16 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 7, 2001 FRIDAY Focus By Elizabeth Kassab, Louie Meizlish and Maria Sprow rA LV STAFF REPORTERS IN TH U'gains reputation through Moown before moving to A /ny people say Ann Arbor would not exist without the University of Michigan, but there was a time when the University existed without Ann Arbor. In 1800, seventeen years before the University was born, the Motor City was almost nonexistent. It lay at the edge of the frontier and was just beginning to attract settlers.r "At the time that we're talking about, there was very little settlement in the territory of Michigan. There was Mackinaw in the north and Detroit in the south," said University Prof. Margaret Steneck, who teaches the class "History of the University of Michi- gan" with her husband Nick. "You're really in the frontier." Seven years later, the reputation of the city would for- ever change. The area became the birthplace of a revolu- tionary idea: to offer residents a publicly funded system of education. "The public schools that we take for granted today, you did not have those in the early 19th century," Ste- neck said. In order to get the idea off the ground, several respect- ed ministers and government officials - John Monteith (the first president of the University), Father Gabriel Richard (the vice president), Judge Augustus Wood- ward, William Woodbridge and Lewis Cass - collabo- rated and founded the Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania, in Detroit. "These are real democrats," Steneck said about the founders. "They wanted to see everyone in the Michi- gan territory educated. It was a new idea. It's radical." Steneck said the University was only a primary and secondary school when it was founded because the set- tlement was not large enough and people were not edu- cated enough to build a college. The University was reorganized in 1821 but didn't stand as it was for long. In 1837, when Michigan became the 26th state, a charter was signed and land in Ann Arbor was donated to build a college. The Univer- sity left Detroit. The original building in Detroit was torn down in the 1850s. The University finally opened to students in 1851. When it opened, nine students attended - seven freshman and two sophomores, all male. There was one building called the Main building and four houses built for profes- sors, one of which is current- ly the President's House. s the yearlong festivities celebrating Detroit's 300th anniversary begin to wind down, the University is just beginning to get in on the action, striving to bring students closer to Michigan's largest city. As part of the attempt to show students every aspect of Detroit - from fine art and history to inner-city poverty - professors from departments throughout the College of Literature, Science and the Arts spent the past 18 months working collaboratively to organize the Detroit 300 theme semester. The theme semester, approved by LSA last November, is comprised of more than 40 graduate- and undergradu- ate-level classes, as well as various events and exhibitions happening throughout the next three months. The semester will officially kick off Sept. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, where the Mosaic Youth Theatre will perform the play "2001 Hastings Street," a musical drama about Detroit's black community and music scene in the 1940s. The group will then hold a workshop about the making of the play. Residential College Director Charles Bright, who heads the theme semester, said the Mosaic Youth Theatre perfor- mance was chosen to kick off the semester because the troupe is an excellent example of the theatri- cal art found in " " 'Motown. "They are the most Screative kids I've ever met, full of energy," Bright said. In addition to the performance, the semester also features a Pewabic pottery exhibition in the RC Art Gallery of East Quad Residence Hall beginning Oct. 19. The LSA course guide also advertises historical exhibits in the Bentley Historical Library, the Special Collections Library, the Kelsey Muse- um of Archaeology and the William L. Clements Library. "Culture buses" will shuttle interested people to the city and introduce them to various museums, landmarks and attractiorfs. Additional panels and symposia being held at the Uni- versity will discuss Detroit-related issues. Bright said the panels will not attempt to define problems in Detroit but discuss and explore compelling issues in a non-antagonis- tic way. "People living in Detroit know what the problems are," Bright said. "They don't need academics living in Ann Arbor telling them." The theme semester gives undergraduates a chance to explore different programs at the University and experi, ence the city that lies only 40 miles east of campus. "We've been pretty impressed by the range of response among the departments," Bright said. "The LSA response has been really good." Bright said he hopes the theme didn't semester brings together faculty j who have interests in Detroit but Detroit he have never worked with each other and may never have had theb opportunity to teachb about the city. unt otaccbuyh Prof. Buzz Alexander said he chose to teach his Detroit-based English 310 class after working in area prisons because he was inter- ested in helping urban schools gain attention. "I'm interested in places that we've denied resources to," he said. LSA sophomore Sarah Zeile said she believes the theme semester and classes like Armstrong's could benefit Detroit's public schools. "I think it would be really great if they were more involved," Zeile said. She attended the Detroit High School for Fine and Performing Arts and noticed the University did not make much of an effort to reach stu- dents at her high school. "We went to on-site admis- sions, but they never came here." Bright said he looks forward to the combination of interests and knowledge the students bring to the