Though 
many 
of 
the 

campaign promises made by 
the newMich platform were 
attacked as idealistic by their 
opposition, the University of 
Michigan 
Central 
Student 

Government’s 
administration 

led by President David Schafer, 
LSA senior, and Vice President 
Micah Griggs, LSA senior, has 
laid considerable groundwork 
to fulfill some of their directives 
for the next semester.

While many of the body’s 

directives, like mental health 
or divestment, are not being 
introduced for the first time 

this semester, the assembly 
has also contended with issues 
surrounding racial tension — in 
particular, tension surrounding 
undocumented 
students 

and 
minorities 
on 
campus 

mounted after President-elect 
Donald 
Trump’s 
November 

victory. During the campaign, 
Trump called for an increase 
in 
immigration 
restrictions 

and perpetuated anti-Muslim 
rhetoric.

In response to this — in 

particular, 
Trump’s 
stated 

intention to reverse a executive 
order, the Deferred Action for 
Childhood 
Arrival 
program, 

allowing many undocumented 
students to stay in the country 
— CSG passed a resolution in 

For Art & Design senior 

Kelsi Franzino, helping cities 
and neighborhoods like Detroit 
which are facing infrastructural 
issues is not about intervention 
— it’s about support.

During 
the 
winter 
2016 

semester, Franzino and her 
classmates in Art & Design 
Prof. Hannah Smotrich’s visual 
identity design class partnered 
with Brightmoor Maker Space, 
a community workshop for 
building skills to design a logo 
and marketing platform for 
BMS. BMS was founded by Art 
& Design Prof. Nick Tobier and 
Bart Eddy, Detroit Community 
Schools co-founder, in 2015, 
though it is currently facilitated 
by the community of Brightmoor 
and 
Detroit 
Community 

Schools and is located at their 
warehouse on the campus of 
Detroit Community Schools.

At the end of the semester, 

Franzino’s logo, featuring the 
words Brightmoor and Makers, 
connected 
by 
geometrical 

supports, 
was 
chosen 
to 

be implemented across the 
organization.

“I kind of created this support 

system in it,” she said. “Showing 
that support and how (BMS) 
helps out their neighbors (was 
important).”

Located near the northwest 

border of Detroit, Brightmoor 
is one of the most impoverished 
neighborhoods in the city. From 

2000 ti 2010, the city saw a 36 
percent drop in population to 
12,836. Several journalists who 
have visited the areas have 
painted pictures that aren’t 
positive by far, such as Rollo 
Romig’s article in The New 
Yorker, “When You’ve Had 
Detroit.”

“Much 
of 
Brightmoor 

matches what Detroit looks like 
in the popular imagination—an 
alarming amalgam of city dump, 

crime scene, and wild prairie,” 
Romig wrote.

However, residents of the 

community are quick to point 
to 
increasing 
beautification 

efforts in the neighborhood, 
such as large murals on the sides 
of buildings and community 
gardens. Many believe that 
through 
neighborhood 

organizations, church groups 
and 
innovation 
from 
both 

residents and the University, 

perceptions of the area are 
beginning to shift.

In a video produced by BMS, 

Dennis Talbert, interim chair 
of the Brightmoor Community 
Center, 
said 
outsiders 
can 

misconstrue the strength of the 
community, and BMS is working 
to combat this negative rhetoric 
through innovation.

“When 
you 
think 
about 

Brightmoor, you have to kind 

Researchers at the University of 

Michigan have been taking a new 
approach to the long unresolved 
challenge of developing a working 
cure for HIV/AIDS by looking 
at natural properties possessed 
by bacteria that live on coral, 
according to research released this 
week.

The bacteria — called marine 

actinomycetes 
— 
produce 

substances that inhibit a protein in 
HIV cells, enabling the bacteria to 
resist the human body’s immune 
system in a curative, rather than 
preventative, way. Unlike other 
research, which has attempted 
to target the HIV virus’s ability 
to infect cells, this approach 
seeks to develop a new type of 
drug that would target already 
infected 
cells, 
according 
to 

Kathleen Collins, lead researcher 
and 
University 
professor 
of 

immunology and microbiology, in 
an email interview.

