2017-09-28

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ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Ann Arbor, Michigan

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The DIY B-Side

Arts takes a look at the creative side of Ann Arbor and abroad in the latest edition of our magazine.

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ADMINSTRATION

“‘We belong to the U.S., but we are not part of the U.S.’ … that’s a rough translation of a quote I’ve heard. It basically means that, yeah, if you say Puerto Rico, some people know it's part of the U.S. and some people don't … and some people don’t even recognize us as legitimate Americans." — LSA senior Juan Fossas

T-Pain Puerto Rican Buy students U aanxious Drank for family following Hurricane Maria

In interview, Schlissel puts support over new policy University President admits there are no new policies currently planned RIYAH BASHA & KAELA THEUT

Daily News Editor & Daily Staff Reporter

DESIGN BY MICHELLE PHILLIPS

Community members organize fundraisers for island despite Trump admin. inaction KATHERINA SOURINE Daily Staff Reporter

Extreme weather systems have devastated the western coasts of North and Central America. Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma struck at the beginning of the month, followed by a 6.1

magnitude earthquake in Mexico, and now a Category 5-turnedCategory-4 Hurricane Maria. While all have left great damage in their paths, Maria has been arguably the most destructive, hitting Puerto Rico Wednesday morning, and continuing its course through the country for more than 24 hours.

The detrimental effects of Hurricane Maria have only added onto the economic crisis Puerto Rico has faced in the past decade, which was caused by debt and recession. LSA senior Juan Fossas was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His family has been confirmed as safe,

yet his connection to them is extremely limited as only one of his extended family members has had working cell service. “Thankfully my house is well built and concrete,” he said. “I knew my family would be fine, but it’s mainly the other people I’m worried about. My neighbors, See HURRICANE, Page 2A

City officially names two new Man defiles Black Lives LGBTQ community liasons

CRIME

Matter sign on the Diag

Brad O’Furey, Sgt. Dawn Murphy to help with education, rights

Public urination posted on campus Snapchat story, DPSS opens investigation

The city of Ann Arbor has officially named Brad O’Furey and Sgt. Dawn Murphy as this year’s LGBTQ liaisons. The position, created last year by Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor, is a volunteer role that serves to help answer questions and provide a safe community for Ann Arbor’s LGBTQ population. While no specific incidents led to the creation of the position, Taylor told the Daily last August it was Read more at the result of a recommendation MichiganDaily.com from the city’s Human Rights Commission. “Ann Arbor has an active human rights commission that focuses very carefully on LGBTQ rights,” Taylor said. “They recommend that there be such a position, and we were delighted to create one.” O’Furey was the first person to take on the liaison role last year, and will reprise it this year. He is the immediate past president of the Jim Toy Community Center in Kerrytown and a longtime LGBTQ activist. “With the volatile nature of the country today, I think it’s important the community should have their voices represented … especially with the increased number of transgender Americans HAYLEY MCLAUGHLIN/Daily who are underserved by these Students protest on their way to the “To Rename or to Remain” CC Little Discommunities,” O’Furey said. cussion Panel in the League Tuesday. “I have existing relationships

ANDREW HIYAMA Daily Staff Reporter

A video posted on the public University of Michigan campusarea Snapchat story early Wednesday morning appears to show an unidentified man urinating on the Block ‘M’ in the Diag, and on the “Black Lives Matter” writing spray-painted around it. LSA senior Hoai An Pham shared the video on Facebook around noon on Wednesday, encouraging her audience to identify the man if they knew him. “9 hours ago, this white male decided to go up to the M on the Diag and urinate on the Black Lives Matter words that are around it and then posted it on snapchat. Those words were put there in response to the racist hate crimes on campus,” she wrote. “Tell me again that we live in a post racial world. Please share widely.” University of Michigan Division of Public Safety and Security spokeswoman Diane Brown said DPSS officers are currently investigating the incident.

