The Michigan Daily- michigandaily.com

Wednesday, December 10, 2014 -- 3A

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, December iD, 2D14 - 3A

VIGIL
From Page 1A

"I think this is an important
issue and to see so many people
standing behind us," he said. "I
think it sends a very strong mes-
sage about what's important here
at Michigan at large, and why
we're leaders and best."
Holcomb agreed that while
there has been focus on race in
the coverage of these incidents,
violence is a broader issue.
"These type of issues affect
everyone."
With regards to police brutal-
ity and the disconnect between
community and police force he
said that rebuilding trust will take
commitment and time.
"I think we can do a better job
of building those relationships
and that's what we hope to come
out of this event," he said.
BBSA hopes to host an event in
January with the University and
Ann Arbor Police Department to
start dialogue about how go about
improving the present situation.

AMANDA ALLEN/Daily
TOP LEFT: Rackham Student Lonzyo Holcomb speaks about the Eric Garner Case at the Black Lives Matter Silent Vigil held at Winter Gardens in Ross Business School Tuesday. TOP RIGHT: Students hold
hands in remembrance of Eric Garner. BOTTOM LEFT: Students walk into the Winter Gardens. BOTTOM RIGHT: Michigan Alum Harun Echols and LSA Freshman Sydney Jackson participate in the Black
Lives Matter Silent Vigil.


Entrepreneurship program
to launch in Winter 2015

Curriculum to
focus on innovation
and reaching goals
By HILLARY CRAWFORD
Daily StaffReporter
The University's Center for
Entrepreneurship is spearhead-
ing a new graduate program
to prioritize alternate forms of
learning.
Mikhail Zolikoff, the recent-
ly-appointed director of Gradu-
ate Programs, will lead the new
program with David Wentzloff,
co-director of Graduate Educa-
tion in CFE.
Zolikoff tied the curriculum's
focus on innovating through
the implementation and com-
mercialization research to the
department's mission.
"The next big thing doesn't
necessarily have to be an app,"
Zolikoff said. "There's a lot
of good groundbreaking, life-
changing work that's happening
right here at the University of
Michigan and it's enabling our
students to recognize those
opportunities and do something
with them."
The program will aim to
recruit students from a variety
of demographic backgrounds to
change the way entrepreneurs
are typically envisioned.
"The majority of tech entre-
preneurship is very white and
very male and there are a lot of
benefits to being more inclusive
in the area of entrepreneurship,"
Zolikoff said. "I very much want
that to be a thread throughout
this program."
Sarah Bachleda, communica-

tion and marketing maven for
the CFE, said professors in the
new program will offer an expe-
rience-based education.
"We will be having teachers,
and staff members and mentors
who actually have gone through
a lot of technology, science-
based entrepreneurship them-
selves," she said. "When they
teach it, they can speak directly
from the experiences they have
and they can encourage students
to learn by doing rather than just
reading a textbook about it."
The CFE recently phased out
its former Masters of Entrepre-
neurship graduate program to
make room for this new one. The
College of Engineering and the
Ross School of Business oper-
ated the previous program for
three years.
"This is the first time CFE
has its own dedicated program
director who's focusing on the
new direction that our gradu-
ate programs are going to take,"
Bachleda said.
Zolikoff said the high demand
among STEM students for entre-
preneurial training was a promi-
nent reason for creating the new
program.
His decision to accept the
appointment and satisfy the
demand for marketing science
technology derives from his
belief that the school needs more
innovators. He said students
must question the status quo.
"It's giving them those tools
so that they're not just think-
ing about their technology for
technology's sake but thinking
to themselves, 'Well how can I
take this and change the world?'
"he said.
To encourage innovation,


