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