Bernstein said the University 
should pay less attention to 
standardized test scores and 
more to skills that “contribute 
to society.”

Newman added the Uni-

versity works closely with the 
Detroit Public Schools and 
will continue its presence in 
the city. Recently, many teach-
ers have spoken out againstthe 
poor conditions of DPS schools 
and how they limit K-12 stu-
dents’ success.

LSA freshman Peter Pujols 

asked what the regents plan to 
do to curb the increasing cost 
of attendance at the Univer-
sity, which experienced a 2.7 
percent and 3.7 percent hike 
in tuition to in-state and out of 
state students, respectively, for 
this year. 

lenged Platt on his research 
surrounding protests, citing the 
success of the Black Lives Mat-
ter movement and the harsh 
backlash surrounding the sick-
outs in Detroit, when teachers 
called in sick in protest of the 
poor school conditions.

Hakeem Jefferson, Ph.D. can-

didate in political science, said 
he didn’t fully agree with Platt’s 
stance on Black politics.

“Matt’s work is provocative. 

It is a re-telling of a story about 
Black politics that many of us 
are familiar with,” Jefferson 
said. “Much of the work in rep-
resentation suggests that rep-
resentation matters, that a sort 
of descriptive representation 
matters. Of course what Matt is 
suggesting is that it doesn’t mat-
ter all that much. We can quibble 
about the parts I agree with and 
disagree with, but at least for 
me it reminds me that move-
ments like Black Lives Matter 
and other radical progressive 
movements, despite Matt’s pes-
simism, are really useful.”

wished to share his experienc-
es with young people, and help 
them navigate the world of 
entrepreneurship from hear-
ing his experiences.

“I always enjoy engaging 

millennials because they’re a 
generation that don’t just want 
to do good for themselves,” 
Hasan said. “They also want 
to do good for others.”

LSA senior David Schafer, 

who attended the conference, 
said he came because he he 
thought it was important to 
discuss social justice issues 
within the South Asian com-
munity.

“Even though we do come 

from a variety of backgrounds 
and identities, we have shared 
lives and experiences,” he 
said. “We need to help each 
other and we need to set out to 
stand in solidarity with each 
other.”

3-News

Blizzard hits the 
Northeast

A winter storm swept through 

the northeastern United States on 
Saturday, shutting down both New 
York City and the nation’s capital.

The storm deposited up to three 

feet of snow in some areas and 
affected nearly 80 million people, 
with hurricane-like winds reaching 
speeds of 50 mph in New York to 
Virginia and topping out at 75 mph 
in Delaware.

Northeast state officials warned 

citizens to remain inside and off the 
roads in the days leading up to the 
storm’s development.

In New York City, officials 

banned travel in an effort to 
keep people inside and off the 
treacherous roads.

The storm reached parts of 

lower Appalachia, stranding some 
travelers on Pennsylvania, West 
Virginia and Kentucky highways.

Thousands of homes and 

businesses lost power because of 
the storm and over 6,000 weekend 
flights were cancelled.

Despite the warnings, 18 deaths 

have been blamed on the inclement 
weather and thousands of travelers 
were forced to remain in the 
affected region.

Ann Arbor teachers 
frustrated with new 
district evaluation 
system

A group of Ann Arbor teachers 

and parents claim the new 
evaluation system developed by 
the district to coincide with new 
state standards are drastic and 
unnecessary.

Ann Arbor Public Schools 

administrators developed the new 
evaluation system to conform to the 
state government’s 2011 law, which 
revised Michigan’s teacher tenure.

Before the district’s evaluation 

reform, supervisors worked 
closely with teachers to examine 
individualized topics including the 
teacher’s instuction abilities and 
classroom management.

Now, every teacher will be 

evaluated on 76 objectives, which 
the superintendent claims will 
help both students and teachers. 
However, the teacher’s union 
claims it will only hurt both.

While teachers and parents are 

upset and voicing their concerns 
with the new evaluation system, 
administrators say they are 
following the law and the Michigan 
Department of Education’s 
guidance.

However, the Department of 

Education claimed it was up to each 
individual district how the new 
standards are met.

19th Century music 
to be digitized by 
University

Over the next two years, the 

University will digitize a large 
collection of sheet music collected 
by the Edison Phonograph Co. 
during the early 20th Century.

