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

NEWS......................... 2A

OPINION.....................4A

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 A

SPORTS ......................7A

CL ASSIFIEDS...............6A

T H E S TAT E M E N T . . . . . 1 B

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