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School of Public Health.

The program will feature 

three 
concentration 
areas: 

public health sciences, global 
public health and community 
public health. These areas will 
“encourage study abroad.”

Students would apply during 

their sophomore year and begin 
public health studies as a junior, 
similar 
to 
application-only 

undergraduate programs like the 
Public Policy School. 

Over the last 10-20 years, 

an 
increasing 
number 
of 

institutions have started offering 
undergraduate 
public 
health 

programs. The program calls for 
students to complete a focus area 
and complete a capstone project 
with a field learning experience.

CSG update

In his monthly report to 

the 
regents, 
CSG 
President 

Cooper Charlton, an LSA senior, 
announced that CSG has worked 
with Dean of Students Laura 
Blake Jones and Holly Rider-
Milkovich, 
director 
of 
the 

Sexual Assault Prevention and 
Awareness Center, “to develop a 
curriculum for student-athletes 
to learn about sexual assault 
prevention and raise awareness 
about this issue.”

Funding campus construction
Kevin Hegarty, executive vice 

president and chief financial 
officer, has submitted an action 
request for the University to 
issue general revenue bonds. If 
approved, proceeds are estimated 
not to exceed $110 million.

Bonds are often issues by 

companies or institutions needing 
to raise money. How it works: 
Investors loan the institution, in 
this case the University, a specific 
amount of money in exchange 
for periodic interest payments. 
The loan is repaid when the bond 
reaches maturity.

The funds brought in by 

these 
bonds 
would 
pay 
for 

recently completed and ongoing 
renovation projects — including 
the Munger Graduate Residences, 
Intramural Sports Building and 
Central Campus utility tunnel 
reinforcements.

“The 
University 
seeks 
to 

provide 
long 
term 
financing 

for the construction cash flow 
requirements of authorized new 
projects,” the action request reads.

The plan would also likely 

involve refinancing “commercial 
paper,” or money issued by 
corporations or institutions to 
help them meet short-term debt 
obligations — in the University’s 
case, 
this 
refers 
to 
money 

that went toward funding the 
collective renovation of West 
Quad and the Michigan Union 
Cambridge House.

Subsequently, total proceeds 

from 
issuing 
bonds 
and 

refinancing “is not expected to 
exceed $435 million.”

“These bonds, like commercial 

paper, will be supported by a 
pledge of the University’s General 
Revenues,” the action request 
reads. General Revenues refers 
to 
“revenues 
from 
students, 

athletics, housing” and a plethora 
of other University cash flows.

campus. Central to that effort is 
a plan to alert the parents of first-
year students who incur a second 
violation 
of 
the 
University’s 

alcohol policies. The University’s 
Division of Public Safety and 
Security also plans to increase 
engagement efforts in off-campus 
neighborhoods.

Citing 
current 
work 
to 

develop a campus-wide diversity 

initiative, Pollack asked members 
of 
SACUA 
to 
consider 
how 

the faculty governance could 
be involved with the ongoing 
planning process.

Last 
week, 
University 

President Mark Schlissel said 
the University would finalize a 
campus-wide strategic diversity 
plan by the end of the school year. 
For now, Schlissel said individual 
University units and departments 
would play a role in suggesting 
policy changes or new initiatives 
designed to improve equity and 
inclusion at the University — a 

process in which faculty are 
expected to play a key role.

Kinesiology 
Prof. 
Stefan 

Szymanski, a SACUA member, 
suggested the University improve 
its outreach efforts in Detroit.

“Walking 
down 
Woodward 

Avenue 
there’s 
a 
wonderful 

building 
with 
MSU 
slogans 

everywhere and big bold letters 
everywhere, and then we have 
a little building with little block 
‘M’s and it just seemed very 
striking,” he said.

While Pollack acknowledged 

that the University needs to 

families.”

FAFSA has already changed 

dramatically under the Obama 
administration. Last January, the 
president announced significant 
cuts to the application’s length, 
shaving the process down by 
approximately 20 minutes to 
make applying easier and faster.

University alum Cecilia Muñoz, 

director of the White House 
Domestic Policy Council, and 
Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of 
Education, further explained the 
new initiative in a media phone 
conference Monday afternoon.

Muñoz said the administration 

decided to change FAFSA’s due 
date because the current January 
deadline falls during a time where 
filing taxes for most families 

coincides with FAFSA deadlines 
and 
the 
release 
of 
college 

decisions.

