The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Thursday, February 16, 2017 — 3A

said. “During prosecuting, it 
allows for all evidence to be 
used against a defendant.”

The Board said it was happy 

with 
the 
new 
legislation 

because it more effectively 
aids sexual assault victims 
within the criminal justice 
system, should they choose 
to prosecute the perpetrator. 
Schuitmaker 
said 
that 
the 

legislation will likely provide 
security to college students 
who seek action through the 
criminal justice system.

“Senator Warren and I have 

been co-chairs on the first 
ladies task force in regards to 
sexual assault on campuses,” 
Schuitmaker said.

The 
future 
of 
federal 

enforcement 
of 
sexual 

assault 
laws 
under 
Title 

IX 
remains 
unclear. 
In 

confirmation hearings, new 
Education 
Secretary 
Betsy 

DeVos’ 
commitment 
to 

continuing sexual misconduct 
investigations 
remained 

ambiguous. 

Kinesiology 
junior 
Laura 

Marsh, 
vice 
chair 
of 
the 

University’s chapter of College 
Democrats, 
expressed 
her 

support for the bills and said 
that on college campuses, the 
issue of sexual assault is not 
discussed enough, which is 
why widespread legislation on 
the issue is necessary.

“There’s not enough done 

to stop it, so I’m really glad 
Senator Warren is looking 
out for her constituents on 
this,” Marsh said. “Because a 
lot of them are female college 
students who are going to 
be positively affected by the 
resources 
these 
bills 
will 

provide 
to 
sexual 
assault 

survivors.”

The 
University’s 
chapter 

of College Republicans was 
unavailable for comment. 

Kinesiology 
junior 
Cass 

Bouse-Eaton is a director of 
the sexual violence branch of 

the Panhellenic Peer Educator 
Program, 
which 
aims 
to 

spread awareness and create 
a support system within the 
Greek 
life 
community 
for 

women struggling with sexual 
misconduct that is perpetrated 
by the school’s Greek life 
culture.

Bouse-Eaton too supports 

the 
new 
legislation, 
and 

said 
governmental 
support 

for victims is a step in the 
right 
direction, 
especially 

given new challenges posed 
by our current presidential 
administration. 
However, 

she also highlighted inherent 
flaws 
within 
the 
system 

that legislation has yet to 
address, specifically on college 
campuses.

“We have such low rates 

of 
these 
crimes 
actually 

being reported, but also even 
getting to court,” she said. 
“And in court, the odds that 
a perpetrator will ever see a 
day in jail are so small. So, 
if this legislation allows for 
something 
that’s 
happened 

in the past to be brought 
up in court, that’s fabulous. 
But it also assumes that that 
something has already been 
brought up in the past.”

Bouse-Eaton 
also 
said 

combatting sexual violence, 
harassment 
and 
assault 

begins with the community 
on campus, and solidarity is 
not always legislative. Rather, 
recognizing 
institutional 

problems and pledging support 
for victims of assault culture 
are essential to decreasing the 
problem on campus.

“I feel like, as women, 

we have a lot more power 
than we think we do in this 
situation,” she said. “We talk 
a lot about fraternity houses 
and 
fraternity 
parties. 
If 

something like this happens 
to one of our sisters at a house, 
we’re not going there anymore. 
We’re not feeding this culture 
at this house. And fraternity 
parties, whether we realize it 
are not, are upheld by female 
attendance. We don’t invest in 
things we don’t believe in.”

LEGISLATION
From Page 1A

must work through a fantasy 
world and “work together to 
save humanity.” Doyle said 
what makes his escape room 
unique is the story, which 
centers around Minerva, an 
artificial 
intelligence 
whom 

participants can either team up 
with or work against.

“Every escape room is a 

unique experience,” Doyle said. 
“The way that I would describe 
ours 
is a puzzle-adventure 

where you and a group of up to 
10 friends have to solve a series 
of puzzles to advance the story 
and get out of the room. It’s like 
being dropped into the middle 
of the climax of an artificial-
intelligence movie, and you 
happen to be there when things 
go wrong.”

