Robert 
Ortega, 
chair 

of 
the 
Senate 
Advisory 

Committee 
on 
University 

Affairs, 
opened 
Monday’s 

meeting by alerting members 
of the groundbreaking of the 
new 
Trotter 
Multicultural 

Center and the release of the 
diversity, equity and inclusion 
survey results.

The climate survey found 

1 in 5 University of Michigan 
students 
experienced 
a 

discriminatory event during 
the past year, even though 
the large majority of students 
— 72 percent — reported 
satisfaction with the current 
campus climate.

Ortega began the meeting 

by asking members to think 
deeply about the findings of 
the survey.

“There’s 
important 

differences that we ought 
to be taking a look at and 
thinking about what they 
mean in terms of some of the 
views that could easily get 
masked if we’re not thinking 
about those different voices,” 
Ortega said.

Some 
members 

questioned 
the 
survey’s 

representativeness. 
SACUA 

member 
Neil 
Marsh 
said 

the 
survey’s 
randomness 

was 
questionable 
because 

respondents had to choose to 
respond.

“Ninety-three 
percent 

of 
the 
respondents 
are 

heterosexual; 
slightly 
over 

half are male,” Ortega said.

Other members, such as 

mechanical 
engineering 

professor 
Bill 
Schultz, 

expressed concerns over the 
survey’s length and scope.

“Some of it was definitely 

repetitive, I think just to see 
if you were paying attention,” 

Schultz said.

Schultz added the survey 

was advertised to take 20 
minutes, but actually took 
some people about 50 minutes. 
He then prompted meeting 
attendees to raise their hands 
if they got a survey.

Members 
were 
also 

confused why data collected 
in Fall of 2016 was being 

published over a year later. 

The Office of Diversity, 

Equity and Inclusion recently 
announced a new upcoming 
survey of 5,000 librarians, 
curators, 
postdoctoral 

fellows and house officers at 
Michigan Medicine. This will 
be similar to the prior climate 
surveys sent to students and 

University 
Council 
met 

Monday 
evening 
for 
its 

biweekly 
meeting 
in 
the 

Michigan Union, discussing 
the possibility of a resolution 
to support and provide a 
greater 
awareness 
toward 

student caregivers, as well as 
other topics such as Central 
Student Government’s meeting 
Tuesday on the Diag and this 
week’s Diversity, Equity and 
Inclusion summit.

Business 
senior 
Grace 

Nasr proposed an idea for the 
resolution to raise awareness 
of 
student 
caregivers 
— 

students who have children on 
campus — specifically through 
modifying syllabus language.

“We’re just hoping to plant 

the seeds for change so that 
maybe one day this can be 
implemented 
in 
syllabus 

language … whether it be 
through the language we have 
presented, or something else, 
for nontraditional students,” 
she said. “It’s just something 
to kind of get the ball rolling, 
whether it be passing this 

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tuesday, November 7, 2017

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Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail 
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 25
©2017 The Michigan Daily

N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

CL A S S I F I E DS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 B

See COUNCIL, Page 2A

‘U’ Council 
discusses
caregiver
resolution

STUDENT GOVERNMENT

Council met to provide 
sense of awareness for 
students with children

JORDYN BAKER
Daily Staff Reporter

ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily

Sami Malek, Senate Assembly member, discusses the results of the DEI survey at the Fleming Building Monday.

SACUA body discusses DEI results, 
groundbreaking of new Trotter Center

SACUA members discuss survey methods and lack of diversity in respondents

AARON DALAL
Daily Staff Reporter

michigandaily.com

For more stories and coverage, visit

See SACUA, Page 3A

The results of Ann Arbor’s 

Changing 
Driver 
Behavior 

Study were released Monday. 
The 
study, 
geared 
toward 

pedestrian safety and local 
drivers, showed a doubling 
in 
stopping 
at 
crosswalks 

with increased enforcement 
from the Ann Arbor Police 
Department.

The study began in June 

with increased enforcement 
at 
crosswalks 
on 
major 

commuting routes in Ann 
Arbor and ended the last week 
of October. Through the course 
of the study, officers stopped 
hundreds 
of 
drivers 
and 

issued failure-to-yield tickets 
and warnings. The Changing 
Driver Behavior Study says the 
final round of the study will 
start on November 7.

At the targeted crosswalks, 

the 
rate 
of 
stopping 
for 

pedestrians 
went 
from 
27 

percent to 58 percent. At the 
sites where no enforcement 
took place, stopping rates went 
from 37 percent to 49 percent. 

In 
2011, 
Ann 
Arbor 

See CITY, Page 3A

Pedestrian
crosswalks
priority for
A2 citizens

ANN ARBOR

Enforcement increased at 
targeted crosswalks, with 
nearly 400 citations issued

COLIN BERESFORD

Daily Staff Reporter

Office of Diversity, Equity and 
Inclusion reveals survey results

ALICE LIU/Daily

Dr. Katrina Wade-Golden, from the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, presents data from the Student Climate Survey at the Union Monday.

Survey was conducted to measure the “temperature” of campus, assistant vice provost says

Time to Dance

The Michigan women’s bas-
ketball team may have won 
the WNIT last year, but its 
sights are set on the NCAA 

Tournament this season.

» Page 1B

As a kickoff to its week of 

summit events, marking one 
year since the launch of the 
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 
plan, the Office of Diversity, 

Equity and Inclusion debriefed 
results of its sample climate 
survey Monday to the student 
body at the Michigan Union. 
The event also allowed for 
dialogue 
between 
students, 

faculty, staff and the U-M 
Survey 
Research 
Center 

and SoundRocket team who 

conducted the survey. About 
20 students, faculty and staff 
attended.

The meeting began with 

Robert Sellers, the vice provost 
for equity and inclusion, who 
discussed the purpose of the 
survey and its significance to 
the DEI initiative.

“In this day of alternative 

facts, where facts have lost 
a little bit of its value, we 
feel strongly that what we 
are attempting to do needs 
to be based on the very best 
(measurements) at hand, and 
we also need to find ways to 

RACHEL CUNNINGHAM

Daily Staff Reporter

See SURVEY, Page 3A

Science, 
technology 

and 
innovation 
are 
well-

established and prioritized 
in 
developed 
countries 

and 
have 
often 
been 

highlighted 
through 

research 
and 
the 
work 

academic institutions. But 
on Monday, Thirumalachari 
Ramasami, former secretary 
of science and technology 
for India, spoke about the 
role of science, technology 
and 
innovation 
policy 
in 

developing countries.

Ramasami 
began 
his 

presentation — which was 

a part of the Ford School of 
Public Policy’s Policy Talks 
series — by discussing the 
perceived roles of science, 
technology and innovation 
in developmental economies 
and national prosperity. He 
explained that countries that 
have the greatest need for 
STI have fewer resources to 
invest in it, and developments 
in STI could help the people 
in developing countries the 
most.

“The resources available 

for the developing economies 
to invest in the STI are not 
properly 
matching 
with 

the needs that they have,” 
Ramasami said.

Former Sec. 
of Science of 
India talks 
innovation

See SCIENCE, Page 3A

CAMPUS LIFE

Thirumalachari Ramasami discussed 
tech growth in developing countries

ABBY MURO

For the Daily

