something like this, we’re really 
able to engage with the student 
body.”

Public Health student Amaal 

Haimout, president of MGSA, said 
she was inspired to collaborate 
with El-Halwagi after one of her 

friends told her that 200 refugee 
families were relocating to Grand 
Rapids.

“Now, it’s definitely a personal 

issue because it’s a car ride away,” 
Haimout said.

Haimout said many University 

students are unaware of the 
crisis, and the vigil aimed to draw 
attention to the cause.

“I don’t want to generalize, 

but there are a lot of privileged 
students here,” she said. “I 
thought it’d be a great way to 
empower those who are relocating 
to Michigan to go out of their way 
to help those who need help.”

LSA senior Dana Basha and 

Muslim 
chaplain 
Mohammed 

Tayssir spoke at the event. Both 
are of Syrian descent and both 
have family members who fled 

the turmoil in Syria.

Basha urged students to see the 

situation not as a set of statistics, 
but as difficult circustances facing 
human beings.

“I 
refuse 
to 
make 
this 

something that’s characterized 
by numbers,” Basha said. “These 
are human beings that have been 
facing atrocities and torture the 
human mind cannot fathom.”

Medical 
School 
student 

Mariam Salman echoed Basha’s 
desire to humanize those affected 
by the situation in Syria.

“It is really easy to just forget 

that they are people with their 
own families and their own 
backgrounds and memories and 
loved ones,” she said. “They have 
lives and dreams that have been 
shattered.”

An association of more than 

60 
research 
universities 
in 

the United States and Canada, 
the 
nonprofit 
AAU 
focuses 

on policy studies and federal-
government relations in areas 
such as research policy and 
research funding. For example, 
the AAU released the results 
last week from a national survey 
designed to study sexual assault 
on college campuses. 

The University was one of the 

AAU’s founding members when 
the association formed in 1900.

“No one better understands 

the challenges and opportunities 
facing higher education than 
Mary Sue Coleman,” University 
President Mark Schlissel wrote 
in a statement released Tuesday 
afternoon. “I deeply appreciate 
her willingness to take on this 
crucial role for our nation, and 
I look forward to continuing to 
work with her.”

Coleman 
served 
as 
the 

University’s 
13th 
president 

until her retirement in 2014. 
She’s no stranger to the national 
stage when it comes to higher 
education policy. During her 
tenure at the University, she 
served as AAU chair from 2011 
to 2012 and was appointed 
to 
co-chair 
the 
Obama 

administration’s 
National 

Advisory Council on Innovation 
and 
Entrepreneurship. 
A 

biochemist 
by 
training, 

Coleman was also selected last 
fall to serve on the board of the 
Mayo Clinic. 

According to Barry Toiv, 

the AAU vice president for 
public affairs, the position will 
be based in Washington D.C. 
Toiv said the AAU president 
frequently interacts with the 
presidents and chancellors of 
AAU member institutions and 
organizes 
their 
twice-yearly 

meetings in Washington D.C. 

“The 
day-to-day 
job 
is 

mainly about coordinating and 
participating in the work of 
the AAU staff, which focuses 
on advocating with Congress, 
the 
Administration, 
and 
the 

public on such issues as support 
for federally funded research, 
federal research policy, support 
for federal student aid programs, 
and higher education policy,” 
Toiv wrote in an e-mail interview.

Toiv 
said 
the 
AAU 
is 

not 
releasing 
details 
about 

Coleman’s compensation for the 
new position at this time.

Rep. Debbie Dingell (D—

Dearborn) 
applauded 
the 

appointment in a statement 
released Tuesday.

“The Association of American 

Universities can have no better 
leader than Mary Sue Coleman,” 
she wrote. “She understands 
the importance of promoting 
equal access to education and 
how 
research 
universities 

are engines that propel our 
economy by supporting top 
talent and innovative ideas. She 
will be an effective advocate 
for students and will work 
tirelessly to expand the reach 
and capabilities of our research 
universities, which are vital to 
America’s success.”

COLEMAN
From Page 1A

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, September 30, 2015 — 3A

Department 
of Theatre and 
Drama marks 
centennial 

The University was the first 

U.S. university to offer theater 
production classes for credit in 
1915. The Department of Theatre 
and Drama is now celebrating its 
100th anniversary, as well as 125 
years of offering acting classes 
for credit.

