3-News

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Friday, December 9, 2016 — 3

building,” he said. “The condition 
of the Fleming building is one of 
the worst on this campus … the 
building continues to deteriorate 
and now requires an annual 
inspection to ensure its safety.”

 Faculty and staff currently 

working in the Ruthven Building 
will move to the planned Biological 
Sciences Building, which is slated 
to be completed in the summer 
of 2018. The Ruthven project will 
also add 100,000 square feet for 
learning classrooms.

 
During 
discussion 
about 

the renovation, Regent Mark 
Bernstein (D) voiced concerns 
about preserving the legacy of 
the Fleming Building’s namesake, 
former 
University 
president 

Robben Fleming.

 University President Mark 

Schlissel affirmed that Fleming’s 
contributions 
would 
not 
be 

forgotten.

 
“We 
are 
committed 
to 

continuing to honor President 
Fleming, one of my personal 
heroes at Michigan,” he said. “We 
will figure this out in the months 
and years to come.”

 The regents also approved 

a schematic design for the new 
Trotter 
Multicultural 
Center 

location 
on 
Central 
Campus. 

After 
multiple 
forums, 
town 

halls and surveys of students, 
faculty and staff, the $10 million 
construction project is scheduled 
to be completed in the fall of 2018. 
Many residents of nearby Helen 
Newberry and Betsy Barbour 
Residence Halls have expressed 
hesitation about the new center’s 
location on the buildings’ lawns.

 During the meeting, Jane 

Wright, president of the Hanbury 
design firm, presented the design 
and she said took “everyone’s 
needs” into account.

 “The plans were greatly 

informed by student voice,” she 
said. “Collectively those voices 
brought together what mattered 
most.”

 
The 
design 
features 

multipurpose rooms and rooms 
configured for active learning that 
will fit around 100 students.

 Regent Larry Deitch (D) hailed 

the project’s progress, but also 
suggested 
changing 
Trotter’s 

unique status as the only building 
on campus named after a person 
of color.

 “I would suggest in the next 

year or two, try to figure out how 
to remedy that,” he said. “Even if 
that means the quaint notion of 
naming something after somebody 
who was high-achieving, and who 
didn’t just write a big check.” 

 Renovations to the the Law 

Quad exterior, scheduled for next 
summer, were also approved. 
The project includes $6.2 million 
in improvements to sidewalks, 
lighting 
and 
underground 

utilities.

 
Additionally, 
the 
regents 

approved additional funds for 
a 
large-scale 
renovation 
of 

the North Campus Recreation 
Building. The original proposal 
passed by the regents last March 
had a budget of $13 million, but the 

newest iteration boosts funding to 
$17.4 million. The new building’s 
features include improved athletic 
facilities 
and 
gender-inclusive 

and 
accessible 
locker 
rooms 

complying with the Americans 
with Disabilities Act.

 Justice Sonia Sotomayor
 University President Mark 

Schlissel announced U.S. Supreme 
Court Justice Sotomayor will 
receive 
an 
honorary 
degree 

from 
the 
University 
during 

her appearance at a campus 
bicentennial 
colloquium 
next 

January. 
Sotomayor 
will 

participate 
in 
a 
moderated 

discussion with Justice Susanne 
Baer of the Federal Constitutional 
Court of Germany on the “Future 
University Community.”

 Justice Baer received a law 

degree 
from 
the 
University 

in 1993. Four other honorary 
degrees are being given at Winter 
Commencement on Dec. 18.

 CSG and undocumented 

students

 During his monthly speech 

to the board, David Schafer, 
president 
of 
Central 
Student 

Government and an LSA senior, 
addressed 
the 
recent 
ethnic 

intimidation incidents on campus.

 “There is no denying that the 

last month has been a difficult one 
for our students,” Schafer said. 
“Some have expressed to me that 
they are afraid to walk home at 
night.”

 He encouraged administration 

and faculty to not ignore these 
feelings of students and stand in 
solidarity, also encouraging the 
community at large to practice 
diversity, equity and inclusion.

 “This is not a partisan issue, 

this is a University of Michigan 
issue.” Schafer said. “Because 
when anyone is targeted or made 
to feel unsafe of unwelcome on 
our campus, that must matter to 
all of us.”

 
Schafer thanked President 

Schlissel for releasing a statement 
in support of the continuation of 
the Deferred Action for Childhood 
Arrivals 
Act, 
which 
allows 

undocumented immigrants who 
arrived as children to qualify for 
deferred deportations and work 
permits 

 
Schlissel also joined more than 

500 other colleges and universities 
in co-signing a letter last month 
urging the federal government to 
continue DACA protections. Schafer 
also noted that CSG had recently 
passed a resolution supporting the 
executive order.