“These 
changes 
will 

essentially eliminate the largest 
roadblocks to FAFSA completion, 
as well as this truncated time 
period during which people — 
students and their families — are 
making what could be the most 
important financial decision of 
their lives,” Muñoz said. “So this 
administrative effort is going 
to mean an easier, and earlier, 
FAFSA.”

Currently FAFSA uses a tax 

retrieval tool to fill-in financial 
information, 
which 
is 
only 

available to families after they 
have filed their taxes. Four-
million students currently file 
their FAFSA information prior to 
their taxes.

Now, 
family 
income 

information will be evaluated 

from each of the two years prior 
to a student’s college application 
— or “prior-prior year data” — to 
determine if income has changed 
significantly over that period of 
time. The change will make it 
easier for families to record their 
financial data.

Mark 
Kantrowitz, 
senior 

vice president and publisher of 
edvisors.com, is an expert on 
student financial aid and said 
the shift to using prior-prior year 
data will have a serious impact 
on students’ financial aid and 
graduation rate.

“Prior-prior year will also 

yield an improvement in college 
graduation rates,” Kantrowitz 
said. “Currently, about 2 million 
low income students don’t file 
the FAFSA, even though they 
would qualify for a Federal Pell 
Grant. Some don’t do it because 
of the complexity of the form. 

Some don’t do it because they 
are enrolled at low-cost colleges 
and think they can work their 
way through college. But people 
who work a full-time job are half 
as likely to graduate as students 
who work 12 hours or less a 
week. Some don’t do it because 
they think they aren’t eligible for 
grants, just for loans. So, making 
the process easier will encourage 
more students to file the FAFSA. 
If these students then use the 
financial aid to reduce their work 
hours, they will be more likely to 
graduate.”

Duncan said he believes the 

changes will help students and 
families make more informed 
decisions earlier.

“We think this small step to 

make students’ lives easier could 
have a huge impact over time,” 
Duncan said. “We’re estimating 
that over the next several years, 

literally hundreds of thousands of 
additional students will actually 
gain access to critical student 
aid each year because more 
students and their families will 
find it easier to apply for that aid. 
That’s financial aid that students 
absolutely need and deserve, and 
that historically, sadly, they were 
leaving on the table.”

Pamela W. Fowler, executive 

director 
of 
the 
University’s 

Office of Financial Aid, said the 
University is eager to get started 
with the new changes.

“Those of us in the higher-

education field have advocated 
for this change for some time,” 
Fowler said. “This is a positive 
move for our students and 
families and will allow our 
prospective families to assess 
their financial situation earlier in 
the decision-making process.”

3-News

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, September 15, 2015 — 3

 

Playboy Magazine 
lists University as a 
top party school

The University of Michigan 

was listed in 10th place in 
Playboy Magazine’s 2015 Top 
Party School list.

Leading the list was Ohio 

University of Akron. This year 
is the first time the university 
was the top school and only the 
fourth time it’s been included in 
the list.

Last year the University of 

Pennsylvania , which wasn’t 
included in the list this year, was 
chosen as the top party school in 
the country.

Playboy chooses schools to 

make the cut based off of the 
school’s nightlife, concerts, and 
the degree of creativity involved 
with planning party themes.

NEWS BRIEFS

FOUND CAT: Feline was found outside of 420 Maynard at 10:00 
p.m. Monday night. Email jcalfas@michigandaily.com if you have 

details on this cat’s owner.

FAFSA
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PROVOST
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laws, improve the physical 
conditions of the roadway, 
address the safety and access 
for 
all 
users 
and 
reduce 

distractions. The task force 
said their goal is zero traffic 
fatalities.

The task force surveyed more 

than 1,000 members of the Ann 
Arbor community, as well as 
consulted experts in the field.

“The Task Force wants these 

recommendations to become 
reality and hopes that you 
will work to implement them 
through creation of a formal 
Pedestrian Safety Plan that 
recognizes pedestrian safety 
and access as an important 
component of City policy, and 
practice and one that deserves a 
level of funding commensurate 
with its importance to the City 
and its residents,” Feldt wrote 
in an opening letter to the 
Council.

