The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, March 22, 2016 — 3

Gov. Snyder calls 
for stricter lead 
standards for Flint

Gov. Rick Snyder released 

a plan on Monday, which will 
decrease the tolerance for lead 
in drinking water with a more 
stringent base level to trigger 
a response by regulators, the 
Detroit Free Press reports. 

The plan was released 

following criticism of the 
governor for his delayed response 
to the Flint water crisis. 

Snyder’s plan addresses issues 

ranging from children’s health 
to economic development. It 
also sets up both short-term 
and long-term goals for health, 
infrastructure, educational and 
economic development.

In a press release, Snyder said 

he is working on plans to support 
the residents of Flint into the 
future.

“These action plans lay out our 

next steps as we continue to work 
together as one Michigan to solve 
the challenges residents face,” he 
said.

The announcement of his 

plan follows Synder’s testimony 
before a congressional committee, 
where members of the committee 
accused him of negligence.

Heavy snowfall 
expected in Lansing, 
Grand Rapids

Large portions of Michigan 

are expected to experience 
several inches of snow 
Wednesday night and Thursday 
morning, according to the 
National Weather Service.

The storm will move in 

from the Great Plains and will 
cover the counties surrounding 
Lansing with up to six inches 
of snow. Areas farther north of 
Lansing could experience more 
than six inches. 

The snow could come in a 

mixed form of sleet and freezing 
rain. The National Weather 
Service additionaly issued a 
storm warning for Sunday, 
but the affected area does not 
include Ann Arbor. 

The Ann Arbor area is 

expected to miss the bulk of the 
snow and instead experience 
rain.

University physician 
honored as a top 
doctor in the U.S.

University physician and 

researcher Eva Feldman was 
honored as one of the nation’s 
top doctors in the 11th Annual 
National Physician of the Year 
Awards in New York, presented 
by the Castle Connolly Medical 
Ltd. 

Feldman is one of three 

recipients of the Clinical 
Excellence Award. The annual 
award honors doctors who 
pratice exemplary clinical 
medical practice. 

“It is such an honor to be 

recognized, but this is truly the 
result of tremendous teamwork,” 
Feldman said in a press release. 
“The University attracts such 
talented and dedicated people to 
serve our patients in every way, 
through brilliant staff, cutting-
edge research and world-class 
facilities. I feel deeply privileged 
to be a practicing clinical 
scientist at the University of 
Michigan.”

Feldman’s research team is 

overseeing trials for stem cell 
research in Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Feldman was named as the 

first director of the A. Alfred 
Taubman Medical Research 
Institute in January 2008. The 
institute was created to support 
research in diseases like adult 
and childhood cancer, ALS, 
diabetes, cardiovascular disease 
and hearing loss. 

Feldman has published 

325 original peer-reviewed 
articles, 60 book chapters 
and three books. She has 
previously recieved the 
University’s Distinguished 
Faculty Achievement Award and 
has been elected to the Johns 
Hopkins Society of Scholars. 

 
—LYDIA MURRAY 

AND ALLANA AKHTAR 

NEWS BRIEFS

FYI: 
In 
last 
year’s 

platform, DAAP called for 
the restoration of affirmative 
action practices. It is important 
to note that affirmative action 
was deemed illegal in the 
state of Michigan following 
a statewide vote in favor 
of ballot measure Proposal 
2 in 2006, which bans the 
use of affirmative action in 
public college admissions in 
Michigan.

Party: newMICH

Who: 
LSA 
junior 
David 

Schafer and LSA junior Micah 
Griggs
Platform: 
On 
newMICH’s 

executive ticket is LSA junior 
David Schafer, running for 
president, and LSA junior 
Micah Griggs, running for 
vice president. The party’s 
platform emphasizes issues 
surrounding 
diversity, 

inclusion 
and 
student 

engagement. 
In 
terms 
of 

amplifying student voices, the 
party has urged for student 
presence on the Board of 
Regents 
and 
a 
semesterly 

meeting 
between 
regents 

and the University Council, 
a student governing board 
comprised 
of 
members 

from each degree program. 
Recently, the candidates have 
been stressing that a student 
regent would further several 
wellness initiatives, including 
the expansion of mental health 
resources and the addition of 
Counseling and Psychological 
Services staff members — 
a goal Your Michigan has 
publicly supported as well. 
The platform also proposes 
Q&A sessions with students, 
administrators, faculty, staff 
and the Division of Public 
Safety and Security. Both 
newMICH and Your Michigan 
have discussed the need for 
outreach to underrepresented 
communities such as Detroit, 
and newMICH expanded on 
this goal in their platform, 
calling 
for 
mandatory 

Intergroup 
Relations 
and 

identity training for Central 
Student 
Government 

Executive 
and 
Assembly 

members 
and 
in-state 

tuition 
for 
undocumented 

graduate students. Currently, 
undocumented 
students 

qualify for in-state tuition, 
typically if they attended and 
graduated from an American 
high school.
FYI: Schafer 
is 
currently 

an 
LSA 
representative 
on 

CSG and assists in the Office 
of 
Academic 
Multicultural 

Initiatives. Griggs is also an 
LSA student representative, 

and this year she was a member 
of the LSA Race and Ethnicity 
Review 
Committee, 
which 

was tasked with investigating 
the R&E requirement and 
making recommendations to 
improve it.

