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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
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Panel explores
connections
between health and
social justice
By ALLANA AKHTAR
Daily Staff Reporter
Agriculture, food access, race
and social justice were all topics
of conversation during a panel
discussion held Monday to kick
off the University’s first-ever
Detroit Week.
Detroit Week examines a vari-
ety of barriers in the city, includ-
ing racism and poverty and
encourage community service in
the city, according to Public Poli-
cy junior Blair Sucher, education
chair of the Detroit Partnership
and recruitment coordinator for
the Semester in Detroit.
Several student groups includ-
ing the Detroit Partnership, the
Black Student Union, Black Vol-
unteer Network, Semester in
Detroit and LSA Student Gov-
ernment sponsor Detroit Week,
with features two more Detroit-
focused events scheduled for
Wednesday and Saturday.
Titled the “Race and Food
Justice Panel,” Monday’s lecture
examined food and agriculture
in terms of their historical and
current impacts on the city. The
lecture also explored how food
helped shaped present racial
relationships within the city.
The
panel
included
local
activist Oya Amakisi; Kami
Pothukuchi, professor of Urban
Studies at Wayne State Univer-
sity; and Anthony Hatinger, gar-
den production coordinator for
the Central Detroit Christian
Community Development Cor-
poration.
Sucher said the panel aimed
to look at social justice from a
unique lens and to push stu-
Guidelines to
simplify current
policy for student
responsibilities
By TANAZ AHMED
Daily Staff Reporter
Central Student Government
has commissioned a task force
to establish a University-wide
student honor code. The code
would stand in addition to the
pre-existing Statement of Stu-
dent Rights and Responsibilities
— a set of standards to which
students agree to adhere by
upon accepting admission to the
University.
Established by CSG President
Bobby Dishell, a Public Policy
senior, the task force is designed
to create an honor code covering
academic integrity, individual
behavior and student rights.
“The aim of the task force,
and eventually the honor code,
will be to encourage and moti-
vate students to hold ourselves
to a higher standard,” Dishell
wrote in a press release. “Cur-
rently there is not one place
where students can turn to in
order to know what our commu-
nity stands for. It’s important
that, as students at Michigan,
we understand our roles as the
leaders and best both on and off
campus.”
In an interview with The
Michigan
Daily,
CSG
Vice
President Emily Lustig, an LSA
senior and chair of the task-
force, said the University lacks
a clear, institution-wide honor
code.
“Only certain colleges or
schools within the University
have honor codes and they are
adhered to at different levels,”
she said.
The Statement acknowledges
this decentralization, noting
that numerous entities have
individual conduct policies and
mechanisms for sanctioning for
violations of standards. In addi-
tion, Lustig said, the Statement
is sometimes too long to be com-
prehensive. Lustig said short-
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
RITA MORRIS/Daily
Oyatunde Amakisi, community resource manager of the Greening of Detroit organization, speaks at the Race and Food Justice Panel in the Annenberg Auditorium
at the Ford School on Monday.
See DETROIT, Page 3
See HONOR CODE, Page 3
Body discusses
Fitness for Duty
policy during
executive session
By CARLY NOAH
Daily Staff Reporter
At their weekly meeting
Monday afternoon, the Senate
Advisory Committee on Uni-
versity Affairs discussed the
reorganization of several Senate
Assembly committees.
SACUA also reviewed proce-
dures related to the University’s
Office for Institutional Equity
and the Fitness for Duty and
Professional Standards for Fac-
ulty. Both were discussed dur-
ing a private executive session,
which are not open to the public
or the press.
The Fitness for Duty policy
offers protocals for situations
when faculty are deemed physi-
cally or mentally unable to
perform their jobs. The policy
provides for the possibility of
financial
compensation
dur-
ing a University investigation
of competency and one year of
severance pay if their employ-
ment is terminated due to their
condition.
Last year, SACUA considered
revisions the policy to mediate
conflicts between provisions of
the Americans with Disabilities
Act and the University’s current
policy.
The ADA does not require
faculty state the reason they
are unable to perform their job.
SACUA concluded that the Uni-
versity could rework the lan-
guage of the policy to make that
provision explicitly applicable
to faculty with physical or men-
tal illness.
The committee also dis-
cussed restructuring the body’s
committees
to
reduce
the
number of committees under
SACUA.
