3-News

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, January 20, 2016 — 3A

NEWS BRIEFS

after watching the crisis unfold 
and realizing the far-reaching 
impacts of the contaminated 
water.

“Our 
center 
has 
worked 

directly with the Flint community 
for over twenty years,” she said. 
“We know people who live in 
the community; they are our 
partners, our friends and our 

colleagues. We just wanted to be 
able to do something.”

The 
Black 
Student 
Union 

at 
the 
University 
has 
also 

started a GoFundMe campaign 
to raise money that will be 
directly donated to help the 
citizens of Flint. The funds 
will 
go 
to 
providing 
fresh 

fruits and vegetables — which 
help combat the effects of lead 
poisoning, according to LSA 
senior Christopher James, BSU 
mass communication chair — to 

be distributed at schools and 
childcare centers. The BSU is 
partnering with local elementary 
schools and the Community 
Foundation of Greater Flint in 
their efforts.

James said the BSU decided to 

contribute to the effort to support 
the residents of Flint after the 
increased national attention to 
the crisis.

“It’s 
getting 
national 

recognition now, but it’s always 
been 
a 
problem,” 
he 
said. 

“Nationally, everyone had been 
rallying behind them, so we 
thought we’d do the same thing 
here. We cannot be the leaders 
and the best and not help them 
out.” 

The 
Michigan 
Republican 

Party contributed to water bottle 
collection efforts Tuesday by 
collecting water bottles on the 
steps on the Michigan Capitol 
building.

During 
Tuesday’s 
State 

of the State Address, Snyder 

discussed several long and shot-
term funding efforts to aid the 
city, including a $28 million 
request for funds from the state 
legislature.

“This is a challenge we 

must work together to solve,” 
Snyder said. “We will not stop 
working for the people of Flint 
until every single person has 
clean water every single day, no 
matter what”

CRISIS
From Page 1A

less sensitive to phone alerts. 

Using the Psychology Subject 

Pool, University researchers 
created 
an 
online 
survey 

to analyze the increasingly 
common 
phantom 
phone 

vibration phenomenon — which 
a cell phone user believes they 
felt a phone vibration or heard 
a notification erraneously. The 
survey consisted of different 
measures to gauge the link 
between the sensation and 
the subject’s attachment style 
in relationships, considering 
anxiety responses vs. avoidance 
responses, specifically.

Daniel 
Kruger, 
research 

assistant 
professor 
of 

health behavior and health 
education, collaborated on the 
research with assistants in 
his Undergraduate Research 
Opportunity Program in his 
lab. Kruger said he studies 
evolutionary 
theory 
to 

understand 
the 
psychology 

of behavior, and has done 
previous work with attachment 
styles, which are ways we feel 
attachment to others. He was 
also part of a previous study 
with a former UROP research 
assistant who observed people 
and saw that cell phone use is 
contagious.

The project began with 

looking into the intersection 
of virtual social space and 
in-person space, specifically 
researching social media. 

“If you have a couple of 

people 
and 
they’re 
sitting 

together in a coffee shop and 
talking 
together, 
and 
one 

person picks up their cell 
phone, the other person is more 
likely to do so,” Kruger said.

Considering 
this 

phenomenon, 
research 

assistant Jaikob Djerf, an LSA 
junior, suggested researching 
phantom vibration, or phantom 
cell phone ringing.

“I was curious why some 

people feel it more than others, 
why people are even feeling it 
in the first place,” Djerf said. 
“It’s a cultural phenomenon — 
so many people do experience 
it, and it’s significant in the 
sense that we found personality 
traits 
that 
influence 
this 

phenomenon.”

Though Kruger said the 

phenomenon was something 
he has experienced before 
while driving, he was at first 
unaware this was a common 
sensation. However, because 
there is not much research 
being done about phantom 
vibration, Kruger said they 
designed the study to analyze 
several different aspects that 
were related to this sensation.

“In one way, [cell phones are] 

a practical device,” Kruger said. 
“You can get information, you 
can find out where the bus is, 
you can read the news. But it’s 
also your connection to social 
world, with Facebook, Twitter, 
the other different social media 
applications and websites.”

Some of the reasoning behind 

having attachment cravings is 
simply individual differences, 
Kruger said. However, he noted 
a craving for reassurance could 
be a combination of genetic 
variation and environmental 
and 
developmental 

experiences. 
Normally, 

attachment style develops in 
infants and young children and 
can potentially in adult social 
relationships.

“Because the cell phone isn’t 

just this objective, practical 
tool for objective information, 
because 
it 
has 
the 
social 

component, detection is going 
to be influenced by these 
psychological 
factors, 
such 

as a craving for relationship 
stimulation,” he said.