Also noticible is the debate 

surrounding 
the 
party’s 

initiative to add a student to 
the Board of Regents, as the 
creation of a voting position 
on the board for a student 
would require amending the 
state constitution. However, 
in an interview with the Daily, 
Schafer noted that a non-
voting position was also a 
possibility, saying that in that 
capacity, a student presence 
on the Board of Regents would 
be invaluable.

Party: Your Michigan

Who: Public Policy junior 
Thomas 
Hislop 
and 
LSA 

junior Cameron Dotson
Platform: Public Policy junior 
Thomas Hislop and LSA junior 
Cam Dotson are running on 
Your 
Michigan’s 
executive 

ticket for president and vice 
president, respectively. The 
party’s platform focuses on 
increasing the transparency 
of CSG and the inclusivity 
of the University Council, 
cultivating a strong sense of 
community 
across 
campus 

and making the University 
more 
accessible, 
beginning 

with incoming freshmen. Your 
Michigan’s 
five-step 
plan 

includes electing a freshman 
council delegate to the UC, 
updating 
meeting 
minutes 

regularly for UC, increasing 
collaboration between CSG 
and 
the 
UC, 
hosting 
UC 

meetings in different campus 
locations 
and 
allowing 
a 

diverse 
group 
of 
smaller 

student organizations to sit 
on the council. They’ve also 
highlighted plans aimed to 
create a more positive campus 
environment by uniting The 
Maize Rage and increasing 
school spirit — according to 
the party’s website, Hislop 
has already met with now-
former 
Interim 
Athletic 

Director Jim Hackett and the 
Athletics Department to begin 
discussing the initiative.
FYI: Hislop is an elected 
representative on CSG and 
currently serves as chairman 
of the Ethics Committee, and 
Dotson is a representative 
in CSG and a leader on the 
Student Renovations Advisory 
Committee, a group involved 
in 
the 
upcoming 
Union 

renovations that are expected 
to be completed in 2018. He 
has been vocal about ensuring 
that the renovated Union have 
more appropriate, extensive 
spaces for mental health and 
student organizations.

ELECTIONS 
From Page 1

used to carry water in Flint.

“Lead is a historical problem,” 

Xi said citing severasl ways 
humans can be exposed to 
lead. “The other route (to lead 
exposure) is lead-contaminated 
pipes for drinking water, like 
Flint.”

Though a 10-percent average 

increase in body weight in 
adult male mice was recorded, 
when predicting human weight 
effects, Dolinoy said it gets 
more difficult since the mice 
experiment 
was 
controlled, 

whereas 
many 
factors 
can 

impact human health.

“Along with this mouse model 

we have different human cohorts 
where we study similar things,” 
Dolinoy said. “But as you can 
imagine, waiting for a human 
baby to grow up takes decades 
when we can answer similar 
questions in mice over just a few 
years.”

Xi 
emphasized 
that 
this 

study, though revealing new 
information, should be seen 
only as a risk, not a concrete 
outcomes. 

Speaking to ways to avoid 

weight gain, Xi said the weight 
gained 
from 
lead 
exposure 

can be controlled or reversed. 
Referencing 
the 
heightened 

levels of lead found in Flint water 
in 2015, Xi suggested those 
exposed to lead adopt a lifestyle 
of eating healthy and exercising. 
Dolinoy added that a having a 

strong social network of family 
and friends helps too.

“They (the children of Flint) 

have the long-lasting effects,” 
Xi said. “You need to pay more 
attention to your own lifestyle 
to mitigate the potential risk. 
This is more like an alert to the 
individuals.”

Kinesiology freshman Devlin 

Francis, a volunteer in Flint, 
said he thought Dolinoy and Xi’s 
research shows there is still a lot 
of work to do in Flint. 

“This was already a crisis 

to begin with, so now it’s only 
worse,” Francis said. “I just 
think it gives an even larger 
reason as to why we all need to 
do something to help out. And, 
like, we’re not going to achieve 
anything by pointing fingers at 
the governor or the city officials 
or anyone, like a lot of people 
have. You can do that later when 
the problem’s been solved, but 
right now there isn’t really time 
for that because people actually 
need help.”

Engineering 
freshman 

Charlie Velis, philanthropy chair 
of Delta Tau Delta, said he thinks 
it is unethical to ignore the water 
crisis in Flint, especially in light 
of the new research and the help 
residents require to rebuild their 
infrastructure.

“We live in a bubble as college 

students, and I think that one 
of the hardest things for me is 
when I see peers try hard to 
remain in that bubble and refrain 
from understanding the really 
important issues around them,” 
Velis said.

Xi said it will be difficult 

to know until further studies 
are done, despite the changing 
microenvironment of the gut 
microbiome, what other types 
of health impacts lead exposure 
could have.

In the future, he said he hopes 

to take a retrospective look at 
past human populations to find 
causal effects of disease and 
health on current populations. 
Xi noted this could be helpful 
for helping the children of 
Flint, noting action should still 
be taken to help them in the 
meantime.

