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INDEX
Vol. CXXX, No. 27
©2021 The Michigan Daily

N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

M I C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

ARTS.............................6

STATEMENT...................9

OPINION......................12 

SPORTS........................15
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ANN ARBOR
Hash Bash marks 50 years of progress 
with both virtual, in-person events
Festival hosts live-streamed variety show, “smoke-in” on Diag 

JARETT ORR/Daily

Though some organizers encouraged Hash Bash participants to tune in virtually from their homes, hundreds came to the Diag for an in-person smoke-in. 

In light of the ongoing COVID-

19 pandemic, the annual Hash 
Bash festival — now in its 50th 
consecutive year — hosted a live-
streamed variety show featuring 
key political figures, athletes, 
musicians, business owners and 
other prominent voices in the 
pro-cannabis movement. 

In accordance with public 

health guidelines, the organizers 
of 
Hash 
Bash 
encouraged 

participants to celebrate the 
festival from the comfort of 
their own homes. Despite these 
efforts, some enthusiasts took 
the initiative to host an in-person 
smoke-in on the Diag, Hash 
Bash’s birthplace. 

For any other pre-pandemic 

year, thousands of marijuana 
activists, 
protesters 
and 

enthusiasts from across the globe 
travel to Ann Arbor to light a joint 
while advocating for marijuana 
legislation 
and 
celebrating 

cannabis culture. Last year’s rally 
was held completely online after 
the COVID-19 pandemic shut 
down in-person activity. 

In Nov. 2018, the state of 

Michigan passed Proposal I, 
making it legal for those 21 and 
older to possess up to 2.5 ounces 
of 
recreational 
marijuana. 

Michigan was the first state in the 
Midwest to legalize recreational 
marijuana, following other states 
like California, Arizona, Maine, 
Massachusetts and Nevada. 

Both 
the 
in-person 
and 

virtual events commemorated 
the 
cannabis 
movement’s 

achievements while advocating 
for 
progressive 
marijuana 

legislation on the federal level.

The festival first began in 1972, 

four months after a freedom rally 
in protest of the conviction of 
longtime activist and poet John 
Sinclair, whom the Michigan 
Supreme Court sentenced to 9.5 
to 10 years for the possession 
of two marijuana joints in 1971. 
Sinclair organized the first Hash 
Bash in protest of the Controlled 
Substances 
Act. 
Since 
then, 

Hash Bash has transformed into 
a large-scale festival drawing 
in social activists and cannabis 
enthusiasts from all across the 
state and country. 

In an interview with The 

Michigan Daily prior to the event, 
Adam Rosenberg, University of 
Michigan Business School alum 
and founder of Green Wolverine 
— an organization dedicated to 
exploring the cannabis industry 
— echoed the importance of 
federal decriminalization and 

legalization. 

When 
discussing 
his 

expectations 
for 
the 
event, 

Rosenberg 
said 
he 
hoped 

policymakers 
in 
attendance 

would promote further access to 
cannabis research and support 
for the SAFE Banking Act, which 
would allow cannabis companies 
to receive the same financial 
services and public listings as 
non-cannabis companies.

“Most 
importantly, 
there 

needs to be an elimination of the 
contradiction between state law 
and federal law through federal 
decriminalization, which would 
eliminate the current law that 
essentially 
equates 
cannabis 

with 
heroin 
at 
the 
federal 

level,” Rosenberg said. “This 
conversation needs to come from 
our federal leadership.”

EVAN DELORENZO,

MEGHANA LODHAVIA &

 CHAVA MAKMAN-LEVINSON

Daily Staff Reporters &

For The Daily

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

The Network for the Ongoing 

Reconsideration 
of 
Our 

Nomenclature (NoRon), a newly 
formed group of University of 
Michigan community members, 
hosted a “Satirical Creative 
Intervention” at Weiser Center 
April 3. At the event, NoRon 
members chalked and posted a 
sign in front of the Weiser Hall 
sign reading “Weiser Center 
for Voter Suppression, Political 
Assassination 
and 
Witch 

Burning.”

