The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Monday, January 31, 2018 — 3A

DOR AK ON THE DIAG

LSA junior Rachyl Lyons and LSA sophomore Kelly Bertoni, members of the Do Random Acts of Kindness Club, hold signs for “free thumbs up” 
and more on the Diag Tuesday. 

HALEY MCLAUGHLIN/Daily

website about what to do in an 
emergency, such as the “Run, 
Hide, Fight” strategy if an active 
attacker enters campus. DPSS 
also launched a new smartphone 
app in 2017 which provides DPSS 
news and crime alerts.

The 
University 
of 
North 

Carolina at Chapel Hill has been 
criticized for its current alert 
system as well. The university’s 
newspaper published an article 
earlier 
this 
month 
citing 

problems with their notification 
system, AlertCarolina, after an 
alert was sent 45 minutes after an 
explosion near campus.

Currently, all students and 

faculty are automatically signed 
up to receive emergency alerts 
through their University email. 
However, users have to manually 
register for emergency alerts 
to receive texts through the 
Michigan app or as text messages 
on their mobile devices. For text 
alerts, opting-in requires that 
users enter the Wolverine Access 
site online to sign up for alerts. 

However, many students have 

not seen an incentive to download 
either 
Michigan 
or 
DPSS 

application, other than searching 
for dining hall information and 
bus schedules, unlike the Canvas 
app, 
which 
allows 
students 

to 
check 
assignments 
and 

homework for classes.

Kinesiology 
freshman 

Matthew 
Jo, 
a 
West 
Quad 

resident, had been walking with 
his friends to the dorm when 
one of his friends received a text 
message from another resident 
alerting them to the presence of 
a shooter.

“I think the text said, ‘I heard 

there was a shooter in West Quad. 
Are you ok?’” Jo said.

After the incident was reported 

to the police, the Division of 
Public Safety and Security sent 
out a crime alert via email to 
students and faculty about an 
armed robbery in West Quad. 
The crime alert was not sent out 
until 2:00 a.m., hours after the 
robbery had occurred at 10:00 
p.m., according to DPSS.

In a prior statement about the 

robbery, DPSS said they were not 
notified of the incident until 30 
minutes after it occurred. 

DPSS 
spokeswoman 
Diane 

Brown clarified the difference 
between crime alerts, which 
are sent through email, and 
emergency alerts, which can be 
delivered as push notifications 
through the Michigan App or 
optional 
text 
alerts 
through 

Wolverine Access. She explained 
emergency alerts are reserved 
for urgent situations that require 
immediate community action.

“If we have confirmed reports 

of 
some 
kind 
of 
imminent 

emergency, where we believe a 
majority of our campus needs 
to take immediate action for 
their safety, we would issue an 
emergency alert,” Brown said. 
“When I said we need a confirmed 
report, the confirmation doesn’t 
necessarily mean that a police 
officer has gone to that location, 

and said ‘Yes, this is what’s 
happened.’ But we need to have 
something more than someone 
saying, ‘You know I heard this 
sound in the parking structure 
and it sort of sounded like gunfire 
but it could have been a car 
backfiring.’”

Brown 
explained 
there 

was a delay in emailing of the 
crime 
alert 
because 
police 

quickly determinde there was 
no 
imminent 
threat 
to 
the 

community. She also said in the 
West Quad robbery DPSS had 
received reports that the suspects 
had left the building.

“There is a lot of difference 

between 
somebody 
having 

possession of a weapon and 
somebody 
having 
possession 

of a weapon, brandishing it, 
threatening 
people, 
shooting 

people, (and) running around,” 
Brown said.

Jo said he was concerned 

no message from a person of 
authority relayed information to 
students during the West Quad 
incident. He cited the delayed 
crime alerts as a communication 
issue between DPSS and the 
community and suggested that 
DPSS should include on-going or 
developing story alerts.

“I think that was what was 

frustrating for us was not really 
knowing,” Jo said. “I think 
getting that crime alert out while 
something is actually happening 
instead of when it’s already dealt 
with.”

ALERTS
From Page 1A

activist groups to assess their 
goals for the coming year. Below 
are some 

previews of what may be in 

store for 2018.

