modest incremental changes in
the direction of diversity now,”
he said. “We began implementing
some of the changes in the
admissions and financial aid
procedure a year ago, and in
September we are going to
announce how we did.”
The initiative largely focused on
closing the gap between the receipt
of financial aid packages and
admissions decisions, with the goal
of helping families and students as
they make decisions about college,
particularly the costs.
Schlissel said he expects the
makeup of this year’s freshman
class to reflect the impacts of
this change.
The president has frequently
spoken of plans to release a
campus-wide diversity initiative.
He told the Daily on Tuesday that
he expects to launch the full plan
by the end of the academic year
— not at his summit on diversity
scheduled for next week.
That event will instead focus
on laying out the broader charge
for the initiative.
In his inaugural address last
September,
Schlissel
deemed
diversity and inclusion a priority
of his presidency. In the address,
Schlissel
said
excellence
is
rooted in a diverse and inclusive
student body.
Despite
ongoing
calls
for
a more diverse campus, both
by students and by University
officials,
the
University
has
struggled
to
increase
the
diversity of its staff and student
body, as well as address issues
related to campus climate. In
2014, Black students made up
4.63 percent of the student body,
compared to the state’s Black
community,
which
composes
14.3 percent of the population. In
Fall 2011, 63 percent of incoming
freshmen
reported
family
incomes over $100,000.
Last
week,
Schlissel
also
announced a new effort to
increase
the
student
body’s
socioeconomic
diversity.
The
High Achieving Involved Leader
scholarship will cover four years
of tuition for a select group of
in-state, low-income students
and provide additional resources
during the application process.
Fitzgerald
said
application
support and college planning
resources will be offered to 1,000
students through the program
this year.
He said it’s too early to tell
how many of those students will
ultimately receive scholarship
money, though all of those
admitted from the pilot’s pool
will receive the funds.
Though optimistic, Schlissel
stressed achieving a diverse
student body will not happen
quickly. He said his university-
wide strategic plan will continue
on after his presidency ends.
“I am convinced my successors
are going to be working on this
because of how far society has
to go to be truly inclusive and
diverse society, the kind that
matches our ideals.”
likely to have occured than not.
Tuesday, Schlissel said the
Office of Student Life will spend
the semester working with
Central Student Government
to garner additional feedback
on the policy. Those forums
will begin Oct. 1, according to
University Spokesperson Rick
Fitzgerald.
In
April,
Schlissel
said
changes would likely focus on
the timeline of the adjudication
process and issues, as well as
improving University resources
provided to students during and
after the process.
“One thing, in particular,
we’re concerned about is there
are issues of representation
during the process,” he added
during the chat.
However,
Schlissel
said
Tuesday he doesn’t anticipate
changes
to
the
policy’s
definition of consent.
An April report by Daily
raised
questions
about
the
difference between language
in
the
University’s
official
policy, which defines consent
as “clear and unambiguous
agreement,
expressed
in
mutually
understandable
words or actions,” and wording
in
educational
materials
provided by the University’s
Sexual Assault Prevention and
Awareness Center.
SAPAC’s
more
stringent
language identifies consent as
an explicitly verbal agreement,
not satisfied by silence or body
language.
SAPAC Director Holly Rider-
Milkovich
later
announced
plans
to
clarify
language
around consent on its website
and in educational materials.
“At the end of the day, we can
have really tight definitions,
but we’re still left with an
interaction that occurs with
the door closed between two
adults,” Schlissel said. “So who’s
version of what happened forms
the basis for moving forward? I
think it is important to discuss
consent mainly so students can
really understand one another
when they are in a room with
the door closed, but I’m not 100
percent confident that’s going
to end up affecting in a very
dramatic way the adjudication
process.”
Still, Schlissel said he’s open
to the discussion, and will watch
the impacts of laws in other
states, like California, that have
enacted
legislation
defining
consent in the affirmative.
“Lack of protest or resistance
does not mean consent, nor
does silence mean consent,”
California’s
2014
definition
states.
“Affirmative
consent
must be ongoing throughout
a sexual activity and can be
revoked at any time.”