 “At our most recent CSG meeting 

on Tuesday we passed a resolution 
that will join you in supporting the 
continuation of DACA and reaffirms 
support 
for 
undocumented 

students,” 
Schaefer 
said. 
“We 

look forward to working with you 
and the rest of our University in 
ensuring the protection of these 
most invaluable and cherished 
students.”

 After Schafer’s remarks, Schlissel 

echoed his sentiments about the 
importance 
of 
undocumented 

students at the University.

 “Their presence enriches this 

University community,” Schlissel 
said. 

REGENTS
From Page 1

and receive constructive input 
from attendees that will help 
them moving forward.

“These students work really 

hard the entire year on their 
projects and frankly if I work 
hard on something, I want to 
show it off,” she said. “This is 
a platform for them to do that. 
They definitely get the feedback 
from visitors. They can learn 
how to talk to people.”

Engineering senior Kaitlyn 

Holmstrom was a member of a 
20-person team that aimed to 
collect more accurate data on 
the planetary boundary layer, 
also called the atmospheric 
boundary 
layer. 
The 
team 

developed small drones that, 
like maple seeds, spin as they fall 
to the ground. The drones have 
four wings and a circuit board 
in the center with sensors that 
record atmospheric data, such 
as wind speed and pressure.

Holmstrom said one of the 

goals of the expo is for the group 
to get feedback from the public.

“We work on this, and it’s just 

us 20 people who know about it,” 
she said. “Then you get hundreds 
of people coming through. You 
get to gauge, is this an important 
project or not? What does the 
public think?”

She said as a result of 

working with other engineering 
disciplines, she gained a different 
perspective on the project. 

“I’m a mechanical engineer,” 

Holmstrom 
said. 
“In 
class 

projects, I work with other 
mechanical engineers. On this, 
there’s 
computer 
engineers, 

computer software, people from 
aerospace, so a bunch of different 
disciplines. It’s cool to see how 
their parts affect our parts and 
learn more about what they do. 
I think that strengthens my 
career as an engineer because 
when I get out into industry, I’ll 
know more about what that team 
does.”

Engineering 
senior 
Adam 

Vignaroli worked with a team to 
help design a plant that produces 
the herbicide dicamba, because 
certain weeds are resistant 
to 
traditional 
glyphosate 

herbicides. He said he felt that 
it was important to present his 
team’s work because dicamba 
will soon be widely used.

“We’re expanding the ideas 

to the people,” Vignaroli said. 
“We’re 
spreading 
knowledge 

so that people know. This 
herbicide was approved by the 
(Environmental 
Protection 

Agency) about a month ago. 
So this a pretty new thing for 
agriculture use. It’s going to be 
expanding pretty dramatically 
over the next couple of years.”

Another 
team, 
including 

engineering senior Allyse Locker, 
was tasked with improving the 
process by which runways at the 
Detroit Metropolitan Airport 
are inspected.

ENGINEERING
From Page 1

surveys and other tools from 
students, faculty and staff about 
sustainability at the University. 
Earlier in October, a new school 
faculty team was appointed 
to help transition the School 
of 
Natural 
Resources 
and 

Environment to the new school.

 University Provost Martha 

Pollack, who originally requested 
the research report concerning 
the University’s sustainability 
programs, said in an October 
interview 
that 
the 
impetus 

behind the idea was to spur 
innovation in the area.

 “The idea of the new school 

is to think of new ways to bring 
these people together, new ways 
to involve students, really whole 
new ways to do education and 
research in this topic,” she said.

 The school was approved at 

Pollack’s final Board of Regents 
meeting 
as 
provost 
at 
the 

University. Last month, Cornell 
University appointed Pollack as 
president following the death 
of Cornell president Elizabeth 
Garrett. Pollack will begin at 
Cornell on April 17, 2017, but will 
step down from her University 
position several months before 
that. 

 According to the action 

request, the new school will 
still include faculty from the 
SNRE and will aim to build on 
the school’s strengths. It will be 
designed to encourage cross-
University faculty collaboration 

in a faculty and staff structure the 
request described as “porous.”

 
University 
President 

Mark Schlissel first officially 
introduced 
the 
school 
at 

a 
leadership 
breakfast 
in 

October 
and 
emphasized 

broader 
intersectionality 

between 
relevant 
academic 

programs 
and 
hands-on 

research opportunities. In an 
interview last week Schlissel 
confirmed that work on the 
new school would still continue 
despite uncertainity on federal 
government committment to 
sustainability 
— 
President-

elect Donald Trump has stated 

skepticism 
about 
climate 

change 
several 
times, 
and 

recently appointed Oklahoma 
Attorney General Scott Pruitt, 
a climate change skeptic who is 
currently part of a group suing 
the Environmental Protection 
Agency over its Clean Power 
Plan, to head the agency. 

