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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, February 10, 2016 — 3A
Snyder addresses
Flint water crisis in
budget
Gov. Rick Synder plans to
include $195 million in the 2017
budget to address the Flint
water crisis, according to the
Detroit Free Press. The budget
will be proposed on Wednesday.
The request for Flint is broken
down to support several efforts,
including safe drinking, nutrition
and education. The majority of
the budget serves to improve the
physical and social wellbeing of
residents.
An estimated $15 million from
the budget was allocated to fund
food and nutrition, such as school
meal programs, food banks and
restaurant inspections.
Snyder also plans to test and
replace deficient water fixtures
in educational settings. Officials
claim that the contamination
began when the administration
decided to switch from Detroit’s
water supply to Flint River water.
In October, Flint switched back to
Detroit’s water supply; however,
lead continues to contaminate
pipes and water fixtures.
The state previously provided
vulnerable areas with $28 million
to purchase bottled water and
filters as well as to support other
measures to address the water
crisis.
Detroit teachers
plan walk-ins
Detroit Public Schools teachers
planned walk-ins on Tuesday,
deviating from their series
of sick-outs over the past few
weeks, according to the Detroit
Free Press. The goal was to keep
classes going while participants
gathered before the school day
to see the schools and engage
in honest dialogue about the
conditions.
Cass Technical High School’s
walk-in began at 7:40 a.m.,
and afternoon walk-ins were
scheduled in a series of other
schools, such as Greenfield Union
Elementary-Middle School, and
Cooke Elementary.
The previous sick-outs served
to demand attention to the
devastated conditions of DPS
schools. Teachers called in sick
to protest the poor infrastructure
and building conditions. On Jan.
15, approximately 64 Detroit
schools were shut down and over
31,000 students were affected.
The Free Press reported that
$300,000 from the DPS budget
has recently been reallocated
from other departments to fund
building projects. Forty-six of 97
DPS schools have been expected
since the sick-outs, and Tuesday’s
walk-ins were an example of
the continued pressure the
community is putting on local and
state government officials.
The district’s emergency
manager, Darnell Earley,
announced his decision to step
down at the end of February
following a lawsuit filed on Jan. 29
calling for his dismissal, according
to the Detroit Free Press.
-CAMY METWALLY
NEWS BRIEFS
2-News
would be outweighed by the
larger benefits to students,
Kosowski said.
“This seems like a no-brain-
er,” LSA sophomore Cochise
Jackson said about the bill.
“When I was trying to buy
my chem book for like $250, it
would’ve been great if that was
reduced even a little bit.”
LSA sophomore Jose Guz-
man echoed Jackson’s sen-
timent,
saying
he
could
definitely use extra funds and
allocate them to other school-
related costs such as supplies.
LSA freshman Bryan Pol-
lard said when he came to the
University he was nervous
about the high prices of text-
books, but they actually ended
up being less than what he was
expecting. However, he said
he still believes that having
textbooks be sales tax exempt
would be beneficial.
“I think this legislation
would be great for a lot of
manager of the Office of Campus
Sustainability, stressed that the
decision to suspend recycling was
directly caused by the change at
the Western Washtenaw Recy-
cling Authority.
“The decision to suspend glass
recycling is due to our recycling
facility’s decision to discontinue
collecting the material because
the local glass recycling market
has ceased,” Berki said.
Berki added that glass consti-
tutes 1 percent of the 2,400 tons
of material collected annually for
recycling at the University.
“In terms of Sustainability, the
decision has a very low impact
because glass comprises such a
small percentage of U-M’s overall
waste stream,” he wrote.
LSA junior Louisa Kane, a CSG
University Sustainability Com-
mission member, said the Univer-
sity is taking steps to adjust to this
change.
“The University is already try-
ing to adjust accordingly by find-
ing new replacement products in
recyclable materials, as well as
developing a separate glass collec-
tion system for the glass products
that are still floating around cam-
pus,” she said.
John Lawter, associate direc-
tor of University Plant Operations,
said the suspension of glass col-
lection is not a significant blow
to the recycling operations of the
University. He added the change
does serve as an indication of reli-
ance of the University’s recycling
operations on external factors.
“The impact to our recycling
rate will be minimal, however it
does illustrate our need to have a
flexible program that can respond
to market fluctuations,” he said.
The change is one of the larger
adjustments to recycling policy
that the University has made in
recent years, according to Lawter.
“This is probably the first time
we have had to backtrack on a pro-
gram change of this magnitude,
though it is still only 1 percent, and
is somewhat of a warning on the
volatility of the markets and their
affects on our program,” he said.
