unnamed dystopian society with
its main character, Katurian, as a
short-story writer. After detectives
discover
an
eerie
similarity
between the gruesome violence
of Katurian’s stories and several
recent child murders, he is brought
in for questioning. When Katurian
hears that his brother Michael has
confessed to the murders, including
sharing details on their twisted
upbringing,
Katurian
suffocates
him as a kind of mercy killing. His
mission is to save his stories from
destruction. Many of these stories
are recounted within the play.
With two weeks to put together
this five-week production, Rich
casted the show based on the ability
to capture the emotional depth of
these highly complex and troubled
characters.
“Each character is so specific
and different in what they’ve
gone through in life, and really
an understanding of that and an
understanding of drama is what I
was looking for from actors,” Rich
said.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Friday, November 13, 2015 — 3A
PILLOWMAN
From Page 1A
one as recently as last week, and
prompted calls for change in the
department.
The
officer
was
found
to
have been acting in lawful self-
defense by the Washtenaw County
prosecutor’s office in January, who
chose not to press charges.
On Oct. 4, the city’s Human
Rights
Commission
released
a
42-page report on strengthening
police-community relations in Ann
Arbor specifically citing Rosser’s
death and including a number
of
recommendations
for
the
department.
In an interview Thursday, City
Councilmember
Kirk
Westphal
(D-Ward 2) said he was still
reflecting on the recommendation,
but that White left a good impression
during prior opportunities Council
had to meet with him.
“He struck me as being very
thoughtful and professional, and
highly experienced,” he said.
Speaking to some of the current
events surrounding the AAPD,
namely the HRC’s report, Westphal
added that White noted having
experience in such situations.
“He expressed having experience
collaborating
with
citizen
committees, and look(ing) forward
to working with one here, if that’s
the direction we go in,” he said.
Incoming City Councilmember
Zachary Ackerman (D-Ward 3), a
LSA senior, said he thought White
was highly qualified for the job.
Ackerman will formally assume
his position at Monday’s Council
meeting.
“I think (White) brings an
incredible
amount
of
diverse
organizational
skills,
tactical
skills, civil rights knowledge and
psychology education,” Ackerman
said. “And I think the four of those
things, when brought together,
will be incredibly valuable to the
department.”
City
Councilmember
Sabra
Briere (D-Ward 1) echoed those
sentiments, noting that in meetings
with Council White had expressed
an interest in having a position in
the department to foster community
relations.
She added that she thought his
experiences in Detroit, including
operating
under
the
increased
scrutiny of an emergency manager
while the city was emerging from
bankruptcy, would be beneficial in
building trust in the community.
White has served in his current
position with the Detroit Police
Department since February 2013.
He began as an officer with the
department in 1996, and has also
served as deputy chief, commander,
lieutenant and sergeant.
The Detroit Police Department
said Thursday afternoon that they
would not have a statement on
White’s selection until Monday.
He received a bachelor’s degree
in sociology from Wayne State
University and is currently finishing
a master’s degree from Central
Michigan University in counseling,
according to the release.
If approved, White will begin the
job on January 11.
Daily Staff Reporter Emma Kinery
contributed reporting.
“That’s a great thing,”
she
said.
“However,
it’s
not
perfect.
Particularly
for
those
staff
who
identified as racial or ethnic
minorities, they question the
University’s
commitment
to diversity, because when
they looked around, they
didn’t see a lot of people like
themselves reflected among
their colleagues, among the
leaders in their departments
or
at
the
University
administrative level.”
In
Fall
2014,
69.9
percent of employees at
the University’s Ann Arbor
campus were white. When
only considering faculty, the
population is 72.5 percent
white. Women made up 41.2
percent of the faculty.
During
the
discussion,
attendees broke into groups
to
give
the
committee
feedback on their process
and final report. Laurita
Thomas,
associate
vice
president
for
human
resources who lead the staff
committee, said feedback
would be incorporated into
the committee’s strategic
plan.
“When we do the strategic
planning
action
planning
next term, we will reflect
what we learned today and
that should influence the
overall
direction
of
the
strategic plan,” she said.
The
report
chiefly
suggested
the
University
include the concerns and
aspirations of staff members
in
University’s
larger
diversity
strategic
plans.
