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Tuesday, September 8, 2015

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Sports Tuesday

Schlissel’s second 

ice cream social caps 
off Welcome Week 

festivities

By ISOBEL FUTTER 
and GEN HUMMER

Daily Staff Reporters

Weathering 
some 
light 

sprinkles of rain, about 1,200 
University students, faculty, staff 
and parents gathered for an ice 
cream social at the President’s 
House on Saturday.

Attendees, 
who 
had 
the 

chance to explore the first floor 
of the residence, were also given 
the opportunity to meet and 
snap pictures with University 
President Mark Schlissel and his 
wife, Monica Schwebs.

Students were invited to the 

event, which offered ice cream 
bars, cookies, water and apple 
cider. 
Schlissel, 
who 
dressed 

down in a block ‘M’ polo shirt, 
greeted those willing to wait in 

line for a chance to shake his 
hand.

The social, which began in the 

1930s when Florence Ruthven, 
wife of seventh president of 
the University, began hosting 
tea parties for female students. 
During the 1950s, University 
President Harlan Hatcher opened 
the event to all students. Since 
then, the social has been an 
annual event.

Open to both parents and 

students, the backyard of the 
house filled up quickly as students 
meandered around the gardens, 
munching on homemade block-
’M’ cookies and ice cream.

Last year was the first year 

Schlissel hosted. Many students 
who attended this year were 
excited to meet the relatively new 
president.

“It was cool to talk to him, 

because he’s still new,” LSA junior 
Alaina Stevenson said. “It’s nice 
to put a personality to a face and 
a name.”

Others 
came 
to 
tour 
the 

renowned 
South 
University 

University 

communications 
on alcohol missing 

needed context

By MICHIGAN DAILY

who has this position

In a brief August 25 e-mail 

to all University students, E. 
Royster Harper, vice president 
for student life, announced 
the University will implement 
“additional strategies” in its 
continuous effort to reduce 
students’ alcohol consumption. 
The widely publicized pilot 
program will notify parents of 
first-year students under the 
age of 21 who receive a second 
alcohol or drug violation, or 
“a violation accompanied by 
other serious behavior such 
as needing medical attention, 
significant property damage or 
driving under the influence.” 
Harper also wrote that the 
University of Michigan Police 

Department 
and 
the 
Ann 

Arbor 
Police 
Department 

will collaborate further on 
outreach efforts. Though the 
ultimate goal is to have joint 
jurisdiction 
in 
off-campus 

student neighborhoods, UMPD 
will initially “provide early 
engagement and feedback to 
students to help them better 
understand how to avoid being 
in violation of alcohol laws.” 
How these strategies will be 
put into practice remains to be 
seen. 

It is understandable that 

the e-mail was concise, for 
if it were longer it may have 
gone unread. But that came at 
the price of omitting critical 
information, 
as 
discovered 

in a recent Michigan Daily 
interview 
with 
University 

officials. A subsequent article 
published by the University 
Record on Sep. 1 also failed 
to provide full details. In 
the 
interview, 
University 

officials explained first and 
foremost that these changes 

New emphasis 
on ‘community 
policing’ to drive 
approach to alcohol 

abuse

By SAM GRINGLAS

Managing News Editor

Under a proposed collabora-

tion with the Ann Arbor Police 
Department, officers with the 
University’s Division of Public 
Safety and Security could have 
joint authority to police off-
campus neighborhoods heavily 
populated by students.

The initiative is one com-

ponent of a set of recently 
announced University efforts 
designed to curb alcohol abuse at 
the University.

“Our philosophy — and the 

shift that we see is happening 

University to 
consider alerts 
on ‘case-by-case’ 

basis

By MICHAEL SUGERMAN

Daily News Editor

A week after unveiling a 

plan to involve the parents of 
first-year students following 

violations of University alco-
hol policies, administrators say 
the new protocol will be imple-
mented on a case-by-case basis 
— not uniformly.

In an exclusive conversation 

with The Michigan Daily on 
Wednesday, University higher-
ups provided further details, 
and framed the new directive as 
a matter of health and wellness.

E. Royster Harper, vice pres-

ident of student life; Mary Jo 
Desprez, director of Wolverine 

Wellness; and Eddie Washing-
ton, executive director of the 
Division of Public Safety and 
Security, spoke to the reason-
ing and goals of the initiative.

Desprez noted that the poli-

cy is present in some form at a 
majority of schools in the Big 
10 conference. The University’s 
iteration of the practice will 
notify parents if a first-year 
student under the age of 21 
“commits a violation accom-

ROBERT DUNNE/Daily

LEFT: Engineering junior Peter Larsen, the Chi Phi “little brother” of Joshua Brigham, lights candles at a vigil held in his memory at Chi Phi fraternity house on 
Sunday. RIGHT: LSA Senior Alec Buchholtz shares his memories of Brigham to those gathered.

Friends remember 
Josh Brigham, who 
fell from Nickel’s 
Arcade rooftop

By EMMA KINERY

Daily Staff Reporter

With 
candles 
in 
hand, 

fraternity brothers and friends 
of Josh Brigham — the LSA 
student who died in July after 
falling from the roof of Nickel’s 
Arcade — came together to 
celebrate his life with a vigil at 
the Chi Phi fraternity house.

Brigham, who was a rising 

senior 
studying 
psychology, 

died July 24. He fell through 
the arcade’s glass ceiling while 
climbing to the building’s roof 
through an unlocked stairway 
door. According to the Ann 
Arbor Police report, obtained by 
The Ann Arbor News, Brigham 
was intoxicated at the time of 
the incident.

Since many of the Saugatuck, 

Mich., native’s friends were 
unable to attend his funeral, 
LSA senior Alex Buchholtz, a 
friend and fraternity brother, 
said the vigil was held for 
friends to commemorate his life.

Tealight candles were given 

to the hundreds of people who 
filled the Chi Phi porch and 
lawn. On the porch, a photo 
of Brigham was placed with 
a candle, a pamphlet from his 
funeral, flowers and a can of 
Natural Ice beer.

Several people shared stories 

of the fun, happy friend who 
lived life in the moment.

“Josh was a very smiley 

guy,” Buchholtz said. “He made 
everyone laugh; he could make 
anyone laugh instantly … He 
was a very fun guy. He kind of 
lived it up and had fun when he 
could.”

Buchholtz, who organized 

the vigil, said since Brigham’s 

passing 
he’s 
found 
himself 

instinctively trying to call or 
text him.

“It’s just weird because last 

week I moved back to Ann 
Arbor, and when I was pulling 
into Ann Arbor I almost picked 
up the phone and called him,” 
Buchholtz said. “The other day 
I woke up after a long night and 
texted him to see if he could get 
some food.”

Seeing Nickel’s Arcade is 

hard for Buchholtz. He said 
the other night he visited it 
and cried for a half hour. The 
passing of their beloved friend 
was hard on everyone, but the 

AMANDA ALLEN/Daily

Mary Jo Desprez, director of Wolverine Wellness, speaks to Michigan Daily staff about the new university alcohol 
policy in a meeting on Wednesday. 

See SCHLISSEL, Page 5A
See VIGIL, Page 3A

See UMPD, Page 3A
See PARENTS, Page 3A
See POLICY, Page 4A

President’s 
open house 
draws 1,200 
 

despite rain

CAMPUS LIFE

Student honored at vigil 

‘U’ introduces new alcohol policies
From the Daily:
Nuance lacking 
in new policy

Wellness staff to involve 
parents for repeat offenses

UMPD 
to expand 
off-campus 
presence 

INDEX
Vol. CXXIV, No. 121
©2015 The Michigan Daily
michigandaily.com

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