his decision to vote in favor of the
cull.
“It goes without saying that the
recall process is a critical part of
democracy,” he said. “That being
said, in my limited experience
of recalls, they usually seem to
involve some kind of extreme
behavior problem of an elected
official, not votes on small-budget
items like we have here. I struggle
with the concept of using a recall
in this instance. I suppose the
inference is that 10 out of 11 coun-
cil members are unfit to serve in
this person’s view.”
The deer management pro-
gram City Council approved
is designed in hopes of reduc-
ing the deer population and in
turn decreasing nuisance to the
community and supporting bio-
logical diversity. The council
allocated up to $90,000 for deer
population management efforts
over the next four years. Howev-
er, only approximately $35,000
will be put toward the cull. The
city also has plans to investigate
alternative methods for popu-
lation regulation and the Sep-
tember approved resolution also
provides for further exploration
and research of deer fertility
control.
During the cull, sharpshoot-
ers will take out deer at night on
public property, a move which has
proven contentious.
At the November meeting in
which City Council approved the
cull, approximately 50 speakers,
spoke in support of or against the
resolution.
“I live in Ann Arbor near pub-
lic land,” Sanzotta said during
the meeting. “I am seriously con-
cerned about public safety. Who
knows what high powered rifles
are being fired on these animals? I
don’t think that is something that
residents should want to allow, for
public safety reasons.”
Westphal said he understood
why the decision was controver-
sial, but added that he ultimately
felt the cull was the only proven
way to manage the deer overpop-
ulation issue.
“There was a very expensive
public outreach and research pro-
cess that apparently Council felt
comfortable with,” he said. “It’s
clear that nobody loves the idea
of a deer cull. However I get the
overwhelming feeling from my
constituents that most under-
stand this is the only proven way
to manage the deer and the eco-
system.”
For the Save the Deer group’s
petition to prevail, it will need to
be approved by the Washtenaw
County
Election
Commission,
which next meets Dec. 17.
If approved, the group will
need to collect signatures from
1,791 registered Ward 2 voters by
the end of January. A successful
petition would force a May run-
off election ahead of the August
City Council primary, in which
Westphal will already be up for
re-election.
The special election would
determine a new candidate to fill
the seat before the election.
Sanzotta said the group’s next
step, after filing the petition,
would be identifying a candidate
interested in running for West-
phal’s seat.
This is not Sanzotta’s first
attempt at ousting a council mem-
ber because of his or her senti-
ments toward the cull.
The Save the Deer group
worked to defeat council mem-
ber Jane Lumm (I–Ward 2) for
approving the cull when Lumm
was up for re-election in Novem-
ber. However, despite Save the
Deer’s efforts, Lumm was re-
elected last month.
gravity environment is just
another example of how peo-
ple do that.”
Seidler’s other work focus-
es on the elderly and patients
with Parkinson’s. She said
there are parallels between the
motor control loss that comes
with aging and the experi-
ences of astronauts returning
home.
“There are some age declines
in the vestibular system that
can contribute to balance loss,
so there is a connection there,”
she said. “I also study how
people learn new motor skills
— what are the brain areas that
are engaged when the brain
begins to learn motor memory?
How is this process affected by
Parkinson’s disease or aging?”
Dean of Kinesiology Ron-
ald Zernicke said he thought
Seidler’s research touched on
an interesting part of the tran-
sition period for astronauts.
He cited, in particular, the
case of NASA astronaut Scott
Kelly, who has been in space
for nearly 400 days — a record-
breaking flight.
“(Kelly) is coming down in
March, who’s been up there
for 382 days,” he said. “Your
depth perception, your memo-
ry, motor control — those can
all be affected because of the
lack of gravity and the normal
way in which the body is func-
tioning. The brain interprets
signals in space differently in
some respects, than it does to
being in gravity.”
Seidler said she is particu-
larly interested in exploring
how certain brain regions
change during spaceflight as
they adapt to different grav-
ity levels. She will explore
those
changes
through
a
series of tests on astronauts
both on Earth and in the
space station.
“We’re doing a bunch of
measurements before and after
astronauts go to the Interna-
tional Space Station,” she said.
“We’re using MRIs to measure
brain structures and function.
We’re measuring their bal-
ance, their functional mobil-
ity and doing a lot of cognitive
tests. Then while they’re on
the space station they also do
some behavioral tests for us,
some motor tasks that we have
them do on a computer.”
These measurements and
tests include obstacle cours-
es to determine how quickly
they can move over and under
obstacles as well as cognitive
tests while under an MRI, a
scanning device that provides
a detailed picture of the brain.
