Over 1,000 people stood outside
in the snow and frigid November
temperatures Thursday evening,
waiting to listen to conservative
political commentator Ben Shapiro’s
talk at the Rackham Auditorium.
The event was hosted by the
University of Michigan chapter of
Young Americans for Freedom.
Shapiro will continue his lecture
tour at other campuses throughout
the fall.
Controversy seized campus as
Shapiro — known for his mantra
“Facts
don’t
care
about
your
feelings” — kicked off his “Exposing
the Great Reset” lecture tour at the
University. While Shapiro spoke
Wednesday evening, over a dozen
protestors also stood on the steps
outside of Rackham, chanting “Ben’s
a mouthpiece of the state. No sense,
just hate” and holding signs such as
“No to Shapiro. No to Bigotry.”
Charles Hilu, Young Americans
for Freedom (YAF) Chairman,
introduced Shapiro by crediting
YAF’s dedication to putting on
public speaking events like the
lecture on Tuesday.
“Throughout this great history,
we’ve relied on the presence of
great spokesmen, people who can
make the case to the public for the
ideology of freedom,” Hilu said.
“People like Barry Goldwater, like
Ronald Reagan, like William F.
Buckley, Jr — and now, thanks to
the generous support of (YAF), one
of those great spokesmen comes to
Michigan tonight.”
Shapiro spoke about the idea
of a “Great Reset” in the global
economy following the COVID-
19 pandemic. Shapiro said he does
not think corporations should be
working with national governments
to enact policy changes such as
those involving climate change and
mental health.
“The
fact
that
corporations
are working hand in glove with
the government right now should
be a very scary thing to all of us,”
Shapiro said. “What’s scary about
our current economic moment, is
that the leaders in the ‘Great Reset’
are not actually governmental actors
who would be answerable to you.”
Shapiro then transitioned into
a Q&A session during which he
invited audience members to ask
questions about his views on any
topic of interest.
When asked about the results
of the 2020 election, Shapiro said
he does not think voter fraud
contributed to former President
Donald Trump’s loss to President
Joe Biden. Still, Shapiro said he is
opposed to mail-in voting.
“Fraud wasn’t the cause of Donald
Trump losing the 2020 election,”
Shapiro said. “Donald Trump was
the cause of Donald Trump losing
the 2020 election. I don’t like the
changeable rules to allow for vast
mail-in balloting. I, on principle,
oppose it. I think that people should
go on the day of the election and vote
on the day of the election.”
Ann Arbor City Council met
Monday
evening
at
Larcom
City Hall to elect the mayor
pro tempore for 2022 to 2024,
establishing
the
order
of
succession for acting mayor. The
entire meeting lasted roughly 45
minutes.
City
Councilmember
Travis Radina, D-Ward 3, was
unanimously
elected
by
the
Council as Ann Arbor’s mayor
pro tem, and will serve as Ann
Arbor’s first openly gay mayor
pro tem in over two decades.
Mayor pro tem is an elected
position
that
establishes
the
temporary mayor of Ann Arbor
if the currently elected mayor,
Democrat Christopher Taylor, is
unavailable.
At the meeting, Radina said he
is excited to hold this position for
the upcoming term.
“I am honored that my new
colleagues have placed (their) trust
in me to serve in this important
leadership role for our city, and
welcome
the
opportunity
to
expand my service to this Council
and the community we all love,”
Radina said. “I am particularly
humbled to be selected by the
current composition of the City
Council, which has become the
most diverse in our city’s history.
The magnitude of that honor and
the responsibility that comes with
it is not lost on me.”
The meeting was also the
first time the five newly elected
councilmembers joined the rest of
the Council in Larcom City Hall.
Boobers are ubiquitous. From
the bars lining South University
Avenue to the paths criss-crossing
the Diag, it is almost impossible
to traverse the University of
Michigan campus without seeing
one of Boober Tours’ new electric-
powered pedicabs zip past on the
sidewalk, with the driver shouting,
“Boober Tours! It’s the only way!”
over blasting music.
“Boober” is a portmanteau of
“bike” and “Uber” — the ride-
sharing company. Since 2016,
Boober Tours in Ann Arbor has
provided community members
with an alternative way to get
around. The company currently
has about 15 drivers who drive the
pedicabs throughout the city.
But
now,
Kevin
Spangler,
founder of Boober Tours, is trying
something new. In an interview
with The Michigan Daily, Spangler
said he wants to take his company
to the next level by collaborating
with local dispensaries around
Ann Arbor.
“We’re also creating another
way to arrange tours, which (we’re
calling) ‘Doober’,” Spangler said.
“So instead of Boober tours, it’s
‘Doober Tours’ because ‘doobies’ is
a slang name for marijuana.”
