141 Wednesday, July 16, 2014 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Wednesday, July 16, 2014 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com L-, Students find communlty, future in Detroit ~1 DE 140 s enoug Franc border Son up to are va( distre the re city's as an a this DE dent's has ph withr to find city ex Wh 20-son City fits many orities"in mind, such as affordable past ten years. housing and, most importantly, qualities young employment opportunities, John Community Mogk, professor at Wayne State helps res rofessionals find University Law School said. "All of the qualities for young Growing up,] important professionals that are important - Detroit in the s safety, affordable housing, cultural that grew up in By PAIGE PFLEGER attractions recreation - are all, to was a destinatic For the Daily some degree, and in some cases to the occasionalr a large degree, available inthe mid- er Theatre. Itv TROIT - Detroit is almost town, downtown area of Detroit," that she began, quare miles in size, large Mogk said. creative outlet - h to fit Manhattan, San These factors make growing sorts thatcould1 isco, and Boston inside of its areas like Downtown, Midtown, degrees in per rs. the East Riverfront and various agement andc ne of those square miles live adjacent neighborhoods like Wood- and social chani Detroit's reputation. There bridge and Corktown not only Naoum, wh cant lots, crimes, blight, and livable, but ideally suitedto a demo- spring, joined t ssed conditions. However, graphic of recent college grads. Arts Project - mainder that makes up the According to the 2012 Census, gram which all center could be referred to between2008 and2012 over21,000 unteer in local almost second Detroit - and 18 to 24-year-olds moved into workshops in D etroit has been catching stu- Detroit from another city in Michi- ed with the cityt eyes recently as a city that gan. Nearly the same amount of 25 Partnership, an enty of benefits for someone to 34-year-olds entered the city as program, and to ninimal money, an eagerness well, meaning that young people in Detroit, whic d work and the thirst for a are moving into Detroit, though live, study and' perience. their level of education is unclear. a semester. By s A separate figure from the New exactly where A tale of two cities York Times says that the downtown before she even1 Detroit areahas seenthe numberof The Southw en choosing a city to start in, college-educated residents under where Naoum n nethines have soecific ori- the age of 35 go up 59 percent in the borhood marke y accountability olveconcerns Mary Naoum knew ame way most kids the suburbs did. It on for sports, or for musical at the Fish- wasn't until college to see the city as a - a blank canvas of be painted with her forming arts man- community action age. o graduated this he Prison Creative a University pro- ows students to vol- prisons - and held etroit. She connect- through the Detroit annual University ok part in Semester h sends students to work in the city for enior year she knew she wanted to be had a job lined up. est side of Detroit, ow lives, is a neigh- id by its atmosohere. A vibrant Mexican culture exists in the appropriately named Mexican- town, Hungarian culture thrives in Delray, and historic homes are the highlight in Naoum's neighbor- hood, Hubbard Farms. Naoum said she was drawn to the neighborhood because of peo- ple she knew and the lifestyle that Southwest offers. There's a com- munity garden and Clark Park, which ishome to constant activities and recreational opportunities. Above all else, though, Naoum said she values the community of people that surrounds her. "Because safety is an issue in Detroit, I wanted to live some- where where the residents are tak- ing charge of that," she said. In an effort to supplement the police department, Hubbard Farms residents use a community-run tex- ting group and an e-mail listserv that is accessible to members of the community to look out for one another. One of Naoum's elderly neighbors can consistently be found perched on his front porch, keeping an eye on everyone's com- ings and goings. "We watch out for each other because crime is present, but it makes me feel much better know- ing that if I screamed on my block, there's 5 people who would come out of their house immediately to help," she said. Even though crime is more prevalent in Detroit than on the University's campus in Ann Arbor - according to the FBI 2012 unified crime report, the city was the sec- ond most dangerous in the United States after Flint - she said she feels safer in Detroit. It might seem counter-intuitive, but Naoum said her neighbors are what make all the difference. "In Ann Arbor, people are screaming day in and day out, and nobody does anything about it because one, youthink it's someone being drunk and stupid, or two, at least when I was in Ann Arbor, I felt no accountability for my neigh- bors," she said. "With Detroit, I think the opposite is true." Growing a future in Detroit When Cory Froning was a soph- omore at the University, she signed up for Semester in Detroit on a whim. An Ann Arbor native, her impression of Detroit was primar- ily negative - she had heard of the dangers of the city, the violence LAWSUIT From Page 1 suggests. "We don't believe it's acceptable that the public is essentially cut out of these meetings, considering the law and the bedrock idea that the public has a right to