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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Friday, September 18, 2015
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Regents approve salary
increase to $772,500
By MICHAEL SUGERMAN
Daily News Editor
Now a year into his tenure, University President
Mark Schlissel will receive a pay raise.
The University’s Board of Regents unanimous-
ly voted at their September meeting Thursday to
bump Schlissel’s salary by approximately 3 percent
— effectively increasing his yearly earnings from
$750,000 to $772,500.
Schlissel’s five-year contract, which he signed
in 2014, provided for annual salary increases at the
regents’ discretion.
Regent Andrew Richner (R–Grosse Pointe)
proposed the salary increase, which was recom-
mended by the board’s Personnel, Compensation
and Governance Committee’s annual review of the
president.
Richner thanked Schlissel for getting to know
the Michigan community as well as assessing its
strengths and making moves to improve it. He tout-
ed Schlissel’s forthcoming diversity plan, efforts to
“enhance campus climate and safety,” the sexual
assault survey, new initiatives to increase the Uni-
versity’s affordability and his ability to “operate the
business of the University with best-in-class effi-
ciency.”
“We very much appreciate the job President
Schlissel has performed in his first year,” Richner
Marschall Runge to assume
role, continue as Health
System CEO, executive VP
By ALLANA AKHTAR
Daily Staff Reporter
University President Mark Schlissel recom-
mended Wednesday that Marschall Runge, the
current executive vice president for medical affairs
and CEO of the University of Michigan Health Sys-
tem, be additionally appointed dean of the Medical
School, effective Jan. 1.
Schlissel said he hopes the appointment will
facilitate joint research between the Medical
School and UMHS, sparking new collaborations
between medical research, education and patient
care.
“I know he shares my enthusiasm for this shared
alignment of all aspects of our mission and he looks
forward to carrying it forward through the health
system organization,” Schlissel said.
Runge’s new position as dean is part of an effort
to restructure leadership at UMHS. According to
Runge, UMHS has not seen the same innovation or
excellence in past decade as it has in prior years.
“In many areas we continue to do well, but in
others we have missed opportunities to build upon
our success and on our potential,” he said.
He said for UMHS to regain its position of excel-
lence among top medical centers, the University
must hire leaders willing to take risks, make bet-
ter decisions and strengthen performance in the
health system and medical school.
Active Minds seeks
to raise awareness of
suicide rates among
college students
By CHARLOTTE JENKINS
Daily Staff Reporter
Thousands of backpacks — 1,100
in total — covered the Diag Thursday
afternoon, representing the average
number of college students who com-
mit suicide every year in the United
States.
The display, titled Send Silence
Packing, was organized by the Uni-
versity’s chapter of Active Minds, a
national organization that aims to
raise mental health awareness on col-
lege campuses.
The backpacks were collected in
honor of students who have commit-
ted suicide. Many of the bags were
dedicated to individual students and
included fliers sharing memories
about those lost.
One flier included a message from a
mother about her son, Zachary Brunt,
who committed suicide three years
ago during his freshman year at Yale
University.
“(Zach) was the last person any-
one would ever associate with suicide
because he was confident, engaged,
curious, brilliant, handsome — the
TOTAL package,” she wrote. “Please
help us create a worthy legacy for
Zach by getting help if you need it and
by helping out friends in need.”
LSA junior Alexandria Kolenda,
Active Minds active members chair,
said the stigma attached to suicide
and mental health issues make it
more difficult for students to get help.
“I hope people learn to not be as
afraid to talk about mental health
issues and I hope people find their
own voices,” Kolenda said. “I want
them to know that they’re not alone.
We have so many resources to help
with this.”
Throughout the event, information
was distributed by representatives
from Counseling and Psychological
Services, Pulse, Wolverine Support
Network, the VA Ann Arbor Health-
care System, Services for Students
with Disabilities, the Spectrum Cen-
ter and the Depression Center.
In addition to posters with facts
about student suicide, Send Silence
Packing featured memory boards for
students to sign in solidarity with
those suffering from mental illness
and to share memories of friends lost
to suicide.
Kinesiology
sophomore
Ser-
ena Saake said she found the visual
nature of the display extremely pow-
erful.
“The way it is spread across the
Diag is really beautiful because of all
the people coming through here all
day every day,” Saake said. “You can
really visualize how much suicide
affects students.”
Vice president talks
transit, economic
recovery during brief
Michigan stop
By SAM GRINGLAS
Managing News Editor
DETROIT — When Joe Biden
arrived at the Detroit Department
of
Transportation
headquarters
Thursday, the group of shift workers
and local dignitaries who came to
see him offered the kind of welcome
you’d extend to an old friend.
“I want to introduce the man who
I keep saying is Detroit’s best friend:
Vice President Joe Biden,” said
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, joking
that the vice president has probably
spent more time in the city than any
place besides Washington, D.C.
Biden is no stranger to Detroit.
Thursday marked his fifth trip to the
city since Duggan assumed office a
year and a half ago. This time, the
vice president stopped to herald the
addition of 80 new buses to the city’s
fleet, secured with the help of federal
dollars.
Biden loves Detroit, and should he
decide to launch a bid for the presi-
dency as several media reports insist
he is considering, he may look to the
city and the state to love him back.
“Detroit isn’t just an important
city,” he told the crowd, a shining
city bus behind him. “It’s an iconic
city.”
In his speech, Biden touted the
city’s resurgence and the Obama
administration’s efforts to assist in
that process, such as securing funds
to restore street lighting and locating
a lightweight metals manufacturing
research institute in the city.
“We would never abandon the
people of Detroit,” he said. “It’s like
abandoning the heart of America.”
Throughout the speech, Biden
If passed, K-12
public schools in
Mich. would teach
affirmative consent
By EMMA KINERY
Daily Staff Reporter
Michigan Democrats are trying
to change the way consent is dis-
cussed in the state — starting with
how the concept is taught in schools.
Though a bill jointly introduced
Wednesday by state Sen. Curtis
Hertel Jr. (D–Meridian Twp.) and
state Rep. Tom Cochran (D–Mason)
will not change the definition of
consent in the state of Michigan as a
whole, it will require Michigan pub-
lic K-12 schools to focus on a con-
scious, affirmative “yes” as consent
to having sex.
The bill doesn’t impact Universi-
ty policies, but Hertel and Cochran
said they hoped the bill would
address the issue of sexual assault in
college by educating Michigan stu-
dents before they arrive on campus.
Several universities in the state
of Michigan have been or are cur-
rently under investigation by the
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
LSA sophomore Sydnee Koshar stops to read a memory of a lost loved one at the Send Silence Packing exhibit on the Diag on Thursday. The 1,100 backpacks placed on the lawn were
part of an educational presentation by Active Minds intended to bring awareness to the high rate of mental illness and suicide on college campuses.
GRANT HARDY/Daily
Vice President Joe Biden announces additional funding for the Detroit Department of Transportation at DDOT headquarters on
Thursday.
See SCHLISSEL, Page 3A
See HEALTH, Page 3A
See BIDEN, Page 3A
See CONSENT, Page 3A
A look at what it’s like to be
a Michigan football walk-on
Football Saturday
INDEX
Vol. CXXIV, No. 128
©2015 The Michigan Daily
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SUDOKU..................... 2A
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WEATHER
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Schlissel
to receive
3-percent
pay raise
New dean of
med. school
appointed
Bill would
alter how
consent is
explained
1,100 bags placed on Diag
to promote mental health
For Biden, Detroit embodies
personal story, political future
GOVERNMENT
See DEAN, Page 3A