A class action complaint was 

filed in the U.S. District Court 
for the Eastern District of 
Michigan on Thursday against 
the University of Michigan for 
its handling of allegations of 
sexual assault against former 
University doctor Robert E. 
Anderson. The complaint, in 
order to prevent and respond 
to sexual violence on the U-M 
campus, seeks a court order 
that will require the University 
to carry out major reforms 
surrounding 
the 
school’s 

best-practice 
policies 
and 

procedures related to sexual 
and gender-based abuse on 
campus.

“The 
patient-physician 

relationship involves a solemn 
commitment and trust,” the 
complaint reads. “Without trust, 
how could a physician expect 
patients to reveal the full extent 
of 
their 
medically 
relevant 

history, expose themselves to 
the physical exam, or act on 
recommendations for tests or 
treatments? For decades, the 
University of Michigan allowed 
and enabled a physician in its 
employ, Dr. Robert E. Anderson 
to continuously violate that 
solemn trust.”

The complaint, which lists 

a series of reforms and best-
practices, 
states 
that 
the 

University needs to implement 
more training and education, 
and add additional policies for 
how to identify, prevent and 
respond to sexual and gender-
based assault. It also seeks 
to appoint an “independent 
monitor” 
to 
oversee 
the 

implementation 
of 
these 

policies and report on progress 
to the court. 

Some lawyers representing 

plaintiffs, 
like 
Annika 
K. 

Martin, 
made 
statements 

providing support to victims of 
Anderson.

“Everyone who was abused 

by Robert Anderson – including 
those who may not be ready 
to come forward – deserves 
an opportunity to hold U-M 
accountable and have their voice 

heard,” Martin said. “U-M has 
repeatedly failed to implement 
policies that put students first, 
and accordingly this complaint 
seeks relief through the court 
to ensure they will.”

Led by LSA junior Josephine 

Graham, the complaint is a 
companion to a suit filed in 
March 2020 by survivors of 
abuse at the hands of Anderson. 
The 
complaint 
alleges 
the 

University 
and 
its 
Regents 

enabled 
Anderson’s 
sexual 

abuse of students from 1968 
until 2003. 

“The Anderson case is one 

of many at U-M rooted in the 
university’s 
pervasive 
and 

broken culture mirroring our 
greater society,” Graham said 
in a press release. “Gender-
based violence is a complex, 
systemic issue that requires 
systemic solutions to prevent 
and eradicate it.”

More than 70 individual 

lawsuits 
have 
been 
filed 

in 
federal 
court, 
but 
the 

class action suit, unlike the 
individual 
lawsuits 
which 

only 
represent 
specific 

plaintiffs, seeks to prosecute 
the University on behalf of all 
students affected by Anderson 
— even those who may not be 
ready to come forward.

Since 
October 
2020, 
the 

lawyers 
representing 
the 

University and the lawyers who 
brought the original class action 
suit have been in negotiations. 
A settlement could cost the 
University millions of dollars 
in damages to the hundreds of 
alleged victims of Anderson’s 
abuse. 

The law firm WilmerHale 

completed their independent 
investigation of the allegations 
against Anderson last week. 
The investigation concluded 
that there was “no doubt” about 
the fact that the hundreds of 
complaints against Anderson 
were credible and Anderson 
exhibited a consistent pattern 
of 
misconduct. 
The 
report 

outlines recommendations for 
the University to follow in order 
to improve upon their practices 
and 
procedures 
regarding 

sexual assault.

3

Thursday, May 27, 2021

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com NEWS

In a normal semester, Good 

Time Charley’s — the Ann Arbor 
bar located in the heart of the South 
University Avenue district — would 
be packed shoulder-to-shoulder 
with students and community 
members gathered to watch sports 
games or celebrate St. Patrick’s 
Day. But since the pandemic 
began, Charley’s and other local 
small businesses have received 
less business and faced additional 
challenges. 

Charley’s 
co-owner 
Adam 

Lowenstein said since March of 
2020, Charley’s has suffered a 
60% decrease in sales, along with 
multiple different shut-downs and 
a minor fire caused by an outside 
heater. Lowenstein said the fire was 
“the cherry on top” to an already 
hard year with the pandemic.

“The whole year was a major 

blow,” Lowenstein said. “It was 
kind of a crazy year where we had 
to just adapt on the fly and adjust to 
everything that was being thrown 
at us.”

