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