The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com News Friday, January 13, 2017 — 3 “The big piece is that writing fosters learning and we need to take advantage of that in the courses where students are least likely to think about writing,” Gere said. The winter 2017 semester is the third semester during which the M-Write program has been used. It was used in MSE 250 as a pilot course in the spring of 2016 and five courses in the fall of 2016. However, Gere said she began work on incorporating writing-to- learn pedagogy in more STEM courses in 2009. According to Gere, her work was largely based on her observation of the paucity of upper-level writing courses within STEM majors and on the inspiration of Structured Study Groups that bring together upper- and lower-level undergraduates to facilitate learning and teaching. Gere said, after receiving grants, the program was able to expand to include the computer program and will continue growing over the next five years. She added that she hopes the program becomes an integral part of courses across campus. “The vision would be that ultimately this becomes part of a bigger initiative, so that it’s just sort of assumed that in these big courses there is going to be writing,” she said. “And because of that writing, students are going to do better, they’re going to learn better and they’re going to feel more positive about the course that they’re in.” According to a University of Michigan press release, M-Write II received $1.89 million over five years from Transforming Learning for the Third Century Initiative. M-Write developer David Harlan, who is collaborating with Sweetland on the project, said this program is unlike other peer review systems used on other campuses, which tend not to be user-friendly. “Sometimes, even if they present a pretty face, they don’t necessarily track the student through the process in the specific ways that we’re looking to do,” he said. “And so one of the things we set out to do from the very beginning is to involve people who would be using the tool in its design.” Additionally, Chris Teplovs, a leading Digital Innovation Greenhouse developer, said M-Write is also expanding with the research of post- doctoral students, who analyze the papers students have written for M-Write classes to potentially codify quality work in each subject and facilitate efficient grading. However, he said the emphasis is not on the technology, but rather the learning they hope to promote with the technology. “The technology is integral and yet should fade away as much as possible,” Teplovs said. “So we don’t say it’s all about M-Write, we say it’s all about writing-to-learn. So it’s about the pedagogy.” Another component of the M-Write program is the use of more advanced undergraduate students as writing fellows to aid students in the peer review and revision process and to grade the essays. Business sophomore Cassandra Wong, a writing fellow for Economics 101 for the past two semesters, said she felt writing brought a different type of learning to the course that cannot be achieved with the typical homework for economics courses. “I feel like with these large introductory STEM classes, writing kind of gets lost in the process of just learning the material because it’s a lot of memorization and models and graphs and whatever,” she said. “I feel like having actual writing assignments, you get to see students with their thinking process when they’re answering these prompts.” Business sophomore Brandon Staarman, also a writing fellow for Economics 101, said M-Write provided deeper learning not only from writing itself, but also from the student commentary component. “The peer review process is really important because not only are they receiving feedback about what they’ve written, they also get to look at three other essays that students have written,” he said. “So they can learn from each other.” Staarman also noted how this type of writing is different from the writing students are exposed to in the first-year writing requirement. “Writing is such an important skill that it’s important to see how you can apply it in other different areas, and also important to realize you can learn a lot through because it teaches you how to narrow down your arguments and how to be clear and concise and really get your point across,” he said. However, Business sophomore Mira Sanghvi, another writing fellow for Economics 101, noticed how several students in the fall reacted negatively to the program, namely because only two sections participated and all other sections did the typical homework for economics. “They felt like they were kind of at a disadvantage; they were not as pleased with it,” she said. “But what we noticed is that their grades in the class were no different than the other sections.” Gere said she has also encountered faculty members who view the program positively but have doubts about incorporating it throughout all STEM classes. “It’s a mixed picture,” she said. “I’ve not talked to any faculty who have said this is a really bad idea, but many of them say ‘it’s too much work,’ ‘I can’t figure out how I could fit it in,’ that kind of thing. But everybody says ‘we need students to do more writing, what you’re doing makes a lot of sense, I’d really like to do it.’ And then the ‘buts’ come in.” However, Teplovs said the program is an effective way of improving both methods of teaching and learning. “It’s understanding that teaching and learning are intrinsically linked,” he said. “And the role that M-Write plays is in facilitating the improvement of both by reflecting on the opposite. So we see improvements of prompts and the extension of that is thinking deeply about how you’re teaching what you’re teaching to get to the prompt, to get to the answer, to get to the understanding.” STEM From Page 1 “They try to convince women not to go in,” Lednicer said. “They don’t even know what they’re going in for, whether it’s something very personal, or just a check-up.” Now, with Republicans in control of Congress, Republican lawmakers have a renewed interested in defunding Planned Parenthood, arguing that funding should be routed to health care providers that provide similar services, but not abortions. LSA senior Rachel Crawford, president of Students for Life, has a similar plan that she would like to see implemented. “Students for Life would like to see Planned Parenthood defunded, but we want that funding to go elsewhere to help women and impoverished communities,” Crawford said. “(Federally Qualified Health Centers) are public clinics for women’s care and children’s care in impoverished neighborhoods. They actually provide more services than Planned Parenthood.” LSA freshman Matthew Brosky, who identifies with conservative views, agreed with Crawford’s goals. Though he said he doesn’t support federally funding these programs, he still believes quality health care should be accessible. “Even though I’m not for funding Planned Parenthood or supporting the Affordable Care Act, I don’t think we should turn away from those who really need support in paying for health care,” Brosky said. “There are alternatives. I’m pretty sure you can get contraceptives and treatment at UHS.” Lednicer pushed back at claims that routing funds toward health care providers that don’t offer abortions would help those in poverty. “There’s been an argument that if people can’t come here, they will just go somewhere else,” Lednicer said. “But anyone who uses Medicaid would not be able to come to Planned Parenthood. That would mean that they would have to find another willing provider who takes Medicaid, and many do not.” Additionally, Lednicer said alternative women’s health care providers aren’t as common or inexpensive as Planned Parenthood opponents think. Planned Parenthood is free of copays, a cost she said could burden many patients. Although many people think Planned Parenthood receives their federal funds like an allowance, the federal funding they receive is instead reimbursed through Medicaid, and often at less than the cost of services. “We take reimbursement levels usually lower than the costs of the service because we fundraise so much,” Lednicer said. “The people most affected are those in low income and rural areas. A quarter of the counties in Michigan do not have an OB/GYN. For those people, often we are the only way to access health care.” Currently, about 40 percent of Planned Parenthood’s revenue is federally funded. The $500 million dollar fund has been criticized for being too high; Brosky said it shouldn’t be the responsibility of taxpayers. “I don’t think it’s the taxpayers’ job to support Planned Parenthood,” said Brosky. “I am just not comfortable supporting abortions.” This concern is shared by many, as most conservative taxpayers want to avoid funding abortions. However, the Hyde Amendment, which was passed in 1976, bars federal funds from paying for abortions, unless in the case of rape or to save the mother’s life. Joanne Bailey, a women’s studies professor and the director of the Nurse Midwifery Service at Michigan Medicine (formerly University of Michigan Health Service), said emotional responses that don’t consider the legislation we have in place are fueling the issue’s polarization. “I try to de-emotionalize the issues in class,” Bailey said. “Let’s take it back to the facts. Let’s look at actual research. It’s not just about emotional responses, but is rooted in information.” Although emotional responses could confuse the issue at hand, Lednicer said there could be tangible consequences to repealing Planned Parenthood. “When they talk about defunding us, they are talking about defunding patients,” Lednicer said. “Across the state, we saw about 60,000 patients last year and in Ann Arbor, we saw over 8,500. One in 5 women in this county come to Planned Parenthood.” Republican lawmakers are attempting to defund Planned Parenthood by defunding Title X, a federal program devoted solely to family planning services. Although those lawmakers are interested in limiting abortions, Bailey said getting rid of Planned Parenthood could actually end up directing women toward needing the procedures more often. “Ironically, what (lawmakers) are trying to do with this