College Democrats
On campus, the University 

of 
Michigan’s 
chapter 
of 

College Democrats is focusing 
on 
increasing 
student 
and 

community engagement. Public 
Policy junior Lauren Schandevel, 
communications 
director 
for 

the College Democrats, said 
the group hopes to channel the 
political energy left over from 
President 
Donald 
Trump’s 

election into tangible action.

“A lot of people are frustrated, 

angry or concerned about the 
current administration — and 
rightfully so,” Schandevel said. 
“We want to recruit these people 
to knock doors, make calls and 
get involved in ways that can not 
only alleviate some of the stress 
they are experiencing, but also 
make a difference in shaping the 
future of our country.”

The College Democrats are 

aiming to emulate the goals 
and strategies of the national 
Democratic Party, which entails 
mobilizing community members.

“Like 
the 
national 
party, 

we are also shifting our focus 
from a top-down to a more 
bottom-up approach by training 
our members to organize and 
engage with members of the 
community,” Schandevel said.

She 
said 
the 
College 

Democrats’s mobilization efforts 
will be dedicated to ensuring 
Democratic 
candidates 
get 

elected into all levels of office in 
2018 elections. Part of the group’s 
role this year will be to bring 
candidates to campus to discuss 
their campaigns and key issues so 
students can engage in different 
races across Michigan.

Another main goal for the 

College Democrats is to increase 
voter turnout by collaborating 
with 
like-minded 
student 

organizations. 
Schandevel 

said this will involve College 
Democrats 
expanding 
their 

reach 
and 
participating 
in 

campus-wide campaigns like the 
Stop Spencer coalition.

“In 2018, we hope to connect 

with more groups and maintain 
a 
coalition 
of 
progressive 

organizations that can come 
together and mobilize students 
around 
common 
goals,” 

Schandevel said.

 College Republicans
The 
University’s 
chapter 

of College Republicans is also 
looking to get involved with 
the 2018 elections. Engineering 
sophomore 
Lincoln 
Merrill, 

the 
group’s 
communications 

chair, told The Daily in an email 
interview that his organization is 
excited to continue the progress 
made in 2017.

“We will continue to be 

involved in the 2018 midterm 
elections 
and 
hope 
to 
be 

active 
throughout 
the 
year 

trying to help the conservative 
candidates,” 
Merrill 
wrote. 

“Overall, we believe 2018 will 
be a very successful year as we 
continue to build on our positive 

momentum from the past year.”

The 
College 
Republicans 

chapter hopes to continue to 
grow their presence on campus 
by increasing membership and 
hosting events throughout the 
year. They are bringing Charlie 
Kirk, founder of conservative 
education group Turning Point 
USA, to campus in February. A 
conservative 
women’s 
panel, 

which will potentially include 
RNC 
Chair 
Ronna 
Romney 

McDaniel, is being planned for 
later in the spring.

“We want to continue to foster 

good debate on campus and give 
conservative students an outlet 
to express themselves,” Merrill 
wrote. 

 
Congresswoman 
Debbie 

Dingell

U.S. 
Rep 
Debbie 
Dingell, 

D-Ann Arbor, wants 2018 to be 
a year of national conversation 
about critical issues that are 
concerning to the Democratic 
Party. 

“We need to talk about the 

economy and jobs, pensions and 
secure retirement, education and 
student loans, the environment 
and the Great Lakes,” Dingell 
said. “There’s a lot of issues that 
we’ve got to talk about. This 
November’s election will impact 
what happens to those issues.”

Among her personal goals, 

Dingell 
mentions 
improved 

infrastructure in Michigan, net 
neutrality, addressing student 
loans and finding a solution to 
Deferred Action for Childhood 
Arrivals.

Dingell 
emphasized 
her 

passion for increasing access to 
affordable 
quality 
healthcare 

and addressing rising insurance 

premiums and deductibles. In 
Michigan, she wants to make 
sure the automobile industry is 
innovating and thriving.

“I’m committed to working 

with everybody to make sure 
that we stay at the forefront of 
innovation 
and 
technology,” 

Dingell said. “It’s an important 
issue for Michigan. Our state’s 
always 
been 
synonymous 

with the development of the 
automobile.”

She 
mentioned 
the 
SELF 

DRIVE Act as critical for the 
evolving automobile industry. 
Dingell is on the Committee 
on 
Energy 
and 
Commerce, 

which 
unanimously 
passed 

the bipartisan legislation that 
improves the National Highway 
Traffic Safety Administration’s 
ability to apply new safety 
standards 
to 
self-driving 

cars, and clarifies federal and 
state roles regarding the new 
technology.

