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ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Wednesday, November 5, 2025

Ann Arbor, Michigan

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NEWS BRIEFS

Michigan residents lose SNAP benefits Nov. 1 amid government shutdown

Federal judges ordered the Trump administration to use emergency reserve funds for SNAP payments ALYSSA TISCH

Daily Staff Reporter

Update 11/2: On Oct. 30., the State of Michigan announced it will provide $4.5 million to the Food Bank Council of Michigan to assist residents impacted by the government shutdown. On Oct. 31., two federal judges ruled President Donald Trump’s administration must use contingency funds to continue the dispersal of SNAP benefits. According to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, even if the Trump administration releases the contingency funds to states immediately, Michigan residents set to receive SNAP benefits may still see delays. It is not yet clear if the Trump administration intends to appeal this ruling. Update 11/3: On Nov. 3, the Trump administration announced in response to the federal judges that it will send out partial SNAP payments this month. The emergency fund it will use has $4.65 billion — enough to cover half of recipients’ usual benefits. It is still unclear when recipients will receive their aid. The United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service announced Oct. 27 that no Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits will be distributed from Nov. 1 until further notice due to insufficient funds. Nearly 13% of Michigan households receive assistance from SNAP, a federal program that provides monthly food benefits to low-income households. USDA’s website states that due to the ongoing federal government shutdown, there may be limited availability of government funding to pay for these benefits. About 41.7 million Americans, including 1.4 million Michiganders, receive SNAP benefits, typically through an electronic debit card

NEWS BRIEFS

UMich Law professor files U.S. Supreme Court petition

Laura Beny requested the Supreme Court hear her discrimination case against the University CHRISTINA ZHANG Daily News Editor

Alum Sydney Hasings-Wilkins/DAILY

which can be used at grocery stores nationwide. In a press release, Elizabeth Hertel, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services director, said losing SNAP funding will have drastic impacts on many families, and that the state will do what it can to minimize harm. “SNAP is more than a food assistance program; it’s a lifeline for many Michigan families,” Hertel said. “It helps families put nutritious food on the table, supports local farmers and grocers, and strengthens our communities and economy. We are strongly disappointed by the USDA’s decision to delay this assistance, and in Michigan we will do what we can to help blunt this impact.” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced in a press release Tuesday that she has joined a coalition of 22 other attorneys general and three governors in filing a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts against the USDA and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins for the suspension. The press release claims

the suspension violates the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs the process by which federal agencies develop and issue regulations. “While states are responsible for administering SNAP in their state, the federal government is obligated to fund and set the monthly amount of SNAP benefits,” the press release read. “Suspending SNAP benefits in this manner is both contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act. Where Congress has clearly spoken to provide that SNAP benefits should continue even during a government shutdown, USDA does not have the authority to say otherwise.” On Oct. 24, the USDA released a memo stating that it won’t use its emergency funding to distribute partial SNAP payments for next month if the government shutdown continues after Oct. 31. The USDA explains that the contingency fund is not available to support regular benefits for fiscal year 2026, as it is not considered an unforeseen event, which the contingency fund

is meant for. “Due to Congressional Democrats’ refusal to pass a clean continuing resolution (CR), approximately 42 million individuals will not receive their SNAP benefits come November 1,” the memo reads. “Instead, the contingency fund is a source of funds for contingencies, such as the Disaster SNAP program, which provides food purchasing benefits for individuals in disaster areas, including natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods, that can come on quickly and without notice.” Nessel wrote in her press release that she believes the government shutdown should be considered an emergency to avoid a pause in benefits. “Emergency funding exists for exactly this kind of crisis,” Nessel said. “If the reality of 42 million Americans going hungry, including 1.4 million Michiganders, isn’t an emergency, I don’t know what is. It is cruel, inhumane, and illegal to hold back emergency reserves while families struggle to put food on the table.”

Laura Beny, University of Michigan Law School professor, filed a petition on Monday asking the Supreme Court to hear her racial and gender discrimination case against the University. Beny alleges University officials — including Mark West, former dean of the Law School — subjected her to improper and discriminatory disciplinary action. Beny’s original lawsuit was filed in 2022 and dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in 2024. Beny appealed the dismissal, but the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s decision this July. Beny was hired in 2003 and became the second African American female tenure-track professor in the Law School’s history. In 2018, she received a disciplinary notice for disruptive conduct and in 2019 received another notice for verbal abuse. The Sixth Circuit opinion states West issued Beny her third notice of disciplinary action on March 31, 2022, the sanctions from which are the subject of her lawsuit. “The University provided a legitimate reason for the disciplinary actions set out in the third notice: ‘[Beny’s] ‘abandonment’ of the classroom, retaliation against students who raised concerns about her course, and her troubling communications with other faculty and staff members’,” the opinion reads.

