to donate blood or sign up to be an
organ donor because you can fun-
damentally save a life with that.”

LSA freshman Parker Schaub

said he participated without hav-
ing had prior knowledge of the
event because he realizes the
importance of organ donation.

“I just happened to find the line

in middle of the Diag, and thought
that I wanted to join,” Schaub said.
“I think it’s really important that
people know that they can donate
blood and organs and know how
strong the need is.”

In addition to raising aware-

ness about organ donation, the
event also advertised the kickoff
event for the annual Blood Battle
between the University and Ohio
State University. The event will be
held on Nov. 1, from 8 a.m. to 4:45
p.m. Blood Battle lasts during the
entire month of November.

on-three basketball tournament to
commemorate Evan, who played
basketball in high school. Smith
and Rosenstock hope this will
change the way athletic programs
view mental health issues.

“Because my brother, Evan, was

an avid basketball player, besides
the fact that exercise is a great
outlet for mental health issues, I
see the athletic portion as remem-
bering my brother as an athlete,”
Rosenstock said.

Since umttr at the University

was approved in late September,
the group was unable to be at Fes-
tifall and therefore started the year
with a small following. However,
the leaders of umttr on campus
were able to attend the So Cool, So
Just social justice student organi-
zation fair in the Diag last month.

On Oct. 24, umttr will attend the

Defeat Depression Dash, an annual
5K in honor of University student
Garrick Roemer, who was a mem-
ber of the University’s track team
and lost his life to suicide in 2014.

will be used.

“We actually need a committee

that looks closely as the way it’s
released,” Weineck said. “That
is just as important as having
a committee that looks at the
questions themselves.”

Faculty
concern
over
the

release
of
course
evaluation

data resulted in the LSA Student
Government withdrawing their
request for the data. Biology
Prof. John Lehman, a SACUA
member,
predicted
Central

Student Government would soon
do the same. He said students are
willing to wait for the data if it
means developing a more helpful
instrument.

“Talking
to
the
student

governance
leaders,
they’re

saying none of the students really
care about this as much as some
faculty are really passionately
against it,” Lehman said. “I asked
the students in my oceanography
class how important this was
to them and they said, ‘Not at
all.’ They said they had other
ways to find out what they want
to know about these courses. I
mean we’re talking about upper-
division students.”

Business Prof. Dave Wright,

a SACUA member, said if the
committee fails to create a
more effective instrument for
collecting
course
evaluation

data, the University should opt
not to release data at all.

“If the body of experts comes

to the conclusion that there is no
reliable, valid way to measure
this, then we shouldn’t have it at
all,” he said. “At some point you
have to reach the conclusion, is
the signal to noise ratio worth it?
Is it positive? We know there’s
noise, we know there may even
be bias. But the question is, is it
better than no information at
all?”

SACUA
members
also

expressed
concern
over
the

administration’s
decision
to

switch to Canvas beginning in
the fall 2016 semester.

Pollack and Laura Patterson,

associate vice president and chief

information officer, announced
the decision in an e-mail to
students, faculty and staff last
month.

Weineck said there is concern

among faculty about making the
transition that quickly.

“I think one of the potential

problems
coming
down
the

pipeline is Canvas,” Weineck said.
“It seems that some problems
have come up that didn’t come
up in the pilot and they concern
the migration of course size from
CTools to Canvas.”

In response, Pollack said the

transition date would not be
delayed. She encouraged the
board to forward their questions
and concerns to Patterson.

Wright
questioned
the

tradeoffs
associated
with

delaying the switch.

“My question would be what

is the real cost of pushing it back
a year?” he asked. “And what
happens if I don’t transition to
Canvas — in other words, how
enforceable is this?”

Pharmacy Prof. David Smith, a

SACUA member, said the faculty
has no choice but to transition
next fall.

“It’s pretty enforceable, you’ve

got to convert over,” Smith said.
“You don’t have a choice, you’ve
got to learn it and give them
feedback on things you need that
they don’t have that will help you
do a better job.”

To aid their transition, faculty

can consult online resources,
the
University’s
Information

and Technology Services Center
and Canvas support, available
through phone, e-mail and live
chat 24 hours a day, seven days a
week.