Dingell also stressed how 

critical student activism is to 
furthering 
the 
Democratic 

Party’s 
goals 
and 
achieving 

political change. She referenced 
how she was a college student 
when 
she 
started 
getting 

involved in politics.

“I got involved when I was in 

college,” Dingell said. “I went 
door to door. I worked phones. I 
cared about issues.”

With the 2018 midterms on the 

horizon, she said student groups 
have the power to increase voter 
turnout and impact election 
results.

lifting 
economic 
sanctions 

placed on Iran did that.

After 
neighboring 
nation 

Iraq managed to hide nuclear 
facilities from the United Nates, 
stricter inspections of countries’ 
nuclear facilities were added to 
the deal. According to Rubin, 
Iran chose to accept — not 
ratify — the treaty, resulting 
in the country receiving new 
technology without increased 
inspections. 

“Whatever you think about 

the deal, we still need to … be 
forward-leaning to deal with 
Iran as the terms of this deal 
start to expire,” Rubin said. 
“It’s going to happen faster than 
many people expect it.”

The talk shifted to protests 

within Iran and how these 
protests 
immediately 
turned 

on Iran’s security forces. The 
focus of the protests centered 
on common complaints, like 
those of Iranian workers, which 

according 
to 
Rubin, 
include 

unpaid 
wages, 
not 
foreign 

politics.

Rubin also mentioned the 

effect of demographics on the 
protests in Iran. He discussed 
how young adults primarily held 
the protests, but as these young 
adults grow older and have 
children, they will be less likely 
to protest out of fear of losing 
their families.

“Different people can think 

in very different ways, and I 
would argue that it is culturally 
arrogant to project our own 
value system onto others and 
assume that other people think 
like us,” Rubin said.

Additionally, 
Rubin 

discussed a bounty the Turkish 
government has placed on him as 
a result of his analysis predicting 
a possible coup in Turkey. After a 
failed coup in 2016, the Turkish 
government issued an arrest 
warrant for Rubin and a bounty 
of 3 million Turkish liras (about 
$800,000).

older posts in order to seem 

more real online.

“(Undergraduates) 
say 
that 

they are embarrassed by these 
old photos but typically they don’t 
delete them because that would be 
inauthentic,” Schoenebeck said.

She closed her portion of the 

panel by concluding that parents 
and children should think of 
themselves together, not separate, 
in terms of social media.

J. Alex Halderman, an electrical 

engineering and computer science 
professor, spoke about how privacy 
and 
security 
work 
together. 

Halderman said he wanted to 
“celebrate some of what technology 
is doing well” instead of focusing 
on the negatives related to privacy.

He discussed the benefits and 

advancements privacy has made 
through encryption.

“It’s never been possible before 

to send a message to the other side 
of the world with a pretty high 
assurance that nobody is going to 
be able to read it,” Halderman said.

Halderman also talked about 

Facebook, saying privacy on the 
medium has improved and is not 
the only problem.

“Many of us like to argue people 

are oversharing,” Halderman said. 
“They also provide very fine grain 
and detailed controls about how 
your information is going to be 
shared.”

Florian Schaub, an assistant 

professor 
in 
the 
School 
of 

Information and an organizer of 

the event, was the final speaker 
of the first panel. Schaub focused 
on asking how people can learn to 
make better privacy decisions.

“People struggle to make good 

privacy decisions,” Schaub said. 
“People 
are 
concerned 
about 

privacy but … don’t even know 
where to start.”

Schaub outlined three potential 

solutions to this decision problem. 
The first solution was to provide 
relevant information to citizens, 
not material manufactured by 
legal professionals, in hopes of 
seeing privacy policies that are 
more concise and understandable. 
The second was to make the 
information 
in 
these 
policies 

easier to be acted upon. His third 
solution was to embed privacy into 
interaction.

After Schaub’s talk, Bermann 

opened the floor to questions 
which brought forth many new 
thoughts on privacy.

In response to a question on why 

Gelman did not include teenagers 
in her study, she said she didn’t 
believe there would be a large 
enough impact on this age range.

