In May, protests erupted in 

Ypsilanti after a video showed 
the officer repeatedly hitting 
Grady El in the head.

Elected officials, candidates 

and community members spoke 
out against racial injustice in 
education, the criminal justice 
system and the economy during 
Saturday’s event. 

Eli 
Savit, 
Democratic 

candidate for Washtenaw County 
prosecutor, said the charge for 
wanton endangerment — but not 
for Taylor’s murder — proved that 
“Black lives are devalued.”

Bill 
Amadeo, 
Grady 
El’s 

attorney, told the crowd he is 
committed to fighting Nessel’s 
decision in the Grady El case. 
He said he is also representing 
many young Black men who 
are overcharged in Washtenaw 
County.

“They have been victims of the 

criminal justice system,” Amadeo 
said. “If we’re going to move 
forward, this bullshit needs to 
stop, and it’s only going to stop if 
we all sit down and talk as a team.”

A recent report from the 

Citizens for Racial Equality in 
Washtenaw 
found 
significant 

gaps in the treatment of different 
racial groups in the county’s 
criminal 
justice 
system. 
The 

report 
revealed 
prosecutors 

charge people of color more often 

than they do white people.

U.S. 
Rep. 
Debbie 
Dingell, 

D-Mich., told The Michigan Daily 
before the event on Saturday that 
she was one of the people who 
suggested the Grady El case go to 
Nessel’s office.

“We need to have someone 

who’s going to look at what facts 
are,” Dingell said. “Sometimes 
they’re really difficult findings 
that are made. We’ve got to figure 
out how we’re going to go forward 
from here and have a legal process 
that’s fair, open and transparent 
(and) treats everyone the same 
way, and also talk about the 
problems we still have.”

Dingell told the crowd she was 

frustrated by the lack of progress 
on racial issues in the U.S., a 

failing exposed this summer amid 
a series of high-profile police 
killings. She criticized President 
Donald 
Trump’s 
leadership 

during the unrest.

“We have a problem of injustice 

in America,” Dingell said. “But 
what we need is a leader who’s 
not afraid to have uncomfortable 
conversations, not a leader who’s 
gonna put kerosene on a fire and 
divide this country with fear and 
hatred.” 

Rev. 
Joe 
Summers, 
pastor 

at the Episcopal Church of the 
Incarnation, pointed to the general 
wealth of University students, 
many of whom he said come from 
households making hundreds of 
thousands of dollars per year, as 
evidence of the disparities in the 

community. He said the nation’s 
education 
system 
gives 
the 

wealthiest families access to high 
schools that send students to elite 
universities. Meanwhile, college-
aged Black men are more likely to 
go to prison than graduate college 
in Michigan, he said.

“And it costs almost as much to 

send someone to prison as it costs 
to send them to a place like the 
University of Michigan,” Summers 
said.

Art & Design sophomore Emma 

Peterson said she came to protest 
the lack of indictment in the Taylor 
case. She said she was inspired by 
Summers’s call to action.

“Since we’re privileged enough 

to have the opportunities that this 
university gives us, our obligation 

is to give back to our communities,” 
Peterson said. 

Other speakers included Nick 

Roumel, candidate for Washtenaw 
County Circuit Court Judge, and 
Krystal DuPree, candidate for Ann 
Arbor Public School board.

After the speeches, the crowd 

filed out of the Diag to chant and 
march through downtown Ann 
Arbor. 

Aside 
from 
some 
of 
the 

organizers, the protesters were 
almost all white. For Michigan 
State 
University 
sophomore 

Savannah Fort, the racial makeup 
was nothing new.

In Ann Arbor, two iconic 

local cinemas — the State 
Theatre on South State Street 
and the Michigan Theater on 
East Liberty Street — have 
been closed since the start 
of the pandemic. Both have 
offered virtual screenings of 
films and asked for donations 
to help keep them in business.

The city currently limits 

indoor 
gatherings 
to 
10 

individuals and caps events at 
25 people when in an outdoor 
setting. City Council passed 
an 
ordinance 
in 
August 

putting the restrictions in 
place amid fears that students 
returning to the University 
of Michigan’s campus could 
trigger an outbreak. 

Those 
restrictions 
align 

with rules set by Washtenaw 
County earlier in August. 
The county’s policy prohibits 
outdoor gatherings of more 
than 25 people in Ann Arbor 
and Ypsilanti, both of which 
are college towns.

