Starting
March
14, the University of
Michigan will no longer
require masks in most
indoor spaces on campus
including
offices,
residence halls and at
athletic events, Robert
Ernst,
associate
vice
president of student life,
and Preeti Malani, U-M
Chief Health Officer,
announced in an email
to the U-M community
on March 9. Masks
are still required in all
classrooms, patient care
areas, campus buses and
COVID-19 testing sites
for at least the remainder
of the Winter 2022
semester.
“Mask use still is
suggested as an effective
strategy for enhanced
personal
protection,
especially
for
those
with
compromised
immune status, those
who are not vaccinated
or up to date on their
COVID-19 vaccinations,
and
anyone
with
a
perceived increased risk
of complications from
infection,”
the
email
reads.
In the email, Ernst
and Malani wrote the
decision was made due
to
high
vaccination
rates on campus and
declining
COVID-19
cases in the region. In
the week ending Feb. 26
the University reported
53 preliminary positive
cases – down from a high
of 1,927 during the height
of the omicron surge in
January.
“As a result of the
high vaccination rates
among students, faculty
and staff as well as
improving conditions in
the region, the COVID-
19
Campus
Health
Response
Committee
is issuing new guidance
regarding
COVID-
19 response on the
University of Michigan
campuses,” the email
reads.
All U-M faculty, staff
and students as well
as Michigan Medicine
staff are required to
be
fully
vaccinated
against
COVID-19
and to have received
a COVID-19 booster
shot six months after
their final dose. As
of
Wednesday,
84%
of
eligible
students,
88% of eligible faculty
and 83% of eligible
staff
have
reported
receiving
a
booster
shot.
KAITLYN
LUCKOFF &
GEORGE
WEYKAMP
Daily News Editors
GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail
news@michigandaily.com and let us know.
INDEX
Vol. CXXXI, No. 68
©2022 The Michigan Daily
NEWS............................ 2
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
S T A T E M E N T . . . . . . . . 8
M I C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
SPORTS........................11
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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, March 16, 2022
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY ONE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Hail to the Victims demonstration held
outside President’s House following
UMich removing campsite
Anderson survivor Jon Vaughn stood chained to a tree for 17.5 hours in defiance against U
“Once again, The University
of Michigan has historically
silenced the voices of survivors,”
reads a sign facing the President’s
House. To the sign’s right stands
former
U-M
football
player
Jonathan Vaughn, bound by
chains and tied to a tree in an act
of protest and defiance against
the University.
“I don’t wish for me or anyone
else to be tied, bound, gagged,
neglected or robbed of their
confidence and health by another
university again,” the sign reads.
Vaughn told The Daily on March
12 that starting at 11:26 AM, he
would stand chained to the tree for
the next 17.5 hours: one minute for
every known Anderson survivor. A
countdown timer sat atop the sign
to Vaughn’s left.
“There are 1,050 victims that are
in the first wave of the settlement,”
Vaughn said. “(The University) is
trying to keep us chained to our
trauma. So I’m doing one minute in
solidarity with the 1,050, so that’s
how it came out to 17 and a half
hours.”
Dozens of students, alumni and
University community members
gathered in front of the President’s
House on March 12 in response
to the University’s removal of the
“Hail to the Victims” campsite
after 150 days of protest. Vaughn
previously told The Michigan Daily
he was unaware of the University’s
decision to dismantle the campsite.
Vaughn, one of over a thousand
sexual abuse survivors of former
University athletic doctor Robert
Anderson, said he was wrapped
in chains to symbolize how the
University has continued to fail
survivors such as himself, leaving
them “tied” and “bound” to their
trauma.
Protestors wrote on notecards
with phrases such as “Hail to the
Victims” and “No more cover ups”
and attached them to the chains
holding Vaughn. He was joined by a
handful of other survivors who also
came out in protest of the University.
LSA senior Zackariah Farah,
vice president of LSA Student
Government, said the University’s
behavior toward the Anderson
survivors has continued to be
“unacceptable” despite a change in
leadership in January. The Hail to
the Victims movement first began
last October.
“I’m glad that they reached a
settlement with the survivors, but
to remove his camp … that is just
another slap in the face,” Farah said.
“Although we have new leadership
at the University, we have President
Mary Sue Coleman, it feels like we’re
back to the same old schtick. It’s the
same response regardless of which
president we have.”
Farah then said he observed
similar levels of indifference from
other University officials at the Feb.
17 Board of Regents meeting.
IRENA LI
Daily Staff Reporter
BECCA MAHON/Daily
As the blue and yellow
of Ukraine fluttered in
the wind on the night of
March 9, many gathered
at the vigil for war victims
hosted by members of the
Ukrainian
community
and the Diversity Affairs
Committee (DAC) of the
LSA Student Government
following Russia’s invasion
of Ukraine.
