The
committee
also
discussed changes to the
Standard Practice Guideline,
which outlines professional
standards
for
faculty,
in
further
detail
during
an
executive session. This session
was not open to the press.
During
the
meeting,
Weineck said SACUA had
received possible revisions
to the SPG from Provost
Pollack.
“Martha (Pollack) expressed
that she now gave us back a
document with a considerable
number
of
edits
that
do
not address our concerns,
but actually aggravate our
concerns,” she said.
chance to exit from financing
the startup.
“It
started
off
as
this
investigation
into
what’s
going on in terms of gender
and venture capital finance,”
Raina said. “Venture capital
financing provides money to
early stage startups — like
high-tech startups that aren’t
public.”
Raina
used
CrunchBase,
a database for the high-tech
sector, to collect information
on over 10,000 venture capital
financing rounds and about
3,600 startups.
CrunchBase
included
the
names of the entrepreneurs
who founded the startups as
well as the names of the general
partners who were leading
the venture capitals, allowing
Raina to use the names to
assign gender to all of the
people in the sample.
For the names Raina said
he
could
not
immediately
assign a gender to — such as
gender-ambiguous names or
those that were uncommon
American names — he used
online resources to try to
determine if they were male
or female. Names that weren’t
distinguishable were excluded
from the study.
According to Raina, about 10
percent of the entrepreneurs
in the sample were women,
and only about 15 percent
of the startups had just one
female founder. Overall, in
entrepreneurship in the United
States, about 36 percent of small
businwesses
have
majority
female ownership, Raina said.
Raina said he wanted to
explore specifically whether
the
performance
of
the
startups differed by either the
gender of startup’s founder or
the venture capitalist funding
it. For the purpose of the study,
success was determined by
whether
venture
capitalists
exited a project, signalling it
was either public or had been
bought by another company.
“For startups that had only
male founders, I found they
had an exit rate of about 27
percent,” Raina said. “But for
startups that had at least one
woman founder, the exit rate
was more like 17 percent.”
Considering
the
10
percentage point difference,
Raina then examined whether
venture capital financing or
advising might play a role in the
gender gap.
He looked at rounds that
had at least one female general
partner
in
the
financing
syndicate
versus
financing
rounds with all male partners
in the syndicate, and compared
the startups that were financed
in these two types of financing
rounds.
Startups that were financed
by either of these two groups
had similar proportions of
their portfolios led by women
founders,
according
to
the
study. In both venture capital
groups, about 16.5 percent of
the portfolios were startups led
by women founders.
For
male-led
startups,
there
was
no
difference
in
performance
based
on
whether they were financed
by a syndicate with all male
partners or by a syndicate with
at least one female partner.
On average, male-led startups
successfully exited at 21 to 22
percent of the time.
Among syndicates that had
at least one female general
partner, there was no difference
in the average performance
rates of male- led startups
and female-led startups they
funded. However, for financing
syndicates that had all male
general partners, there was a 25
to 30 percent difference in the
average performance rates of
male and female-led startups.
“All of this difference is
coming from the female-led
startups doing much better
when they are initially financed
by a syndicate run by at least
one female GP,” Raina said.
Raina
said
this
makes
him believe that the venture
capitalists with female general
partners are able to better
select female-led startups, and
this implies that some valuable
startups might not succeed
depending on who is financing
them.
Finance
Prof.
Sugato
Bhattacharyya, chair of Raina’s
dissertation committee, said
the most intriguing part of
Raina’s
research
was
that
venture capitalist groups with
women as partners effectively
selected firms with women
better.
“What it comes down to
eventually is the notion that
when people look at women’s
participation in whatever way
in this sub-area, one culprit
that held up is the widely
known demographic fact, at
least in North America, women
tend to go less into STEM
fields historically,” he said.
“That in itself might be causing
disparity.”
Given the results, Raina
said along with emphasis on
STEM — science, technology,
engineering and math majors
— it may be beneficial to
encourage women to go into
venture capitalism or finance-
related majors as well. He
said encouraging women to
work in venture capital will
result in higher participation
and
success
for
female
entrepreneurs.
