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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, January 18, 2017 — 3A

government 
organizations 

recognizing the holiday, and 
I’m all for that,” Smith said.

The resolution was passed 

on 
the 
premise 
that 
the 

University is located on land 
that 
belongs 
historically 

to Native Americans, and 
that tribes are still active 
inthe state. The resolution 
notes that it complies with 

the 
University’s 
Diversity, 

Equity and Inclusion plan, 
introduced on Oct. 6. Under 
the 
DEI, 
the 
University 

strives to recognize the value 
of diversity within the college 
community 
by 
bringing 

in guest speakers, holding 
campus-wide inclusion events 
and 
promoting 
progressive 

rhetoric.

The 
University, 
on 
its 

website 
dedicated 
to 
the 

comprehensive strategic plan, 
states the DEI “is based on the 
conviction that excellence is 

not possible without diversity 
in the broadest sense of the 
word.”

In keeping with the DEI, 

the writers of the resolution 
to encourage recognition of 
Indigenous Peoples’ Day hope 
that a formal holiday on the 
official Michigan calendar will 
make strides in acknowledging 
a demographic of students 
who are often, according to the 
writers, made invisible.

LSA 
sophomore 
Ayah 

Issa, one of the writers of 
the 
resolution, 
presented 

the resolution to CSG for the 
second time this week. At the 
last meeting, she stressed the 
need for a day that recognizes 
the University’s small Native 
American population, which 
is often overlooked due to its 
scale.

“This 
holiday 
will 
not 

only represent the legacy of 
indigenous people, but also 
recognize that there is a 
Native American population 
at the University of Michigan, 
and to be sensitive of that,” 
Issa said.

CSG
From Page 1A

immigrants as rapists and 
criminals, and has called for 
a suspension on accepting 
refugees from war-torn Syria.

Though the University of 

Michigan has not declared 
itself a sanctuary campus, 
there are privacy policies in 
place barring the University 
from providing information 
about 
immigration 
status 

to authorities except under 
criminal legal situations. Ann 
Arbor also has not declared 
itself a sanctuary city, but the 
police can enforce immigration 
laws 
only 
under 
criminal 

circumstances.

A series of speakers from 

By 
Any 
Means 
Necessary, 

a 
national 
student 
civil 

rights 
organization, 
spoke 

to the council and attendees 
in 
support 
of 
protecting 

DACA. 
Speakers 
reasoned 

undocumented 
immigrants 

will 
face 
threats 
during 

Trump’s 
presidency, 
which 

has promised of a deportation 
force and a wall on the U.S.-
Mexico border.

BAMN 
member 
Jessica 

Provinski commended Obama 
on the work he has done to 
safeguard his legacy from 
the incoming administration, 
and said she hopes to see the 
outgoing president perform 

one last move before he leaves 
office.

“(Obama) 
must 
use 
his 

executive 
power 
to 
do 

everything he can to defend 
young immigrant recipients of 
the DACA program,” Provinski 
said. “If we are to defend each 
other and our society from a 
dark future, we must protect 
the most vulnerable of us.”

Timothy Hunter, a high 

school 
teacher 
from 
the 

Washtenaw 
Independent 

School District, also urged 
everyone in attendance to 
recognize the humanity of 
the immigrant and refugee 
children he interacts with on a 
daily basis.

“These children are like all 

children,” Hunter said. “They 
want to learn, they want to 
be productive, they want to 
go to college. Some of them 
want to just work, work, work. 
They are human beings. They 
breathe, they bleed, they love, 
they are just like us.”

Councilmember 
Sumi 

Kailasapathy 
(D–Ward 
1), 

who sponsored the resolution, 
recounted 
her 
childhood 

memories as a refugee in India 
during the Sri Lankan civil 
war. As a member of the Tamil 
minority who had to flee the 
island from violent Sinhalese 
mobs, 
Kailasapathy 
said 

rhetoric against immigrants 
and refugees strikes a personal 
chord with her.

“Before we left our house we 

just checked to see (its ruins),” 
Kailasapathy recalled. “There 
was a fish tank. Even the fish 
tank was pushed down. The 
fish were all dead. The people 
who came to burn our house 
were just so angry, not just 
towards us being minorities 
but our pets too. It just leaves 
a mark on you that just never 
leaves you, this blind hatred.”