 
“Our 
commitment 
is 

unchanged by the election, 
though 
we’re 
uncertain 

about 
the 
administration’s 

stewardship,” he said. 

SCHOOL
From Page 1

“The idea of the 

new school is to 

think of new ways 

to bring these 

people together.”

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

for The Michigan Daily, in 
response. 
“There’s 
physical 

safety. There’s mental and 
emotional safety. Even before 
this 
election, 
people 
of 

color had to strategize their 
existence. What I mean by 
strategize 
their 
existence 

is when you’re going into 
classrooms and meetings, but 
it’s more like a battleground … 
The current political climate 
has normalized a lot of those 
behaviors that target people of 
color.”

Jonté 
Jones, 
a 
recent 

graduate of the Department 
of Biopsychology, detailed the 
frustration he felt in the face of 
racism in Ann Arbor, recalling 
a night walking downtown 
while he was still a student 
at the University. On his way 
home, several men in a pickup 
truck drove by Jones and yelled 
racial slurs at him, he said.

“This is supposed to be a 

safe place for people; this is 
not a place where this kind of 
thing happens,” Jones said. 
“After the election, it became 
very normalized. It does feel 
like a very unsafe area.”

LSA senior Misba Saleem 

drew the connections between 
safety, religion and a recent 
hate 
crime 
perpetrated 

against a Muslim woman after 
the election, referring to an 
incident last month where a 
man threatened to set a female 
student on fire if she did not 
take off her hijab. Saleem 
highlighted the intersection 
of gender and religion, as well 
as the emotional and spiritual 
ramifications of a woman being 
forced to remove her hijab.

“It’s a part of you,” Saleem 

said. “It’d be like someone 
forcing you to take off your 

clothes. 
It’s 
very 
much 
a 

gender-based violence. For a 
woman to be forced to take 
off her hijab is to be forced to 
expose yourself. There’s an 
intersection there that isn’t 
often identified.”

The panelists also discussed 

the ways in which the 2016 
election has changed the way 
they view racism in America. 
Overall, the panel agreed that 

racism has not become more 
prevalent, but rather racist 
behavior 
is 
getting 
more 

attention 
and 
recognition 

because of social media.

They also considered how 

they 
are 
treated 
in 
their 

everyday lives and what they 
would like to change about 
their interactions.

 “I think the most offensive 

thing is being tokenized by 
my white friends who want to 
be an ally,” Brandon said. “I 
would challenge you to think. 
Are you having your friends 
who are people of color around 
to show that you are woke? 
Are you using your friends 
who are people of color to give 
you diversity answers? These 
behaviors are offensive and 
they may come from a good 
place but they’re also harmful. 
For this audience, I would 
challenge you to think about 
that.” 

LSA 
senior 
Sabrina 

Bilimoria, 
who 
is 
also 
a 

Michigan in Color editor at 
The Michigan Daily, addressed 
these issues at the institutional 
level, 
examining 
how 
the 

University 
of 
Michigan 

administration has chosen to 
consider diversity on a wider 
scale. She pointed in particular 
to the Diversity, Equity and 
Inclusion plan, a long-term 
strategic plan launched by 
University 
President 
Mark 

Schlissel earlier this year that 
aims 
to 
increase 
diversity 

and improve campus climate 
through a series of initiatives. 
It 
is 
benchmarked 
to 
be 

completed in 2021.

“The DEI initiatives are 

bullshit,” 
Bilimoria 
said. 

“You’re asking all the students 
of color to educate on something 
that’s happening in five years. 
So we should do all the work 
for you? Very little is done on 
an institutional level. There’s 
such a lack of understanding 
from Schlissel and many, many 
administrators as to a common 
way to talk to students without 
without tokenizing them and 
asking minority students to do 
all the work.”

 Bilimoria’s comments were 

met with applause from the 
audience.

Rackham student Veronica 

Varela emphasized to the 
crowd that she would prefer 
friends and allies to get out 
from behind computer screens 
and 
take 
tangible 
action 

to 
support 
marginalized 

identities.

 “Stop asking how I feel,” 

Varela said. “Just reach out. I 
know people who will share 
all kinds of things all over 
Facebook, but when it comes 
to in-person, I never see them. 
Stop being just a Facebook 
warrior. 
Be 
an 
in-person 

warrior.” 

PANEL
From Page 1

“Stop asking 

just how I 
feel. Just 
reach out.”

