ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Thursday, September 22, 2016
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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What the Sound The BSide explores the work of a student who created a website to promote a wide range of musical talent
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CRIME
Two lawsuits filed over ‘U’ recent sexual assault case GRANT HARDY/Daily
Former student sues for readmission to University after voluntarily separating
LSA sophomore Chanelle Miles discusses how the recent events at EMU’s campus have impacted her at a speakout on the Diag Wednesday.
NAACP holds Diag speakout on police shootings and EMU protests
Event aims to show solidarity with families, students impacted by both incidents RIYAH BASHA
Daily Staff Reporter
About 150 students gathered on the Diag Wednesday night for a speakout held in response to recent incidents of police brutality and racism both across the nation and locally.
The event was hosted by the University of Michigan chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. The speak out, emceed by University NAACP chapter president Travis Jones III, an LSA senior, began with a crowd reprisal of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,”
CAMPUS LIFE
CSG reps. generally white, male, study finds Body releases selfsurvey Wednesday morning RIYAH BASHA
Daily Staff Reporter
The average Central Student Government member is most likely to be a wealthy, white, heterosexual male, according to results of a comprehensive demographic self-survey released Wednesday morning. The report, which breaks down the assembly by a number of factors including race, gender, sexuality and family income, comes after campaign promises from CSG President David Schaefer, an LSA senior, to bolster diversity efforts in student government. CSG assessed the makeup of its membership in comparison to Engineering Student Government, LSA Student Government and the University as a whole. In the breakdown of demographics presented in the report, 69.8 percent of CSG self-identify as white. This is compared to 64.7 percent of LSA student government, 47.6 percent of Engineering representatives and 56.2 percent of the entire student body that claim the same identity, according to the report. See DIVERSITY, Page 3A
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referred to by event organizers as the Black national anthem. “In this past week, we have witnessed on our campus, within this community, and in the country, that racism is alive and well,” Jones said. “This isn’t our first one, and it won’t be our last one.” Organizers said they planned the speakout to commemorate the
fatal shootings of three black males and recent incidents of racism at Eastern Michigan University, located in Ypsilanti. The event specifically aimed to remember 40-year old Terrence Crutcher in Tulsa and 43-year old Keith Lamont Scott, who were killed by police officers this week, See NAACP, Page 3A
KATIE PENROD & ALLANA AKHTAR Daily News Editors
Two lawsuits have been filed in the past month over an alleged sexual assault at a University of Michigan fraternity party in January 2016. The first lawsuit, from a now-former male University student, was filed against several employees of the University of Michigan for wrongfully causing the student leave the University following the alleged assault, according to court documents. “The Appeals Board applied an unconstitutionally vague
or legally incorrect definition of the term ‘incapacitated,’ applied incorrect standards of review, and arbitrarily and capriciously set aside the investigator’s findings and conclusions, thus denying Plaintiff due process,” the complaint reads. The second lawsuit, filed Wednesday by the female University student who filed the claims of sexual assault against the male student, seeks to block the male student from gaining readmission to the University. It charges that he is not respecting the terms of an agreement reached during UM’s investigation of the female student’s complaint See LAWSUIT, Page 3A
Student government aims to decrease Earthfest average housing costs in Ann Arbor highlights SUSTAINABILITY
Median rent has been increasing since 2010, to $1,075 per month in 2016 NISA KHAN & BRIAN KUANG Daily Staff Reporters
Faced with a changing city landscape and student anxiety about high offcampus housing costs, Central Student Government has begun exploring options for cooperation with city government to address the issue. However, it remains unclear which specific policies CSG can realistically coordinate with city and county government officials on tht would alleviate off-campus housing costs, or even to what extent off-campus student rental costs have been changing. CSG President David Schafer, an LSA senior, told the Board of Regents at their September meeting he hopes to start a dialogue between students and local officials on off-campus student housing. “The issue of increasingly costly off-campus housing for students is an issue that I believe we’d be well-served to tackle together,” Schafer told the Regents, adding preliminary meetings with city and local officials have already taken place, including with Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor (D) and Washtenaw County Commissioner Andy LaBarre (D). The median rate for rent in
Ann Arbor has increased 14 percent to $1,075 per month from 2010 to 2015 — even as the amount of high-density housing has jumped by 32 percent — according to the U.S. Census Bureau. However, this data is for the entire city and may not be reflective of the cost of housing for students specifically, most of which are clustered downtown. Nadine Jawad, CSG senior policy adviser and Public Policy senior, said CSG does not yet have concrete data on
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off-campus student housing costs or trends, noting they are conducting preliminary research to collect this data. She added, however, that the initiative began in response to numerous students approaching CSG with concerns pertaining to the cost of off-campus living. “I strongly believe that when students come and talk with us, their concerns should be top priority,” she said. “We wanted students to have a better understanding of off-campus
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INDEX
housing dynamics in Ann Arbor because a lot of students expressed that the current rental prices were an issue.” A major hurdle for CSG’s initiative will be limits on the city of Ann Arbor’s ability to exert control on housing prices, which includes rental costs for students. State law bars municipalities from setting rent controls on private landlords, and while housing subsidies and incentives are possible, they cannot be made exclusive for a specific demographic, such as students. Schafer acknowledged these challenges and that meaningful change may take well over a year to take effect. Nonetheless, he said he hopes to see greater student involvement in City Council decisions, especially ones about housing. “I think students would be well served to know their innate powers as a state constituency,” said Schafer. “Making their voices heard is so important because when students come together, when students mobilize, when they make their voices heard — that can lead to tangible, positive results for the general constituency.” CSG is planning to initiate public dialogue between students and officials at a panel Oct. 13 in the Union, with speakers from City Council, the University of Michigan and other officials. Executive members of the housing See HOUSING, Page 3A
Vol. CXXV, No. 139 ©2016 The Michigan Daily
UM green initiatives
Diag event includes several environmentfocused student groups ALI SAFWI For the Daily
Many environment-focused organizations from the University of Michigan and the broader Ann Arbor area set up on the Diag for the annual EarthFest Wednesday. EarthFest began under the name “Energy Fest” in 1996 and has since evolved, taking on its current name in 2010 with the establishment of the Planet Blue Initiative, an initiative from the University that aims to promote sustainibility. The University recently identified four campus sustainability goals around climate action, waste prevention, healthy environments and community awareness. These goals are both guiding principles for the University, as well as concrete objectives to be fully implemented by 2025. For example, the Health Environments goal mandates that the University must protect Huron River water quality by working to minimize runoff. Ken Keeler, senior sustainability representative See EARTH, Page 3A
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