Over the past year, Spangler has
been partnering with Wacky Weed
Tours, another tour service, to use
Boober’s pedicabs and drivers to
help visitors experience marijuana
culture throughout Ann Arbor.
Sarah O’Leary, founder of Wacky
Weed Tours and a close friend of
Spangler’s, said the tour has been
a success due to Michigan’s low
marijuana sales tax, which makes
it cheaper for Boober passengers
to sample a variety of marijuana
products. She also touted the
density of dispensaries downtown.
O’Leary said everyone in Ann
Arbor recognizes Spangler and his
Boobers. She said partnering with
him was an obvious choice, and
she jumped at the opportunity to
be a part of his mission to entertain
the Ann Arbor community.
“Everyone knows Kevin, and
everyone should know Kevin,”
O’Leary said. “He and I have
similar
reasons
in
terms
of
purpose. We both want to be
successful entrepreneurs, and we
want to build community, so we
get along great.”
O’Leary said her tour takes
participants to some of the oldest
marijuana stores in Ann Arbor so
they can learn about the history of
the weed industry. These historical
“high-lights” include Mission Ann
Arbor, a dispensary located on
South Main Street established
in 2010 after Michigan legalized
medical marijuana in 2008.
James Klotz, general manager
of Mission Ann Arbor, said he loves
when customers roll up on a Boober
to shop at the store regardless
of whether they are part of the
Wacky Weed Tour. Klotz said he’s
even started offering discounts
for Boober riders to encourage his
customers to take advantage of the
pedicab transportation system.
“We created tickets to promote
Boober,” Klotz said. “You can get
a (Boober) over here to get a free
pre-roll out of it. We feel like it
was a good partnership because
if people don’t have cars, they can
get around through Boober, and
that also adds a little bit of extra
advertising for us.”
Though
collaborating
with
businesses
located
downtown
has been good for business so far,
Spangler said he is also hoping to
start working with dispensaries
farther from the city center.
“We want to do ‘Doober tours’
outside of downtown because
we’re getting new ad deals,”
Spangler said. “Instead of moving
to another city, I’m expanding our
footprint to outer-town, and I’m
trying to connect Westside Ann
Arbor with Main Street and then,
in the future, North Campus.”
Spangler’s vision to help connect
different geographical parts of the
Ann Arbor area resonated with
JARS, a medical and recreational
marijuana retailer that opened on
the Packard/Platt strip in 2021.
JARS is also partnering with
Boober Tours, advertising on the
pedicabs. In an interview with
The Daily, JARS retail manager
Katie Howe said advertising on
the Boobers provided an effective
way for JARS to promote their
dispensary to college students who
might not otherwise know about
them.
“(Boober)
provided
some
exciting brand exposure for us,
being able to ride past big groups,”
Howe said. “We are in the heart
of the residential commercial
space and we’re able to marry
the two communities together. I
like to think of us as a common
meeting place, so we can really
expand our reach with the help
of (advertisements on the) Boober
cabins.”
Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, the
State of Michigan’s chief medical
executive, delivered the inaugural
Susan
Moore,
M.D.
Memorial
Lecture Tuesday night. The lecture,
titled “Recognizing and Addressing
Health Inequities: Building Upon The
Lessons Learned During COVID-19,”
was hosted by Michigan Medicine’s
Department of Anesthesiology to
honor Dr. Susan Moore, a 2002
graduate
of
the
University
of
Michigan Medical School. In 2020,
Moore passed away from COVID-
19 after posting a video speaking
out about receiving racially biased
treatment in an Indiana hospital.
Dr. Matthew Wixson, assistant
professor of anesthesiology and the
department’s associate chair for
diversity, said the video received
national attention. As a person of
Color working in healthcare, Wixson
said watching it affected him on a
deeply personal level.
“If it can happen to Dr. Moore, who
was a celebrated and accomplished
graduate (of medical school), it can
happen to anybody,” Wixson said.
“Today and in the future, Dr. Moore’s
legacy is an inspiration to make
lasting change.”
Bagdasarian said Moore’s death
and the COVID-19 pandemic called
attention to preexisting racial health
disparities seen across the country.
Bagdasarian said at one point in
May 2020, the COVID-19 mortality
rate was five times higher for non-
Hispanic Blacks in Michigan than
non-Hispanic whites. According to
Bagdasarian, health disparities are
caused by socioeconomic differences,
reduced
access
to
healthcare,
education and healthy food and
exposure to racial and ethnic
discrimination.
“You’re seeing that disparity,”
Bagdasarian said. “You’re seeing
that (COVID-19) cases in African
Americans were much higher.”