“There’s a Canvas support

team but they don’t seem to be
particularly well trained because
I get a lot of e-mails from faculty
saying ‘I go to Canvas support
and they don’t know the answer,’
” Weineck said. “Once you get
high enough up in the Canvas
support team you will eventually
get to someone who knows the
answer and who will be very
helpful. But knowing faculty, a
lot of faculty will get to this in
August.”

Smith from Suriname to Tokyo
to Detroit to Tangiers. Woven
throughout are brief, yet aching,
references to her late husband
Fred “Sonic” Smith, a musician
who passed away in 1994, and
whose memory seems to haunt
many of these places. Other
tropes include Smith’s passion
for visiting, and tending to, the
graves of her literary heroes (Jean
Genet,
Rimbaud,
Rynosuke

Akutagawa), her love of coffee, her
attachment to detective shows,
and the inevitable nostalgia that
accompanies aging.

The book has its moments.

There are lines so poetic and pure
that you want to etch them on
the inside of your eyelids. After
losing the photographs she once
took of Sylvia Plath’s grave in
autumn, she returns years later
to take new ones: “There is now
one of Sylvia in spring. It is very
nice, but lacking the shimmering
quality of the lost ones. Nothing
can be truly replicated. Not a
love, not a jewel, not a single line.”
After losing both her husband
and her brother in a short period
of time, Smith recalls “hours
sitting in Fred’s favorite chair,
dreading my own imagination. I
rose and performed small tasks
with the mute concentration of
one imprisoned in ice.”

And, if nothing else, “M Train”

is a series of recommendations. I
walked away with a page-long list
of things to read: Jean Genet’s “The
Thief’s Journal,” Roberto Bolano’s
“2666,” Haruki Murakami’s “The
Wind-Up Bird Chronicle,” Mikhail
Bulgakov’s
“The
Master
and

Margarita.” That’s not including
dozens of poems, songs, paintings,
TV shows and a veritable atlas of
cities and towns to explore. Smith
intended it this way, claiming, “I
offer my world on a platter filled
with allusions.”

But, ironically, it’s in offering

so much of her unedited world
that Smith makes things difficult
for the reader. Books are like belly
buttons: They can be innies, ones
that force you to look deep into
yourself, outies, ones that force

you to confront the vastness of
the world and all its knowledge,
or the rare combo of both.
“M Train” is, unfortunately,
an outie. As you read page
after page chronicling Smith’s
diverse adventures, friendships
and musings, but with no real
unifying theme, the whole thing
feels like an extended brag, a 250-
page account of how amazing her
life has been.

Yes, this is Patti Smith’s book

about Patti Smith’s life. But
the “narrative” is so loose, and
yet so relentless, that reading
it is exhausting rather than
enveloping. And in a book of
moments, the beautiful ones stand
out, but so do the cringe-worthy,
like this description of Veracruz,

Mexico: “The air was perfect,
like milk from the breast of the
great mother. Milk that could be
suckled by all her children — the
babes of Juàrez, Harlem, Belfast,
Bangladesh.”

So what would you get out of

reading this book? Some beautiful
prose, enough book titles to keep
you reading for years, a definitive
stance on the pleasures of drinking
coffee alone. But really, “M Train”
’s existence is, in and of itself,
an exhortation to live a fuller
life. Drive across the country on
a whim, it says. Bake your own
bread, go to the movies, learn how
to play chess, whatever. Write
poems and take photos. Travel.
Fall in love. Have stories that could
fill a book.

The
conversation
turned

multiple times to the “wars
on drugs and crime” in the
United States, and how these
policies have caused higher
incarceration rates of both men
and women.

Carol Jacobsen, a panelist

and professor of both women’s
studies and Art & Design, noted
that many women who commit
serious crimes such as homicide
do so as an act of survival.
The murder may have been a
response
to
life-threatening

physical or sexual abuse, or
to issues related to poverty or
drugs.

Panelist
Heather
Ann

Thompson,
an
Afroamerican

and African Studies professor,
echoed this point.

“Murder is murder, isn’t it?”

Thompson asked. “Or is it?”