is going to lead women towards needing more abortions,” Bailey said. “They’re trying to defund an institution that provides birth control, and with birth control hard to obtain, there will be more pregnancies.” Regardless of the consequences of defunding Planned Parenthood, Bailey said the premise of defunding Planned Parenthood has been altered by the use of inflammatory “buzzwords.” “I believe that our lawmakers are really interested in the big buzzwords,” Bailey said. “They make Planned Parenthood associated with abortions only, and the Affordable Care Act is nicknamed ‘Obamacare’ and associated with Democrats only. When you look at what Planned Parenthood actually does, most people will get behind it. It’s really the label that’s leading the charge as opposed to reality.” Regardless of whether or not Republican lawmakers are successful in the repeal of the President Obama’s health care law, Crawford said the debate alone would inspire change. “I think that with (Planned Parenthood) being in the news, whether or not it’s defunded, brings up a really important discussion about where the funding should go,” Crawford said. “Even people who are in favor of the Affordable Care Act want some new changes to be made and those are being brought into the spotlight.” DEFUNDING From Page 1 specifically decided to support University Regent Ron Weiser in his campaign for Michigan Republican Chair. “We decided to support him, and we’re going to be helping him out throughout conventions — there’s one convention in February that he told us we could send as many volunteers over there as we can, and we definitely plan on doing so,” Zalamea said. According to Weiser’s website, his campaign for Regent included promises to “straighten U of M’s books and reduce the burden on the taxpayers of Michigan.” Weiser also states on his website his history and political credentials are focused centrally on “defeating Barack Obama’s liberal agenda” and fighting hard against the power of Unions. Similarly, Weiser ran with the promise of cutting costs so students at campuses such as UM-Flint or UM-Dearborn may receive the same quality education as that which is provided by the University’s main Ann Arbor campus. College Republicans also expressed their plan to tackle the issue of identity politics — the phenomenon of people in particular groups of society, such as race, religion or socioeconomic status, forming political alliances that deviate from traditional broad-based parties — within the campus community this semester. The Michigan College Republicans believe this tendency has a profound impact on free speech on college campuses, and has decided to take a firm stance on expanding free speech rights at the University. On campus, the question of what constitutes hate speech, and whether or not the vocalization of certain ideas may lead to an unsafe environment, has been called into question. Immediately following Trump’s victory, certain violent images painted on the Rock, a University landmark at the intersection of Hill Street and Washtenaw Avenue, caused the community to examine potential divisive issues of certain speech. “We definitely want to address identity politics, and how it plays a role in the University,” said Zalamea. “That’s one of our biggest focuses, and how it ties into free speech on college campuses.” The College Democrats at the University too are changing their trajectory for the winter semester and replacing electoral work, which focused largely on the potential success of Hillary Clinton in the general election, with work toward progressive issue advocacy. Four issue committees are housed within the greater College Democrats organization: women’s rights, the LGBTQ community, social justice and the environment. Each of these committees has wide discretion regarding policy and the ability to confront very specific issues that are increasingly relevant. Despite the loss during election season, Michigan College Democrats stated their objective is not abandoned, but rather that their agenda has been altered to promote and recognize progressive ideals. According to LSA junior Colin Kelly, president of College Democrats, they plan to mobilize students through transparency, Democratic values and awareness within the campus community. “Though we don’t have a central goal like we did last semester, we now have an opportunity — and obligation — to continue fighting for and advocating our progressive values that we know are the right choices for our campus, state and nation,” Kelly said. Nursing freshman Kristen Reynolds, a member of College Democrats at the University, agrees that mobilization is vital to progress, especially following the impassioned atmosphere at the University in the wake of Trump’s victory in November. “I read so many Facebook posts from friends that aren’t usually politically active, but were angry with the outcomes,” Reynolds said. “I hope that College Democrats can get more people involved on campus politically and harness that passion.” In the wake of the 2016 election, many students have shared a desire to promote togetherness by increasing cordiality