In addition to disparities in
COVID-19
cases
and
deaths,
Bagdasarian said there has also
been a significant difference in
vaccination rates between different
racial and ethnic groups. She said
the Michigan Department of Health
and
Human
Services
reported
51.7% of non-Hispanic whites in
Michigan have completed an initial
COVID-19
vaccination
sequence,
while only 39.5% of non-Hispanic
Blacks have. Bagdasarian said part
of this difference can be explained
by previous medical mistreatment
of Black Americans, such as the
Tuskegee Syphilis Study conducted
from 1932 to 1972, which resulted in
a marked mistrust in the healthcare
system.
“We’ve
heard
about
fears
about what has been done to
Black communities in the past,”
Bagdasarian said. “We’ve also heard
that Black voices are not listened to.”
According to Bagdasarian, there
have been numerous local and
statewide efforts in Michigan to
address health disparities based
on race and other demographic
identities.
One
of
the
steps
Bagdasarian found effective was
the establishment of the Michigan
Coronavirus Task Force on Racial
Disparities in April 2020, which
was launched by Executive Order
2020-55 in an effort to address racial
disparities in healthcare.
“This was a task force of
community leaders, health care
professionals (and) people from
the affected communities coming
together and trying to solve this
problem
of
health
disparities,”
Bagdasarian said. “Their goals were
to increase transparency in data
recording, reduce barriers to mental
health and medical care, to decrease
medical bias, improve infrastructure
and support recovery.”
Bagdasarian said the task force
partnered with local communities
throughout the state to establish
COVID-19
testing
sites
and
vaccination centers, relying on the
CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index
to determine what areas would
most
benefit
from
healthcare
infrastructure. Besides the pop-up
sites, Bagdasarian said it is important
to make sure that vaccines become
more widely available at trusted
medical centers, including primary
care offices and family healthcare
facilities.
“We know that trusted messengers
are key,” Bagdasarian said. “One of
the things that’s come up again and
again when we’ve done focus groups
is that patients who are hesitant
about vaccines for themselves or
their children. They want to talk
to their trusted messenger. … They
want to talk to a physician they
know and trust, and they want to get
their children vaccinated by their
pediatrician. That’s not happening.”
Bagdasarian
emphasized
that
while racial disparities in health care
became more obvious during the
COVID-19 pandemic, they are part
of a longstanding systemic issue. In
urban areas of Michigan, she said,
Black infants are about three times
more likely to die before their first
birthday than white infants, and the
maternal mortality rate is also higher
amongst Black Michiganders than
White Michiganders.
“So how do we dismantle this
system?” Bagdasarian asked. “I think
everyone can tackle it in a way, but we
must do the work.”
News
Wednesday, November 30, 2022 — 3
‘Everyone knows Kevin’: Boober partners with Ann Arbor dispensaries in
effort to unite community
ANN ARBOR
Collaboration sparks conversations around marijuana culture
City Council elects Travis Radina
for Ann Arbor mayor pro tem
NEWS
Five newly elected councilmembers attend first meeting
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SHANNON STOCKING &
SEJAL PATIL
Daily News Editor &
Daily Staff Reporter
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
CHEN LYU
Daily Staff Reporter
TESS CROWLEY/Daily
Boober T
ours founder Kevin Spangler drives a pedicab on campus in November 2021.
Ben Shapiro speaks at UMich,
incites mixed reactions
GOVERNMENT
Students protest outside Rackham over controversial viewpoints
Michigan Chief Medical Executive delivers talk on health inequalities
RESEARCH
Pandemic called attention to racial disparities, socioeconomic differences
NADIA TAECKENS
Daily Staff Reporter
Distinguished University Professorship
recipients speak at inaugural lecture series
ACADEMICS
Three faculty members discuss their work in mathematics,
economics and engineering
Three
University
of
Michigan
professors
—
Karen Smith, Joel Slemrod
and
Lutgarde
Raskin
—
were
honored
with
the
Distinguished
University
Professorship
and
each
delivered
an
address
at
the lecture series Tuesday
afternoon at the Alexander G.
Ruthven Building. The newly
appointed
Distinguished
University Professors have
the opportunity to name their
own Professorship after a
person of distinction in their
field.
To recognize the University
of
Michigan’s
exceptional
scholars
and
faculty,
the
Board of Regents established
the Distinguished University
Professorships in 1947. Those
who receive the Professorship
must
be
nominated
by
colleagues or their deans. U-M
President Santa Ono opened
the
event
and
introduced
the Professorship recipients.
He said though the three
faculty members come from
diverse fields of mathematics,
economics and engineering,
they are all united by shared
values.
SEJAL PATIL
Daily Staff Reporter
American conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro speaks to students at a Young
Americans for Freedom event at Rackham Auditorium Tuesday night.
EMILY BLUMBERG &
MARTHA LEWAND
Daily Staff Reporters
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, Chief Medical Executive for the State of Michigan, discusses the
impact of health disparities on marginalized communities, particularly those of color, at the
Medical Science Building Tuesday evening.
KEITH MELONG/Daily
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
JENNA HICKEY/Daily