The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Thursday, December 1, 2016 — 3A
over
the
next
two
years,
according to its website. The
organization did not respond
to a request for comment on
funding that has been raised so
far.
Gov. Rick Snyder (R), who
joined Duggan to announce
the expansion, said in a press
release that the program is now
the largest program of its kind
in the nation.
“Michigan’s largest city is
now also the largest city in the
United States to guarantee all its
young people the opportunity to
earn a college degree tuition-
free,” he said.
For students to qualify for
free tuition to two- or four-year
programs, they must earn at
least a 3.0 grade point average
and score 21 on the ACT exam
or 1,060 on the SAT. Students
must have spent all four years
of high school living in Detroit
and attending a DPS school to
qualify for four-year funding,
and at least their junior and
senior years to qualify for two-
year funding.
From the 2015 graduating
class, 183 DPS students were
provided
funding
to
attend
college programs in Michigan,
according to the Detroit Promise
program’s
website.
Twenty-
three enrolled at the University
of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
LSA
sophomore
Sidney
Arrington was awarded $275
in funding from the Detroit
Promise in 2015 to supplement
her studies. She said she feels
the expansion of the program
builds on the availability of
opportunity for Detroit students
to ultimately contribute to the
growth of the city.
“I think the expansion of the
program is an excellent idea,”
she said. “Higher education
is very important and it is not
fair for students to struggle
financially to pay for college
when they are trying to better
themselves and ultimately give
back to society.”
In the release, Duggan stated
that the Detroit Promise is
important in enabling Detroit
students to overcome boundaries
that would otherwise prevent
them from growing through
higher education.
“This program is one of
the
most
significant
ways
we
are
removing
barriers
to
opportunity
for
young
Detroiters so they can realize
their
full
potential
in
life
without the burden of student
debt,” Duggan said.
Similarly,
LSA
sophomore
Calahna Butler, who received
financial aid from the program,
said ability to pay tuition is a
one major roadblock between
Detroit students and higher
education and expansion of the
program will allow students to
find new opportunities.
“It’s a chance for many
students in Detroit to experience
life outside the city,” she said.
“Money is a major concern
when applying to colleges, and
knowing that they can have a
chance at a four-year institution
without having to worry about
tuition is a blessing.”
DETROIT
From Page 1A
In addition to ensuring the
clinic was suitable for medical
eye care, the team designed
the container keeping in mind
variation in climate zones,
cultural
practices
and
the
potential for the container
to play a social role in the
community in which it is
placed.
Kathy
Velikov,
associate
professor
of
architecture,
was
also
involved
in
the
development
of
the
clinic
and said eye care is one of
the focuses of Burke’s “Deep
Monitoring” project due to its
non-invasive way of assessing
vision
health.
The
project
began with a goal of finding
actionable ways to address
chronic care needs in remote
and underserved populations.
“A lot of people in remote
locations don’t have access
to
vision
care,
they
don’t
have access to prescription
eyeglasses,” Velikov said. “It
actually reduces their quality
of life, it makes them unable to
work and simply by diagnosing
someone’s vision and providing
things like eyeglasses really
transforms people’s lives.”
Velikov added the clinic is
more than just a repurposed
container; instead, it serves
as a self-powering and self-
sustainable social space.
Recent Taubman graduate
Dan Tish, who traveled to
Jamaica last month to oversee
the installation of the clinic
prototype,
echoed
Velikov’s
sentiments
on
the
clinic’s
multidisciplinary uses.
“It was exciting to see the
clinic finally in operation at the
end of October and start to be
a hub for the community,” Tish
said. “Every time we were there
and the doors were open, it was
like a magnet for people to come
in — lots of times because no
one in the community had ever
received an eye care exam.”
Recent Taubman graduate
Kallie
Sternburgh,
who
is
working
on
future
developments of the clinic,
particularly those that could be
deployed in the United States
for areas such as Highland
Park in Detroit, said the clinic
provides a longer-term solution
to care deficiencies.
“Involving the community
off the get go and having
the container be such a high
visibility point as a prototype
for our first version of this was
very important,” Sternburgh
said.
CLINIC
From Page 1A
the ability to drink on board
provides a completely different
experience.