Kailasapathy 
urged 

everyone in the crowd to go 
beyond their preconceptions 
and 
understand 
the 

extraordinary hardships that 
immigrants 
and 
refugees 

experience.

“I hope all of us can go 

beyond 
this 
racism 
that’s 

threatening 
this 
country,” 

Kailasapathy 
added. 

“(Refugees are) all minorities, 
and they all come from another 
country, and they’re merely 
victims. They are not to be 
treated as bad people.”

Central 
Student 

Government body members 
also passed a similar resolution 
last week. The body voted 
26-4, with seven abstaining. 
Arts and Design senior Keysha 
Walls, 
a 
BAMN 
member, 

said protecting documented 
students 
was 
Obama’s 

obligation, 
noting 
applying 

to DACA was a large risk for 
undocumented youth as it 
required personal information, 
including DNA samples, that 
could be used to identify and 
deport them.

“The 
safety 
of 
these 

undocumented 
immigrants 

is only promised under the 
Obama administration,” Wall 
said last week to the CSG 
body. “For Obama to know 
these things and not take 
every 
cautionable 
step 
to 

ensure the continued safety 
of undocumented peoples in 
this nation is disgusting and 
inhumane … If he will not 
act on his own, then we must 
take action, in doing so set the 
example for him.”

The resolution was approved 

to thunderous applause from 
attendees. 
Councilmember 

Chuck Warpehoski (D–Ward 
5), who also sponsored the 
resolution, 
praised 
it 
for 

upholding Ann Arbor’s history 
of protecting all members of the 
city’s community in spite of a 
political climate in Washington 
D.C. 
and 
Lansing 
that 
is 

unfriendly to immigrants and 
refugees.

“This action … is part of a 

longstanding tradition of the 
Ann Arbor community and 
the 
City 
Council 
speaking 

up for protection of all of our 
community members, including 
those who are immigrants,” 
Warpehoski said. “The ways 
that we’re going to support each 
other, keep each other safe, and 
have the kind of community of 
inclusion and justice that we 
want is by finding every route 
and pursuing it on a local 
level.”

CITY
From Page 1A

results of poverty, ultimately 
working 
toward 
preventing 

it. Shaefer explained that a 
goal of the program is to enact 
policy that opens economic 
opportunities, 
reduces 

educational 
disparities 
and 

improves 
health 
in 
order 

to lift families out of low 
socioeconomic status.

“Poverty 
Solutions 
was 

launched this past October 
with 
a 
bold 
mission: 
To 

cultivate action-based research 
and 
teaching 
partnerships 

with community stakeholders 
and 
policymakers 
to 
build 

knowledge about what works in 
confronting poverty,” he said.

The collaborative program is 

co-sponsored by the University-
sponsored Detroit Community-
Academic 
Urban 
Research 

Center, 
the 
Detroit 
Health 

Department, Henry Ford Health 
System and nine community-
based 
organizations. 
The 

nine new projects, according 
to 
the 
initiative’s 
website, 

center 
around 
three 
main 

areas: “(e)xpanding economic 
opportunity to reduce poverty,” 
“(r)educing 
educational 

disparities to promote social 
mobility” 
and 
“(a)ddressing 

the health consequences of 
poverty.”

Schlissel lauded the efforts 

and urged all colleges and 
schools to consider programs 
working toward solutions to 
poverty not only in Michigan, 
but the rest of the world.

“I 
think, 
as 
a 
public 

university, our research should 
be focused on the challenges 
and opportunities that benefit 
the public that we serve,” 
Schlissel said. “My challenge as 
a university leader is to identify 
a match between what we’re 
good at, what we can bring 
to the table and what society 
needs.”

Schlissel said the initiative 

owed it to the state to aid 
impoverished areas, especially 
as Michigan residents invest 
so many resources into the 
University.

“The beauty of Michigan 

is we have representation in 
so many different academic 

areas,” Schlissel said. “My job 
is to be your biggest booster and 
provide some money.”

