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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Monday, January 30, 2017 — 3A
outside the terminal a stream
of people spontaneously joined
from cars driving by and some
travelers even delayed their
flights to participate. The crowd
then packed the entire arrivals
area inside the terminal for
a rally led by elected officials
and
local
activists.
Rep.
Debbie Dingell (D–Mich.) told
protesters their activism — in
addition to legal action — was a
key component in overturning
Trump’s ban.
“We are trying to introduce
legislation that will overturn
the executive order,” she said
to cheers from the crowd.
“This is not about Republican
or Democrat, we are here as
Americans. There is no one
who doesn’t care about national
security … but we are standing
for
fundamental
rights
in
the Constitution: freedom of
religion, freedom of speech.”
Residents
of
cities
with
high concentrations of Muslim
immigrants, like Dearborn and
Hamtramck,
also
protested
Sunday
afternoon.
Michigan
hosts
the
second-highest
population of Syrian refugees
in the country, but resettlement
programs across the state may
be forced to close in light of the
ban.
LSA freshman Ayah Kutmah,
a
first-generation
Syrian
American,
said
the
protest
allayed much of the anxiety she
felt after the executive order,
despite her relatives’ inability to
join her in the United States.
“My family is devastated,
but I don’t like to think of (the
ban) as indefinite,” she said.
“I have so much hope today,
and I honestly think the more
we show support like this for
refugees
and
immigrants,
the more representatives will
listen.”
Elected officials attending
the event included Dingell, Rep.
Brenda Lawrence (D–Mich.),
and Michigan Reps. Abdullah
Hammoud
(D–Dearborn),
Yousef Rabhi (D–Ann Arbor)
and Jim Ellison (D–Royal Oak).
Rabhi condemned Trump and
called for more representatives
to fight for the protection of
vulnerable citizens.
“This is fighting for the
America we all love and fighting
against
an
oppressive
man
who is now the president of the
United States and pushing a neo-
fascist agenda,” he said. “My role
is standing up every day for the
refugees seeking safety in our
country, for everyone who wants
to make America home.”
Waving to a line of cars
honking
on
the
airport
concourse, state Rep. Rashida
Tlaib
(D–Detroit)
paused
chanting
to
criticize
the
“hypocrisy” of the ban.
“My family fled their homes
overseas because of these kinds
of policies, and now they’ll have
to fight them here,” she said.
“Here, now, though, I’m proud
to be an American today.”
Both University of Michigan
President Mark Schlissel and
Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher
Taylor
released
statements
this
weekend
promising
to
protect
international
and
undocumented
community
members. Schlissel’s refusal to
release information on students’
immigration statuses was one
of a handful of statements
from universities and colleges
over the weekend affirming a
commitment to international
students. Taylor, too, stood in
solidarity with immigrants and
refugees, even accusing Trump
and his supporters of having
“polluted” the country’s honor.
Nursing senior Matt White
applauded
the
University’s
statement at the protest and
pushed for even more action.
“I was very proud to see our
University stand up on this
issue,” he said. “But we need to
work to protect all immigrants
— students, faculty and staff —
not just students.”
History
Prof.
Heather
Thompson agreed, citing the
protest’s place in a history of
resistance
against
policies
limiting
immigrants’
rights.
Amid chants of “no Trump,
no KKK, no fascist USA,”
Thompson warned of history
repeating itself.
“The
American
people
who
care
about
refugees,
immigrants,
democracy
and
freedom are not going to put up
with this and they never did,”
she said. “They didn’t in the ’20s,
they didn’t in the ’30s, not in the
’50s and they’re not going to do it
now. I remind Americans we’ve
been here before, and fascism
happens slowly when we don’t
stand up.”
Protest organizers connected
Sunday’s action to a slew of other
issues — most notably Trump’s
order of a wall on the Mexican
border — and assured larger and
more coordinated campaigns
were
on
the
way.
MMCC
organizer
Fatima
Salman
pointed
to
the
immediate
response the protest garnered
from community members.
“Every community has joined
along in the last day and we as a
Metro Detroit community are
a strong and unified front,” she
said. “Refugees are welcome here,
and they’ve always been welcome
here and they always will be.”