After playing part one in 

the escape room, part two 
of the story takes players to 
about 15 Ann Arbor stores to 
solve a scavenger hunt. Doyle 
hopes to have more than 30 
stores 
participating 
by 
the 

end of the summer, creating 
an intellectual challenge that 
focuses on the storyline in 
order to engage players even 
after they play part one.

“Ann Arbor is a wonderful 

town,” Doyle said. “Being from 
Ann Arbor, I’ve found that I 
know a lot of the shopkeepers 
who we’re partnering with to 
post these puzzles around the 
city.”

Doyle said he wants to use 

the puzzles and games around 
Ann Arbor and Detroit to help 
revitalize urban areas. He is 
trying to get people to go to 
shops and stores they might 
not normally visit and increase 
urban tourism as best he can.

“The thing that I’m most 

excited about that we’re doing 
right now is we’re opening a 
series of puzzles around Ann 

Arbor, and soon Detroit, that 
are free to play,” Doyle said, 
“that are introducing people 
to unique places — unique, 
locally-owned shops — that 
people might not otherwise 
discover. What we’re trying 
to do is use this escape room 
trend as something that can be 
a positive force for tourism for 
downtown areas in Michigan.”

Engineering 
freshman 

Kaelan 
Oldani 
worked 
at 

Decode 
Detroit 
over 
the 

summer and developed one of 
the puzzles for the scavenger 
hunt in Ann Arbor. Oldani said 
every puzzle takes particular 
attention to detail.

“Patton knew I was about 

to begin my first year as an 
engineering 
student 
at 
the 

University, and was willing 
to give me the opportunity to 
get a head start with hands-
on 
experience 
through 
his 

company,” Oldani said. “So 
much thought and planning 
went into every single detail of 
the puzzle room.”

Rackham student Meghan 

Clark, chair of the CS KickStart 
program, brought her group of 
undergraduate mentees from 
CS 
KickStart 
through 
the 

escape room last fall.

“Around the time we were 

organizing 
our 
fall 
social 

event for alumni, we got an 
email from Decode Detroit 
describing their escape room,” 
Clark said. “It sounded like a 
fun, computer-themed outing, 
which was exactly what we 
were looking for.”

Clark said Doyle gave her 

group a behind-the-scenes tour 
of how things worked, which 
she said was a valuable way 
to learn more about computer 
science.

“(This) was very educational 

for them as budding computer 
scientists,” Clark said. “Seeing 
how computers were used to 
create the awesome experience 
they just had made computer 

science look cool.”

Not yet complete, part three 

of the Minerva Project will take 
players back to the escape room 
with new puzzles, in order to 
finish the adventure. Doyle said 
this is significant because, for 
most users, escape rooms are a 
one-time thing.

“They (escape rooms) don’t 

have much replayability,” Doyle 
said. “We’re building what is 
effectively two escape rooms in 
one location.”

Additionally, the co-founders 

wish to open a second escape 
room in the New Center area 
of Detroit, with hopes of taking 
what they have now in Ann 
Arbor and replicating it in 
another city. The location will 
be connected to the midtown 
and 
downtown 
corridors 

through the QLine light rail, 
which will help them in having 
puzzles throughout the city.

“The goal is to harness this 

game and these creative ideas to 
help the ongoing revitalization 
of southeast Michigan,” Doyle 
said. “We have one and a half 
(escape rooms). We have one 
that’s fully operational, and one 
in Detroit that’s in progress. 
We’re working to turn that into 
something that can be used as 
an escape room, either indoor 
or outdoor.”

Doyle said many students, 

young 
professionals 
and 

families have come to their 
escape room, with 55 percent of 
groups “escaping”—winning—
part one.

“One of the first groups 

we had was a student group,” 
Doyle said. “They still to-date 
my favorite group that went 
through. The students that 
come through really seem to 
enjoy it. The entire game isn’t 
open yet, but plenty of players 
have 
beaten 
what’s 
been 

released. Some people really 
enjoy the puzzling part of it, 
some people are more there for 
the story.”

Oldani said the escape room 

could have a big impact on the 
region, and would recommend 
University 
students 
go 
try 

to solve the escape room for 
themselves. 

