The President of Latvia, his Excel-
lency Egils Levits, discussed several key
issues regarding foreign and domestic
policy at an event hosted by the
Uni-
versity of Michigan Weiser Center for
Europe and Eurasia and the University
of Michigan Law School on Sept. 23.
The
talk
included
Geneviève
Zubrzycki, WCEE director and profes-
sor of sociology, and Daniel Halbers-
tam, Eric Stein Collegiate Professor of
Law and director of the European Legal
Studies Program, as moderators.
Levits has held office since July 2019.
He previously served as vice prime min-
ister, minister for justice and Latvia’s
ambassador to Hungary, Austria and
Switzerland. Levits was also the first
Latvian judge at the European Court of
Human Rights from 1995 to 2004 and a
judge of the European Court of Justice
from 2004 to 2019.
Next year will be the 100-year anni-
versary of diplomatic relations between
the United States and Latvia. Frederick
Coleman, the first ambassador of the
United States to Latvia from 1922 to
1931, obtained his bachelor’s and law
degree from the University of Michi-
gan.
The event began with Levits discuss-
ing the history of Latvia and its road to
independence. The Soviet Union occu-
pied Latvia during World War II until
1990 when the state was restored.
“Democratic movements were very
important, not only in regards to the
restoration of (Latvian) independence
but also in changing the European
political map,” Levits said. “The Soviet
Union broke up as a result of the inde-
pendent movements of Estonia, Latvia
and Lithuania.”
Levits also addressed the current
situation between Russia and Belar-
us, where there has been a repres-
sion of democratic movements since
World War II. He said Latvia supports
demands for new, free and fair elections
in Belarus.
Levits talked about current events,
including Latvia’s involvement in the
European Union. Levits said he would
like to see more effective European
policy with the “no harm principle,” in
which every country is taken into con-
sideration when taking political action.
“We are for further development
and deepening of the European Union,
of the common market,” Levits said.
“We are also for more visible European
foreign policy.”
According to Levits, Latvia is work-
ing with Estonia and Lithuania to
ensure a strong community and address
the issues in Belarus.
In an interview with The Michi-
gan Daily, Aiva Rozenberga, a public
relations advisor to Levits, said trans-
parency in the European Union is
especially vital for small countries like
Latvia, which has a population of less
than 2 million people.
“Transparency is very important
because being a smaller country, as
Latvia is, it’s important that all the 27
member countries have the same voice
so that everybody can participate in
this process where you make decisions
about the whole continent,” Rozenber-
ga said.
Halberstam asked Levits to speak on
the relationship between the European
Union and the United States, citing
President Biden’s recent decision to stop
consulting European allies on Afghani-
stan and the Australian Submarine
Agreement as well as his meeting with
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
in the White House Wednesday.
Levits explained the importance of
collaboration between Western coun-
tries to maintain power and democratic
values, especially as China continues to
grow both economically and politically.
“The United States and Europe are
based on the same democratic val-
ues, and this is very important when
we have so few centers of power in
the world,” Levits said. “We should
work together in order to defend the
threats to our fundamental beliefs — for
democracy and for rule of law.”
Rozenberga talked about the impor-
tance of good relations between the
United States and Europe, regardless of
changes in the administration.
“It’s very important for the Bal-
tic States, not just for Latvia, but for
the whole region to have very strong
transatlantic ties,” Rozenberga said. “It
means very active political dialogue,
and it means active contact in the eco-
nomic sphere and in the military as part
of NATO. When the situation changes
geopolitically still, we know that we are
one family.”
Rackham student Anna Tanalski,
a second-year student in the Masters
of International Regional Studies pro-
gram, said she was honored to be able
to attend the event and found Lev-
its’s focus on democratic values to be
impactful.
“I think the most impactful subject
that he touched upon was maintaining
allyships and relationships with neigh-
boring countries and their unity in the
face of collective difficulties, whether it
be the crisis of refugees or whether it be
kind of this general resistance to a feel-
ing of some people wanting a return to
Soviet values,” Tanalski said.
During the open Q&A section of the
event, an audience member asked Lev-
its about the state of Latvia’s judicial
system, which he referred to as “one
of the weakest institutions” due to the
inefficiency of the courts.
Levits responded, explaining that
over the past 10 years, the judicial
system in Latvia has become much
more efficient. He plans to continue
this growth by introducing a change
in criminal procedure law that allows
judges to deliver judgement. Levits said
this change will contribute to further
developing an efficient court system in
the country.
Rozenberga said Latvia had to build
its legal system from scratch following
its restoration of independence from the
Soviet Union.