As of Friday, the University’s 

COVID-19 dashboard, which 
was 
recently 
updated 
to 

include testing at off-campus 
facilities and better align 
with data from the county, 
showed a total positive case 
count of 288 since Aug. 30, 
the day before the start of 
the fall semester. That count 
includes both students and 
non-students.

On Wednesday, prior to 

the University’s decision to 
incorporate off-campus tests 
that were not self-reported, 
the dashboard reported 117 
positive 
cases 
during 
the 

same time period.

Whitmer noted the state is 

still in a state of emergency 
and that the virus is still a 
persistent threat. 

“We are not out of the woods 

yet, and we will continue 
to monitor the effects of 
these incremental changes,” 
Whitmer said. “Right now, the 
federal government and all 50 
states have been under some 
form of state of emergency. 
We must stay the course and 
continue fighting this virus 
on behalf of our families, 
frontline workers, and our 
small businesses.” 

Managing News Editor Leah 

Graham can be reached at 
leahgra@umich.edu. 

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, September 30, 2020 — 3

THEATERS
From Page 1

Business 
graduate 
student 

Tunde Osilaja, who is of Nigerian 
and American descent, wrote in 
a post on @blackatmichigan that 
his professor made a derogatory 
remark about Nigerian people to 
his 80-person section in September 
2018. 

According to Osilaja’s post, the 

professor said, “I wouldn’t try 
to deceive you, I’m not like one 
of those Nigerians,” a comment 
that refers to a discriminatory 
stereotype about Nigerians. 

“I thought I misunderstood 

him, but I was shocked when he 
repeated the same comment later 
in the lesson,” Osilaja said.

DeRue told The Daily the 

Business administration is aware 
of this comment and has addressed 
it with the faculty member. 

“I’m aware of the matter, and 

certainly it’s unfortunate and 
disappointing, very disappointing 
that happened,” DeRue said. 

When asked by The Daily what 

specifically was said to the faculty 
member regarding the incident, a 
spokesperson for DeRue said they 
cannot comment on personnel 
matters.

The professor’s comments are 

not what hurt Osilaja the most, 
he said, but rather the response 
of 
his 
classmates. 
According 

to Osilaja, the majority of his 
classmates laughed along with 
the professor, while only a few 
of them approached him later to 
discuss the incident and share their 
misgivings.

DeRue said the administration 

encourages students and faculty to 
report any discrimination they may 
experience. 

“We take these matters very 

seriously and are very proactive 
... and we do a follow-up on every 
single instance that is reported and 
take action as appropriate for that 
matter,” DeRue said.

Many Black Business students 

said 
their 
experiences 
with 

discrimination and racism were 
covert rather than overt, such as 
microaggressions — remarks or 
actions that communicate negative 
or demeaning attitudes toward 
marginalized groups.

Business junior Karla Bell, Black 

Business Undergraduate Society 
president, said she has experienced 
microaggressions when working 
in small groups in class where a 
majority of the other students were 
white.

“There have been experiences, 

especially working within teams, 
where I would say something 
and then I’m not heard, and then 
someone will say a similar thing 
and then they’ll be listened to,” 
Bell said. “A lot of times, it’s the 
lack of people believing that you 
have the skills that you obviously 
have because we’re all in the same 
place.”

An underrepresented Black 

community

In the Winter 2020 semester, 3.3 

percent of students in the Business 
School were Black and 50.7 percent 
of students were white, according 
to the Office of the Registrar. 

Business 
alum 
Errington 

Bethel said the Business School’s 
racial demographics should be 
proportionate to the country’s. 
About 14 percent of people in 
Michigan and 13.4 percent of 
people in the U.S. are Black.

“Michigan needs to look at Black 

Americans getting accepted into 
Ross and understand either why 
they’re not getting in, understand 
why 
they’re 
choosing 
to 
go 

elsewhere, and it’s always a play 
on, ‘Is it the chicken or the egg?’” 
Bethel said. “So, do we get more 
Black students, and then we need 
more Black professors, or do we 
get more Black professors and then 
more Black students come in?”

Business 
Professor 
Marcus 

Collins said there are not enough 
students 
of 
color 
attending 

the 
Business 
School 
or 
the 

University. 
However, 
he 
said 

these demographics are a result 
of a systemic issue larger than the 
University.