In celebration of the centennial, 

StarKid, a successful group of 
writers, 
directors, 
designers, 

actors 
and 
directors, 
formed 

at the University in 2009, will 
perform a reunion concert during 
Homecoming on October 8.

The festivities will continue 

with 
alumni-hosted 
career 

sessions featuring Tony-winning 
Broadway director Jack O’Brien.

Student 
performances 
of 

University 
alum 
and 
famed 

playwright Arthur Miller’s “All 
My Sons” will run Oct. 8 to Oct. 
18 at the Arthur Miller Theatre 
at the School of Music Theatre & 
Dance’s Walgreen Drama Center. 

— Lara Moehlman

University. An example of this 
recent inclusion was engaging 
students in discussion regarding 
the best place to relocate the 
Trotter Multicultural Center.

The context: Entering into 

his first year as president of the 
University, Schlissel was quick 
to prioritize addressing the issue 
of diversity and inclusion on 
campus. Doing so was a pillar of 
his inaugural address on Sept. 7 of 
last year.

“The University of Michigan 

must be a diverse and democratic 
community: open and accessible,” 
Schlissel said. “As members of 
this community we will always 
seek out, encourage and value all 
voices.”

***

One year before Schlissel’s 

arrival, the Black Student Union 
launched its #BBUM movement 
on Twitter. The “Being Black 
at the University of Michigan” 
hashtag, which Black students 
used to share their experiences on 
campus, went viral and sparked 
similar social media reactions on 
other college campuses.

Two months later, on Martin 

Luther King Jr. Day in 2014, 
the BSU held protests on the 
steps of Hill Auditorium, where 
they listed seven demands they 
wanted the University address in 
seven days.

The 
BSU 
asked 
for 
an 

increased 
budget, 
affordable 

housing 
on 
central 
campus, 

for the Trotter Multicultural 
Center to be moved to Central 
Campus, a Race and Ethnicity 
class requirement, emergency 
scholarships, exposure of Bentley 
Historical Library documents 
on race at the University and 10 
Black enrollment.

In a January interview on 

the anniversary of the #BBUM 
protests, 
then-Engineering 

senior Robert Greenfield — who 
was BSU’s treasurer at the time — 
said the movement’s momentum 
had slowed significantly.

“University 
administration 

is made of the highest and best 
servants of our University, and 
the BSU is very appreciative of 
how they have collaborated with 
us,” he said. “However, as of 
now, it is the overall sentiment 
of the BSU that progress is not 
being made, and as an executive 
board, we’re questioning the 
administration’s 
willingness 

due to how fast things are 
progressing.”

***

Arguably, 
the 
#BBUM 

campaign played a pivotal role in 
amplifying the discussion about 
campus 
diversity, 
providing 

momentum 
for 
change 
that 

continued to roll forward as 
Schlissel took office.

In September 2014 — just 

weeks 
into 
Schlissel’s 
first 

semester at the University — 
with #BBUM and subsequent 
conversations in recent memory, 
the 
administration 
issued 

a 
“Diversity, 
Equality 
and 

Inclusion Report” report with 
13 recommendations for how to 
increase diversity on campus and 
improve campus climate.

The 
recommendations, 

generated by a committee through 
the Office of the Provost, included 
the creation of a committee to 
research the level of inclusion 
among faculty members, a plan to 
partner with schools to increase 
minority enrollment, a public 
campaign by the provost in 
support of diversity and a call for 
the creation of the “strategic plan 
for diversity.”

In a September 2015 interview 

with the Daily, Schlissel said the 
fully developed plan will likely be 
released by the end of this school 
year. The final result will come 
from the collective feedback 
of individual evaluations from 
each of the University’s schools 
and colleges as well as from each 
administrative office.

Last 
February, 
Schlissel 

announced several enterprises in 
the works focusing on diversity 
and inclusion on campus — many 
of which were recommended 
by University Provost Martha 
Pollack’s 
committee 
in 

September. 
These 
included 

partnering with predominantly 
underrepresented 
school 

districts, 
creating 
a 
task 

force dedicated to hiring and 
promoting minority staff as well 
as a diversity summit to take 
place in the fall.

