“It is not, in other words, a
question of being groomed or
indoctrinated, but of losing faith
in mainstream moral frameworks
and searching for an alternative,”
he said. “Disengagement is, of
course, not simply a Muslim
issue. There is today widespread
disenchantment in the political
process,
a
sense
of
being
politically voiceless.”
Islam
was
not
an
all-
encompassing
philosophy
in
Malik’s father’s generation, he
said. The faith of his father’s
generation
represented
a
relationship with God, not a
sacrosanct public identity. The
Muslim identity of today has
been molded by society and then
appropriated by Muslims as a
means for asserting their own
agency.
“In the past, most Muslims,
in Britain or in France, would
have regarded their faith as one
strand among many,” Malik said.
“There’s a growing number that
see themselves as Muslim in an
almost tribal sense, for whom
the richness of the tapestry has
given way to an all-encompassing
monochrome cloak of faith.”
Common among all the people
turning to jihadism is their
distance
from
conventional
Muslim
traditions
and
institutions, Malik said, either
because they have rejected them,
or because they have come to
Islam late in life.
“If we try to explain away
complexity, it we try to reduce
complexity to a simple narrative,
we’re actually explaining away
the explanation,” Malik said.
“If we try to craft public policy
upon a simplistic narrative, it will
usually be disastrous.”
Karla Mallette, a professor
of Italian and director of the
Center for European Studies and
the Islamic Studies Program,
introduced Malik to attendees
as a “rare creature” and public
intellectual who has a robust
presence in the public sphere.
“We were looking for somebody
who
could
be
a
thoughtful
and
intelligent
correspondent
to talk to us about the lives of
Muslims in the UK and really
throughout
Europe,”
Mallette
said in an interview with the
Daily. “Kenan Malik was highly
recommended to us and really
is one of the most insightful and
incisive commenters on the lives
of European Muslims.”
The
Center
for
European
Studies and the Islamic Studies
Program are running a series on
the lives of European Muslims,
what brings them together and
how they interact with other
communities
“What we’re able to do at
the International Institute is
to bring people who are from
other parts of the world to really
internationalize the University
community to a lot of people,
to think through problems that
are being faced in other parts of
the world with people who are
coming directly from that region,”
Mallette said.
Some speakers representing
the disabled community of
Ann Arbor spoke out against
the ordinance’s amendments,
saying the changes did not go
far enough.
“I look at this issue as a human
decency issue,” said Ann Arbor
resident Daniel Heumann at the
meeting. “I’ve lived in weather
worse than Ann Arbor. I have
to say after living in Ann Arbor,
I’ve had the most difficult time
getting around here than any
other city.”
Heumann said he felt the
ordinance was too lenient and
neglects not just the disabled
community, but everyone in
Ann Arbor.
“We need to be a city that
allows for all of us to be able to
get around easily,” Heumann
said. “Despite the fact that
winter here is sometimes very
brutal, I think this ordinance
needs to be reworked in many
ways.”
Some individuals also felt
that the suggested ordinance
violated the Americans with
Disabilities
Act
by
making
it more difficult for disabled
residents to travel about the city.
“I’ve overcome a lot of
things, but I cannot overcome
ice and snow,” said Ann Arbor
resident Ruth Barkan. “During
the winter I need a walker to
balance and my walker also
cannot overcome ice and snow.
I’m asking you not to pass this
ordinance, it will make my
life a lot harder. It is not fair to
discriminate against some of
us that have no control over the
fact that we are disabled.”
Councilmember
Sumi
Kailasapathy (D–Ward 1) said
the ordinance does not violate
the ADA because all walkways
and public sidewalks must be
cleared.
The
current
ordinance
requires one inch of snow to be
accumulated before residents
are required to remove it.
The suggestion from the task
force, which was not approved
by Council, specified that snow
of greater than one inch and any
compacted snow of greater than
a half inch must be removed.
However, an amendment to
the
proposal
removed
the
specifications about compacted
snow because councilmembers
felt
it
over-complicated
enforcement.
“We can’t get compliance
with the one inch, so until we
can get that, it’s going to be
very difficult to get compliance
on the zero,” Councilmember
Sabra Briere (D–Ward 1) said.
Several speakers said that
Ann Arbor is one of the only
cities where a zero-tolerance
rule is not enforced.
Councilmember
Kirk
Westphal (D–Ward 2) said he
was grappling with how to
change the ordinance to please
the concerns of all residents.
“We’re reportedly an outlier
in the way we allow snow on
our walkways,” Westphal said.
“I think we have the ability
and willingness to get to a
place where we accommodate a
greater variety of users.”
The City Council also voted
on a resolution to approve
the
Council
Administration
Committee to act as a search
committee for a new city
administrator.