The panelists unanimously

condemned the closed nature
of prisons. They discussed how
difficult it is for researchers and
visitors to gain access to prisons
and how this has resulted in
critical
gaps
in
knowledge

about the lived experience of
prisoners.

“In our society, we take it as

normal that prisons are these
closed
spaces,”
Thompson

said. “(Prisons are) so closed
that there is no data on how
many hours prisoners spend in
isolation — no one has access to

collect it.”

The panelists pointed out

that though Michigan’s only
women’s prison, the Women’s
Huron
Valley
Correctional

Facility, is 15 minutes away from
the University’s campus, many
University students have not
heard of it.

Panelist
Ruby
Tapia,
a

professor of women’s studies
and English, said it is important
to
analyze
representations

of
lived
experiences
of

incarcerated women, including
but not limited to “Orange is the
New Black.”

Moderator Valerie Jenness,

a senior visiting scholar at the
University’s Institute on Women
and Gender and a professor at
the University of California,

Irvine, asked panelists about a
passage from Kerman’s memoir.

In the passage, Kerman tells

the story of a newly released
prisoner who told local media
she had a “magnificent” and
positive experience in prison.
Some inmates still incarcerated
in the prison were angry with
this description because they
felt it was false.

Tapia noted that some women

who have been incarcerated
have
expressed
the
same

feelings toward “Orange is the
New Black” — that the narrative
represented is a narrow one
that may not encompass the
multitude of lived experiences.

Kerman’s
address
begins

Tuesday at 5:10 p.m. in Rackham
Auditorium.

not happy about it.”

With the highest proportion

of underrepresented minority
students in a freshman class in 10
years, enrollment numbers saw
significant gains toward a more
diversified student body.

In the freshman class alone,

the number of Black students
admitted
increased
by
58

students — a community which
made up 3.84 percent of the
freshman class in 2014 and 5.11
percent of the class in 2015. In the
state of Michigan, 14.3 percent of
the population is Black.

“The campus — admissions,

financial aid, recruitment teams
and our partners across the
university — worked together
in response to the charge to
achieve our target class size
and find ways, consistent with
state law, to bring further
diversity to our student body
with this class,” Kedra Ishop,
associate vice president for
enrollment management, wrote
in a press release. “We are
pleased with the progress and
want to continue our forward
momentum in 2016.”

University
President
Mark

Schlissel said in an interview
with the Daily last month that
he expected to see improvement
within
the
student
body’s

diversity enrollment as early as

this semester, a reflection of the
University’s effort to package
financial
aid
awards
with

admission decisions.

The University received a

record number of applicants
this year and admitted 26.24
percent of those applicants. This
fall, 6,071 students of the 13,584
admitted actually enrolled into
the University, resulting in a
45-percent yield.

In-state
students
represent

more of the student body this year,
making up 57 percent of students
this year compared to 55 percent
of students last fall. The University
accepted 50 percent of in-state
student applications, while only
accepting 20 percent of out-of-
state applicants. There were 31,573

more
out-of-state
applications

than in-state applications.

With regard to socioeconomic

diversity,
the
percentage
of

freshmen eligible for Federal
Pell Grants rose by 1.1 percent
from last fall. First-generation
students make up 8.5 percent
of the incoming class, and low-
income students make up 10.2
percent of the class.

According to a press release,

the
University
continues
to

invest more money in financial
aid than ever before, increasing
aid to undergraduate, need-
based financial aid by 8.1 percent
since last year.

The
increases
in

underrepresented
minority

enrollment come in wake of an

eventful two years, during which
members
of
the
University’s

Black Student Union called on

the University to increase Black
enrollment and improve campus
climate.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, October 13, 2015 — 3

ENROLLMENT
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SMITH
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SACUA
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CLUB
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LINE
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fast,” Powers said. “It’s been an
enjoyable four years.”

The administration committee,

comprised of Mayor Christopher
Taylor (D) and Councilmembers
Sabra Briere (D
–Ward 1), Stephen

Kunselman (D–Ward 3), Chuck
Warpehoski (D–Ward 5) and
Graydon Krapohl (D–Ward 4),
will narrow down the list of
potential applicants for the post.