Djerf said researchers used a 

popular personality scale called 
the Big Five to create their 
survey. The Big Five is a five-
factor model which refers to the 
five dimensions psychologists 
use in analyzing personality 
— 
openness, 
agreeableness, 

conscientiousness, neuroticism 
and extraversion.

According to Kruger, inn 

addition to the Big Five, the 
researchers 
also 
used 
the 

Dark Triad, another group of 
personality traits psychologists 
use that holds a negative 
connotation. 
The 
Dark 

Triad 
includes 
narcissism, 

Machiavellianism 
and 

psychopathy, indicating that 
scoring high in these traits is 
related to malevolence.

Kruger said the researchers 

also made their own scale about 
phantom cell ringing, asking 
if the participant had ever 
experienced it, and if so, how 
often and how bothersome the 
sensation was. The three types 
of 
stimulation 
highlighted 

in the survey included a cell 
phone’s ringing, vibration and 
notification.

Among the most common 

sensation felt by those surveyed 
was a phantom vibration, in 
which people feel something on 
their skin that might be simple 
sensation, but they interpret 
the sensation as their phone 
buzzing.

“This could be due to the 

ambiguity of the stimulus,” 
Kruger 
said. 
“Sounds 
are 

more distinguishable, and it is 
more difficult to have a visual 
hallucination than it is to 
interpret a tactile sensation.”

With the new and rapidly 

developing state of technology, 
cell 
phones 
and 
social 

networking, 
Kruger 
said 

the world is only starting to 
understand the psychological 
dynamics and implications of 
objects like cell phones. 

“Still, it just kind of shows 

at least some people might 
be too dependent on this cell 
phone 
technology, 
so 
the 

recommendation is it might 
be good practice to sometimes 
not have your phone on or not 
constantly be checking these 
applications.”

STUDY
From Page 1A

“(Public 
Act 
269) 
would 

prevent factual communication 
about matters of communal 
interest from municipal bodies 
and elected officials, and thereby 
impedes voter knowledge in the 
voting booth,” Taylor said. “It 
warrants repeal.”

Councilmember 
Graydon 

Krapohl (D–Ward 4), who also 
opposes the law, emphasized 
the significance of passing the 
resolution.

“I don’t want to be known as 

the king of resolutions opposing 
state actions, but our voice does 
matter when it comes to issues 
like this in Lansing,” Krapohl 
said, adding that Ann Arbor 
would be joining numerous 
other cities in protesting the 
law.

City Council also heard public 

comments from Ann Arbor 
residents who opposed the city’s 
deer cull — a group of Ann Arbor 
residents who support the city’s 
plan to kill a portion of Ann 
Arbor’s deer population — as has 
been typical at recent meetings.

In addition to criticizing 

councilmembers, multiple anti-
cull activists also criticized 
the pro-cull group Washtenaw 
Citizens for Ecological Balance, 
accusing it of having unfair 
influence on the council.

Ann Arbor resident Lorraine 

Shapiro pointed to recently 
disclosed 
e-mail 
exchanges 

between councilmembers and 
members of WC4EB to argue 
that they had undue influence 
over other citizens when the 
council was still deliberating 
over the cull in 2015.

“It is apparent that WC4EB 

has 
privileged 
access 
to 

councilmembers that I and 
others do not,” Shapiro said, 
referring to the e-mails. “We are 
being governed behind a cloak 
of secrecy.”

In an interview after the 

meeting, 
three 
members 
of 

WC4EB 
dismissed 
these 

accusations as absurd.

WC4EB 
member 
Bernie 

Banet said the communications 
his 
association 
had 
with 

members of City Council were 
completely normal and that the 
accusations were an attempt to 
distort reality.

“All 
groups 
were 

communicating with council as 
we have a constitutional right 
to do, we have every right to 
petition our government,” Banet 
said. “The notion that there were 
some improper connections or 
magical power, other than the 
information that we provided is 
kind of laughable.”

COUNCIL
From Page 1A

scandals like the poisoning of 
Flint’s children with lead and 
the throwing away of $134 
million 
on 
new 
legislative 

offices the state doesn’t need 
and can’t afford,” said Brandon 
Dillon, chair of the Michigan 
Democratic party.

Snyder ended his remarks 

by committing to the state of 
Michigan to fix the problems he 
outlined, admitting to making 
mistakes during the last years of 

his term.

“Challenges 
we 
face 
in 

Flint, Detroit and beyond are 
serious but solvable,” he said. 
“The question is can we come 
together today. Every single 
citizen depends on us and we 
need to give them a better, 
brighter future. They deserve 
it.”