Ann 
Arbor 
businesses 
like 

Charley’s 
experienced 
major 

declines in sales, staff, in-person 
capacity and store hours over 
the course of the fall and winter 
semesters due to public health 
guidelines 
set 
by 
the 
state 

and 
University 
of 
Michigan 

administration. Lowenstein and 
other small business owners were 
forced to completely alter their 
traditional business models due 
to COVID-19, and will continue to 
navigate running a small business 
through the aftermath of the 
pandemic.

Lowenstein said the constant 

fluctuations in curfew policies, 
capacity and more challenged 
Charley’s 
traditional 
business 

model. 

“We’ve had to alter our business 

model entirely,” Lowenstein said. 
“We’ve 
shortened 
our 
hours; 

focused more on takeout and 
delivery; we’ve not done a happy 
hour; we’re doing a lot more 
regular sit-down restaurant sales. 
A business model like that is not 
profitable.” 

During the fall and winter 

months, Charley’s relied heavily on 
their newly updated takeout and 
delivery service, which includes 

alcoholic beverages, as well as 
the warmer weather that allows 
for maximized outdoor seating. 
However, Lowenstein said that 
even with these successes, the 
fluctuating 
rise 
of 
COVID-19 

cases in Ann Arbor still presented 
difficulties for Charley’s.

“The 
hardest 
part 
is 
the 

uncertainty: trying to always be 
changing and always be adapting 
and not knowing when you’re going 
to be able to just go back to normal,” 
Lowenstein said. 

Zingerman’s 
Delicatessen, 

another Ann Arbor and U-M 
community favorite, has been 
closed for in-person dining since 
the pandemic began in March 
2020. Jennifer Hall, marketing 
and communications manager for 
Zingerman’s, said, like Charley’s, 
Zingerman’s had to completely 
revise their original business model 
by implementing new programs.

“We’re 
always 
looking 
for 

change and are able to experiment 

with different approaches and 
take the best of what we learn 
in that work and then try it out,” 
Hall said. “If it works, it’s great, 
and if it doesn’t work, we try 
again. So we’ll continue to do that, 
we’ll continue to look for ways to 
improve and opportunities to make 
changes across our operations and 
our service to meet whatever the 
demands of the time are.”

Zingerman’s 
“Reuben 
Tour” 

was one of the new ideas the 
business put together last summer 
in the hopes of increasing business. 
According to Hall, the “Reuben 
Tour” was a success and could be 
repeated this upcoming summer. 

“We took orders from people in 

different cities like Kalamazoo and 

Grand Rapids and Detroit,” Hall 
said. “Last summer, people weren’t 
traveling very much outside of their 
own communities, so they placed 
orders with us, and then we took 
the orders out to them. It was like a 
giant takeout project, and that was 
a great idea. We have a lot of people 
who were super interested and they 
loved it.” 

Ann Arbor Councilmember Ali 

Ramlawi, D-Ward 5, is the owner 
and operator of Jerusalem Garden. 
He said there is adversity rooted in 
keeping a business alive and well 
during an ongoing pandemic. 

“When you can’t plan in business, 

it’s very stressful,” Ramlawi said. 
“You want to plan for your staff, 
how you train your staff, how 
much staff to have, how much food 
to have. And you would get these 
dictates at the last minute, and you 
got to redraw your plans again. 
You’re trying to run a business, and 
with anything business you want to 
be consistent with everything, and 

there was very little consistency in 
the last year.”

Ramlawi also discussed the 

ongoing struggles and battles small 
businesses in Ann Arbor have to 
endure and try to overcome. 

“As 
entrepreneurs, 
small 

business owners and restaurateurs, 
we are creative, fighters, hard 
workers, and we show up every day 
and we know every day is a new 
day,” Ramlawi said. “Even though 
yesterday was one of the worst days 
you’ve had in a long time, you’d 
come back, dust yourself off, show 
up again, hope that your staff joins 
you, and you fight to live to see 
another day.”

Local businesses reflect on harsh year, but 

anticipate better prospects for the fall

Class-action complaint filed 
against U-M for its handling of 

Anderson cases

MARTHA LEWAND

Daily News Staff Reporter

JARED DOUGALL
Summer News Editor

Read more at michigandaily.com
Read more at michigandaily.com

ISAAC MANGOLD/Daily

Ann Arbor businesses anticipate a return to more normal operations in the fall.

