The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
2 — Wednesday, January 12, 2022

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GOVERNMENT

Redistricting committee approves Chestnut, Linden 
and Hickory plans

KATE WEILAND 
Daily News Editor

State of Michigan adopts new 
Congressional maps, reflects 
on engagement process

Jim Toy, a lifelong advocate of 
LGBTQ+ rights who was widely 
believed to be the first openly 
gay man in the state of Michigan, 
peacefully passed away on January 
1 at the age of 91, according to The 
Detroit Free Press.
As early as the 1970s, Toy was 
a prominent voice in fighting dis-
crimination against the LGBTQ+ 
community. He graduated from the 
University of Michigan with a mas-
ter’s degree in clinical social work 
and helped to establish the Uni-
versity’s Human Sexuality Office 
— now referred to as the Spectrum 
Center — which became the “first 
campus center in history” commit-
ted to supporting LGBTQ+ indi-
viduals.
“I’m saddened to hear of the 
death of Jim Toy, national social 
justice advocate, life-long cham-
pion of LGBTQ+ rights, pioneer of 
the @UMSpectrumCtr & 2021 @
UMich honorary degree recipient,” 
University President Mark Schlis-
sel wrote on social media. “May we 
all honor his legacy by offering our 

support to all who experience dis-
crimination.”
At a 1970 anti-Vietnam War rally 
in Kennedy Square, Detroit, Toy 
became the first man in the state 
to publicly come out as gay while 
representing the Detroit Gay Lib-
eration Front. He later went on to 
become a founding member of the 
Ann Arbor Gay Liberation Front.
Many local officials, including 
Washtenaw County Commissioner 
Jason Morgan, also spoke to Toy’s 
legacy and impact on the commu-
nity on social media.
“Jim Toy was and will always 
be a champion for LGBTQ rights 
and for our community,” Morgan 
wrote in a Tweet. “He was a men-
tor, friend and someone I admired. 
I am honored to have known Jim.”
Ann 
Arbor 
City 
Council-
member Travis Radina, D-Ward 
3, served alongside Toy at the 
Washtenaw Rainbow Action Proj-
ect, which was renamed the Jim 
Toy Community Center in 2010. 
Radina shared on Facebook that 
Toy was a thoughtful and wise 
mentor, who went on to co-author 
the first official Pride Week decla-
ration adopted by the Ann Arbor 
City Council. 

“Most people who are lucky to 
live as long as Jim did have expe-
rienced amazing and great lives,” 
Radina wrote. “But Jim wasn’t 
satisfied to simply live a great life 
for himself. He dedicated nearly 
all of his time with us to ensuring 
that others could live great lives 
as well — and to live them openly, 
safely and as our true selves, sur-
rounded by friends and unwaver-
ing love.”
Radina also noted Toy was a co-
author on Ann Arbor’s first non-

discrimmination policy on sexual 
orientation as well as a strong pro-
ponent of adding sexual orienta-
tion, gender identity and gender 
expression to the University’s non-
discrimmination bylaw. 
Flowers and memories can be 
sent through the Muehlig Funeral 
Chapel. No services have been 
scheduled.

Managing News Editors Dominic Coletti 

and Kristina Zheng can be reached at dcolet-

ti@umich.edu and krizheng@umich.edu

ANN ARBOR 
Longtime LGBTQ+ activist Jim Toy, first publicly gay 
man in Michigan, dies at 91

 KRISTINA ZHENG & 
DOMINIC COLETTI
Managing News Editors

Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County officials reflect on legacy and impact

