2020-02-10 by The Michigan Daily

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Monday, February 10, 2020

Ann Arbor, Michigan

michigandaily.com

Deliverance

SPORTSMONDAY

Isaiah Livers returns and helps lead Michigan to a potentially seasonchanging win over Michigan State

» Page 1B

AAPD Chief Michael Cox placed on leave for two weeks City administrator: department head sidelined, acting chief will fill role CLAIRE HAO

Daily News Editor

PENNY LAM/Daily State Director Michael Kurtz speaks at presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg’s Ann Arbor office opening Saturday afternoon.

Bloomberg 2020 campaign opens downtown Ann Arbor headquarters Dhani Jones, former U-M football player, endorses presidential candidate JULIA FORREST & EMMA RUBERG Daily Staff Reporters

About 100 people dressed in campaign shirts, pins and various accessories gathered into 217 S. Fourth Ave. on Saturday to support Michael Bloomberg, Democratic presidential candidate and former New York City mayor.

Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg’s campaign opened an office in Ann Arbor this weekend, bringing together students and community members to support his candidacy and hear from Dhani Jones, former University of Michigan threetime All-Big Ten linebacker, and U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich.

ACADEMICS

Graduate school hosts educational conference Panel examines future of higher education at day-long symposium VARSHA VEDAPUDI Daily Staff Reporter

Approximately 100 community members attended a panel hosted by Rackham Graduate School titled “Adapting to Change and Maintaining Excellence” as part of an all-day faculty symposium on advancing graduate education Friday morning. The discussion was moderated by Earl Lewis, professor of history, Afroamerican and African studies and public policy as well as the founding director of the University of Michigan Center for Social Solutions, and featured academic leaders from different institutions in the nation. The panel discussed topics such as diversity during business recruiting, incentives to keep graduate students in academia and how to predict student success. Robin Garrell, chemistry professor at the University of California Los Angeles, discussed how her institution’s faculty members seek to minimize risk while recruiting graduate students.

About 100 people dressed in campaign shirts, pins and various accessories gathered into 217 S. Fourth Ave. on Saturday to support Bloomberg, a billionaire and former New York City mayor. The event started with remarks from Michael Kurtz, Bloomberg’s state director, who spoke about the campaign’s efforts to organize throughout the state,

including here in Ann Arbor. “What we’re doing in this state is we are organizing it every quarter, we’re not going to concede one inch to Donald Trump,” Kurtz said. “We are building momentum. You see the turnout today. We are building this campaign and there is real momentum on the ground.” See BLOOMBERG, Page 2A

Michael Cox, police chief of the Ann Arbor Police Department, has been placed on paid administrative leave for two weeks, according to an email from City Administrator Howard sent on Friday afternoon. The email was addressed to the mayor, members of City Council and Lisa Jackson, the Independent Community Police Oversight Commission chair. “I am writing to inform you that I have placed Police Chief Cox on Administrative Leave due to a personnel matter,” Lazarus wrote. “Deputy Chief Forsberg will serve as the Acting Chief.” Deputy Chief Jason Forsberg will assume Cox’s duties while Cox is on leave. Forsberg was one of three finalists who interviewed for the police chief position over the summer.

County prosecutor candidates discuss criminal justice system Hugo Mack, Eli Savit, Arianne Slay vie for voters’ support at town hall SARAH PAYNE For the Daily

Three candidates for Washtenaw County prosecutor spoke to a group of about 60 community members regarding the upcoming election for county prosecutor at the Arrowwood Community Center in Ann Arbor on Sunday afternoon. Arrowwood Democratic Party hosted the event, which was moderated by Ann Arbor City Councilmembers Anne Bannister, D-Ward 1, and Jeff Hayner, D-Ward 1. The candidates — Arianne Slay, Hugo Mack and Eli Savit —

emphasized a need for change to the current local prosecution system and proposed unique plans to solve criminal justice problems facing Washtenaw County. Slay spoke first about her platform, arguing that Washtenaw County is at a crucial moment and underscoring the need to reform the criminal justice system. “The criminal justice system of Washtenaw County is at a point of catastrophic institutional failure,” Slay said. “And that’s a big statement. We have policies in place in our current administration at the

prosecutor’s office that have reinforced these institutional harms. We have a lack of flexibility, we have a lack of looking at our community in the same respect that we have not just humans on the prosecution side with our victims but we have humans on the other side, we have lost compassion and empathy and I will bring that change back.” Slay asked attendees to back her campaign, emphasizing the changes she would implement if elected. “I’m not just asking for your support today, I’m asking for your support indefinitely to be committed to this cause and

please, by all stretches of the imagination, vote,” Slay said. Hugo Mack, a defense attorney based in Ypsilanti, then discussed what he hopes to bring as Washtenaw County’s next prosecutor. “I am a law enforcement officer; I make law enforcement first, and reform second,” Mack said. “And if that costs me the election then so be it, but know where I’m coming from. I believe that incarceration should be the final option, not the first choice.”

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In an interview with The Daily, Jackson said the commission was not told the specifics of the situation. “I do not know as much as I would like to know,” Jackson said. “The commission is a little concerned that we were given the same amount of the information as the public was. We were not told why.” However, Jackson added she has been told the leave is not due to Cox’s “personal misconduct” or an “allegation of him personally doing something improper.” When asked where she acquired this knowledge, Jackson said she was reassured by “people with more information” but declined to specify, as she said these individuals were likely not supposed to have told her. Jackson said some members of City Council have also expressed their frustration to her about being “in the dark.” See CHIEF, Page 2A

BUSINESS

Troy Carter highlights importance of diversity Entrepreneur shares experience in investing during BBSA colloquium MICHAL RUPRECHT Daily Staff Reporter

Troy Ca rter, vent ure capita list a nd founder of Atom Factor y, a ta lent ma nagement a nd production compa ny, spoke to a crowd of about 250 st udents, a lumni a nd g uests about mentorship a nd diversit y in business at the Universit y of Michiga n Ross School of Business on Friday evening. He was the g uest spea ker at the 44th A lfred L. Edwa rds Conference, the longest-running conference at the Business School. The Black Business St udent Association held the conference. Edwa rds was a professor a nd mentor at the Universit y before he died in 2007. Da nielle Loma x, Business g raduate st udent a nd BBSA member, said this yea r ’s theme was mentorship. According to Loma x, the tea m picked Ca rter as the spea ker because of his accomplishments in the business communit y.