“Honestly 
it’s 
because 
we 

couldn’t imagine that by 10 years 
of age kids wouldn’t be (affected) 
by privacy implications of this 
stranger tracking their backpack,” 
Gelman said.

When asked a question on 

the government’s role in privacy 
and security, Halderman said 
he wished the government was 
involved in more elements of 
personal privacy due to their 
breadth of resources.

country,” Caulkins said. “So the cap 
is a lot lower, and usually we don’t 
actually reach the cap that is set.”

President Donald Trump has 

set the ceiling for 2018 to be 45,000 
refugees — a drastic decrease from 
the 110,000 refugee cap enforced 
under the Obama administration 
in 2016.

When 
Pharmacy 
student 

representative Ibtihal Makki asked 
what CSG could do to help MRAP, 
Caulkins responded with “speak 
out, make donations, volunteer, call 
your representatives and educate 
yourself.” 

Sarkar then gave her “State 

of the Campus” address in the 
mode of Trump’s State of the 
Union address Tuesday night. 
The address covered all aspects of 
campus life, including University 
sports, 
financial 
aid, 
campus 

performances, 
sustainability, 

CSG work, sexual assault and 
misconduct 
prevention 
and 

campus climate. After discussing 
the 40 percent increase in reported 
incidents of sexual assault on 
campus in the past year Sarkar said 
the reporting process should put 
more faith in those willing to speak 
out.

“When survivors speak out 

about the pain and abuse they’ve 
faced, believe them,” Sarkar said.

In regards to campus climate, 

Sarkar discussed campus protests 
in response to racist incidents; 
Rackham student Dana Greene 

taking a knee in the Diag, a swastika 
found in the Modern Languages 
Building and the possibility of 
Richard Spencer speaking on 
campus in the near future.

“Marginalized students have 

been dealt blow after blow this 
past year, but not this past year 
alone,” Sarkar said. “It is of utmost 
importance that we do not let these 
forces of evil and hatred divide us 
… And if we stand strong, then the 
state of our campus will remain 
strong.”

During community concerns, 

LSA freshman Elizabeth Larky-
Savin asked CSG to join her 
in 
starting 
an 
informational 

campaign to address issues of 
congestion 
on 
campus 
buses. 

Larky-Savin sent out a survey to 
bus-riders regarding the issues, 
and 82.5 percent of respondents to 
the survey said they have trouble 
fitting on the buses, due to sheer 
congestion or particular students 
taking up too much room. Larky-
Savin requested the assembly aid 
her in teaching students about 
bus etiquette and alternate routes 
they can take to avoid congestion, 
whether that be in an email every 
semester or a video at freshman 
orientation.

CSG Vice President Nadine 

Jawad went on to address the 
recent 
critiques 
the 
Campus 

Affordability Guide has received. 
The guide, released last week, has 
been criticized for not addressing 
true 
affordability 
issues, 
but 

rather suggesting cost-effective 
tips, such as cutting down on 
impulse purchases, that could 
only be utilized by higher-income 
students.

“I hold myself accountable for 

the writing that was submitted 
because I should’ve given a more 
critical lens to the groups that 
were being marginalized in the 
content that we put out,” Jawad 
said. “I think the people that went 
to look in that guide were looking 
for something different than what 
we gave them … The guide was 
in no way intended to address or 
solve issues in the housing market 
process.”

Previously, Jawad posted a 

comment on Facebook in response 
to critics, saying the Guide was the 
product of research on housing 
with the city of Ann Arbor.

“As the director of this guide, and 

as a first-gen student who struggles 
with finances and costs here, this 
is a misrepresentative portrayal of 
two years of compiling research,” 
Jawad wrote. “My advocacy on 
affordable housing started with 
a journey through 15+ meetings 
with Ann Arbor commissioners 
and council members as well 
as several meetings with U-M 
Housing. CSG actually helped 
institute a student advisory board 
to City Council last winter as a 
result of some of this research. 
This guide is a compilation of 
notes, but doesn’t erase the fear 
of prices in an ever-increasingly 
expensive city that doesn’t feel like 
someone like me can fit in or afford. 
SES and inaccessibility to low-
income students isn’t a joke and is 
worthy of more than a string of FB 
comments. 

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

IRAN
From Page 1A

CSG
From Page 1A

PRIVACY
From Page 1A

GOALS
From Page 1A

