100%

Scanned image of the page. Keyboard directions: use + to zoom in, - to zoom out, arrow keys to pan inside the viewer.

Page Options

Download this Issue

Share

Something wrong?

Something wrong with this page? Report problem.

Rights / Permissions

This collection, digitized in collaboration with the Michigan Daily and the Board for Student Publications, contains materials that are protected by copyright law. Access to these materials is provided for non-profit educational and research purposes. If you use an item from this collection, it is your responsibility to consider the work's copyright status and obtain any required permission.

January 26, 2022 - Image 3

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Michigan Daily

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

University of Michigan stu-

dents turned out in record num-
bers for the November 2020
election, with 78.1% casting a
ballot, according to a report by
the Institute for Democracy &
Higher Education at Tufts Uni-
versity. This outpaces the 66%
turnout across all of the campuses
included in the report and mirrors
the 79% turnout in Washtenaw
County.

Nevertheless, student voters at

the University have historically
demonstrated low turnout in local
elections, leaving some to consider
that the turnout problem doesn’t
solely lie in students not wanting
to engage but in other factors such
as voting accessibility.

This could boil down to a long-

debated structural issue — the
1956 adoption of Ann Arbor’s
pie-shaped ward map. The 1956
City Charter established five pie-
shaped wards, and in an April
1967 election, Charter Amend-
ment Three passed, codifying the
requirement that there be five
wards that are compact, of similar
population and wedge-shaped,
tapering from the city’s edge into
Downtown Ann Arbor.

This
pie-shaped
require-

ment effectively splits up student
neighborhoods surrounding the
University, making it difficult for
students to hold a majority in a
single ward. In an interview with
The Michigan Daily, Council-
member Kathy Griswold, D-Ward
2, said some community members
have claimed that the pie-shaped
requirement was “Republican
gerrymandering”
implemented

to intentionally crack students
into multiple wards, although it is
unclear whether that is the case.

In an email to The Daily,

Kenichi Lobbezoo, Ann Arbor
Student Advisory Council chair
and Skyline High School senior,
wrote that the pie-shaped wards
dilute college student voices in
government.

“Whether intentionally or not,

the current ward structure has
the effect of basically gerryman-
dering student votes,” Lobbezoo
wrote. “If students are split up
into different wards where they’re
in the minority, it’s that much
harder to elect one of their own.”

In March 1967, a month prior

to the election which codified
the pie-shaped ward require-

ment, City Council Democrats
proposed a six-ward plan, which
they believed would provide stu-
dents stronger representation and
increase the ties between coun-
cilmembers to their constituents.
The plan was struck down by the
Council’s 7-4 Republican majority,
preserving the five-ward system.

At the time, council Republi-

cans claimed the Democrats’ plan
would decrease council efficiency
and was designed as a power grab,
but then-City Attorney Jacob Fah-
rner Jr. penned an opinion claim-
ing that the change would not, in
fact, establish minority rule.

Ballot text of the Ann Arbor

City Charter amendments con-
sidered in the April 3, 1967 elec-
tion, obtained by FOIA. Charter
Amendment Three passed with
56% of the vote and Charter
Amendment Four failed with 47%
of the vote. City of Ann Arbor.

In April 1967, the community

had the opportunity to vote on
Charter Amendment Four, which
proposed a six-ward requirement,
but the amendment failed amid a
Republican sweep of the election.

Now, more than 50 years later,

the five-ward, pie-shaped map
persists, with City Council recent-
ly approving a pie-shaped reappor-
tionment of wards despite claims
the new map sustains the status
quo and disenfranchises students.

Ann Arbor’s new ward bound-

aries continue to split student
housing into multiple wards. The
University of Michigan lies at the
center of the map where the wards
intersect. City of Ann Arbor.

The primary problem
Ann Arbor holds its primaries

in August, before students come
back to campus. A Republican has
not held a City Council seat since
2005, meaning primary elections
tend to be the deciding election for
City Council seats because Demo-
cratic primary winners typically
either beat a Republican challeng-
er or run unopposed in the general
election.

Since most students are out of

town, they miss the determining
election for their Councilmember.

Rackham student Amir Fleis-

chmann, contract committee co-
chair for the Graduate Employees’
Organization, said in an interview
with The Daily the August prima-
ries prevent students from both
voting and running for office.