In
previous
years,
the
process of selecting a new city
administrator depended less on
the Administration Committee
and more on smaller search
parties. However, in alliance
with the Open Meetings Act,
which states that meetings of
certain public bodies must be
open to the public, the process
changed.
According to Briere, the
committee gave recommended
some candidates in years past,
but it was up to Council to
narrow down their options in a
public forum.
“The
challenge
here
is
how to involve us all without
having a meeting in public
that embarrasses a candidate
because we don’t choose that
candidate to be considered for
the next phase,” Briere said.
In
August,
Current
City
Administrator
Steve
Powers
announced
he
was
leaving
the position. After spending
four years in the position,
he is accepting a new career
opportunity in Oregon and
leaving
in
November.
The
Council has appointed Tom
Crawford,
the
city’s
chief
financial officer, as an interim
city administrator while the
search process is completed.
While
the
Council
will
select and approve the city
administrator when the time
comes, the committee will serve
as a search committee for three
finalists suitable for the role.
getting under way,” she said.
The
$5
million
University
investment
will
support
the
project for a projected four years.
Depending on the initiative’s
success, a potential renewal for
another three years would double
the amount to $10 million.
Sara Blair, vice provost for
academic and faculty affairs and
professor of English, said the first
task for the advisory board would
be developing criteria for project
proposals and guide interested
faculty toward applying.
“The advisory board will be
looking for projects that make
imaginative use of collaborative
teams,
are
thoughtful
about
research and mentoring across
faculty, graduate student and
undergraduate roles, and ready to
experiment with alternative ways
of getting humanities research
out to our many publics,” she said.
Because preliminary deadlines
for
project
proposals
are
approaching,
McCracken
said
she’s working with her staff to
quickly prepare the criteria before
the first deadlines in February.
“I’ve heard from a number of
people,” she said. “I think there’s
a lot of interest. And I’m excited
about that.”
McCracken’s team will also
work to provide a series of
workshops about how to craft
project programs in advance of
the deadline.
The workshops will detail
successful examples of research
proposals
to
help
faculty
structure their own requests.
They will also provide tips on
successfully
incorporating
student involvement in projects.
Participants
in
the
collaborative will be selected
by a faculty board composed of
Sidonie Smith, director of the
Institute for the Humanities;
associate deans for humanities
in LSA and Rackham Graduate
School; and any additional faculty
selected by the coordinator.
Though there are no guidelines
in place yet, Smith said an
important aspect of projects
contending for funding is their
method of reaching the public
with their results.
“Part of the requirements is the
results of the collaboration need
to be made available in multiple
formats for different audiences,”
Smith said.
While the research may end
up appearing in either a book
or essay format, Smith said the
expectation is that the results will
be communicated through public
events or multimedia platforms.
Smith
said
the
projects
would
not
preempt
a
new
interdisciplinary
program
or
result in any rearrangements of
departmental structures.
“They will not be tied to
establishing
some
kind
of
institutional
program,”
she
said.
“They’re
meant
to
be
pop-up — that is, they arrived
from faculty interest. They’re
not tied to a long-term agenda.
They are for enabling faculty to
have the opportunity to work in
collaborative teams and to train
doctoral students in this new kind
of environment for doing work in
the humanities.”
The
collaborative
efforts
will
be
strategically
housed
at Hatcher Graduate Library
to allow the projects access to
research resources as well as
public exposure.
“Being in the library, a hub of
humanities research, will allow
for collaboration with librarians,
information specialists and other
humanists, and make the work
of the collaboratory visible to the
campus and community,” Blair
said.
Selected projects will begin in
the fall of 2016.
discovery.”
Finance
Prof.
Gautam
Kaul will teach “Finance for
Everyone:
Smart
Tools
for
Decision-Making.” As one of
the first professors to pilot
Coursera, he created his first
MOOC three years ago.
Timothy McKay, a professor
of
physics
and
astronomy,
will teach a new learning
analytics course as a part of the
University’s new partnership
with edX.
McKay
said
the
new
partnership
will
allow
the
University to further personalize
education.
“At
U-M
we
believe
personalization
at
scale
is
within reach. We care deeply
about
enriching
the
lives
of learners on campus and
around the world” McKay said.
“With edX we will continue
to employ personalization and
learning analytics to improve
the effectiveness of student
learning, our teaching and the
design of courses and curricula.”
H. V. Jagadish, a professor
of electrical engineering and
computer science, will teach
the third course about data
science ethics.
Comparative Literature Prof.
Silke-Maria Weineck, chair of
the Senate Advisory Committee
on
University
Affairs,
said
the University’s move toward
digital education is something
SACUA has yet to cover.
“We have not had a chance to
discuss this at SACUA so I can’t
speak to this,” she said. “But as
with all technical innovations,
there’s always great potential
and great risks.”
