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Tuesday, March 28, 2017 — 3
was originally mentioned back
in October. She said LSA SG
sent out a survey last semester
to gauge student opinions on
the announcement, and found
some apprehension regarding
the plans.
“After polling 500 students
(both seniors and younger),
we found that 61% were upset
that commencement wouldn’t
follow the traditional pattern
of having a speaker,” Gipps
wrote. “I sent this information
to
President
Schlissel
in
November
...
Unfortunately
no changes were made to the
original
plan
...
Ultimately,
our big day is shaping up to be
underwhelming.”
LSA
senior
Nick
Suárez
echoed Gips and wrote in an
email interview the current
plan is very lackluster and
doesn’t show a dedication from
the University to its graduates.
“It was definitely a huge
slap in the face to all the
grads,” Suárez wrote. “The
commencement
speaker
is
really the only aspect of the
whole event that many people
even care about, so this is just
another way the university
shows its students how little it
cares about us as individuals.”
Education
senior
Maggie
Cowles wrote going from past
commencement speakers such
as former President Barack
Obama and Michael Bloomberg
to a recap of other speeches
seems like a self-indulgent move
from the University.
“I feel like we’ve spent four
years building up to this, to our
graduation, and hearing about
all of these amazing speakers
in the past,” Cowles wrote. “I’m
from Ann Arbor, so I remember
the
year
Obama
came.
I
remember being so excited
about
who
my
graduation
speaker
would
be,
and
anticipating it … It just really
feels like the university is trying
so hard to promote itself that it’s
not at all concerned about what
students actually want to see in
commencement.”
Suárez wrote the tuition bill
students have paid over their
four years at the University
merits
a
new
speech
for
graduation.
“Considering the amount of
money paid and debt accrued
by so many of us, to reach
our culminating moment and
not have something to look
forward to with this event is
disheartening honestly,” Suárez
wrote.
Cowles added the University
is prioritizing the bicentennial
over its students, emphasizing
she would be able to watch
old footage of commencement
speeches at home but her own
graduation should be something
new.
“Nobody wants to sit in the
big house and watch a video clip
of graduation addresses aimed
at different years — we want
our own speaker with … our
own ceremony,” Cowles wrote.
“It’s taking away a huge part
of graduation that, honestly,
is the only part of the whole-
school graduation I was looking
forward to.”
COMMENCEMENT
From Page 1
Griffin said.
The
opioid
usage
online
database,
titled
Michigan
Automated
Prescription
System, will be implemented
in April and provide a user-
friendly, comprehensive report
of prescription history and
usage to both the doctor and
patient.
When
announcing
the
system, Lt. Gov. Brian Calley
(R) said database bill will be
integral to monitoring opioid
usage.
“It will give doctors real
time information about the
prescription
history
of
the
person they are dealing with,”
Calley said. “You would think
in this day and age that a doctor
would have that ... but today
that doesn’t exist.”
Additionally,
state
Sen.
Tonya
Schuitmaker
(R–
Lawton) introduced legislation
that
mandates
disciplinary
action should a patient not
report usage via the database.
To benefit those who already
suffer from opioid addiction,
state Rep. Andy Schor (D–
Lansing) introduced legislation
that
gives
Medicaid
users
treatment options. Schor told
U.S. News the opioid addiction
is not a partisan issue, rather a
universal one.
“We
all
know
that
prescription drug and opioid
abuse is not a partisan issue, it’s
not a Democrat or Republican
issue, it’s happening in cities,
it’s happening in townships, it’s
happening in urban and rural
areas,” Schor said.
Public Policy junior Rowan
Conybeare,
chair
of
the
University’s chapter of College
Democrats, agreed and said
non-partisan cooperation will
be integral to finding a solution.
“I’m very glad to see both
parties working across the aisle
to tackle this urgent problem in
Michigan,” she said.
Michigan Attorney General
Bill Schuette said in a statement
arrests won’t solve the issue,
and a systemic solution is
needed.
“The
opioid
epidemic
is
sweeping
across
Michigan,
with hardly a day going by
that we don’t hear of an
overdose
or
death
caused
by
an
opioid-based
drug,”
Schuette said. “We can’t arrest
our way out of this problem.
The bi-partisan package of
legislation announced today is
an important step in Michigan’s
overall effort to curb this
growing epidemic.”
