N c.Vs Monday, September 22, 2014 - 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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"MIDTOWN"
P DOWNTOWN
tl. u F l i : r ,i n . v I 1 li / r i IIn r iy n M i 1.{ni 'r r
Connector budget for this year:
$153,650
Total # of trips made sInce Oct ober 5,2013
6000
Student groups and classes that have
utilized the connector
60.
Puposes for the connector
[1%) Claus'" tuot Student Croup [7%]
X4% - Commuting-Reserch [9%]
Oter [10%
JAt teerdine
a e u~rea t Osuag
HONORS
From Page 2A
annual increase determined
by the University's Board of
Regents.
In a brief question and answer
session followinghis presentation,
he expanded upon this point.
"To me, the biggest scandal in
college football is greed ... greed
is going to kill college sports as
we know them," he said. "This
is a nonprofit, state university.
Nobody here gets market value.
Nobody here gets to return an
investment. You don't come to a
big university to cashin."
LSA sophomore Steven Ober-
lander said he liked the pre-
sentation particularly as an
out-of-state student without
as much background on Ann
Arbor's early years.
"I thought it was amazing,"
Oberlander said. "He's definitely
passionate. It was just interest-
ing to hear a lot about the his-
tory ... also, his perspective on
campus life and how this really
is, in his mind, the greatest place
in the world."
Katherine Britton - the
mother of LSA freshman Mat-
thew Britton, a new Honors
student - and her husband Ed
attended the event with their
son. Mrs.Britton said the lecture
attuned her to the fascinating,
intellectual avenues to pursue
within the Honors Program.
"The mix of academics and
football is, in fact, one of the
hallmarks of Michigan, and it's
sort of fascinating that that's
the topic that was chosen for
the parents," she said. "In some
ways, it's interesting in the Big
Ten how football is kind of this
unifying factor in a way that it
isn't in many ofthe other confer-
ences, and he certainly brought
that out, which is part of the
Michigan ethos."
CONNECTOR
From Page 1A
after assessing student demand
via survey. The results of the ini-
tial survey from February 2013
indicated that over 75 percent of
possible riders - students, faculty,
1 staff and community members -
were 'very likely' to use the ser-
vice if it were provided.
In its trial year, the Connector
fulfilled that demand: approxi-
mately 150 people travelled from
Ann Arbor on the Connector per
week in the fall and winter, and
100 per week in the spring and
summer months. Since its launch
in October 2013, there have been
approximately 6,000 rider trips
out of Ann Arbor.
Rackham student Carolyn
Lusch was hired on as the Trans-
portation Coordinator for the
Detroit Center Connector and
helped shape the Connector into
its current form.
"We set up a very rudimentary
system for making reservations at
first," Lusch said. "It was literally
just a Google doc that I checked
every day so that we would know
who was riding."
The reservation system is now
a little more involved - a website
through the University where
students can visit to see all the
available dates and times that the
connector is running, reserve a
seat and check out events that are
taking place downtown.
The service is primarily for
Mcard holders but students and
faculty are allowed four guests
per day. The reservation serves
two purpo ses: to ensure that rid-
ers have a spot on the bus and to
collect data about why riders are
AEROSPACE
From Page 1A
The events also discussed the
future of the industry. The series
included panels on the future of
aerospace academics, the future
of aircrafts and the future of space
travel, among others.
During the "Panel on the
Future of Space Exploration and
Use" Friday, speakers from select
aerospace engineering companies
and organizations - Blue Origin,
NASA's Johnson Space Center,
SpaceX and Orbitals Science Cor-
poration - spoke about the future
of commercial space travel.
Rob Meyerson, president and
program manager of Blue Origin,
which discussed the company's
goal to increase the number of
people that can fly to space while
simultaneously lowering the cost
of commercial spaceflight and
UMHS
From Page 1A
that the walking route was poorly
lit and that drunk men accosted
them when they were walking late
at night. The MNA claimed one
staff member was forced to walk
the uphill route from Wall St. to
the hospital while she was eight
months pregnant.
Throughout the week, the
MNA reported the University was
less than responsive to the nurse's
concerns. Friday, the Univer-
sity agreed to the MNA's terms,
said Dawn Kettinger, commu-
nications director for the MNA,
meaning nurses could return to
parking in the nearby structure
and that there would work with
nurses to increase safety at the
Wall St. structure.
going to Detroit.