However, according to the District Court opinion, Beny was approved for medical leave on April 15, 2022, under the Family and Medical Leave Act for the period between Feb. 15, the date Beny informed her class that she could no longer teach, and May 15, 2022. Beny argues in her lawsuit the University disciplined her when they should have known she did not truly abandon her class due to her approved medical leave, which she alleges would make the decision to discipline her pretext for a discriminatory motive. The Sixth Circuit opinion asserts the University and West are protected under the honest belief rule — which holds that as long as an employer had an honest belief in their provided reason for disciplinary action, an employee cannot establish pretext, even if the reason is later proven false. “There is no evidence in the record to suggest that West and others doubted that Beny ‘abandoned’ her class when she was issued the disciplinary notice,” the opinion reads. “That is, nothing in the record suggests that any relevant decisionmakers knew about Beny’s leave application or that it was FMLA related.” Beny is represented by a team of four attorneys led by Amos Jones, principal and founder of Amos Jones Law Firm. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Jones alleged decisionmakers at the Law School were aware of Beny’s medical leave claim. CONTINUED AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM

GOVERNMENT

Ann Arbor community protests United Electrical Contractors amid racial discrimination lawsuit UEC was held liable for racial discrimination against nine employees who said they were harassed and called racial slurs while working

HALLE PRATT

Daily Staff Reporter

About 30 protesters gathered Thursday morning outside of the Five Corners construction site on Packard Street to call for housing developer Core Spaces to terminate their contract with United Electrical Contractors. Protesters carried signs that read “United Electric Liable for Racism” and called for “Justice for the United Six,” the initial group of six former UEC employees who filed a federal lawsuit against UEC for racist behavior by company management and employees. UEC is assisting in the construction of Five Corners, a new student housing development, and admitted legal liability in a federal racial discrimination case in June. They were held liable for racial discrimination against nine employees who said they were harassed and called racial slurs while working. As part of the settlement, UEC will pay each former employee, on average, $47,960 plus attorney fees. Richard Mack, an employee and union rights attorney at Miller Cohen, organized and led the rally. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Mack said the protest aimed to bring attention to the working conditions faced by UEC employees. “It was shameful, some of the

Akul Gunukula/DAILY Community members protest United Electric at an anti-discrimination rally on Packard St. Thursday morning.

things,” Mack said. “A Black man who had the N-word written on his hard hat and was forced to wear that hat for a week because they wouldn’t give him a new one and Hispanic Latino employees faced all of the most vile slurs you can think of from workers. And not only would the employees complain about all of these things, which happened weekly

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for many of them, but when they complained to supervision, supervisors laughed.” Mack led the group in a march around the Five Corners project area, guiding them in a series of call-and-response chants to voice their frustration with the situation. The crowd stopped in various locations around the site to listen to different speakers,

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including U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich. Dingell said the citizens of Ann Arbor cannot back down from fighting for racial justice. “Every person on this Earth was created equal and every person should have the right to compete for a job based on their ability no matter their sex or the color of their skin,” Dingell said.

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“We cannot let them wear us down. Our future is at stake and we the workers are the backbone of America.” City Councilmember Cynthia Harrison, D-Ward 1, who also spoke out at the protest, said she believes racist and sexist comments to employees are unacceptable and should not be tolerated in Ann Arbor.

“We are here today to fight against racism,” Harrison said. “We are here today to fight against sexism. This is my hometown. I was born and raised here, and I will not tolerate it. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Mack told The Daily he believes the Ann Arbor community, who he believes do not agree with racist and sexist behavior in the workplace, should ask Ann Arbor authorities not to allow Core Spaces to work with UEC. “You need to go to your city council, you need to go to your city leaders, you need to go to the University itself, who was going to be sending students to live in that edifice that is built by a racist, sexist contractor,” Mack said. “We cannot allow it to happen, so we need to let everyone in Ann Arbor know to come out and stand up against this. Because if we don’t stop it, it’s going to grow.” Andre’ Watson, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People of Ann Arbor, who also spoke at the protest, said the fight is not over until there is justice for those who have been discriminated against in the workforce. “We appreciate all the support out today, and just understand that this is just the beginning,” Watson said. “We will fight this to the end.”

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