Additionally,
separating
Order membership from editing
responsibility still hurts our ability to
report on Order, as groups opposed
to Order will nonetheless decline to
talk to Daily reporters who are not in
Order, which The Daily experienced
as recently as 2019.
Importantly,
knowing
that
journalism aims to “comfort the
afflicted, afflict the comfortable,”
Daily membership in Order hurts
our ability to build trust with
and amplify the perspectives of
marginalized communities. This
is given Order’s history of racism
and harm, specifically in regards
to its misuse of Indigenous rituals,
language and artifacts.
The
organization,
previously
named Michigamua, had exclusive
access to the tower of the Michigan
Union, a privilege unlike those
given to any other student group.
Since at least the 1970s, some U-M
students have pushed back against
Michigamua’s
appropriation
of
Indigenous culture, and in 1989,
the group agreed to eliminate all
references to Indigenous culture
except in its name.
But in 2000, activists in the
Students
of
Color
Coalition
occupied
Michigamua’s
tower
space for 37 days, finding that
Michigamua’s
meeting
space
had a “wigwam-like” design and
exhibited
Indigenous
statues,
headdresses
and
instruments.
Michigamua also displayed photos
of members taking part in initiation
rites based on Indigenous rituals
and
gave
members
nicknames
disrespecting Indigenous language.
Past Michigamua/Order members
well into 2012 have accused SCC of
setting them up, despite extensive
records suggesting the contrary.
After sustained SCC protest, the
University’s administration removed
Michigamua from the Union tower.
In 2007, Michigamua went
through a series of reforms: it
registered as an official student
organization through the University,
began to release its list of members
and renamed itself as Order of
Angell in honor of former University
President James Burrill Angell —
who founded the group in 1902 —
against the Angell family’s wishes.
Even today, though Order writes on
its website that members “no longer
participate in (Indigenous) rituals
and actively condemn the practice,”
the organization partially excuses its
past as Michigamua by writing that
“(a Native American theme) was a
very common theme for many social
clubs and literally millions of their
members across the country” at the
beginning of the 20th century.
It is also noteworthy that during
his tenure as University president,
Angell negotiated the treaty that
was the predecessor to the Chinese
Exclusion Act and believed Chinese
immigrants
to
the
U.S.
were
inherently foreign and unassimilable.
In
2019,
multiple
campus
organizations
condemned
participation in Order due to the
organization’s past appropriation of
Indigenous culture and its elitism.
These groups — including the United
Asian
American
Organizations,
La Casa and the Arab Student
Association — announced policies
that bar students who accept
membership in the society from
holding leadership positions within
their organizations.
The Daily’s current leadership
acknowledges and apologizes for
our organization’s past involvement
in Order. Since 1930, at least 58 Daily
staffers have been a part of Order,
very often The Daily’s Editor-in-
Chief or other high-ranking leaders.
And since renaming itself as Order
of Angell and attempting to distance
itself from the term “secret society” in
2007, Order has also used The Daily
as a platform to publicize its member
list, as recently as 2017.
Though unable to make up for
over 90 years of complicity with
one letter from the editor or one
Management Desk vote, The Daily’s
current leadership wants to begin
rectifying damage by dissociating
formally from Order and other
exclusive senior honor societies on
campus. We believe The Daily’s
platform should not be used to
further the agendas of already-
powerful, historically problematic
organizations such as Order.
This
year’s
leadership
also
recognizes that Michigan in Color, a
section within The Daily by and for
students of color, was the first entity
within The Daily to condemn Order
and “all other secret societies,” doing
so in 2019.
On Feb. 7, 2021, The Daily’s
Management Desk approved the
following provisional amendment to
The Daily’s bylaws:
Because The Michigan Daily is
committed to accountability and
transparency,
MDesk
members
will not join Order of Angell or
any other exclusive senior honor
society on campus or participate
in programming run by these
societies (i.e. Leaders for Life). A
leader within The Daily partaking
in a secretive group with a history
of harm, including in any of their
programming,
does
not
align
with our mission and core values.
Participation in these societies,
which value non-transparency over
open engagement, directly goes
against The Daily’s goal of being
an organization that holds power
responsible and elevates diverse
narratives.
A staff-wide vote to confirm the
provisional amendment will be held
at the next all-staff assembly in April,
per bylaw procedure.
Claire Hao is the 2021 Editor-in-
Chief and can be reached at cmhao@
michigandaily.com. John Grieve is the
2021 Digital Managing Editor and can
be reached at jgrieve@michigandaily.
com. Brittany Bowman is the 2021
Managing Editor and can be reached
at babowm@michigandaily.com.
Speaker
Nancy
Pelosi,
D-Calif., announced Feb. 11 that
a raise in the federal minimum
wage to $15 would be included
in the $1.9 trillion coronavirus
relief bill. The bill, if passed by
the House of Representatives,
would be able to bypass the
60-vote filibuster in the Senate
through budget reconciliation
and only requires a simple
majority to be voted into law.
