staff.
In addition earlier this week,
students were also sent a second
climate survey.
SACUA
members
later
spoke about the new Trotter
Multicultural
Center’s
groundbreaking.
Construction
on the future site began over
the summer outside the Helen
Newberry and Betsy Barbour
residences on State Street.
The
Trotter
Center
is
currently located in an old
fraternity house on Washtenaw
Avenue. In Winter 2014, the
Black Student Union called for
the relocation of the site as part
of the #BBUM movement.
Dec. 17, 2016, the University’s
Board of Regents approved a
proposal to relocate the Trotter
Center. Following that meeting,
E. Royster Harper, Director
of student life, said the new
location was chosen to make the
Trotter Center more visible.
It was not until April 2017, the
Board of Regents granted final
approval to issue the contracts
and bids to begin construction.
The
new
center
will
be
20,000-square-feet,
approximately 9,000 feet larger
than the current facilities, it is
set to open Winter 2019.
“My understanding is that
it’s going to be the new Trotter
house,” Ortega said. “I’ve gotten
different
versions
of
what’s
going to happen. I don’t know if
anyone else has heard anything.”
At the time of the meeting,
some SACUA members had not
seen design plans for the new
building.
SACUA
then
went
into
executive session, which The
Michigan Daily is not permitted
to attend.
assess
what
progress
we have made and also the
challenges that we still have
yet to achieve,” Sellers said.
Assistant
Vice
Provost
Katrina
Wade-Golden,
who
oversaw the implementation
of the plan, then went on to
describe how the survey was
conducted
and
its
results,
citing the desire to measure
the
“temperature”
of
the
University
of
Michigan’s
campus
climate
and
how
mindsets can be evolved.
“One thing that we know
from social science research
is that you don’t change hearts
and minds by lectures,” Wade-
Golden
said.
“You
change
hearts and minds by (content).”
While Wade-Golden found
some
results
surprising
—
such as the 48 percent of
students
with
disabilities
stating they have experienced
a discriminatory event in the
past 12 months on campus
—
some
students
are
not
surprised with some of the
survey’s conclusions. Public
Policy senior Jordan Sandman
said he was not surprised
with
the
data,
especially
regarding the responses from
underrepresented minorities,
but was surprised with the
overall high satisfaction level
of the University’s efforts.
“I notice that this campus
is
pretty
self-segregated,”
Sandman said. “I think if you
ask a lot of people and really
dug deeper rather than just
having one question where it’s
a percentage of people who
respond that they have an
interaction, if you actually look
at the interactions that occur
day to day that it’s far more
stratified based on race.”
LSA
sophomore
Kendall
Kaiser
said
she
was
not
surprised about the overall
results, but cited her surprise
at
the
individual
racial
statistics and how they may
have changed in response to
regarding recent bias incidents
on campus.
“The problem the University
of
Michigan
has
is
being
prideful
of
an
inclusive
environment,
but
true
progress hasn’t been made in
making this environment more
inclusive,” Kaiser said.
Postdoctoral fellow Austin
McCoy also did not find the
results shocking, but believes
the DEI plan is more long-term
than short-term.
“It sounds like this DEI plan
is a long-term plan,” McCoy
said. “I respect the fact that
the administration is trying to
address these issues over the
long term, but what seems to
be missing is a short-term plan
(in) how we address issues
pertaining to racism or any
other forms of discrimination
for students that are still here
because they are the ones who
are experiencing these sorts
of interactions and these
events.”
Throughout
anti-racist
protests last year, frustrated
students
criticized
planners’
overlooking
of
immediate needs and asked
Why wait until 2025, will I
even be alive?
Wade-Golden
also
briefly
mentioned
an
update regarding Richard
Spencer’s request to speak
at the University.
She said a meeting was
held at University President
Mark Schlissel’s home. LSA
senior Ethan Hong attended
the session with various
student
organizations
and University executive
officers
was
at
the
session,
and
said
he
attended alongside student
organizations and executive
officers. Hong said officials
have not yet come to a
conclusion
regarding
Spencer’s appearance, but
the decision will be released
within the next week.
University spokeswoman
Kim Broekhuizen wrote in
an email statement the meeting
at his house was scheduled
prior to Spencer’s request to
speak on campus.
