ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY-FOUR YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Ann Arbor, Michigan
michigandaily.com
GOVERNMENT
State’s role in marriage ruling stirs controversy Attorney General Schuette’s defense of ban on same-sex marriage questioned
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Students lined up from the Michigan Union past the Fleming Administration Building Monday night to purchase tickets for President Barack Obama’s speech this Wednesday. The hundreds in line brought tents, couches and mattresses to pass the night outside to wait for tickets to be distributed at 9 a.m.
Students line up in droves for limited Obama tickets President will discuss proposal to raise minimum wage on Wednesday By IAN DILLINGHAM and SHOHAM GEVA Daily News Editor and Daily Staff Reporter
Following one of the warmest days of the year, some students felt inclined to stay outside well into the night with one goal in mind: to secure a spot at President Barack Obama’s address on campus Wednesday. On Monday, the University announced plans to issue a limited number of tickets to attend the address, which will be held at the Intramural Sports Building at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. The University said tickets would
be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis to students, prompting many to pack bags for a long, chilly night waiting outside the north doors to the Union. At 5:30 p.m. Monday, almost 16 hours before tickets for Obama’s Wednesday campus address were set to be distributed, LSA freshmen Janie Brown and Sydney Grant, as well as LSA sophomores Olivia Mason and Lizzy Brilliant, were already waiting in line outside the Michigan Union, as the first four in line to get tickets Tuesday morning. By 11 p.m., lines stretched to about 500 students, with more arriving each minute. Planning for a long night, many groups brought tents, food and entertainment. At the front of the line, Brown and Grant said the experience was well worth See TICKETS, Page 3
By SHOHAM GEVA Daily Staff Reporter
Almost immediately after Federal Judge Bernard Friedman’s March 21 ruling that Michigan’s same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette filed for an emergency stay. Saturday, after almost 300 couples married in the state, that stay was granted and later lengthened into a more permanent stay that will last for the duration of the appeals process. While Schuette is not the first attorney general to be put in this position, he is one of the first to fight the appeal of the ban so vigorously and also do so in the midst of a re-election campaign. In several statements to the press, Schuette said his motivation is to defend both the will of the people and Michigan’s Constitution —which has raised questions about what the role of an attorney general is during this situation, given the actions of attorney generals in previous cases. The U.S. Attorney General also issued a directive earlier this year advising state attorney generals not to fight the overturning
THE U.S. MINIMUM WAGE
THE CURRENT THE HIGHEST MINIMUM WAGE IS FEDERAL IN WASHINGTON. MINIMUM WAGE IS $7.25. THE PROPOSED MINIMUM WAGE IS $10.10. IN MICHIGAN,
$9.32
THE LOWEST MINIMUM WAGE IS IN WYOMING AND GEORGIA.
IT IS $7.40
$5.15
In cases where federal and state minimum wage differ, the higher of the two takes precedence.
