michigandaily.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Wednesday, October 28, 2015 ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM The Personal Statement Issue » INSIDE let’s get personal Nutrition, food security and fair trade featured in short lectures By ANNA HARITOS Daily Staff Reporter The University’s Sustainable Food Systems Initiative hosted 10 bite-sized talks Tuesday night on topics related to food and agriculture. The second annual “Fast Food for Thought” talk brought together nine faculty members from several University depart- ments, with the 10th “talk” for- matted as a Q&A session. Each of the speakers was given five minutes to address a broad range of global and local food topics, including sustainability, potential connections between food and politics and the grow- ing problem of herbicide resis- tance. The USFSI encourages University students and faculty members to learn about and promote food systems that are beneficial to both the environ- ment and economy. More than 100 attendees filled the lecture hall in the Dana Building. Thomas Prin- cen, associate professor of natural resource and environ- mental policy, started off the event by asking, “Why food, why now?” In his talk, he brief- ly explained his six hypotheses for why American interest in food has skyrocketed in the past few years. Among them: the “brains and hands” hypothesis. What dis- tinguishes humans from other animals, Princen said, is the ability to combine experiences both tactile and intellectual. He said because food engages humans both with their brains Two former Congressmen address increased legislative gridlock By SAMANTHA WINTNER Daily Staff Reporter Frustration with the sometimes sluggish legislative process isn’t unique to voters — a point that two former legislators hammered home in a lecture Tuesday night. Former Congressmen Tom Davis (R–Va.) and Martin Frost (D–Texas) spoke at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library about legislative gridlock and how bipartisanship can remedy it, an issue they address in a new book they co-authored with journalist Richard Cohen. Davis and Frost have a combined 40 years of congressional experience, and both served two terms as the chair of their respective party’s House campaign committees. “(Because we’ve both had these roles), we tend to see things structurally the same way,” Frost said. According to a 2008 interview with The New York Times, Davis decided not to run for re-election because he was dissatisfied with the partisan nature of Congress. At the time, he said party divides were increasingly making the process of lawmaking dysfunctional, especially as a new wave of social conservatives were becoming a dominant contingency in the GOP. “I’m a partisan Republican and Martin is a partisan Democrat,” Davis said. “But we were dealmakers, we know how to work with the other side, we felt when the election was over, it was time for everyone to act like grown ups again and try to get things done.” In their book, Davis and Frost elaborate on the growing political polarization they Assembly also hears resolution to add mental health resources to syllabi By JACKIE CHARNIGA Daily Staff Reporter The Central Student Government Assembly deviated from its usual meeting spot in the Michigan Union on Tuesday night, convening in Pierpont Commons on North Campus to discuss course evaluations and increasing awareness of on-campus mental health services by including information on syllabi. Course evaluations A chunk of Tuesday’s meeting was dedicated to discussing the Faculty Senate’s decision Monday to vote against the immediate release of student course evaluation data. The CSG Assembly has previously pushed to make these course evaluations available to the public, and introduced a resolution last year to do so. Public Policy junior Jacob Pearlman, CSG general counsel, noted that the course evaluation results, which provide a mechanism for the University to gauge professor proficiency, were originally made available Louise Glück featured in Helen Zell Visiting Writers Series By CAMY METWALLY Daily Staff Reporter In a gallery inside the University’s Museum of Art, Louise Glück stood between two white sculptures, and read poetry that conjured images of the night sky, rain and the changing seasons. Tuesday night, the Pulitzer Prize-winner and former United States Poet Laureate read a collection of her poetry for the Zell Visiting Writers Series, presented by the Helen Zell Writers’ Program. A reception and book signing followed the event. Between poems, Glück shared some of the struggles she has faced in her professional career. She said during one low point in her writing, she sat at home reading plant catalogues to pass the time. Even so, she said this period was ultimately productive because later on it inspired a number of poems in her Pulitzer-winning book, “The Wild Iris.” “It’s ... poems spoken by flowers, poems spoken by humans who are in conflict with each other, and poems spoken by some third celestial principle,” Glück said. Glück advised poets to do what they want, even if it’s reading plant catalogues because, ultimately, this is how they will write poems of their own. “You have to do what you want to do,” Glück said. “If you don’t do what you want to do, you will ever write poems that are yours alone to write.” Glück read a number of poems from “The Wild Iris,” including “The Red Poppy.” During the Q&A portion, an attendee sought advice for aspiring writers. Glück encouraged those interested in poetry and writing to read what they love and build a life they Guest lecture focuses on political influence of scholar Al-Qaradawi By ALEXA ST. JOHN Daily Staff Reporter Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen, a professor in the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, lectured in the School of Social Work on Tuesday about the life and significance of Egyptian Islamic activist and author Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Hosted by the Center for Mid- dle Eastern and North African Studies, Skovgaard-Petersen eval- uated al-Qaradawi’s public and political role in Egypt, particular- ly after the Egyptian revolution in 2011. Al-Qaradawi is a widely known figure in the Islamic world, with a television program, books and a website that reach millions of people. According to Skovgaard- Petersen, the “apex” of al- ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily Art & Design Prof. Joe Trumpy speaks about sustainable farming in his speech titled “Homesteading as Creative Practice” at the Fast Food for Thought discussion in the Dana Building on Tuesday. EMILIE FARRUGIA/Daily LSA senior David Schafer discusses the proposal to include language mental health resources in course syllabi at the Central Student Government meeting in the East Room of Pierpont Commons on Tuesday. GOVERNMENT LITERATURE CAMPUS LIFE See FOOD, Page 3A See CONGRESS, Page 2A See SCHOLAR, Page 3A See CSG, Page 3A See POET, Page 3A Ex-House leaders dish on political polarization Faculty discuss foodways, agriculture in 10 mini talks Former poet laureate hosts reading in A2 CSG remains committed to course evaluation release Visiting prof. talks Islam, activism in Middle East INDEX Vol. CXXV, No. 20 ©2015 The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com NEWS......................... 2A OPINION.....................4A ARTS...........................5A SPORTS.......................7A CL ASSIFIEDS...............6A THE STATEMENT..........1B NEW ON MICHIGANDAILY.COM Visual Statement: Coming Up Rosies MICHIGANDAILY.COM/SECTION/STATEMEN GOT A NEWS TIP? Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail news@michigandaily.com and let us know. WEATHER TOMORROW HI: 51 LO: 35