“I think as higher education 

becomes more financially out of 
reach for socially and economically 
deprived 
communities, 

marginalized communities, you’re 
going to see lack of representation,” 
Collins said. “It’s a major issue, and 
I think that it doesn’t fall at any one 
school’s feet.” 

DeRue said one reason behind 

the low number of students of color 
at the Business school is Proposal 2, 
which was approved by Michigan 
voters in 2006 and prohibits 
colleges in Michigan from taking 
race into account in the admissions 
process. 

But it is not clear if the 

demographics within the Business 
School have changed since the 
proposal. In the winter semester 
of 2005, prior to the approval 
of the proposal, Black students 
comprised 3.8 percent of Business 
students, nearly the same as the 
3.3 percent of Black students in the 
Business school today. 

DeRue said the Business School 

has been working hard to increase 
diversity 
within 
the 
student 

body. Programs like Michigan 
Ross Enriching Academics in 
Collaboration with High Schools 
(MReach) 
help 
high 
school 

students who are interested in 
business prepare for the college 
applications process and explore 
the business world. 

And 
this 
summer, 
DeRue 

announced new diversity initiatives 
at the Business School through a $6 
million dollar gift from Stephen 
M. Ross and Jeff Blau. The new 
Blau Initiative for Diversity in 
Real Estate and Infrastructure 
is designed to offer high school 
students from underrepresented 
backgrounds 
internships 
and 

learning experiences in real estate 
and investing. The new Related 
Scholars 
Fund 
will 
provide 

scholarships to support students 
from diverse backgrounds who 
are underrepresented in business 
leadership.

Students like Donald Lindsay, 

an MBA student and co-president 
of the Black Business Students 
Association, have also called on the 
administration to hire more Black 
faculty members.

“If I see another Black person or 

Black faculty in the program, I feel 
a little bit more comfortable than 
if I didn’t, because I’m thinking, 
‘Man, if I need to talk to somebody, 
I’d probably talk to that person,’” 
Lindsay said. “That’s something 
that’s undervalued.”

There were eight Black or 

African American faculty members 
and 141 white faculty members in 
the Business School as of November 
2019, according to the University’s 
Office of Public Affairs.

Bell said in her experience, 

most Black faculty members are 
concentrated in the marketing 
track at the Business School.

“There are literally no Black 

faculty around,” Bell said. “ … If 
you’re not a marketing student or 
if you’re not interested in anything 
with the marketing focus, you 
can go through four years of Ross 
without having a Black professor, 
easily.”

DeRue said he recognizes there 

is much work to be done regarding 
increasing faculty of color within 
the Business School. 

“If you look at all the accredited 

business schools in the country, 
we’re slightly above average,” 
DeRue said. “That’s not good 
enough.” 

DeRue said the Business School 

wants to prioritize DEI in faculty 
hiring, especially with doctoral 
students. This year, the Business 
School’s doctoral program was 
awarded a Rackham Faculty Allies 

Diversity grant to support its 
diversity initiative. 

Disappointment 
with 
the 

Business School’s namesake

Black students in the Business 

School said they were disappointed 
that the school is named after 
Stephen Ross, a Michigan alum 
and founder and chairman of 
Related Companies, because of 
Ross’s political affiliations. In 
August 2019, Ross held a fundraiser 
for Donald Trump which raised 
$12 million. The move upset some 
students, 
who 
demanded 
the 

Business School be renamed. 

The backlash highlighted anger 

over racism stemming from the 
president’s office, such as Trump’s 
response to violence at a white 
supremacist rally in Charlottesville 
in which he blamed “both sides” for 
the conflict.

Naja Edwards, a Business School 

alum and former MBA Council 
President, said that her fellow 
Business students were angry 
after hearing the news of Ross’s 
fundraiser. 

“In my opinion, there was a lot 

of pushback from MBA students,” 
Edwards said. “They know the 
deal. Donald Trump is a polarizing 
figure.”

Lindsay said he is “painfully 

aware” the school is named after 
one of the largest Trump campaign 
supporters. 

“The fact that he’s a Republican 

is probably neither here nor there,” 
Lindsay said. “But (he is) someone 
who’s actively supported someone 
who represents a lot of what’s 
wrong in this country.”

DeRue said he appreciates Ross’s 

support and that he has been of 
great value to the Business School, 
specifically through programs like 
the Ross Initiative in Sports for 
Equality, which works to empower 
and educate the sports community 
to end racial discrimination.