Accompanied
by
traditional and contemporary
Ukrainian
music
which
highlighted the Ukrainians’
strength, speakers mourned
for the lives lost in Ukraine
and urged people to take
action for the state in crisis.
Speakers
included
students,
faculty
and
community members from
Ukraine as well as others
in solidarity with Ukraine.
Most speakers spoke about
their friends’ and families’
experience with the war and
how it has affected them
personally. They advocated
for
corporate
divestment
from the Russian state. The
group also asked audience
members to write letters
to local officials to create a
“no-fly zone” over Ukraine
skies.
Speakers
included
Ukrainian
language
professors and professors
who have worked with
Ukrainians. They said the
Ukrainians
they
worked
with made a choice to
stay in Ukraine and were
determined
to
continue
fighting for both Ukraine
and Eastern Europe as a
whole.
Ann
Arbor
resident
Vlada Zviagina, said she has
family and friends who live
in Kharkiv, a city in Ukraine
devastated by and is worried
about the danger which
could befall her loved ones
at any time.
JOEY LIN
Daily Staff Reporter
‘I no longer have a home’: Campus
community members host vigil at Burton
Tower in solidarity for Ukraine
Speakers mourn for lives lost, urge people to take action in support of the country
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
MARIA DECKMANNDaily
LSA professor Svitlana Rogovyk speaks to U of M community members outside Burton Memorial Tower for a “Vigil for Ukrainian War Victims”
Wednesday night.
University lifts
mask mandate
in some indoor
spaces, still
required in
classrooms
Indoor offices, residence
halls and athletic events
no longer require face
coverings starting March 14
Read more at Michigan-
Daily.com
U announces
transition
period after
five-year DEI
plan, initially
misstates
intentions
Chief Diversity Officer
Robert Sellers launches
new website, apologizes for
email wording
The University of
Michigan is reaching the
end of its initial five-year
Diversity, Equity and
Inclusion strategic plan
(DEI 1.0) and is entering
into a transitional period
before the next five-year
plan, according to a
March 10 email to the
campus
community
from Robert Sellers, vice
provost for Equity and
Inclusion.
“In
the
2022-23
academic
year,
our
DEI planning efforts
will rely on the input
and engagement of our
community
to
build
out a more strategic,
focused and impactful
DEI plan,” Sellers wrote.
“In fall 2023, U-M will
officially
launch
the
next DEI strategic plan.
Throughout our nearly
two-year
transition
process,
we
will
remain vigilant in our
commitment to DEI as a
community.”
Launched
in
October
2016,
the
DEI 1.0 plan included
49
smaller
plans
individualized
for
each
college
and
program. The plan also
introduced Wolverine
Pathways
and
the
HAIL Program, which
aimed
to
increase
enrollment of minority
students and support
socioeconomic
diversity. Other parts
of the plan included
providing
financial
support to University
programs conducting
research on diversity,
as well as providing
intercultural training
for students, faculty
and staff.
U-M admin
takes down
protest
location after
150 days
Protestors say they were unaware
of removal
On
March
7,
the
University
of
Michigan removed the
campsite
outside
of
the President’s House
on
South
University
Avenue, where for the
last 150 days, former
U-M
football
player
Jonathan Vaughn lived
in protest against the
University’s
sexual
misconduct policies.
Vaughn,
who
is
one of the over one
thousand sexual abuse
survivors of the late
athletic doctor Robert
Anderson,
told
The
Michigan
Daily
on
Tuesday that he was
not made aware that
the
University
had
planned to remove the
campsite. Vaughn said
the campsite is on Ann
Arbor city property, and
his attorney together
with
the
Assistant
City Attorney of Ann
Arbor had come to an
agreement that they
were
planning
on
moving
the
camp
by the end of day on
March 13. According
to Vaughn, University
attorneys were also
aware of the plan.
“My
birthday
is
on the 12th and I was
planning on having
an awesome goodbye
celebration
with
students and faculty
just to tell them how
much we appreciate
it and (then) we were
gonna start moving
to the next phase of
helping
make
this
campus safe,” Vaughn
said.
“So
for
(the
University) to do that,
after they knew what
our plan was, it just
goes to show who
they are right now as
an organization and
leadership.”
University
spokesman
Rick
Fitzgerald declined to
comment on whether
or not the University
was aware of Vaughn’s
plan to leave.
The
move
comes
Read more at MichiganDaily.
com
SHANNON
STOCKING
Daily News Editor
Read more at Michigan-
Daily.com
GEORGE
WEYKAMP
& ANNA FIFELSKI
Daily News Editor
Daily Staff Reporter
Read more at Michigan-
Daily.com