BY JAKE WELLINS AND CAROLYN GEARIG
CAMPUS LIFE
of gay marriage bans. During similar cases in Kentucky and California, state attorney generals have chosen to allow the case to move through the courts without getting directly involved. Instead, other interested parties, such as the proponents of the original bans, were the ones who filed for the appeal. Law Prof. Samuel Bagenstos said Schuette’s actions appear to have a deeper motivation than what he has stated. Bagenstos added that getting directly involved in the filling for the stay steps out of the requirements of his office. “The way that he has described what he’s doing is that simply that he’s carrying his obligations out as attorney general and I’d say that’s not right,” Bagenstos said. “I think the only justification for him to be doing what he’s doing is that he truly believes that it’s constitutional for a state to prohibit people of the same sex from getting married.” On Monday afternoon, Joy Yearout, the attorney general’s director of communications, reiterated that Schuette’s motivation is to defend the Michigan constitution. She added that, to Schuette, the other state attorneys’ decisions to remain uninvolved in similar cases is wrong. “Attorney generals across the country have a responsibility and a duty to defend the constitution and that’s what we’re doing here See STATE, Page 3
BUSINESS
Ambassador talks changing U.S. diplomacy
Jerusalem Garden to relocate to Seva space
Richard Boucher says social media is important to reach a global audience
Move will be completed by December if all goes according to plan
By ALLANA AKHTAR Daily Staff Reporter
On Monday, Ambassador Richard Boucher delivered a lecture to students at the Ford School of Public Policy Monday, addressing the United States’ changing role as a world leader and how the rise of social networking and new technologies have affected modern diplomacy. Boucher’s tenure as assistant secretary of state for public affairs at the U.S. Department of State was the longest in history. After earning a B.A. from Tufts University and doing graduate work at George Washington University, he worked as an ambassador to Cyprus and U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong. He also served as the spokesman of the Department of State for six secretaries
WEATHER TOMORROW
of state, including Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and Madeleine Albright. In his lecture, Boucher said the power of the Internet has changed the dynamics of international diplomacy. He said the United States wields the most power internationally, not only due to its large army and reach in foreign markets, but also through its global connectivity through branding and culture exporting. “We no longer live in a world of blocks and paths, we live in a world of nodes and connections,” Boucher said. “In our world, everyone’s connected. Countries and teenagers, NGOs and corporations, students in universities and parents. Traditional measures of power don’t capture the changing nature in the power of diplomacy.” For the United States to stay a leader in international relations, Boucher said it must make its actions open to the modern media and accessible for citizens to build credibility around the world because “trust is what turns power into influence.” See AMBASSADOR, Page 3
HI: 49 LO: 29
ADAM GLANZMAN/Daily
By CHRISTY SONG
University President Mary Sue Coleman speaks at a fireside chat Monday in the Michigan Union, where students organized a surprise event to commemorate her work at the University.
Coleman reflects on her tenure during Union event Approximately 120 students came to laud the 13th president’s service By YARDAIN AMRON Daily Staff Reporter
University President Mary Sue Coleman’s final monthly fireside chat was more than a little different this time around as approximately 120 students filled the Michigan Union’s Pendleton room for a surprise.
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While Coleman typically invites a random selection of students for her fireside chats, more than the anticipated amount of students came to applaud Coleman on her service as the University’s 13th president. E. Royster Harper, vice president for student life, joined Coleman for the monthly event, which Coleman continued at the beginning of her tenure. During her presidency, Coleman and Harper have organized fireside chats to field students’ questions and concerns in a more intimate set-
NEW ON MICHIGANDAILY.COM Students lead march for Tawianese rights MICHIGANDAILY.COM/BLOGS
ting. LSA junior Michael Chrzan, the student event coordinator for the surpise, said he aspired to make Coleman’s last fireside chat memorable to honor her commitment to students during her tenure. “We wanted this to be really special because she made hearing students’ voices a priority and that’s not something that comes intrinsically with every president,” Chrzan said. “We wanted to give back in a small way, to say ‘thank you’ for putting themselves on the line and See COLEMAN, Page 3
INDEX
Vol. CXXIV, No. 94 ©2014 The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com
Daily Staff Reporter
Jerusalem Garden is just a little spot on 5th Avenue now, but by next Christmas, patrons can expect to visit 314 E. Liberty Street instead — which currently houses Seva — to satisfy their cravings for Mediterranean food. Since August 2013, Jerusalem Garden owner Ali Ramlawi considered the moving locations to accommodate for the restaurant’s expansion. “We’ve always needed more room ever since we opened and we expanded every square inch we could possibly expand at our current location,” Ramlawi said. “We also tried to put an addition on with our current space that we couldn’t get through with the landlord.” Due to convenience, space and historical meaning, Ramlawi said she believed the building currently occupied by Seva’s is the best See GARDEN, Page 3
NEWS............................ 2 SUDOKU........................ 2 OPINION.......................4
ARTS............................. 5 CL ASSIFIEDS.................6 SPORTS.........................7