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Friday, February 3, 2017
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ADMINISTRATION
GEO holds ‘grade-in’ to publicize demands GSI’s held office hours in the Haven Hall hallways for rights awareness ALON SAMUEL For the Daily
KEVIN ZHENG/Daily
Michigan ACLU Deputy Director Rana Elmir discusses the Executive Order on immigrants and refugees and its potential impact on UM Students at Angell Hall on Thursday.
Executive order teach-in explores visa, green card holders’ rights
Deputy director of Michigan ACLU and Muslim American Studies Dept. host event COLIN BERESFORD Daily Staff Reporter
Recent executive actions by President Donald Trump’s administration prompted an “Executive Order Teach-In” event featuring Rana Elmir, the deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan. At the talk Elmir discussed the rights of citizens, green-card holders and visa holders in light of an executive order signed last Friday.
The University of Michigan Muslim Graduate Student Association and Arab and Muslim American Studies Department hosted the event, which filled a classroom in Angell Hall and two overf low rooms. Elmir examined the executive order signed on Jan. 27, titled “Protesting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States,” which most notably blocks entry of immigrants and nonimmigrants from Iraq,
GOVERNMENT
Governor candidate talks with students Gretchen Whitmer met with College Democrats to talk voter engagement CALEB CHADWELL Daily Staff Reporter
Gretchen Whitmer, former Democratic minority leader in the Michigan state Senate and lecturer at the Ford School of Public Policy, addressed the University of Michigan’s chapter of College Democrats Thursday night about her candidacy for Michigan governor in 2018. Whitmer officially filed paperwork for the upcoming gubernatorial race in January, becoming the first candidate to officially enter. Previously, Whitmer served in the Michigan House of Representatives from 2001 to 2006, the Michigan Senate from 2006 to 2014 and most recently served as the Ingham County prosecutor until her term expired on Dec. 31, 2016. Whitmer cited the Flint Water Crisis as one of the chief reasons why she decided to run for governor in 2018, saying if elected, she will strive to ensure that a government failure of that proportion will never happen again. “The Flint Water Crisis is maybe what put me over the See WHITMER, Page 3
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Iran, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia for 90 days — with the possibility of renewal — and Syria indefinitely. The executive order also suspends the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, which works to find and resettle immigrants in the United States, for 120 days. Elmir said she believes this executive order is specifically a Muslim ban, which is demonstrated by the specifics of the executive order. “Anti-Muslim discrimination
has been a part of American history for as long as Muslims have been in this country,” Elmir said. “And you move forward and put in policies and practices that show that you devalue this community. Well that’s what you have now, with this Muslim ban.” LSA senior Tamanna Ahad, a Muslim affected personally by the executive order, hopes the event can help nurture conversation and knowledge regarding immigration. See GREEN CARD, Page 3
Office hours were held in the hallways of Haven Hall on Thursday as the Graduate Employees’ Organization — the labor union representing graduate student instructors and graduate student staff assistants employed by the University of Michigan — held a “grade-in” to promote awareness of the contract-bargaining process they have been undertaking with the University since November and to increase visibility of graduate student labor. About 100 GSIs and GSSAs crowded the ledges and the floor along the hall from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the grade-in, in an effort to make the work graduate students do for undergraduate students and the University visible. Some of the GEO’s proposals, intended to improve diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility for graduate student employees, were declined or not satisfactorily met by the University’s most
Professors discuss the impact of Pres. Trump on DACA future
Series of speakers talk immigration in light of current political context NIKOLA JAKSIC For the Daily
A Haven Hall classroom was overflowed with University of Michigan students listening to a series of speakers who discussed the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which may come under threat because of executive actions by President Donald Trump. DACA, an executive action — signed in 2012 by former President Barack Obama in response to a gridlock on immigration policy on the part of Congress — protects undocumented students from deportation and allows them to obtain work permits. However, it does not provide a path to citizenship. Trump has repeatedly advocated stricter immigration laws, deporting undocumented workers and building a wall along the southern border with Mexico. On Saturday, University President Mark Schlissel reaffirmed the University’s commitment to international students by reiterating its policy against releasing the immigration status of students. The announcement followed Trump’s signing of an executive action barring immigration from several majority-Muslim countries. The first speaker, Karma Chavez, a professor at the University of Texas-Austin, said she believes immigration
is currently one of the most prominent issues today. “I am very excited to be here for this occasion,” she said. “I don’t think there is anything more crucial we can be talking about in this moment. And I have shifted what I have planned to focus on a bit because the last two weeks have been rather intense.” Citing the political turbulence of the last three
weeks, she focused on sanctuary cities, which have become a rallying point for many amid anti-immigrant rhetoric and actions from the White House. In recent months, the Central Student Government has been working toward making the University a sanctuary campus. Chavez argues institutional sanctuary is more of a fallacy than anything else, and while universities and cities can help
facilitate grassroots movements in favor of undocumented people, their connections to institutions will keep them inherently suspicious in their eyes. She also noted that, while schools are obviously protected spaces, actions like the outlawing of gun bans on campuses in Texas, to the fact that schools do not have the See DACA, Page 3
CAROLYN GEARIG/Daily
LSA professor Silvia Pedraza discusses the impact of child immigration policy at Haven Hall on Thursday.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 22 ©2016 The Michigan Daily
recent offer. “We hope that this (grade-in) indicates to the University that we’re paying attention and that we expect more,” said Rackham student Denise Bailey, a member of the GEO. “The University, in our opinion, can afford to support us more than they do,” Bailey added, citing that 23 percent of undergraduate contact with faculty is with GSIs, but 1 percent of the University’s budget is reserved for graduate student staff, a statistic included in the GEO’s press releases. When reached for comment, University spokeswoman Kim Broekhuizen wrote in an email, “Negotiations are underway, so it would be premature to get into specifics. We believe we will reach a successful resolution.” Among the proposals that GEO representatives say have not been met by the University is the creation of paid staff positions for graduate students working on diversity programs as part of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion plan launched by University See GEO, Page 3
CAMPUS LIFE
Panel talks Sotomayor, Baer visit, diversity The professors discussed the lack of diversity on the University’s campus MATT HARMON Daily Staff Reporter
Following Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s and German Justice Susanne Baer’s bicentennial colloquium discussion on Monday, three University of Michigan faculty members hosted a panel discussing the justices’ remarks and the issues of diversity and representation on campus in the Michigan League Ballroom on Thursday afternoon. About 75 students, faculty and Ann Arbor residents attended the event. Presidential Bicentennial Prof. Martha Jones gave the opening remarks at Monday’s colloquium. The colloquium largely focused the University’s lack of diversity. On Monday, Sotomayor referenced the low number of African-American students at the University. As of October 2016, less than 5 percent of students at the University are African American. “We are making large improvements towards a kind of equality but we are still far from it,” Sotomayor said. “When you look at the number of African See SOTOMAYOR, Page 3
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 ARTS......................6
SUDOKU.....................2 CLASSIFIEDS...............6 SPORTS....................7