between Michigan College Democrats and Republicans. LSA freshman Haya Akbik criticized both the College Democrats’ and the College Republicans’ uncompromising natures. “I think both campus groups need to show that compromise and respectful dialogue must occur in order to create good political change,” said Akbik. “Being so stuck on being a Democrat or a Republican is harmful to our country and our relations with one another.” Reynolds agreed with the sentiment of togetherness and stated that the prevention of a hateful atmosphere following the Trump victory supersedes loyalty to traditionally stagnant party differences. “After the election, many College Republican clubs came out and said they don’t stand for this racism, bigotry, hate and sexism,” said Reynolds. “I would love for our groups to put our political beliefs aside to fight the hate and hate crimes that have occurred as a result of the election.” GOP From Page 1 the elimination of the 4.25 percent income tax could have, saying the chief argument for scrapping the tax would be that people would have more disposable income and thus spend more money. “The one benefit that you can see here is that by scrapping the tax, you put more money in people’s pockets, and they might spend more,” Cho said. Conversely, Cho said the main issue with eliminating the tax is the loss in revenues. “If you scrap the 4.25 percent, the question then becomes, ‘what do you do instead,’ ” Cho said. Offering two predictions, Cho said the government would then be forced to decide between either doing nothing and cutting infrastructure spending or raising revenues another way, such as increasing the sales tax. According to Cho, the government would have to be careful with raising the sales tax, because taxes on basic goods disproportionately affect lower-income individuals. “If you don’t do anything, you have to give up infrastructure spending,” Cho said. “If you decide to raise the sales tax, that would get back revenue, but the downside is a sales tax is relatively regressive … the tax burden now starts to fall disproportionately on the low income.” The nonpartisan Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency reported that $9.6 billion — 19 percent — of all state revenue was collected from the personal income tax in 2014 and 2015. Gov. Rick Snyder is willing to discuss tax reform with the legislature, but he expressed concern over the loss of state revenues from Brandenburg’s proposal, the Detroit Free Press reported. “The governor is always open to new ideas and welcomes the discussion on tax reform,” Anna Heaton, spokeswoman for Gov. Snyder, told the Free Press. “For this particular proposal, there would need to be concrete data to demonstrate that there is adequate revenue from sources besides the income tax to ensure that services for residents and investing in our statewide infrastructure would not be adversely affected.” LSA junior Enrique Zalamea, president of the University’s chapter of College Republicans, said from a conservative perspective, he is supportive of the tax cut because he believes it would benefit business and families. “If you look at all those states that have eliminated their income taxes, such as Florida, Texas and Tennessee, those are all states that are characterized by a lot of growth, especially in small businesses,” Zalamea said. Zalamea also said he is supportive of the plan in part because people in economically weaker cities such as Detroit and Flint could benefit from a tax cut. “When you look at Detroit and you see where it’s come from, you see the income tax as a way to spur growth there,” Zalamea said. “When people have more money to spend, then they’re going to be spending more of it.” Zalamea said he believes it’s evident that Lansing wants the tax cut, but they still have to explore how to replace the loss in revenues. “The main thing for me personally is I think there shouldn’t be an income tax,” Zalamea said. “I approve of this plan that they have, but realistically speaking, I don’t think it’s going to happen for another few years.” TAX From Page 1 The vision would be that ultimately this becomes part of a bigger initiative With birth control hard to obtain, there will be more pregnancies We definitely want to address identity politics, and how it plays a role in the University time over the past eight years. “I have seen a lot of people come and go, hundreds of employees have come through and I have seen parties and anything you could ever imagine.” Rogers said. “This is my home. I do everything here; from if somebody punches a hole in the wall, I fix it, if someone kicks a toilet off the drain, I fix it and if a fight breaks out on the dance floor, I go and take care of it.” For part-time doorman Todd Howland, who has worked at Circus off and on for eight years, Circus was not simply a job, but rather an enriching glimpse into the lives of today’s youth. “It has been an interesting time to put myself in the culture of young people,” Howland said. “It is nice to see young people who really want to work hard and seeing young people enjoying themselves.” CIRCUS From Page 2