“It’s 
impressive 
to 
see 

the company grow from a 
mere passion for puzzles and 
interest in escape rooms into a 
successful company spanning 
across the region,” Oldani said. 
“It’s a local escape room right 
off of campus, and is tons of fun. 
Regardless of how clever you 
think you are, this escape room 
will be an exciting challenge.”

In a broader scope, Doyle 

said 
the 
games 
serve 
to 

bind together urban areas, 
especially in an era where 
retail has been suffering in the 
Internet age. Clark added she 
is looking forward to playing 
part two in Ann Arbor in the 
near future.

“I’m really excited about 

the new stage of puzzles that 
Decode Detroit just released, 
where 
you 
walk 
around 

downtown Ann Arbor solving 
clues 
and 
find 
out 
what 

happens to Minerva,” Clark 
said. “I haven’t done it yet, 
but I can’t wait to see what 
happens next in the story.”

Though 
Doyle 
doesn’t 

know how long this trend will 
last, he is looking forward to 
giving users an experience 
they will want to continue. 
Furthermore, 
he 
hopes 
to 

work with the creative culture 
movement in Detroit.

“Our long-term goal is to 

turn this not into just an escape 
room,” Doyle said. “We want 
it to be something that’s more 
of a community of puzzlers, of 
game-designers, who create 
games that are physical in 
nature. 
Doing 
the 
puzzles 

around the city has brought 
people to us. This is different. 
It is clearly no longer just an 
escape room. I hope this lasts 
for 10 to 20 years.”

CHALLENGE
From Page 1A

were 
consistent 
with 
City 

finance records.

“I 
received 
the 
e-mail 

below from Ms. Lesko late 
yesterday afternoon, and the 
request from Mr. Eaton this 
afternoon,” Lazarus wrote to 
the City Council members on 
Saturday. “Kindly note that I 
have asked Purchasing staff 
to inquire into the means by 
which the contracts with the 
organizations cited have been 
awarded. We will also look 
at the dates of service of the 
individuals 
identified 
with 

the dates of award. Finally, 
this provides an opportunity 
to review and validate our 
contracting procedures with 
regard to conflicts of interest.”

In an email to the Daily on 

Monday, Lazarus confirmed 
an internal investigation had 
been initiated, and it would 
determine whether any ethics 
rules were violated. He said 
the 
investigation 
will 
also 

review the city’s contracting 
process.

Councilmember 
Chuck 

Warpehoski (D–Ward 5) said 
it would be premature to 
conclude ethical rules had been 
violated before the internal 
review is completed.

“On the one hand, we want 

to take the concern seriously, 
on the other hand we also don’t 
want to assume malintent until 
it’s been found,” Warpehoski 
said. 
“(But) 
I’ve 
seen 
no 

evidence of impropriety.”

Eaton echoed Warpehoski 

and 
added 
that 
the 

investigation would provide 
an opportunity to examine the 
consistency and oversight of 
the city’s contracting process.

“Part of the review Mr. 

Lazarus has requested will 
be a review of contracting 
procedures,” Eaton wrote in an 
email to the Daily. “If we find 
our policies to be deficient, we 
will take steps to address those 
deficiencies. Council member 
(Sumi) 
Kailasapathy 
(D–

Ward 1) and I are discussing 
an 
ordinance 
that 
would 

address the ethical standards 
for members of boards and 
commissions.”

Ann 
Arbor 
residents 

have 
raised 
allegations 

that 
several 
prominent 

members of the Downtown 
Development 
Authority, 

Planning 
Commission, 

Local Development Finance 
Authority 
and 
Public 
Art 

Commission 
have 
been 

benefitting from approximately 
$1.33 million worth of city 
contracts. According to Lesko, 
the 
city’s 
finance 
records 

reflect 
that 
once 
certain 

members were appointed to 

their respective boards and 
commissions, the companies 
they own or work for began 
obtaining city contracts they 
had not received prior.

Following resident concerns, 

Lesko began to investigate 
on the city’s website. All the 
city’s vendor contract records 
are available to the public 
through A2OpenBook. Lesko 
sifted through contracts filed 
between 2010 and 2016, first 
looking solely at McWilliams’ 
media agency Q+M, formerly 
Quack!Media.