"Last year, our largest segment
was people going to visit family,"
Lusch said. "Then after that was
people doing cultural events down
here. The main purpose of this is
to enrich the cultural and edu-
cational connection. We do see
people visiting their family as still
a way to enrich their education
because it's helping them stay con-
nected to their support network
while they're pursuing an educa-
tion inAnn Arbor."
LSA freshman Tayler Thur-
man, a Detroit native, took the
Detroit Connector Friday for the
first time to go visit her family for
her birthday.
"I think this is really cool, espe-
cially since it's free," Thurman
said. "It's really convenient."
Rackham student Joshua
Shipper takes the Detroit
Connector to commute to class
from his residence in Detroit. A
New York native, Shipper lived in
Ann Arbor for a while but found
he missed living in an urban
environment.
"To be near such a major city
and to not partake in it felt weird,
in some way," Shipper said. "To
claim that I was close to Detroit
but to not actually be a part of it
felt weird. I just feel more at home
in a city."
Because this is its first year
being funded by the University,
the Detroit Connector team's main
goal is to keep growing ridership.
They are targeting University
groups and classes that may want
to take cultural field trips to the
city. Since the Connector begassits
service, approximately 60 student
groups have used the Connector.
"There isn't a quota that we
need to maintain, per se," Lusch
said, "but we have been told
by the University that they are
monitoring it. So anyone who has
ever considered riding it, ride it."
If demand becomes great
enough, they would consider
adding more stops to the route
in Ann Arbor and in Detroit.
Currently, the bus runs Thursday
through Sunday at various times
throughout the day. It begins its
route at the University of Michigan
Detroit Center on Woodward
Avenue, makes another stop
behind the Detroit Institute of
Arts, then heads to Ann Arbor,
stopping at C.C. Little. On the way
to Detroit, students drive through
the heart of downtown, stopping
at the Renaissance Center before
heading back to the Detroit Center
to begin the route again.
Though Detroit is mostly a
driving city, the stops available
provide access to key areas of
cultural interest. Cafes, bars,
restaurants and other attractions
are within walking distance of
the three stops. Employees at the
Detroit Center have information
regarding bike rentals and the
Detroit public bus system to
explore less central destinations.
In an effort to make the
Connector less intimidating to
students who aren't used to public
transit, Lusch launched Transit
Tuesdays, a weekly meeting
in Ann Arbor in the Michigan
League. Lusch goes and sits at
a table marked with the Detroit
Center sign, and is available
for questions and comments
regarding the service.
"The future of this project
depends on the riders," LuschF
said, "And our showing that the
service is being used alot."
EXPERIENCE
From Page 2A
was a serious time commit-
ment.
However, many students
expressed concern with how
the event was promoted and
organized. LSA junior Mea-
gan Shokar, public relations
chair for the Sikh Students
Association, said in an e-mail
interview the SSA was disap-
pointed by how the event was
conducted.
"Most of all we are dis-
appointed in the manner in
which GIEU chose to ... adver-
tise the event simply as a 'free
lunch,' " Shokar said. "Langar
is a holy concept ingrained in
the faith of Sikhs, yet Sikh-
ism was not mentioned on the
Facebook event or on the flyers
for the event. At the very least,
it would have been very ben-
eficial to give out educational
materials to those who picked
up the meal."
Langar on the Diag did not
have people sitting together
and, Shokar said she. did not
know what the event was actu-
ally about.
"The purpose of Langar is
to have members of a diverse
community come together and
eat, side-by-side, regardless of
their backgrounds or own reli-
gious beliefs," Shokar wrote.
"The word 'langar' is special to
Sikhs all across the globe, and
to accurately portray its mean-
ing on a campus where there
is already little awareness of
Sikhism is absolutely vital."
ASSAULT
From Page 1A
The play, "Good Kids,"
addresses the themes of rape and
hookup culture among young
adults. The play is based on the
2012 Steubenville High School
rape case, where the sexual
assault of a teenage girl by two
members of the high school foot-
ball team was heavily publicized
through pictures and videos
posted on social media.
After each performance,
speakers will answer questions
from the audience and address
various aspects of the topic. Dr.
Christopher Kilmartin, a stand-
up comedian and international-
ly-recognized expert on violence
prevention and gender, will be
one of the speakers.
"We want to set the bar high,"
Eaton said. "That's why we came
up with this outreach initiative
regarding the rape and respect
culture. We wanted the play to
have a larger impact and have
a piece of creative work be the
impetus to start a change of
heart and a change of mind about
the subject."
The play is intended to launch
a campus-wide conversation
about community responsibili-
ftes and individual choices in
regards to preventing sexual
assault and harm to others.
