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Tuesday, October 22,2013
michigandailycom
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U-M lin Chncelor uthPeron atens te Bard f Rgens metin inFlit, Mch. Frday
In Finta dffernt cmpu
FACULTY GOVERNANCE
Senate talks
health care
benef its
and recruit-
UM-Flint has
* unique challenges
compared to A2
By SAM GRINGLAS
Daily StaffReporter
FLINT, Mich. - Just a
55-mile drive up US-23 from
Ann Arbor, the University's
Flint campus is by no means
geographically distant.
On the satellite campus,
streetlight banners display
the same Block 'M,' and in a
conference room at the Hard-
ing Mott University Center,
the same regents and execu-
tive officers crowded a long
table at the annual meeting at
the Flint campus on Friday to
discuss an array of University
proposals.
But in many ways, UM-
Flint faces very different
challenges than the Univer-
sity's flagship campus in Ann
Arbor.
In an interview Friday,
UM-Flint Chancellor Ruth
Person said recruiting and
enrolling students presents
the campus's greatest chal-
lenge.
"For institutions like this,
continuing to have a robust
enrollment in the future is
always going to be a chal-
lenge," Person said.
Person partly blamed
Michigan's decline on demo-
graphic shifts, as the popula-
tion ages and fewer families
with children move to the
state.
"You can see that curve of
high-school students going
down," Person said. "They're
gone, and they're not goingto
come back immediately."
But UM-Flint has coped
- and excelled - in creative
ways, as Jon Davidson, direc-
tor of admissions- for U-M
Flint, explained in a presen-
tation to the regents.
Undergraduate enroll-
ment has increased by 22.6
percent since 2007, according
to U-M Flint data. Current
undergraduate enrollment is
8,555 - a record high despite
a challenging recruitment
climate.
Davidson said enroll-
ment growth is a strategic
necessity. UM-Flint, like
the rest of the University,
has been forced to contend
with shrinking state fund-
ing. With the capacity for
more students, Davidson
said increased enrollment
provides further financial
resources via tuition dollars.
"Clearly Ann Arbor doesn't
have enrollment challenges,"
See CAMPUS, Page 5
Faculty and staff
express concern about
competitiveness
By STEPHANIE SHENOUDA
Daily Staff Reporter
The Senate Assembly convened
at Palmer Commons for a conversa-
tion with faculty and administrators
about proposed changes to retire-
ment benefit packages after data at
discussed the mostly private meet-
ing in early October was'made pub-.
lic.
These changes are one part of a
University initiative to cut spending
by $120 million that will be re-invest-
ed with the stated goal of making
tuition more affordable.
Laurita Thomas, executive vice
president of human resources and the
guest speaker at the meeting, said the
administration will be "as transpar-
ent as possible" with the faculty and
staff about the changes being consid-
ered and implemented.
Thomas explained that the Uni-
versity has guidelines in place to
ensure that any policy changes made
will continue to meet the standards
to which faculty and staff are accus-
tomed.
A main concern of the Senate
Assembly is that the University
remains competitive as an employer,
as benefits packages are often impor-
tant to potential employees,
Thomas also encouraged faculty
to subscribe to long-term disabil-
ity insurance coverage, which only a
third of faculty and staff at the meet-
ing said they currently have. She
noted that this would also help keep
the University competitive with other
top institutions.
Several faculty members used the
open discussion to express concern
about the effects policy changes will
have on them, including the lack of
a dependent tuition policy, which
allows faculty and their dependents
discounts on tuition after a period of
employment, which most comparable
institutions offer.
Though many seemed in favor of
the policy, Thomas was firmrthat the
policy isn't affordable and was never
on the table.
Others expressed concern that
making cuts to the health and
retirement programs would lessen
the University's credibility among
See BENEFITS, Page 5
ANN ARBOR
A2 city council
asks pension'
board to divest
Members vote in
favor of removing
fossil fuels from
stock portfolio
By WILL GREENBERG
Daily StaffReporter
Monday's Ann Arbor City
Council meeting continued
the discussion on approv-
ing the addition of Ypsilanti
Township as a member of
the Ann Arbor Area Trans-
portation Authority and
finally reached a vote on
divestment from fossil fuel
industries.
A resolution asking the
pension board to was passed
Monday evening follow-
ing an amendment from
Councilmember Christo-
pher Taylor (D-Ward 3)
that softened the resolu-
tion language to "request"
action from the pension
board rather than "urge"
the board.