For 
state 
and 
federal 

Democrats, the reaction to the 
address 
was 
predominantly 

skeptical of Snyder’s plan for 
Flint’s future.

In a statement released by 

his office, U.S. Sen. Gary Peters 
(D–Mich.), 
condemned 
the 

governor’s plan for moving 
forward with the Flint crisis.

“While I was pleased to hear 

the Governor speak directly 
to the people of Flint, I believe 
the plan he outlined tonight fell 
short of what is needed to fully 
address the extensive needs of 
Flint residents suffering from 
lead exposure, especially Flint’s 
children,” Peters said.

Lonnie 
Scott, 
executive 

director of Progress Michigan, 
echoed 
Peters’sentiments 
in 

a statement released Tuesday 
night, also highlighting the 
organization’s 
dedication 
to 

hold the state accountable.

“While it’s a good first 

step 
for 
the 
Governor 
to 

release these emails, Progress 
Michigan remains committed 
to advocating for a complete 
repeal of the exemption for the 
Governor and legislature in our 
FOIA laws,” Scott said. “It’s 
nice that now that the spotlight 
of national media is shining a 
light on Snyder’s failures that 
he decides to give lip service to 
transparency. We will continue 
to shine a spotlight on the 
Governor to encourage action 
and not just empty words.” 

other people,” she said. “It 
takes just a little bit of courage 
to be uncomfortable enough 
to understand life from other 
people’s point of view.”

Resolutions
A 
new 
resolution 
on 

increasing 
voter 
registra-

tion on campus was brought 
to the assembly floor during 
Tuesday’s meeting. The pro-
posal sought to install a popup 
window on Wolverine Access 
about registering when stu-
dents register for classes to 
make the voter registration 
process easier for students.

The resolution was passed 

to the finance and resolutions 
committee for further review.

The body also voted on win-

ter CSG election dates with 
a resolution that had been 
brought to the table last week. 
The resolution was passed, 
with applications for candida-
cy due the week before spring 
break.

Among 
old 
business 

brought back to the table was 
a resolution to amend CSG’s 
2016 $400,000 winter semes-
ter budget, and another to 
enact it.

Flint residents file 
lawsuits against city

Flint residents filed two 

new class action lawsuits on 
Tuesday against city and state 
officials regarding the water 
crisis, according to MLive. 
The plaintiffs argue that water 
bills since April 2014 should be 
considered void as the water was 
unsuitable for consumption.

Families involved in filing 

the lawsuits accused officials 
of supplying contaminated 
water from the Flint River to 
citizens as a cheaper alternative 
to receiving Lake Huron water 
from the city. They highlighted 
that government officialls at 
all levels failed to provide safe 
water to residents and want 
compensation for personal and 
physical injuries. 

On Tuesday, the request for 

the preliminary injunction was 
filed at the circuit court level 
to pursue the lawsuit. The city 
of Flint, the state Receivership 
Transition Advisory Board and 
other individual officials were 
listed as the defendants. 

DPS plan to move 
forward with 
second “sickout” 
protest

Detroit Public School 

teachers are deciding to 
continue protesting the quality 
of their buildings, inaccesable 
wages, and crowded classrooms 
by staging a second protest, The 
Detroit Free Press reported.

 Teachers boycotted their 

classrooms last Wednesday by 
unanimously calling in sick, 
effectively closing schools in 
five districts.

Two other demonstrations, 

hosted by Detroit Federation 
of Teachers union and a 
second group of parents and 
community members, will 
occur in tandem with the 
sickout in a show of solidarity 
with the teachers.

University receives 
NIH grant to 
study back pain

University researchers 

received a $1.4 million grant 
from the National Institutes of 
Health to investigate the cost of 
back pain treatment ouside the 
primary care system, according 
to a University press release. 
They will also examine the 
impacts of complimentary and 
alternative medicine providers, 
such as chiropractors. 

The U.S. Department of 

Health and Human Services 
noted that back pain is a 
common reason for primary 
care visits, but predicts 
primary care physicians will 
decrease signigicantly by 2020. 
Consequently, researchers 
claim the study will be an 
important and timely topic for 
policymakers. 

 
 
—CAMY METWALLY

ADDRESS
From Page 2A

CSG
From Page 2A

Join the Daily.
IT’S 1:48 A.M. 
AND WE’RE 
STILL HAPPY 
TO BE HERE.
Come to a mass 

meeting. 

THURSDAY 7 
P.M. AT 420 
MAYNARD

