CLAIRE ABDO/Dailly

University President Mark Schlissel speaks at a Senate Assembly meeting about the Flint water crisis and other Univer-
sity business in the Palmer Commons on Monday. 

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, January 26, 2016 — 3

Rodents and mold 
found during 
Detroit schools 
inspection

The City of Detroit conducted 

inspections of 11 public schools as 
a part of distrinct-wide review this 
week. The inspections revealed 
multiple code violations including 
reports of mold, damaged roofs, 
rodents and broken glass. 

The district review is part of a 

response to recent mass sick-out 
protests by local teachers in protest 
of the building conditions within 
the school districts. The sick-outs 
have resulted in school closings 
and have left students without 
school-provided meals. 

The Detroit Public Schools’ 

buildings have been deteriorating 
over time as the district has been 
unable to pay for repairs. The 
district’s debt currently stands at 
an estimated $515 million. 

City inspectors found a total 

of 152 violations with each school 
averaging at 14 violations. With 
these discoveries, each school has 
approximately a month to make 
repairs. 

Mayor Mike Duggan called for 

the inspections on Jan. 13 after 
seeing first hand the conditions of 
four different schools.

Former Detroit FBI 
chief to help in Flint 
water investigation

Andrew Arena, former director 

of the Detroit FBI office, has been 
appointed by Michigan Attorney 
General Bill Schuette as part of 
the team investigating the lead 
contamination of Flint’s drinking 
water.

The water supply in Flint was 

contaminated with lead beginning 
in April 2014, following a switch 
from the Detroit city water supply 
to Flint River water. Since the 
change, residents have reported 
negative health effects including 
hair loss and rotting teeth.

The investigation will examine 

various public officials for 
offences related to misfeasance or 
malfeasance. 

In addition to Arena — who 

now heads the Detroit Crime 
Commission — Ellis Stafford, 
his deputy at the Detroit Crime 
Commission, will also be assisting 
with the investigation. Stafford is a 
Flint native and former Michigan 
state police inspector. 

The investigatory team plans to 

look into every aspect of the case 
to find any instances of unlawful 
conduct. 

‘U’ partners with 
Department of 
Defense for brain 
injury research

The University of Michigan 

Center for Integrative Research in 
Critical Care has paired up with 
the U.S. Department of Defense for 
new research into how the brain 
is impacted by severe trauamtic 
brain injuries, or TBIs. 

The pair will work to host 

the Massey Foundation TBI 
Grand Challenge. The event will 
encourage researchers to partner 
for groundbreaking research and 
submit project proposals.

A TBI is considered to be a 

form of brain injury resulting 
from a bump, blow or jolt to the 
head, which causes a disruption to 
normal brain function.

The challenge will reward 

funding to teams who develop 
diagnostic, device, therapeutic or 
health information technologies 
that deal with the initial “golden 
hour,” the first hour following a 
TBI, and the 24 to 48 of critical 
treatment hours after a severe TBI.

Awarded projects will be 

funded from a pool of up to 
$500,000 across a 12-month time 
period. Projects will be reviewed 
by the Massey Grand Challenge 
Steering Committte. 

TBI results in 52,000 death per 

year, making it the fourth leading 
cause of death in the United States. 
In 2010, approximately 2.5 million 
people suffered from a TBI. 

—LYDIA MURRAY

NEWS BRIEFS

residents not affiliated with the 
University.

“This is a tragedy that 

should not have happened,” 
Borrego said. “We know it is 
going to take time to address 
the infrastructure issues, to 
set up care for the children 
who ingested lead, and to 
determine how to prevent this 
from ever happening again. 
The University will continue 
to work in partnership to 
identify needs and contribute 
our 
faculty 
expertise 
and 

our service in support of our 
community.”

Earlier this week, Schlissel 

also announced $100,000 in 
seed funding would be allocated 
for research projects designed 
to address the Flint water crisis.

“At U-M, a crisis in the host 

city of one of campuses is a crisis 
that affects us all,” Schlissel said 
in a statement. “We will do all we 

can to ensure health and safety 
for our campus community and 
the people of Flint. We are all 
one family.”

Student organizations at the 

University have also worked 
to aid residents of Flint and 
other surrounding areas. The 
Black Student Union launched 
a GoFundMe page to collect 
money for fresh fruits and 
vegetables. 
Additionally, 
the 

Prevention Research and the 
Michigan 
Youth 
Violence 

Prevention Center has partnered 
for Fill-a-Truck for Flint’, an 
initiative to raise donations and 
collect bottled water for Flint 
residents.

