On Monday, The Michigan 

Daily sat down for an interview 
with E. Royster Harper, the 
University of Michigan’s vice 
president of Student Life. During 
a time of national conversations 
surrounding 
many 
important 

and polarizing issues, we asked 
Harper for her take on current 
Greek 
life 
reforms, 
sexual 

assault and misconduct, and free 
speech in the context of white 
supremacist Richard Spencer’s 
possible visit to campus next 
semester.

Greek Life
In November, Greek life at 

the 
University 
of 
Michigan 

experienced a social ban under 
“claims of sexual misconduct 
cases 
involving 
fraternity 

brothers, six incidents of reported 
hazing … multiple allegations of 
drugging members in undisclosed 
fraternity chapters and three 
specific hazing allegations … 
where 
fraternity 
members 

were put in alleged near-death 
situations,” according to fraternity 
leaders at a closed meeting 
attended by The Daily.

After the social ban was 

lifted, an action-oriented model 
for Greek life was established, 
hoping to turn Greek life into 
a less dangerous environment 
for participants. According to E. 
Royster Harper, vice president for 
Student Life, the Dean of Students 

Office, in partnership with the 
Director of Greek life, has been 
taking 
measures 
to 
improve 

community standards such as 
providing 
sexual 
misconduct 

training and implementing a 
position between Greek life and 
the Ginsberg Center.

“We’ve been trying through 

education, through training, a 
little bit of persuasion and then 
some concrete structural changes 
like adding positions, really trying 

to get the community to really 
rethink its culture and recommit 
to a culture that reflects its value,” 
Harper said.

More recently, members of 

Greek life attended a weekend 
retreat, 
Harper 
said, 
where 

topics of social responsibility 
and community values were 
discussed. She explained the 
most important part of the Greek 
life reform process has been to 
establish a partnership with 

students, rather than to regulate 
or direct students.

“The challenge I face is 

that none of us, including the 
Greek community, want the 
things that are unhealthy in the 
community to continue … On 
the other hand, we don’t want 
to talk about the community as 
though there’s nothing good in 
the community,” Harper said. 
“I am both encouraged by their 

Monday, the University of 

Michigan’s 
Senate 
Advisory 

Committee on Undergraduate 
Affairs took their weekly meeting 
to the Medical School to talk 
about academics at the Medical 
School with Carol Bradford, 
the Medical School’s executive 
vice dean for Academic Affairs 
and Michigan Medicine’s Chief 
Academic Officer.

Bradford, 
who 
got 
her 

undergraduate, 
master’s 
and 

medical degrees at the University, 
began by talking to the body 
about what she is doing in her role 
as Vice Dean of Academic Affairs, 
which she began in July 2016.

The previous chair of the 

Otolaryngology 
Department, 

Bradford is one of three executive 
vice deans at the Medical School 
— she is in charge of the school’s 
academic mission, while her 
colleagues control the clinical 
and research sectors of the 
school.

“I view my role as oversight of 

faculty and all learners, which 

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Tuesday, January 30, 2018

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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 65
©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

See SACUA, Page 2

Med dean 
meets with 
SACUA to 
strategize

ACADEMICS

Medical School Vice Dean 
of Academics sits down to 
discuss new wellness plans

MAYA GOLDMAN & 

MOLLY NORRIS
Daily News Editor & 
 Daily Staff Reporter

DARBY STIPE/Daily

E. Royster Harper, Vice President for Student Life, addresses Greek Life and the tensions surrounding the social ban, 
hazing, and the treatment of students of color at the Fleming Administration Building Monday.

VP of Student Life focusing on Greek 
Life, #MeToo and issues of free speech

E. Royster Harper discusses reforms, future of misconduct reporting process

JORDYN BAKER & 
AMARA SHAIKH
Daily Staff Reporters

michigandaily.com

For more stories and coverage, visit

See HARPER, Page 3

In collaboration with Chicago 

and Denver-based Peers Health, 
an organization aiming to reform 
workforce case management and 
help workers get back to their 
jobs after illness or injury, the 
University of Michigan is currently 
working on a two-year research 
project with the goal of optimizing 
health care plans and return-to-
work times for employees on injury 
or sick leave. 

Currently, organizations like 

Peers Health are finding strong 
relationships between a worker’s 
ability to perform their job’s 
duties and their overall well-being 
and health. By improving this 
healthcare 
infrastructure, 
the 

University and Peers Health are 
hoping to increase productivity in 
hospitals, insurance companies, 
offices and more.