Briere said Powers’ successor

will have big shoes to fill.

“The biggest challenge we

face is looking for someone who
will build on what Steve Powers
has already done and that’s a
challenge,” she said.

In prior years, the council

appointed a search committee
separate
from
the
standing

administration
committee.

During the search for Powers,
a four-person group of council
members conducted the search.

“The process is not that

different than last time,” Taylor
said in an interview. “It changed
because we wanted an extra
council member to broaden the
set of inputs into the search
process.”

Briere said the process has

also
changed
because
the

administration
committee
is

responsible for evaluating the city
administrator’s job performance.
Upon Powers’ departure, the
committee will contact members
of staff and City Council to
compile an exit evaluation.

“To take advantage of the

council members who are already
conducting the evaluation seems
efficient,” she said.

The
committee,
with
the

assistance of a search firm, will
narrow the national search to
about three candidates. From
there, finalists will participate
in an interview with each of the
council members, as well as public
panels and meetings involving
city employees, businesses and
the Ann Arbor community.

“The council is now starting

to develop a recruitment profile
for the position that will then be
made available nationally and

candidates will be encouraged
to
consider
the
wonderful

opportunity that Ann Arbor
provides,” Powers said.

At last Monday’s meeting,

there
were
some
concerns

regarding the search procedure.
Councilmember Jane Lumm (I–
Ward 2) said she did not feel the
process was inclusive enough.

“I’ve been through other city

administrator
searches
and

actually, I feel that already the
process is not terribly inclusive
as it could be,” Lumm told the
council last Monday. “Previously
when I sat here, we engaged
all the council members and
administrator
profiles,
we

engaged the community.”

Other
council
members

responded to Lumm’s concerns
and said they felt the process was
inclusive enough for the initial
stages of the search. The council
will have the chance to speak
with each of the final candidates
and hold public interviews. The
final decision is also up to a vote
of the council as a whole.

In the past, senior members

of City Council comprised the
administration committee. This
time, the committee members’
levels of expertise and seniority
vary.

“Getting that cross section of

experience and expectations has
already been done for the admin
committee and that was what we
were looking for the last time we
did this search,” Briere said.

On
Monday,
the
council

also approved the committee’s
recommendation to hire the
executive search firm, Affion
Public, which was the same
search firm hired to find Powers.
The firm was recommended to
the council by Human Resources
Director Robyn Wilkerson.

The HR department told

the administration committee
that surveying for other search
firms might delay the process
by six weeks.

“Affion has done a number of

employee searches successfully
for the city in the past, and they
were one of the three different
search firms that were considered
who had a record of success with
the city,” Briere said. “They were

selected in part because of that
record of success and because
they had the staffing capacity to
do a thorough but rapid search.”

The committee has created a

job description for the position
and has sent it to the council for
review. Once the council has
approved the job description,
Affion will create a profile for
the position and conduct a
national search.

“The profile is created after the

firm talks to council members,
staff and members of the public,”
Taylor said.

The council also approved

a proposal Monday night to
raise the posted salary for
the position from $160,000 to
$175,000. The HR department
found the median salary for city
administrators in cities with
populations between 100,000
and 249,000 was about $167,000.
The council voted to raise the
salary in hopes of drawing top-
tier candidates.

In deciding to switch jobs,

Powers accepted a pay raise
of more than $50,000. He will
now earn $210,000 a year, with
added perks. When Powers
first began his role as city
administrator in 2011, he was
earning $145,000 a year. In
October 2014, Powers’ pay was
raised by $14,500 to $159,500.

Ann Arbor’s Chief Financial

Officer Tom Crawford will serve
as interim city administrator.

He will receive a pay raise

of about $1,500 a month for the
duration of the interim posting.
Taylor said the timeline for the
search process is still up in the
air.

“The search process will

take a good amount of time,”
he said. “It’s going to take us a
couple of months.”

Powers said his successor has to

be able to view Ann Arbor for its
values and unique characteristics.

“An administrator needs to

view the city as more than just
police and fire,” he said. “It is
a community that has values
that are very important to a
council and the administrator
is expected to believe in an
organization that is consistent
with those values.”

CITY
From Page 1

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