“The tours in Detroit are
awesome,” Goldstein said. “It’s
fun to be in and see the more
beautiful parts of the city. But
that experience doesn’t even
compare to the one I had in
Ann Arbor. There’s nothing
quite like cruising down South
State with a beer in hand.”
However,
not
everyone
is happy about the recent
decision. Business sophomore
Andrew Berman, who interned
for Quicken Loans in Detroit
the last four summers, said
traffic in the downtown area
is bad enough without pedal
pubs.
“There are already a lot
of traffic issues in Detroit
because of the lack of funds
for the city,” Berman said.
“Those
pedal
pubs
have
gotten in my way before and I
imagine that they will only be
more obtrusive if people start
drinking on them.”
Current
legislation
does
stipulate that all pedal pub
businesses
must
provide
a
driver with a BAC of 0.00 who
directs steering and braking.
Some
pedal
pub
business
from Detroit addresses safety
concerns on their website.
There are currently three
pedal pub businesses active in
Detroit: The Michigan Pedaler,
Detroit Cycle Pub and The
HandleBar. Previously, these
businesses
operated
around
the alcohol ban by acting as
a pub crawl, stopping at two
or three bars during the tour
to offer ample opportunity
for their patrons to get a few
drinks.
“It’s
something
that’s
become quite popular,” City
Attorney
Melvin
“Butch”
Hollowell said of the tours
in an interview with Detroit
Free Press. “We believe that,
with the restrictions in place,
that it will operate just fine in
Detroit.”
Hollowell
noted
that
it
remains unclear exactly when
pedal pubs will be allowed to
offer consumption on board,
as owners will have to apply
for a license from the police
department.
The
pedal
pub
industry
has surprised many with its
popularity. Proponents of the
businesses said they believe
they offer new opportunities
for entrepreneurs in the city,
as well as help local bars who
benefit from the pedal pubs’
frequent stops.
“They roll through all day
long,” said Sean Harrington,
owner of the Town Pump
Tavern. “They bring happy,
fun customers. They stay for a
few minutes, have a couple of
drinks, maybe have something
to eat and then they move
along.”
COUNCIL
From Page 1A
for increased immigration laws
and registering of Muslims in the
United States, which Feldman
said he believes will complicate
foreign policy negotiations with
leaders in the Middle East. He
emphasized that discrimination
against
Muslims
has
been
validated by Trump’s election to
office.
“One of my students came
to me in tears, which had to do
with the fact of the different
atmosphere
they’re
dealing
with,” he said. “There is now a
green light — that was not the
case before. If the relations with
the Muslim community escalate,
that’ll be something they’ll be
concern about.”
Feldman said Trump would
be “wise” to follow in President
Barack Obama’s foreign policy
footsteps in regard to the U.S.-
Israeli partnership, despite the
criticism Obama has received.
During his tenure in office,
Obama has opposed policies
set by the government of Israeli
Prime
Minister
Benjamin
Netanyahu, such as his approach
to
Iran.
Feldman
said
for
Trump to successfully navigate
U.S.
issues
of
international
diplomacy, he must change his
political outlook.
“Trump will now, in a way,
have to totally change his
mindset,” he said. “He has been
accustomed as a businessman
— therefore, he has had an
emphasis
on
winning.
My
argument is that he will soon
discover that the situation in
the Middle East is not about
winning. In fact, the biggest
problem that Trump will have
is not America’s adversaries but
America’s friends.”
The speakers also noted that
during the campaign, Trump
spoke
in
opposition
toward
the
nuclear
agreement
the
U.S. signed with Iran last year.
In recent weeks, a number of
national security experts have
publicly urged Trump to reverse
his unfavorable stance on the
deal. Feldman made it clear
that he believes the president-
elect’s business experience will
ultimately discourage Trump
from undermining the Iran
nuclear deal.
“Frankly, I don’t think it’s a
legitimate option because as a
businessman he would know that
there would be no better deal to
replace it,” he said. “There is a
possibility that Congress will
tear up the deal with legislation
that violates the spirit of the
deal, without destroying it. I
don’t think it’s going to take a
lot to persuade him that this is a
really bad.”
Shikaki
emphasized
that
there is a chance Trump will
adopt a stance of neglect in
regard to foreign policy in the
Middle East, particularly with
Israel and Palestine.
