ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Monday, November 12, 2018
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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SportsMonday The Michigan football team dominated Rutgers on Saturday with a 35-point win in Piscataway.
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CRIME
Legalization of marijuana puts ‘U’ regs. in question HANNAH SIEGEL/Daily
Students from the University of Texas and the University of North Carolina speak about their experiences volunteering with Syrian refugees in Greece at the second annual Students Organize for Syria nation conference Friday.
University hosts second annual Students Organize for Syria talks
Conference attendees ask where to go after eight years of ongoing war abroad ATTICUS RAASCH & PARNIA MAZHAR Daily Staff Reporter & For the Daily
Over the course of the second annual national Students Organize for Syria conference, from Friday through Sunday
at the University of Michigan, students and faculty from all over the country had the opportunity to listen to speakers, engage in discussions surrounding Syria and grapple with the primary question of the event: “Where do we go from here?” In the course of the eightyear-long civil war — which most
watchdog organizations estimate has claimed about 500,000 lives — Syrian students have struggled with news of chemical attacks by the Assad regime, political inaction by the U.S. and other international actors and the resulting refugee crisis. With the last national conference hosted in Chicago,
SOS National President Amal Rass, a senior at Wayne State University, was excited to have the 2018 conference at the University of Michigan. “I’m just so happy to have this at U of M, for the conference to be hosted here,” Rass said. “I think it’s the perfect place to See SYRIA, Page 2A
Federal funds require campus to remain weed-free even after passage of Prop 1 RAFI KUBERSKY Daily Staff Reporter
Last Tuesday, Michigan voters approved the passage of Proposal 1, which will soon legalize the recreational use of marijuana in the state. Michigan became the first Midwestern state and the 10th in the country to legalize cannabis, as the proposal won by a margin of 56 to 44 percent. The proposal allows for adults aged 21 and older to purchase, possess and use marijuana; eat marijuana-infused edibles; and grow up to 12 marijuana plants in their homes for personal consumption. There will be a 10-ounce limit for marijuana kept at residencies and any
amount over 2.5 ounces must be kept in a locked container. While marijuana will most likely not be immediately available in commerical markets until early 2020, a state licensing system will be created for local governments to monitor marijuana businesses, including growers, processors, transporters and retailers. Statelicensed retailers will be able to sell marijuana and other products. The proposal will not go into effect until the vote count is certified by the state Board of Canvassers, which is projected to occur in the first weeks of December.
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Local community members question J Street org. Common pushes for gaps in resources for homeless people Language CITY
CAMPUS LIFE
changes to Hillel trips
Petition seeks to add in Palestinian views to proIsrael birthright agenda RILEY LANGEFELD Daily Staff Reporter
Members of the University of Michigan chapter of J Street, an American advocacy group that promotes the efforts of “proIsrael, pro-peace Americans,” have published a petition to incorporate Palestinian perspectives into Birthright trips with University of Michigan Hillel. Hillel is a global Jewish campus organization. As part of its mission to advocate for Jewish students, it runs Birthright trips during which young Jews can travel to Israel on a sponsored trip and learn about the state’s history and culture. Jewish students made headlines this summer by walking off of birthright tour buses due to agendas and framing on the trip they saw as one-sided. LSA junior Meghann NordenBright, the co-president of the University’s chapter of J Street, along with other leaders of the organization, gathered signatures after they heard feedback from Jewish community members.
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Presenters at Ypsilanti speak out use art, storytelling to share experiences with inequity ALICE TRACEY
Daily Staff Reporter
The Washtenaw Housing Alliance and Shelter Association of Washtenaw County hosted the second-ever Voices of Homelessness event Friday evening in Ypsilanti, inviting community members to share their experiences with homelessness through art and storytelling. A Washtenaw Housing Alliance 2018 report found 256 people in the county live in shelters or transitional housing, while 28 people are completely unsheltered. The speak-out, which marked the beginning of National Homelessness and Hunger Awareness Week, was intended to spread awareness about homelessness and connect displaced people to resources. Representatives from several housing and public health organizations, including Ozone House and Michigan Movement, attended Friday evening, distributing information about their efforts to support the local homeless population to a crowd of around 60. According to Eastern Michigan University student Olivia Harris, who works for the Shelter Association, the audience was composed of locals interested in the event as well as people currently experiencing homelessness. “A lot of the agency members, we tried to put them out of the shelters, so there’s a homeless
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population here as well to get directed to resources, and there’s just a bunch of people from the community,” Harris said. Following about half an hour of unstructured time during which attendees were encouraged to browse the art collection, Amanda Carlisle, executive director of the Washtenaw Housing Alliance, kicked off the evening by commending the work of the organizations contributing to Voices of Homelessness.
After Carlisle’s introduction, 12 speakers, who were only identified by their first names, told their own stories about homelessness, explaining their backgrounds and sharing lessons and knowledge drawn from their experiences. Many of the stories included themes of mental illness and self-discovery. Other common sentiments among the speakers were frustration with the systemic issues that contribute to homelessness and a desire to combat the stigma
surrounding homelessness. The first speaker, Robin, explained how she moved to Michigan as a 12 year old after losing her family’s farm in Alabama. Though Robin’s aunt in Michigan promised them housing, they were forced to live in an unheated, bed bug-ridden van in the aunt’s backyard.
to close by end of year
LGBTQIA-centered bookstore is one of ten remaining across country JULIA FORD
Daily Staff Reporter
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On Nov 3, owners Keith Orr and Martin Contreras announced Common Language Bookstore, one of about 10 LGBTQ-oriented bookstores remaining in the U.S. and Canada, will close at the end of the year. Orr and Contreras have been together for 32 years and have owned the Kerrytown bookstore since 2003. Community members lamented the loss of a gathering space. Since its establishment in 1991, Common Language has been a vital part of Ann Arbor’s LGBTQ community. When Kate Burkhardt and Lynden Kelly, Common Language’s former owners, decided to retire, Orr and Contreras were compelled to keep the bookstore alive. “It’s an important part of gay culture,” Orr said. “Bookstores are where people a lot of times have their first time in a safe space to figure out who they are.”
CAMERON HUNT/Daily
Robert Lee Mitchell shares his story at the Voices of Homelessness event in Ypsilanti Friday.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVIII, No. 29 ©2018 The Michigan Daily
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 ARTS......................6
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SUDOKU.....................2 CLASSIFIEDS...............5 SPORTS....................1B