According to Brian Denton, 

an Industrial and Operations 
Engineering professor, who is 
one of the principal investigators 
of the project along with Jenna 
Wiens, 
assistant 
professor 

of 
computer 
science 
and 

engineering, the research will 

See INJURY, Page 3

‘U’ assists 
with injury
healthcare 
software

RESEARCH

Return-to-work times 
stand to increase in collab 
with health research center

ALON SAMUEL
Daily Staff Reporter

Through their Community 

Grant Program initiated on 
Jan. 24, rideshare company 
Lyft is supplying $1000 in 
ride credit to nonprofits and 
student organizations in the 
Ann Arbor and Detroit area. 
Beginning in February, the 
ride-share 
company 
will 

choose one organization to 
bestow this grant upon each 
month. With this grant, Lyft 
aims to support the work 
of 
these 
organizations 
by 

helping with transportation 
difficulties.

In a press statement shared 

with The Daily, Lyft stated its 
goal of building relationships 
with groups with important 
missions in the Ann Arbor 
community.

“As an active member of the 

greater Ann Arbor business 
community, Lyft is excited 
to 
continue 
strengthening 

partnerships 
with 
local 

organizations 
that 
are 

doing important work in the 
community,” it states.

Any nonprofit or student 

group from the University of 
Michigan, Eastern Michigan 
University, 
Concordia 

University-Ann 
Arbor 
or 

Washtenaw 
Community 

College is eligible to apply 
for the grant. The application 
process is competitive, and 
will prompt organizations to 
discuss their qualifications, 
including 
their 
mission, 

how they would utilize the 
grant 
and 
how 
they 
use 

transportation.

This is not the first time 

Lyft has supported student 
groups 
at 
the 
University. 

During November of 2017, 
Lyft teamed up with the 
Sexual Assault Prevention and 
Awareness Center to promote 
Better Bystander Month. Lyft 
supplied coupons for $10 off 
any ride between midnight 
and 
6 
a.m. 
and 
SAPAC 

hosted voluntary bystander 
intervention workshops for 
Lyft drivers.

Non-profits 
at University
eligible for 
Lyft grants

MIT professor talks preservation 
of POC history, infrastructure

See LYFT, Page 3

MATT VAILLIENCOURT/Daily

Erica James, a professor of medical anthropology and urban studies at MIT, discusses hauntology and how race and class affect the spectral realm at Tisch Hall 
Monday.

BUSINESS

Student orgs based in A2, Detroit eligible 
for $1000 grants for transportation

ELIZABETH LAWRENCE

Daily Staff Reporter

Erica James grapples with personal Southern ties in monument conservation

Erica 
Caple 
James, 
MIT 

associate professor of medical 
anthropology and urban studies, 
discussed 
the 
importance 

of 
historical 
preservation 
of 

monuments and sites and their 
implications in modern society 
in to more than 50 students and 
faculty Monday afternoon in a talk 
titled “The Matter of Black Lives: 
Hauntology, Infrastructure, and 
the Necropolitics of History in the 

American South.”

James’s talk is part of a 

larger series led by the Science, 
Technology, 
Medicine 
and 

Society Colloquium Series at the 
University of Michigan.

Rackham 
student 
Vicky 

Koski-Karell, an event facilitator, 
introduced James as well as the 
series and its mission for students.

“This 
is 
basically 
an 

opportunity 
to 
bring 
faculty 

from across the country and also 
from within the University that 
are doing work related to the 
study of science, technology and 

society and just highlight their 
research, have a space to try out 
new ideas, and really provide an 
interdisciplinary space where we 
can engage in the advancement of 
knowledge,” Koski-Karell said.

James 
began 
her 
talk 

with a brief summary of the 
theory 
surrounding 
historical 

monuments and sites, discussing 
interconnectedness of race, land 
and infrastructure development. 
She described the concept of 
necropolitics 
and 
hauntology, 

ideas that, according to James, 
explain the power of death and its 

impact on society.

James specifically cited the 

example 
of 
the 
Confederate 

General 
Robert 
E. 
Lee 

monument 
in 
New 
Orleans, 

which was removed last year. 
She said infrastructure in cities 
convey values of a society, both 
symbolically and materially.

“Infrastructure 
projects, 

whether public or private, often 
reveal the social and political 
values of a society, and are 
addressed to the public in ways 
that can manifest the power of the 

KATHERINA SOURINE

Daily Staff Reporter

See MONUMENTS, Page 3