BECCA MAHON/Daily

Leaders of the Michigan Independent Citizens 
Redistricting Committee (MICRC) held a news con-
ference Tuesday to speak on the officially adopted 
congressional maps for the state of Michigan.
Following years of engaging in community 
feedback, the commission adopted the Chestnut 
Congressional map, Linden state Senate map and 
Hickory state House map. The approved maps will 
be in place until the next redistricting cycle in 2031.
The Chestnut map — which removes the state’s 
two majority-Black congressional districts — was 
backed by eight commissioners and gives Democrats 
a 7-6 advantage in the next election. The Linden map 
was backed by nine commissioners and leans 21-17 
Democrat, a move that shifts the control away from 
Republicans in the state Senate for the first time 
since the early 1980s. The Hickory map was backed 
by 11 commissioners and leans 54-56 Republican.
Throughout the drawing and consideration of 
various maps, the commission said they heard sev-
eral concerns from citizens about gerrymandering 
and ensuring accurate representation for Michigan 
voters. The commission — led by 13 citizens random-
ly selected from more than 9,000 applications — had 
more than 25,000 comments from across the state 
over the course of 130 open meetings.
The MICRC’s work is the first time in state his-
tory that an independent citizen-led commission 
handled the redistricting process. In 2018, Michigan 
voters approved an amendment to the state consti-
tution that created the commission, requiring their 
work be done open to the public. 
MICRC Chairperson Rebecca Szetela said that 
the most exciting aspect of this redistricting process 
was the citizen participation.
“This has been an exciting and invigorating pro-
cess and I am so proud to have been a part of it,” 
Szetela said. “This is the first time that we have had 
citizens throughout the state have the ability to com-
ment, participate and assist in the drafting of con-
gressional districts, state House districts and state 
Senate districts, and that is a fantastic testament to 
Michigan and a fantastic testament to this commis-
sion that we were able to do it.”
Commissioner Brittni Kellom agreed, saying that 
she appreciated the ways in which the commission 
was able to work together.
“We live in a society where voting and trust and 
being a caring brother or sister to your fellow 
citizen isn’t always the value and I think we had an 
opportunity to reinstill that in Michigan,” Kellom 
said. “I think that that above all is a testament to what 
true democracy looks like. It’s a testament to what it 
looks like to work together and build community no 
matter what your race is, no matter what you believe 
in, no matter what you do in your personal life, so 
that has been the beauty of the commission.”
During the press conference, the commission said 
they received significant feedback from citizens who 
were concerned with the lack of representation for 
Black residents in the state, particularly in the city of 
Detroit.
Kellom said that if the commissioners had more 
time to draw out the maps and get to know areas 
across the state, especially Detroit, the final maps 
likely would have been different and more consider-
ate of the Black population in Michigan.
“I know Black people all over, and particularly in 
Detroit, will continue to do what they need to do to 
survive, which is to galvanize and to be active and 
to do what they need to do,” Kellom said. “Do I wish 

