University 
of 
Michigan 

Electrical 
Engineering 
and 

Computer Science courses have 
developed extensive waitlists 
due to growing enrollment 
rates, 
graduate 
students 

registering for undergraduate 
classes, and limited numbers of 
faculty — giving students stress 
about being able to complete 
their requirements on time. The 
department’s 
administration 

is working to hire more full-
time faculty and acquire larger 
lecture halls to meet the high 
demand, but have struggled to 
succeed.

Currently, 
the 
EECS 

department is comprised of 143 
faculty, 1,882 undergraduate 
students and 1,094 graduate 
students, 
high 
enrollment 

numbers that have increased 
significantly 
over 
the 
past 

decade. Seth Pettie, professor 
and associate chair of the 
electrical 
engineering 
and 

computer science department, 
confirmed the department is 
aware of the waitlist issues 

affecting 
undergraduate 

students and stated it has 
become a recent problem due to 
the program’s high demand.

“If you look at our enrollment 

numbers, they go up linearly 
and year by year,” Pettie said. 
“They have been going up for 
the last 10 years and of course 
(registration) wasn’t a problem 
10 years ago and things have 
become more acute in the last 
year.”

Just within the Computer 

Science and Engineering major 
of EECS, enrollment has grown 
exponentially within the last 
five years. According to Brian 
Noble, chair of the computer 
science 
and 
engineering 

department, the number of 
undergraduates with declared 
CSE 
majors 
has 
doubled, 

increasing from 748 in Fall 2013 
to 1,457 in Fall 2017.

The 
CSE 
undergraduate 

degrees 
granted 
has 

subsequently increased from 211 
during the 2012-2013 academic 
year to 520 during the 2016-
2017 academic year. However, 
the size of CSE faculty has not 

On Thursday evening, over 

seven hundred delegates, staff 
members and advisors gathered 
together in the University of 
Michigan’s Rackham Auditorium 
for the 31st Model United Nations 
at the University of Michigan 
Conference Opening Ceremony. 
The 
conference 
is 
run 
by 

University undergraduates, and 
offers high school students from 
37 high schools across the country 
an opportunity to deepen their 
understanding of international 
affairs. The keynote speaker 
for the opening ceremony was 
University Regent Ron Weiser, 
and his speech highlighted “the 
good, the bad and the ugly” of the 
United Nations.

Weiser, who also served as the 

U.S. ambassador to Slovakia from 
2001 to 2005, began by discussing 
the history of the United Nations 
in regards to former U.S. President 
Woodrow Wilson’s “Fourteen 
Points” speech, which outlined 
the future of nations committed 
to peace during World War I. He 
also emphasized how the United 
States embodied those points as 
it helped to shape the U.N. after 
World War II.

“The United States, now under 

the leadership of FDR, returned 
to Wilson’s grand strategy — to 
a construction of a rules-based 
order in which the United States 
and other democracies would 
prosper,” Weiser said.

Weiser then discussed the 

universality present in the U.N., 

which he viewed as a double-
edged sword. He explained while 
the inclusiveness of the U.N. 
allows for actions against threats 
— such as sanctions — to be taken, 
it conversely allows countries 
unsolicited uses of the veto power.

“On a strategic level the 

U.N. poses a structural flaw of 
universality 
in 
participation 

because great powers can use 
veto (power) to barter action 
against themselves,” Weiser said. 
“For example, during the Cold 

War, the Soviet Union used the 
veto power 68 times, and the U.S. 
used it 61 times. On the other 
hand, universality is occasionally 
a significant plus, most recently 
the UN Security Council passed 
sanctions against North Korea.”

Weiser 
considered 
other 

positive aspects of the United 
Nations such as the legitimacy 
of the Security Council, the 
strength of technical agencies 
and the United Nations High 
Commissioner on Refugees’ aid 

to over 50 million refugee families 
and more. Weiser also pointed out 
many of the flaws that he viewed as 
the negative elements of the U.N. 
Some of the issues he noted were 
weak performance management 
culture, inadequate resourcing 
and implementation of mandates 
and lack of transparency.

The 
“ugly,” 
according 
to 

Weiser, was visible in the U.N.’s 
lack of investigation into claims 
of sexual misconduct as well 

The University of Michigan 

Residence Halls Association 
gathered on Thursday night 
in Couzens Residence Hall to 
discuss funding for various 
student groups, as well as the 
vacant positions currently on 
their executive board created 
by the unexpected resignations 
of 
two 
members, 
one 
of 

whom cited an unwelcoming 
environment as a motivation. 
The 
assembly 
heard 
from 

a diverse group of student 
representatives from several 
organizations 
on 
campus, 

and voted on new legislation 
regarding 
the 
selection 
of 

residence hall representatives 
for next year.

