ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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Faculty, students reflect on what Anti-abortion rent control means for city of A2 group incites Stakeholders propose innovative ideas to address housing affordability
response, draws demonstrators
Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property takes Diag stand MADELINE MCLAUGHIN Daily Staff Reporter
DESIGN BY CHRISTINE JEGARL
JULIA FANZERES & KATHERINA SOURINE Daily Staff Reporters
In order to address t he housing crisis in A nn A rbor, sta keholders a re proposing innovative solutions to address t he issues of af fordabilit y a nd t he g row ing inf lux of st udents while ma inta ining
t he cit y ’s unique cha racter. Rent cont rol — leg islation t hat sets caps on rents — is one such option t he cit y council is considering. Rent cont rol policy ha s been implemented statew ide in Ca lifornia a nd in a few communities in Ma r yla nd a nd New Jersey to ma inta in t he existing af fordable housing a nd limit disr uptions caused
by dra matic rent increa ses. Under Michiga n law, “A loca l governmenta l unit sha ll not enact, ma inta in, or enforce a n ordina nce or resolution t hat would have t he ef fect of cont rolling t he a mount of rent cha rged for lea sing private residentia l proper t y.” In a n ema il inter v iew, Jennifer Ha ll, executive director of t he A nn A rbor
Housing Commission, told The Da ily rent cont rol had prev iously been proposed in sout hea stern Michiga n decades ago. “ Rent cont rol wa s proposed in A nn A rbor a nd Det roit in t he 1980s a nd t he state enacted leg islation prohibiting it,” Ha ll w rote. See RENT, Page 3
More than a dozen male representatives from the A merican Societ y for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Propert y took to the Diag on Wednesday to oppose abor t ion rights, incit ing responses f rom severa l bysta nders. Members of TFP dist ributed a nt iabor t ion materia l to pa ssersby. The pa mphlets listed “10 Rea sons to Protect t he Unborn,” cla iming t hat “Abor t ion Of fends God,” a nd ca lling t he pract ice “Our Deadliest Wa r.” John R itchie, TFP ’s st udent act ion director a nd one of t he spea kers at t he Diag protest, told The Da ily t he orga nizat ion sta nds up for conser vat ive va lues by protest ing abor t ion on college ca mpuses a round t he count r y. “Today we a re here promot ing t he right to life – ever y huma n
Event talks U-W Madison professor discusses crises in urban-rural divide, role of dialogue Kashmir, The Ford School, CLOSUP host Kathy Cramer as part of lecture series Hong Kong GLOBAL POLITICS
JULIA JOHNSTON
Roundtable discussion highlights the lack of democratic freedoms, humanitarian concerns VARSHA VEDAPUDI For The Daily
The Tricontinental Solidarity Network held an open roundtable discussion on Wednesday evening at Hatcher to discuss the ongoing humanitarian crises in Kashmir and Hong Kong, where the lack of democratic freedom in each region has lead to protests against the Indian and Chinese governments, respectively. Around 30 University of Michigan students and community members attended the event led by five panelists, three of whom concealed their identities with face masks. The event began with the panelists providing background and summary of the current situation in each region and then transitioned into a discussion about imperialism, the importance of grassroots movements and solidarity with oppressed people. Panelists drew connections between the surveillance tactics and mechanisms of control used by both the Chinese and Indian governments in Hong Kong and Kashmir, respectively, and how those practices mimicked patterns reproduced around the world where indigenous voices are overlooked. See KASHMIR, Page 3A
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Daily Staff Reporter
About 100 people gathered in Weill Hall on Wednesday afternoon to hear Kathy Cramer, professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, tell stories from her research on the exclusion of rural voices in political discussions. The event, entitled “Listening to Strengthen Democracy,” was hosted by the Ford School of Public Policy as part of the school’s “Conversations
Across Difference” lecture series. The Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP), a research center at the Public Policy School, co-hosted the event because they are interested in redefining the ways society views urban and rural populations, according to Sarah Mills, senior project manager at CLOSUP. “We’ve been really looking at what’s conceptualized as an urban-rural divide, but we like to think of it as an urbanrural continuum,” Mills said.
CLOSUP and the Public Policy School invited Cramer to this lecture series because of her work in rural communities with the Local Voices Network, a digital network used to share community conversations. “Given her work trying to understand the rural side of the equation, we thought that sharing that with the U-M community would be helpful to understand what you can learn by listening to people in rural communities,” Mills said.
Cramer’s research involved working with experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technolog y and Cortico, a nonprofit focused on holding healthy political discussions in communities, to create the Local Voices Network. “We are basically aiming for a way in which we can listen to one another and understand the perspectives of people who are unlike us or don’t live near (us) or who we haven’t had (an) interaction with,” Cramer said. See URBAN , Page 3
being ha s a right to life, whet her t hey a re born or not,” R itchie sa id. “... We a re just v isit ing t he state of Michiga n going f rom ca mpus to ca mpus promot ing a nd defending t he right to life.” According to R itchie, t he orga nizat ion ha s about 200,000 members across t he nat ion. In response to t he a nt iabor t ion demonst rators, multiple students gathered in the Diag to protest the anti-abortion stance. LSA senior Tiahna Pantovich held a sig n that read, “Get out of my womb.” She said she was determined to make an impression on TFP representatives. “I’m going to keep screaming until you get annoyed with (my) voice,” Pantovich yelled at the TFP representatives. “Eventually, you’re going to get annoyed, and you’re going to say, ‘I can’t stand listening to this woman,’ and then you’re going to dip out.” See ABORTION, Page 3
ADMINISTRATION
U-M vice president receives petition Law students demand increased transparency of anti-immgration papers, movements DANIELLE PASEKOFF Daily Staff Reporter
A petition demanding the University of Michigan release the papers of the late Dr. John Tanton, father of the anti-immigration movement, was presented to Tim Lynch, University vice president and general counsel, on Wednesday afternoon. The petition, titled “Tell the University of Michigan: Stop Hiding White Nationalist’s Papers From The Public,” has more than 3,800 signatures. The petition was created by Law student Kerry Martin in an effort to raise awareness about Tanton’s ties to white nationalism, eugenics and anti-immigrant movements. Martin originally requested to meet with University President Mark Schlissel regarding the petition, but was scheduled to meet with Lynch instead. Martin rehashed the events of the hour-long private meeting to The Daily, which included presenting the petition to Lynch and arguing why Tanton’s papers should be released immediately to the public.
MICHAEL BAGAZINSKI/Daily Kathy Cramer, University of Wisconsin-Madison professor, lectures on how the ability to understand opposing ideologies influences political opinion as well as the necessity of crucial conversations when discussing politics at Weill Hall Wednesday evening.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXIX, No. 137 ©2019 The Michigan Daily
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 CLASSIFIEDS................5
See PETITION, Page 3
SUDOKU.....................2 ARTS...................5 SPORTS.................7