At a lecture in October 

2016, Carol O’Cleireacain, the 
Detroit’s 
deputy 
mayor 
for 

economic policy, planning and 
strategy, referred to Detroit as a 
“rich public policy laboratory.” 
Public Policy junior Stephen 
Wallace, 
backed 
by 
many 

audience 
members, 
publicly 

criticized 
O’Cleireacain, 

highlighting what he perceived 
as an image of Detroit’s lower-
income citizens as projects for 
research — something he found 
particularly demoralizing as a 
resident.

Shaefer, 
however, 
said 

Poverty Solutions studies are 
about more than just conducting 
an 
experiment, 
citing 
the 

expansion 
of 
community 

health workers in the Cody 
Rouge neighborhood of Detroit 
through the efforts of Michele 
Heisler, professor of internal 
medicine, Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, 
medical director at the Detroit 
Health Department and Dave 
Law, executive director of the 
Joy-Southfield 
Community 

Development Corporation, who 
all sat on the live-streamed 
panel.

Heisler 
said 
even 
with 

insurance, 
many 
Medicaid 

subscribers 
in 
Detroit 
still 

face difficulty in accessing 
health care. Because of this, 
community health workers who 
live in the same community 
are receiving training to reach 
out to families and work with 
them to meet their medical 
needs. Despite the success of 
these workers, however, they 
lack the necessary job-funding, 
prompting their collaboration 
with Medicaid companies to 
now try to create a financially 
sustainable model.

“There’s a lot of evidence 

about how effective community 
health workers can be,” Heisler 
said. “The problem is that, to 
date, they’ve often just been 
supported by short-term grants. 
The idea is that you would have 
the health plans contributing 
to the salaries to support 
community health workers.”

Law said, in addition to 

health, his team can now target 
all determinants of health such 
as 
food 
access, 
community 

safety, 
housing 
and 
youth 

mentoring.

“We’ve been trying to get 

a community health program 
going for years,” Law said. “This 
will finally provide the cement 
that will allows the residents 
and the stakeholders and the 
agencies that are helping to 
promote health, come together 
and make sure people know 
what’s available.”

Khaldun added people are 

one of the most important 
resources in the city, saying 
many citizens are unable to get 
to their appointments, creating 
a need in the city for training 
for community health workers 
to help citizens to connect them 
with their resources.

“The health department is 

thought of as a brick and mortar 
in Detroit,” Khaldun said. “But 
we are bringing our services 
to the city, to the people in 
the 
neighborhoods. 
We’re 

empowering the people.”

Trina Shanks, an associate 

professor 
of 
social 
work 

who works on a summer jobs 
program in Detroit hiring 
thousands of youth for six 
weeks, said there must be jobs 
available for young people in 
low-income 
neighborhoods 

who are not in school or not 
working. 
By 
empowering 

young people early with jobs, 
Shanks said, such programs 
can put children on a path 
toward a successful career 
later in life.

“The young people felt they 

were 
contributing 
to 
their 

families,” Shanks said. “We 
went from having a couple of 
thousand jobs in Detroit to 
7,000, and we grew. Now that 
we’ve 
grown 
the 
numbers, 

we’re 
also 
building 
the 

infrastructure.”

Schlissel said all these ideas 

are well-intentioned, but must 
be extensively studied to figure 
out what the best approaches 
are to help as many people as 
possible out of poverty.

“The sweet thing to me 

about this is the University 
isn’t stepping in and behaving 
like a social services entity,” 
Schlissel said. “We’re behaving 
like researchers and teachers 
providing some organization 
but also studying how this gets 
implemented.”

said. “We are number one 
both in terms of number 
of manufacturing jobs and 
growth-rate percentage.”

In 
response 
to 
Snyder’s 

positive 
economic 
report, 

Jim Ananich (D–Flint), state 
Senate minority leader, said in 
a statement he feels as though 
average 
families 
are 
not 

experiencing the full extent of 
the recovery.

“Governor Snyder speaks 

about an economic recovery, 
but the people I talk to every 
day still don’t feel it in their 
wallets,” 
Ananich 
said. 

“Michigan’s seniors, students 
and 
middle-class 
families 

continue to get the short end of 
the stick thanks to the last six 
years of bad Republican policies 
coming out of Lansing.”

Midway 
through 
his 

address, Snyder pivoted from 
touting Michigan’s economic 
progress to speaking about 
the 
challenges 
still 
facing 

Flint after the water crisis, the 
central focus of his address last 
year.