The University’s Center for 

Engaged Academic Learning 
will also host the Tri-Campus 
Student Summit on February 
6. 
The 
event 
will 
feature 

workshops and consultations 
for undergraduates, as well 
as speakers who will discuss 
how students can get involved 
with providing aid for the Flint 
community. 

UPDATE
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also 
highlighted 
UM-Flint’s 

initiatives in a campus-wide 
e-mail Monday afternoon.

“We’re quite confident of the 

safety on campus,” Schlissel 
said at the meeting. “We’ve been 
doing ongoing outreach to Flint 
students. Most of them don’t live 
in University-owned facilities, 
some live at home and some in 
the surrounding communities. 
We want to make sure that 
in their own personal living 
circumstances that they know 
what’s going on, they have filters 
on their sources of water, they 
have access to testing and they’re 
kept up to date and informed.”

Schlissel said the campus has 

been working in partnership 
with the community by offering 
large-scale filter distribution 
events, free lead screening and 
other efforts.

“The 
University 
in 
Flint 

has been a vibrant part of the 
community for 60 years,” Schlissel 
said. “They are a longstanding 
partner with the community, and 
I admire the strength I’ve seen in 
that city’s residents.”

Finally, Schlissel also provided 

the Assembly with an update on 
the University’s progress toward 
a campus strategic plan for 
diversity. The University started 

a campus-wide initiative this 
year to address diversity issues 
on campus and improve campus 
climate, with the plan serving as 
a main focus. Currently, units 
around campus are creating 
individual plans, to be compiled 
into an overall plan this fall.

“I met with the leads of this 

planning process in all the 
different units last week,” he 
said. “They’re doing great work, 
there are good ideas bubbling up 
to the surface.”

Schlissel said he hopes by 

creating multiple committees to 
work on the issue, faculty and 
students will both be dedicated 
to the strategic plan.

“We’re looking to get good 

ideas from as many creative 
people from as many creative 
parts of the campus as possible,” 
Schlissel said. “The second part 
of this is to get buy-in. We’re 
much more likely to get true 
buy-in in ongoing involvement 
from colleagues involved in the 
developmental plan themselves 
and critiquing plans as they 
emerge.”

The Senate Assembly also 

voted on a new Nominating 
Committee 
for 
upcoming 

SACUA elections. SACUA will 
be losing an unprecedented 
six members in the coming 
academic year.

“The 
Nominating 

Committee’s task will be to both 

look at the nominations we have 
and look at staff nominations,” 
said 
Comparative 
Literature 

Prof. 
Silke-Maria 
Weineck, 

chair of SACUA. “It will also be 
to solicit nominations.”

Weineck said she hopes the 

nominating 
committee 
will 

diversify SACUA, noting that 
all the body’s female members, 
including herself, are leaving the 
committee.

The Senate Assembly also 

voted unanimously to endorse 
a 
statement 
of 
support 
to 

the 
Muslim 
community 
on 

campus. SACUA, the Assembly’s 
executive arm, endorsed the 
statement at its last meeting.

“At the last Senate Assembly 

meeting, 
we 
started 
this 

discussion 
of 
passing 
a 

statement in support of the 
Muslim community at U of M,” 
Weineck said. “SACUA passed 
such a resolution of support at 
our last meeting. But since we 
started the discussion at the 
assembly, we wanted to finish 
this discussion to see if the 
assembly itself might also want 
to endorse the statement.”

The statement says that the 

University’s 
Senate 
Advisory 

Committee 
supports 
Muslim 

members of the community. It 
also condemns discrimination 
on 
campus, 
regardless 
of 

religious, national or ethnic 
affiliation.

SACUA
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didn’t feel like putting the 
effort in when my parents 
would 
drive 
me 
around,” 

McKeon said. “I also didn’t 
have money to buy a car so it 
just wasn’t logical to get my 
license.”

McKeon 
is 
not 
alone 

according 
to 
Sivak’s 
and 

Schoettle’s research; thirty-
seven 
percent 
of 
people 

surveyed claimed they did not 
get a license because they were 
simply too busy. Sivak and 
Schoettle also reported that 32 
percent of people who chose 
not to get a driver’s license 
were discouraged by costs of 
owning a car. 

In an interview, Schoettle 

said 
the 
study 
showed 

socioeconomic 
status 

influenced the results of the 
study.

“We 
did 
look 
at 

socioeconomic 
issues 
like 

education and employment,” 
Schoettle said. “We found that 
those without a license tended 
have less education and higher 
unemployment.”

While 
the 
researchers 

also attributed the decline to 
increasing 
costs 
associated 

with 
driving, 
Sivak 
and 

Schoettle said they did not 
believe increases in gas prices 
were a factor.