“Stephen Ross has been a true 

champion of higher education,” 
DeRue said. “He’s been a true 
champion of fighting for social 
injustice and inequality … and we 
are very grateful to Stephen and all 
of his support.”

Concerns 
regarding 
the 

transparency in DEI efforts

Many Black students have said 

there is a lack of transparency and 
accountability within the Business 
School 
administration’s 
DEI 

efforts. 

DeRue’s statement after the 

police killing of George Floyd 
sparked 
criticism 
from 
some 

students who took issue with the 
wording he used. 

“Like so many of you, I have 

watched in horror the recent 
events 
in 
Minneapolis 
where 

George Floyd died while in the 
custody of police officers,” DeRue 
wrote. “Mr. Floyd’s senseless and 
tragic death has motivated days of 
protests across our country, and 
I want to recognize the pain, fear, 
anger, and hopelessness that many 
are experiencing, especially those 
in our Black and African American 
community.”

According to Business junior 

Bolaji Gaba, BBUS vice president 
of corporate relations, some Black 
students said they were angered by 
the timing and content of DeRue’s 
statement. They specifically took 
issue with DeRue referring to 
Floyd’s murder as a “senseless 
and tragic death,” instead of 
acknowledging that white police 
officers killed Floyd.

DeRue later apologized for his 

choice of words through a follow-
up email and town hall. 

DeRue said he did not intend in 

any way to discount the killing of 
Floyd, and hearing feedback from 
Business students was a moment of 
growth for him.

“I took full ownership of the 

choice of words, in terms of 
describing the killing of George 
Floyd as his death,” DeRue said. 
“I was truly heartbroken that my 
choice of words caused the pain 

that it did to our students. Also, it 
was a learning moment for me, and 
so I really appreciated the feedback 
that our students gave in terms of 
that word choice.”

Later that week, the Business 

School held a DEI Virtual Town 
Hall 
discussing 
the 
school’s 

approach to racial justice, where 
DeRue publicly apologized for 
his statement. There were 420 
Business School faculty, staff and 
students in attendance, according 
to Bridget Vis, Business School 
public relations specialist.

Edwards 
said 
Business 

graduate students were initially 
disheartened by the DeRue’s first 
statement, which did not include 
a specific plan on how the school 
would reduce racial discrimination.

“That 
created 
this 
whole 

sentiment 
amongst 
the 
MBA 

students where everybody was just 
like, ‘There needs to be more here. 
People need to be held accountable, 
there needs to be concrete action, 
there needs to be an action plan,’” 
Edwards said.

After talking with the BBSA 

and other members of the Business 
School, DeRue released a second 
statement on June 10 that included 
a 14-step action plan to promote 
and improve DEI initiatives. DeRue 
listed steps to improve diversity 
within teaching and learning 
practices, leadership teams and 
human resources policies. 

The Black Business students 

The 
Daily 
spoke 
with 
had 

mixed feelings about the second 
statement. Some were hopeful 
that this plan would reduce racism 
and discrimination while others 
remained skeptical.

Collins said while he did 

appreciate having a specific action 
plan, he empathized with students’ 
frustration. 

“The frustration that students 

feel in regards to like, ‘Is this 
lip service, is this real, will this 
happen?’ is a completely fair, 
understandable and arguably, the 
right frustration that should be 
felt,” Collins said. “I feel it too, and 
I think that is the right frustration 
to have, and until there are 
receipts of actually realizing 
those promises, they should be 
frustrated, absolutely.” 

Taylor said she thinks the 

Business 
administration 
is 

making a genuine effort to 
improve its DEI initiatives, 
but she said she would not 
have this same view if she 
did not have close ties with 
the 
administration 
through 

programs like BBUS.

“If 
I 
didn’t 
have 
those 

relationships and actually hear 
from their mouth that they were 
trying to do stuff, on a regular 
day, even walking through the 
Winter Garden, I wouldn’t be 
able to tell a thing,” Taylor said. 

DeRue 
recognized 
that 

students might not be aware 
of 
the 
administration’s 
DEI 

initiatives.

“To any student who feels 

disconnected from our efforts 
or that we’re not engaging, we 
want to engage, and I would 
encourage those students to 
either reach out to me directly, 
reach out to our team, engage 
in the workshops and the events 
that we are holding so that we 
can work together to accomplish 
our shared goals,” DeRue said.