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MAYA GOLDMAN Daily Staff Reporter

with people in the city government — with the mayor, with City Council — so I felt that (this position) was a good use of my skills and my connections in the community to provide that voice to the community at large.” O’Furey spent the past year working with the police department and the Human Rights Commission to help educate law enforcement officials on how to create a city that is safe and welcoming for marginalized folks. “(I’ve been) creating a police department that is more educated on these issues and how to

respond to harassment, what terms to use, asking folks what pronouns they want to use when dealing with the community,” he said. The close connection to the police department last year is what led Sgt. Dawn Murphy to join O’Furey as a liaison this year. As a law enforcement official herself, Murphy is committed to bridging the gap between the department and the community, and helping the two groups learn from and about each other.

RENAME OR REMAIN?

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INDEX

University of Michigan students have been organizing protests and demonstrations in the last two weeks after a slew of anti-Latino and anti-Black incidents. The Daily sat down with University president Mark Schlissel to talk students’ reactions, his responses and administrators’ actions moving forward. Schlissel said focusing on the lack of success in catching racist perpetrators is “not productive.” The administration will be rolling out an online tracker of bias incidents in the coming weeks—though he said he has not caught wind of many good policy proposals yet. Schlissel’s main priority remains building a community of support for students. The Michigan Daily: How have you been processing this month’s events? Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of the (racist) flyers from last year, and it feels like events are repeating themselves, but then again, this energy feels unique this year. President Mark Schlissel: There’s a cumulative effect here, right? These episodes in the last week or two aren’t the first ever, and they’re not the first since I’ve been here. You know, it seems like their frequency and intensity are increasing if anything else. I think it has the entire community on edge, including me and my leadership teams; we’re trying to find a way to send messages of support and attempt to identify the perpetrators of these various episodes, but also help people stay on task, stay on the reason everyone’s here is to learn and to progress in your lives, and not have the time stolen away from you by evil-doers. TMD: On those messages of support, you know one of the first demands we often hear from students is for you, for a statement — Schlissel: — I don’t think there’s any ambiguity about how I feel about these episodes. The responses to every one of them have been consistent: that racism, bigotry — any forms of attack on a person and who they are, their heritage — they’re unacceptable, they’re not part of our community, they’re not who we are. The fact that after each one of these episodes it becomes an issue about whether (I’m) tweeting or emailing or Facebooking or whatever form of media people pay attention to, and that becomes the issue

Vol. CXXVII, No. 99 ©2017 The Michigan Daily

… whether I respond in one hour or four hours, or whether I respond with a tweet or an email, I don’t think that’s the real issue. I don’t think anyone should wonder whether or not the president is against racism. I think we are letting ourselves get distracted from the real challenge, which is supporting one another; making sure that if we see something, we say something, so we might actually have a chance of catching people doing some of these bad things; and most importantly trying to put these hurtful and hateful events in a context that allows us not to let the bad guys rob us of our opportunity to accomplish what we want to here at the University. TMD: Speaking of this “small group of people,” the University has a history of progressive activism, and a very high profile in the national higher education landscape. It seems to have developed something of a target on its back. How do you mitigate that? Schlissel: I don’t think you can. I think that part of being a prominent university, taking clear positions on things, having large numbers of very successful graduates out there in the world, being on TV all the time, being in the media all the time means that what happens here gets noticed. That’s the sort of other side of this double-edged sword of being famous and prominent. … It’s because of our prominence that provocateurs realize they can use us as a platform that the national media will pay attention to, to spread their terrible, thoughtless, degrading, awful ideas. They’re using us. TMD: I know you spoke with Dana Greene, who was kneeling in the Diag, and with a lot of protesters and students in the last week. What kind of conversations have you been having, and what have you been hearing? Schlissel: A lot of what I try to do is listen and understand what they’re experiencing to make sure I understand it as best as I can, and then to offer words of support and encouragement to let the people who are directly affected — because really all of us are being directly affected in one way or another — know that this does not represent our value system. I Read more online at

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2017-09-28 by The Michigan Daily - Issuu