Adjusted 
according 
to 

inflation, gas cost 70 cents more 
per gallon at the end of 2013 
than in January 1983 according 
the Bureau of Transportation 
Statistics. The Bureau reports 

the biggest discrepancy in 
prices during the past 31 years 
was in May 2011 when gas 
prices were at an all-time high 
at $4.07 per gallon.

Along 
with 
fluctuating 

gas 
prices 
and 
automobile 

costs, 
environmental 
issues 

were tested as a factor in the 
reduction. 

Sivak 
and 
Schoettle’s 

research 
indicated 
those 

sentiments 
have 
moderate 

effects on fewer people getting 
their licenses — 8.6 percent 
of people surveyed reported 
wanting 
to 
protect 
the 

environment influenced their 
decision.

Despite 
the 
nationwide 

decrease, 
Suhail 
Bilbeisi, 

owner of the Ann Arbor Driving 
School, said he has not noticed 
a decrease in enrollment since 
opening his business in 2001. 
Rather, he said enrollment has 
risen despite class enrollment 
fees increasing by $25.

“We’ve been getting more 

students as the business has 
progressed,” Bilbeisi said.

Schoettle said he was unable 

to pinpoint the exact reasoning 
why Bilbeisi’s business has not 
noticed the trend, but said there 
could be a difference between 
local and national data.

“It is hard to say why a 

driving school might not be 
noticing this trend,” he said. 
“It could be that locally, the 
trend is a little different, or 
possibly that older people 
getting licenses are offsetting 
the reductions in younger 
drivers. It would be interesting 
to see if the age breakdown has 
changed for driving schools.”

DRIVER
From Page 1

attendees, 
sharing 
personal 

anecdotes exemplifying their 
experiences with Islamophobia 
on 
campus. 
Many 
audience 

members became emotional, and 
were moved to tears by many of 
the stories.

“By sharing one’s story, I 

think we can understand the 
different ways that it actually 
impacts 
students 
on 
this 

campus,” 
Alsultany 
said. 
“I 

hope that people (leave with) a 
new sense of understanding of 
how Islamophobia impacts our 
community and also leave with 
some ideas about how to be an 
ally, not only to Muslim students, 
but for any student on campus.”

LSA junior Tina Alkhersan, 

who 
served 
on 
the 
LSA 

committee that organized the 
event, said the event aimed to 
target non-Muslims and people 
who did not identify similarly to 
Muslims, so that students could 
express their beliefs in a positive 
and constructive manner.

“Ever since I was a freshman 

here, I felt really attached to 
the University of Michigan, and 
certain Islamophobic incidences 
would 
happen 
— 
American 

Sniper, Chapel Hill — and there 
was never a sense of a safe 
community,” 
Alkhersan 
said. 

“There was always a sense of 
fear and alarm,” referencing 
an incident in 2015 involving 
the University’s showing of the 
controversial 
film 
American 

Sniper and a shooting in which 
three Muslim students were 
killed.

Alkhersan said she wanted the 

event to be a forum for opening 
up and asking questions, as well 

as making acquaintances and 
forming friendships.

“I would feel accomplished 

if just one person walked out 
with their perception changed,” 
Alkhersan said.

Alkhersan, 
along 
with 

others 
on 
the 
organizing 

committee, shared a story from 
an anonymous student who did 
not want to present to attendees 
during the event. She said there 
was a fear among some students 
of being ridiculed for their 
vulnerability, so some committee 
members agreed to help them 
share 
their 
stories 
without 

releasing their identities.

Another student, who wished 

to remain unnamed, shared her 
story as well, discussing her 
experience as a minority Muslim 
student in high school. She 
recounted how her classmates 
shared Islamophobic opinions 
during class.

“‘They’re 
all 
terrorists 

anyway,” she said one of her 
classmates said to her. “They’re 
all evil,’”

Rackham graduate student 

Banen 
Al-Sheemary, 
who 

discussed 
how 
Islamophobia 

impacts safety on campus, said 
she decided to share her story at 
the event because she believes it 
is important for the student body 
to realize how big of an issue 
Islamophobia is.

“(The administration) needs 

to understand these narratives, 
they need to listen to these 
narratives,” Al-Sheemary said. 
“It’s so imperative and it really 
does affect our success here and 
our safety and our well-being.”

Al-Sheemary 
added 
there 

have been specific incidences 
where 
she 
has 
felt 
unsafe 

and discriminated against on 
campus.

“We are students who pay 

tuition, we are students who 
contribute to the community just 
like any other student,” she said 
during her story. “So what sets us 
apart from the rest of the student 
body that we have to walk in fear 
even in the afternoon?”

Al-Sheemary 
noted 
that 

there are many options that the 
University can put into place 
in order to ensure the concerns 
from the Muslim student body 
are acknowledged.