Speakers 
from 
Omega 

Psi Phi fraternity and the 
Taiwanese American Student 
Association 
(TASA) 
both 

presented 
information 
on 

their respective groups and 
submitted requests for funding 
from RHA. From upcoming 
fundraisers to compensating 
for past expenditures, speakers 
expressed the advantage of 
accruing 
residence 
halls’ 

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Friday, January 12, 2018

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Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail 
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 55
©2018 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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

EECS dept. 
struggles to 
keep up with 
high demand

Beyond the Numbers: ‘U’ suicide 
data can identify campus trends

See EECS, Page 3

CASEY TIN/Daily

ACADEMICS

Waitlists of hundreds have students 
worrying about completing requirements

ALEX COTT

Daly Staff Reporter

Student suicide data helps admin improve mental health resources on campus

Engineering junior Anna Learis 

spends the majority of her time 
on the University of Michigan’s 
North Campus. She says learning 
in a less active environment than 
Central Campus, coupled with 
the difficulty of the engineering 
curriculum, can create a rather 
stressful environment for some 
students.

As a group leader for Wolverine 

Support Network, a participant 
in mental health monologues at 
Active Minds and a student who 
has spoken at local high schools 
about mental health, Learis spends 
a lot of her time advocating for 

improved mental health resources. 
One example of this is two years 
ago when Learis founded Mentality 
Magazine, the first mental health 
publication on any campus in the 
nation. Her experience in working 
with students who may be going 
through mental health issues has 
shown her the large need for on 
campus support systems.

Attention to these issues is part 

of what encouraged the Counseling 
and Psychological Services added 
a Wellness Center on North 
Campus to allow for better access 
to students who may feel isolated 
from mental health resources on 
Central Campus.

Earlier 
this 
month, 
the 

Associated 
Press 
surveyed 

the nation’s 100 largest public 

universities for their annual data 
on student suicides. Out of the four 
universities surveyed within the 
state of Michigan, the University 
was one of three collecting this 
data, along with Michigan State 
University and Grand Valley State 
University, while Central Michigan 
University either does not have 
data or does not regularly collect 
such statistics.

According to Sarah Daniels, 

Associate 
Dean 
of 
Students, 

current records of student suicide 
date 
back 
to 
approximately 

2010, 
however, 
Daniels 
could 

not comment on whether or not 
records exist prior to this. Daniels 
explained that because the Dean 
of Students office does serve as the 
primary contact point for those 

affected by the death of a student, 
the data the University currently 
holds in relation to student suicide 
is a subset of information on all 
student deaths.

“We receive data in a number 

of 
different 
ways 
or 
receive 

information about the death of our 
students in a number of different 
ways and then we provide support 
and care and assistance,” Daniels 
said.

Specific ways the Dean of 

Students office obtains information 
may include notification from the 
Ann Arbor Police Department, a 
family member, or a report filed 
of an incident. Though this data 
isn’t necessarily analyzed by the 
University, it can be used to 

JORDYN BAKER
Daily Staff Reporter

See RESIDENCE, Page 2

Vacancies 
plaguing 
Residence 
Hall Assoc.

CAMPUS LIFE

Citing an unwelcoming 
environment, executive 
resigns during meeting

DANIELLE PASEKOFF

Daily Staff Reporter

JOSHUA HAN/Daily

Ronald Weiser speaks on current pressing issues worldwide including political tensions and problems regarding the 
United Nations at Rackham Auditorium Thursday.

Regent Weiser discusses impact of UN 
at Model United Nations conference

Israel condemnations cited by Weiser as “ugly” aspects of the United Nations

AMARA SHAIKH
Daily Staff Reporter

michigandaily.com

For more stories and coverage, visit

See WEISER, Page 3

See SUICIDE, Page 3

Last Monday, Biomerica Inc. 

announced it would be partnering 
with 
Michigan 
Medicine 
on 

clinical trials for their Irritable 
Bowel 
Syndrome 
Diagnostic 

Guided Therapy.

IBS is a symptom-based disorder 

that may cause pain, constipation 
and bloating in the bowels. The 
syndrome affects between 25 
million and 45 million patients 
in the United States, according 
to the International Foundation 
for Functional Gastrointestinal 
Disorders.

Biomerica’s diagnostic therapy, 

InFoods®, aims to help physicians 
identify certain foods that may 
be removed from a patient’s diet 
to alleviate IBS symptoms and 
discomfort. It may be used with 
drugs currently on the market 
because it is not considered a drug, 
but rather a form of therapy.

According to Dr. William Chey, 

director of medical services for the 
Michigan Bowel Control Program 
at Michigan Medicine, since IBS is 
a syndrome, not a disease, it could 
potentially be managed with this 
therapy.

“(IBS 
is) 
defined 
by 

See MEDICINE, Page 2

Michigan 
Medicine 
conducts 
IBS study

RESEARCH

Partners with BioAmerica 
on controlled clinical trial, 
new diagnostic therapy 

KATE JENKINS
Daily Staff Reporter