Bhattacharyya
noted,
however,
that
because
the
research
is
ongoing,
it
is
difficult to say definitively
whether a disparity among
startups exists.
“These things are never
static,”
Bhattacharyya
said.
“They evolve. By the time we
find that in 1996 a big disparity
existed and then in 2015, is
it relevant or is it not? By this
time there will be more women
capitalists,
more
women
entrepreneurs, and maybe it
doesn’t exist anymore.”
Currently, The Michigan
Daily is the only media in
Ann Arbor to publish as a
daily print newspaper. The
Ann Arbor News maintained
a daily print news cycle
until July 2009. It currently
publishes
daily
online
at
MLive.com,
but
produces
print
editions
only
on
Thursdays and Sundays.
Anthony
Collings,
a
University
lecturer
in
the
Department of Communication
who focuses on journalism and
media, said he was concerned
the changes could lead to less
local coverage in Ann Arbor.
With 18 years of experience
reading the Ann Arbor News,
Collings said he has become
increasingly dissatisfied with
the level and quality of the
paper’s local coverage, and
now reads it rarely.
“From what I’ve seen
of (the Ann Arbor News),
they rewrite press releases,
they boost local businesses,
they tell you about cool
restaurants,” Collings said.
“That’s fine, I’m all in favor
of food and travel, but you
also need to do the quality
journalism.
You
need
to
investigate
problems.
This
town
has
problems,
like
any place. Where is the
journalism? Where is the
accountability reporting?”
No media organization has
filled the niche of providing
local coverage over past years,
Collings said.
“Ann Arbor needs good
coverage,” Collings said. “The
Daily is fine, but the Daily does
a lot of focus on the campus.
It’s a student newspaper.
There isn’t a really good daily
news organization covering
Ann Arbor the way it should
be covered.”
Collings added that he
believes the problem goes
beyond Ann Arbor and is
something that’s also missing
in Michigan and beyond,
citing coverage of the Flint
water crisis in particular as an
example of statewide failings
in investigative journalism.
“Generally,
journalism
in
the
United
States
is
undergoing a crisis. Buyouts,
layoffs and other forms of
staff reduction — that’s all bad
news for the public, because
less journalists means less
coverage of stories that need
to be covered,” he said.
MLIVE
From Page 1
STUDY
From Page 1
one: get them credit for doing
the work,” Nordé said. “And
two: that it had to be aligned
with
college
and
career
readiness standards.”
After adding the program
as a course to the DPS
catalogue, participating high
schools also arranged busing
and scheduling so students
could participate.
According to Nordé, some
students attended the prep
program
in
the
morning
while others attended during
the afternoon. Busing was
arranged by DPS to transport
the students to and from
the
midtown
architecture
research studio back to their
high schools, where students
would
then
attend
their
regular classes.
“This was a phenomenal
opportunity
for
students,”
Nordé said.
In a speech during the
graduation ceremony, Maurice
Cox, the city of Detroit’s
planning
and
development
director, encouraged students
to explore new opportunities
and step out of their comfort
zones.
“You have been taught a
level of abstraction, a level of
creative thinking that most
of your peers back at school
have not been exposed to,”
he said. “The fact that you
succeeded should give you
enormous confidence.”
Diamond
Long,
Cass
Technical
High
School
junior who participated in
the program, said she was
grateful for the chance to
be exposed to college-level
architecture standards and
criticism.
“At
first
I
struggled
because at first we were
doing a lot of free-hand
stuff,” Long said. “But as I got
to the second project I was a
lot more comfortable with it.”
Long said her instructor,
Michigan-Mellon
Design
Fellow Paulina Reyes, was
open with students, easy to
engage with and made the
learning process easier for
students.
“She’s always open-minded
and gives me critiques on my
work,” she said. “Which to
me means she wants the best
from me.”
In a speech during the
ceremony,
Long
said
she
enjoyed the experience and
was grateful to have had the
chance to participate. She
added that her perception
of architecture has changed
significantly since finishing
the program.
Following the program,
the University will also be
offering a follow-up workshop
during which applicants will
be guided through Taubman’s
application process in an
effort to increase the number
of minority students studying
architecture either at the
University or at other schools.
