gram to “reduce human health
and safety risks and property
damage” caused by deer within
city limits.
If the moratorium is approved,
the cull will be carried out largely
by Wildlife Services, a program
within the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service.
A resolution authorizing the
city’s involvement with Wildlife
Services will also be presented at
Thursday’s meeting.
Amendment to Clean Energy
Coalition contract
City Council will also consider
an amendment to the city’s con-
tract with the Clean Energy Coali-
tion to plan for the city’s approach
to sustainability.
The amendment would further
many of the goals set forth in the
council’s sustainability frame-
work — which was adopted as part
of the city’s master plan in Febru-
ary 2013. Out of the 16 goals the
framework presents, the amend-
ment seeks to further six of them:
energy conservation, sustainable
buildings, diverse housing, eco-
nomic vitality, sustainable energy
and engaged community.
Implementing the provisions
of the amendment would cost the
city $85,000, a sum that was allo-
cated to the operations and main-
tenance budget when the city’s
budget for 2016 was approved.
Resolution for purchase of
vehicles for Fire Department
The council will also a resolu-
tion to approve the purchase of
three sport utility vehicles.
The city would by the cars from
the Grand Rapids Berger Chevro-
let for a total of $63,129.
All three of the vehicles would
be assigned to the Ann Arbor Fire
Department. More specifically,
two of the cars will be assigned
to the assistant fire chiefs so they
can “respond to emergency scenes
when necessary,” and “travel to
and from business meetings and
work related events,” according to
the agenda item.
The third car will be used by
the department’s field opera-
tions unit for “transportation of
administrative staff … to inves-
tigate and respond to issues that
arise in the field.”
The city would gift the vehicles
to their fire department recipients
in lieu of automobile stipends. For
that reason, the fire department’s
budget will fund the purchases.
NEWS BRIEFS
Bentley Historical
Library acquires
papers of former
Sen. Carl Levin
The
University’s
Bentley
Historical Library announced
Wednesday that papers from
the 36-year career of former
U.S. Senator Carl Levin (D–
Mich.) will be permanently
housed in its archives.
Levin, who has served six
terms in the Senate, donated the
materials, which will include
legislation, letters, photos and
memos dating to 1952, the year
he graduated from Detroit Cen-
tral High School. Levin did
not seek reelection in 2014 and
was succeeded by Gary Peters,
a Democrat from Bloomfield
Twp.
The historical library cur-
rently preserves records and
documents from the terms of
more than a dozen U.S. sena-
tors, 17 members of the U.S.
House and 31 Michigan gover-
nors. Earlier this year, former
U.S. Rep. John Dingell (D–
Mich.) donated his papers to the
University. Dingell, whose wife
Debbie Dingell (D–Mich.) now
represents his former district,
was the longest serving House
Representative until his retire-
ment in 2015.
University receives
$5 million in funds
for brain research
The University will receive
$5 million from the Nation-
al
Science
Foundation
for
brain research, the University
announced Tuesday. Experts
in
sensor
technology,
data
analysis, electronics and neu-
roscience will use the funds
to research discoveries about
brain activity at a the single-
neuron level and train inter-
national
neuroscientists
and
engineers.
The grant was awarded under
the Partnerships for Interna-
tional Research and Education
program, and will support the
participation of 55 students and
researchers in an international
exchange program.
After completing neurosci-
ence
and
neurotechnology
“boot camps” hosted at the Uni-
versitorty, 40 undergraduate
students will attend collaborat-
ing institutions to participate
in summer research projects.
The grant also allows 15 gradu-
ate students or postdoctoral
researchers from U.S. labs to
work in a collaborating lab.
Questions about brain func-
tion will be answered by opto-
electrodes, technology capable
of
measuring
signals
from
nerves that influence brain
activity.
Collaborators in the five-year
project will include scientists
and researchers from Singa-
pore, South Korea, New York,
Puerto Rico, the United King-
dom and Germany.
The project aims to stimu-
late and measure neurons with
new technology purchased by the
funding with the hope of improv-
ing the quality of data.
Munger Residence
Hall achieves gold
The
newly-opened
Munger
Graduate Residence Hall has
earned a LEED gold certifica-
tion from the U.S. Green Build-
ing Council. The program honors
buildings for achievements in
sustainability building construc-
tion and stands for Leadership
in Environmental and Energy
Design.
Several
campus
buildings
are already certified gold LEED
structures, including the Dana
Building and the Law School
South Academic Building.
The residence hall opened in
the fall.
—JACKIE CHARNIGA
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Thursday, November 5, 2015 — 3A
COUNCIL
From Page 1A
Students’ eligibility and the
amount of tuition they receive
varies depending on the prom-
ise zone. Like in Kalamazoo, the
number of years a student has
attended school in the district,
as well as whether or not they
have achieved a certain GPA, are
among the factors employed as
determinants.
Michigan communities with
a poverty level for families with
children under the age of 18 that
meets or exceeds the state aver-
age, can hold a public hearing
and submit a request to the state
government for promise zone
consideration.
