and
depression
disorders
comprehensively, focusing on
medical research, clinical care,
education and public policy.
The Eisenberg’s gift will
mainly be used for medical
research. John Greden, founder
and executive director of the
center, said the gift will help
fund
projects
that
aim
to
uncover the underlying causes
of the illnesses, which will
allow clinicians to personalize
treatments for each patient with
depression or bipolar disorder.
“Depression
and
bipolar
illnesses probably have multiple
different causes,” he said. “If we
have multiple causes, we’ve got
to treat the underlying causes …
one-sized treatment will never
fit all. We want to know: Will
this type of depression respond
to this antidepressant or this
anti-inflammatory agent or this
new medicine that will alter
the genetic message? Then we
can choose the treatment that
precisely targets the underlying
cause.”
LSA senior Reid Depowski,
secretary for a new student
group
at
the
University’s
Counseling and Psychological
Services,
CAPS
In
Action,
wrote in an email interview
that she thinks personalizing
depression
treatment
has
the potential to be highly
impactful.
“Depression
is
such
a
widespread illness that not
everyone responds the same
to treatment or understands
their symptoms in the same
ways,” Depowski wrote. “Our
Depression
Center
intends
to
focus
on
the
personal
development of those seeking
treatment for their depression,
which I think is a great step
in the right direction to client-
focused therapy specifically to
that client.”
Depowski also said the gift
could spark conversations on
campus about the necessity of
research and the importance of
mental health for everyone.
“That’s the goal of our group
—
to
destigmatize
mental
health, mental illness, and
make it normal to talk about,”
she wrote.
The gift also established the
Frances and Kenneth Eisenberg
Professorship of Depression
and Neurosciences. The first
recipient of the professorship
was Psychiatry Prof. Srijan Sen,
whose goal is to develop more
effective
and
personalized
treatments for those who suffer
from depression.
One
of
Sen’s
ongoing
research projects focuses on the
relationship between stress and
depression in medical interns.
Sen said medical interns are
appropriate models for his
research because they suffer
from high stress — working 80
to 90 hours a week, suffering
from sleep deprivation and
dealing with life and death
situations with their patients
for the first time.
Sen said he hopes to further
his study with the medical
interns
through
his
newly
received
professorship
by
utilizing mobile and wearable
technology, which will allow
him to get real-time and more
reliable and objective data from
his subjects.
According to Sen’s research,
the rate of depression increased
from
3.9
percent
in
the
beginning of the internship
to almost 27.1 percent during
the internship. He added that
depression in interns presents
a risk to patients, noting that
the young professionals are
more likely to commit medical
errors.
“Rates of depressions are
very high, especially in (the
medical intern) population,”
Sen said. “It is important for
health
care
to
understand
what’s causing the high rate
of depression — finding ways
to decrease it is important for
them and for their patients.”
3A — Wednesday, October 26, 2016
News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
HALEY MCLAUGHLIN/Daily
Division of Public Safety and Security officer Justin Berent discuss safety concerns during Halloween weekend at
the Central Student Government meeting in the Union Monday.
DONATION
From Page 1A
other design projects similar to
this greenhouse.
“I had read about Walipinis,
which are theses underground
greenhouses in the Andes, and
they grow things like bananas
at crazy high altitudes and
crazy high temperatures,” she
said. “I think a lot of gardeners
in
Michigan
get
depressed
when winter comes and wish
that they could grow for longer
and
extend
their
growing
season.”
Project
co-collaborator
Steven Mankouche, Murray’s
husband
and
an
associate
professor of architecture at the
University of Michigan, said the
greenhouse was inspired by a
love of gardening. But now that
it’s nearing its completion, the
potential for more greenhouses
in Detroit has become apparent.
“The project never started as
us wanting to help people; we
started the project as wanting
to see if this idea would work,”
he said. “While I think it does,
I hate to talk about the project
as if we are out there to help
people and as if that were the
mission of the work, which is
not the case.”
The greenhouse plan was
conceived of in 2009, according
to the couple, but it took a
few years for them to find the
right house for the project. An
additional year of fundraising
after the house on Burnside
Street was chosen and the plans
were laid out in 2013 was also
necessary for the project to
launch.