The event was in response 

to Regent Ron Weiser’s (R) 
referral of three of Michigan’s 
Democratic 
leaders 
— 

presumably 
Gov. 
Gretchen 

Whitmer, Secretary of State 
Jocelyn Benson and Attorney 
General Dana Nessel — as the 
“three witches” at a meeting at 
the North Oakland Republican 
Club on March 25. Weiser also 
referenced 
the 
assassination 

attempt 
on 
Whitmer 
when 

answering a question about how 
the Republican party voting out 
the “witches” Weiser previously 
referred to.

The NoRon event came one 

day after an emergency Regents 

meeting on April 2 where regents 
voted 5-0-2 to censure Weiser 
for his misogynistic remarks. 

The group assembled in front 

of the Weiser Hall at 3 p.m. 
with free-standing signs and 
staged a “mock inauguration” by 
cutting an inaugural ribbon and 
covering up the “Weiser Hall” 
sign with a sign reading “Weiser 
Center for Voter Suppression, 
Political 
Assassination 
and 

Witch 
Burning.” 
Assemblers 

included 
members 
of 
the 

Graduate 
Employees’ 

Organization, 
Lecturers’ 

Employee Organization, Public 
Health junior Nithya Arun and 
Engineering junior Carla Voigt 
— the newly elected Central 
Student Government president 
and 
vice 
president 
— 
and 

numerous students, faculty and 
staff. 

In a press release, NoRon 

wrote Weiser’s comments were 
misogynistic, violent and anti-
democratic. The group further 
emphasized that though they 
support the calls for Weiser’s 
resignation, 
the 
University 

needs 
to 
begin 
renaming 

buildings associated with his 
name.

Regents vote to censure 
Weiser, call for resignation
The 5-0-2 vote, a first in the board’s history, condemns 
MI GOP leader for violent and misogynistic remarks

ADMINISTRATION

The Board of Regents voted 

5-0-2 April 2 to censure Regent 
Ron Weiser (R) for misogynistic 
and hateful remarks he made to 
the North Oakland Republic Club 
on March 25. Chairwoman Denise 
Ilitch (D) also removed Weiser 
from his committee assignments at 
the meeting.

Weiser came under fire for 

calling the state’s top Democrats 
— 
presumably 
Gov. 
Gretchen 

Whitmer, Attorney General Dana 
Nessel and Secretary of State 
Jocelyn Benson — “witches” and 
referencing assassination when 
talking 
about 
two 
Michigan 

Republican 
Congressmen 
who 

voted to impeach former President 
Donald Trump. Though he at 
first repeatedly downplayed his 
comments, after a steady stream of 
officials criticized his remarks or 
called for his resignation, Weiser 
apologized in a March 27 statement 
in which he committed to being 
“part of a respectful political 
dialogue going forward.”

Regent Katherine White (D) 

was not at the meeting due to her 
service in the National Guard and 
did not vote. All other Regents, 

including Weiser, were present at 
the meeting, but Weiser and Regent 
Sarah Hubbard (R) abstained from 
voting.

Ilitch put forth a resolution 

“condemn(ing) in the strongest 
possible language the behavior 
of Regent Weiser, his language, 
and the actions taken therein, 
and call(ing) on Regent Weiser to 
resign from the Board of Regents 
forthwith.”

After Ilitch introduced the 

resolution, Weiser commented on 
it, apologizing for his comments 
while rejecting calls to resign.

“I take full responsibility for 

what I said,” Weiser said. “I agree 
with part of this resolution, but 
I will not resign… I will not be 
canceled.”

In 
his 
remarks, 
Regent 

Jordan Acker (D), vice chair of 
the Board, gave a statement in 
which he echoed earlier concerns 
lambasting Weiser’s conduct.

“I believe in forgiveness for you 

and anyone else,” Acker said. “But 
there is no room on this Board 
for those who advocate violence. 
Make no mistake: That is precisely 
what you did. You have forced this 
Board to take this painful and 
permanent step, to condemn one of 
our own.” 

Weiser’s conduct has sparked 

multiple controversies during the 

winter semester. After Weiser 
declined 
to 
condemn 
then-

President 
Donald 
Trump 
for 

inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection, 
members of the U-M community 
launched a petition calling for 
Weiser’s resignation. In response, 
Weiser emailed his fellow regents 
for support, imploring them to 
“Remember 
Germany 
in 
the 

1930’s.”

Though some U-M students and 

faculty have called for Weiser’s 
resignation since January, the last 
week of March marked the first 
time some Regents and University 
President Mark Schlissel have 
publicly criticized Weiser.

