ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Friday, November 3, 2017
Ann Arbor, Michigan
michigandaily.com
Sarasota success Karan Higdon beat the odds in his hometown and used football to get out Florida. He couldn’t have done it without the help of his mother and high school coach.
» Page 1B CRIME
Hearing held for student attacked by roommates
Court orders personal protection order after claims of hostile environment DESIGN BY CASEY TIN
Black students 519% more likely to face discrimination, survey reports
Campus-wide DEI survey finds majority of student body satisfied with diversity climate ANDREW HIYAMA Daily Staff Reporter
One in five students at the University of Michigan — and 43.8 percent of all underrepresented minority undergraduates, defined as non-white and nonAsian — reported experiencing a
discriminatory event in the last year. These metrics and more were released Thursday afternoon in results of a campus-wide climate survey on diversity, equity and inclusion. While a majority of campus –– 72 percent of students, faculty and staff –– reported overall
GOVERNMENT
Gretchen Whitmer campaigns on campus Democrat vying in race for governor stumps on education, gun control COLIN BERESFORD Daily Staff Reporter
Former state Sen. Gretchen Whitmer spoke to students and answered their questions during an event at the University of Michigan on Thursday night at an event sponsored by the University’s chapter of College Democrats. In January, Whitmer declared her candidacy for governor, following 14 years in Michigan legislature. She previously served in the Michigan House of Representatives and in the Michigan Senate. Whitmer spoke briefly about why she decided to run, reminiscing on the state she knew when she was growing up and what she hopes to rebuild. Some of her areas of concern are public education, repealing the emergency manager law and getting rid of gerrymandering in the state of Michigan. “And right now I look around at the Michigan that you’re in, that I’m in, that my kids are growing up in and I see a state that ranks 41st in fourth grade literacy in our country because of 25 years of Betsy Devos agenda by the way,” Whitmer said. “I am proud of having been the See CAMPAIGN, Page 3A
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satisfaction with the campus climate with respect to diversity, minority students are much more likely to feel dissatisfied and experience discrimination. 34.8 percent of Asian students and 7.5 percent of white students said they had experienced racial discrimination. Among undergraduates, 37.1 percent
of women, 29.3 percent of LGBTQ students, 28.1 percent of international students and 47.7 percent of disabled students reported experiencing at least one incident of discrimination in the past 12 months. Robert Sellers, vice provost for equity and inclusion, said the See CLIMATE, Page 2A
A2 council considers lack of student voters before election As elections approach, data suggests few students turn out MAYA GOLDMAN Daily Staff Reporter
In November 2015, while other students were focusing on midterms, football games and the fast-approaching Michigan winter, then-LSA senior Zachary Ackerman had something else on his mind. He was running for Ann Arbor City Council. “I grew up in Ann Arbor and grew up as a pretty nerdy kid. When I was 15 and a student at Pioneer High School, that nerdiness channeled itself into an interest in politics and government. Figuring local government was the most approachable, I started attending City Council meetings,” Ackerman wrote in an email interview. “By early 2015, I had grown pretty unhappy with my representation on City Council and went out to find an alternative candidate. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find one, so I threw my hat in the ring instead.” He was not the first person to run for or sit on City Council as a student, but his involvement in local politics is certainly not the current norm for University of Michigan students. When Ackerman ran in 2015, The Daily reported a voter turnout of 0.81 percent of those registered in Ward 1’s first and second precinct and a voter turnout of 1.15 percent for Ward 4’s first precinct — all student-heavy areas. At Palmer Commons that year, a total of seven ballots were cast.