However,
the
bill
faces
significant roadblocks in the
Senate. With a 50-50 divided
Senate, all 50 Senate Democrats
and
Vice
President
Kamala
Harris would have to vote to
enact the bill through budget
reconciliation.
The potential increase to the
minimum wage, which would
include gradual increases over a
period of four years, would be the
first time Congress has raised
the minimum wage since 2009,
where it was set to $7.25 per
hour. In Michigan, the minimum
wage is currently set at $9.65 per
hour. A $15 per hour hike would
represent a nearly 107% increase
in the minimum wage on the
federal level and a 55% increase
for the state of Michigan.
Dr. Wally Hopp, University
of
Michigan
Business
and
Engineering
professor,
said
he has reservations about the
unprecedented wage increase,
especially during a pandemic.
Hopp said he thinks Congress
should wait until the economy
has
recovered
to
raise
the
minimum wage and to do so in a
more phased approach than the
current plan.
“If
we
go
too
suddenly
absolutely, (there’s risks),” Hopp
said. “Using a phased approach
… we’re going to aim to get to
$15 an hour, but we’re going
to go on a pace that takes into
account inflationary effects and
unemployment.”
Engineering sophomore Nick
Tran said he believes that the
federal minimum wage should be
higher than $15 per hour. Tran
is from Seattle, a city that has
already implemented a $15-per-
hour minimum wage, and said
that the increased wages allowed
him to save up money for college
and put more money into the
economy.
“(The wage) allows me to
support myself based on that
salary,” Tran said. “If I was paid
a lot less than that it would be
somewhat more of a problem.”
It costs almost 32% less to
live in Ann Arbor than it does to
live in Seattle. Hopp said that he
believed the role of the federal
government is to set a bare
minimum wage that could be
increased gradually, but that the
real increases should come at the
state and local levels.
“The minimum wage should
be different for different parts
of the country, and it is,” Hopp
said. “I think there is a role
for setting a bottom for the
federal minimum wage … if we
sort of push on the bottom of
the wage scale a little bit, then
it forces people like myself to
make decisions to accommodate
(employees).”
Hopp is also the owner of Great
Harvest Bread Company in Lake
Orion, Mich., and noted business
owners have options other than
layoffs when it came to balancing
their budgets in the face of
an increased minimum wage.
These options, such as reduced
hours and underemployment,
are not counted in current
unemployment metrics.
“In order to stay in business at
all, I really only have two levers:
one is to increase prices and the
other is to decrease hours,” Hopp
said. “If I can’t be viable with
adjustments to those two, then I
go out of business.”
James Wilhelm, the General
Manager of Black Pearl on Main
Street, spoke to the challenges
his restaurant would encounter
in the face of an increased
minimum wage. Wilhelm said his
business has thirteen employees
making less than $15 per hour
with approximately half of them
as high school or college students.
He said business has changed
drastically over the course of
the pandemic, and he had to
temporarily consolidate positions
to ensure safety and to cut costs.
If the minimum wage were to
be raised, those changes could
become
permanent,
Wilhelm
said.
“Currently my servers are
running their own food and
bussing their own tables which
is something pre-pandemic … we
were paying (other) people to do,”
Wilhelm said. “If the minimum
wage goes up, there’s no way I
could afford to pay the servers
(that wage), plus pay a food
runner, plus pay a busser.”
If he were to give raises to
employees to get them to the new
minimum wage, Wilhelm said
he would have to give equivalent
raises to the rest of his staff to
maintain the same hierarchy as
before the wage increase. This
increase would likely lead to him
having to further consolidate
employees or raise his prices.
Wilhelm
said
he
feels
fortunate that his restaurant has
larger ticket prices than other
restaurants.
Smaller,
lower-
priced restaurants, he feared,
wouldn’t be able to handle the
increase nearly as well.
“I hope (government officials)
talk to real restaurant owners
and actually get the opinions of
people who have been doing this,”
Wilhelm said. “My restaurant
may
survive,
but
it
doesn’t
mean all restaurants are going
to survive … I worry about the
smaller restaurants that aren’t as
busy (as Black Pearl).”
In contrast, Lauren Bloom,
owner
of
Bløm
Meadworks
on 4th Avenue, said all of her
employees currently make more
than $15 per hour and that it was
important for all of her employees
to make a livable wage. Bloom
said while owners of businesses
and restaurants specifically are
hurting right now, their servers
and employees are hurting just as
much.
“I do understand that this is a
challenging time for restaurant
and service industry owners right
now,” Bloom said. “But there’s
never going to be a time that’s
easy for business owners to make
an increase in wages … but just as
business owners are struggling,
I think service employees are
struggling too.”