Zernicke
said
though
Seidler’s current work relates
the brain to its environment in
microgravity, the implications
of her research could also be
applied to the brain as it func-
tions on Earth.
“There’s
still
so
much
unknown associated with the
brain,” he said. “The more
you can learn in different con-
texts, the better it will be for
finding out whether it’s on
Earth, under different condi-
tions, under adaptations, how
the brain adapts and responds
to different kinds of stimu-
li. Microgravity, or being in
space, is a different stimuli
than people typically have.
It’s a unique situation and that
unique situation can poten-
tially provide some insights in
terms of how the brain func-
tions.”
3-News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Friday, December 4, 2015 — 3
Group offers
free bike safety
equipment
GetDowntown,
a
program
which
provides
communting
services
for
employees
and
employers in downtown Ann
Arbor, is offering free lights
and reflective gear for anyone
working downtown.
The
decision
to
provide
complimentary safety equipment
comes after a series of cycling
deaths.
On Monday, Jeffrey Jurek, 54,
was killed in a crash on Dexter
Avenue. On October 28, Michael
Curley, 26, was killed in a hit-
and-run crash. And last October,
Derek Tat, 24 year-old graduate
student
at
the
University,
was killed after being hit by a
University bus on North Campus.
While
the
complimentary
gear will be available for pickup
and
delivery,
GetDowntown
also plans to visit downtown
businesses to hand out items.
Researchers can
preserve fertility in
women with cancer
University researchers have
discovered
a
potential
new
approach to preserving fertility
in young cancer patients.
The researchers, who con-
ducted their research on mice,
isolated primary ovarian follicles
and encapsulated these follicles
in a gel. After this, the follicles
were reemplanted in the mice.
All those with transplanted fol-
licles resumed normal ovarian
cycles and one-third produced
live births.
Researchers are also explor-
ing ovarian tissue transplan-
taition for cancer patients. A
concern with this approach is
that the tissue may harbor latent
cancer cells which could be rein-
troduced to the patient upon
transplantation.
Current ferility preservation
methods include embryo or egg
freezing which are performed
using hormonal stimulation to
induce ovulation. Unfortunate-
ly, some patients are too young
or their cancer is too advanced
for this treatment to be a viable
option.
Famed indie film
producer donates
archives to the ‘U’
Renowned film producer Ira
Deutchman announced Wednes-
day he would donate archives
spanning his 40-year film career
to the University’s Screen Arts
Mavericks & Makers collection.
As founder of the companies
Cinecom and Fine Line Fea-
tures, Deutchman has produced
more than 150 films, including
the critically acclaimed works
“Matewan,” “The Player” and
“sex, lies, and videotape”.
His donation to the Univer-
sity will include personal docu-
ments,
e-mails,
photographs
and memorabilia from art house
exhibits, the earliest dating back
to the early 1970s.
In addition to being a film
studies professor at Columbia
University School of the Arts,
Deutchman works as an indepen-
dent producer and consultant in
independent film marketing and
production. As a consultant, he
has represented companies pro-
ducing a variety of film genres
including documentaries, operas
and ballets.
In a statement, Deutchman
said he believes his contribution
will add depth to the study and
discussion of the independent
cinema industry.
“I believe that it is important
to understand the role of market-
ers, distributors, exhibitors and
curators in the support and cre-
ation of film culture in the U.S.,”
he said. “Without that part of
the independent film ecosystem,
it’s hard to imagine how these
maverick filmmakers could have
survived. By bringing this part
of the discussion to their collec-
tion, the University of Michigan
is making a huge contribution
to the study of independent cin-
ema.”
—GEN HUMMER AND
ALYSSA BRANDON
NEWS BRIEFS
DEER
From Page 1
BRAIN
From Page 1
lish promise zones to benefit
their students, but have been
unable to because state law
limits the zones to 10 districts.
“We know that education
is a driver of our economy,
and we know that in certain
areas, it’s a little bit more dif-
ficult to attain high educa-
tion,” McGarry said. “I really
think this benefits the state
as a whole: Not only are we
offering a higher education,
but if people know that they
have the promise option for
their children, I think, long
term, we would see more peo-
ple coming into communities
— potentially housing values
could increase — because peo-
ple want to send their kids to a
district where they know that
they’re going to have college
afterwards.”
McGarry also noted that
some promise zones, especially
Baldwin Community Schools,
have already been successful at
increasing college or technical
school enrollment.
“Starting
with
the
first
promise zone in Kalamazoo,
communities have witnessed
a positive impact in providing
tuition support for students,”
she said. “Not every zone
works in exactly the same way
and the funding for the zones
can vary. The expansion of
promise zones appears to fur-
ther enhance the ability of stu-
dents and families to consider
higher education or other post-
secondary options. That’s cer-
tainly an effort we support.”