They also touted efforts to
increase awareness about
the value of diversity, equity
and inclusion, as well as
respect, in the workplace.
In
particular,
they
recommended the University
invest in training for staff
involved
in
recruitment,
hiring
and
promotion
processes.
Along
with
training, they requested the
University enhance current
leadership
training
to
include elements of diversity,
equity and inclusion.
Nichols
noted
that
because of the University’s
status as a federal contractor,
it is an affirmative action
employer. That means it has
target numbers for hiring
underrepresented
groups.
However, in the 2013-2014
fiscal year, it only hired four
members of those groups out
of a target of 27.
The
committee’s
recommendations
also
called for the creation of an
independent ombuds office,
responsible for resolving the
concerns of staff members.
The aim: encourage staff to
feel comfortable addressing
workplace issues.
During
the
dialogues,
many attendees said they
were excited by the training
and ombudsperson proposals
because of their potential to
be measurably implemented
and achieve tangible results.
Event
facilitators
requested that the Michigan
Daily not directly quote
or record the small-group
discussion portion of the
event.
Speaking during the event,
Linh
Nguyen,
associate
director of the Office of
Multi-Ethnic
Student
Affairs, said there was a
need to create a confidential
ombuds
because
not
all
units have an environment
where staff and faculty feel
comfortable talking about
experiences with bias or
discrimination.
“(It’s the) need to have
someone who can hold that
in confidence, support you
through that, and connect
you to the resources you
need so that they can bring
that to a larger space,” she
said. “And that the unit or
the department can really
address
it
intentionally
and specifically so we can
actually move and resolve
issues that were experiencing
as staff, because we know
that that impacts the rest of
the campus climate.”
Overall,
Thomas
said
from her perspective, the
proposal for an ombuds and
for increased training were
the most mentioned during
the event.
Other
proposals
were
met with a more muted
reaction, based on concerns
that some of the committee’s
recommendations
could
be more difficult to initiate
in ways that would hold
individuals accountable for
success.
Multiple attendees also
said though they thought
the work of the committee
was insightful, they worried
the University would still
be grappling with the same
issues in the future if their
recommendations failed to
take hold within the larger
University community.
Residence
educator
Miriam
Rosado,
who
attended the event, said she
thought
the
conversation
was
valuable
because
it
seemed more substantive
than past discussions.
“Right now, we have sort
of the overall comprehensive
formula, where we can really
start the kind of work that
we really need to do around
diversity,” she said. “So I
think this is much more
comprehensive than other
initiatives that I’ve seen —
and that’s what really excites
me. Because we have all the
information and the data, we
know where the barriers are
and the challenges, and so
then we could really begin
the work.”
John Lofy, an assistant
campaign director in the
Office of Development, said
he thought the dialogue was
a valuable experience.
“It
was
a
terrific
opportunity to hear what
the University is planning,
to hear from my colleagues
around the University who
really care about this and
want to do right by the
University and its staff,” he
said.
Thomas said she thought
the Diversity Summit overall
is an instructive experience
for the University.
“The challenge that we’ve
heard, the anger that we’ve
heard, the stories that have
been told, the enthusiasm
we’ve heard for the way
(Schlissel) is doing it this time
is very, very encouraging,”
she said. “This president
has said that he wants to
hear everybody’s voice, and
therefore we’ve created a
process of diversity, equity
and
inclusion
strategic
planning that should give
everybody an opportunity to
be heard about the Michigan
we want to be.”
DIVERSITY
From Page 1A
CHIEF
From Page 1A
thought many of the patients facing
issues with Medicare Plan D will see
some changes moving forward due to
recent changes in federal health care
policy.
“Under the Affordable Care Act,
this coverage gap known as the ‘donut
hole’ will slowly be closed by 2020,”
she said.
In terms of how a physician might
use the model, Levine said she hoped
clinicians would consider criteria for
selecting a drug beyond going only
physical well-being, and include met-
rics for cost and patient affinity.
“Certainly, we have to weigh the
patient’s values and preferences when
making these decisions about which
drugs to choose,” she said.
countries currently use the platform.