Prior to the April 2 meeting, 

Regents Acker, Mark Bernstein 
(D), Mike Behm (D) and Paul 
Brown (D) have previously urged 
Weiser to resign. Other members 
of the board, including Ilitch and 
Schlissel, were highly critical of 
Weiser’s remarks but stopped 
short of calling for his resignation. 
Eight former Regents called on 
Weiser to resign in a statement 
released April 1. 

In a prepared statement to the 

board, Acker repeated his belief 
that Weiser should no longer serve 
as a regent.

ARJUN THAKKAR &
DOMINIC COLETTI

Daily Staff Reporters

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

Michigan residents 16 and older 
became eligible for the vaccine 
Monday. Some U-M students 
have already been vaccinated
Undergraduates find various ways to obtain COVID-19 shot

VACCINE

Gov. 
Gretchen 
Whitmer 

announced 
March 
12 
that 

vaccine eligibility in Michigan 
will expand to those ages 16 
and older beginning on April 5, 
shortly after President Joe Biden 
announced on March 11 that all 
U.S. adults will be eligible for a 
vaccine starting May 1. 

Many University of Michigan 

students, however, have been 
able to get vaccinated earlier, 
because some were eligible to 
receive the shot, some clinics 
offered spare doses and since 
many slipped through eligibility 
requirements.

Risk 
of 
severe 
illness, 

hospitalization and death from 
COVID-19 increases with age, 
according to the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention. 
Protecting those at the highest 
risk is a top priority, according 
to the Michigan Department 
of Health and Human Services 
vaccine prioritization guidance. 
As of April 2, according to the 
Washtenaw 
County 
Health 

Department website, 80.2% of 
residents ages 65 and older in the 

county have received at least one 
dose of vaccine.

Before April 5, the only people 

who were not eligible to receive 
a vaccine were those under the 
age of 49 who are not essential/
frontline workers, do not have 
underlying medical conditions or 
disabilities or are not caregiver 
family members or guardians 
to someone who has medical 
conditions or disabilities.

Yet, 
some 
U-M 
students 

found available doses before 
April 5 eligibility, similar to 
situations 
reported 
at 
other 

college campuses, such as Purdue 
University. According to the 
MDHHS vaccine prioritization 
guidance, those 50 and older with 
underlying health or medical 
conditions as well as caregivers 
16 and older became eligible for 
the vaccine on March 8, while 
anyone 50 or older as well as 
those 16 to 49 with underlying 
health conditions became eligible 
March 22.

LSA junior Lauren Thom said 

she received the Pfizer vaccine on 
March 25 at Ford Field in Detroit. 
Thom works at Beyond Juicery 
and Eatery in Ann Arbor, where 
she prepares food for customers.

“My friend, he was out of 

town at the time, texted me and 
said, ‘Would you be able to get a 
vaccine on this day?’ and I was 
like ‘Yeah, of course,’” Thom 
said. “He wasn’t able to use his 
vaccine appointment because he 
was out of town.”

MDHHS 
vaccine 

prioritization guidelines state 
that by March 1, areas in 
Michigan that had vaccines 
available were able to begin 
vaccinating frontline essential 
workers in the food service and 
agricultural industries. 

Thom, who had no reaction 

to being vaccinated, said getting 
vaccinated was the “safe and 
smart thing to do” so that 
everyone can return to a more 
normal lifestyle and be able to 
see friends and family again.

“My behavior hasn’t really 

changed yet just because I 
know I’m not fully vaccinated,” 
Thom said. “I’m not at the point 
where I have the best chance of 
not getting (COVID-19). So my 
behavior hasn’t changed, but I 
do feel a bit safer going into the 
grocery store or for those other 
essential outings.”

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

JARED DOUGALL
Daily Staff Reporter

DOMINICK SOKOTOFF/Daily

Students and faculty from the University host a mock inauguration to rename Weiser Hall 
on April 3 in response to Regent Ron Weiser’s (R) recent statements.

ADMINISTRATION
U-M students, faculty 
participate in mock 

renaming of Weiser Hall
Newly-formed group NoRon calls on ‘U’ 
to rename buildings with Weiser’s name

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

NAVYA GUPTA
Daily Staff Reporter

