ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Friday, February 17, 2017
Ann Arbor, Michigan
michigandaily.com
CAMPUS LIFE
Panel talks methods to curb sexual assault cases A series of speakers addressed statistics, challenges faced in tackling the issue NIKOLA JAKSIC For the Daily
JEREMY MITNICK/Daily
President Mark Schlissel discusses University projects at the Regents meeting in the Fleming Administration Building on Thursday.
Students denounce ‘U’ response to recent events at Regents meeting
The Board also approved renovation projects and made faculty appointments MATT HARMON & JENNIFER MEER Daily Staff Reporters
Public comments on the University of Michigan’s alleged response to antiSemitic acts on campus, the renovations to University recreational facilities and new administrative appointments led the conversation at the February Board of Regents meeting Thursday.
The meeting marked the board’s first public convening in 2017. Regents Shauna Ryder Diggs (D), Mark Bernstein (D) and newly elected Ron Weiser (R) phoned into the meeting, while Regent Denise Ilitch (D) was not present in order attend the funeral of her father, prominent Detroit businessman Mike Ilitch. Response to anti-Semitic acts In both public comment sessions of the meeting, students and community members criticized University
President Mark Schlissel’s response to the racist and antiSemitic emails sent earlier this month. Engineering and computer science students were sent emails from a hacker posing as University faculty. The emails expressed anti-Black and anti-Semitic sentiments. Speakers conveyed the common sentiment that Schlissel did not respond to the threats toward African Americans and Jews on campus with enough force. Eugene Greenstein, former president of the Zionist
Organization of AmericaMichigan Region, said in the past, the University has routinely failed to condemn anti-Semitism on campus. Nearly all the speakers also brought up demonstrations put on by Palestinian student advocacy group Students Allied for Freedom and Equality as a part of #UMDivest, a movement calling on the University to divest from human rights violations in Israel. “It’s three strikes and you’re See REGENTS, Page 3
About 100 students gathered in Annenberg Auditorium to listen to a series of speakers address the topic of campus sexual assault as a part of a policy talk at the Ford School of Public Policy Thursday night. William Axinn, a research professor at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, underscored the implications of his research, which focuses on gathering and analyzing statistics on sexual assault. “I think you’ll see numbers that demonstrate that all of us are bystanders,” Axinn said. “And as a result, it can be pretty stressful to look at some of these numbers. I’m the data guy, but not the happy data guy.” According to Axinn, 25 percent of American women report they have been forced into sexual intercourse.
However, women are almost three times more likely to experience this type of assault on university campuses. At the University, Axinn’s research tries to quantify one of the most pervasive problems regarding sexual assault: underreporting. Of the sexual assaults in the last 12 months, only 46 percent of survivors tell anyone about their assault, and of those, only 3.6 percent report to an official resource at the University. In an attempt to mitigate some of these problems, he works with the National Survey of Family Growth, an organization that seeks to inform the discussion on sexual assault in the United States, to increase participation in surveys about sexual violence. By using third-party facilitators and a non-web based poll, the latest survey conducted by the University got a 67 percent response rate, which is considered high in See SPEAKERS, Page 3
Activist and CEO Yavilah McCoy talks Opposition ‘U’ alum over gas tax holding multiple identities at Trotter announces
GOVERNMENT
ANN ARBOR
aiming to fix public roads
Event jointly hosted by BSU, Hillel, and NOiR Runway Fashion draws crowd of 60
Tax revenue to go toward an investment in State infrastructure, transport
Yavilah McCoy, an AfricanAmerican Jewish activist and educator, spoke to a diverse group of about 60 students on Thursday evening at the Trotter Multicultural Center about her experiences as an activist and holding multiple identities, particularly in a changing political and social climate. The event, called “Holding Racial Justice, Equity and Intersectionality in 2017,” was hosted jointly by the Black Student Union, University of Michigan Hillel and NOiR Runway Fashion. McCoy is the CEO of Dimensions Educational Consulting, a company that promotes diversity education in institutions, and the founder of Ayecha, a nonprofit that advocates for Jews of Color in the United States. McCoy invoked her diverse experiences in advocating coalition to the audience, something she said is important to build in the face of hate and racism. “I want to dedicate this discussion about how we can hold social justice and equity and intersectionality across lines of difference,” McCoy said. “What I came prepared to do was to talk to you about the ways which race, religion and gender have intersected in my lived experience, and given me very powerful reasons to stand and
CARLY RYAN
Daily News Reporter
In an effort to fund the restructuring of Michigan’s deteriorating roads and bridges, a new state tax on gasoline will place Michigan in the nation’s top five for highest gas tax rates. There have been mixed reactions, however, since the implementation of the tax. The tax took effect Jan. 1 and increased the tax on unleaded gasoline from 19 cents to 26.3 cents per gallon. Tax revenue will go toward an investment in Michigan’s transportation infrastructure and will add about $455 million a year to the budget, according to the Detroit News. The Republican-backed plan is the first gas tax increase in 20 years, and is a part of a $1.2 billion package announced last November. The package passed narrowly, though Gov. Rick Snyder promised benefits that would go beyond repaired roads. “It’s not just about asking for more revenue,” Snyder See TAX, Page 3
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ALON SAMUEL
Daily Staff Reporter
deliver in the name of equity and justice.” She described her experience of holding multiple identities as a practice of having multiple perspectives, both of which are situations have different privileges and face different oppressions. Communicating personal truths across different communities, McCoy explained, is crucial in building coalitions in justice advocacy. For the organizers of the event, this message comes
at a crucial time on the University of Michigan’s campus. “There’s been tensions in both (African-American and Jewish) communities, with different students enacting violence in different ways against our communities,” said BSU member Jesse Love, an LSA sophomore. “We felt that it was important to build a sense of connections between our organizations, in a time where our communities are being attacked in very similar
ways.” Late last week, three anonymous emails were sent to engineering students with antiSemitic and racist messages. The sending of the emails spurred students to protestoutside University President Mark Schlissel’s house to call for increased institutional responses to racially-charged incidents. McCoy noted the first step in fighting for justice was to listen, See TROTTER, Page 3
THE HISTORY OF M E DICINE
JEREMY MITNICK/DAILY The Art and Science of Healing From Antiquity to the Renaissance exhibition investigating the history of modern medicine through early medical artifacts is displayed at Kelsey Museum of Arcaeology. The exhibition is on display through April 30.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 32 ©2017 The Michigan Daily
bid for City re-election
Councilmember Zachary Ackerman stated his intent in Facebook post ANDREW HIYAMA Daily Staff Reporter
Ann Arbor City Councilmember Zachary Ackerman (D–Ward 3) announced in a Facebook post he will be running for re-election in 2017, earlier today. Ackerman, a University of Michigan alum, became the youngest councilmember in over 20 years when he won the 2015 general election with 90.68 percent of the vote while he was still a student. The 2017 election will be the last municipal election in an odd year, as a result of a successful November ballot proposal extending City Council term limits from two to four years. Councilmembers elected in 2017 will serve a threeyear term, making their next election year even. As of the time of publication, no one else has announced candidacy for the Ward 3 seat. In the press release announcing his re-election bid, Ackerman pointed to his successes as a councilmember in the areas of transportation — helping to develop a plan to repave several of the city’s major roads — and housing See CITY, Page 3
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 ARTS......................6
SUDOKU.....................2 CLASSIFIEDS...............6 SPORTS....................7