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2 — Wednesday, April 14, 2021
TESS CROWLEY/Daily
There is a frenzy of activity on the streets of Ann Arbor as spring shows its cheerful face.
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PUBLIC SAFETY
U-M student Mahnoor Imran joins
UMPD Oversight Commission
After winning annual election, LSA sophomore aims to push for transparency
LSA sophomore Mahnoor Imran
will serve as the newest member of
the University of Michigan Police
Department Oversight Committee
for the 2021-2022 academic year
after winning the annual election
on March 24 and 25.
Imran
received
121
votes.
Engineering
junior
Josh
Chapnick and LSA junior Justin
Yuan, who both also ran for the
position, received 54 and 14 votes,
respectively.
In a statement to the Michigan
Daily, Yuan wrote that he didn’t
announce an actual campaign
or even really mean to run. As a
member of the Young Democrats
Socialists of America along with
Imran, he voted with membership
to unanimously endorse Imran for
her write-in campaign.
“I supported and continue to
support Mahnoor for the UMPD
oversight commission,” Yuan said.
“She’s compassionate, competent
and incredibly smart.”
The function of the UMPD
Oversight Committee is to help
people
with
their
grievances
against U-M police officers or
the
U-M
police
department.
The committee has a total of six
members — two students, two
faculty members and two staff
members — who are nominated
and elected by their peers. Students
serve one-year terms, while faculty
and staff serve two-year terms.
Imran’s platform focused around
fostering ties with the Advancing
Public Safety Task Force created by
University administration after the
Graduate Employees Organization
went on strike in Oct. 2020,
with defunding the University
Department of Safety and Security
among their demands. Though
this was not agreed upon in the
University and GEO’s resolution,
a variety of anti-racism initiatives
— including the task force — were
approved.
Imran hopes to advance on the
task force’s work during her term.
“I
wanted
to
push
for
transparency and accountability in
the ways that are conducive to the
kind of justice that I believe in,”
Imran said. “My biggest concern
is upholding public safety and
public health in a way that centers
community concerns.”
Imran said she wants the
community
to
recognize
that
having organizations such as the
UMPD Oversight Committee is
important because of the harm
policing can cause.
“We need people who can
advocate for public safety in a more
nuanced way that acknowledges
that harm,” Imran said. “It’s
definitely a very interesting space
to enter, but I want to listen to
everyone’s thoughts and what they
have to say.”
Sarah Peitzmeier, chair of the
UMPD oversight committee, said
having
student
representatives
on the committee is a legal
requirement and has also been very
beneficial.
“I
certainly
agree
that
it’s
really
important
to
have
feedback
and
input
from
all
different
constituencies
on
campus,”
Peitzmeier
said.
“Student perspectives need to be
represented.”
Imran agreed with Peitzmeier,
saying students’ voices need to
be amplified throughout campus,
especially when she sees the change
they are pushing for as a necessity.
According to Peitzmeier, one of
the committee’s main goals for this
year is to expand the committee
powers to increase transparency
and responsibility within UMPD.
Members also plan to work to
adjust the committee’s bylaws
allowing the committee to publish
public reports on the committee’s
work, for example, which they are
not currently able to do because of
vague wording in the bylaws.
“We’re moving through the
stages of negotiation processes and
have had a very positive experience
so far,” Peitzmeier said. “It seems
like the PD is also invested in
increasing community trust.”
U-M Chief of Police Robert
Neumann, who works directly
with the oversight committee,
wrote in an email to The Michigan
Daily he supported expanding
the
committee’s
power
while
maintaining operational efficiency.
“I support any measure that
enhances
transparency
and
accountability while ensuring that
legal and structural boundaries
are not compromised,” Neumann
wrote. “A process is underway
to
evaluate
the
Committee’s
request, and I am supportive of
steps that build confidence in our
accountability.”
In the face of increased public
attention on policing practices,
Neumann identified strengthening
community ties and the promotion
of community dialogue as two areas
in which he hopes the department
can improve. He also emphasized
the increased importance of public
accountability for police officers.
“Accountability
and
the
perception of accountability are
essential components of sustaining
the
community
partnerships
necessary for serving the needs of
our community,” Neumann wrote.
“I see increased public attention to
policing as an opportunity to learn
and grow in the ongoing work to
earn trust.”
Imran said she hopes to use
her platform to ensure people in
a position of privilege will take on
this obligation to do more for their
community and that the support
from her community was a major
factor in her decision to run.
“At the heart of it all was
community,” Imran said. “I would
not have been able to achieve this
victory without the support of my
friends and community members.”
Daily
Staff
Reporter
Ashna
Mehra can be reached at ashmehra@
umich.edu. Daily News Contributor
Michael Deeter can be reached at
deetermi@umich.edu.