“The states that are pushing
hard on this will be our
laboratories, right?” Schlissel
said. “If California all of sudden
had a huge drop in sexual
assault and misconduct, then
oh boy, I’m ready to do that too.”
Schlissel
said
there
are
other benefits to discussing
the University’s definition of
consent, even if it doesn’t lead
to a change in the official policy.
“We like to think there’s an
objective reality out there in the
world, and as a scientist, I cling
to this idea that there’s truth out
there, and you know, I’m going
to discover it,” he said. “It turns
out from the moment you set
your eyes on a situation, you’re
interpreting it differently than
I am. And I think a discussion
about consent will help all of us
understand what one another
are thinking so we can treat one
another more respectfully.”
internal medicine who chairs the
Department of Computational
Medicine and Bioinformatics,
co-direct MIDAS.
They
said
multidisciplinary
institutions like the University
fuel researching by using data
from very different domains.
Discoveries in archeology, Hero
said, are driven not only by findings
by archaeologists at dig sites,
but also by archived historical
data and language processing
machines. The big data MIDAS is
concerned with analyzing, Hero
and Athey said, has to do with its
variety and velocity.
“The idea about big data is not
just about the volume or the size
or how many bytes it is,” Athey
said. “(It’s about) how complex
and diverse the data is. It’s about
variety … velocity. How fast is it
growing? We anticipate there
could be terabytes streaming in a
minute. It could be that fast.”
The DSI will focus on collecting
and using big data to strengthen
transportation research, health
sciences, learning analytics and
social science research.
“Big data is revolutionizing
research
in
extraordinary
range of disciplines,” S. Jack
Hu, interim vice president for
research, wrote in a statement.
“With
this
initiative,
our
goal is to spark innovation in
research across campus while
inspiring further advances in the
techniques of data science itself.”
Using patient visits, medical
histories and DNA sequences, for
example, researchers can access
an individual’s risk for certain
types of cancer.
The University also hopes to
use student data to customize
teaching
to
the
needs
of
individual students.
Data security will be an
important part of the DSI, Hero
said.
“There is a classic paradigm
between
data
security
and
data privacy,” Hero said. “That
paradigm really starts to break
down with big data. Despite all of
your efforts to protect your own
personal data, it can be eventually
used to triangulate down to
geography and, in some cases,
identity can be compromised.
Privacy
means
more
than
just protection of your data
by the standard identification
techniques. It means you have to
develop new methods.”
3-News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, September 9, 2015 — 3A
State rep. admits to
misuse of resources
State Rep. Cindy Gamrat (R–
Plainwell) admitted to misuse
of public funds and misconduct
Tuesday
during
a
committee
hearing stemming from attempts
to cover up an affair between
herself and fellow state Rep.
Todd Courser (R–Lapeer), The
Detroit
News
reported.
The
House Business Office released
a report last week alleging that
both Courser and Gamrat misued
resources in the process of covering
up their affair. The committee is
considering several disciplinary
options for both representatives
including expulsion from the state
House.
Detroit councilman
drafting ordinance
for dispensaries
James Tate, a Detroit city
councilmember, has been working
to create an ordinance that would
regulate marijuana dispensaries
in the city, The Detroit Free Press
reported. The ordinance may be
implemented by next week.
The ordinance would dictate
where the dispensaries could be
located relative to schools, parks
and churches in the area, and
likely require dispensaries to gain
a city license to operate.
Existing dispensaries will not
be grandfathered out of the new
requirements, Tate said.
Frita’s voted best
burgers in country
Local restaurant Frita Batidos
was rated as having one of the best
burgers in America according to
USA Today. The article referred
to the Cuban restaurant as “a col-
lege-town favorite.”
The winning burger, chorizo
with a soft egg bun, can have add-
ons including egg and avocado.
NEWS BRIEFS
DATA
From Page 1A
POLICY
From Page 1A
DIVERSITY
From Page 1A
JOIN THE DAILY!!
COME TO A MASS MEETING!
9/13, 9/14, 9/17, 9/20
at 7:00 p.m. at 420 Maynard