“We
wanted
to
find
an
abandoned
house
that
was
fire
damaged
and
could
not be saved,” he said. “We
wanted the house to be in a
neighborhood that wasn’t a
fringe neighborhood with not
much around it; we wanted it
to be in a neighborhood where
people lived but that was still
struggling.”
Mankouche
said
the
neighborhood, informally called
by the primarily Bangladeshi
residents “Banglatown,” seemed
to be a good fit because there
was still what he referred to as
a “neighborhood fabric” intact
in the area despite the burned
and derelict houses scattered
amongst the houses of the
residents.
Now the project is coming
close to a conclusion, with
several final steps remaining.
The
last
touches
include
installing stairs that will lead
to the sunken lower level of
the greenhouse, which was
completed
last
week,
and
bringing in and spreading soil.
Mankouche
said
after
soil
is spread inside Afterhouse,
it will be ready for the first
round of planting. Some of
the first plants will include
small
trees
that
require
warmer temperatures that are
not available during Detroit
winters,
including
bananas,
olives and pomegranates.
Mankouche said the house is
roughly 600 square feet with a
completely open interior. The
sunken base is approximately
five feet below ground level.
“We
removed
the
house
from the foundation up, and
in that process of demolition
we salvaged all the structural
lumber from the house,” he
said. “We were left with the
bare foundation wall, which
was concrete block wall, which
required a lot of repair work.”
Murray said an underlying
concern within the project was
building a lasting infrastructure
in the area and finding residents
that would continue to use
the final product well after it
reached completion.
“One of the things that was
always really important to us
when we were looking for a
site and looking for the right
partner to work with or give it
to was that it would be useful
and wouldn’t just be another
thing that’s falling down,” she
said. “We will help maintain it
over the next couple of years
to make sure that everything
is working and to troubleshoot
problems.”
As of right now, Afterhouse
will primarily be used by
Burnside Farms, the community
garden that operates across the
street from the greenhouse.
The
garden
will
use
the
greenhouse
to
extend
its
growing season through the
winter. Mankouche said he
thinks that the greenhouse can
give back to the community by
enabling the farm to continue
growing throughout the winter
that it can give to members of
the neighborhood.
Burnside Farms could not be
reached for comment.
Murray
said
from
her
experience
working
with
members of the “Banglatown”
community,
there’s
high
potential
for
growth
in
community gardening.
“There are a lot of structures
that can be repurposed that way,
and there are a lot of people
who are using gardening and
growing their food to empower
people,” she said. “If you live in
a place where fresh fruits and
vegetables aren’t that easy to
come by, they are easy to come
by in your backyard.”
Mankouche also noted that
the small size of the Afterhouse
design helps it fit into the
neighborhood, and the approach
that they’ve taken — demolishing
the house but retaining the
original foundation — allows
for
a
variety
of
different
community-oriented
designs
to be incorporated into future
projects, such as residential
scale swimming pools or skate
parks.
On top of potential for other
uses,
Mankouche
said
the
completed Afterhouse is not
necessarily the final product
and that the maintenance of
the original foundation means
that the structure could be
repurposed again for something
else.
“It allows for a future for
the house,” he said. “It’s like
putting a cap on the house;
there’s
nothing
that
would
stop someone from converting
Afterhouse back into a house
again.”
“I think that it can have
a very positive effect on the
neighborhoods and the reason is
because it’s not a big structure,
it
pretty
much
replaces
a
house unlike, let’s say, a large
greenhouse and things of that
nature, and so just because of
its residential scale and the
fact that it is in the location of
a house itself, it tends to have
a different type of rapport as
a piece of architecture than a
piece of art would,” he said.
University
alum
Travis
Williams
worked
with
Stephen and Murray on the
Afterhouse
project
through
the
Undergraduate
Research
Opportunities Program. He has
volunteered
throughout
the
entire project, including during
the initial design phases, and
despite graduating this past
spring, plans to help until the
project is completed.
A native Detroiter, Williams
said he was excited by the idea
of working on a project that
would revitalize a home that
had been completely abandoned
and left to break down among
the houses of residents in the
neighborhood.