ASHNA MEHRA &
MICHAEL DEETER
Daily Staff Reporter &
For The Daily
“Setting aside your tirade against
the free press, the thoughtlessness
and disregard you displayed for our
LGBTQ residents in sharing such
a quote is extremely concerning
and hurtful,” Radina wrote. “In
2021, LGBTQ residents – especially
LGBTQ youth – in one of the most
progressive cities in Michigan should
never be subjected to elected officials
cavalierly utilizing homophobic slurs
to insult their perceived adversaries
or to advance a political point of view.
It is disappointing. It is harmful. And
frankly, it makes me question the
sincerity of your supposed support
for the LGBTQ community.”
Hayner said on April 11 he supports
the LGBTQ+ community and is
disgusted by Radina’s suggestion that
he has harmed anyone. He told The
Daily he made the comment because
he has been harassed by the media
and believes some members of the
press are not trustworthy.
“I feel very strongly that some
media can be trusted and some can’t,”
Hayner said. “I feel strongly that
way because that is how I have been
treated … For (Radina) to suggest in
any way that I don’t support individual
rights … is disgusting and disturbing
and it’s offensive to me. There is
no questioning my commitment
to human rights, to LGTBQ rights
and to move in our society forward
together with equality. And for him to
even suggest that shows how little he
knows about me.”
Hayner
is
no
stranger
to
controversy on the council. In
December, MLive reported he had
added a second floor to his Ann
Arbor home without a permit.
Hayner maintained he did nothing
wrong, but has faced angry public
commenters since the addition was
reported.
On the 11th, Hayner also defended
quoting the excerpt to The Daily
by adding he has friends who are
members of the LGBTQ+ community,
that the slur has been in print for
decades and that it was used by
Thompson, an acclaimed journalist,
in an important piece of literature.
Hayner said he has not been
contacted by community members
and, because the comment was not
directed at anyone in particular and
claimed that because the slur itself is
“archaic” and “hardly ever hear(d)”
anymore, it is not offensive.
“If you take something out of
context to stir up outrage, then you’re
gonna get outrage,” Hayner said. “If
you read things in context or you
know where it came from or know
what kind of person I am, you’re
not outraged by it. If somebody is
offended by seeing that word in print,
take it up with the publisher.”
Councilmembers have previously
raised concerns about Hayner’s
behavior on social media.
As of April 11, Hayner told The
Daily he had not seen Radina’s
Facebook post but had a reply
prepared to his email. Hayner added
he felt it was wrong for Radina to
publicly post about the quote before
having a private conversation with
him.
In a comment on Radina’s
Facebook post, Councilmember Jen
Eyer, D-Ward 4, thanked Radina for
speaking out and said she stands with
the LGBTQ+ community.
Washtenaw
County
Commissioner Katie Scott, D-District
9, posted a letter to the Ann Arbor
City Council to her Facebook page
the evening of April 11, urging them
to “affirm the open and welcoming
community we have in Ann Arbor,”
and signed it from a “proud LGBTQ
elected official.”
“There must be a reckoning,” Scott
wrote. “We have a choice to create
a transformative culture here that
supports each resident, or we have
a choice to engage in perpetuating
harmful stereotypes and being part
of a regressive culture. By using
quotes like this in a public forum,
it paves the way for more hatred
and homophobia; it legitimizes it.
I’m here to stand up for the LGBTQ
community today.”
In his Facebook post, Radina
questioned the intent of Hayner’s
comments
and
Hayner’s
unwillingness to apologize to Ann
Arbor’s LGBTQ+ community. He
added he feels angry and exhausted
needing to respond to anti-LGBTQ+
hate a week after the anniversary of
the election of Kathy Kozachenko,
the first LGBTQ+ person elected to
public office in the U.S. Kozachenko
was elected to Ann Arbor City
Council in 1974, when she was a
21-year-old student at the University
of Michigan.
“I
am
deeply
disappointed,
angry, exhausted, and frustrated
that just a week after celebrating
the anniversary of the first LGBTQ
person elected to public office, I am
being forced to address and condemn
the
reference
of
bigoted
and
homophobic language by one of my
colleagues,” Radina wrote. “This also
comes less than a week after some of
us on Council had to dedicate time
to educating our colleagues about
the threat that white supremacy and
white terrorism poses to the (Asian
American and Pacific Islander)
community.”
In a statement to The Daily,
Radina said he cannot comment on
the consequences he believes Hayner
should face since has not yet received
a reply from Hayner. However, he
said it is unequivocally Hayner’s
responsibility to repair the harm
he has caused toward the LGBTQ+
community.
“It cannot be anyone else’s
responsibility (to reach out to the
LGBTQ+
community),”
Radina
said. “That, however, also requires
a genuine acknowledgement and
acceptance of the harm caused, true
remorse and a real willingness to
learn and do better.”
Daily Staff Reporter Julia Rubin can
be reached at julrubin@umich.edu.
HAYNER
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