He said if Trump chose to
ignore the current governments
and policies in the region,
it would further erode the
current push toward a two-state
solution. The two-state solution
envisions independent Israeli
and Palestinian states and is the
mainstream U.S. approach to
solving the conflict.
“This would be like giving the
current government a yellow
light to doing what it sees as
fit,” he said. “A policy of neglect
would mean turning a blind
eye to the current government,
which could be very bad.”
Shikaki said he strongly hopes
the
Trump
administration
will
not
drastically
change
the current method of conflict
management
in
the
Middle
East, and will instead follow the
Obama administration’s lead.
“To continue the management
efforts, he has given indications
at times that he will try to be
neutral in order to make a deal,”
Shikaki said. “If he strays from
neutrality, this would be the end
of the two-state solution, either
directly or through the policies
that he would encourage.”
Feldman
echoed
Shikaki’s
sentiment that Trump may not
remain neutral about conflict in
the Middle East but instead may
ignore it altogether.
“It will take him some time
for him to understand that the
whole world is listening to what
the U.S. president has to say,”
Feldman said. “I feel this issue
will not be a high priority for the
administration. My impression
is that he will have much more
urgent issues on his plate. In
the immediate, he has to figure
out what to do with his domestic
promises.”
Public Policy senior Ellen
Loubert said she felt worried
about
Trump’s
temperament
when faced with important
negotiations of foreign policy in
the Middle East. She added that
she appreciated the event and
encouraged other students who
have been thinking about the
next presidential administration
to
attend
discussions
that
promote
diverse
ideas
and
perspectives as often as possible.
“It’s really concerning that
(Trump) is totally xenophobic
and uninformed,” she said. “It’s
important to play nice with
other countries because we all
live on the same Earth. There’s
no escaping that. It’s like a
closed eco-system; you can’t do
something without it affecting
other parts. I’m glad that they
talked about that, and really
appreciated the discussion.”
LSA
junior
Mohamad
Zawahra
said
he
attended
Wednesday’s event because, as
a Muslim American, he wanted
reassurance following Trump’s
election. After listening to the
panel, he said he is hopeful
that President Obama will be
able
to
give
President-elect
Trump advice on how to handle
diplomatic affairs.
“It’s obviously scary at first,
especially
being
a
Muslim
American,” Zawahra said. “I
think a lot of what they said at the
panel was reassuring because
they made it all a little bit more
real and they said that President
Obama is going to take him
under his wing and teach him
the ways of diplomacy. It was a
good to get a feel of what needs
to be done moving forward,
especially in the Middle East.”
In response to the possibility
of
President-elect
Trump
implementing
some
of
the
immigration
policies
he
promoted during the campaign,
Zawahra said that he has faith
in Congress keeping the White
House in check.
“It all comes down to me
having faith in Congress doing
what’s right,” Zawahra said.
“The idea of such a law on
immigration doesn’t feel like it
can go through without a hiccup.
Realistically I don’t think it can
go through but if it did I think
there would be backlash among
the Muslim community and
non-Muslims that would get up
in arms about that and recognize
it as a violation against human
rights.”
TRUMP
From Page 1A
COURTESY OF BRIAN LINDSAY
Passengers of the Handlebar pedal pubs pose next to them in Detroit.
“This program is one
of the most significant
ways we are removing
barriers”
million during the following.
Giving Blueday is a part of the
broader Victors for Michigan
campaign, which aims to raise
$4 billion for the University,
including a goal within the
campaign of $1 million for
student support.
The University has increased
overall
philanthropy
efforts
as support from the state of
Michigan to the University’s
General Fund has declined
from 80 to 16 percent of the
fund over the last 50 years.
Tuition and fees for students
have been also on the rise in
past decades.
The University is working
on increasing financial support
for students and is hoping to
use some of the donations from
Giving Blueday in this effort.
GIVING
From Page 1A
“It was exciting
to see the
clinic finally in
operation.”
“They roll
through all
day long.
They bring
happy, fun
customers.”
“We believe
that, with the
restrictions in
place, that it will
operate just fine in
Detroit”
PL ACE HA S A PU RPOSE
HALEY MCLAUGHLIN/Daily
Dan Gilmartin, executive director and CEO of the Michigan Municipal League, discusses why placemaking is an
important economic development strategy in Weill Hall Wednesday.
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