Ann Arbor has over 117,000 residents, but the University has over 44,000 students. Students make up a sizeable portion of the city, and many issues in town directly affect them. So why aren’t they voting? “Students were obviously a very big part of that” Low voter turnout among students is nothing new, nor is it unique to the University. According to the Center for Information and Research on
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Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University, voter turnout at universities across the country in 2014 was just 19 percent. People under 30 voted at a rate of only 21 percent. The rest of the nation had a much higher turnout rate of 36 percent. As director of the Campus Vote Project, an arm of the Fair Elections Legal Network, Michael Burns is hoping to change that reality. See ELECTION, Page 3A
michigandaily.com
NISA KHAN & RIYAH BASHA
Daily News Editors
Business junior Matthew Mansour was granted a personal protection order against his roommate, Business senior Abhishek McFarland, based on a tense living environment in which Mansour was too afraid to come back to his apartment at Landmark Apartments on South University Avenue. McFarland will have to move out of the apartment with police present. The terms of the PPO also mandate McFarland cannot have any contact with Mansour. While McFarland’s attorney pointed out the two were in the same school and possibly the same apartment, Washtenaw County judge Patrick J. Conlin said McFarland should take the effort to avoid him and that Mansour should not go to the police if he simply passes McFarland in the apartment. Close to 40 students packed the Washtenaw County Trial Court Thursday afternoon to support Mansour, who claimed in a viral Facebook post yesterday evening he was targeted for being a gay man. While McFarland’s attorney argued it was an eviction situation to be kept at a Landmark level and Mansour sought a PPO for his own convenience, Conlin ruled the environment was hostile enough to grant the order. Conlin expressed disbelief at the McFarland’s stories and said his witness recount involved too many people and was too inconsistent. The case is also currently an open investigation with the Ann Arbor Police Department. AAPD detective Jessica Oliverio testified Thursday, but did not have many details to add to the case. Mansour said while he was out on Fall Break, his friend Michelle Vander Lugt, Engineering senior, went to borrow groceries from him when she noticed all his kitchen utensils and dog toys — later estimated to be $600 in worth — were missing. Additionally, she said the roommate who opened the door for her warned her she might not find anything. She then took pictures of knife marks on Mansour’s door, a damaged doorknob and windowsill. Mansour said the environment felt more lifethreatening after he came out on National Coming Out Day earlier this month.
DESIGN BY ROSEANNE CHAO
INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 23 ©2017 The Michigan Daily
Mansour previously petitioned the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion on the basis of sexual discrimination. Conlin, however, said he did not see evidence of anti-gay behavior strictly by McFarland, but agreed there have been too many incidents that targeted Mansour. Mansour testified Landmark randomly assigned Mansour to McFarland’s apartment with two roommates. Mansour owned a service dog for his anxiety, to which McFarland reacted harshly on the first day and continued to call him expletives. During his time living with his roommates this semester, Mansour argued McFarland created a toxic environment, cheering on a roommate to urinate in his dog’s bowl and throwing his property out the window. He said the roommates were also stealing exit signs, and when Mansour brought this up to Landmark authorities, he said McFarland called him a “bitch” several times. He then said he banged on the wall while Mansour was in his bedroom, saying “All gays go to hell.” In his statement to the court, McFarland said he was frustrated with the situation and admitted to swearing at Mansour once. He said he was allergic to dogs and did not realize the service animal was hypoallergenic. However, Conlin said McFarland’s frustrations with living with a dog were targeted at Mansour rather than brought up to Landmark. Mansour played a recording of a male voice saying the expletives to the court. McFarland countered the voice belonged to his friend. When McFarland came to the stand, he insisted he would be happy to welcome Mansour back. While he admitted to the other roommate urinating in his dog’s bowl, he said he did not urge neither did he say the anti-gay slurs. He insisted it was another friend. McFarland also said the knife marks on the door was because of another friend during the weekend of the University versus Michigan State football game, not Fall Break. McFarland and Mansour’s roommate came as another witness on McFarland’s behalf. As he approached the stand, the witness’s gait was wavering and speech slurred, prompting the judge to ask him if he was under the influence. The roommate replied he was not. The witness’s story conflicted with Mansour’s See HEARING, Page 3A
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