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Tuesday, January 12, 2016

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

INDEX
Vol. CXXV, No. 50
©2013 The Michigan Daily
michigandaily.com

N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

CL A SSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

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

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

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WEATHER 
TOMORROW

HI: 21

LO: 9

Research finds 
venture capitalists 
could contribute to 

discrepancies

By ALEXA ST. JOHN

Daily Staff Reporter

Female-led startup companies 

do not perform as well as 
their male-led counterparts 
in part because of gender 
discrepancies among venture 
capitalists, according to recent 
University research.

This gap in performance, 

the research suggests, is due 
to the majority male-driven 
nature of venture financing 
syndicates.

The study, conducted by 

Business 
Ph.D. 
candidate 

Sahil Raina, found there was 
a 25 to 30 percent difference 
in the average performance 
rates of male-led startups 
and 
female-led 
startups, 

with male-led startups more 

successful overall. Findings 
indicated that the difference 
in rates depended on whether 
the companies were initially 
financed by venture capital 
partners with at least one 
female general partner in the 
financing syndicate, or if the 
syndicate was all male.

Raina said his interest in this 

research began after reading 
that female entrepreneurs in 
Silicon Valley were having 
trouble working with venture 
capitalists. However, because 
the stories he read were 
lacking empirical evidence, 
Raina decided to study the 
issue himself.

Venture capital financing 

works by offering money to 
startup companies in rounds 
until 
the 
company 
either 

goes public or is bought by 
another company. Companies 
pitch their startups to firms 
and 
work 
toward 
gaining 

their own funding during the 
process. At that point, the 
venture capitalists have the 

Taubman partners 

with schools for 

architecture 
workshops

By BRANDON SUMMERS-

MILLER

Daily Staff Reporter

Twenty-five Detroit Public 

Schools high school students 
graduated from a preparatory 

architecture program hosted 
by 
the 
Taubman 
College 

of 
Architecture 
and 
Urban 

Planning Monday night.

The 
semester-long 
joint 

workshop 
program, 
called 

the 
Michigan 
Architecture 

Prep Program, was created to 
expose DPS students to the 
field of architecture and job 
opportunities in related fields. 
The University has launched 
multiple programs in past years 
to better connect with cities 
across the state. 

The 
program, 
which 

launched in December 2014, 
allows Taubman faculty and 
DPS staff to interact and work 
together to develop workshops 
for students interested in the 
field.

Milton Curry, associate dean 

of academic affairs and strategic 
initiatives 
in 
the 
Taubman 

College of Architecture and 
Urban Planning, said Detroit 
was chosen as the site for the 
program because of the city’s 
history with the University.

“The University of Michigan 

has a historic role in that it 

was founded in Detroit,” Curry 
said. “It has a responsibility as 
a public university — one of the 
premier public universities — to 
be a leader.”

Irene 
Nordé, 
executive 

director 
for 
the 
Office 
of 

Mathematics 
Education 
in 

Detroit Public Schools, said 
she thought the program was 
highly beneficial for students. 
She noted that for the program 
to 
work, 
several 
logistical 

measures were taken by DPS.

“We had to look for ways to 

RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily

Architecture and Urban Planning Prof. Robert Fishman, interim dean of Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, speaks at the Architecture Prep 
graduation ceremony at the U-M Architecture Research Studio in Detroit on Monday.

Company fires, 
demotes writers, 

editors and 

photographers 

By MEGAN DOYLE

Daily Staff Reporters

MLive 
Media 
Group 

announced Wednesday on their 
website that multiple positions 
would be eliminated in the latest 
restructuring move to impact 
the Ann Arbor News.

 According to a statement 

on 
Mlive’s 
website 
from 

John Hiner, vice president of 
content, 29 “content positions” 
were eliminated in an effort 
to restructure the company. 
Though the layoff may include 
Ann Arbor editors, reporters and 
photographers, the statement 
notes that the number of content 
positions 
remain 
the 
same 

overall statewide.

 Along with the Ann Arbor 

News, MLive also owns multiple 
other newspapers across the 
state. It was formed in 2012 when 
it ombined MLive.com with eight 
newspapers across the state of 
Michigan in Ann Arbor, Grand 
Rapids, Kalamazoo, Muskegon, 
Jackson, Flint, Saginaw and Bay 
City. Combined, it has the largest 
audience of any media company 
in Michigan — the website has 
a monthly digital readership of 
more than 11 million people.

 The changes aim to “(direct) 

resources to emerging content 
and 
business 
opportunities, 

while 
reducing 
some 

management, 
support 
and 

production roles,” according to 
the statement.

 When asked to comment 

further, Hiner wrote in an 
e-mail 
to 
The 
Michigan 

Dailythat MLive would not be 
disclosing the specific details of 
the internal restructuring at this 
time.

 “At this point … we’re going to 

let the article we posted stand, in 
terms of public comment by our 
organization,” he wrote.