Collins wrote in an email 

interview that many existing 
drugs are able to reduce levels 
of the virus present in the body, 
but fail to eradicate cells already 

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tuesday, December 13, 2016

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail 
news@michigandaily.com and let us know.

INDEX
Vol. CXXVI, No. 46
©2016 The Michigan Daily

N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

CL A S S I F I E DS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

See CSG, Page 2

KEVIN ZHENG/Daily

Engineering sophomore Jessica Covan sells care packages in Mason Hall Monday.

It’s not uncommon for students 

at the University of Michigan 
to come across a number of 
administration-sponsored 
fliers, 

emails and posting boards in the 
Diag touting the University as the 
Leaders and Best — a trend that 
spiked following this October’s 
release of a five-year strategic plan 
for diversity, equity and inclusion.

University 
President 
Mark 

Schlissel’s DEI initiative was met 
with state and national media 
attention following its release, 

but many also questioned the 
University’s planned $85 million 
investment into the initiative over 
the next five years.

Despite national attention on 

the University’s diversity plans, a 
survey of the DEI plan alongside 
those of peer institutions reveals 
the initiative is not unlike those 
at similar institutions, but rather 

builds on existing practices with 
a unique decentralized planning 
process, coordination and new 
measures of accountability.

Planning for the University’s 

initiative began in September 2015, 
when 49 units across campus were 
charged with submitting a strategic 
plan for their respective areas, all of 

See CURE, Page 3

AARON BAKER/Daily

Ann Arbor residents Max Williams and Tim Vaduva play Netrunner at Get Your Game On on State Street.

Back home again

Coming off a road loss at No. 

2 UCLA, Zak Irvin and the 
Michigan men’s basketball 

team look to bounce back 

against Central Arkansas at 

Crisler Center Tuesday.

» Page 7

michigandaily.com

For more stories and coverage, visit

See SCHOOLS, Page 3

See DEI, Page 3

Monday 
night, 
about 
50 

Ann Arbor residents attended 
the Ann Arbor City Council’s 
annual budget planning session, 
with the majority expressing a 
desire for increased attention 
on 
pedestrian 
safety. 
Most 

of the audience consisted of 
members of A2 Safe Transport, 
a citizen’s group advocating for 
improvements to transportation 
safety in Ann Arbor.

A2 Safe Transport formed 

in response to a recent series of 
accidents that have resulted in 
the injury and death of several 
pedestrians –– most recently, the 
death of Ann Arbor high school 
student Qi-Xuan “Justin” Tang at 
a crosswalk on Fuller Road near 
Huron High School.

A2 Safe Transport member 

Claire Duvernoy, an Ann Arbor 
resident, stressed the need for 
immediate City Council action 
on pedestrian safety during 
public commentary.

“My child crosses Fuller Road 

every single day to go to Huron 
High School, and Justin Tang 
was his friend,” Duvernoy said. 

See SAFETY, Page 3

TABLE TIME

GAME ON

CSG reflects 
on past year, 
looks to the 
winter term

University’s diversity plan builds 
on programs at peer institutions

STUDENT GOVERNMENT

Student leaders plan initiatives about 
regents, mental health and diversity

Structure of DEI initiative stands out when compared to those of other universities

RIYAH BASHA & 
ALLANA AKHTAR
Daily Staff Reporter &

Daily News Editor

‘U’ research 
leads to new 
 

approach to 
AIDS cure

SCIENCE

Researchers turn 
away from focus on 
preventative care

KEVIN LINDER
Daily Staff Reporter

Student creates logo for organization 
aimed at bolstering Detroit schools

Visual identity class creates new marketing platform for community project

MATT HARMON
Daily Staff Reporter

Council 
discusses 
pedestrian 
safety law

ANN ARBOR

Local group attends 
city budget meeting to 
express their concerns

ANDREW HIYAMA

Daily Staff Reporter

NISA KHAN & ALEX COTT

Daily Staff Reporters