“The plan has to work towards 

the goal of making the University 
community look like the public it 
serves,” Schlissel said in February. 
“It sounds simplistic: There aren’t 
numerical quotas — that’s not 
either legal or desirable — there’s 
a shared ambition and we’re trying 
to release the creativity of all of our 
different units.”

February’s 
announcement 

marked 
the 
plan’s 
formal 

introduction. Seven months later, 
its formal deadline was set; less 
than seven months from now will 
mark the beginning of strategy 
implementation that will likely 
influence climate, culture and 
general practices for years to 
come.

“It’s not the kind of thing I’m 

convinced where we have a three-
year plan and then we’re done,” 
Schlissel said in September. “I 
am convinced that 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.”

***

The first leg of Schlissel’s plan 

launched Sept. 2 when Schlissel 
announced the High Achieving 
Involved Leader Scholarship.

The scholarship program is 

currently being piloted for two 
years by the University with 
aims to attract academically 
strong students from low-income 
families — applying to students 
from urban, rural or suburban 
neighborhoods. 
The 
program 

offers four years of free tuition 
to the University, and is valued at 
$60,000.

“As a public university, we 

want to make sure that we 
remain accessible and affordable 
to talented students in the state,” 
Schlissel said. “No matter where 
they are in the state, no matter 
what community they grow up 
in, what high school they went to, 
what their parents do, what their 
circumstances are.”

The University has yet to 

release the demographics of 
the 6,269 students in the 2015 
freshman 
class. 
However, 

enrollment 
data 
from 
2015 

shows 3.84 percent of the newly 
admitted student body was Black. 
This brings the total percentage 
of Black students enrolled at 
the University to 4.63 percent 
— slightly lower than in the 
previous five years.

In his September interview 

with the Daily, Schlissel said the 
University would “start to see 
modest incremental changes in 
the direction of diversity now,” 
based on changes made to the 
admissions and financial aid 
procedures in the last year.

Prior to Schlissel’s arrival, 

the administration had put in 
place the Center for Educational 
Outreach, which came out of 
a 
2007 
Diversity 
Blueprints 

Committee. The CEO offers more 
than a dozen programs aimed to 
both increase the University’s 
presence 
in 
underserved 

communities and offer academic 
aid to those students.

The 
center 
aided 
4,558 

students in 2014 from third 
grade through high school in 124 
schools in the state of Michigan. 
Schlissel’s proposed plans to 
increase 
partnerships 
with 

underrepresented schools is a 
start to solving the low minority 
enrollment numbers, as there 
currently is no concrete data 
on how well similar programs 
already in place — such as the 
CEO program — affect minority 
enrollment. 

***

So far, of the seven demands 

the BSU laid out for the University 
to address, four have been 
addressed. The administration 
has nearly doubled the BSU’s 
funding — from $37,000 in 
2014 to $60,000 this year. BSU 
members have been encouraged 
by some of the administration’s 
efforts in areas such as providing 
emergency funds to students, as 
well as the revising the Race and 
Ethnicity requirements so that 
Intergroup Relations courses will 
count toward it.

However, 
BSU 
members 

say there is more to be done 
— especially in areas such as 
increasing minority enrollment 
and moving the Trotter Center 
closer to campus.

In 
response 
to 
#BBUM, 

Pollack promised in January 2014 
to improve the building. At the 
time, Pollack and Harper listed 
the Trotter Center’s relocation 
among their top three priorities 
to be addressed immediately. 
The other two were improving 
campus climate and increasing 
minority enrollment.

The University has agreed 

to ultimately move the Trotter 
Center closer to campus. The 
Office of Student Life hosted a 
number of student focus groups at 
the current location in September 
to discuss four potential options.

E. 
Royster 
Harper, 
vice 

president for student life, said 
in a September interview with 
the Daily that wherever the 
new location may be, it will be 
finished by 2017.

***

LSA senior Arnold Reed, the 

2014-2015 BSU speaker, said 
though the BSU has not worked 
very closely with Schlissel, the 
organization has been pleased 
with the administration’s efforts 
thus far and is looking forward 
to increased collaboration in the 
future.

