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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
michigandaily.com
Minimum
wage efforts
continue on
'U' campus
T Oiur1MOU ay
Brad Kelly of YRLK performs at "We Can All Change The Story: A Celebration of Hope," a free concert for suicide prevention at Michigan Theater Tuesday.
v s
Raise Michigan
coalition calls for
$10.10 per hour,
echoing Obama
By SHOHAM GEVA
Daily StaffReporter
Long before President Barack
Obama visited campus last week,
activists were laying the ground-
work for a proposed increase in the
minimum wage.
A coalition of groups collectively
called Raise Michigan announced
plans Jan. 27 to put a question
to raise the minimum wage on
November's ballot, launching a
campaign which started as an
exploratory ballot committee and
eventually became an organized
force across the state, including at
the University.
To put the proposal on the bal-
lot, the group will have to collect
a minimum of 258,088 signatures,
which is equal to 8 percent of
the voters in the last gubernato-
rial election, from across the state
before May 28. Coalition leaders
have indicated that they want to go
above that threshold, with an ulti-
mate goal of 350,000 signatures.
Should the group collect enough
signatures, the proposal will then
go before the state legislature,
which has 40 days to approve it.
Evan if they don't approve it out-
right and make it into a law, the
initiative will go on the ballot.
Engineeringsenior Ryan Moody
and LSA junior Eleni Kastanis,
who are gathering signatures in
the Ann Arbor area as interns for
Michigan United, one of the groups
in the Raise Michigan coalition,
said the coalition's goal for the area
is 10,000 signatures. Moody, who
coordinates on campus efforts,
said her hope is that 6,500 of those
signatures will come from the Uni-
versity community.
The pair currently has over
1,500 signatures from the area,
though exact numbers are diffi-
cult to discern because the peti-
tions are disseminated so widely.
Around 500 of those have come
from campus.
Moody said they are confident
See WAGE, Page 3A
Celebration of
Hope encourages
suicide prevention
ByALYSSA BRANDON
For the Daily
Various University student
groups entertained a crowded
Michigan Theatre Tuesday
night with powerful perfor-
mances through song, dance
and spoken word in the show-
case "We Can All Change the
Story: A Celebration of Hope."
The Counseling and Psycho-
logical Services Student Advi-
sory board collaborated with
Central Student Government
to develop an event to advocate
for the end of student suicides
at the University.
Asattendeeswalked through
the doors of Michigan Theater,
they were met with dozens of
CSG and CAPS staff members
passing out wristbands, post-
cards and free pizza. CAPS also
had a booth where students
could write encouraging words
on wooden tiles to hang around
campus.
LSA senior Carolina Ray-
zel, who is a member of CSG's
Health Issues Commission and
served as a member of the plan-
ning committee for the show-
case, said the event aimed to
educate students about psycho-
logical services available at the
University.
"We hope this event will
start a dialogue about the stu-
dent suicide issue on campus,
as well as bring an awareness
to the different resources for
mental health that are available
on campus," she said before the
start of the program.
The showcase featured local
artist YRLK performing his
original guitar compositions
and Music, Theatre & Dance
graduate students Jonathan
Hulting-Cohen and Jennifer R.
Ellis playing the musical piece,
"Moments of Hope" on clari-
See PREVENTION, Page 3A
IN REMEMBRANCE
Student passes
awayin car crash
while abroad
FREE CONE DAY
LSA junior honored
for her involvement
in campus community
By WILL GREENBERG
Daily News Editor
A University student died in a
car accident Monday while study-
ing abroad in South Africa.
University spokesman Rick
Fitzgerald confirmed the passing
of LSA junior Rachel Smylie in a
statement Tuesday. Smylie was in
a car with members of her study
abroad group while on a spring
break trip to a national park in
northern Namibia at the time. He
said there are no other reports of
fatalities from the incident and no
other University students were in
her group.
Smylie had been studying in
Cape Town, South Africa with the
Council on International Educa-
tional Exchange. While the pro-
gram is run outside the University,
Fitzgerald said many University
students participate in it.
As a student, Smylie was highly
involved in volunteer work both in
Ann Arbor and Cape Town, work-
ing at the local HIV/Aids Resource
Center in Washtenaw County and
doingsimilar work in South Africa.
She was also active in her sorority,
Alpha Phi, serving as house man-
ager last year. She was also selected
as one of the Rho Omegas, a group
that helps new members through
the Greek recruitment process.
Business sophomore Elizabeth
Griffith, Alpha Phi president,
released in a personal statement
Tuesday lauding Smylie's friend-
ship and involvement on campus.
"Rachel had an amazing spirit
and a presence that captivated
everyone around her," she wrote.
"She is veryloved and missed dear-
ly."
After taking his class "Memoir
and Social Crisis" last fall, Smylie
developed a close relationship with
English Prof. Ralph Williams. Wil-
liams said Smylie would often meet
him during office hours for dis-
See STUDENT, Page 3A
LILY ANGELL/Daily
Hundreds of students and Ann Arbor residents gather at the State Street Ben & Jerry's for the annual Free Cone
Day Tuesday, a tradition started in 1979.
Prof. selected for Internet
Hall of Fam'204class
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Brandon
discusses
ticketing
policies
Central Student
Government hosts
Athletic Director
By KRISTEN FEDOR
Daily Staff Reporter
Though the Central Student
Government encouraged the
implementation of new football
season ticket policy, the final
meeting of the year indicated
more conversations with the
University Athletic Department
are on the horizon for the future.
Athletic Director Dave Bran-
don and Hunter Lochmann,
senior associate athletic direc-
tor and chief marketing offi-
cer, spoke to the CSG assembly
Tuesday night at their weekly
meeting. Lochmann delivered a
review of the past year, followed
by a question and answer ses-
sion between representatives and
Brandon. Representatives ques-
tioned Brandon on an array of
See BRANDON, Page 3A
Researcher aided
online initiatives
to increase global
access to data
By ALLANA AKHTAR
Daily Staff Reporter
Douglas Van Houweling,
associate dean for research
and innovation at the School
of Information, visited Hong
Kong Tuesday to be inducted
to the 201 4Internet Hall of
Fame.
The Internet Hall of Fame
celebrates individuals who
have made extraordinary
contributions to the creation
and progression of the Inter-
net. The Internet Society
inducts 24 members selected
across 13 different countries
annually. Van Houwelingwas
inducted as a Global Connec-
tor, a category that recog-
nizes individuals who have
helped expand the Internet
on a global scale.
Van Houweling previously
served as chairman of the
board of MERIT, a Michigan
statewide computing net-
work. At the request of the
National Science Foundation,
he worked to rebuild its over-
loaded, dysfunctional net-
work - NSFNET - that was
See INTERNET, Page 3A
od
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