After amassing the music 

collection to record for the 
American public, the company 
closed in 1929 and the sheet music 
changed hands several times.

After making its way to the 

Henry Ford family and several 
other parties, the Univeristy of 
Michigan Library acquired the 
collection in 1989.

The University plans to digitize 

just over 30,000 of the collection’s 
titles — only a third — over the 
course of the next two years.

The Council on Library and 

Information Resources made 
the project possible with a grant 
through their Digitizing Hidden 
Special Collections and Archives 
program.

The project will yield the largest 

online collection of pre-1870 sheet 
music, and will allow people to 
explore music that was composed 
during an era of distinctly 
American music.

The digital collection will be 

accessible through the University’s 
library catalogue, Mirlyn, in 
addition to Google Books and the 
Digital Public Library of America.

—BRANDON

SUMMERS-MILLER 

NEWS BRIEFS

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Monday, January 25, 2016 — 3A

tigating the R&E requirement 
and making recommendations 
— consists of nine faculty mem-
bers, four staff members, two 
undergraduate 
students, 
one 

graduate student and one post-
doctoral researcher. The goal is 
to understand students’ experi-
ences and assess their learning 
within R&E courses, according 
to Dillard.

Dillard said the taskforce is 

conducting 
quantitative 
and 

qualitative research to inform 
recommendations. 
She 
cited 

focus groups, surveys, evaluation 
and administrative data, histori-
cal research and discourse anal-
ysis as examples of the research 
involved in such a process.

“We can’t make any recom-

mendations about what to add 
until we have more data and 
evidence, and that’ll help to 
shape some of the things that 
we think we know,” Dillard said. 
“And sometimes what you think 
you know is just not born out in 
the data itself and you have to 
change your assumptions.”

This year, LSA also imple-

mented several other methods 

to collect feedback and evaluate 
students’ 
experiences 
within 

R&E classes. On Jan. 11, students 
who fulfilled their R&E require-
ment in the fall received an 
e-mail from Dillard inviting 
them to participate in an online 
Canvas-based discussion of the 
race & ethnicity degree require-
ment.

As well, about 70 students 

attended two forums this fall 
to provide feedback on the R&E 
requirement. Pitt noted that 
most attendees spoke in favor of 
maintaining and strengthening 
the requirement. Their feedback 
largely fell into three main cat-
egories: course content, course 
structure and course support.

In terms of reforming course 

content, Pitt said many stu-
dents at the forums expressed 
a desire for greater relevancy in 
their R&E classes. They favored 
content and courses focusing 
on issues of race and ethnicity 
applicable to society today.

“Our country and our campus 

is facing major issues with race 
and ethnicity, and it’s impor-
tant that we’re able to take what 
we’re learning in a class dedicat-
ed to R&E and apply it to be able 
to interact in the society we’re 
living in today,” Pitt said.

The forums also brought to 

light issues of course structure, 
particularly course size. Pitt said 
participants preferred smaller 
courses to large lectures, but 
they were open to lectures if 
discussion sections adequately 
facilitated honest dialogue and 
nurtured a comfortable environ-
ment.

However, students also point-

ed out that GSIs may not always 
be properly able to lead such sen-
sitive dialogues. Some suggested 
inviting a professional from 
Intergroup Relations to facilitate 
the initial discussion section if 
GSIs are not trained or prepared 
to do so.

“It’s important that if we are 

transitioning to a discussion-
based format, then they need to 
be able to make sure that stu-
dents are feeling comfortable 
and willing to speak on behalf of 
their experiences,” Pitt said.

Pitt also stressed a need 

for 
greater 
outside 
support 

for students, faculty and GSIs 
involved in R&E courses, pro-
posing a concept similar to the 
Sweetland Writing Center.

ernor and the third Democratic 
presidential hopeful, was also in 
the state Saturday and is polling 
at 5.8 percent in Iowa.

Throughout the event, Clin-

ton emphasized the pragmatism 
of her policy platform, saying 
her approach to everything from 
regulating the financial sector to 
creating green jobs was simply 
better. Better than who? For a 
while, Clinton didn’t say. When 
she did hit Sanders by name, 
the former secretary told the 
audience he would rip up the 
Affordable Care Act in favor of 
a single-payer program, whereas 
she would build on the existing 
policy.