OPIOIDS
From Page 1
mission of Michigan Medicine
is to improve all three of these
areas as much as possible.
“Our vision overall is to be
outstanding in each of these
areas, so in research, to really
bring discovery to health as
well as broaden the spectrum
of research that we do; in
education, to prepare today’s
doctors
and
scientists
for
tomorrow,” Runge said.
Runge then outlined the
curriculum
changes
the
Medical School has undergone
in the last few years. The new
curriculum is meant to bring
together the first two years
of medical school into one,
so students can start their
clinical rotations and narrow
in on a specialty sooner.
In the new curriculum, year
one outlines the foundational
medical
sciences
and
year
two goes over patient care
and clinical practice. In year
three, students start rotations
to choose a clinical focus, and
in year four, the focus is on
developing physician leaders.
Runge also emphasized that,
though
Michigan
Medicine
can sometimes seem separated
from the University, it shares
many
of
the
same
goals,
including increasing diversity,
equity and inclusion, per this
fall’s DEI plan.
“We also have … priorities
in
diversity,
equity
and
inclusion,” he said. “This is
really important in health
care. People don’t think about
it so much but people who are
ill like to work with health
care providers who understand
them … When we’re ranked
for
diversity,
among
other
academic
medical
centers,
we look pretty good, but we
don’t have nearly the level of
diversity we need to. And it’s a
tough uphill battle to increase
that, so we’re focusing on
starting
with
the
medical
students to do this.”
After Runge’s presentation,
the committee moved into a
Q&A session. SACUA member
David Smith, a professor in the
College of Pharmacy, began
with an inquiry about how
Runge felt clinical staff could
be better integrated into the
educational environment.
SACUA has spent a lot of time
discussing whether or not they
should extend the ability to
become members of the Senate
Assembly — a body traditionally
reserved
for
tenure-track
faculty — to clinical staff.
“We’ve had this discussion
here as well, and it has to
do with the status of the
clinician
scientist,”
Smith
said. “What are your views on
how to integrate them into the
Michigan culture? In other
words, I don’t believe they’re
part of the Senate (Assembly)
… how do we get them more
involved while also protecting
some of the feelings of the
people who have these tenure-
track appointments and want to
preserve that integrity?”
Runge
said
Michigan
Medicine has been considering
this problem as well lately,
and he finds the apprehension
surrounding it to be well-
founded.
“There’s
some
of
that
tension in the Medical School
but this group that we call
‘clinical track’ is actually our
largest group,” Runge said.
“I think that group would
like to feel like they’re more
part of the mainstream, but
I certainly understand the
inherent
tension,
because
they outnumber (tenure-track
faculty members).”
SACUA Chair Bill Schultz, a
professor of engineering, asked
the next question. He wanted
to know the pros and cons of
having Runge act as both the
dean of the medical school and
the executive vice president of
medical affairs.
“We were sort of blindsided
by the president in the fall of
last year in you becoming both
the executive vice president
and the dean simultaneously,”
Schultz said. “He indicated
that this wasn’t that uncommon
in medical schools, but … I’m
wondering if you could talk
briefly about the advantages of
becoming both the executive
vice president and the dean,
and the disadvantages?”
According
to
Runge,
University
President
Mark
Schlissel was correct in saying
this practice is not uncommon
among
top-tier
medical
schools that also own their
own hospital systems. This
helps the University, though,
by allowing the two entities to
work more collaboratively.
“It’s common among places
we
consider
peers,
which
are the highest level medical
schools who own their own
hospitals,” Runge said. “The
advantage is it really aligns
decision-making on how you
divide your resources … The
big disadvantage is no one
person can do all that, that’s
just the reality. This allows us
to have three really important
vice deans who have important
portfolios and it makes them
work together.”
Once Runge left, the SACUA
members once again brought
up the issue of clinical staff in
the Senate Assembly. Smith
ended the meeting by saying he
felt it was important to gauge
the interest in clinical staff
of being part of the assembly
before moving forward with
any action.
“I think it’s important to see
what level of interaction they
want,” Smith said. “They may
be perfectly happy not getting
involved, and there may be
some that want to get involved
in different levels.”
SACUA
From Page 1
JOSHUA HAN/Daily
Dave Wright, SACUA Vice Chair and Business professor, discusses potential candidates for the SACUA board in the Fleming Administration
Building on Monday.
SACUA
graduating class of Stanford
University in 2005.
