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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