McGarry said this flexibility
is a positive, because it allows
locals to decide what is best for
their communities.
“This program doesn’t work
in every community, but for
locals that want to garner the
private investment to get this off
the ground, this gives them the
ability to do that,” she said. “Let’s
give more communities the abil-
ity to take advantage of it.”
Both Mooney and McGarry
noted that 0539 and 0540’s
more technical changes to pre-
vious legislation would increase
the accountability of the pro-
gram. Districts would have sev-
eral years to receive treasury
approval and begin granting
scholarships before their char-
ters would be revoked for lack
of success. The treasury would
then give the next district on
a waiting list the mandate to
begin its own program, and
all zones would be required to
include mechanisms for track-
ing degree completion in their
program design.
Mooney cited the decision
of Jackson Public Schools, one
of the 10 original promise zone
districts, to terminate its pro-
gram last year due to fundrais-
ing constraints as the catalyst
for Bill 0539. She said there
lacked a system in the original
promise zones legislation that
specified how the state could
replace that school district with
another.
“Treasury didn’t believe that
it specified in (previous legis-
lation) how to dissolve a zone
if (Jackson) chose to and what
happens to the dollars that
they’ve raised — so that’s what
we are trying to codify and
clarify in Senate Bill 0539,” she
said. “And when Jackson chose
to dissolve, there are others on
this waiting list that applied
back in 2009, and Treasury
believed there needed to be
clarification in statute in order
for them to certify or designate
another eligible entity to be a
zone.”
Bill 0540 is a technical bill
that allows state-raised funds
to be funneled directly to the
promise zone programs, as
opposed to through an inter-
mediary such as the school dis-
trict.
After the testimonies, the
committee
engaged
with
Mooney and McGarry for
clarification on specific parts
of the two bills and some rep-
resentatives raised concerns
about how state and district-
level funds are appropriated
for these programs.
Specifically, Rep. Jeff Far-
rington
(R–Utica)
asked
Mooney and McGarry why the
number of promise zones in the
state should be limited at all.
“Why are we moving from
10 to 15 instead of unlimiting
it?” Farrington said. “If it’s
good for Baldwin, Flint, Battle
Creek, whomever else, why not
for the whole state?”
Mooney said it is prudent for
the state to increase the num-
ber of permissible zones slow-
ly, because these programs
do use state funds to provide
scholarships.
PROMISE
From Page 1
diversity of the student body,
including the HAIL Scholars
Program and the Wolverine Path-
ways program. HAIL provides
full scholarships to students from
low-income
areas;
Wolverine
Pathways is a pipeline program
targeted at middle and high
school students in two metro
Detroit area school districts that
would also yield four-year tuition
scholarships.
Harper also spoke about the
University’s
Comprehensive
Studies Program, which offers
students from under-resourced
high schools, underrepresented
minorities and first-generation
students extra resources to suc-
ceed.
“If you’ve always done well it
sort of dons on you late that you
might need some additional sup-
port,” Harper said. “We think
part of the Michigan challenge is
to try to normalize help-seeking
behavior.”
Sexual assault
investigation procedures
LSA senior Kendal Rosalik,
who said she is a survivor of sex-
ual misconduct, was one of the
students who received an e-mail
from University Title XI Coordi-
nator Anthony Whalesby and the
Office of Student Conflict Resolu-
tion when the draft sexual mis-
conduct policy was distributed to
students. The e-mail asked stu-
dents to share their experiences,
make suggestions and attend pol-
icy roundtables.
“I was a little bit alarmed by the
fact that there was not a survivor-
specific roundtable after asking
me to share my experiences in an
e-mail that looked like a generic
e-mail,” Rosalik said. “There was
no indication of what the content
of that e-mail was going to be and
no indication that the content of
that e-mail was going to be con-
tacting me because I was a survi-
vor that reported.”
Rosalik said she wrote a
10-page
paper
offering
her
thoughts on the policy and
offered to meet with both OSCR
and the Title IX coordina-
tor’s office, but never received a
response. She voiced specific con-
cern with the lack of transpar-
ency the policy provides in the
investigation of reports of sexual
assault on campus.
In an interview after the event,
she noted that the University’s
investigation process — dur-
ing which a University-assigned
investigator separately gathers
information from both the sur-
vivor and perpetrator of alleged
assault — lacks transparency
because it is not clear how the
investigator implements current
policy to decide which party to
trust.