After 
addressing 
the 

statistics, 
the 
report 
then 

goes on to outline the five 
underlying issues that Council 
and the city of Ann Arbor 
needs to address. These issues 
include the unavailability of 
comfortable and convenient 
sidewalks, 
as 
well 
as 

unfamiliarity 
with 
traffic 

laws, a disconnect between 
roadway 
user 
expectations 

and 
conditions, 
failure 
to 

consider the perspective of all 
transportation system users 
and distracted roadway users.

Members of the Ann Arbor 

community identified a variety 
of potential causes, including 
situations where motorists fail 
to yield for pedestrians, as well 
as snow and ice accumulation 
on sidewalks and speeding in 
residential neighborhoods.

To 
conclude 
the 
report, 

detailed 
descriptions 
of 

how the city could address 
these 
issues. 
Each 
solution 

or 
recommendation 
was 

related back to an objective 
aforementioned in the document.

Scott 
Campbell, 
a 
task 

force 
member, 
presented 

said Council should consider 
different 
ways 
to 
address 

crosswalks on busy roads.

“One of the biggest issues 

that we’ve seen is the danger 
of multi-lane traffic in each 
direction,” Campbell said. “One 
thing recommended is to have 

advanced stop bars, which give 
a good distance between the 
stopped car and the crosswalk.”

Anthony 
Pinnell, 
another 

task force member, discussed 
speeding and distracted driving.

“One idea is implementing 

local ordinance banning hand-
held (devices) and even hands-
free devices,” Pinnell said. “More 
and more states have statewide 
bans and it’s mostly becoming 
a topic because using devices is 
overtaking alcohol accidents.”

Councilmember Jane Lumm 

(D–Ward 2) raised questions 
regarding police enforcement 
of pedestrian laws.

“My sense is that there is 

no magic and there aren’t 
officers 
sitting 
around 

doing nothing,” Lumm said. 
“Additional enforcement would 
require more officers, or more 
overtime, therefore some parts 
of policing may be sacrificed.” 

Councilmember 
Stephen 

Kunselman 
(D–Ward 
3) 

wanted to know how the task 
force addressed jaywalking, an 
element that he felt was missing 
from the report.

“We have a lot of young 

pedestrians in the downtown,” 
Kunselman said. “It seems like 
they are the ones that need 
enforcement, not the drivers 
that are trying to dodge them.”

Feldt 
responded 
to 

Kunselman’s question by noting 
that pedestrians are similar in 
behavior to deer. She said that 
one of the best solutions to 
addressing pedestrian safety is 
for motorists to slow down as 
they would for deer.

After 
discussing 
general 

pedestrian safety, the task force 
then addressed snow and ice 
removal in the city.

“Everyone 
is 
demanding 

higher standards when it comes 
to snow and ice removal,” 
Pinnell said. “The current 
ordinance and its enforcement 
are inadequate.”

The solution to inadequate 

snow removal included defining 
an 
exact 
ordinance 
with 

standards that are easy to follow 
and fulfill. The task force also 
recommended low and no-cost 
solutions 
for 
community 

members that need assistance.

The 
task 
force 
also 

empathized to the Council the 
significant effect of inadequate 
snow removal on the elderly 
and disabled citizens of Ann 
Arbor as another issue the 
proposal would address.

PEDESTRIANS
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PUBLIC HEALTH
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DELANEY RYAN/Daily

Martha Pollack, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, discusses the new HAIL scholarship for high-
achieving, low-income students at a SACUA meeting in the Fleming Administration Building on Monday. The new scholar-
ship program will pay full tuition and fees for four years and make the admissions process more accessible. 

continue to expand its presence 
in Detroit, she also noted the 
University programs already in 
place with that aim.

She said a recent survey 

indicated 
the 
University 
has 

more than 300 research, outreach 
and service initiatives active 
in Detroit. Among them is the 
University’s 
Detroit 
Center, 

which assists local students in 
completing college application 
and FAFSA forms.

SACUA 
member 
Angela 

Fagerlin, associate professor of 
internal 
medicine, 
questioned 

how the University was planning 
to help students from under-
resourced high schools adjust to 
the University’s level of rigor.

“(They) don’t know how to 

interact with the system as well so 
they get lost here among the other 
40,000 kids,” Fagerlin said.

While 
Pollack 
said 
the 

University 
is 
continuing 
to 

develop initiatives to address 
this issue, she pointed to the 
University’s high graduation rate 
as evidence that many students 
are successful here no matter 
their background.

The next SACUA meeting will 

take place Sept. 21.

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