One Hundred and TwenTy Five years OF ediTOrial FreedOm
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Ann Arbor, MI
Weekly Summer Edition
MichiganDaily.com
INDEX
Vol. CXXVI, No. 115| © 2016 The Michigan Daily
michigandaily.com
NEWS ....................................
OPINION ...............................
ARTS ......................................
CLASSIFIEDS.........................
SUDOKU................................
SPORTS................................10
NEWS
New FDA decision
restricts e-cig use
Regulations call attention
to University study
>> SEE PAGE 8
NEWS
Faculty named to
prestigous society
4 professors join National
Academy of Sciences
>> SEE PAGE 3
OPINION
Don’t waste your
presidential vote
With high rates of
unfavorability in both
parties, every vote counts
>> SEE PAGE 4
ARTS
Prince celebrated
at the Blind Pig
Prince Dance Party brings
fans of all ages together at
local concert venue
>> SEE PAGE 7
SPORTS
‘M’ softball enters
postseason
Big Ten Tournament begins
Friday in Happy Valley
>> SEE PAGE 12
inside
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4
6
8
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‘U’ and Ann Arbor schools
address e-waste recycling
New Trotter
facility name
sparks worry
in students
Residents drop
off electronics for
proper disposal
By IRENE PARK
Daily Summer News Editor
The University of Michigan’s
Office of Campus Sustainability
partnered with Ann Arbor Public
Schools for the University’s annual
e-waste recycling event — which
aims to help community members
dispose and recycle electrical or
electronic devices — Saturday in
Pioneer High School’s parking lot.
The annual event began in
spring 2008, around the same time
the Climate Savers Computing
Initiative — a campus campaign
aimed at promoting sustainable
computer use — and Sustainable
Computing program began at the
University. Since then, events have
collected 1,792 tons of e-waste.
The events are open to anyone
who wants to recycle his or her
e-waste, including non Ann Arbor
residents.
E-waste specifically refers to any
discarded electrical or electronic
devices, including cell phones,
televisions, stereos and wires.
Last year, the United Nations
Environment Program referred
to it as the fastest growing waste
stream in the world. A study in 2013
estimated a 33 percent growth of
e-waste worldwide by 2017, about
72 million tons total.
Incorrect disposal of e-wastes
can create serious health hazards,
especially in developing countries,
where developed countries often
dump
their
e-wastes.
Many
electronic gadgets contain toxic
metals such as mercury, lead and
cadmium, which can seep into the
ground and contaminate water
sources. Exposure to such toxic
metals can cause damage to the
nervous systems, kidneys and
bones of both adults and developing
fetuses.
MaryBeth Stuenkel, University
Information
and
Technology
program manager and a volunteer
at Saturday’s event, said recycling
e-waste is not only a way to
reduce the amount that ends up
in landfills or water, but it’s also a
way to reuse valuable resources for
new electronic products without
harming the environment. For
example, producing one ounce
of gold requires mining and
processing seven to 11 tons of ore,
but gold can also be extracted from
e-waste.
“It’s a double reason to recycle
(the e-waste),” Stuenkel said. “They
are dangerous to the environment
plus they are valuable resources
that can be reclaimed and reused.
That benefits the environments
in another way — if you have gold
from recycled materials, then you
don’t have be mining for gold.”
Stuenkel
said
the
most
common items people recycle
at the events are old television
sets.
Unfortunately,
these
television sets do not contain as
much precious metal that can
be recycled as computers do,
according to Stuenkel, adding that
old televisions comprise mostly of
plastic and glass.
Stuenkel also mentioned that
she and rest of the University’s
Sustainable Computing program
were surprised by the increasing
turnout of e-waste recycling in Ann
Arbor since 2008, with the number
of cars attending increasing from
3,548 in 2010 to 7,000 in 2015.
“When we started doing this in
2008, we expected the number of
cars dropping off the waste to taper
off,” Stuenkel said.
JEREMY MITNICK/DAILY
Ann Arbor Pioneer High school hosts electronic-waste recycling event on Saturday.
CAMPUS LIFE
Students voice
mixed reactions in
response to naming
of new building
By RIYAH BASHA
Daily Summer News Editor
Several students voiced concern
over the University of Michigan’s
decision to name the new building
which will house the William
Trotter Multicultural Center after
Regent Mark Bernstein and his wife,
Rachel Bendit. The building’s new
name — Bernstein-Bendit Hall —
comes after the University laudeda
$3 million gift from the couple three
weeks ago. The donation will help
build the new facility, which will
move from its current Washtenaw
Ave. address to a more centrally
located spot on South State Street.
A number of students protested
the name on social media, arguing
it erased the legacy of the center’s
current
namesake:
William
Trotter—
the
prominent
Black
activist and co-founder of the
Niagara Movement, a civil rights
organization founded in 1905.
Trotter director Jackie Simpson
refuted these claims. She said the
legacy of both Trotter will remain
intact despite concerns surrounding
the decision to rename the center.
“I’ve
heard
many
student
concerns that the legacy of Trotter
was going away,” Simpson said. “It’s
not going to happen.”
University
President
Mark
Schlissel addressed the controversy
in an open letterposted on the
Trotter Center’s Facebook page,
in which he drew comparisons to
the Ford School of Public Policy —
named for former President Gerald
See TROTTER, Page 9