michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Friday, January 9, 2015

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

ZACH MOORE/Daily

Rackham student Sandra Periord performs opera singing in the Concerto Competition in Hill Auditorium on Thursday. 

THE FINAL NOTE

State receives poor 
marks for college 
affordability in 

nonprofit’s report

By JACK TURMAN

Daily Staff Reporter

In a series of report cards 

published earlier this week by 
youth advocacy group Young 
Invincibles, the state of Michi-
gan’s investment in higher educa-
tion ranked as one of the lowest 
nationwide.

The report cards ranked Mich-

igan as the third worst state in 
the country based on five metrics 
— tuition, state appropriations 
average, average burden on fami-
lies, financial aid for students and 
higher education as a priority in 
the state government.

Michigan was one of 31 states 

to receive an “F” in appropria-
tions for higher education fund-
ing. It also numbered among 47 
states that spend less per student 
today than they did before the 
recession in 2008.

In an interview Thursday, Tom 

Allison, policy and research man-
ager at Young Invincibles, provid-
ed several reasons for Michigan’s 
ranking. He cited the fact that the 

state has cut its state appropria-
tions per student by 27 percent 
over the past few years, which is 7 
percent higher than the national 
average at 20 percent.

Republican 
Governor 
Rick 

Snyder’s 
administration 
cut 

higher education funding by 15 
percent in 2011, his first year in 
office. After the decrease his 
administration has incremen-
tally increased higher education 
funding by 3.1 percent in 2012, 2.2 
percent in 2013 and 6.1 percent in 
2014.

Snyder’s office did not return 

requests for comment on the 
ranking Thursday.

Allison added that the state 

awards fewer dollars than the 
national average, which is over 
$6,000 per student. Michigan 
allocates about $4,500 per stu-
dent.

In an interview Thursday, 

Donald Heller, dean of the College 
of Education at Michigan State 
University, noted a few factors as 
possible reasons for why the state 
ranked poorly on the report card. 
He cited the two major recessions 
of 2002 and 2008 in the state as 
possible influences.

“The cut in state funding 

which has caused the universi-
ties to raise tuition very rapidly,” 
Heller said. ” The relatively high 

See COSTS, Page 3

Larry Collins to 
be sworn in Friday 

after year-long 
search process

By EMMA KINERY

Daily Staff Reporter

There’s a new chief in town.
After 
a 
year-long 
search, 

Monday marked the first day for 

Larry Collins, Ann Arbor’s new 
fire chief. He will be officially 
sworn in at a ceremony on Fri-
day.

Collins succeeds former Chief 

Chuck Hubbard, who retired in 
January of 2014 after serving as 
chief since 2011. Prior to that, 
Hubbard had been a firefighter 
in Ann Arbor for almost three 
decades. Ann Arbor Police Chief 
John Seto has overseen the fire 
department for the past year. 
Collins’ starting salary is set 

at $122,000 a year, an increase 
from the $104,549 he received at 
Brevard County Fire Rescue, his 
previous job.

Collins has experience serving 

at two other fire departments. 
He spent 30 years with the Day-
ton Fire Department in Ohio, 
retiring as its director and fire 
chief in 2008. Collins was also 
fire chief of the Brevard County 
Fire Rescue in Florida from 2009 
until he departed in September.

Florida 
Today 
reported 

his leave, noting differences 
between Collins and his superior 
regarding how the fire depart-
ment should operate.

“You can use the term fired, 

but really what it was an amica-
ble separation on the part of both 
parties,” Collins said in an inter-
view with The Michigan Daily.

Collins said that he had been 

hired under a progressive man-
ager in Brevard, and the assistant 
manager who succeeded him 

MOOCs taught by 
University profs. 
have reached 1.5 
million students

By CARLY NOAH

Daily Staff Reporter

Three years ago, the University 

was one of four founding partners 
of Coursera, a digital platform 
that hosts Massive Open Online 
Courses, or MOOCs, which allow 
individuals from across the world 
to take academic courses online.

Though a relatively new idea in 

higher education at the time, now 
15 University professors teach 
courses on the platform and have 
reached a collective 1.5 million 
students worldwide, according 
to the University’s department 
of Digital Education and Innova-
tion.

For University students and 

faculty, MOOCs have been a key 
example of digital education’s 
growth and change both on cam-
pus and beyond — one that’s been 
met with both enthusiasm and 
caution.