“No decisions have been
made yet regarding Spencer’s
request to speak on campus,”
Broekhuizen wrote. “This is a
followup meeting to one they
had earlier this year, and was
scheduled before the request
from Spencer’s team arrived to
speak on campus.”
The
controversy
surrounding Spencer coming
to speak on campus follows
after the suit from Spencer’s
tour
organizer
against
Michigan
State
University
for refusing to host the white
nationalist on campus earlier
this year. On Friday, a federal
judge ordered MSU officials
into court mediation to settle
the dispute, ruling that the
school violated free speech
rights
in
what
could
set
precedent for the University’s
decision
on
Spencer.
The
speaker’s
appearances
on
other
campuses,
including
the University of Florida in
September,
have
sparked
large protests and unrest, but
schools from Penn State to
Texas A&M canceled requests
in the aftermath of white
supremacist
rallies
led
by
Spencer in Charlottesville, VA.
passed an ordinance that
forces motorists to yield to
pedestrians
in
crosswalks
as well as those waiting to
cross and has been a source of
controversy since.
Councilmember
Jack
Eaton, D-Ward 4, said he is
planning to bring forward a
proposal which would call
for a review of the ordinance,
as he says Ann Arbor’s streets
are filled with people who
aren’t from Ann Arbor and
are ignorant of the ordinance.
“Nearly 400 citations have
been
issued,”
Eaton
told
Mlive. “We have so many
visitors to this city every day
that we really are expecting
people to know intuitively
apparently about our unique
ordinance, and that causes
me great concern that the
experiment in enforcement
has
shown
how
little
awareness there seems to
be. Another reason to review
the ordinance is the rapidly
advancing
technology
of
autonomous vehicles.”
Ann Arbor resident Kathy
Griswold said she supports
cars stopping for pedestrians,
but has concerns about lights
being out at crosswalks and
intersections.
“I fully support vehicles
stopping
for
pedestrians
within
a
crosswalk,”
Griswold said. “I have grave
concerns about the number
of unlit crosswalks and the
number of streetlights that
are out around Ann Arbor.”
Griswold
added
while
enforcement has improved
the rates of stopping by cars
and thus pedestrian safety,
there are other measures that
need to be taken to improve
safety.
“We
could
significantly
improve
pedestrian
safety
in
our
community
with
consistently
marked
crosswalks,
proper
illumination and enforcement
of stopping for a pedestrian
within
a
crosswalk,”
Griswold said. “What we’re
trying to do is go one step
beyond and have people stop
for pedestrians on the side
of the road and I believe that
is a problem because it is not
consistent with the rest of
literally the world. There’s no
other community that has an
ordinance like Ann Arbor’s.”
Other
council
members
have voiced their support
for the ordinance, including
Julie Grand, D-Ward 3, who
appreciates
the
increased
enforcement at crosswalks.
“As a parent of a child
who has now reached the
age where she is too cool to
walk with parents, otherwise
known as middle school,
I really do appreciate the
increased enforcement and
see the tickets in areas that
we knew were problematic
as a real gain for our city and
the safety of our kids,” Grand
told Mlive. “So I’m pleased to
see this enforcement, which
many of us on council have
asked for, and encourage
residents to be extra careful
now that there are lots of
little
people
and
bigger
people
looking
in
their
phones walking to school.”
Pedestrian
safety
in
crosswalks has been a topic
of discussion for City Council
for years.
In September 2015, City
Council considered Vision
Zero — an initiative endorsed
by
the
city’s
Pedestrian
Safety
and
Task
Force
Committee that strives to
eliminate fatalities or serious
injuries to pedestrians — in
an attempt to address this
issue.
A previous council report
presented
several
policy
proposals
for
pedestrian
safety, including improved
crosswalks and a ban on using
hand-held devices for drivers.
A study conducted in 2015
reported though Ann Arbor
crashes involving pedestrians
represented only 16 percent
of all crashes, pedestrians
account for one-third of the
fatalities
and
one-fourth
of all serious crash-related
injuries.
After a fatal crash last
October
where
Qi-Xuan
“Justin” Tang was struck
by a car and killed while
crossing Fuller Road, some
residents
questioned
why
City Council funding was
deferred
from
pedestrian
safety to downtown projects.
