michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
ONE-HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
CAMPUS CONTEXT
President slated to
roll out strategic
initiative on inclusion
by spring 2016
By EMMA KINERY
Daily Staff Reporter
University
President
Mark
Schlissel
and
his
administration
have
spent
the
last academic year
working to roll out new policy
initiatives
regarding
several
campus issues — most notably
athletics, diversity, alcohol abuse
and Greek life. This week, The
Michigan Daily reviews the events
that got the ball rolling. Today,
we consider Schlissel’s work to
address campus diversity, namely
through the gradual unveiling
of his administration’s strategic
campus plan to be released by the
end of this year.
The overview: Diversity has
long been a battle-tested issue
at
the
University.
Currently,
minority
enrollment
lies
at
11.53 percent — and in recent
years, students have continually
lobbied the University to make
the campus more welcoming to
minority students, both in terms
of social climate and admissions.
The
changes:
University
President Mark Schlissel has
worked to address the school’s
apparent lack of diversity by
introducing
a
campus-wide
strategic plan, which he will
unveil at the end of this school
year (also the end of his second
year in office). Most recently,
this
has
included
launching
the HAIL Scholarship, which
offers full-ride tuition for high-
achieving, low-income students.
Initiatives through the Office of
Student Life have also sought to
heavily incorporate students in
catalyzing culture shift at the
Speakers focus on
humanizing those
affected by
the crisis
By TANYA MADHANI
Daily Staff Reporter
University students and Ann
Arbor residents gathered on the
Diag on Tuesday at a vigil for
Syrian refugees.
The
University’s
Muslim
Graduate Students Association
and
Muslim
Law
Students
Association held the vigil to
honor Syrian refugees who lost
their lives and those who are
still struggling to reach a safety.
The flood of Syrian refugees
into Europe has sparked debate
in recent weeks as world leaders
struggle with how to handle the
influx of people fleeing unrest in
their home country.
Third-year law student Omar
El-Halwagi,
co-president
of
MLSA, said he and the president
of MGSA decided to hold the
vigil to call attention to issues
impacting Muslims globally.
“There is no greater human
rights crisis right now than
the Syrian refugee (crisis) and
we’re all watching it unfold,”
El-Halwagi said. “We’ve been
watching it unfold for years. We
finally felt there was enough
momentum to get something
done.”
El-Halwagi said he hopes
students become better informed
on the issue so that it will be more
likely they will take action in the
future.
“We have the next generation
of leaders attending this school
and they need to be able to be
aware of what’s going on,” he said.
“I also think college campuses
are really ripe for activism and
advocacy. By being able to put on
Dimitri Nakassis
wins $650,000
to pursue study
focused on classics
By TANYA MADHANI
Daily Staff Reporter
In the fall of 1993, then-LSA
freshman Dimitri Nakassis was
flipping through a course pack to
decide which classes he wanted
to take when he stumbled upon
two courses that piqued his
interest: Introduction to Field
Archeology, and Intro to Greek
Art and Architecture.
Twenty-two
years
later,
Nakassis’ research on Mycenaean
Greek society — which represents
the last phase of the Bronze Age
in Ancient Greece — and the
relationship between its nobility
and working class earned him the
2015 MacArthur Fellowship. He
is one of 24 individuals to receive
the fellowship, a stipend of
$625,000 that is often referred to
as the “genius grant.” This year’s
winners also include Atlantic
correspondent Ta Nehisi-Coates
and playwright and actor Lin
Manuel Miranda.
“It’s part of a bigger project of
trying to understand Mycenae
society, not just by looking at the
people in the palace and not just
looking at the palace, but also
by looking at what’s happening
outside the palace,” he said. “So,
if you wanted to understand Ann
Arbor, you couldn’t just look at
the University campus, right?”
Much of Nakassis’s study is
dedicated to researching ancient
Greek linear tablets, which are
scripts that recorded the earliest
form of the Greek language. The
tablets are administrative palatial
documents that note the events
at the palace and the individuals
present.
“Like a lot of students, I
wasn’t really sure what to major
in,”
Nakassis
said.
“Initially
my plan was to double major or
have a double concentration in
history or economics. I was in
my room at Markley and I was
ACADEMICS
Study says
emergency room
talks could change
risky behavior
By LYDIA MURRAY
For the Daily
The results of a recently
released five-year trial from the
University of Michigan Injury
Center discovered that short
interventions by hospital staff or
computer programs correlated
with decreases in underage
alcohol consumption.
Patients ages 14-20 admitted
to the emergency department
were asked to report on their
drinking
behaviors,
and
researchers evaluated whether
or not their behaviors were
considered risky.
Those
whom
researchers
found to be “risky drinkers”
were then randomly assigned
to receive a short intervention
by means of a therapist or a
computer program.
Associate
Psychiatry
Prof.
Maureen Walton, one of the
study’s lead authors, outlined the
research metrics:
“We
asked
them
three
questions
about
how
many
drinks per week they have and
how many days per week that
they
drink,
HIGHER EDUCATION
President emerita
to lead association
of 62 research
universities
By SAM GRINGLAS
Managing News Editor
University
President
Emerita Mary Sue Coleman
has been named president of
the Association of American
Universities.
The
appointment
is
effective June 1. Coleman
succeeds Hunter Rawlings
III, who led the organization
since 2011 and announced his
plans to retire from the post
in May.
“Hunter Rawlings has done
an exceptional job as AAU
president in advancing our
collective impact as research
institutions,”
Coleman
wrote in a statement. “I am
eager to continue the work
of elevating the American
research
university
as
essential
to
our
nation’s
prosperity,
security,
and
well-being.”
See VIGIL, Page 3A
See SCHLISSEL, Page 3A
See COLEMAN, Page 3A
See EMERGENCY,
Page 3A
See GENIUS, Page 3A
RITA MORRIS/Daily
First-year Law student Shirin Makhkamova sets out candles over the block ‘M’ on the Diag to honor lives lost and in peril in the Syrian refugee crisis on Tuesday.
EMILIE FARRUGIA/Daily
LSA senior Aubrey O’Neal scales the side of the School of Dentistry during Michigan Parkour practice on Tuesday.
SPIDE R-WOM AN
RESEARCH
»
INSIDE
A look at the Greek life crisis
THE STATEMENT
One year in,
Schlissel says
diversity plan
moves ahead
Student groups organize
vigil for Syrian refugees
‘U’ alum given
MacArthur for
research about
ancient Greece
Small interventions shown
to decrease youth drinking
Coleman
appointed
next AAU
president
INDEX
Vol. CXXV, No. 1
©2015 The Michigan Daily
michigandaily.com
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THE STATEMENT..........1B
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