ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Friday, March 10, 2017
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Students4Justice Center
ADMINISTRATION
Baker-Mandela Center
provides a space for activists to work
created alternative anti-racist curriculums
archives past University activism work physically and online
organizes social justice literature for activists
michigandaily.com
provided space for students to plan anti-racist events
facilitated dialogue on campus about social issues
Current and former profs file lawsuit against ‘U’ Scott Kurashige and Emily Lawsin sue under the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act ANDREW HIYAMA Daily Staff Reporter
DESIGN BY AVA WEINER
Students4Justice demands center dedicated to minorities, justice
S4J wants activism space separate from Trotter, similar to former Baker-Mandela Center MATT HARMON Daily Staff Reporter
In response to the racist and antisemitic email hackings last month, the University of Michigan student organization Students4Justice published a public list of demands for University President Mark Schlissel, one of which was the creation of a physical space for students of color on campus to organize and enact social change. The request has since gained traction. S4J Core Organizer Lakyrra Magee, LSA
junior, has confirmed the group has found a temporary space for student activists to work, but has no official funding or physical center as of yet. In its demands, S4J said the new activism center should be separate from the Trotter Multicultural Center and should be specifically for students of color — allowing students access, with special recognition toward minorities. Magee said S4J wants the center’s budget to include a library for social movement literature for activists. She also said the use of the library as an archive for the
University’s activism history is crucial to the group’s plan. “We also want archived past University work, so we want it to have access to previous movements from students, both online and in paper and news articles and things like that, that documents all of the activism that’s happened throughout the years at the University of Michigan,” she said. “We also just want it to be a space for students to get together in order to better prepare themselves to do said work.” S4J Core Organizer Vikrant
Garg, a Public Health student, said a new activism center would spark more social innovation on campus. He cited institutions such as the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center, minority cultural lounges and others as ideas that have been created by students. “If you think about it ideologically, what a student activist center would be would be a center that really fosters a lot of what has made this University better over time,” Garg said. “There are so many things that have been created at this University See CENTER, Page 3
One former University of Michigan faculty member and one current University faculty member are joining together to bring a lawsuit against the University under the Michigan Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, making claims of racial discrimination and harassment. The Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, passed in 1976, prohibits discrimination based on “religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, familial status, or marital status,” in employment and education, among other areas. The plaintiffs — Scott Kurashige, an assistant professor in the History and American Culture Departments from 2000 to 2014, and Emily Lawsin, a lecturer in the Women’s Studies and American Culture Departments since 2000 –– are seeking over $25,000 in damages in the form of lost salaries and emotional
harm. Kurashige and Lawsin have been married since they began teaching at the University in 2000, and are being represented by attorney Alice Jennings and Carl Edwards of the Detroit law firm Edwards & Jennings, PC. According to Jennings, the University violated the ElliottLarsen Act in multiple ways, including discrimination based on the plaintiffs’ marriage. “The primary issue is disparate treatment,” Jennings said. “They have been treated differently than others who are not similarly situated for racial reasons. Secondly, there’s an issue of hostile work environment, meaning that individual is made to feel different in a way that is painful both intellectually as well as emotionally.” The lawsuit claims both Kurashige and Lawsin were consistently passed over for promotions and raises, despite each receiving high acclaim in their respective fields. See LAWSUIT, Page 3
University professor lectures about Econ prof. Legislature gets a taste repression of investigative reporting takes on ACADEMICS
GOVERNMENT
of Golden Apple
50 gather at Michigan League to hear visiting prof. and journalist, Will Potter
Dr. Edward Cho given student-nominated award in Economics 102 lecture
Around 50 people gathered in the Vandenberg Room of the Michigan League on Thursday for the Communication Studies Department’s annual Howard R. Marsh Lecture in Journalism, delivered this year by investigative journalist Will Potter. Potter’s talk, titled “From Protester to Terrorist: The Mechanisms of State Repression,” highlighted his own career as a journalist and the ways he discovered the United States government systematically discredits activist movements in order to protect corporate interests. He said he became obsessed with investigating the FBI’s tactics after he was arrested for hanging leaf lets against animal testing on doors. The FBI then offered him career help in exchange for becoming an informant. “Two FBI agents came to my home, and they knew all about where I worked, and how my dad had to cosign for our apartment at the time because I didn’t have enough money, and I had a Fulbright (scholarship) pending, and my girlfriend at the time had some Ph.D. funding, and they said they could make all this go away, unless I helped them by spying on protest groups,” he said. “And they made a
MOLLY NORRIS Daily Staff Reporter
Economic Prof. Edward Cho was teaching his Econ 102 class, macroeconomics, Thursday afternoon when a student raised his hand to ask a question. When called on by Cho, the student asked: “Do you like apples?” Cho appeared confused and the student reiterated, “What about a golden apple?” The doors at the back of the lecture hall then opened to reveal the other members of the Golden Apple committee, the graduate student instructors for the class and other members of the Economics department, all holding balloons and f lowers. This was how Cho was awarded the Golden Apple Award. After the award selection committee received a record-breaking 1,136 nominations this year, the committee members were very excited to present this award to Cho. Cho appeared overwhelmed with emotion when he realized that he would be the recipient See AWARD, Page 3
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ANDREW HIYAMA Daily Staff Reporter
point of emphasizing you know, you have this upward career trajectory, you’re doing everything right, just make it all easier on yourself, or you’re going to be put on a domestic terrorist list. It scared the daylights out of me.” The majority of Potter’s talk was spent breaking down his “10 easy steps to turn protesters into terrorists”: using the power of language,
waging media campaigns, holding government hearings, dividing, conducting surveillance, advocating for disproportionate sentences, creating informants, passing laws against dissent, creating special prisons and expanding to the mainstream. Many of the laws criminalizing dissent, Potter pointed out, were passed without the knowledge of
many people, including lawmakers. To pass the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, which makes causing a loss of profits to an animal enterprise an act of terrorism, Congress used an obscure procedure called “suspension of the rules” to get the bill through with the minimum oversight possible. “This is how a lot of bills See POTTER, Page 3
JEREMY MITNICK/Daily
Investigative journalist Will Potter gives a lecture entitled “From Protestor to Terrorist - The Mechanisms of State Repression” in the Michigan League on Thursday.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 42 ©2017 The Michigan Daily
new FOIA expansions
Michigan ranks among last in state Freedom of Information Act laws CALEB CHADWELL Daily Staff Reporter
The Michigan Legislature is currently addressing expansions and limitations to the Freedom of Information Act in Michigan through two bills: Senate Bill 0069 and House Bill 4149. FOIA, a federal law that took effect in 1967, allows individuals in Michigan to submit requests to access public information. Michigan has ranked poorly in issues of transparency, in part because of weak or absent state laws about public records and disclosures. HB 4149 would expand FOIA requests to include the governor’s office and the state legislature. The Committee on Michigan Competitiveness is currently evaluating the bill in the House of Representatives. In a phone interview, state Rep. Yousef Rabhi (D–Ann Arbor) said he believes the legislation is a priority and feels encouraged to see bipartisan support on the issue. “We live in one of the worst states when it comes to transparency in government, we See FOIA, Page 3
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 ARTS......................6
SUDOKU.....................2 CLASSIFIEDS...............6 SPORTS....................7