michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, January 7, 2015

CELEBRATING OUR ONE-HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIFTH YEAR OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

INDEX
Vol. CXXIV, No. 41
©2015 The Michigan Daily
michigandaily.com

NEWS......................... 2A

OPINION.....................4A

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7A

CL ASSIFIEDS...............6A

T H E S TAT E M E N T . . . . . . 1 B

SPORTS WEDNESDAY...1C

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Blood Battle chair 
says changes are 
a step in the right 

direction

By NABEEL CHOLLAMPAT

Daily Staff Reporter

After a ban that lasted more 

than 30 years, gay and bisexual 
men will soon be able to donate 
blood.

The U.S. Food and Drug 

Administration has recommend-
ed a change to the blood donor 
deferral period for men who have 
sex with men, or MSM. Previous-
ly, MSM were indefinitely barred 
from donating blood. Now, they 
are only prohibited from doing 
so within one year of their last 
sexual contact with a male.

The American Association of 

Blood Banks, America’s Blood 
Centers and the American Red 
Cross issued a joint statement on 
Dec. 23 endorsing the proposal 
which stated the “current life-
time deferral is unwarranted.” 
This is largely due to the effec-
tiveness with which donated 
blood is now tested for diseases. 
Under current policy, all blood 
donations are tested for many 
infectious 
diseases, 
includ-

ing HIV, Hepatitis B and C and 

Syphilis.

LSA senior Samantha Rea, 

chair of the University’s Blood 
Battle, said the recommenda-
tion for change is encouraging, 
but still not enough due to the 
persisting regulation on MSM 
to wait a year after male sexual 
contact to donate. The Blood 
Battle is an annual event held by 
Blood Drives United, a Univer-
sity student organization. Last 
year, BDU started an initiative 
called Bleeding for Equality to 
raise awareness about the FDA’s 
blood donation policy pertaining 
to MSM.

“It’s a step in the right direc-

tion, and it’s exciting that they 
have considered changing the 
policy,” Rea said. “We still don’t 
think it’s enough because it still 
discriminates based on sexual 
orientation.”

The FDA enacted the ban on 

homosexual males and bisexual 
blood donors in 1983 as an early 
response to the AIDS epidemic. 
According to the Center for Dis-
ease Control, MSM are more 
affected by HIV than any other 
group in the United States. At the 
end of 2011, 57 percent of persons 
living with HIV in the United 
States were gay or bisexual men.

According to a December 

article in The New York Times, 
blood can now be better tested 

Prince Charles 

presents symphony 
conducting award

By TANYA MADHANI

Daily Staff Reporter

Last month Elim Chan, a 

Music, Theatre & Dance graduate 
student, became the first female 
winner of the Donatella Flick LSO 
Conducting Competition, a com-
petition sponsored by the Prince 
of Wales to introduce young con-
ductors to the professional stage.

Initially competing against 225 

other conductors, Chan and 19 
other students were selected to 
fly to London and compete in the 
final three rounds with the Lon-
don Symphony Orchestra.

“Looking back it still feels kind 

of surreal,” Chan said. “For a long 

Regulation to 

restrict building 
heights for some 

downtown properties

By EMMA KERR

Daily News Editor

The Ann Arbor City Coun-

cil unanimously voted Mon-
day to regulate future building 
construction on the corner of 
Main Street and William Street, 
changing the zoning of the prop-
erty from D1, core downtown 
area, to D2, or downtown inter-
face area.

Because there were previously 

no lots zoned as D2 within the 
Main Street character district, 
which provides additional regu-
lations for buildings in that area, 
a new rule was also created that 

limits the heights of buildings to 
60 feet on the south side and 120 
feet on the north side when they 
are both in the Main Street char-
acter district and zoned D2.

Property owners and inves-

tors, not the local government, 
determine the types, designs 
and quality of buildings built 
in downtown Ann Arbor. Resi-
dents of Ann Arbor, however, 
took to City Council Monday 
night to voice opinions for and 
against proposed regulations for 
the property at Main Street and 
William Street. The property is 
currently owned by DTE Energy, 
though there are no plans for 
construction on the site at this 
time.

Councilmember Jane Lumm 

(I–Ward 2) said she hopes this 
preventative 
measure, 
which 

came out of a two-year-long pro-
cess of reviewing downtown zon-

Online platform 
opens class for 
Flint, Dearborn 

students

By IAN DILLINGHAM

Magazine Editor

Imagine using “House of 

Cards” as your political sci-
ence education.

Members of the School of 

Public Health are launching a 
course this semester that they 
hope will engage students in 
a unique dialogue about the 
U.S. health care system based, 
in part, on lessons from the 
entertainment industry. First-
year medical and dental stu-
dents will be required to take 
the course.

The six-week online class 

beginning 
Jan. 
12, 
titled 

“Understanding and Improv-

ing U.S. Healthcare,” is the 
brainchild of Matthew Davis, 
professor of public policy, 
pediatric and communicable 
diseases and internal medi-
cine, and Public Health gradu-
ate student Michael Rubyan, 
the course producer.

Students from any depart-

ment on campus — as well as 
those at the University’s Flint 
and Dearborn campuses — are 
able to enroll in the course, 

In new year, 

state to consider 
education funding, 
LGBTQ proposal 

By ALLANA AKHTAR

Daily Staff Reporter

Last week, Republican Gov. 

Rick Snyder was sworn in for 
another four years as Michi-

gan’s chief executive.

During his inaugural address, 

Snyder expressed enthusiasm 
about his first term and opti-
mism for his second.

“We were a broken state,” he 

said. “We are a comeback state 
now, a state that is growing and 
thriving.”

Snyder called his efforts to 

improve the state’s economy and 
bring Detroit out of bankruptcy 
as significant accomplishments 
during his first term as gover-

nor. However, he said there is 
more to accomplish in his sec-
ond term.

As discussed in his speech, 

here are five things to keep track 
of during the governor’s second 
term.

Road improvements

The Snyder Administration’s 

main focus is to develop a plan 
to increase funds for Michigan’s 
roads and infrastructure.

Last month, the state legis-

lature approved a ballot initia-
tive to pump an estimated $1.3 
billion into transportation by 
increasing the state sales tax 
and removing the sales tax on 
motor fuel. The proposal will be 
on the May 2015 ballot.

Of the $1.3 billion, $1.2 billion 

will be allotted to renovating 
roads, and $112 million will go 
toward public transit.

The bill passed through the 

State House and Senate with 

Regulators 
relax blood 
donation 
restrictions

HEALTH

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Since The Michigan Daily’s last print edition, demonstrators held a “die-in” outside Winter Commencement and students organized a vigil for Pakistani 
students killed by the Taliban. Read those stories and others on page 5A.

BRE AK IN REVIEW

Governor to focus on jobs, 
roads during second term

GOVERNMENT

Council passes 
zoning change 
for Main St. lot

ANN ARBOR
CAMPUS LIFE

ACADEMICS
Course to foster dialogue 
on U.S. health care system

Rackham 
student wins 
elite music 
competition

See BLOOD, Page 3A
See SNYDER, Page 3A

See AWARD, Page 3A
See COURSE, Page 3A
See ZONING, Page 3A

The Bonderman Fellowship: a 
chance to travel the world.

» INSIDE

The Statement

RUBY WALLAU/Daily

My father, brother, and I crawled under a barbed wire fence to sneak a peek at a secret beach in Kaupo, an isolated 
part of the Island of Maui in Hawaii. 

PHOTO STAFF ON HOLIDAY

In the end, Jim Harbaugh got the 
job he always wanted.
» INSIDE

SportsWednesday