under- stand how such an important pub- lic institution conducts itself," he said. This isn't the first time that the University's meeting practices have come under scrutiny. In Feb- ruary, state Rep. Tom McMillin (R-Rochester Hills) held a hearing about the public's concerns about the act during which Herschel Fink, a member of the Free Press's legal team, said the University are "serial abusers of the Open Meet- ings Act." McMillin has since introduced two bills to amend the Act. The bills would make public officials ROTC From Page 1 of us who ever worked inside her walls knows well that it's formed a personality all of its own, full of character and spirit," Evans said. He added that in a sense the building was a vessel, not for traveling on water but for the training of students. North Hall was built between 1899 and 1900, and is the second- oldest building on campus still in use after the President's House. From 1900 to 1922, the build- ing served as the University's Homeopathic Hospital. It then became the South Department Hospital after the University stopped studying homeopathy. In the early 1940s, the build- ing was renamed North Hall and became home to the University's Navy ROTC program, with the University's Army and Air Force ROTC programs joining a decade later. All three programs relo- cated to the Chemistry building last May. During the ceremony, Evans highlighted several memorable moments in North Hall's history. On December 8, 1941 - the day after Japan attacked Pearl Har- bor during World War II - a local newspaper reported that more than 100 University students stood outside the commanding officer's office to sign up to fight in the war, he said. who violate it intentionally crimi- nally and civilly liable, as well as clarify that closed meetings are permissible only about current, ongoing legislation, not legislation that's anticipated, as decided in a recent state Court of Appeals case. Following University President-. elect Mark Schlissel's selection in January, concerns were also raised on secrecy specifically in the presidential search process. All Michigan public universities have been allowed to conduct presidential searches in private as of a 1999 Michigan Supreme Court decision. Additionally, in 2010 Univer- sity alum Robert Davis settled a case with the University under the Open Meetings Act over their fail- ure to hold a public meeting while discussing an NCAA investigation of the University's football pro- gram. In an e-mail statement Sunday afternoon, University spokesman North Hall was also bombed three times. The first, in June 1969, was felt two miles away and broke 60 windows, though nobody was injured. University alum Captain Phil Klintworth, an executive con- sultant at Tetra Tech and former professor of Naval Science who also spoke at the event, said in an interview after the ceremo- ny that he was surprised there wasn't more of an effort to pre- serve North Hall as a historic landmark. However, he added that he agreed with the regents' decision. "From a practical standpoint, I mean, the building is old, it cer- tainly doesn't meet fire codes, it's very expensive to keep it in repair," he said. "If I were on the Board of Regents, I'd probably make the same call." Commander Scott Howell, associate professor of Naval Sci- ence and Executive Officer of the University's Naval ROTC Unit, said before the ceremony that the event was bittersweet. He added that moving forward, he would like to see the University's ROTC program continue to thrive and increase its campus visibility. "I'm proud of our students," Howell said. "They're an amaz- ing bunch of young men and women who volunteer to serve the country, go to school - I mean, this is a tough school to get into, so they're extremely bright, extreme- ly intelligent.". Rick Fitzgerald wrote that the University has not yet been served with the lawsuit and therefore could not comment. In an interview with The Mich- igan Daily in February, Fitzgerald said the University believes that the regent's meeting practices are both legal and effective. "The process that the board operates under is well-established and well-grounded in the state law," Fitzgerald said at the time. "This has been an effective way to work and we believe it is compli- ant with the Open Meetings Act." Among other public colleges in Michigan, Wayne State Uni- versity also held a private presi- dential search process this year and Michigan State University also has conducted sessions of their governing board in private, according to The Free Press. __ __llAlAllllr)_ AA-1- rIA -A- -tl- -A -- Zl- -r - ' k'-' -- A'A 'AA- - A'--- 'AA-A"-- -J - --kA- -' AA-.-- AA- A- ..A--AA -- --.. --I'?>-,- -1 1',- _.-J, - Special Presentation of BEE THOVE N SYM.PHONY No.9 July 22, 2014 Hill Auditorium Blue Lake International Choir Alumni Choir and Youth Symphony July 21, 2014 July 23, 2014 Blue Lake Blue Lake International International Choir Youth Symphony Blue Lake International Brahms Symphony Jazz Orchestra No.1 All Concerts Begin at 7:30 p.m. More information at bluelake.org/ebl ALLISON FARRAND/Daily UPPER: A ceremonial bell is rung at the decommissioning ceremony Friday morning, an adaptation from Naval tradition. MIDDLE: Speakers and honored guests watch the lowering of the flag. LOWER: Members of the ROTC participate in a color guard ceremony at the decommissioning of North Hall, which had been the home of ROTC for 74 years.