The University of Michigan said it wanted to begin a dialogue with Ypsilanti Township residents at Wednesday night's town hall meeting, to discuss its proposed "advanced research center," in partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory.
That dialogue did not take place.
Instead, a hostile crowd cursed, harangued, and insulted the five U of M officials on the panel, which also included an official from DTE Energy, to express their anger and fear about what they say is a data center by a different name.
U of M Professor of Engineering Steven Ceccio is the project lead for the center. Through a barrage of interruptions, he attempted to explain why the university feels the facility is needed, and why the industrial site near a local Ford plant was chosen.
Ceccio said the facility would only be about 1/10 the size of the mega data center in nearby Saline Township; it would focus on research that could spur dramatic improvements in clean energy and cancer treatments. And he said the project is working on a way to cool the facility without drawing water directly from the Huron River.
Residents demanded specific details, such as how much noise the facility would make, which the panelists said they did not know yet. Audience members at the town hall said the site had Native American remains on it, that the University is destroying its reputation in the area, and that property values, water and air quality, and quality of life in nearby residential areas would plummet.
One after another, residents demanded, or begged, the university to scrap the plan.
Many accused the panelists of lying. Karen Lovejoy-Roe, an Ypsilanti Township Board member, said the university initially misrepresented the project to her and other board members. She said the university is disrespecting a historically hardscrabble, working class community.
"We don't want it here," she said. "We don't need it here. Our children, our grandchildren, we've been hurt enough."
Ypsilanti Township resident Shalina Nicohl Rankin asked Ceccio and the rest of the panel whether any of them had the authority to stop the project. She was told no — only the U of M Regents could do that.
"And you want to bring Los Alamos to our back yard, that's who you want to be in business with? You want to be part of the techno surveillance state?" she asked. "We want you to leave, and when you come back in October, bring the regents."
U of M officials allowed the meeting to be extended an extra hour, to allow those in line to express their feelings and ask questions. The university plans to hold a second townhall meeting on October 1.
Editor's note: The University of Michigan holds Michigan Public's broadcast license.