The new legislation would not
change the way promise zones
are chosen in the state of Michi-
gan, but simply increase their
number.
State Sen. Goeff Hansen (R–
Hart), who sponsored the leg-
islation, hopes it will increase
college enrollment in the state of
Michigan.
“Passage of this legislation
will increase access to higher
education opportunities for eli-
gible students across the state,”
Hansen said in an e-mail to The
Michigan Daily. “This will be
another tool for our students to
be part of a more educated work-
force and be able to compete in a
global economy.”
For
context,
Washtenaw
County had a poverty rate of 15.4
percent in 2013 — slightlybelow
the state average of 16.8 percent,
meaning it’s likely districts in
the county would likely qualify
for promise zone consideration.
When the state program was
created in 2009, they received
14 requests to fill 10 slots. Many
of the promise zones created
through the state bill after the
Kalamazoo Promise — such
as the Baldwin Promise Zone
— focus on funding two-year
degrees versus four-year pro-
grams.
Studies on the effects of prom-
ise zones show the program had
positive impacts on communities
in regard to the economy and
district enrollment. A 2007 Cen-
ter for Local, State and Urban
Policy study through the Univer-
sity was performed too early to
say definitively that the Kalama-
zoo Promise has had a positive
impact on the local and state
economy, but positive indicators
— such as the likelihood for stu-
dents who go to college in-state
to remain there post-graduation
— are noted in the report.
The study found an overall
increase in enrollment in Kalam-
azoo Public Schools. Further,
minority enrollment increased
at a greater rate. The CLOSUP
study also indicated students
who participated in the Kalama-
zoo Promise were more likely to
have college aspirations.
“The researchers concluded
that the Promise (a) increased
the likelihood of students apply-
ing to college, (b) increased the
likelihood of students applying
to Michigan colleges and uni-
versities, (c) permitted students
to choose higher-quality post-
secondary institutions and (d)
increased the likelihood of low-
income students applying to a
4-year college and decreased
the likelihood of these students
applying to a 2-year college,” the
study says.
Meredith Billings, a doctoral
candidate in the Center for the
Study of Higher and Postsec-
ondary Education, is working
to evaluate promise zones for
her dissertation. She said her
research so far coincides with
many of the findings in the CLO-
SUP study.
“I think the idea of the MI
promise zones are definitely
innovative given that they are
targeted at communities that
have a higher percentage of
families living in poverty and
tend to have lower college-going
rates than other communities in
Michigan,” Billings wrote in an
e-mail to the Daily. “The hope is
these promise zones will be able
to foster a college-going culture
within the local schools and be
able to revitalize the community
through increasing the educa-
tion levels of its residents and
attracting new businesses to the
area.”
After Michigan voters banned
the use of affirmative action,
colleges
like
the
University
have struggled to enroll under-
represented minority students.
According to Fall 2015 data from
the Office of the Registrar, Black
enrollment at the University is
4.1 percent. The University has
recently launched several new
scholarship programsof their
own with the aim of enrolling a
more diverse class of students.
“Passage of this legislation
will increase access to higher
education opportunities for eli-
gible students across the state,”
Hansen wrote. “This will be
another tool for our students to
be part of a more educated work-
force and be able to compete in a
global economy.”
PROMISE
From Page 1A
Center.
The grant stems from the gov-
ernor’s Campus Sexual Assault
Grant Program, an initiative
designed to help Michigan col-
leges and universities fund addi-
tional sexual assault prevention
resources. Of the 33 colleges and
universities that applied for fund-
ing in October, 23 received a por-
tion of the $500,000.
According to a press release,
the grant aims to change the cul-
ture of sexual assault among col-
lege students. Universities and
colleges submitted proposals for
specific projects which fostered
collaboration, innovative ideas
and encouraged student involve-
ment.
“In Michigan we have a proven
track record of working together
to tackle the tough issues and
solve problems,” Snyder said in
the press release. “This funding
is an important step in working to
ensure the long-term safety and
success of our state’s students.”
The University is the second
school to employ a bar bystander
intervention program, after the
University of Iowa.
“It’s a promising new approach
and it represents significant new
efforts in the area,” Rider-Milkov-
ich said. “We are extremely excit-
ed that the selection committee
chose this project to be funded.”
The University’s satellite cam-
puses in Flint and Dearborn also
received funding through the
program — the Dearborn cam-
pus received $38,016 and the Flint
campus received $29,363.
GRANTS
From Page 1A
STORY
SLAM
The Daily aims to tell the story of campus,
Ann Arbor, the state, and our society at large.
But the Daily also wants to hear from you.
What do you want to tell?
Friday, November 20
7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
420 Maynard St.
The Michigan Daily invites
storytellers of all kinds to join
us for a our first community story slam.
Send entries to Sam Gringlas at gringlas@umich.edu by Nov. 13.
Pieces should be limited to three minutes in length.
We want to hear your
poetry, short stories, essays --
anything you can read or perform aloud.