In February, City Council
passed a resolution approving
funding
for
improvements
to this crossing, but local
advocacy
group
A2
Safe
Transport has consistently
expressed
frustration
for
what it claims is slow progress
toward pedestrian safety.
Ramasami
stressed
technology as both a “global
divider and a social leveler.”
As
a
country
develops
technologically,
its
people
will be better served, but this
country will also be set apart
from the others.
The main problem faced by
developing countries, according
to Ramasami, is how to balance
the need for STI with the cost of
creating it.
“That’s the crucial problem,”
Ramasami said. “How much
should we invest?”
Ramasami’s
claim
is
that
resource-intensive
models
of
STI are not sustainable. These
models make it significantly
more difficult for developing
countries because they have
less with which to invest. This
is why lower- and middle-
income countries tend to invest
less in STI and research and
development.
However, Ramasami displayed
how the geography of STI and
R&D investment is changing.
The percentage of investments
that come from high-income
countries is less than it used
to be and the percentage of
investments of low- and middle-
income countries is on the rise.
Developing countries in Asia
are becoming major investors in
R&D, at about 20 percent of total
investments.
Thinking
about
the
investments
of
developing
countries
is
something
something
that
Rackham
student Rachel Wallace was
looking
forward
to
hearing
Ramasami discuss.
“In the sciences we’re often
so siloed in our respective
disciplines and we don’t really
think about the broader context
of our work and so for one the
STPP (science, technology and
public policy) program really
opens you up to that,” she said.
“But then we still largely think
in a U.S. context and bringing
Dr. Ramasami in has really
expanded us to think in a global
context and think about how
the work we do impacts not just
us in the U.S., but also how it
affects social change in other
developing places.”
The next step once a country
has decided to invest in STI
is to decide whether to let
competitiveness or inclusiveness
guide the process. A competitive
method would involve “leapfrog
innovations
for
market
advantages
and
returns
to
investors and innovators” while
a more inclusive method would
involve “incremental and frugal
innovations for public and social
good,” according to Ramasami.
Ramasami also made a case
for
collaboration
between
developing
and
developed
countries. The weaknesses of
developing countries — a lack
of resources, for example — can
be balanced out by developed
countries and vice versa.
“Countries with the ability to
value-maximize and resource-
optimize seem ideal allies for
strategic alliances,” Ramasami
said.
“Countries
with
large
domestic markets could barter
market access for access to
innovations. This would call for
migration from competition to
collaboration.”
Ramasami
used
his
own
country, India, as an example
for how lower-middle-income
countries can invest in STI and
R&D, use an inclusive method,
and have the potential for
strategic partnership with a
more developed country.
India is the only lower-
middle-income
country
to
make the list of top 10 R&D-
investing countries, at number
six. Out of the total 90 percent
of investments of low-income
countries
and
lower-middle-
income countries, India’s share
of
investments
exceeds
89
percent because many nations
cannot afford to expend so much
on R&D.
Ramasami says this is because
India uses a bottom-up approach
that focuses on helping the
people rather than on getting
ahead.
“(The) informal and frugal
innovation sector of India offers
unique strength for leverage
in
the
global
un(served)
and
underserved
markets,”
Ramasami said.
This is the part of his talk that
Public Policy student Sruthi
Gaddipati, who is native to
India, agreed with most.
“In
countries
like
India,
it’s
more
public
investment
in research and development
and
they
focus
on
what’s
economically good for the people
rather than just innovations for
the rich,” Gaddipati said. “The
innovations at the grassroot
level … I’m from India so I’ve
seen that those innovations are
there.”
Ramasami’s closing remarks
echoed that sentiment.
“It
is
not
about
the
expenditure; it’s about the value
it brings to people.”
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, November 7, 2017 — 3A
MATT VAILLIENCOURT/Daily
World War II veteran Art Holtz speaks on a panel with other WWII veterans in the Union Monday.
VETE R ANS MONTH
CITY
From Page 1A
SACUA
From Page 1A
SURVEY
From Page 1A
SCIENCE
From Page 1A
In the sciences
we’re often
so siloed in
our respective
disciplines
I respect the
fact that the
administration
is trying to
address these
issues over the
long term, but
what seems to
be missing is a
short-term plan
MICHAEL BARKSY/Daily
Students and families enjoy a brunch on the Diag with food from Michigan Dining Saturday.
PARE NTS WE E KE ND