tweet to dismiss gatherings of 
26, but approve those of 25, in 
accordance with Washtenaw 
County guidelines. 

“On 
Aug. 
16, 
President 

Schlissel said he was a little 
insulted 
by 
the 
suggestion 

that our students will not act 
responsibly,” 
Atzmon 
said, 

referring to comments Schlissel 
made in an interview with The 
Daily. “So I guess President 
Schlissel finds reality offensive. 
Many of us have seen images of 
our students having a great time 
in recent days in large groups 
and without masks. Now there’s 
even a U of M tweet telling them 
to have parties with 25 people.”

Atzmon said even if students 

and faculty follow University 
guidelines, he still believes 
there is a high level of risk 
related to in-person classes.

Lisa Disch, the U-M political 

science professor who was 
recently elected to Ann Arbor 
City Council for Ward 1, said the 
risk of bringing students back 
to campus could impact the 
local community. Disch said the 
University’s plans impose a high 
level of risk on the community, 
so moving to an entirely remote 
format would be a better avenue 
to ensure public safety.

“We 
live 
in 
the 
most 

segregated county in Michigan, 
and the pandemic makes us one 
community in the worst way. It 
does cross neighborhood lines 
and it does cross economic 
strata,” Disch said. “It will have 
the most devastating impact 
on county residents who are 
the 
most 
vulnerable. 
They 

are essential workers whose 
paychecks do not reflect the 
magnitude of the risks they take 
for this community.”

Meeting comes on heels of 

leaked memo

At the meeting, comparative 

literature professor Silke-Maria 
Weineck brought up concerns 
about the COVID-19 Ethics 
and Privacy Committee’s July 
31 memo to President Schlissel. 
She said the memo highlights 
how unconfident community 
members feel about the current 
plan for reopening campus.

“Our main point here is 

not to advocate for a specific 
solution, 
but 
rather 
to 

underscore, with urgency, our 

concern that current plans for 
Fall 2020 will not meet the 
reasonable standard for safety 
recommended by our report, 
that good alternatives exist, and 
that it is not too late to pursue 
them,” Weineck quoted from 
the memo during the meeting.

Gilbert Omenn, chair of the 

COVID-19 Ethics and Privacy 
Committee and public health 
professor, confirmed that the 
committee still stands by its 
statements in the memo in an 
email to The Daily. Omenn also 
mentioned that the committee 
did not receive a response from 
President Schlissel, though no 
response was expected.

Toyama said he is worried 

about the memo not having been 
made public by the University 
and that he hopes all of the 
final reports from COVID-19 
committees in the provost’s and 
president’s offices should be 
made public. He highlighted that 
the memo states a coronavirus 
outbreak will be likely and 
will disproportionately impact 
people of color and low-income 
communities.

In an email to The Daily, 

Amanda Kaplan and Saveri 
Nandigama, 
CSG 
president 

and 
vice 
president, 
said 

they 
believe 
constructive 

criticism can help improve the 
University’s 
decision-making 

processes. They also noted 
that the reopening plan was a 
University-wide effort and that 
criticism should not be solely 
directed at President Schlissel.

“We believe that, no matter 

what 
the 
decision 
is, 
the 

University needs to ensure 
that the needs of students, 
faculty, and staff are heard 
and 
addressed 
accordingly,” 

Kaplan, a Public Policy senior, 
and Nandigama, an LSA senior, 
wrote. “This report doesn’t 
change our opinion, but it does 
highlight and recognize the 
need to create an atmosphere 
that is conducive to the success 
of all students, especially those 
from communities of color and 
other vulnerable communities.”

Peter Railton, a member 

of the COVID-19 Ethics and 
Privacy 
Committee 
and 

philosophy professor, suggested 
that faculty should work within 
the hybrid teaching framework 
to declare that they will teach 
their courses online without 
waiting for permission or policy 
changes. Railton noted that he 
was not speaking on behalf of 
the committee, but as a faculty 
member.

“Some of the most dangerous 

steps in reopening universities 
such as bringing students back 
to the dorms have already been 
taken, and at this point it may 
be too late to stop the spread of 
the kind that we’ve seen at other 
large universities,” Railton said. 
“But we’re not powerless as a 
faculty to take steps that we 
think can materially increase 
safety 
for 
our 
students, 

faculty, staff and the wider 
communities.”

Daily Staff Reporter Dominick 

Sokotoff can be reached at 
sokotoff@michigandaily.com.

AMBASSADORS
From Page 1

VOTE
From Page 1

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, September 2, 2020 — 3

The lawsuit claims that 

Trifecta Productions, LLC, 
the 
company 
that 
owns 

Tomukun, did not respect 
Prada’s rights as an essential 
employee 
during 
the 

pandemic and fired him only 
after learning that he may 
have contracted COVID-19 
at a party he attended earlier 
that month. It also claims that 
Prada was refused payment 
in the weeks he was out of 
work because of his illness. 

“As a frontline essential 

worker, Mr. Prada risked 
his health for the benefit 
of the restaurant and its 
customers,” the lawsuit reads. 
“After refusing to pay him 
legally required sick leave 
compensation, 
Tomukun 

Noodle Bar unceremoniously 
fired 
Mr. 
Prada 
after 

interrogating him regarding 
the origin of his illness and 
telling 
him 
that 
‘for 
PR 

reasons it would be best for 
you not to come back.’”

Prada began working at 

Tomukun in January 2018 
and served as a waiter and 
assistant manager. According 
to the lawsuit, he reported 
feeling sick to his manager on 
June 24 and stayed home from 
work, later testing positive 
for COVID-19 on June 27. 
Prada was ordered by the 
Washtenaw County Health 
Department 
to 
quarantine 

for two weeks in his home 
following his positive test 
result. 

The lawsuit said that once 

Prada completed his two-
week 
quarantine, 
he 
had 

a 
22-minute 
conversation 

about returning to work with 
Yong Hum Yon, Tomukun’s 
owner. During this call, Yon 
allegedly 
said 
there 
was 

social 
media 
evidence 
of 

Prada at parties and asked 
him not to return to work. 
Prada was fired on July 11. 

Yon did not respond to 

request for comment. 

The lawsuit also invokes 

an 
executive 
order 
from 

Gov. 
Gretchen 
Whitmer 

as evidence that Tomukun 
retaliated against Prada for 
contracting COVID-19. The 
order, as signed on April 
3, says that employers are 
prohibited from discharging 
an employee because they 
stayed home from work due 
to illness.

“Individuals permitted to 

go to work under Executive 
Order 
2020-21 
must 
stay 

home when they or their 
close contacts are sick—and 
they must not be punished 
for doing so,” the order reads. 
“Accordingly, it is reasonable 
and necessary to provide 
certain protections against 
workplace discrimination to 
such individuals, to ensure 
they can do what is now most 
needed from them to protect 
the health and safety of this 
state and its residents.”

Daily 
News 
Editor 
Liat 

Weinstein can be reached at 
weinsl@umich.edu.

LAWSUIT
From Page 3

‘Don’t forget their names’: 
Hundreds rally for justice

Protesters gather on Diag to call out systemic racism 
after police shoot and paralyze Jacob Blake in Wisconsin

MADDIE FOX/Daily

Students, faculty and community members gather on the Diag to protest the shooting of Jacob Blake and to 
advocate for the Black Lives Matter movement Saturday afternoon.

CALDER LEWIS
Daily Staff Reporter

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