That
additional
step,
Curry said, was also an
important part of increasing
representation in the field.
“The way that you become
an architect is to go to
architecture school,” Curry
said. “What we’re doing is
facilitating a demystification
of the process of applying to
college, getting admitted to
college and then paying for
college.”
TAUBMAN
From Page 1
Gov. Snyder to
create new Flint
water committee
in executive
order
Gov. Rick Snyder signed
an executive order Monday
to create a new committee
to work on finding solutions
to the Flint water crisis as it
relates to the health of the
residents.
This follows Snyder
declaring a state of emergency
in Flint on Jan. 5. The
water supply there has been
contaminated with lead since
the city switched from Detroit
city water to the Flint River in
2014.
Residents have raised
concerns over health damage,
in particular the polluted
water’s effects on young
children, and the future safety
of the city’s water for years to
come.
The committee is the second
created by Snyder, who created
the Flint Water Advisory Task
Force in October.
The committee will look at
the long-run effects of the high
levels of lead on the health
of Flint residents and will
reccommend actions.
Large storm to
sweep through
Michigan Tuesday
A high-impact, high-wind
snowstorm started coming
through Michigan Monday
night and will continue on
Tuesday.
The storm will bring very
low temperatures and winds
reaching 30 mph, which will
give the snow a powdery
nature. Experts are concerned
over the danger of blowing
snow.
The snow will not be
excessively heavy by Michigan
winter standards, but the
lightweight nature of the
snow may cause near whiteout
conditions.
The Ann Arbor area should
not expect more than two to
four inches of snow by the time
to storm concludes on Tuesday.
Farther north, more snow can
be expected, with the Traverse
City area expecting upwards
of 10 inches and the Upper
Peninsula receiving more than
a foot.
City names
contest winner
to redesign Ann
Arbor water
tower
The City of Ann Arbor has
selected Bill Burgard as the
winner of the “Art in the Sky”
mural project, a city wide
competition among residents to
design a mural for Manchester
elevated Water Tank,
according to a press release.
Burgard, a University
graduate turned lecturer at
the Stamps School of Art and
Design, was chosen winner
for the competition among 598
of local applicants to for his
submission. His entry depicted
birds, fish and other wildlife
swimming in a river.
The competition first began
in fall, with voting for 5 finalist
entries — which were selected
by a panel of judges comprised
of Ann Arbor residents —
lasting from November to
December 15. According to the
press release, over 3,200 votes
were cast in the competition.
Renovations to the water
tank which is located at the
corner of Washtenaw Ave. and
Stadium Blvd. are projected to
be completed by October 2016.
—LYDIA MURRAY
AND ALYSSA BRANDON
NEWS BRIEFS
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, January 12, 2015 — 3
SACUA
From Page 1
like India.
“I’ve
heard
really
good
things about Bollywood films,”
she said. “I have only seen one
or two, but they are really fun.
I think one of the great things
about Netflix is that you can
find really obscure films as
opposed to really mainstream
American culture.”
For countries the company
is entering such as India, Herl
said thinks the expansion will
be a good opportunity.
“They have such a thriving
movie industry over there, but
it doesn’t always make it over
to
American
film
audiences,
and I think that is something
Americans are going to enjoy,”
she said.
Manchanda noted, however,
that it will be a challenge for
Netflix to adapt and produce
local content geared towards a
global audience.
“They will have to change
and start building and start
programing original content,”
Manchanda
said.
“Which
means
different
languages,
different
cultures,
different
kind of movies or shows. And
I think that is part of their
strategy.”
Of the 130 countries Netflix
is expanding into, the company
has
not
entered
China,
a
decision
Machanda
said
is
political.
“Unless
the
Chinese
government
is
comfortable
with
the
ideals
of
less
centralized streaming content,
it will be hard for Netflix,”
Manchanda said.
NETFLIX
From Page 1
CLAIRE ABDO/Daily
Ann Arbor resident Stuart Parnes and his friends share stories from previous games of Magic the Gathering at a tournament hosted weekly by Get Your Game On on State Street.