PROTEST
From Page 1A
Center. The project will be led by
Jun Li, an associate computational
medicine
and
bioinformatics
professor, and Anna Gilbert, a
mathematics professor.
The third project, the Intern
Health Study, headed by Srijan
Sen, a psychiatry professor, will be
using data collected from mobile
applications from over 1,000
medical interns to determine the
relationships between circadian
rhythms, mood and sleep, as
well as how they might lead to
depression.
Sen
explained
the goal of the project is to find
patterns that lead to depression so
measures can be taken to identify
at-risk individuals and provide
treatment.
“Largely, the goal of the
study is to capture data about
people’s sleep, activity, their
cardiac function and where
they’re going, so we can predict
before people really descend
into the depths of depression
that people are at risk in the
first part,” Sen said. “The second
part is to come up with some
kinds of intervention to prevent
depression.”
Alfred
Hero,
a
professor
of electrical engineering and
computer
science
and
the
co-director of Michigan Institute
for
Data
Science,
explained
the efficiency of the groups in
analyzing big data stems from
the fact that they are composed
of so many different disciplines.
“All of the projects funded
by MIDAS are funded in a very
multidisciplinary manner and
that’s where you can make
progress on these problems,
because it’s not just looking at
biological processes and how
to sample cells and how to do
sequencing,” Hero said. “It’s
really how do you analyze that
data to be able to segment the
population into these classes
of susceptibility.”
RESEARCH
From Page 1A
The riots are viewed by
many Malaysians as a dark
spot in the country’s history. A
racial divide between Chinese
and Malays developed, which
was intensified by the 1969
Malaysian
general
election.
After the election, many angered
Malaysians attacked members of
the Chinese-dominated majority
party, as well as many civilians.
The casualties of the riots were
predominantly Chinese.
Singh,
the
director
of
Malaysian
Cultural
Night,
echoed Radzi’s statements and
said he felt some Malaysian
people in his community felt
uncomfortable with his choice
of topic.
“Even when I was writing
this play, I felt some resistance
from some fellow Malaysians
that did not want me to go
through with this because they
thought there were so many
other aspects of Malaysian
history I could talk about,”
Singh said.
Singh said he chose to write a
play about the racial riots because
he felt they were important to
discuss and remember. When
writing the play, he wanted to
depict how Malaysia is truly
an
integration
of
different
cultures. Singh’s play featured
a traditional Malaysian dance,
as well as a Chinese Umbrella
Dance and Bhangra, a traditional
dance
originating
from
India, to represent Malaysia’s
multicultural society.
MALAYSIA
From Page 1A
who later decided whether or
not they wanted to advise and
nurture the startup into a full-
fledged company. The Startup
Competition
advertised
its
event as being similar to the
reality television show “The
Voice,” as the panel of four
judges began facing away from
the contestants and turned
around only when they wanted
to add a contestant to their
coterie of startups.
Sonali Vijayavargiya was one
of the judges at the event as the
founder and managing director
of Augment Ventures, a firm
that
invests
in
technology
and software companies. She
said the Startup Competition
provides not only a chance for
industry leaders to identify
budding
companies,
but
to
serve in mentorship roles.
“We
are
taking
the
investment
background
that
we have and bringing it to the
students so that they can build
new businesses,” Vijayavargiya
said. “I am really looking for
opportunity as you know when
I look at the new enterprises, I
really like to see what kind of a
problem they’re solving, what
kind of a need they’re meeting
and what it takes, what kind of
technology and people, it takes
to get to that point.”
Vijayavargiya was the first
judge to turn around following
the pitch and partner with a
startup by the name of Cheruvu,
which
advertises
itself
as
“Big Data for Small Farmers.”
The team is made up of three
graduate students who aim to
build resilient and sustainable
villages
by
employing
data
science to improve the decisions
of small farmers.
ForzaMetrix was the first
startup that had two judges
turn around and vie for its
stewardship.
