The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Tuesday, January 14, 2014 - 5

RESTAURANTS
From Page 1
Kerrytown.
"Even people who aren't vegan
or vegetarian would enjoy it,"
Thomson said. "If you haven't
LIBRARY
From Page 1
Avenue or Zina Pitcher Place.
The library's renovation has
also forced the closure of side-
walks along the corner of Cath-
erine Street and Glen Avenue and
the pedestrian bridge located in
front of the library over Glen Ave-
nue. Part of the Medical Sciences
Research Building's courtyard
will also be closed.
Jim Kosteva, the University's
director of community relations,

experienced that vegan cuisine The Lunch Room, said. While as the restaurant will be moving
it's a good time to try it." the restaurant serves tacos every from its Liberty Street location
While The Lunch Room is Tuesday night, additional top- later this month.
serving food within its usual pings will be offered as a Restau- Thomson said establishments
themes, Restaurant Week spe- rant Week special. may be very crowded and advises
cials are usually fancier than This year's Restaurant Week restaurant goers to check restau-
those included on the usual menu, will also be the last that includes rant menus online and make res-
Phillis Engelbert, co-owner of the vegetarian restaurant Seva, ervations.

University Provos
the Senate Adviso
Flemming Admini
PROVOST
From Page 1
ignored.
"I've been
encouraged by
tone," Pollack s
a good listener,
cares about get
Before Mad
some Universi
student groups
there was a c
est involved w
the project's
was previously
Accenture, a
consulting firs
$11.7 million c
the transition.
Aside from
AST, Pollack
University's de
open despite th
conditions last
many students
pus after the fir
"By the ti
clear that we
extraordinary
we realized th
appropriaten
close the Univ
wanted to," Po
ing a university
ingacitythantc
You can't just
hospital, there
there are stud
who need to be
Pollack ai
will be establi
weather ando
situations that
the closure of
Pollack reques
ber of SACUA 
the committee.
"We haves
cy that has b
S

Face b
Twi

said he predicts slower traffic
flow in the area surrounding the
library during the construction
process.
"Delays are most often encoun-
tered in the very early stages of
construction and then people
adapt," Kosteva said. "We apolo-
gize for the inconveniences, but
we have great hope and antici-
pation that the renovations will
foster the enhanced learning
environment we expect. We make
the best efforts to incorporate
alternate methods of pedestrian
and vehicular access and attempt

VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily
t Martha Pollack discusses AST and weather issues with
ry Committee on University Affairs (SACUA) Monday at
stration Building.

to provide sufficient notice so that
people can prepare to utilize the
alternatives."
Print materials have been
moved to the Health Sciences
Remote Shelving Facility and can
only be accessed by University
Library staff or upon request. Blu-
menthal said these changes will
not negatively affect students.
"Our staff is as available as ever
for in-person consultations, enail
assistance, and in-classroom
instruction," Blumenthal said.
"Being in the hospital during the
renovation brings us even closer

to where many of our students
spend their time, and we hope
to take the opportunity to build
stronger connections with the
health sciences community."
Kosteva added that this incon-
venience will ultimately benefit
the University.
"We want to provide the best
quality education for Michigan
students interested in pursuing
careers in the health field and in
turn provide better services to
society."

myself quite
his attitude and
aid. "I think he's
I think he really
ting this right."
den was hired,
ity faculty and
were concerned
onflict of inter-
ith Miranda as
chair. Miranda
an employee at
Chicago-based
o that won an
ontract to design
her update on
addressed the
cision to remain
e severe weather
week that forced
to return to cam-
st day of classes.
ime it became
were facing an
weather event,
at we didn't have
mechanisms to
ersity even if we
Alack said. "Clos-
is more like clos-
closingabuilding.'
close; there is a
is a police force,
Dents on campus
fed."
id a committee
ished to address
other emergency
t would require
f the University.
ted that a mem-
be chosen to join
a weather poli-
een in place for

decades. The last time the Uni-
versity closed was in 1978," Pol-
lack said. "I believe we need to
revisit our policies."
Pollack also detailed the
ongoing creation of four faculty
committees designed to address
various aspects of the Univer-
sity that need development. The
tentative titles of these commit-
tees are Diversity Equity and
Inclusion, Having Faculty in the
21st century, Financial Mod-
els for Higher Education and
Engaged Learning and Digital
Instruction.
Additionally, searches for
new deans of the School of Lit-
erature, Science, and the Arts
and the School of Pharmacy are
still underway.
Initial interviews for both
schools have been completed
and the second round of selec-
tion is underway. There are
three internal candidates for the
position and between two and
four external candidates.
Astronomy Prof. Sally Oey, a
SACUA member, inquired about
specific characteristics the Uni-
versity was seeking in the new
LSA dean. Pollack said the Uni-
versity is looking for someone
committed to enhaneing the
value of a liberal arts education.
"'We are looking for an excel-
lent academic with a strong
academic record, good admin-
istrative and management expe-
rience," Pollack said. "They
should be very collaborative,
have very good ethical values."
Pollack said the search to
replace Lester Monts, senior
vice provost for academic
affairs, as well as Christina
Whitman, vice provost for aca-
demic and faculty affairs, will
also begin soon.