Lesko argued there needs 

to be more oversight on city 
contracts that involve city-
affiliated personnel to prevent 
conflict-of-interest cases.

“What I’ve said to Mr. 

Lazarus 
in 
my 
email 
is 

that they need to do some 
investigating going back at 
that case, so that the public 
knows over the last ten years 
how much money total in 
city contracts … have gone to 
city board and commission 
members,” Lesko said. “I think 
every time something comes to 
City Council where city staff 
are recommending a former 
city staff member or a current 
board or commission member 
or their employer, Council 
must be told in public.”

Warpehoski 
noted 
that, 

though 
stringent 
oversight 

is 
necessary, 
having 
local 

business leaders on city boards 
and commissions can have a 
positive impact.

“I don’t think we should have 

a policy where the only way to 
serve on a board or commission 
is to give up your hope of being 
able to do any business with the 
city or the DDA or the AAATA,” 
Warpehoski said. “I want our 
local 
units 
of 
government 

supporting local businesses. 
I want local business leaders 
sharing their expertise of local 
government and contributing 
in that way. But I don’t think 
that should give anybody any 
special treatment.”

According to Lesko, just 10 

percent of the contracts were 
above 
the 
threshold 
price 

of $25,000 that would have 
required a City Council vote. 
City Administrator Lazarus 
has the discretion to award 
contracts under the $25,000 
threshold.

In 
many 
cases, 
the 

council 
looks 
to 
insight 

from 
appropriate 
boards 

and 
commissions 
for 

recommendations on contracts.

“More 
frequently, 
staff 

will seek input from a board 
or 
commission 
during 
the 

development of a statement of 
work prior to commencement of 
the formal solicitation process 
to help define an approach to 
achieve a City goal,” Lazarus 
wrote in an email.

CITY
From Page 1A

get into the real world,” Blaemire 
said. “After the incubation of 
college, you’re suddenly dealing 
with a very real drought of the 
dreams that we all think are going 
to happen for ourselves.”

When asked about the next 

four years after college, University 
students 
tend 
to 
share 
this 

sentiment 
of 
uncertainty 
and 

stress. For years, LSA sophomore 
Camille Phaneuf had one word to 
describe that period: uncertain. 

“Anxiety,” 
Phaneuf 
said. 

“There’s so much uncertainty, and 
I don’t really know what I’m doing.”

While some people, like LSA 

freshman Lily Barash, are excited 
for their four years of college 
because it means independence 
and 
freedom 
from 
parental 

supervision and the pressures 

of school, stress and anxiety 
are common sentiments about 
this time. Kinesiology freshman 
Sydney Grant was most nervous 
about the lack of a clear path.

“You need to make decisions 

fast compared to going from high 
school to college, which is like a 
common thing where everyone 
mostly knows that’s what’s next,” 
Grant said. “But after college, 
people go to grad school, they 
travel, they get a job, and you need 
to make these decisions quickly.”

Blaemire says he definitely 

related 
to 
these 
feelings 
of 

uncertainty himself after leaving 
the University, but says college 
prepared him as well is it could for 
these strange years.

“I think I got an incredible 

amount 
of 
information 
from 

Michigan that has totally shaped 
me as a person, and I think that 
the world is changing too fast for 
any one form of education to really 
fully prepare you; the experience 

of being introduced to (the real 
world) is sort of like the fifth year 
of college,” Blaemire said. “I look at 
the world through the lens of the 
way I took in information about 
Michigan, only now I’m sort of 
creating my own school and my 
own projects at home.”

“The Next Four Years” is 

Blaemire’s first venture into the 
web-series format. While Blaemire 
has used many platforms for his 
art, including musicals and TV, 
he says there is value in the more 
recently popularized web series 
format.

“I love it,” Blaemire said. “I 

think there’s a lot to be said for the 
proliferation of ways you can tell 
stories, and I think that there’s a 
freedom in a web series that you 
don’t have in a long-form narrative, 
because you can tell as much of the 
story as you want and whatever 
part of the story you want, and 
in a way it becomes more like a 
snapshot than like a fully rendered 

narrative.”