Kane said since the suspension
was forced by the decline of glass
recycling markets, and wasn’t by
University design, students and
faculty involved in sustainability
and environmental advocacy on
campus did not have any say in the
matter.
“I personally have heard buzz
circulating around it in the sus-
tainability community, but not
with much urgency or backlash,”
Kane said. “It’s more of a worry
of a messy transition into a new
system within a such a large insti-
tution rather than an outcry of
sustainability injustice.”
Berki wrote that Plant Opera-
tions
has
been
listening
to
feedback from the University
community regarding the sus-
pension, but cannot fully address
concerns since the change was
ultimately out of the University’s
control.
“Plant Operations has fielded
many inquiries from students, fac-
ulty and staff regarding this recent
change however has not received
any specific opposition from envi-
ronmental advocacy groups or
organizations,” Berki said.
Lawter said he thought that
the lack of opposition from the
University community was due to
the fact that the University had no
choice in the decision.
“The campus community has
been very understanding and
cooperative which is good given
this is something that is beyond
our control,” Lawter said. “We are
also getting a lot of good feedback
on ideas to minimize the effects of
market changes to our program in
the future.”
Lawter said one of the biggest
concerns that University Plant
Operations currently holds is the
worry that glass on campus will
contaminate the single-stream
recycling program. If too much
glass is found in a given collection,
he said the entire collection must
be sent off to a landfill as waste.
“We need to broadly educate
the campus community on this
change to minimize contamina-
tion of our single-stream program
with glass,” Lawter said. “We are
working with University Com-
munications and the Office of
Campus Sustainability on getting
the word out in as many forms as
possible.”
In regard to the University of
Michigan’s image as an environ-
mentally friendly institution and
campus, Kaine said he didn’t think
things would change.
“As long as the University holds
to its statements on accommodat-
ing for this change, then hopefully
we will rise to the standards we’ve
set for ourselves as a University,”
he said.
With other campus sustain-
ability initiatives and goals still
on track, Berki wrote that he
feels that the glass suspension
will not hinder the University’s
improvement as an environmen-
tally friendly and sustainability
conscious institution.
“Despite this setback with
glass recycling, we feel the over-
all outlook for waste reduction
on campus is very positive,” Berki
wrote. “The campus community
is working hard to achieve our
campus-wide sustainability goal
of reducing waste sent to landfills
by 40%”.
When asked about whether or
not glass would be re-listed as a
collectable material, Lawter said
he believes glass will “probably
never” be re-added to the single
stream.
“Glass has been problematic at
all the Material Recovery Facili-
ties who have converted to single
stream, which is most everyone in
our neighborhood,” he said.
Berki echoed Lawter’s senti-
ments, writing that he believed
glass would likely not be re-added
to the list of acceptable materials.
“As always, we will continue to
face these challenges head-on and
hopefully find solutions to them.”
TAX
From Page 1A
GLASS
From Page 1A
the things that put your health
at risk and make it difficult for
you to make good decisions in a
situation,” Schlissel said.
He also pointed to a newly
formed 30-member task force
charged with suggesting policy
reforms for the Greek commu-
nity. The task force includes
former Panhellenic Associa-
tion President Maddy Walsh
and Alex Krupiak, former
Interfraternity Council presi-
dent.
Another area for improve-
ment
Schlissel
addressed
Tuesday was the staffing and
organization of the Univer-
sity’s Counseling and Psycho-
logical Services.
Both LSA sophomore Kelly
Crosson and Business sopho-
more Sam Orley expressed con-
cern with the stigmatization of
mental health on campus and
how CAPS can improve as a
whole.
Crosson said she had to wait
seven weeks for a preliminary
appointment at CAPS.
“Your story is really disap-
pointing,” Schlissel said in
response.
“I’m a little concerned that
there are areas that there is
so much need that it’s going to
be hard to keep up,” Schlissel
added. “There are a lot of men-
tal health challenges that come
with being a student here.”
He said the University is
currently expanding the CAPS
staff not only to have more pro-
fessionals available to help stu-
dents, but also to diversify their
staff to ensure more identities
and backgrounds are repre-
sented to help students feel at
ease.
Orley, who is a member of
Wolverine Wellness, a student
group created to promote men-
tal heath resources and des-
tigmatization, said the group
hopes more professors will
include CAPS information on
their syllabi. A discussion also
took place about the inclusion
of CAPS information on the
back of Mcards.
“I believe this can only not
happen if someone comes up
with a compelling reason for it
not to be done,” Schlissel said
in support of the Mcard propo-
sition.
Students also asked ques-
tions that are often posed at
the monthly fireside chat con-
cerning the improvement of
the experience of students on
North Campus, the ongoing
increase of tuition and how to
make the campus more diverse.