Zolikoff said he hopes to find
ways to confidence in their own
ideas.
"There is high fear and low
confidence in terms of people's
belief in themselves, that they
can take an idea that they have
and commercialize it or apply
it to an existing organization,"
he said. "We very much want to
rebirth those numbers lower the
fear and increase the confidence
and tell them, 'You have great
ideas, now let's do something
with it.'"
Though the graduate cur-
riculum aims to inspire entre-
preneurship across all fields of
graduate study, the program pri-
oritizes engineering. Wentzloff,
who wants to represent the fac-
ulty voice, named engineering as
the starting point, at least dur-
ing the program's nascent stag-
es. Wentzloff said that he and
Zolikoff have been in contact
with other University colleges.
"We've initially started by
talking with the deans of other
school in graduate education
about their plans for their cur-
riculum and what their needs
are and how they are approach-
ing entrepreneurship programs
in their own schools, if they are,"
he said.
Both Zolikoff and Wentzl-
off have backgrounds in entre-
preneurship at the University,
including involvement in stu-
dent startups. The two plan to
work together to address the
needs of both students and fac-
ulty within the department.
"He's ontop ofeverythingand
is extremely efficient at teasing
out the information we need,"
Wentzloff said. "Bottom line is,
he's been great to work with."

FREEDOM
From Page 1A
Amendment freedoms."
Dan Jarvis, director of research
-and public policy for the Michi-
gan Family Forum, a conservative
nonprofit that advocates for the
bill, said on a statewide and local
level, the legislation is important
because it establishes a stronger
presence for religious freedom.
"What this does is it reinstates
is a higher burden on the govern-
ment ... before they can interfere
with an individual's religious lib-
erty," Jarvis said.
He pointed the 2011 case of
Holland landlords who refused to
rent to an unwed couple and paid
$60,000 in a settlement and the
2012 case of Julea Ward, an East-
ern Michigan University graduate
student who was expelled from
the school's counseling program
because she refused to counsel
gay students.
"A person's religious activity
is not strictly within the confines
of a church or synagogue," Jar-
vis said. "People who are trying
to live out their faith take them
with them throughout the day.
All this legislation does is say

that if government is going to
interfere with a person's right to
practice their religion, they have
to have a compellinggovernmen-
tal interest."-
In testimony to the House's
Judiciary committee last week,
Rep. Jase Bolger (R-Marshall),
the bill's sponsor, attacked the
idea that the bill was discrimina-
tory; rather, he framed it as an
expansion of religious liberties.
"I support individual liberty
and I support religious free-
dom," Bolger told the commit-
tee, according to media reports..
"I have been horrified as some
have claimed that a person's faith
should only be practiced while
hiding in their home or in their
church."
However, opponents of the bill
have levied criticism on multiple
aspects of the bill, calling it too
broad.
Jay Kaplan, staff attorney
for the Michigan ACLU's LGBT
project, said the first amendment
already provides the requisite
level of protection for religious
freedom, rendering RFRA unnec-
essary.
"There's nothing the govern-
ment can ever do that can take
away my ability to believe (a sin-
cerely held religious belief),"

Kaplan said. "But we're talking
aboutthe context of non-religious
activity. We're not talking about
a church, or a mosque, or a syna-
gogue, in terms of them doing
things that are ministerial func-
tions. We're talking about non-
religious, secular activity, and
we're telling people you don't
have to follow these laws."
In an interview The Michigan
Daily Monday, State Rep. Jeff
Irwin (D-Ann Arbor) echoed
Kaplan's concerns about the bill
being unnecessary. For local ordi-
nances, he said he was concerned
about the burden it might place on
cities.
"One of the fears Ihave, is that
communities will just soft-pedal
enforcement of their civil ordi-
nances because the water is so
muddy," Irwin said. "I don't think
that's going to be as big of a prob-
lem in Ann Arbor because I think
our leaders are very committed to
trying to fight for the civil rights
of all citizens, but I can certainly
see a potential problem with a city
not wanting to spend that money
because money's so tight."
The RFRA is currently waiting
to be taken up by the state Senate,
which has until Dec. 18 to vote on
the legislation before this year's
lame duck session ends.

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From all the seniors @TMD, thanks for reading.

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