FUEL-EEICIENT
From Page 1
considered to calculate the aver-
age energy intensity of airplanes,
whereas all "light-duty" vehicles
- cars, SUVs, pickups and vans -
were considered to calculate that
of cars.
Sivak observed that between
1970 and 2010, air carriers collec-
tively reduced their energy inten-
sities by 74 percent, whereas the
improvement for driving was only
a 17 percent bump. In 2010, the
energy used for driving surpassed

that of flying by 57 percent.
Sivak- also' addressed electric
cars in his report, adding that
their limited prolificacy - less
than 1 percent of all vehicles on
the road - made them unneces-
sary to include in his calculation
of light-duty vehicle energy out-
put.
He also wrote that without any
improvement in fuel economy, an
increase in average vehicle load
from 1.38 to 2.3 persons would
match the energy intensity of
driving and flying.
"The fuel economyofthe entire
fleet of light-duty vehicles would

have to improve from the cur-
rent 21.5 miles per gallon to at
least 33.8 miles per gallon," Sivak
wrote.
However, neither of these
changes will be easy to imple-
ment. Even as new technology
yields better fuel economy for
light-duty vehicles, their intro-
duction into the current fleet of
cars in use will have a marginal
effect on the total energy inten-
sity produced by driving.
However, the number of pas-
sengers on an average trip has
decreased in recent years -
increasing the per capita energy

intensity of each trip. The down-
ward trend ih vehicle'load'meanris
the 67 percent load increase need-
ed to reduce energy intensity may
not be a realistic expectation.
"It is important to recognize
that the energy intensity of flying
will continue to improve," Sivak
said. "Consequently, because the
future energy intensity of flying
will be better than it currently is,
the (suggested) improvements ...
underestimate the improvements
that need to be achieved for driv-
ing to be less energy intensive
than flying."


CARDIAC
From Page 1
an observational study tracking
Medicare information from 2007
to 2008, which revealed the cor-
relation outlined in their study.
However, the researchers cau-
tioned that some of the disparity
remains unexplained.
"Other studies have looked at
the racial disparities and have
tried to explain them by pointing
to differences in the patient popu-
lation - that nonwhite patients
tend to be sicker or have more
medical comorbidities, and that
affects their outcomes," Rangrass
said. "Or they could have a lower
socioeconomic background,
lower education levels. One thing
that hadn't been looked at was
where they went for care."
The study followed over
173,000 patients in the Medicare
database who underwent coro-
nary artery bypass graft surgery.
About eight percent of the study
population was nonwhite. Results

indicated that nonwhite patients
had a 33 percent higher mortal-
ity rate post-surgery than whites,
bearing out previously estab-
lished differences.
Carmen Green, UMHS associ-
ate vice president and associate
dean for health equity and inclu-
sion, said the broad impact of
inequalities like these could be
quite expensive.
The social cost of healthcare
inequalities - the cost hospitals
must incur due to sicker popula-
tions and lost productivity - is
estimated at about $1.2 trillion,
according to a report from Johns
Hopkins University.
In examining the link to hos-
pital quality, the study found that
the mortality rates in hospitals
that treated the most nonwhite
patients had the highest mortal-
ity rates of all hospitals included
in the study - regardless of the
race of individual patients being
treated.
To improve care, Rangrass said
hospitals that treat large com-
munities of nonwhite patients
need to be looked at more closely,

which might be difficult in com-
ing years since a mandate in the
Affordable Care Act that penal-
izes underperforming hospitals.
"It's kind of like a reverse Robin
Hood effect, where now we're
going to be penalizing those hos-
pitals that actually need the most
amount of resources," he said.
"These are hospitals that have
lower access to tech - they are
underfunded, under resourced,
they may also be lower volume
centers for care, and so diverting
resources from those underper-
forming centers, specifically plac-
es who treat larger percentages
of nonwhite patients, is actually
going to worsen the racial dispar-
ity."
The study still leaves some
questions unanswered and raised
some new ones. Independently,
hospital quality explained only 35
percent of the racial differences
in mortality rates. When the data
was adjusted for patient factors
and socioeconomic status in addi-
tion to hospital quality, research-
ers were able to explain 53 percent
of the racial disparities.

The study's authors said this
research is just the first step in
exploring why the inequalities in
mortality rate between white and
nonwhite patients exist. Factors
listed as potential causes for the
remaining unexplained differ-
ences include regional variations
in hospital quality, proximity to
high-quality hospitals and segre-
gated referral patterns.
For Green, the UMHS vice
president, the real world implica-
tions of data like this is something
that should first be considered
on the internal level. Green cau-
tioned that she viewed this study
more as preliminary research
rather than conclusive results
because of the many factors that
can contribute to the inequalities.
"A person like me, who's in my
position, would say 'Hmm. Let's
take a look at ourselves,"' Green
said. "Let's look at the Univer-
sity of Michigan. How do we
think about this? At our cardio-
vascular center, how do we think
about making certain that one, we
always put patients and family
first?"

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