ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Friday, September 14, 2018
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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FootballSaturday Free from his past, senior Zach Gentry stands on the precipice.
» Page 1B CITY
Citizens say city plans for police review inadequate Council hearing about AAPD review board features contentious comments LEAH GRAHAM Daily Staff Reporter
ROSEANNE CHAO/Daily
Disaffiliated fraternities form new independently-governed Council Greek life organizations cite zoning codes, deferred rush as reasons for disaffiliation RACHEL CUNNINGHAM Daily Staff Reporter
Fraternities that disaffiliated from the Interfraternity Council at the University of Michigan created their own independent Ann Arbor Interfraternity Council this month. In a statement released by IFC last week, six fraternities have disaffiliated due to new city zoning code restrictions implemented by the Ann Arbor City Council in July and the University’s
decision to defer rushing to the winter semester beginning January 2020. The six fraternities that have disaffiliated as of publication are Theta Chi, Psi Upsilon, Alpha Epsilon Pi, Alpha Sigma Phi, Delta Chi and Phi Sigma Kappa. This disaffiliation means the fraternities can still operate on campus but will be denied certain programs and resources such as safety and anti-hazing task forces. However, disaffiliated fraternities are still subject to national body and University rules, but their national
charters are not affected by the decision to disaffiliate. A new AAIFC Business junior Michael Salciccioli, president of the newly formed Ann Arbor Interfraternity Council, wrote in a statement AAIFC remains concerned about protecting student rights and fraternal corporation property rights. The zoning codes passed unanimously by City Council require fraternities and sororities to maintain affiliation with a
university in order to keep their housing permits. If a chapter loses their affiliation, they can apply for a two-year exception before their housing will change back to singlefamily or two-family units. The regulations apply to new chapters and do not affect existing chapters at the University. “Our top priority is the health and safety of our members and guests, which is why we have committed to standards that meet or exceed the policies put in place
Ann Arbor City Council heard conf licting recommendations Thursday night from City Administrator Howard Lazarus and a citizen task force regarding the formation of a police oversight board during a work session at City Hall. The meeting focused on the content of the task force’s proposed ordinance, which calls for the establishment of a citizen-led police review commission. Members of the task force repeatedly emphasized their desire to lay the groundwork for an “independent” and “impartial” commission, one that would not be too closely tied to either the Ann Arbor Police Department or City Council. Addressing the City Council, task force member Monica Harrold said she was “literally stunned” when she was informed of Lazarus’s response to the proposed
ordinance. “What I read seemed to cast aside all the work of the task force and creates a commission that is in essence created by the city attorney and the city manager and serves as an arm of the Ann Arbor Police Department,” Harrold said. Harrold also took issue with suggestions the commission’s findings would be “advisory” as opposed to “binding” and that complaints the commission received would be forwarded to the police department. While both the task force’s vision and Lazarus’s plan retain similar 11 voting member structures, Lazarus recommended two of the spots be held by a city council member and a member of the Ann Arbor Human Rights Commission. He also called for a staff attorney from the City Attorney’s Office to work with the commission, while the task force emphasized a
See GREEK, Page 3A
See REVIEW, Page 3A
University admin, free speech experts ‘U’ nursing Intros: 1L respond to Bias Response Team suit Martese students
HOSPITALS
CAMPUS LIFE
weigh in on union vote
Researcher predicts University will move to dismiss lawsuit by Speech First
Profs. say action won’t affect any clinical rounds for upper-level students
A month after Judge Linda V. Parker of the U.S. District Court denied Speech First’s motion to halt the University of Michigan’s Bias Response Team, the University administration and free speech experts reflect on the ruling and predict the case will likely move to becoming a legal moot point. The ruling in early August followed a lawsuit filed by the nonprofit against the University claiming the BRT interfered with free speech. University spokeswoman Kim Broekhuizen said the litigation is still ongoing and the University continues to support BRT and its efforts. “As we stated in July, we are pleased to see the court has affirmed our definitions of bullying and harassment and agrees that the mission of the University’s Bias Response Team is educational, not punitive and does not violate the First Amendment,” Broekhuizen wrote in an email
GRACE KAY
Daily Staff Reporter
As Michigan Medicine nurses continue to vote on a potential strike, the University of Michigan administration reassures students at this time, the potential work stoppage will not negatively impact the School of Nursing. “At this time, there is no impact on the clinical studies for nursing students,” University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said. Some students still expressed concern regarding how the situation might change with the nurses’ decision. Nursing senior Rachel Sabin explained her professors said there will be no impact as of now, but Sabin expressed See NURSES, Page 3A
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SAYALI AMIN
Daily Staff Reporter
Check out the Daily’s News podcast, The Daily Weekly
interview. Online records published by the BRT detail more than 120 individual bias reports lodged with the office since April 2017. The log has not been updated, however, since the lawsuit was filed in May 2018. Faith Sparr, a lecturer in
the Communications Studies Department, researches free speech and its usage in public events and on the internet. Sparr said Judge Parker’s opinion seems well reasoned. “The judge has explained that Speech First’s allegation that the Bias Response Team
procedure violates free speech rights is not sustainable, because the BRT has no authority to discipline students through that procedure,” Sparr wrote in an email interview. “As such, there is no concrete
Johnson talks plans
Former UVA student details police brutality case and protest in interview
See LAWSUIT, Page 3A
RIYAH BASHA
Managing News Editor
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 135 ©2018 The Michigan Daily
Four years ago, University of Michigan Law student Martese Johnson, then a junior at the University of Virginia, made headlines across the nation after police officers pinned him to the ground with brute force during an arrest in Charlottesville. Images and videos of Johnson’s arrest went viral, and students on campus began demanding justice and answers. Johnson graduated from UVA in 2016, and recently settled with the Virginia Department of Alcohol Beverage Control for $3 million after a long legal battle. He’s now in his first year at the University of Michigan Law See JOHNSON, Page 2A
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 ARTS......................5
SUDOKU.....................2 CLASSIFIEDS...............6 SPORTS....................1B