“The 
gap 
between 

administration and students is 
narrowing over time, which I’m 
appreciative of,” Reed said. “I 
hope to continue working with 
them in years to come.”

Robert Sellers, vice provost for 

equity, inclusion and academic 
affairs, said, overall, students 
are 
happy 
with 
the 
steps 

Schlissel has taken over the past 
year. Sellers served as chair of 
Pollack’s committee on diversity 
and inclusion.

“The number of students 

that I talk to have been excited 
about where we are and where 
we’re going,” Sellers said. “The 
fact that he has been very public 
and upfront with regards to this 
being an important part of his 
presidency. Also the fact that 
he has laid forth a diversity 
strategic planning process that 
will engage the entire University 
towards thinking about and 
developing and recommitting 
to a strategy that will not only 
create a more diverse campus, 
but one that’s equitable for all 
students, faculty and staff and 
allow us to utilize the various 
kinds of experiences that a 
diverse campus brings.”

A priority for Sellers and 

Schlissel 
is 
to 
improve 
the 

Diversity Matters website as 
a place for students to share 
experiences and foster discussion 
online. They hope the new version 
of the website will help connect 
students with pre-existing online 
resources while also creating new 

platforms for interaction.

Moving forward: Reed said he 

was happy Schlissel has a plan, 
but said he cannot be sure of how 
much of an impact it will make at 
this point.

“A plan is a great place to start, 

but a plan is definitely just a plan 
until action is put behind it,” 
Reed said. “I’m going to be very 
interested to see how that action 
is put behind it and how students 
are going to be playing a role in 
that narrative. I think that it’s a 
good thing for him to be talking 
about it and rallying behind it, but 
I just want to see what becomes 
of it in the years to come. We’re 
definitely holding administration 
to that plan.”

Something everyone seems 

to agree upon is that diversity 
issues cannot be solved within 
one year’s time. Sellers is pleased 
with how much Schlissel has 
accomplished 
over 
the 
past 

year as well as his approach 
to 
addressing 
diversity. 
He 

said while Schlissel can lead 
the efforts to improve campus 
diversity, it’s up to members of 
the University community to put 
an effort into creating change.

“It’s important for folks to 

understand that he has made 
a great deal of progress in the 
eight months, in terms of his 
commitment, both publicly and 
privately, more so than one could 
even begin to imagine,” Sellers 
said. “He has a serious view of 
this, so he doesn’t see this as a box 
to check off his checklist in terms 
of issues to address, but he sees it 
as a long-term commitment.”

Sellers continued highlighting 

the importance of Schlissel’s 
long-term outlook.

“That long-term commitment 

means that it’s not going to be 
solved in a semester. The issues 
that face this University, or 
frankly face higher education 
in our society, cannot be fixed 
in a semester,” Sellers said. “I 
would, quite frankly, be afraid if 
that was his approach. That just 
tells me that he’s serious about 
it because he sees this as a long-
term effort that the University as 
a whole must engage in to have 
real transformation, and to have 
real, sustained achievement.”

Reed also noted the ongoing 

process of promoting diversity as 
well as his confidence in Schlissel 
to take on the job.

“There’s 
things 
that 
we 

can always improve. This is 
something that you can’t just 
work on once — it’s a continual 
process,” Reed said. “I’m excited 
to see what comes of it. He’s still 
pretty new at this point and he’s 
growing into his role. I’m just 
really excited to see where he 
can take these issues. He’s a very 
strategic thinker and he’s very 
methodical in his movements, 
and I think that we’ll be able to 
see a lot of cool things being done 
this upcoming year.”

SCHLISSEL
From Page 1A

flipping through the course 
catalog. Archeology wasn’t ever 
something that I had thought 
of as something I could study at 
the University. I mean, I knew 
archeology was a field, but it 
never occurred to me to major in 
classical archeology.”

Nakassis, who went on to 

major in classical archeology 
when he was a student, also 
took classes in ancient Greek. 
Doing so catered to both honing 
his 
academic 
interests 
and 

reconnecting with his family 
roots — his father grew up in 
Greece, where, he said, learning 
the ancient language was part of 
the high school curriculum.