“It has been a very hard job, and as
the President stated today, we have a
very strong legal system, except a few
technical things that we still have to
fix and he’s currently working on that,”
Rozenberga said. “Being a lawyer and
judge in his previous professions, he
really knows what needs to be done.”
Daily Staff Reporter Kate Weiland can
be reached at kmwblue@umich.edu.
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GOVERNMENT
President of Latvia talks foreign and
domestic policy during UMich visit
Egils Levits speaks at event hosted by Law School, Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia
KATE WEILAND
Daily Staff Reporter
Associate Editor: Julia Maloney
KATE HUA/Daily
Artist Rashaun Rucker discusses his new exhibition “Never Free to Rest” in the Institute for the Humanities Gallery Wednesday Sept. 22.
PHOTO
Survivors of Dr. Robert E.
Anderson — a former University of
Michigan doctor with hundreds of
sexual abuse allegations against him
dating back to the 1970s — spoke to
the Board of Regents about their
experiences with Anderson while
they were students at the first
in-person meeting for the Regents
since March 2020.
The meeting was held at the
Postma Family Clubhouse on the
University golf course. Regent Ron
Weiser (R) showed up 30 minutes
after the start of the meeting,
and Regents Paul Brown (D) and
Katherine White (D) joined the
meeting virtually.
A crowd of more than one
hundred protested the University’s
handling of Anderson prior to the
start of the meeting, and during the
public comment period, speakers
recounted
their
experiences
with Anderson and called on the
University for accountability. Dozens
of University employees were alerted
to Anderson’s abuse throughout the
decades, according to a report by the
law firm WilmerHale commissioned
by the University. The University has
received backlash for their handling
of the Anderson allegations.
University
alum
Jeffrey
DesCamp, the first public speaker,
said he was abused by Anderson
while
receiving
a
Federal
Aviation Administration medical
examination, a test he needed to take
to receive a certification to become a
student pilot. Anderson mandated
that DesCamp continually return
to his office before he could receive
his certification, visits in which
Anderson left DesCamp shocked
by the magnitude of the abuse he
experienced.
“I was savaged by (Anderson’s)
insatiable desire to do as he pleased,
while tears from my eyes streaked
down my face from the pain he
inflicted upon me,” DesCamp said.
“I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t
believe any human being could do
what he was doing to me.”
David Share, another survivor
of
Anderson’s
abuse,
stood
before the Regents to ask them
to take accountability for the
wrongdoings of previous University
administrators. Share pointed to
the University’s common slogan
of “Leaders and the Best” for their
community,
emphasizing
that
inaction would be contradicting that
claim.
“You will forfeit U-M’s right to
the claim of being leaders and best
if you sidestep accountability for the
harm caused by the misdeeds and
mistakes of University of Michigan
leaders,” Share said. “For once and
for all, you need to address these
wrongs. I urge you to do so.”
Other speakers, like former
U-M
football
player
Vincent
Washington,
described
feeling
silenced by University leaders and
appalled at the University’s seeming
protection of Anderson. Through
tears, Washington described why
he felt discouraged to speak up
about Anderson’s abuse and how the
trauma has affected him in the years
since.
“The question I always ask
myself is, ‘Why didn’t I put it
together, or object, or say something
sooner?’” Washington said. “Coach
Bo (Schembechler) would always
say that the enemy of learning
was distraction, the enemy of
winning was being a distraction.
So, subconsciously, I knew that if I
became a distraction, my career at
Michigan would be over. I carry a lot
of guilt for this.”
Several former student-athletes
have alleged in the WilmerHale
report and publicly that they told
longtime head football coach Bo
Schembechler about the abuse.
Matt Schembechler, Bo’s son, said
this summer that Anderson abused
him when he was young but that
Bo blew off his complaint. Other
members of the Schembechler
family have disputed that account.
Former
U-M
hockey
player
Dean Turner said he felt that
the University cared about their
reputation more than Anderson
victims like himself.
“The University could have
put an end to this and protected
student athletes such as myself, but
instead they protected a rapist and
a brand,” Turner said. “I have and
will continue to suffer the traumas
of this rape, as you know. Healing
doesn’t follow a timeline, and
neither should we.”
Regent Jordan Acker (D), chair
of the board, thanked the survivors
for speaking at the public hearing
and maintained that the University
is committed to preventing further
abuse like that of Anderson. He said
that he and the other regents were
limited to what they could say due to
the confidential mediation process
going on in court.
JULIA FORREST &
CHRISTIAN JULIANO
Daily Staff Reporters
Board heard from Anderson survivors at first in-person meeting
Regents announce pay raise for Schlissel
ADMINISTRATION
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