“The 
administration 
just 

has to take the time to actually 
listen and connect how social 
hierarchy, class, gender, sexual 
identity and racism shape the 
student experience and how 
difficult it is to navigate our 
world,” Al-Sheemary said.

At the end of the event, 

organizers 
asked 
attendees 

how institutions, groups and 
individuals on campus can show 
solidarity with students who 
experience Islamophobia.

LSA Dean Andrew Martin, 

who attended the event, said 
forums like this were important 
for the campus climate because 
one of the University’s challenges 
is creating a community that 
includes multiple identities. He 
said these types of conversations 
are crucial in creating the 
accepting 
community 
that 

people want to have on campus.

“It was an incredibly powerful 

event,” Martin said. “We have 
a lot of brave students who are 
willing to share their stories 
to help build community and 
help understand things that 
are happening on our campus 
that many members of our 
community don’t know much 
about.”

Another student, who also 

wished to remain anonymous, 

spoke 
during 
the 
open-mic 

portion of the event that followed 
the shared stories, retelling 
her story of growing up as a 
Palestinian Muslim-American.

“I honestly only felt safe 

when I was with my high school 
English teacher, who told me 
that everything would be OK 
once I entered the University 
of Michigan,” the student said. 
“However, nothing changed. I 
escaped to Michigan with the 
idea that I would be in a much 
safer environment.”

Adrienne Dessel, co-associate 

director of the Program on 
Intergroup Relations, also held 
a presentation toward the end of 
the event on being a constructive 
ally and encouraging positive 
communication among different 
ethnic and racial groups.

“The Program on Intergroup 

Relations is very interested in 
promoting ally work among 
students 
and 
promoting 

any event that will reduce 
discrimination 
and 
bias 
on 

campus,” Dessel said.

Dessel 
said 
she 
believes 

Islamophobia is an issue that is 
affecting some of the students 
on campus as a result of national 
racism 
and 
Islamophobia, 

negative 
media 
portrayals 

and lack of contact caused by 
segregation 
among 
different 

cultural groups that lead to 
harmful stereotypes.

“(We 
hope) 
for 
students’ 

stories to be shared and told 
and to provide students with 
some guidance and some skills,” 
Dessel said.

Martin said he believes the 

University needs to articulate 
inclusion as a core value by taking 
initiative and following up on the 
issues identified during the event 
to ensure that the University 

is 
fostering 
an 
inclusive 

environment for all students.

“It’s 
really 
important, 

particularly given the discourse 
that’s happening in our broader 
politics 
today, 
to 
focus 
on 

Islamophobia and how it affects 
our Muslim students,” Martin 
said. “I’m really proud of the 
work that the students put into 
organizing this event. I found 
that the stories that the students 
brought to the front required a 
great deal of courage, and I think 
were painful to hear, but I think 
will be constructive in community 
building going forward.”

Angela Dillard, associate dean 

for undergraduate education, 
was also in attendance and said 
she hopes those who attended 
the event will be more sensitive 
to Islamophobia on campus.

“Certainly (Islamophobia) is 

one of the big issues that we’ve 
been looking at and worried 
about,” Dillard said. “I definitely 
thought it was appropriate for 
this group to take on, especially 
right now, given what’s been 
going on nationally, what’s been 
going on internationally.”

Dillard said it was crucial to 

lead initiatives on inclusivity with 
students telling their own stories, 
even though they are sometimes 
shocking and upsetting.

“One of the things that has been 

a little surprising to me is finding 
out what might be the depth of 
underreporting 
of 
incidents, 

of bias, of microaggressions,” 
Dillard said. “There seems to 
be a little confusion about how 
one goes about reporting, which 
leads to ideas of what can we do 
to make it clearer, what can we 
do to make it safer and what can 
we do to make sure that people 
have a sense that something is 
being done to follow up.”

SHARING
From Page 1

experience for receiving alerts 
which needs to be smoothed 
out,” she said. 

She added that because the 

notifications can only be 100 
characters each, DPSS’s focus 
for the upcoming months will 
be on how to create precise and 

informative alerts to ensure 
each fits the formatting for 
all messaging systems at their 
disposal. 

Surrounding 
universities 

such 
as 
Michigan 
State, 

Western Michigan and Central 
Michigan all use e-mails and 
texts to inform students of 
any dangers on campus, but 
have not developed anything 
beyond that, according to their 

websites. 

Brown 
said 
focusing 
on 

improving safety within the 
Ann Arbor community was the 
project’s main focus.

“We have people on staff 

who are aware of what they are 
doing at other schools, but that 
is not our main focus,” she said. 
“We worry about getting the 
message out as soon as we can, 
as fast as we can.”

CAMPUS
From Page 1