SAPAC Director Holly Rider-
Milkovich said that in light of the
White House's new campaign,
It's On Us, which asks colleges
and individuals to take on the
issue of ending sexual assault,
the initiative is an opportune
way to spread the play's message
on campus.
"Sexual violence prevention
is something we need to work
on constantly," Rider-Milkovich
said. "We want to support stu-
dent activism and encourage and
help guide student voices on this
issue to the extent that students
continue to really find value and
meaning and vigor in this proj-
ect. We will continue to support
it and we will also support new
ideas and new projects because
certainly there is a lot of work to
be done."
improvingsafety.
Lauri Hansen addressed the
emphasis on human spaceflight
and their latest project, the Aster-
oid Redirect Mission, which aims
to artificially redirect an asteroid
into the moon's orbit in order to
study its properties. The mission
gained attention in the aerospace
community, as they are hoping it
will be a stepping-stone to more
involved human missions into
deep space.
The panels not only provided
information on the work being
done in the industry currently,
but they also stressed the impor-
tance of student involvement and
the role of our generation in aero-
space.
Frank DeMauro, vice president
at Orbital Sciences Corporation,
which focuses on development
and launch of satellites and rock-
ets, spoke about giving commer-
cial access to space and their new
spacecraft, Cygnus, which could
provide new opportunities for
travel into deep space.
"I'm very excited about the
caliber of students that come from
our colleges," DeMauro said when
asked about the education stu-
dents are receiving at universities.
Students attending the panel
were able to see how all the dif-
ferent parts of the industry, from
engineering to marketing, worked
together to achieve a common
goal.
Engineering senior Jose
Gomez, after attending the panel
on space travel, said he realized
"The common consensus (among
the panelists) is that it is the stu-
dentstoday that are going to really
make the difference and really
push our species beyond Earth-
orbit and into space.
"I feel a little bit more empow-
ered now," he said.
EVACUATION
From Page 1A
There are three weather-
mapping systems that track
dangerous weather systems,
Piersante said. One is in the
emergency operations center on
game day, another is located in
the separate DPSS operations
center and the last is monitored
by the athletic department.
Piersante said he knew there
would be a high chance of
bad weather during the game
and noted that information
was communicated to fans in
advance of the storm on the
scoreboard.
Once a lightning strike was
detected, fans were asked
to evacuate. Piersante said
he thought the process went
smoothly and that it was not
chaotic.
"There was no panic at all that
I observed," he said. "Perhaps
because we did put the warning
out, I think a lot of people were
prepared."
' Kinesiology sophomore Casey
Aman said that people were
more frantic than usual because
it was raining heavily and there
was lightning, but that most
people had left by the time the
storm began because the team
was losing badly.
LSA sophomore Joe Shea said
he observed some disturbances
in the crowd, including some
students who were worried
about lightning striking the
metal seating.
"I think it was a little chaotic
just because ifyou look at how the
Big House is set up, there really is
only that one entrance," he said.
"You enter the stadium, and you
go to your seats - you start at
row 70 and you walk all the way
down. It doesn't feel extremely
conducive for evacuations."
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"They've agreed to reverse the
policy and also to work with the
Union to monitor safety at the
Wall St. structure in case employ-
ees do want to continue parking
there," Kettinger said.
Although Kettinger was glad
the University showed concern
for the nurses' safety, she said
the plan should never have been
enacted in the first place. She
claimed UMHS did not consult
with any nurses in creating the
plan and said the change seemed
unnecessary since the closer
parking lot usually has plenty of
parking at night.
"This plan was just thrown at
everybody with no notice and no
inclusion, and no discussion with
nurses and other employees who
would be affected by it," Ket-
tinger said. "This really shouldn't
have happened."
Nurses had the option of pay-
ing $531 more for a Blue parking
pass, which would allow them to
park in a closer lot. Previously, the
cheaper Yellow pass would allow
staff to park in the closer lot.
Thursday, WXYZ Detroit
reported 300 nurses had paid
for the upgraded passes, but that
they would have the option of
changing back to a Yellow pass
with this newest policy reversal.
This is not the first time the
Wall Street structure, which
opened July 7, has been the topic
of controversy. Originally pro-
posed by UMHS during their
2005 expansion, it has faced
criticism from local residents and
Ann Arbor City Councilmembers.
UMHS lead public relations
representative Kara Gavin could
not be reached for comment at the
time of publication.
Daily News Editor Ian Dilling-
ham contributed to this report.