michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Residents struggle
with crisis’ lasting
impacts as leaders
seek to rebuild trust
By SAM GRINGLAS
Managing News Editor
FLINT, Mich. — On a Saturday
evening in October, several hundred
trick-or-treaters
streamed
up
and down Calumet Street on the
city’s east side. Traffic clogged the
neighborhood’s streets, lined with
well-maintained Tudors, Colonials
and mature trees cloaked in hues
of red and yellow. Princesses, ninja
turtles, witches and firemen darted
between the cars, and on their front
lawn, Bob and Melodee Mabbitt
passed out candy from beneath
a rain umbrella. The Mabbitt’s
stretch of Calumet is wealthier than
most of Flint’s neighborhoods, and
draws kids from all over town on
Halloween. But this year, along with
Snickers, Crunch bars and boxes of
Nerds, the Mabbitts were handing
out leaflets.
The letters were bold and black,
and they warned Flint parents their
kids may have been exposed to toxic
lead from their drinking water.
“You are getting this as a courtesy
to let you know that one or more of
your neighbors had their tap water
tested and was informed they have
very high contents of lead and
other pollutants in their water,” the
fliers read. Nayyirah Shariff, a Flint
community organizer and friend
of Melodee’s, slid the white, folded
fliers into dozens of old pillowcases
and plastic buckets shaped like jack-
o’-lanterns. “Don’t worry, there’s
candy, too,” she assured a group
of kids clad in raincoats. “Happy
Halloween!”
In October, Michigan Gov. Rick
Snyder (R) announced the city of
Flint’s drinking water contained
elevated levels of lead. A local
Student-run
dystopian play
explores high-tech
future
By BAILEY KADIAN
Daily Arts Writer
“Just because it’s virtual, doesn’t
mean it isn’t real.”
In a divide between a virtual world
and reality, Jennifer Haley’s “The
Nether” explores
morality’s
place
within the digital
realm.
This weekend at
Studio One of the
Walgreen Drama
Center, Basement
Arts, a student-
run
theater
organization,
presents
“The
Nether,” a science-
fiction drama set in a futuristic
world.
As I sat in on rehearsal, I quickly
realized I was observing something
far from familiar. The actors warned
me about the dark nature of the play
— and I soon discovered why.
“The Nether” is set in a dystopian,
futuristic society where the Internet
has become a series of virtual realms,
called The Nether, requiring users to
sign in and indulge in any desire they
please. Detective Morris discovers
one particular world, the Hideaway,
and chooses to investigate this
virtual reality.
This fictitious universe centers
on crime, specifically pedophilia,
and it raises questions of what’s
considered ethical within the world
and how behavior should be policed
accordingly. For some clients of the
Hideaway, the virtual is just as real
as “reality.”
Though
there’s
immense
darkness in the Hideaway, there’s
also beauty. The joys of this
virtual world are seen through
visual design and the relationships
between characters.
“The Nether has been able
to capture trees and sensorial
things that the real world no
longer has,” director Maddie
Rouverol, a junior in the School
EVENT PREVIEW
Basement Arts’
sci-fi drama ‘The
Nether’ comes to
Walgreen Center
Available classes
have nearly
doubled since
semester’s start
By BRIAN KUANG
Daily Staff Reporter
Since the summer, the
University
has
nearly
doubled
the
number
of
massively
open
online
courses, MOOCs, it offers on
both the Coursera and edX
online platforms.
This includes 42 currently
available
courses
on
Coursera and two courses
that will be available in the
spring of 2016 on the edX
platform, covering subjects
ranging from programming
and finance to classical
music.
James DeVaney, associate
vice
provost
for
Digital
Education and Innovation,
wrote in an e-mail interview
that MOOCs not only help
faculty
members
teach
larger audiences, but also
serve as a testing ground
for
new
educational
technologies and strategies.
MOOCs
are
largely
administered through the
Office of Digital Education
and
Innovation,
which
partners
with
interested
faculty members and helps
them
in
planning
and
implementing their online
courses.
“Our growing portfolio
See FLINT, Page 3A
See NETHER, Page 5A
See MOOCS, Page 3A
ADMINISTRATION
ACADEMICS
Jim Hackett has
served in interim
role since Oct. 2014
By LEV FACHER
Managing Editor
The University will soon launch
a search for a permanent athletic
director, and Jim Hackett, who
currently holds the position on an
interim basis, will not be among the
candidates, according to a Tuesday
report in the Detroit Free Press.
Since being appointed interim
Athletic Director on Oct. 31,
Hackett has made waves around
the Athletic Department. Most
notably, he inked Michigan football
coach Jim Harbaugh to a seven-
year contract worth roughly $5
million annually, not including
incentives, in December 2014.
Harbaugh has led the Wolverines’
charge to a 9-3 regular-season
record in his first year at the helm.
Hiring Hackett, in light of
former Athletic Director Dave
Brandon’s resignation, was one
of the first major administrative
decisions
University
President
Mark
Schlissel
made
after
assuming the presidency in July
See SEARCH, Page 3A
The Nether
Walgreen
Drama Center,
Studio One
Dec. 3 at 7 p.m.,
Dec. 4 at 7 & 11
p.m. and Dec.
5 at 7 p.m.
RITA MORRIS/Daily
Caroline Rebello, program assistant of student philanthropy, adds cards to the “challenge wall” with the names of
organizations chosen by students that should receive donations on Giving Blueday in Pierpont Commons on Tuesday.
GIVING BACK ON GIVING BLU E DAY
RUBY WALLAU/Daily
The Flint Water Plant is quiet now that all of the Flint River water has been emptied from the plant and the city returns to using water from the Detroit River.
Flint Water Crisis Timeline
March 2013
Flint City Council votes to join Karegnondi Water
Authority. The next day, Detroit tells Flint it will no
longer sell water to the city beginning in April.
March 2014
The city of Flint announces it will begin sourcing its
water from the Flint River on a plan managed by the
city’s emergency manager.
April 25, 2014
Flint residents begin drinking water from the Flint
River. Resident complaints about water quality begin a
few weeks later.
September, 2014
The city issues a boil-water advisory after bacteria is
discovered in some Flint water samples.
October 8, 2015
Snyder announces a $12 million plan to reconnect the
city of Flint to Detroit water.
September 2, 2015
A Virginia Tech professor’s report says the water’s
corrosivity is causing lead from the pipes to leach into
the city’s water supply.
September 25, 2015
Gov. Rick Snyder says the state will provide additional
water filters for Flint, expand lead exposure testing
and work to improve corrosion control during the
water treatment. The administration says it is
reviewing the option to return Flint to Detroit water.
September 24, 2015
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha reports her findings showing
a correlation between blood lead-level spikes in
children and zip codes with heightened levels of lead
in water samples.
January, 2015
Residents are notified the city has violated the Safe
Drinking Water Act due to unsafe levels of TTHMs.
Several members of City Council say the city should
stop using water from the Flint River, and Detroit offers
to begin selling Flint water again. Flint’s emergency
manager opts to stay the course. The city later invests
in new filters designed to curb the problem.
The intersection of two often
distinct campus communities
» INSIDE
the
statement
by Emily Schumer
In Flint, lead contamination
spurs fight for clean water
University to offer more
massive open online courses
Report: ‘U’
to begin the
search for a
new AD
INDEX
Vol. CXXV, No. 39
©2015 The Michigan Daily
michigandaily.com
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HI: 45
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