“Imagine
your
memorial
service,” he said. “Visualize
your
headstone
with
your
name on it. What does your
epigraph say?”
Eventually,
Strecher
turned to the idea of finding
personal fulfillment. He spoke
about the diagnosis of his
daughter’s heart condition as
the beginning of him living
his life with purpose, saying
he wanted to give her a big life
while it was possible for her,
which in turn made him want
to live a more involved life.
Closing
remarks
were
followed by large applause
from the audience, after which
he opened up for questions.
Business and LSA junior
Claire Yerman, the LSA Student
Honor Council president, was
excited Strecher was able to
speak.
“We reached out to Vick
because we knew his deep
commitment to talking about
purpose
and
we
thought
that aligned really well with
integrity, which is our main
focus,” Yerman said. “We really
felt that if he could talk about
living your life authentically —
which he did — then this really
aligns with integrity, because
unless you are staying true
to yourself and living true to
your values, you are really not
showcasing integrity.”
Anna Moshkovich, an LSA
senior presently taking a gap
year, was initially drawn to
the talk by emails sent by the
Newnan Advising Center.
“I’m doing a gap year and I
didn’t know (Dr. Strecher) was
so big into gap years,” she said.
“I have no idea where I’m going
to be placed and it is through
a
Jewish
Peace-Corps-type
program. His whole talk was
about how we should go out of
our comfort zone and do things
that scare us.”
When
asked
if
she
felt
confident in her current plans
after listening to the talk,
Moshkovich responded: “100
percent.”
SPEAKER
From Page 1
identities, and we want to make
sure minority students especially
feel welcome here,” she said. “And
then we realized that also there
are a lot of minority students
who might want to explore the
realm of public service, like for
example me — public service is
something I see in my future
career and I wanted to give them
an opportunity to see people who
have already done successful
things in that realm.”
Given the recent political
climate, the panel emphasized
the
importance
of
minority
representation
in
the
traditionally white-majority field
of public service, and what steps
need to be taken to continue
to
encourage
more
diverse
involvement. The panel allowed
five public service leaders to
reflect on their experiences in
the Michigan community.
Abdul El-Sayed, a physician
and
current
candidate
for
governor of Michigan, was one
of the panelists in attendance.
El-Sayed explained that he left
left his job as a professor at
Columbia University to dedicate
his efforts to public service
in Detroit. One of his projects
included creating a program that
provided every child in Detroit
with glasses.
“The fights are worth fighting,
and justice will get done if you
do it,” he said, explaining to the
audience the importance of not
being a victim of circumstance
and encouraging minorities to
push through discrimination.
Alford Young, the chair of
the Department of Sociology,
explained how the majority of
his research was inspired by
his background as an African-
American man. Growing up in
a neighborhood in New York,
Young saw how many of his
friends were stereotyped based
on their race.
“Almost all social service
agencies think of Black men as
men with problems,” he said. “I
say there are more to these men
than just problems.”
Martha Jones, director of the
Michigan Law Program in Race,
Law and History and professor of
African-American studies, also
learned about the dynamics of
giving back in her childhood.
“In
my
family,
whenever
you got a break, the lesson was
always how to pay that forward,”
she said, explaining that this led
to her own profession as a lawyer
for
people
in
marginalized
communities.
Another
panelist,
Awilda
Rodriguez,
is
an
assistant
professor in the Center for
the
Study
of
Higher
and
Postsecondary Education who
researches the representation
of Black, Latino, low-income
and
first-generation
students
in
postsecondary
education.
Rodriguez
shared
her
own
childhood
experience,
saying
she grew up valuing education,
but noticed that fewer minority
students tended to rise to higher
schooling levels.
“There is such a lack of
diversity,
especially
in
high
educational policy space where
you could have a happy hour
and easily fit everyone that
was of color working on higher
education policy in one corner,”
she pointed out.
Student activists on campus
also served as speakers for the
events. LSA senior Nicole Khamis
is the founder of the Michigan
Refugee Assistance Program and
is currently an intern for the U.S.
State Department. Khamis was
inspired to create MRAP because
her parents are refugees from
Palestine.
“I’ve tried to take my time here
at Michigan to raise people up,
and show that everyone deserves
the same opportunities that I
have,” she said.
Khamis also emphasized that
people of color should be able to
have their own operating spaces
to cultivate an identity.
LSA
From Page 1
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