“This was a sad chapter 

in the history of our state: 
Last year the people of Flint 
suffered 
an 
unacceptable 

crisis. I made a commitment 
to the people of Flint to fix it,” 
Snyder said. “We’ve worked 
tirelessly to make Flint’s water 
safe to drink again and improve 
the entire city of Flint — we’re 
making progress, but we’re not 
done yet.”

Snyder 
said 
he 
feels 

progress has been made and 
said $27 million of state funds 
were provided for lead pipe 
replacement, 
24,000 
new 

Flint residents were placed 
on Medicaid waivers and 827 
new jobs were created in the 
community. 
Furthermore, 

Snyder said he would introduce 
higher water standards and 
better testing protocols for 
copper and lead than the 
federal government currently 
has in place.

Rep. Dan Kildee (D–Flint) 

issued a statement following 
the address, condemning the 
governor for not devoting more 
time to talk about and propose 

additional solutions.

“Shame on the governor for 

not using tonight to outline 
additional steps that he is going 
to take to ensure clean drinking 
water in Flint,” Kildee said in a 
statement. “I will not rest until 
the governor and the state step 
up to do more to help the city 
recover from this man-made 
crisis.”

After 
the 
roughly 
two-

minute section of his address 
devoted 
to 
Flint, 
Snyder 

continued on the theme of 
infrastructure, saying billions 
of dollars will be needed for 
roads, pipes and updating the 
Soo Lock shipping channel in 
Sault Ste. Marie.

“Michigan residents deserve 

safe, 
reliable, 
sustainable 

infrastructure,” Snyder said. 
“We need to invest more, we 
need to literally invest billions 
of dollars of new investment 
over the next several decades.”

On the topic of education, 

Snyder said continued and new 
investments in early education, 
in computer science education 
and for women in STEM are 
forthcoming.

“We need to give our kids 

the education that gives them 
the skills and judgement they 
need to achieve quality careers, 
start families and to give back 
to their communities,” Snyder 
said.

State Sen. Geoff Hansen 

(R–Hart) said in an interview 
with the Daily he was pleased 
with the governor’s address, 
particularly 
his 
mention 

of continuing to push for 
technical 
education 
and 

computer science jobs.

“There’s 
a 
big 
need 
in 

Michigan right now: We’ve got 
about 80,000 engineering jobs 
open,” Hansen said. “I think 
it’s important we continue 
working with everybody to 
provide education based on 
what job opportunities there 
are.”

On specific issues pertaining 

to the University of Michigan, 
like sexual assault prevention, 
Snyder mentioned the initiative 
to end sexual assault on college 
campuses led by Michigan’s 
first lady, Sue Snyder.

This is the second time 

the University has received 
funding 
to 
address 
sexual 

assualt from the state. Synder 
spoke on the grant a summit 
on North Campus, and the 
University 
was 
awarded 

a $100,000 state grant in 
December.

“We need to do everything 

we can to keep our college 
and 
university 
campuses 

safe; Michigan has become a 
national leader on this,” Snyder 
said. “We’re doing grants to 
multiple colleges — 18 colleges 
and 
universities 
— 
with 

$500,000 in grants to do better 
on this topic, we need to keep 
that up.”

Additionally, Snyder touched 

on 
Mcity, 
the 
University’s 

autonomous-car 
testing 

center on North Campus, in 
his address as being part of 
the effort to place Michigan 
at the forefront of the world’s 
autonomous car development 
and testing.

“We 
are 
winning 
the 

mobility race, but we have 
to keep it up,” Snyder said. 
“We have wonderful assets 
like Mcity, the new American 
Center for Mobility, we have 
smart highways … we are 
the world’s leader today, we 
need to continue to be the 
world’s leader, we need to be 
the catalyst for the world and 
invite all parts of the world to 
join us in doing this in a safe, 
smart way.”

Concluding 
his 
address, 

Snyder said he is looking 
forward to this next year, 
his last in office as governor, 
and encouraged citizens to 
help him in making a positive 
difference in the state.

“Let’s go get this done,” 

Snyder said.

SNYDER
From Page 1A

POVERTY
From Page 1A

We need to do 
everything we 

can to keep 
our college 

and university 
campuses safe