She gave an example of Diane
Kleiner, a professor of art history
at Yale University, who teaches a
Roman Archaeology MOOC. While
Kleiner was already well-traveled,
she was able to learn even more
about her field from pictures her
international students sent her.
Koller also addressed the other
side of the Coursera platform — the
type of individuals who take the
course. With MOOCs, she said, there
are three different types of learners:
college-focused
learners,
enrich-
ment learners, and career-focused
learners.
The college-focused learners, she
said, take Coursera not as a substi-
tute to college courses, but rather to
prepare for a different level of edu-
cation or to supplement a college
course they are currently taking.
Engineering student Karen Lin,
who attended the event, said she was
an example of a college learner — as
an international student from China,
she took four Coursera courses in
order to prepare for American col-
lege courses.
“The reason I took it was because
I wanted to apply to (an) overseas
school, but I didn’t have any experi-
ence in overseas classes,” Lin said.
“I thought I would gain education
experience in some U.S. institution.”
The majority of users, accord-
ing to Koller, are the career-focused
ones, who are largely 25 to 35 years
old. MOOCs, she noted, especially
help millennials who switch jobs
early on in their career, a trend she
said is growing.
“Think of marketing,” she said.
“Most people, when they learned
marketing a decade ago, learned all
about how to post ads in newspa-
pers. Now they don’t learn that. They
learn how to post things on Twitter.”
Overall, Koller said, no matter
the type of learner category they fall
into, Coursera has made a large dif-
ference in many participants’ lives.
She cited, in particular, a Cours-
era user from Alabama, Scotty Rush-
ing, who was poor and living out of
his car. Taking MOOCs — including
one of Severance’s— turned his life
around.
Severance said for him, hearing
Rushing’s story served as a reminder
of how meaningful the courses can
be.
“For the students, this is some-
thing very, very special,” he said.
“With so little effort on our part, we
can share this with so many people
and affect so many of their lives.”
STROKE
From Page 2A
COURSERA
From Page 2A
to protect and respect the privacy
of those sharing their stories.
Microphones were placed both
at the front and back of the room,
providing individuals the option
hide their identity by speaking
from behind the crowd.
Many speakers said they were
driven to share their personal
experiences
in
light
of
the
national debate surrounding calls
for Congress to defund Planned
Parenthood,
as
well
as
the
prospect of the Supreme Court
taking up Whole Woman’s Health
v. Cole. If the justices uphold a
lower court ruling in the case,
almost half of Texas’s abortion
clinics would close. The case
considers whether Texas legally
enforce laws that would have the
result of limiting the number of
abortion clinics.
Caroline
Kagan,
a
Music,
Theatre & Dance senior, said she
had heard about the speak out
since she was a freshmen, but this
year felt particularly compelled to
attend.
“I thought it would be interesting
to come and hear everyone’s
stories,” she said. “I wanted to
come and support people who
had actually been through a very
serious issue that maybe Planned
Parenthood guided them in.”
Business junior Nikki Yadon
said she sees efforts to defund
Planned Parenthood as a “bunch of
political propaganda.”
“I
think
organizations
are
getting a really bad rep for
providing these services and that
shouldn’t be happening,” she said.
Many who shared their stories
hoped to convey the various
aspects of going through an
abortion and the importance of
having a right to choose. Others
said they hoped sharing their
stories would help them feel more
at peace, as well as educate those
in attendance — a key goal of the
event.
LSA
senior
Connie
Gao,
Students for Choice co-president,
said organizations like Planned
Parenthood not only serve women,
but also people of all kinds of
gender identities. She said Students
for Choice plays an important role
in furthering that mission.
“We try to take a holistic
approach to this issue,” she
said. “We operate through a
reproductive justice framework,
where
we
recognize
both
a
person’s right to choose and a
person’s right to parent their child
in a safe and healthy environment.
I think having a campus presence
that specifically reaches out to
students is very important. I’m
a strong believer in grassroots
action.”
SPEAK OUT
From Page 1A
read more at
michigandaily.com
DELANEY RYAN/Daily
LSA senior Dominic Sweeney participates in the Million Student March, which is in support of tuition
free public college, cancellation of all student debt, and a $15 minimum wage on the Diag on Thursday.
M ARCH TO R AISE MINIMUM WAGE