Throughout the hour-long
discussion, Schlissel continued
to express his gratitude for the
questions posed by students,
and urged each student in the
room to ask one — causing the
event to go over its marketed
timeframe.
“I’ve only been here for a
year and a half, and I’ve never
taught my own class or had
advisees, so my own learning
about the student community
and seeing the campus through
your eyes helps me understand
the job I have and make this
place as good as it needs to be
for you, and, more important-
ly, for those people who come
after you,” he said.
PRESIDENT
From Page 1A
tion director Shelley Rodg-
ers wrote in an e-mail to The
Michigan Daily.
The Flint water crisis began
in April 2014 when the city,
under state emergency man-
agement, switched its water
supply from Detroit city water
to water treatment centers
connected to the Flint River,
which resulted in contamina-
tion after the more corrosive
river water caused lead from
the pipes to leak into the water.
The water supply was not
switched back until October
2015. Though Snyder issued
a formal apology last month,
and has declared a national
state of emergency in the city,
protesters have alleged that
the governor knew about the
issues earlier than October,
and should have taken action
sooner. The governor’s office
has maintained he learned
about the issue in October.
Ann Arbor Alliance For
Black
Lives
representative
Rebecca Ahmad-Robinson, a
Public Health graduate stu-
dent, said Snyder should be
held accountable not just for
Flint, but also for deplor-
able conditions in the Detroit
Public
Schools
and
mass
incarceration in state pris-
ons. At multiple points during
the event, attendees linked
#BlackLivesMatter to Flint.
“We can’t breathe under
Snyder, but we also can’t drink
water,”
Ahmad-Robinson
yelled during the march.
Besides students and other
citizens upset with the cur-
rent state in Flint and state
politics, the National Lawyers
Guild from the University’s
Law School sent some of its
members. NLG is a national
organization that aims to unite
various people from the law
force that seek to change the
ill-structured components of
the political and economic
systems in the country. Law
School student Reid Murdock,
a member of the University’s
chapter of NLG, said they
attended the protest to raise
awareness about human rights.
“We are here to ensure that
people’s civil rights are pro-
tected. Everyone here is using
their freedom of speech and
freedom of assembly,” Mur-
dock said. “We are here to
make sure things go smoothly
and to be a resource and pos-
sibly a liaison with the police
should they come.”
Other groups present includ-
ed the Socialist Equality Party.
Lawrence
Porter,
assistant
national secretary of the SEP,
said he believes the water cri-
sis is not only a crisis but also
an attack on the working class
people of Flint.
“It’s a crime, without ques-
tion. It is a monumental crime
that is being carried out,” Por-
ter said. “We believe that it’s
not just by Snyder; it’s been
carried out by both issues. It is
a bipartisan attack.”
SNYDER
From Page 1A
was what ultimately allowed
him, along with the newly
formed Minority Council on
campus, to create multicultural
lounges in residence halls.
“From the Minority Council,
we began to push for what we
called Black Housing Units,” he
said. “But what the concept was,
was that we were going to take
a whole half side of South Quad,
and we were going to have it
mixed between white and Black
and other ethnic groups. But the
idea was to have a predominant
number to be African Ameri-
can, so for the first time African
Americans could be in the major-
ity as opposed to being in the
minority.”
Originally,
the
idea
was
approved by the Housing Policy
Committee, Gill said, but the
Board of Regents rejected it on
the grounds that the policy was
akin to segregation. The alter-
native that they offered was the
creation of the multicultural
lounges.
LSA junior Adelia Davis, a
diversity peer education, said she
was intrigued by the fact that the
Black Action Movement of Gill’s
time was responsible for the cre-
ation of the multicultural loung-
es in the University’s residence
halls that she and other DPEs
oversee.
“I found it very inspiring,”
she said. “His story, the work
he’s doing, and just his point of
that the battle for freedom has
to be won every generation. I get
frustrated, because it’s a lot of
the same issues that are recur-
ring, but it totally makes sense:
Each generation has to struggle
for this freedom. It’s disappoint-
ing, but at the same time it just
empowers us to always be aware
and active in our community,”
Davis said.
Public Policy senior Eric Riley
said he was also surprised by
the extent to which BAM was
responsible for the multicultural
lounges.
“We really are the fruits of his
labor,” Riley said.
Leon Howard III, a program
manager in the Office of Multi-
Ethnic Student Affairs, said
while students today are fighting
the same fight as those in Gill’s
time, he thought progress was
being made.
LECTURE
From Page 2A
Read more at MichiganDaily.com