“Getting from zero to 100 is a 

lot harder than getting from 90 
to 100,” she said, referencing the 
failed fight for universal health 
care she spearheaded as first 
lady in 1993.

Clinton, who is relying on the 

image of a candidate cloaked in 
experience, particularly in for-
eign policy, also played up her 
diplomatic and national security 
prowess.

“Remember, when you go to 

caucus on February first, you 
are choosing a president and a 
commander in chief,” she said. 
“When the new president walks 
into that White House on Janu-
ary 20, 2017, there are some 
things we know we’ve got to do, 
but there are a lot of things we 
can’t predict are going to be fac-
ing our country.”

Like Clinton, Bernie Sanders 

spent Saturday making distinc-
tions. In the dreary basement 
of the Masonic Center, Sand-
ers touted his poll numbers and 
made a case not only for the via-
bility of his candidacy, but also 
for the viability of his policy pro-
posals — proposals many critics 
have deemed overly idealistic or 
impractical.

“You can tell when a cam-

paign gets nervous — like the 

Clinton campaign — I think 
they’re getting a little nervous. 
What do you think?” Sanders 
asked the 700-person crowd that 
filled the hall’s sweaty basement.

The crowd peppered the 

senator’s remarks with shouts 
of “That’s right, Bernie!” and 
lengthy outbursts of “Feel the 
Bern” chants.

“Obviously I need your help in 

the next few days, to help us win 
here in Iowa. I need your help to 
win the Democratic nomination, 
but here’s the truth, I’m going to 
need your help the day after we 
get into the White House,” he 
said. “And the reason for that, 
everybody in this room knows 
who has studied history, change 
never comes about from the top 
on down. It only comes about 
from the bottom on up.”

Sanders, like his campaign, 

drew from the energy of his sup-
porters, engaging directly with 
the assembled crowd. The point 
he stressed: The Bernie Sanders 
campaign is really a movement 
of people calling for change. 
Before launching into the Sand-
ers stump speech which has by 
now become notorious for his 
use of terms like “oligarchy” and 
“bottom 99 percent” spoken in a 
distinctly Brooklyn accent, the 
candidate drew on the history 
of social movements — like the 
struggle for LGBTQ and civil 
rights — that were once deemed 
impossible.

“Let me give you one more 

example, which you guys made 
happen,” he said. “Eight years 
ago, all over this country, peo-
ple said, ‘An African American, 
becoming president of the Unit-
ed States, you’re nuts, that can’t 
happen?’ You made it happen, 
you made history. So my point 
is — that what history is about 
— it’s not a few people on top, 
coming up with clever ideas, it is 
when millions of people begin to 
stand up and say that the status 
quo is not good enough.”

IOWA
From Page 1A

inated. After the first round, 
the audience — the students 
of Entrepreneurship 407 — 
voted to determine which team 
would advance.

The competition is a valu-

able learning experience for 
both the competitors and the 
students of in the class, Rich-
ard Smith, a Ross School of 
Business alum, who has been 
attending the class for five 
years, said. He said the men-
tors help students to not only 
improve their businesses, but 
also improve the way they pres-
ent their ideas amid a heated 
competition. Mentors are indi-
viduals associated with the 
Center for Entrepreneurship, 
who work with each team to 
improve their ideas.

“The first round, the stu-

dents are rough,” he said. “But 
by the end of the semester they 
were smooth and polished and 
have content and have done 
work on developing the busi-
ness plan, the marketplace or 
the product itself. They are 
always magnitudes better at 
the end.”

Additionally, Levy said men-

tors played a critical role in the 
development of the team’s ideas 
and businesses.

“In any venture you do in 

life you need people with more 
experience to help guide you,” 
he said. “And the mentors are a 
great tool for the people trying 
to make their companies really 
profitable.”

Maite 
Iribarren, 
Art 
& 

Design and Engineering fresh-
man and a participant in the 
competition, said while she has 
a jewelry collection created 
and ready to be put into pro-
duction, she was “here to learn 
something about the business 
side of it.”