Bethel said he hopes the 

Business School continues to 
focus 
on 
combatting 
racial 

discrimination.

“I definitely think continuing 

to keep the conversation going 
is important, but I think what’s 
more important is following 
up and actions and not letting 
something distract us from what 
we’re trying to achieve,” Bethel 
said.

Daily Staff Reporters Parnia 

Mazhar and Ann Yu can be 
reached at parniam@umich.edu 
and anncyu@umich.edu. 

ROSS
From Page 1

“I couldn’t stand Northwood 

anymore,” Thedford said. “It’s 
just crazy there and more kids 
who test positive are literally 
right next to you. For my safety, 
I thought it was best if I just 
went home cause I have the 
luxury of living an hour away.”

The 
conditions 
at 
the 

University’s quarantine housing 
have 
been 
the 
subject 
of 

numerous complaints — and a 
viral Tik Tok — by students sent 
to isolate there. Residents have 
voiced concerns about a lack of 
sanitation, the low quality of 
the meal delivery service and 
limited communication between 
them and the University. In 
response to the criticism, the 
University created a new job to 
oversee students and conditions 
in quarantine housing. 

Martin 
said 
while 
the 

first set of data to come from 
surveillance testing recorded 
zero positive tests, she would 
“love to get as many people 
signed up as possible” to collect 
more data from students. 

Public 
Health 
graduate 

student Peter DeJonge works 
with Martin in the surveillance 
testing program. DeJonge also 
encouraged students to sign 
up for the program, saying it 
benefits the community. 

“I would encourage people 

to sign up,” DeJonge said. 
“Everyone will eventually be 
selected to come in and collect 
the self swab. We give their 
results back pretty quickly. It 
contributes to the overall well-
being of campus and there’s 
very little hassle to make an 
appointment.”

Thedford 
brought 
up 

concerns 
about 
the 
newly 

reinstated 
football 
season 

affecting testing and contact 
tracing, saying tailgates could 
negatively impact the progress 
of the CTC.

“If a positive person goes to 

a tailgate, there’s no point (in 
contact 
tracing),” 
Thedford 

said. 

“It’s just not effective because 

if a kid has COVID, they’re only 
going to say the five close friends 
that they know of and everyone 
else is just going to walk freely. I 
think contact tracing is going to 
have a big issue coming up and 
we’re going to see an influx of 

people entering Northwood. It’s 
just going to keep getting worse 
and worse.”

While COVID-19 surveillance 

testing 
has 
faced 
backlash 

over privacy concerns, Martin 
said their program is based on 
influenza surveillance, which is 
a common program in the state 
of Michigan.

“So we watch what’s going 

on at doctors’ offices, we watch 
what’s going on at the hospitals, 
we watch what people are 
reporting in the community,” 
Martin said. “But we also kind 
of go out and do targeted testing 
to figure out if influenza is here 
yet. Is it going? Is it getting 
higher? And that gives us an 
extra 
piece 
of 
information 

to help us tailor how we’re 
responding (to the virus).”

DeJonge said surveillance 

testing is important among 
college students because many 
virus carriers are asymptomatic.

“With 
any 
communicable 

disease 
or 
something 
that 

people can spread from person 
to person, it’s important for 
the community to know what’s 
out there,” DeJonge said. “So 
the surveillance that we do is 
important to just recognize how 
many people are out there, we 
don’t know about and wouldn’t 
know about because they never 
will have symptoms.”

Racial disparities persist in 

the pandemic’s impact, with 
Black and Hispanic Americans 
bearing the brunt of the virus. 
Martin said some marginalized 
communities 
have 
been 

negatively 
affected 
by 
the 

medical system and may be 
unwilling to participate in 
these surveillance programs.

“I think that we need to be 

mindful of both sides of the 
people that would feel safer 
with 
mandatory 
testing,” 

Martin said. “I think we need 
to acknowledge that there 
are communities of people 
that both have reasons that 
they don’t want to participate in 
mandatory testing, but then also 
may have had experiences with 
the medical system and public 
health surveillance systems that 
may make them uncomfortable. 
With that kind of mandate, I 
think we need to acknowledge 
that and also as part of the 
conversation.”

Daily Staff Reporter Jasmin 

Lee can be reached at itsshlee@
umich.edu.

TRACING
From Page 2

PROTEST
From Page 1

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com