ForzaMetrix,
whose three team members
have experience in business,
engineering and law, pitched
itself
as
a
company
that
can
help
optimize
athletic
performance through the use of
workout tracking sensors and
analytics. Both Scott Taylor, of
the Michigan Small Business
Development
Council,
and
Jake Cohen, of Detroit Venture
Partners, attempted to compel
ForzaMetrix to enlist their
mentorship.
Taylor sold his company by
highlighting how he feels he
can help ForzaMetrix build
a customer base, but Cohen
rebutted by extolling his firm’s
connections
to
professional
sports teams and entertainment
companies.
“(Detroit Venture Partners)
has a lot of connections in the
sports and entertainment world,
as I work for Dan Gilbert, who
owns the Cleveland Cavaliers,”
Cohen said. “I would love to
work with you.”
ForzaMetrix ultimately sided
with Cohen.
One of the companies that
elicited a quick turn of the chair
was Find Your Ditto, an online
service that aims to connect
peoples who live with chronic
illnesses and build support
networks among its members.
Parisa Soraya, a master’s
student of health informatics,
said seeing Cohen turn around
in his chair and select her as
someone he wanted to mentor
was an exciting experience.
“It was very relieving to
be selected because you only
have a minute and we had to
figure out how to best present
the venture quickly and to get
someone interested,” Soraya
said. “It was really nice, as
Jake was our top choice and it
worked out.”
Five more startups were
chosen by the panelists, with
the
seven
teams,
such
as
Pakochi, Air Mail and FUNL,
being left behind and unable to
advance to the next round. The
second round of the Startup
Competition will be on Feb. 10.
STARTUPS
From Page 1A
Michigan has one of the
highest numbers of refugees in
the country, with over 2,000
Syrian refugees and 8,015 refugees
in total. Ann Arbor is often
considered a “sanctuary city,”
meaning the city’s police can
only enforce immigration laws in
criminal circumstances.
“Ann
Arbor
affirms
the
principles and hard fought rights
enshrined in our Constitution,”
Taylor wrote. “Among these rights
are freedom of movement and the
right to be free from unreasonable
search and seizure. We will protect
and honor these rights. We will
not stop the innocent and demand
to see their papers. We will
confront the criminal and protect
the innocent, without regard to
citizenship
or
documentation.
Count on it.”
The University of Michigan
community has also been vocal
in its opposition of the executive
order. While President Schlissel
wrote on Saturday that the
University would not release the
immigration status information
of its students, a national petition
gained traction among staff and
faculty.
Titled
“Academics
Against
Immigration Executive Order,”
the petition is a platform for
academics from across the country
to denounce the order on the
grounds that it is discriminatory,
places an undue burden on those
affected and hinders academic
progress in the nation.
“The
(Executive
Order)
significantly damages American
leadership in higher education
and research … From Iran alone,
more than 3000 students have
received PhDs from American
universities in the past 3 years,”
a clause of the petition reads.
“The
proposed
EO
limits
collaborations with researchers
from these nations by restricting
entry of these researchers to
the US and can potentially lead
to departure of many talented
individuals who are current
and
future
researchers
and
entrepreneurs in the US. We
strongly believe the immediate
and long term consequences of
this EO do not serve our national
interests.”
Over 4,000 professors and
academics
had
signed
their
names to the petition by Sunday
morning, and over 60 of those
names come from University
professors and graduate students.
History Prof. John Carson said
he found out about the petition
earlier this weekend and signed
it immediately. He told the Daily
he felt the executive order was an
attack on not only his personal
values and those that the nation
was built upon, but also to
universities worldwide.
“It
will
have
effects
on
the
international
scope
of
universities,” Carson said. “You
can imagine this closing of
the movement of people, and
eventually the movement of ideas
in the end.”
Carson’s fear of what this new
immigration policy might bring
is echoed in the final lines of the
petition.
“The
unethical
and
discriminatory
treatment
of
law-abiding, hard-working and
well-integrated
immigrants
fundamentally
contravenes
the founding principles of the
United States,” the petition
reads. “We strongly denounce
this ban and urge the President
to reconsider going forward
with this Executive Order.”
REACTIONS
From Page 1A
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