“The way it served as an
intermediary between blighted
out
homes
and
new
home
owners, I was delighted to work
on it,” he said. “Seeing it go
from a dilapidated home that
was firebombed and complete
desolation to seeing what we
could deconstruct and salvage
and completely rebuild it to a
whole new design and use, it’s
been enlightening.”
An
aspiring
architect,
Williams
said
working
on
the project has helped him
understand how to bring in
community input to influence
design and planning, as well
as the role that communities
themselves
play
in
efforts
to
rebuild
the
houses
and
neighborhoods around them.
“(Steven) was more receptive
and took more of a participatory
role from the community itself
and the people that it would
actually house and serve, and
listened
to
their
thoughts,”
he said. “That was a very big
teachable
moment,
where
it showed me the role that
communities can play in their
own reinvention, and have to
play in their reimagining.”
Mankouche said since the
project is nearing completion,
he is interested in reaching
out to other communities and
working with others on similar
projects in the future, though he
said he does not want to be the
one who build them anymore.
The
couple
believes
the
precedent set by the project
has the potential to change
the approach that the city of
Detroit takes to demolishing old
and broken houses. Beyond the
risks and technical knowledge
required to safely demolish a
house, Mankouche said it is
feasible for communities to
come together to construct new
buildings using old foundations
in the way that Afterhouse does.
“I think it absolutely is a
project that can be done by
smaller
communities,”
he
said, mentioning that several
people from the immediate
neighborhood surrounding the
Afterhouse project volunteered
time to help build the structure.
To
demolish
and
rebuild
the house cost Murray and
Mankouche
approximately
$5,000 in total, a process they
contracted out. According to an
article written by The Atlantic, it
costs the city of Detroit roughly
$12,000 to fully demolish a
derelict house, which includes
removing the foundation and
filling in the hole in the ground
that is left behind.
Both Mankouche and Murray
noted that one obstacle relevant
to
demolition
projects
for
both the city of Detroit and
the Afterhouse project is that
without the proper permits
for renovation, the city doesn’t
allow for partial demolition.
This means that to reduce costs
by saving the foundation of
houses, Detroit would have to
take a remodeling approach,
rather than demolition.
“If the city changed the
ordinance in such a way that
one was allowed to demolish
and leave the existing first floor
intact, because all these houses
are platform framed, you could
then go about it quite safely and
give time to the community to
go about rebuilding a house,”
Mankouche said.
GREENHOUSE
From Page 1A
in that you constructed them as
sluts and bitches who are there
to entertain men in fraternities.
I just wanted you to know that is
not Greek life at Michigan.”
Barnitt’s comment was met
with applause and catalyzed the
departure of most of the audience.
“What I hope to accomplish
tonight is to get a conversation
going about what we can do to
prevent this from happening,”
Burkman said as students exited
the auditorium. “So if you’re not
willing to have the conversation at
all, then you’re not open-minded.
I don’t want to offend anyone and
(Barnitt) is perfectly entitled to
her opinion, but I think everyone
is entitled to their opinion,
including me. I firmly believe
that this is a powerful tool for
constructive change.”
Producer
Jayme
Aronberg
expressed
surprise
and
disappointment at the reaction
of the majority of the student
audience to the film, which has
won multiple awards, including
the
D.C.
Independent
Film
Festival’s best feature film, and
has been screened at dozens
of film festivals and college
campuses across the country.
“This is the first time that
we’ve ever had this reaction,”
Aronberg said. “First time. Maybe
the truth is that Michigan does
an exceptional job at not having
(hazing incidents) happen. If that’s
the case, then that’s amazing. But
it is also important to recognize
that’s not the case everywhere.
And that’s disturbing.”
The
makers
of
“HAZE”
have
been
traveling
around
the country screening the film
exclusively at universities before
the commercial release, which is
slated for the spring of 2017.
In an interview with The
Michigan
Daily
before
the
screening,
Burkman
said
he
hadn’t initially planned to tour the
film to college campuses.
“When we set out to make the
film, it was not with any specific
agenda in mind other than to
make an entertaining, thought-
provoking, illuminating feature
film,” Burkman said. “The film
has taken on an unexpected life
of its own by virtue of its subject
matter.”