courses. Zeile said she is startled by some of the stereotypes she encounters when she tells people at the University that she hails from Detroit. "I didn't know that Detroit had such a bad image outside of the city," Zeile said. "I didn't realize there was such a superstition about it. I always thought it was a rumor." By letting students experience Detroit first-hand, the theme semester aims to dispel some of those stereotypes. Alexander chose to hold interviews before letting stu- dents enroll in his course to ensure that students taking the class are willing to let go of any biases they hold about the city. "I want students who understand that they are going into an important place that deserves our respect," he said. "I want students to know that this is serious work. I want them to know it can be painful work. I'm looking for very responsible and committed students." Alexander's class is not the only one that will focus on hands-on experiences within the city. Prof. Reynolds Farley is offering two sociology courses through the theme semester. In Sociology 535, "The Urban Community," he said, "we're going to look at trends in Detroit as they reflect national trends." Some examples are economic class trends, incorporation of immigrants and race relations. "I hope that students will understand more about funda- mental processes that are changing this nation as they play out in Detroit and other cities,"he said. But Bright noted that the University's effort to reach out to Detroit didn't originate with the theme semester. In the past five years, largely in response to the vision of for- mer University provost Nancy Cantor, there has been an increased effort to contribute to the community, he said. Bright said a number of graduate and professional pro-' grams now include connections to Detroit. Jim Kosteva, the University's director of community relations, said the University has more than 100 different partnerships with community groups in the city. One example is the Urban Research Center, which is affiliat- ed with the School of Public Health and conducts studies to improve the quality of life of inner- city residents. One particular study is enoaw that attempting to determine the reasons for higher incidences of asthma in such a the city. outside Another program involves School of Education students teaming up fl with Detroit Public Schools students to improve their writing skills. The - Sarah Zeile Detroit students electronically send - htheir writing to the University stu- LSA sophomore dents who then critique the works and return them. The theme semester, which was intentionally planned to come after the city officially celebrated the anniversary of its 1701 founding in July, was designed to shed light on those projects. "We wanted it to be a reflection on, rather than the antic- ipation of, the celebration," Bright said. Zeile said the celebration was well deserved. "It has so much history," she said. "No one can deny it's kind of a shell of its former self." Even so, the city has the potential to return to its past greatness, Zeile said. Bright said the theme semester will end in December but he hopes it will have lasting effects. He said a growing collabora- tion between the University and Detroit and a permanent web- site linking the two are possible. Bright also expressed hope that the University might consider a new concentration in urban community studies. "I think an urban studies concentration at the University of Michigan would be an excellent addition;' Farley said. But Bright admitted the theme semester alone will not accomplish everything. "The splash will not be big enough to make huge waves - it'll just start ripples. The way things go here things take a lot of ripples and time," he said. 310: Discourse and Society: The Henry Ford High School Project Professor: BuZZ Alexander Students taking the class are What tt is about: St eri ihsho eces required to work with Detroihe workshops foachers. Students hold art and theatewr~hP o students hod otherwise would not have those students who ot them. Alexander promises resources avaiable in hands-on with the Detroit students that workingwils o i e t er a public school system will o' heseare schoolstt that other classes cand" are schOOls tha are not wealthy schools and are tesc S thatki many, many Detroit students attend. y rt with the students, you're going to learn about certain sides of Detroit," he said. Political Science 423: Politics Professor:Metropolis : Gregory Markus Wt nd t s about: Students in the course will to idosu why Detroit faces the challenges tempt does,' Markus said. Students will study the effec economic development public education, commut activism and environmental concerns on the city. F examplesome students will work with communityr organizations to conduct research concerning the city's new casinos. The focus,_arku sai nt to study big city politicians, but rather todwasnot demonstrate to students "h, ordiar po cities can have an impact on citiesOnary people in cited is the Detroit Project, of wic :12 members are enrolled in the class. Film and Video 190: Documenemey Film and Community Cultures Professor: Frank yBeaver about:Students in the course will s Ite Wat it Ioun documentaries on urban subjec I is a twocourse sequence. In the first semeter,and get students learn about producing docue nd to meet prominent filmmakters wh a mester,the documentaries on Detroit. In the con semes the students will produce their oan cmmunties abo Ann Arbor or surrounding urb Sociology495: Detroit: Economic,Socialand Racial Trens Professor: Reynolds Farley tagt tth sabout: This is a one-credit mini tauht thrsee separate times throughout the semesterg Each class will consist of four in-class meetings and an al-day excursion to Detroit. The course focuses on various trends evident in Detroit and explore their history and their implications for the Y future. 0 k 4 0 0 t ,.