Matt Gibson, director of 

undergraduate programs at the 
Center for Entrepreneurship 
and co-founder of The Startup, 
said the judges become very 
invested in the participants 
they are guiding — they defend 
their teams and encourage the 
audience to vote for them to 
advance.

“The judges become your 

biggest supporters and fans,” 
he said.

Thomas Frank, executive 

director for the Center for 
Entrepreneurship and co-cre-
ator of the competition, said 
students benefit from hearing 
the different pitches and ideas.

“This gives students in this 

class an opportunity to go on 
a entrepreneurial journey with 
a bunch of different startups,” 
he said. “They get this real 
sort of first-hand chance to see 
how people succeed, how they 

struggle, how they make prog-
ress, how they don’t, and it is 
not the kind of experience you 
can get any other way.”

Engineering 
sophomore 

Nick Morris, an instructional 
assistant for the class, agreed 
that the competition is a great 
learning experience as they are 
able to analyze and critique the 
different pitches. He said he 
was excited to learn about the 
various companies and differ-
ent ideas.

LSA freshman Rachel Ordan, 

a student in the class, said she 
was excited to learn about the 
creative ideas of her peers.

“I’m excited to see the differ-

ent ways that groups are inno-
vative in finding new solutions 
to things that I can relate to,” 
she said.

The competition had a wide 

variety of startups. Iribarren, 
the jewelry designer, show-
cased products that she said 
take a different approach to 
how people wear jewelry.

“It’s for more than just 

accessorizing,” she said, “It’s 
kind of like something you have 
with you always, like a toy or a 
mechanism that can entertain 
you.”

Engineering senior Tristan 

MacKethan presented a web-
site called MSell that he said 
is a platform for people who 
want to buy and sell items in a 
market where items are sold in 
high volume around a particu-
lar time period — like football 
tickets in the fall or textbooks 
in the beginning or end of the 
semester.

LSA freshman Kyle Zaoitell, 

another competitor, created a 
website called Wage Pit which 
allows League of Legends play-
ers from around the world 
to make wagers against each 
other when they are playing 
the game.

The Startup finalists in years 

past have been very success-
ful now after the competition, 
Frank said.

“The team that won (last 

year) went from having an 
idea for how to help ALS 
(amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) 
patients communicate through 
puffs of air to bringing all of 
these medical factors out of 
their advisory board filing a 
provisional patent,“ Frank said.

During the first round on 

Friday, Gibson said the judges 
were looking for ambitious and 
confident teams that they think 
will be able to go the distance.

“They want something that 

can be a viable business,” he 
said “But maybe even more 
than that they are looking for 
students that are really ambi-
tious and looking to make 
something happen. They want 
to see that commitment and 
willingness to take it to the 
next level.” 

STARTUP
From Page 1A

REQUIREMENT
From Page 1A

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

in one of the art programs.

 FOKUS started as a way 

to bring together individuals 
of multiple backgrounds and 
interests under one organiza-
tion. Much of his decision to 
start the program, Edwards 
said. stemmed from his Brook-
lyn roots.

“Along the way, the whole 

idea was figuring out how to 
connect with communities,” 
he said. “Growing up where 
I come from, in Brooklyn, my 
sense of community was very 
different than the sense of 
community in the circles I’ve 
passed through.”

He added that his involve-

ment in FOKUS inspired him 
to continue a career in com-
munity involvement and edu-
cation in Brooklyn, where he 
is currently the director of 
operations for Brooklyn East 
Collegiate.

“My time here has got me 

into a lot of things I’ve con-
tinued on into to this day,” he 
said. “The biggest thing I want 
to do is make connections and 
allow people to realize that 
those connections are real and 
possible. Building relation-
ships within communities is 
highly important to me and 
one of the important things 
is the idea of, not necessarily 
creating a homogenous com-
munity, but looking at it more 
so as an assembly of indi-
viduals — we are all different 
humans in the room for a com-
mon purpose.”

Martinez attended the Uni-

versity as a transfer student 
and lived off-campus her first 
year — an experience she said 
was very isolating from much 
of the student activity on cam-
pus.

ACTIVISM
From Page 1A

LECTURE
From Page 2A

PROFESSOR
From Page 2A

TWITTER
From Page 1A

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com