Burkman,
an
Indiana
University alum, was invited to
screen the film at his alma mater
and said he was struck by the
effect that the film could have in
generating conversation around
the problems in Greek life and
hazing. After the film started a
dialogue at Indiana University,
Burkman decided to screen the
film exclusively at colleges before
its commercial release.
“It wasn’t our original intention,
but when we went to Indiana, it
was really fascinating to see what
an incredibly productive tool the
film could be in generating a kind
of
constructive
conversation.”
Burkman said.
He acknowledged the disturbing
nature of the film, but said he felt it
necessary to fully relate the horrors
of hazing to the audience.
“Our
hope
is
that
the
conversation doesn’t end when we
leave campus, when the lights go
up and the film is over,” Burkman
said. “I think it’s important to
have a film that shows this thing in
a realistic way, that upsets. While
I do not want to upset people and
traumatize people, we made this
film with the hope that it would
get under people’s skin.”
HAZING
From Page 1A
The
gradually
expanding
plume, first discovered in 1985, has
contaminated groundwater, forced
the closure of more than 100 private
residential wells and is expected
to reach the Huron River in the
coming decades and potentially
contaminate Ann Arbor’s water
source at Barton Pond, according
to several projections.
In
2006,
a
court
ruling
denied the city of Ann Arbor
the right to be a party in a state
of Michigan lawsuit and 1992
consent judgement against Pall
Corporation,
which
mandated
the corporation undertake the
monitoring and remediation of
the contamination. Because Ann
Arbor was denied involvement
in the lawsuit, the Michigan
Department
of
Environmental
Quality, not the city, is primarily
responsible for overseeing the
polluter’s remediation efforts.
However, the discovery last
week of 1,4-dioxane in the shallow
groundwater at Waterworks Park
by the MDEQ has sparked new
concerns of human exposure,
and some city officials are now
entertaining the possibility of
a new legal action against Pall
Corporation that would make the
city of Ann Arbor a party.
The
contaminants
in
Waterworks
Park
were
in
concentrations of 2 to 3 parts
per billion. 1,4-dioxane carries
carcinogenic risk at 3.5 parts
per
billion,
according
to
Environmental Protection Agency
guidelines.
City
Councilmember
Chip
Smith (D–Ward 5) — whose
constituency includes Waterworks
Park — said he hopes new legal
action, either to make the city
a party to the state’s lawsuit
or a new suit altogether, could
allow it to bypass the MDEQ and
possibly push for a full cleanup.
He added that he considered the
MDEQ unreliable in managing the
contamination.
Smith confirmed this option
was discussed, among several
other legal options — including a
petition to the EPA for superfund
designation — during a closed-
door special session of City Council
Monday night, though he declined
to offer more specific details.
“I believe that we need to be
somehow as a party in some of
the judicial actions,” Smith said.
“(Washtenaw
County
Circuit
Court Judge Donald) Shelton said
10 years ago … this is between the
DEQ and Gelman. I believe that is a
flawed way of thinking since it’s the
people of Ann Arbor who are most
directly impacted by this and the
DEQ clearly has not represented
the citizens here adequately.”
City
Councilmember
Sabra
Briere (D–Ward 1), who serves
on
the
City
Environmental
Commission, was also open to
the possibility of a new legal
action against Pall. Briere told
the Daily before Monday night’s
special session that the new
discovery of contaminated shallow
groundwater may grant the city
grounds to pursue this option.
“Until 1,4-dioxane was found
in shallow groundwater, the city
had no evidence of immediate risk
to the health of the community,”
Briere said. “Now, with the
discovery of 1,4-dioxane, that may
change.”
When asked about specific
legal strategies the city could take
and what was discussed during
Monday night’s special session,
Chief Assistant City Attorney
Abigail Elias declined to comment
but reiterated that the city is
considering all available options.
Several
other
city
council
members also declined to discuss
the proceedings of Monday night’s
special session when reached for
comment.
Meanwhile, other jurisdictions
in the county — including Ann
Arbor Township, Scio Township
and
the
County
Board
of
Commissioners — have sought to
bypass the MDEQ altogether.
DIOXANE
From Page 1A
HALLOWE E N SAFET Y
Read more online at
michigandaily.com