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Ann Arbor, Michigan

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

michigandaily.com

THEY SEE ME ROLLIN'

ACADEMICS
IGR still
promoting
change on
campus

RUBY WALLAU/Daily
LSA juniors Alex Hanna and Ann Duong enjoy DORAK's Goodness Day at the Diag on Monday.

CAMPUS SAFETY

0

UMPD talks emergency protocol

Pro
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gram celebrates the University community, said
Adrienne Dessel, the program's
years of social co-associate director. IGR was
created to provide a platform to
ustice agenda tackle these issues.
"There was a sense that there
By AMRUTHA needed to be more understand-
SIVAKUMAR ing," Dessel said. "Dialogue
Daily StaffReporter was a way of having conversa-
tion with people across identi-
a school made up of stu- ties that could produce more
from a wide array of intergroup understanding."
rounds, it's sometimes Monita Thompson, assis-
ult to bridge cultural gaps. tant dean of students and a co-
th this challenge in mind, director of IGR said when IGR
Program on Intergroup firstbegan, it was a limited pro-
ions will continue its mis- gram with non-credit classes
o educate students on the conducted within residence
sity of cultural and per- halls and other schools within
identities by conducting the University.,
al events throughout 2013, She added that the expan-
th year of the program. sion of the program was a man-
R brings together students date given the growing needs of
acuity members to share students.
s and broaden an under- "There's a need for being able
ling of social-justice and to talk across identities; there's
-identity ideals. By con- a need and a want to under-
ng a wide variety of aca- stand differences," Thompson
courses and workshops, said. "(Students want to) be able
attracts students with a to discuss issues that are impor-
on for global complexities. tant to them around diversity,
e program was institut- identity and social justice."
hen differences between The courses offered under
ng identities, races and the IGR umbrella include Inter-
res were causing rifts in See IGR, Page 5

Piersante advises
'run, hide, fight' if
facing shooter
By ARIANA ASSAF
Daily StaffReporter
The nation was on heightened
alert this past week after a major
bombing occurred at the Boston
Marathon. The FBI's two sus-

pects in the incident led police on
a chaotic chase that shut down
the greater Boston area and left a
campus police officer at the Mas-
sachusetts Institute of Technol-
ogy dead after he was ambushed
by the suspects.
The tragedy took place across
the nation, but as shown by an
.incident on Valentine's Day
where a student wearing camou-
flage pants and a gas mask scared
students and staff in Mason Hall,

no place - not even the Univer-
sity - is immune to emergency
situations.
On Feb. 14, UMPD officers fol-
lowed Quick Action Deployment
protocol, a law enforcement
technique where first responding
police officers enter a high-risk
situation rather than contain-
ing a waiting for a tactical team.
Though the student simply said
his attire was a "joke," students
were concerned about his behav-

for and notified law enforcement.
The QAD protocol aims to
decrease the amount of time
that it takes for law enforce-
ment officers to locate, confront
and stop an active shooter. It has
largely replaced the isolate-and-
contain techniques that were
used to respond to incidents
like the Columbine High School
shooting. UMPD was one of the
first departments across the
See UMPD, Page 5


SCIENCE
ALS research
to study stem
cell treatment

State has higher
proportion of
Gehrig's patients
than nation
By RACHEL PREMACK
Daily StaffReporter
Those living - with amyo-
trophic lateral sclerosis - also
known as Lou Gehrig's Dis-
ease - typically lose their lives
within three to five years of
being diagnosed as they even-
tually lose control of the mus-
cles needed to move, speak and
breathe. Treatment options are
often scare.
However, new research at
the University is aiming to cor-
rect the deficit of treatment
options. Following approval
by an independent ethics
review committee, University
researchers will begin to con-
duct a clinical trial using direct
injection of stem cells into the
spinal cord of ALS patients.
Principal investigator Eva
Feldman, director of the A.
Alfred Taubman Medical
Research Institute, said this
trial could possibly result in
new options for treatment.
,"Stem cells provide a new
treatment avenue in a disease
where there are few other via-
ble options," Feldman said.
Lisa Bardach, a speech
pathologist at ALS of Michigan,

said Michiganhas ahigherinci-
dence of ALS than other states,
adding that the community is
enthusiastic about the potential
research.
"People who have ALS
couldn't care less about those
politics. It's very exciting
research because it's some-
thing that gives us hope, and
anything that gives us hope is
a wonderful thing," Bardach
said.
The disease involves the
degeneration of-motor neuron
- cells that convey impulses
from the brain to muscles. Four
percent of patients live longer
than 10 years and most die of
respiratory failure within three
to five years.
ALS has only one treatment
approved by the Food and Drug
Administration, a drug called
Rilutek, which slows the dis-
ease's progression by three to
five months.
The trial's critics are dis-
turbed by the source of the
stem cells - the spinal cord of
an 8-week-old fetus.
Feldman said the cells were
provided by trial sponsor Neu-
ralstem Inc., a Maryland-based
biotech company. The mother
gave consent to the usage of
the fetus' cells a decade ago
and the cells will be used under
the guidelines of the FDA, the
National Institutes of Health
and an outside independent
review board.
See ALS, Page 7A

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Ann Arbor citizens come together at Downtown Home and Garden to celebrate the kickoff of Veg Week.
Local vegetarians celebrate
city's options for herb ivores

TICKET TROUBLE
Big House
student tix
to become
general
admission
Upperclassmen
to lose priority
football seating
By GREG GARNO
Daily Sports Writer
For some students, it may be
time to put the red Solo Cup
down earlier on football Satur-
days and head to the Big House.
Monday, the Athletic Depart-
ment announced that it will no
longer assign seats to student
ticket holders, instead opting to
have student seating as general
admission. In an announcement
on the its website, the Athletic
Department will give students
general-admission tickets on a
first-come; first-serve basis as
an incentive to arrive prior to
kickoff.
Ticket prices will be $295 for
seven home games, or more than
$40 a ticket per game. For the
2012 season, students paid $205
for six home games - just over
$34 per game. The new cost is
40-percent less than the general.
public season ticket price and
doesn't include a required pre-
ferred season donation.
Accordingto the associate ath-
letic director, Dave Ablauf, the
average number of "no shows"
per game was 5,434 in 2012 and
See TIX, Page 7A

Mayor, former
NBA player speak
at downtown event
By LEWAA BAHMAD
For the Daily
In order to celebrate the
beginningofVeg Week, anevent
held to support vegetarianism
and veganism, 150 Ann Arbor
residents gathered Monday at
Downtown Home and Garden.
Ann Arbor's Veg Week event
is part of National Veg Week,
an annual campaign started

by Compassion Over Killing, a
national nonprofit animal advo-
cacy organization. The cam-
paign, hosted in over 11 cities
nationwide, centers itself on a
pledge to abstain from animal
products with the intention of
raising public awareness on the
benefits of vegetarianism and
veganism.
Ann Arbor Mayor John Hief-
tje and vegan advocate John
Salley, a former NBA player,
spoke in support of Veg Week
while local Ann Arbor restau-
rants showcased vegetarian
food ranging from dinners to
desserts.

"Ann Arbor is a place where
people are curious and inter-
ested about all sorts of things,"
Dana Gramprie, the founder
of Ann Arbor Veg Week, said.
"People here are educated and
interested in learning."
Veg Week highlights Ann
Arbor's trend toward green
initiatives, especially those
concerning food production.
In 2003, Ann Arbor started the
Greenbelt Program, an initia-
tive founded to promote local
agriculture, and has since
bought the development rights
of property around the city to
See VEGETARIANS, Page 7A


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