James DeVaney, the associate
vice provost for digital education
and
innovation,
said
the
University’s decision to expand
its digital education system will
have an international impact.
“Anchoring our scholarly and
practical approach in digital
learning and learning analytics,
we’ve
reached
3.6
million
lifelong
learners
through
MOOCs since 2012, and have
created the infrastructure and
capacity to partner with faculty
innovators
to
dramatically
increase Michigan’s impact,”
DeVaney wrote in a release. “If
we continue to harness the best
technology and deepen our use
of learning analytics, we know
the ripple effect of Michigan’s
academic excellence and alumni
network will be felt around the
world.”
EDX
From Page 1
HUMANITES
From Page 1
3-News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, October 6, 2015 — 3
Farmer discovers
mammoth, donates
it to the University
The farmer who found wooly
mammoth bones on his property
in Washtenaw County donated
the specimen to the University on
Monday.
Last week John Bristle was
digging in his soy-bean field when
he discovered the unusual bones.
What he first mistook as a fence
turned out to be a rib bone. When
Bristle realized the magnitude
of his discovery he contacted
the University and Dan Fisher,
director
of
the
University’s
Museum of Paleontology and
professor.
Fisher said Bristle’s mammoth
discovery is in the top ten most
significant mammoth discoveries
in Michigan’s recorded history.
University researchers believe
the
mammoth
lived
around
11,700 and 15,000 years ago. They
hypothesize that it may have been
killed by early hunters based
on the placement of the bones
and their discovery of what they
believe could be a cutting tool.
Researchers aim to
get children moving
in the classroom
University
researchers
are working to curb obesity
and
keep
students
focused
through implementing periodic
two
minute
exercise
breaks
throughout the day in elementary
and middle school classrooms.
Rebecca
Hasson,
assistant
professor
in
the
School
of
Kinesiology, is leading the Active
Classroom project which gives
students two minute exercise
breaks between every twenty
minutes of classwork.
Hasson found students burn on
average 100 — 300 more calories
with the exercise program than
they would have in a typical
classroom setting. Her research
also shows students are able to
quickly resume focusing on their
school work after the break and
none of the participants in her
study complained about having
to exercise.
As
Hasson
continues
her
research she hopes to quantify
the effect the breaks have on
kids’ ability to maintain a healthy
weight and improve cognition.
University debuts
training program
On Monday the University
launched Navigate: Fundamen-
tals — a course to train incoming
research administrators.
The program involves eight
day long conferences where
guest speakers will present their
research. The course will run
October through March.
The course was developed
after the research administra-
tion advisory council subcom-
mittee for mentoring research
administrators and training new
ones conducted a survey in 2013
gathering input on what would
make a good course.
Navigate will prepare the
incoming administrators on how
to respond in various profession-
al situations and how to manage
a research project.
— Emma Kinery
NEWS BRIEFS
clear,” Lehman said. “There’s
no coalition more important
at a University than between
the faculty and the students.
And any time you have the
opportunity to demonstrate that,
you demonstrate it.”
Ultimately,
the
committee
decided it would be too confusing
to implement a second task force.
“The sense of most people
in the room was we are totally
in favor of students and faculty
working together on this, but we
are already asking for this, and
now to have a separate version
would
muddy
the
waters,”
Weineck said after the meeting.
SACUA
members
also
discussed University President
Mark Schlissel’s decision to
continue to publicly release only
the base salaries of University
faculty,
administration
and
staff
members.
His
announcement follows a review
of the University’s compensation
practices by the institution’s
human resources office and a
private consulting firm.
“This feels right to me
in
striking
the
balance
between
continuing
our
competitive edge for the best
administrative talent and being
fiscally responsible, especially
given the scale and complexity
at Michigan,” Schlissel said in
a statement.
The review, which looked at
executive compensation levels,
the use of non-base pay and
practices on public disclosure of
compensation for all employees,
found
compensation
for
executives at the University
ranks high in comparison to peer
public institutions and falls in
the median when compared with
private peer institutions.
Under Michigan state law, the
University is required to release
base salaries, but not total
compensation, which includes
bonuses.
Weineck said faculty members
were hoping the University
would decide to release the full
compensation data, but have
decided not to pursue the matter
now that Schlissel has made his
decision.
“There
was
a
general
consensus among many faculty
that they would like the actual
compensation data to be released,
not just the base salaries because
that can paint a misleading
picture,” she said. “We had hope
that this was an ethical decision
and the ethical decision was to be
transparent. We’re disappointed
but we’re not contemplating any
further action.”
SACUA
From Page 1
CITY COUNCIL
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Ann Arbor resident Leon Bryson speaks about the overgrowth of plants at the Ann Arbor City Council meeting at
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