“We’re looking to economize
SACUA,” said SACUA Chair
Scott Masten, a professor in
Public Policy and Business Eco-
nomics.
He said the meeting did not
finalize any decision, but deter-
mined what matters would be
taken up in the next Senate
Assembly meeting.
For example, a merger of the
Tenure Committee with the
Rules Committee was suggest-
ed during the meeting.
The Rules Committee cur-
rently works with bylaw chang-
es within the Senate Assembly.
It was recommended that the
Rules Committee be granted
the responsibilities of looking
at University Standard Practice
Guides and technology infor-
mation before proposals are
sent to SACUA.
SACUA member John Lehm-
Analysis shows
existing studies
employ imperfect
methods
By SAMIHA MATIN
For the Daily
Though expanding biofuel
production is often lauded as
a key strategy for decreasing
carbon emissions, a University-
based analysis found that the
benefits might not be so exten-
sive.
John DeCicco, a research
professor at the University’s
Energy
Institute,
reviewed
existing studies that evaluated
the effectiveness of biofuel as
an alternative energy source. He
discovered that the variety of
computer models used does not
accurately represent the amount
of carbon dioxide absorbed from
the atmosphere when biofuels
are produced.
Though biofuel, an energy
source composed from organic
or food waste products, has gen-
erally been deemed a leading
eco-friendly option for reducing
gasoline consumption, DeCicco
said many of the studies are mis-
leading.
“The government has spon-
sored computer models which
have made a very basic account-
ing mistake,” he said. “Particu-
larly, they count carbon dioxide
uptake as it happens. They com-
pletely offset the carbon dioxide
admitted when the biofuel is
burned.”
In recent years, scientists and
researchers have debated the
advantages and disadvantages
of biofuel compared to petro-
leum production.
DeCicco,
however,
said
his work takes a step back to
research fundamental mistakes
made when measuring carbon
dioxide uptake throughout the
decades. His research argues
against the assumption that bio-
fuels decrease net carbon diox-
ide emissions.
Using a field of soybeans as an
example, DeCicco talked about
how these models fail to recog-
nize that lands are constantly
being
used
for
production.
Fields previously used to grow
food are now providing for bio-
fuel production.
“The
computer-analysis
methods forget to check what
land is doing before it is used to
grow soybeans for biofuels,” he
said. “They think that the land is
completely barren. That’s a very
big mistake.”
Consequently, there has been
no increase in the removal of
carbon dioxide from the atmo-
sphere as a result of increased
biofuel production because the
fields were already being used to
grow food.
The research paper also high-
lights the use of carbon foot-
print models and their incorrect
calculations that carbon diox-
ide emissions are lower with
biodiesel than petroleum. The
results are inconsistent with
the realities of the carbon cycle,
Despite CDC
recomendations,
doctors continue to
prescribe antibiotics
By PARISHA NOVA
Daily Staff Reporter
Researchers from the Uni-
versity, the London School of
Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
and the University of Alabama
have found that Oseltamivir —
an antiviral medicine marketed
as “Tamiflu” — shortens the
duration of influenza symp-
toms by about a day.
When treated with Tamiflu,
researchers observed a 44 per-
cent reduction in the develop-
ment of respiratory infections
or other infectious complica-
tions.
Epidemiology Prof. Arnold
Monto, a researcher from the
School of Public Health, said
the study confirms the success
of antiviral medication in treat-
ing the flu.
“We decided to conduct this
study as antibacterials are often
prescribed on grounds that
antivirals are not as effective,”
Monto said.
Antivirals typically inhibit
the development of pathogens,
whereas
antibacterial
treat-
ments kill bacteria.
Monto added that despite
the recommendations from the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention to use of Tamiflu for
treating influenza, doctors tend
SCIENCE
HEALTH
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
SACUA Vice Chair Sally Oey, an astronomy professor, discusses the reorganization of Senate Assembly Committees
with German Prof. Silke-Maria Weineck at a SACUA meeting in the Fleming Administration Building on Monday.
See BIOFUEL, Page 3
See SACUA, Page 3
See FLU, Page 3
CSG task
force plans
to create
honor code
Detroit Week kicks off with
discussion on food and race
Research calls
into question
use of biofuel
SACUA discusses possible
committee reorganization
Antiviral
treatment
shortens flu
symptoms
INDEX
Vol. CXXIV, No. 63
©2015The Michigan Daily
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