that there was more time to get it right? Absolutely, 
because I truly believe that the way that you answer 
and restore pain and healing is to give people a head 
start and a head start is not cheating when you’ve 
gone so long without.”
Szetela said that while she believes the approved 
maps are in agreement with the Voting Rights Act, 
she said she is still concerned that a lack of data about 
Black voters, especially in and around Detroit, may 
have impacted the fairness of the final maps.
“Unfortunately with this process being so data 
driven, there’s just an absence of data that we can’t 
analyze to determine that,” Szetela said.
Szetela, Kellom and Commissioners Rhonda 
Lange and Erin Wagner all voted against a motion 
Tuesday morning that would have stopped the com-
mission from considering new maps. If approved, 
however, this motion would have extended public 
comment by enacting a new 45-day period, which 
would have given the commission more time to con-
sider other maps or draw new maps.
Szelta said that an extension of time may have 
allowed for more fair maps to be drawn that would 
more accurately represent voters.
“I think the biggest issue for us was just time,” 
Szetela said. “Unfortunately, we happen to have 
this inaugural commission come into play during a 
pandemic which created all sorts of challenges both 
with the ability for us to meet in person and with the 
ability to get data from the Census Bureau that assist-
ed us in drawing the maps so despite that extraordi-
nary challenge, we rose to the occasion, we worked 
really hard and we managed to get these maps done 
in a timely manner.”
Moving forward, Kellom advised all citizens to 
examine the maps and continue to actively partici-
pate in voting and democracy.
“I would tell the citizens to understand the map 
– whatever feeling you have on it – understand all 
three maps and what that means for you in the 
future, and then develop and devise and create and 
reimagine, just like we did, a plan that allows you to 
be the most successful and what that means and I 
hope as a commission, we can have opportunities to 
facilitate that conversation,” Kellom said.
Despite conflicts in support for the approved maps, 
Communications and Outreach Director Edward 
Woods III said that having a citizen-run commission 
allowed for more fair maps to be produced.
“In 2018, voters in Michigan, by more than 61%, 
said that they wanted voters, citizens, Michigan resi-
dents to draw the maps and not politicians so that 
they can have fair maps and prevent gerrymander-
ing,” Woods said. “Tonight, we are happy to report 
that that has taken place.”
Commissioner Douglas J. Clark said that he 
is proud of these maps and that the commission 
worked hard to represent all communities as best 
they could.
“We just can’t meet everybody’s needs 100%, so 
we chose to move forward and do the best we could 
to get to that point and we recognize there’s probably 
some things that some folks like and other things 
they don’t,” Clark said. “There’s conflicts in every-
thing that we went forward to discuss. We made it 
where we thought it represented the largest part 
of the society and I’m personally very proud of the 
products that we’ve produced.”
The commissioners said that they do not plan to 
sue the commission moving forward, but they may 
still face legal challenges.

Daily News Editor Kate Weiland can be reached at 
kmwblue@umich.edu.

On Friday, the University of Michigan COVID-
19 dashboard reported a record high of 815 positive 
cases so far for the week of Jan. 2. This number has 
increased since the University reported 676 positive 
cases for the previous week ending on Jan. 1.
Most cases are linked to household and social 
gathering exposures, according to the dashboard 
update, and the majority of cases reported mild 
symptoms of sore throat and runny nose. The 
positive COVID-19 cases were collected from the 
Community Sampling and Tracking Program and 
the University Health Services, the latter of which 
reached a 26.9% positivity rate on Friday. Complete 
data for this week will be released on the COVID-19 
dashboard on Jan. 12.
Quarantine and isolation housing was at 35.1% 
capacity on Thursday before dropping to 33.3% as of 
Friday at 8:30 a.m.
The University has received 22,000 submissions 
of booster information from students, faculty and 
staff from all three U-M campuses, University Presi-
dent Mark Schlissel wrote in an email to the campus 
community Friday. Submissions are currently being 
verified, and individuals may submit vaccine infor-
mation here.
Schlissel also announced that N95 masks will 
be available while supplies last at some on-campus 
COVID-19 testing locations. The masks will be avail-
able for anyone in the U-M community and can be 
found at any of the seven CSTP sites on campus in 
the coming days. Individuals do not need to be get-
ting a COVID-19 test to receive an N95 mask. 
In addition, Schlissel called on U-M instructors 
to offer flexibility in accommodating students who 
are ill or quarantining this semester, including not 
penalizing students who may not have documenta-
tion of illness.
“In addition, accommodation for illness can 
include activating video or zoom in equipped class-
rooms so that students who are out sick can see and 
hear the class…” Schlissel wrote. “Provost Susan 
M. Collins and I also recognize that in some cases, 
absences of instructors or large numbers of students 
due to illness and quarantine and isolation may tem-
porarily warrant remote teaching.”
Martino Harmon, vice president for student life, 
and Robert D. Ernst, associate vice president of stu-
dent life for health and wellness, sent an email out to 
students on Thursday detailing information on what 
to do if students test positive.

NEWS BRIEFS

N95 masks, isolation 
guidelines released for 
campus community 

UMich reaches 
an all-time high 
of 815 positive 
COVID-19 cases 
for week of Jan. 2

KATE WEILAND 
Daily News Editor

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

