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Friday, November 1, 2013
michigandaily.com
PRESIDENTIAL PORTRAIT REEKLIFE
raternit
apologizes
for racist
inciden
TRACY KO
.University President Mary Sue Coleman's husband, Kenneth Coleman, stands next to a portrait of Mary Sue who was unable to greet trick-or-treaters at the
President's House on Thursday evening. Erring from the annual tradition, he served guests candy on her behalf.
CAMPUS LIFE
OSU Blood Bto begin
Theta Xi president
conciliatory as
inquiry continues
By PETER SHAHIN and
YARDAIN AMRON
Daily News Editor and
Daily StaffReporter
On Thursday, LSA senior Eric
Quang, president of the Universi-
ty's chapter of Theta Xi, issued a
statement apologizing on behalf
of his fraternity for a Facebook
party event associated with his
chapter entitled, "World Star
Hip Hop Presents: Hood Ratchet
Thursday," a name many deemed
to be racist and derogatory.
Quang wrote that while the event
was "created and emblazoned
with the name of our fraternity,"
it was not "the result of a chapter
decision, vote, or endorsement."
Earlier Thursday, The Michi-
gan Daily reported the fraternity
was facing scrutiny as many stu-
dents of color were offended by
the Facebook event, which many
viewed as degrading toward
women and parodying of black'
culture, referring to "bad bitch-
es," repeated use of the word
"ratchet," gang references and a
twerking contest.
The event was canceled after
a meeting between Quang,'the
coordinator of the Bias Response
Team, Dean of Students Laura
Blake Jones, members of Greek
Life and the Interfraternity
Council. Jones, coordinator of
the University's bias response
team, lodged a formal complaint
against the fraternity after out-
cry from students.
The story has drawn wide-
spread media attention as the
University has moved swiftly to
investigate and resolve the inci-
dent.
According to an e-mail
obtained by The Michigan Daily,
the apology was forwarded by
Jones to a University listserv
which included the Office of the
University President; E. Roys-
ter Harper; vice president of the
Division of Student Life; LSA
senior Tyrell Collier, speaker of
the Black Student Union; Uni-
versity spokeswoman Kelly Cun-
ningham; Lester Monts, senior
vice provost for academic affairs;
and Central Student Govern-
See APOLOGY, Page 3
Annual blood drive
starts Nov. 4,
aims to collect
2,500 pints
By CHRISTY SONG
Daily StaffReporter
Looking -for another way to
beat Ohio State?
The 32nd annual Blood Battle
blood drive between the two
schools starts Nov. 4 and runs
through Nov. 27 leading up to
the rivalry football game Nov.
30 at the Big House.
Blood Drives United, a stu-
dent-run volunteer organi-
zation, is holding the annual
competition and hopes to col-
lect 2,500 pints of blood over the
course of the battle.
Two to four blood drives
will be held every day at differ-
ent locations during the three-
week period. In order to find out
where the locations will be, stu-
dents are encouraged to look on
the Red Cross website and enter
the sponsor code "Go Blue."
The drives will be held at
North and Central Campus
locations including the Uni-
versity Unions, the School of
Education, the School of Social
Work, Michigan Stadium and a
number of residence halls.
There are several different-
aspects about this year's compe-
tition than previous drives. For
instance, this year there will be
more of an emphasis placed on
drives taking place at student
residence halls.
BDU is 'also focusing on
involving non-eligible groups,
including MSM, men who have
sex with men, through sponsor
drives and promoting a petition
to change the policy.
The current policy prohibits
any male who has had sexual
See BATTLE, Page 3
HEALTHCARE
Profs: ACA web woes
just a minor bump
GOING BANANAS RESEARCH
Experts more
concerned with
lack of education
By YARDAIN AMRON
DailyStaffReporter
While national media
outlets continue their exten-
sive coverage of Healthcare.
gov's websitewoes, Univer-
sity health and information
experts are not channeling
their energy into worrying
about these issues. They are
confident difficulties sur-
rounding the site's rollout
will be resolved in the future
and are more concerned
with the potential problems
and promises of the Afford-
able Care Act itself.
A month after a botched
launch, the website's prob-
lems continue to cause much
frustration. More than 20
million Americans have vis-
ited thehealthcareexchange
website, but only about
700,000 have succeeded in
completing applications for
insurance. Even fewer have
actually received coverage.
Visitors have complained
about long waits, irksome
glitches and unhelpful cus-
tomer service when just try-
ing to gain access and sign
up for the site.
The blame is widespread.
Republicans have blasted
the Obama administration
for negligently launching
the site before it was ready,
the White House hasblamed
the private contractors hired
to create the site and the
contractors have targeted
each other.
But Public Policy Prof.
Helen Levy, who special-
izes in health policy, sees the
blame game as shortsighted.
"A few years from now, all
this is just going to look like
a bump in the road," Levy
said.
Levy said the current out-
cry parallels the delayed and
glitch-ridden rollout of the
Medicare, Part D website
in late 2005. When mainly
elderly beneficiaries went to
See ACA, Page 3
Rx drug
abuse rises
among
teenagers
University studies
show potential
for chronic abuse
By RACHEL PREMACK
Daily StaffReporter
Nearly two million Ameri-
cans are addicted to prescrip-
tion opioids, a family of drugs
that includes the commonly pre-
scribed Vicodin and OxyContin.
Two recent University studies
further demonstrate the preva-
lence of these painkillers among
adolescents and their potential
for leading to chronic substance
abuse.
University of Washington pro-
fessor Lauren Whiteside - who
was the primary researcher in
one of the studies during her
postdoctoral research fellowship
at the University Injury Center -
said while adults are more likely
to be addicted to prescription
opioids, teens were a key group
to examine for prevention.
"What makes this age group so
important is that it's the highest
initiation of nonmedical use of
opioids," Whiteside said. "This
age group is important to target
for primary prevention before
they start nonmedical use."
Whiteside emphasized that
teen prescription painkiller mis-
use is a public health problem.
Conducted by a team from the
University Medical School and
Injury Center, the study led by
See TEENS, Page 3
CITY COUNCIL
Ward 2 candidate focuses
on student housing woes
EMU student Ward city council seat may
seem unlikely.
hopes to improve In spite of these uncon-
ventional credentials,
neighborhoods DeVarti accepted enthusi-
astically when a member
By MICHAEL of Ann Arbor's Mixed Use
SUGERMAN Party approached him and
Daily StaffReporter askedhimto run.Hehas pre-
viously worked on the city's
As a mathematics major Video Privacy Ordinance,
at Eastern Michigan Univer- attended numerous Human
sity, Samuel DeVarti's candi- Rights Commission meet-
dacy for Ann Arbor's Second ings and met with several
city council members. Can-
didacy wasn't far off.
"I've been living in this
city for my whole life, for 23
years.-Ultimately, I saw this
as an opportunity to really
get involved," DeVarti said.
"It's an opportunity to act as
a force for good. And it has
been a huge learning experi-
ence."
Although this is DeVarti's
first time running in a city
See CANDIDATE, Page 3
TRACY KO/Daily
LSA freshman John Ciaramitaro waited in line at Ragstock to buy two gorilla costumes
for his friends on Thursday.
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