The federal bill also seeks to
eliminate tip credit, which allows
businesses to pay employees less
than minimum wage if their
income is subsidized through
consumer tips. Phillis Engelbert
owns The Lunch Room and
Detroit Filling Station and said
she is a staunch supporter of
an increased minimum wage.
Engelbert estimated that her
employees make $17 per hour with
tips, and if the tip credit were to
be abolished, she would raise the
price of products and reform the tip
process.
“Restaurants would have to
figure out how to pass that price
increase on to the consumers,
there would be no other way to do
it,” Engelbert said. “I think that
would have to alter the way tipping
happens … maybe tipping would
go away altogether and customers
would get charged the true cost of
the product, including the true cost
of the labor.”
In
early
February,
the
nonpartisan
Congressional
Budget Office found that a $15
minimum wage would increase
unemployment
by
1.4
million
workers by 2025, but it also has the
potential to lift 900,000 people out
of poverty.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, February 24, 2021 — 3
U-M students detail experiences
living through snowstorms
across the country
Some lost power, struggled to complete assignments due to extreme weather
CAMPUS LIFE
Local businesses in Ann Arbor discuss impact of a
potential federal $15 minimum wage policy
BUSINESS
Restaurant owners, U-M professor talk pros and cons of raising workers’ salaries amid pandemic, financial uncertainty
CARA JHANG/Daily
Ann Arbor restaurant owners and a U-M Business professor weighed in on how a potential federal $15 minimum wage policy would affect the local area.
GEORGE WEYKAMP
Daily Staff Reporter
With
snowstorms
raging
across the country, University
of
Michigan
students
are
grappling with bad weather
conditions while taking virtual
classes from across the country.
LSA junior Emery Hakim
has been living with friends in
an apartment on the University
of Texas at Austin’s campus
for the Winter 2021 semester.
Texas has been particularly
hard-hit
by
the
weather,
and Hakim said she and her
roommates have not had water
supply for the last few days.
All classes and activities at
UT-Austin, including virtual
activities, were canceled due
to the snowstorm. She said the
grocery stores are not open and
the roads are not clear, forcing
Hakim and her roommates to
conserve their food until the
situation resolves.
“We really did not expect for
it to get this bad,” Hakim said.
“Like we knew it was going to
snow, and it snows all the time
in Michigan, but now the entire
city is shut down and classes
(at
UT-Austin)
have
been
canceled.”
Engineering freshman Tom
Sherman, on campus in Ann
Arbor, was trying to get to
his 8:30 a.m. class on North
Campus on Tuesday and had to
decide between taking the bus
and riding his bike 2.6 miles.
Sherman said the bus is cold
anyway since the windows are
kept open to reduce the spread
of COVID-19, so he chose to
bike.
“That was a mistake because
the sidewalks weren’t clear,
and I fell off my bike,” Sherman
said. “I guess in a normal year it
would be nice to ride in a nice,
warm bus and have the bus drop
you right outside your building.
I guess those aren’t luxuries we
have this year.”
LSA
sophomore
Maryam
Haltam is taking classes from
her home in Plano, Texas. She
said her house lost power for
a couple of hours, causing her
to join the widespread panic
across the state.
“When we lost power, we
started panicking and my dad
started looking for hotels but
they were all full,” Haltam said.
Luckily, the power came
back shortly after. Haltam also
said she got to help some of her
neighbors who had lost power
and water.
“Our neighbors came over to
have dinner with us since they
had lost power for two days,”
Haltam said. “I know a ton of
people right now who do not
have internet, cell service and
are literally shivering in their
houses trying to stay warm.”
Haltam said she is concerned
about the state’s response to
the snowstorm and how state
leadership is navigating the
crisis.
“(Texas Gov.) Greg Abbott
went live, and he was like,
‘Guys it’s because we actually
do need fossil fuels because
renewable energy isn’t reliable,’
which isn’t true,” Haltam said.
“Because the actual problem
wasn’t that. It was the outdated
power
plants
that
cannot
withstand the cold.”
Gov.
Abbott
and
other
Republican politicians falsely
blamed frozen wind turbines as
the root cause of the widespread
power outages in Texas that left
almost 3 million homes without
power. Renewable energy only
accounted for 13% of the power
outages. Coal and gas energy
sources accounted for double
the amount of energy lost.
According
to
the
Texas
Tribune, the state also decided
to not update their equipment
to
withstand
harsh
winter
weather conditions per energy
and policy experts. Many Texan
politicians also chose to ignore
warnings for extreme weather,
citing they “prioritized the free
market.”
Hakim said she lost power
Wednesday afternoon and is
concerned that she might not
be able to submit a paper due on
Friday without access to WiFi.
“I’m pretty sure my professor
will understand,” Hakim said.
“But there’s a lot of chaotic
energy here in this apartment
right now.”
Daily Staff Reporter Varsha
Vedapudi can be reached at
varshakv@umich.edu.
VARSHA VEDAPUDI
Daily Staff Reporter
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
SOCIETIES
From Page 1