Dolinoy added that Flint is 

a public health issue, and work 
should be done to ensure that 
residents have the knowledge to 
combat the risks of lead to the 
best of their abilities.

“This really tells us that we 

need to invest in our public 
health infrastructure,” Dolinoy 
said.

While studies on mice are the 

start, Dolinoy said they have five 
cohorts of human populations 
being studied, which will be the 
next indicator in this process. 
This additional work being 
done to work will be completed 
when the human cohorts reach 
adulthood.

“Now we know the kids are 

already exposed to the lead, so 
they need to take a mitigation 
approach,” Xi said. “We know 
this information is really good 
for the kids. It is unethical (to not 
take action). If we know a certain 
population is exposed to lead, we 
know there is an increased risk.”

AVA RANDA/Daily

newMICH vice president candidate Micah Griggs , a LSA junior, at the newMICH Speak Out Monday at the Diag. 

spirit of the restaurant will 
stay the same, he added there 
will be changes in the food and 
traditions.

“You don’t want to get too 

much in the past,” Seyferth 
said. “There’s great tradition, 
but we want to bring that 
tradition forward and build 
new memories. The food is 
going to be different, the 
ambiance is going to be a bit 
different.”

Executive chef Neal Diebold 

said the focus of the food will 
be to bring a sense of home to 
the students. He noted that 
students come to campus from 
all around the country, and 
he wants the food to have a 
relaxed and homey feel.

“We are trying to create a 

sense of home,” Diebold said. 
“You are away from home, 
and you have studies, you have 
stress — then you come here 
and you are supposed to relax 
and have memories. This is 
like your second home and this 
is what I am trying to create 
menu-wise.”

One 
of 
the 
restaurant’s 

original traditions was to let 
students celebrating their 21st 
birthdays stand on a stool and 
a ring a bell after drinking 21 
beers. Carlson said he and the 
other owners want to keep the 
birthday aspect of the tradition 
alive, 
but 
will 
not 
make 

drinking 21 beers necessary to 
ring the bell.

“So what we are going to do 

is take that tradition and have 
it for everyone’s birthday,” 
Carlson said. “When you come 

here you will get a special gift, 
which is a little brass bell. You 
will be able to go behind the 
bar upstairs or downstairs and 
ring the bell, and you also get a 
couple gifts.”

Past 
traditions 
and 

memories 
will 
also 
be 

maintained 
through 
black 

and white photos on the 
restaurant’s walls. The photos 
will be of the owners and 
University sports, arts and 
academics.

“We 
feel 
that 
this 
is 

important to show our partners 
and the history of Michigan,” 
Carlson said. “Not just sports 
… This has to be about the arts, 
this has to be about music, has 
to be about student life. We felt 
that was significant to get a 
feeling of why we all are here. 
It is the University of Michigan 
that brings us all together.”

PRETZEL
From Page 1

“CSG is about representing 

the students of this body, not 
arbitrary power grab.” Sarkar 
said.

Other executive candidates 

include Public Policy junior 
Thomas Hislop and LSA junior 
Cam Dotson are running for 
president and vice president, 
respectively, with the Your 
Michigan, 
LSA 
sophomore 

Chalse Okorom and LSA senior 
Keysha Wall are representing 
DAAP.

Parties 
recently 
debated 

their platform points at a debate 
on Wednesday, as newMICH 
presidential candidate David 
Schafer, 
an 
LSA 
junior, 

repeatedly calling into question 
Hislop’s 
position 
at 
the 

University, which he said was 

priveleged. Hislop emphasized 
his prior leadership in Greek life 
as a way to bring about change.

Schafer and vice presidential 

candidate Micah Griggs, an 
LSA junior, also spoke out 
about inclusion within CSG at 
the rally.

“newMICH was created by 

passionate people from across 
campus who really think that it 
is time to make CSG and campus 
inclusive, representative and 
productive,” Griggs said. 

Sarkar also emphasized the 

speak out aimed to highlight 
what the University community 
wanted to see from student 
government, citing the Idea 
Box on the newMICH website. 
The Idea Box is a suggestion 
form that allows students to 
let newMICH know what they 
would like to see on campus.

Along with remarks from 

newMICH members, the event 

featured 
performances 
by 

dance groups such as Michigan 
Manzil and a capella groups, 
such as Angels on Call and 
58 Greene. There were six 
groups in total, performing 
for 15 minutes each. The 
performances alternated with 
newMICH members detailing 
what they hope to achieve if 
they win the election.

LSA junior Samer Alkhalili, 

who attended the rally, said 
he was enthusiastic about the 
party, despite having a negative 
opinion of CSG in the past. 

“Honestly I’ve had mixed 

feelings towards CSG, and 
that’s 
because 
everyone 

approaches you talking about 
diversity 
and 
inclusivity,” 

Alkhalili said. “But this year 
I got aboard with newMICH 
because they are actually going 
to enact that change rather 
than throw buzzwords.”

SPEAK OUT
From Page 1

LEAD
From Page 1

Join us for the 2016 

Story Slam 

7 p.m. on April 8
at 420 Maynard