Arguments for and against
the resolution echoed those
voiced at previous meetings:
Those in favor are looking to
support the mostly symbolic
resolution, whereas those
opposed raised concerns of
the implications of actually
divesting.
LSA sophomore Laura
Hobbs, an organizer of the
Divest and Invest Campaign
on campus, said in an inter-
view Monday evening that
the passed resolution was a
success for the group - even
with the lighter wording.
"Ann Arbor really made
the decision tonight to join
a handful of other cities
nationally that have commit-
ted to divestment," Hobbs
said. "However it's worded,
I think taking that step is
great."
COUNCIL VOTES ON
ADDING YPSLIANTI
TOWNSHIP TO AAATA
The decision to add Ypsi-
lanti Township as a mem-
ber of the Ann Arbor Area
Transportation Authority
was postponed by an 8-3 vote
following a long discussion
between members of City
Council and Michael Ford,
the chief executive officer
for The Ride.
Ann Arbor Mayor John
Hieftje spoke in favor of
adding membership, saying
the seat is long overdue and
won't affect specific budget-
ary issues. Ford repeatedly
stressed to council members
that Ypsilanti Township has
met all the requirements laid
out in the past and the pro-
posal asked for including the
township only as an AAATA
member.
In an interview after the
meeting, Ford, having spo-
See COUNCIL, Page 5
CAMPUS LIFE
Founder
of Reddit
discusses
innovation
Ohanian answers
questions from
students at event
By SHOHAM GEVA
Daily StaffReporter
Reddit co-founder Alexis Oha-
nian, didn't give a typical speech.
But then again, Ohanian, who
has the self-professed aim of "mak-
ing the world suck less," isn't your
typical speaker.
Ohanian, co-founded what is
now one of the Web's most visited
sites with friend Steve Huffman
after the two graduated from the
University of Virginia in 2005. He
spoke here Monday night to pro-
mote his new book, "Without Their
Permission: How The 21st Century
Will Be Made, Not Managed." The
book discusses the power of Inter-
net entrepreneurship and how
it can be used to achieve philan-
thropicgoals.
The event, co-sponsored by the
School of Information and the
University's chapter of the Alpha
Kappa Psi business fraternity. The
talk drew a crowd of about 500
University students, faculty mem-
bers and the public.
Ohanian started off the event
with a 40-minute presentation
discussing why he wrote the book
and finished with a catalogue of
pictures, as he jokingly compared
images of the Wolverine action fig-
See REDDIT, Page 5
PATTERN OF EXCELLENCE
NICHOLAS WILLIAMS/Daily
Art & Design junior Katie Parks weaves on a loom in the Fibers studio in the School of Art & Design Monday. The
weaving, made from yarn and raw wool, can take upwards of 75 hours to complete.
RESEARCH
Symposium showcases research
partnerships with Israeli scientists
Lec
Jsn
This
two of
ties, Te
Techn
Institu
versity
for the
nership
sium.
Oct. 18
Monda
sentati
sions.
aderS from top The partnership conducts
and funds joint scientific inves-
ael instituitons tigations, student and faculty
exchanges, institutional collab-
a colleagues in orative ventures and technology
commercialization.
Ann Arbor Cardiology prof. David Pin-
sky, the symposium's coordi-
By SARA YUFA nator and the director of the
For TheDaily University's cardiovascular cen-
ter, said the goal was to bring
weekend, scientists from people of different backgrounds
Israel's premier universi- together to make breakthrough
chnion Israel Institute of discoveries in human health.
ology and the Weizmann He added that the symposium
te of Science, joined Uni- works to promote academic
Medical School faculty freedom, regardless of global
annual UM-Israel Part- politics.
for Research Sympo- "There's no politics behind
The conference ran from this; there's not religion behind
until Oct. 21, concluding this," Pinsky said. "It's just say-
y after more than 35 pre- ing that science is an area of
ons and discussion ses- inquiry and discovery and the
benefits are for all mankind"
Eliezer Shalev, dean of medi-
cine at Technion in Haifa, Israel,
said collaboration is the key to
success in research.
"Collaboration is the right
means to get to a good fruitful
research because there are very
few scientists that they can do
by themselves all of the work
thatyou need," Shalevsaid. "The
life science and medical science
has had a huge change in the last
30 years on the verge with engi-
neering, physics, mathematics,
computer science."
The first symposium, which
focused. on cardiovascular dis-
ease, was held in Ann Arbor'in
2011 after philanthropist D. Dan
Kahn funded the effort to bring
the University and Technion
together in research.
In 2012, Pinsky led a group
See RESEARCH, Page5
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