“The way City Council is elect-

ed with the de facto election being
the Democratic primary that takes

place in August disempowers stu-
dents,” Fleischmann said. “It’s not
really possible for (students) to
run for these positions, so we can’t
have representation on council in
the way that others are able to.”

Student voters have historically

encountered obstacles in register-
ing to vote, and students who move
residences between wards from
year to year face the challenges of
having to update their voter regis-
tration and becoming acquainted
with their new councilmembers.

University students cast early

votes for the November 2020 elec-
tion at the temporary Ann Arbor
City Clerk’s satellite office estab-
lished at the University of Michi-
gan Museum of Art. More than
48,000 students are enrolled at
the University of Michigan, but it
is unclear what proportion of Ann
Arbor’s 113,000 residents are stu-
dents. Students have historically
been undercounted by the census,
with the lowest census response
rate being in student dominated
neighborhoods.

Despite students making up a

significant, yet ill-defined chunk,
of Ann Arbor’s population, they
are rarely elected to council. The

most recent student Councilmem-
ber, Zachary Ackerman, D-Ward
3, served from 2015 to 2020 and
was the first student elected in
more than two decades.

Nithya Arun, president of Cen-

tral Student Government and
Public Health senior, said since
students make up such a large per-
centage of the population, their
interests should be represented on
City Council.

“When we look at the composi-

tion of City Council, none of them
are students currently, which kind
of doesn’t make sense, because a
lot of Ann Arbor is (composed) of
students,” Arun said. “(Students)
are a significant population, and
any type of population, for that
matter, deserves representation.”

In 2005, University student

Eugene Kang ran for City Council
in Ward 2, and lost the August pri-
mary by a narrow 95-vote margin,
despite significantly out-fundrais-
ing his opponent.

Notably, in Kang’s race, zero

votes were cast from Ward 2’s Sec-
ond Precinct which encompasses
Mary Markley Residence Hall.
Had the election been held when
Markley’s more than 1,100 student

residents were moved in, it is pos-
sible Kang could have mustered
enough student votes to carry him
to victory.

Students seek a piece of the pie
Arun, Fleischmann, Griswold

and Lobbezoo all pointed to a stu-
dent being elected to City Council
as a possible immediate way to
increase student representation on
local issues.

“The most direct solution is to

elect more students to local gov-
ernment,” Lobbezoo wrote. “The
more young people you have in
local government, the more local
government is going to be recep-
tive to the priorities of young peo-
ple.”

Nevertheless, the time commit-

ment required for a council mem-
ber can serve as a barrier to entry
for college students. Councilmem-
bers and the mayor are considered
part-time workers, and many hold
full-time jobs, although balancing
day jobs and council duties can be
difficult.

“I’ve never met a student who

wanted to be on council at the
same time they were a U of M stu-
dent,” Griswold said.

Student interest in holding pub-

lic office may be limited, but it isn’t
nonexistent. Last year, students
formed the Coalition to Elect Stu-
dents to the Board of Regents, as
they felt representation was lack-
ing on the board.

In an interview with The Daily,

Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher
Taylor said if a student were to be
elected to City Council, they would
have to be able to understand the
interest of all of their constituents
— including non-students.

“The student who wishes to be

elected has to understand their
potential constituents and to
communicate to them why (the
student) will be the best repre-
sentative for them,” Taylor said.
“Unless you intentionally gerry-
mander the student district, then
any student running for office
would need to ensure that their
campaign included and spoke to
the hopes and dreams of non-stu-
dents.”

Fleischmann said the lack of a

student councilmember results in
City Council overlooking student
issues.

News
Wednesday, January 26, 2022 — 3

ADMINISTRATION

No matter how you slice it, UMich students perceive a

lack of representation in local government

DOMINICK SOKOTOFF

Daily Staff Reporter

A deep-dive into why undergrad voters have historically demonstrated low turnout in municipal elections

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

DOMINICK SOKOTOFF/Daily

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Around 100 community members rally against violence at
Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti

CHEN LYU

Daily Staff Reporter

Protestors oppose prison’s operation, advocate for justice for incarcerated individuals

Content warning: This article

contains descriptions of violence
against women.