“They were just the best 

classes. They were so well taught 
and so interesting and I was 
pretty much hooked after that,” 
Nakassis said. “From there, I had 
a very, very clear idea of what I 
wanted to do … It was just sort 
of luck of the draw, having really 
great and inspiring professors.”

One 
of 
his 
influential 

professors during his time at 
the University, Nakassis said, 
was Susan Alcock, who was a 
MacArthur recipient in 2000.

“It feels weird to think of 

myself or to be in the same 
category with someone like 
her,” he said. “That’s the other 
weird thing about winning the 
MacArthur. So much attention is 
on you and part of me just wants 
to be like, ‘I’ve only been able to 
get here because I’ve had, like, 
the best professors.’ I really feel 
like, at Michigan, I was exposed 
to some of the best professors in 
the field.”

The University is currently 

the only college in the state with 
a classics department. Michigan 
State University’s final classics 
major graduated in May 2014.

“I think it is an unfortunate 

reality of the financial crunch 
that 
a 
lot 
of 
universities 

are 
feeling,” 
Nakassis 
said. 

“Michigan’s a shining light, for 
sure, in classics … it would be 
better for the people at Michigan 
if it weren’t the only one.”

GENIUS
From Page 1A

and we asked them about binge 
drinking, which for youth is five 
or more drinks in one occasion,” 
she said. “Just based on the 
responses to those questions, we 
determine what’s risky drinking.”

The results of the trial were 

overwhelmingly positive, as both 
outlets of intervention proved 
effective in reducing alcohol 
consumption 
and 
drinking-

related consequences.

Particularly 
promising 

was the effectiveness of the 
computer program, which was 
significantly able to reduce the 
frequency 
of 
alcohol-related 

injuries. According to the study, 
a brief computer intervention 
correlated with a decrease in the 
instances of driving under the 
influence in the 12-month follow-
up period.

“The idea that technology 

can be used to deliver health 
interventions, 
not 
just 
for 

alcohol as it can be used for other 
behaviors as well, is an exciting 
way to address health behaviors 
in a low-cost way,” Walton said.

Medical 
School 
student 

Stephan 
Diljak, 
co-president 

of 
the 
University’s 
chapter 

of 
the 
American 
Medical 

Student Association, said the 
potential of increasing the role 
of technology in mitigating 
behavior is a “cool idea.”

“It seems to me that it sounds 

very similar to methods that 
have been proven to work to 
get people to quit smoking,” 
he said. “This sort of thing has 
more of an effect than family or 
friends on getting people to quit. 
I definitely believe that it could 
be a valuable way to get people 
to change their behavior for the 
better of their health.”

The results of the trial are 

promising, but there is still a long 
road ahead before any policy can 
be implemented, including the 
need for repetition of the trial.

“I 
don’t 
think 
it 
will 

immediately change practice,” 
Walton said. “I think changing 
practice in clinical care takes time. 
One of the limitations of the study 
is that it was conducted in a single 
emergency department setting 
and before you would implement 
this as part of clinical care we 
would like to see it replicated.”

Walton and her team are also 

currently applying for funding 
to attempt to replicate their 
findings in eight emergency 

departments across the country.

Medical School student Shai 

Madjar said broadening the 
study’s scope could potentially 
change the delivery of health 
interventions in the long run.

“From a medical point of view, 

I think that it’s really hard to 
change people’s behavior — even 
risky behavior,” he said. “In the 
hospital, you often have so little 
time talk to people, so if you can 
show that a brief intervention 
like the ones discussed in the 
trial can have an impact that 
stays true over time that would 
be really important.”

This ability for a computer 

intervention to have such a 
significant effect on behavior 
could have long-term effects 
on how patients and doctors 
interact. 
Walton 
added 
that 

the medical community will 
undoubtedly continue to look into 
ways to curb underage drinking 
— an issue the University has also 
grappled with in recent years.

“I think there’s a real interest 

in medical studies, including 
the emergency department, in 
reducing injury and alcohol is a key 
risk factor in injury and therefore 
I think that a lot of hospital 
personnel are very committed to 
this issue,” Walton said. 

EMERGENCY
From Page 1A

VIGIL
From Page 1A

125 YEARS NEVER LOOKED SO GOOD.