 The announcement is the 

latest in a series of similar moves 
for newspaper outlets in the 
state. Last month, 13 journalists 
at the Detroit News accepted 
a buyout. Buyouts have also 
occurred at the Detroit Free 
Press recently.

 
These buyouts have become 

common at newspapers outside 
the state as well, including at 
The New York Times and the 
Washington Post.

 The full list of positions that 

will be impacted or eliminated 
by the changes at MLive have 
not been released by the media 
group, though some employees 
have 
publically 
announced 

changes. Paula Gardner, the 
former Ann Arbor editor at 
MLive, tweetedthat she will 
now be reporting Michigan 
business news for the company, 
but declined comment when 
contacted 
by 
The 
Michigan 

Daily.

 For some, the move to 

eliminate 
content 
positions 

has sparked concern about the 
quality of coverage in Ann Arbor 
and beyond.

CLAIRE ABDO/Daily

SACUA Chair Silke-Maria Weineck, speaks during the Regents meeting held on Monday in the Fleming Administration 
Building.

Grouup also 
continues 

examining faculty 
role in admissions

By ISOBEL FUTTER

Daily Staff Reporter

The 
Senate 
Advisory 

Committee 
on 
University 

Affairs met Monday to discuss 
changes to several documents 
that govern faculty policy at 
the University. 

At 
a 
December 
SACUA 

meeting, University President 
Mark Schlissel addressed the 
assembly on possible changes 
to the Principles of Faculty 
Involvement Blue Document 
that would increase faculty 
involvement in undergraduate 
admissions.

The document, which describes 

the 
general 
responsibilities 

faculty 
members 
have 
in 

governing the University, has 

not been revised since the Senate 
Assembly endorsed its second 
edition in 2008.

During 
the 
December 

meeting, many members of 
SACUA said they felt the 
document should be further 
amended to address the role 
faculty play in undergraduate 
admissions.

At 
Monday’s 
meeting, 

SACUA 
members 
presented 

possible 
revisions 
to 
the 

document, 
concerning 

several 
aspects 
including 

the faculty involvement in 
undergraduate 
admissions, 

faculty involvement in faculty 
disciplines and the definition 
of faculty sections.

Revisions to the definition 

of faculty within the principles 
sparked a discussion among 
the 
members. 
Kinesiology 

Prof. Stefan Szymanski said 
the 
current 
definition 
of 

faculty is too ambiguous, and 
said SACUA should address 
whether administrators are 
also considered faculty.

“The point is that the things 

that they are doing, they are not 
doing as faculty, they are doing 
as administrators, so that’s 
what we need to establish,” 
Szymanski said.

Comparative 
Literature 

Prof. 
Silke-Maria 
Weineck, 

SACUA chair, said SACUA will 
work to outline the difference 
between a faculty member and 
an administrator.

“We need to have a very 

clear memo that lays out what 
we mean by faculty,” Weineck 
said. “We don’t want to take 
their power, we just want to say 
in document defining faculty 
from administrators.”

SACUA plans to work on 

the Principles document over 
the next few weeks and will 
discuss its conclusions with 
University 
Provost 
Martha 

Pollack and Schlissel when they 
have reached a conclusion. Until 
formal suggestions have been 
made, SACUA will continue to 
adhere to the current guidelines.

See DETROIT, Page 3
See STUDY, Page 3

See MLIVE, Page 3
See SACUA, Page 3

A personal 

remembrance of 
David Bowie, the 
rocker from Mars

By ADAM THEISEN

Managing Arts Editor

There’s a scene in the 

movie “Velvet Goldmine” 
where 
Christian 
Bale’s 

character 
is 
with 
his 

parents watching a David 
Bowie-inspired ’70s glam-
rocker 
character 
give 
a 

press conference on TV. 
The Bowie character talks 
openly to reporters about 
his 
attraction 
to 
men, 

smirking to himself at how 
scandalous he’s being, and 
Bale’s character imagines 
himself jumping up and 
down, pointing at the TV, 
yelling to his parents “That’s 
me! That’s me!”

That’s exactly how I felt 

when I first got into Bowie. 
I was about 14 and I was 
realizing that my feelings 
toward boys weren’t what 
one would call normal and 
I was freaking out because 
I didn’t understand it, and 
I didn’t even know any gay 
adults who could provide 
any sort of blueprint for 
what this meant now that my 
entire perception of myself 
had been blown up. So I went 
to Google and found David 
Bowie, one of the queerest 
straight men to ever exist, 
an artist who explained so 

See BOWIE, Page 5

Study looks 
at gender 
gap among 
startups

Detroit high school students 
graduate from ‘U’ program

BUSINESS
MLive reduces 
positions by 29 
in restructuring

SACUA discusses changes 
to Standard Practice Guide

ARTS
The unique
meaning 
of Ziggy 
Stardust

SCIENCE