She said the ineffectiveness
of this process is illustrated by
data from the University’s cam-
pus climate survey, noting that
just under 4 percent of all victims
of sexual assault at the Univer-
sity were reported to someone at
the University for the 2013-2014
academic year. Additionally, she
said, only four alleged perpetra-
tors were found guilty of sexual
assault on campus, with two
cases pending.
“We can do the work, students
and activists, to make this a bet-
ter policy, but there’s not a lot that
we can do around the transpar-
ency of that policy,” Rosalik said.
“What would you suggest we do
to make that a more transparent
process for survivors?”
Schlissel said he was surprised
there was no survivor-specific
mode of outreach concerning
the drafting of the sexual assault
policy, and apologized for the
insensitivity of the e-mail she
received. He further acknowl-
edged the challenge of investiga-
tive transparency, and said the
University is open to suggestions
for improvement in that regard.
Divestment from
fossil fuels
The question of divestment
from fossil fuels also sparked
debate at Thursday’s event. One
LSA sophomore brought up the
fact that the University cur-
rently invests $1 billion in fossil
fuel-related industries. One stu-
dent asked whether there exists
a point when the consequences
of investing in fossil fuels would
outweigh any benefits. A pro-
posal to support the formation
of a committee to consider fossil
fuel divestment was passed by
the University’s Senate Advisory
Committee on University Affairs
last month.
Schlissel responded that the
University is dedicated to sus-
tainability and efforts to curb
climate change, citing the Uni-
versity’s Graham Sustainability
Institute, extensive sustainability
research, environmental science
course offerings and philan-
thropic efforts targeted at envi-
ronmental causes.
He
additionally
reaffirmed
the University’s commitment to
reducing environmental harm
by reminding the audience of
the University’s recent $80 mil-
lion investment in a natural gas-
driven turbine or co-generation
turbine, which makes electricity
and steam at high efficiency and
is expected to decrease the Uni-
versity’s carbon footprint by 20
percent.
On the topic of divestment,
Schlissel said he is against divest-
ing due to its anticipated ineffec-
tiveness in actually diverting the
energy market from fossil fuels.
“If you could convince me that
the University of Michigan shift-
ing its investment portfolio away
from fossil fuel companies would
actually hasten our transition to
renewables, then I’d think about
it,” Schlissel said. “But I think
that the strongest arguments that
have been made so far is that it’s
an important symbolic action
because burning fossil fuels is bad
for the environment.”
Schlissel said he would rather
see students lobby the Michigan
state legislature instead of the
University on the topic of fossil
fuel divestment. At the Univer-
sity level, he said, divestment is
“mostly symbolic action.”
“If it diminishes the perfor-
mance of our endowment and our
ability to pay for all the things
here that we want to pay for and
it doesn’t hasten our conversion
away from fossil fuels, it doesn’t
make sense to me,” he added.
The student responded that
divesting in fossil fuel industries
would not only be a symbolic
gesture, but also an initial step
in igniting a culture shift toward
reducing environmental harm.
He also said the University could
influence donors not to have their
money invested in the fossil fuel
industry.
Student debt
During the chat, a Medical
School student who said she car-
ries a significant amount of stu-
dent debt voiced concern with the
University’s average amount of
debt within the medical student
population. She said the current
number is skewed because a large
portion of medical students have
no debt, while a large portion of
others have a significant amount
of debt.
She also noted that continu-
ing to raise tuition poses a unique
threat to medical students, as it is
virtually impossible to transfer
medical schools.
Schlissel responded that the
University’s main focus is and
remains on undergraduate stu-
dent debt and less so graduate
and professional students, least of
all medical and law students.
“It’s not that it’s unimport-
ant, but when you’re training for
a profession, it’s a different type
of thinking than receiving an
undergraduate basic education,”
Schlissel said.
“The reason why you can accu-
mulate that much debt is because
the people loaning you the money
appreciate the fact that there’s
no unemployment among physi-
cians,” he added. “You will pay it
back.”
University grading
policies
About halfway through the
event, Schlissel posed a question
to those in attendance: “Does
Michigan seem the same or more
competitive among students than
you thought it would be?”
Students’
reactions
were
mixed, with the general consen-
sus that, in classes graded on a
curve, peer competition and high
tension are more evident.
Schlissel then asked students if
they thought an absolute grading
system, as opposed to a curve,
would be a more effective form
of evaluation.
One medical student, argu-
ing in favor of an absolute grad-
ing system, said curves are
detrimental to students whose
grades fall below the average
— and are subsequently curved
down.
Similarly,
other
respon-
dents were mostly in favor of
absolute grading, identifying a
curve as a significant source of
stress and competition. Schlis-
sel acknowledged both the
positives and negatives to the
curved grading system.
FIRESIDE
From Page 1
michigandaily.com