University Prof. Scott Page, 

who teaches complex systems, 
political science and econom-
ics, taught the University’s first 
MOOC, Model Thinking.

“At the time, no one knew what 

would happen — how many peo-
ple would take the course, how 
much work it would be… (I) did 
it because I thought it would be a 
learning experience and because 
I believe in the material I’m 
teaching,” Page said. “(The Uni-
versity) wanted a social science 
course that was easy to decom-
pose into models that did not rely 
on much copyrighted material.”

Page said he thought the ben-

efits of online courses were vast 
and could be altered to fit a wide 
range of students.

“The benefits everyone men-

tions are retrievability and scale,” 
Page said. “Once it’s taped, you 
can access the course anytime 
and anywhere. And you can have 
hundreds of thousands of stu-
dents — I’m nearing three-quar-
ters of a million.”

Page 
added 
that 
MOOCs 

helped improved his own skills as 
an educator.

“I found that there was an 

enormous benefit from going 
through the process of construct-
ing the lectures,” Page said. “I 
became a better teacher and 
thinker. Also, it’s really a thrill 
to interact with people globally, 
even if only electronically.”

While many professors and 

individuals in the higher educa-
tion community like Page have 
responded to MOOCs with enthu-
siasm, research also shows that 

See CHIEF, Page 3

MCKENZIE BEREZIN/Daily

Susan Caulfield, associate professor of history, gives a lecture on topics about 19th century African-Bahian families 
for a lecture series held by the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies at Tisch Hall on Thursday. 

LET’S GET HISTORICAL

ACT loses contract 
for standardized 
testing in Michigan 

high schools

By GENEVIEVE HUMMER

Daily Staff Reporter

The state of Michigan will 

no longer require high school 
juniors take the ACT. Begin-
ning in spring of 2016, the 
SAT is the state’s new exam of 
choice.

On Wednesday, the Michi-

gan Department of Education 
and Department of Technol-
ogy, Management and Budget 
jointly announced that all stu-
dents attending high school in 
Michigan take the SAT in place 
of the ACT.

The state requires that a col-

lege entrance exam and a job 
skills test, which evaluates stu-
dents’ possible career oppor-
tunities, are provided free of 
charge to all high school stu-
dents.

These tests are competitively 

bid every few years and ranked 
by a joint evaluation commit-
tee made up of the MDE, the 

DTMB, a high school principal, 
a local school superintendent, 
a testing and assessment con-
sultant from an intermediate 
school district and the vice 
president from a Michigan 
community college.

The College Board, which 

administers the SAT, won the 
three-year contract with a $17.1 
million bid, $15.4 million less 
than the next bidder, the ACT, 
and was rated higher by a ten-
point margin.

The shift to the SAT will be 

an adjustment for high school 
students, teachers and admin-

See MOOCS, Page 3
See SAT, Page 3

SPORTS

36-year-old served 
three seasons as 

Harbaugh assistant 
while at Stanford

By MAX COHEN

Managing Sports Editor

Michigan football coach Jim 

Harbaugh made his first coaching 
staff hire official Thursday morn-
ing when he named D.J. Durkin 
Michigan’s defensive coordinator 
and linebackers coach.

“D.J. is one of the top young 

defensive coordinators in foot-
ball, and I look forward to having 
him work with our student-ath-
letes,” Harbaugh said in a state-
ment.

Durkin, 36, comes to Michi-

gan after spending five years at 
Florida, where he was the team’s 
defensive coordinator and line-
backers coach for the previous 
two seasons, as well as special 
teams coordinator and defensive 
ends coach for three years before 
that. Durkin and Harbaugh have 
worked together before, when 
Durkin was Stanford’s defensive 
ends coach and special teams 
coach from 2007-2009 and Har-
baugh was the head coach.

“Reuniting with Jim at the 

University of Michigan is an 
opportunity that I could not 

See HIRED, Page 3

Mich. gets 
low grade 
for higher 
ed. costs

GOVERNMENT

ANN ARBOR
New fire chief to employ 
innovative approach in A2

ACADEMICS
Massive Open 
Online Courses 
progress at ‘U’

Switch to SAT to have low 
impact on ‘U’ admissions

EDUCATION

D.J. Durkin
hired as ‘M’ 
defensive 
coordinator

INDEX
Vol. CXXIV, No. 44
©2015 The Michigan Daily
michigandaily.com

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OPINION.......................4

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

ARTS.............................7

SPORTS.........................8

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