Blaemire 
said 
that 
this 

“snapshot” way of telling stories 
allowed him not only to tell 
more stories, but gave him the 
opportunity to use his script and 
camera angles as a way of telling 
the story as well, a sort of second 
layer to his storytelling.

“Where you put the camera and 

what part of the story you decide 
to script can tell so much more 
than what’s actually happening, 
and it can reverberate into other 
characters’ arcs,” he said. “You can 
really create this interesting web of 
stories that you’re kind of telling by 
juxtaposing against others. You’re 
sort of shadow-telling more stories 
than just the foreground.”

One shadow story Blaemire 

identified was that of the current 
presidential administration — not 
a surprising one, given the name of 
the series. While Blaemire and the 
other creators did not intend for 
the title to have a double meaning, 

Blaemire thinks it fits in with the 
themes of the series.

“It sort of nails a theme that the 

show really has, which is like when 
we’ve been learning our whole 
lives in four-year chunks, from first 
to fifth grade, and then high school 
and college, we’re sort of built in 
this four-year mentality, and part 
of that is the presidency,” Blaemire 
said.

Blaemire didn’t seem to mind 

the connotation the title might have 
with the current president, calling 
it “unavoidable,” but also noted 
that having the president as one 
of these aforementioned “shadow 
characters” is rather fitting.

“While we don’t speak about 

politics really in it — it’s much more 
about young people trying to make 
their own way — they’re still trying 
to make their own way in America, 
and so I do think that in a way he 
becomes a shadow character in the 
same way that there are many more 
stories than the one that we’re 

telling, that resonate because we’re 
pointing the camera at this real 
chasm between the reality that we 
thought existed in college and the 
reality that actually exists in the 
real world, and since reality is quite 
the buzzword these days, it only 
helps the story resonate more.”

Reflecting on his college years, 

Blaemire has one simple piece 
of advice for current University 
students.

“Read,” Blaemire said. “Read 

about what’s happening in the 
world. Pay attention. And find that 
beautiful balance between being in 
this incredible incubation chamber 
surrounded by a bunch of other 
vivid, smart, attractive people, 
and then also know that you live 
in the world as well, and how do 
you balance against having this 
idealized college experience while 
also slowly but surely becoming 
a citizen of the planet and taking 
advantage of that town and that 
state and that part of the country.”

SERIES
From Page 1A

in 
health 
care 
operations 

research.

Daskin works with students 

to use optimization in other 
contexts, such as understanding 
the causes of drug shortages 
in the US or how to maximize 
diversity within groups in his 
classes.

Daskin 
views 
the 
honor 

as a way to give back to the 
engineering community.

“I 
also 
think 
it’s 
an 

opportunity for service,” he 
said. “I believe the National 
Academy of Engineering is 
called on for various studies 
when people in the government 
want to do so, so it’s an 
opportunity for service.”

Arruda is also excited for 

the opportunity to serve the 
engineering 
community, 

specifically 
women 
and 

underrepresented 
minorities, 

through her membership in 
NAE.

“I want to learn more about 

what opportunities there are 
to work with members of the 
academy,” she said.

Arruda 
and 
Daskin 
are 

two of 106 new members of 
the NAE. This year’s new 
membership 
will 
up 
the 

American membership to 2,281 
and international membership 
to 249.

The two, who will be formally 

inducted into the NAE in 
Washington D.C. on Oct. 8, are 
among the Leaders and the Best 
at the University, according 
to Alec Gallimore, dean of 
engineering and professor of 
aerospace engineering, in a 
Michigan News article.

“This 
signature 

accomplishment 
by 
these 

esteemed 
faculty 
members 

represents 
the 
leadership 

and excellence we value at 
Michigan 
Engineering,” 
he 

said.

Arruda looks forward to 

working with the NAE, and she 
is thankful for her peers that 
nominated her.

“It seems that a good deal of 

people work hard to make these 
nominations possible, and it’s a 
lot of work to nominate a peer 
and get them to the point that 
they get elected, so I would like 
to express gratitude to those 
anonymous people out there 
who made this happen for me,” 
she said.

AWARDED
From Page 1A