Around
100
community

members gathered outside the
Women’s Huron Valley Correc-
tional Facility in Ypsilanti Sun-

day morning to protest against
the prison’s operation and advo-
cate for justice for the currently
incarcerated individuals.

Gwen Thomas, one of the

organizers of the protest, pro-
vided
The
Michigan
Daily

with two whistleblower clips.
The clip was recorded by a for-
mer prison employee detailing
the abuses inside the facility.

The anonymous voice on the
recording said a male correc-
tional officer, believed to come
from a contracted service, strip
searched the female inmates
outside of camera view, which
is against the facility’s policy,
according to the recording. The
recording said the officer was
not reprimanded.

The Women’s Huron Val-

ley Correctional Facility has
also received criticisms over
its crowding level and sanitary
condition following 24 scabies
breakthrough cases among their
inmates in 2019.

Ashley Goldon, who was

formerly incarcerated and is
now the director for the state-
wide program Nation Outside,
a Michigan-based organization
dedicated to supporting justice-
impacted individuals, spoke at
the protest. Nation Outside is
Goldon recounted her experi-
ences in the facility during her
speech.

“Before I was an advocate,

before I was a director of Nation
Outside or had a pot to piss in, I
was (identified in the prison as)
681349,” Goldon said. “We can’t
heal our nation by treating the
most vulnerable population like
animals. Even the prongs give
their beasts access to heat and
water.”

In an interview with The

Daily, Goldon explained how
gender
inequality,
combined

with rising COVID-19 cases and
overcrowding, made this facil-
ity’s situation unusual, even
among Michigan prisons where
the incarcerated serve on aver-
age the longest sentences in the
U.S.

“There weren’t nearly as

many women in the prison at
Huron
Valley
(Correctional

Facility) when I was there,”
Goldon said. “They have 400
beds, but the facility was never

intended to hold 2400 people,
so they were making rooms that
were once common areas into
sleeping quarters. We’ve been
hearing complaints from the
women on the inside that they
are sleeping on the floor. The
difference with a men’s prison
is that they have several facili-
ties to shuffle people around if
needed to make sure everyone
is safe for COVID. There is only
one for women in Michigan.”

The
protestors
marched

around the correctional facility.
Facing the building from behind
the fencing and barbed wire, the
crowd stood in a line and shout-
ed: “We see you, we love you, we
will be fighting with you!”

Goldon told The Daily in an

interview after the rally that
later contact with individuals
inside the facility, many felt and
were inspired by the support
from outside, but the prison shut
down the yard to prevent gath-
ering.

Gordon
also
pointed
out

that Women’s Huron Valley
Correctional Facility was dis-
proportionately
impacted
by

COVID-19. According to data
published
by
the
Michigan

Department of Corrections, as
of Jan. 19, there were 276 posi-
tive active cases.

Shawanna Vaughn, a jus-

tice-impacted activist and the
founder of Silent Cry, Inc., said
she travelled to Michigan from
New York after hearing about
the protest and violence against

women in the prison system.
During her speech to the crowd,
she underscored the trauma
linked to incarceration and
encouraged Michiganders to
press for legislative change like
she did in NY for W76337, the
post-traumatic prison disorder
act that made its way to the New
York State Senate.

“W76337 was my prison num-

ber,” Vaughn said. “I wrote it
myself because it’s the only mass
incarceration mental health bill
in the country, and I’m clear that
everybody who comes home
from prison is not well. Guess
what? Since the state made us
not well, they don’t want to heal
us, but 2022 is gonna be a dif-
ferent type of season because
we comin (sic)to get everything
they steal from us.”

Trische’
Duckworth,
the

founder of Survivors Speak,
told The Daily about their goals
for enacting legislative change,
including advocating for SB487,
a Michigan Senate bill to pro-
vide oversight over women’s
prison.

“When it comes to criminal

justice reform, our politicians
are the ones that legislatively
delay on that, ” Duckworth
said, “So if they’re not going to
do what’s right in their seat, we
will ensure that we individuals
will do what is right for people
at all times.”

Daily Staff Reporter Chen Lyu

can be reached at lyuch@umich.
edu.

Image courtesy of Chen Lyu

Back to Top

© 2024 Regents of the University of Michigan