plans to stay at the University for
10 years before moving on to other
work.
According to Lewis, the Center
will pull students and faculty
“across school and disciplinary
lines” to research current problems
and brainstorm concrete solutions.
The Center for Social Solutions
will
channel
the
University’s
brainpower and resources into
direct action.
“I came to realize that in the
academy, in certain parts of the
academy, we spend a lot of time
both theorizing and studying
problems,” Lewis said. “In other
parts of the academy, we try to
think
about
applications
and
clinical solutions.”
Lewis said he is interested
in “framing the right question,
but also coming up with the best
solution.”
The Center for Social Solutions
will address three key areas of
concern. The first pillar of the
center’s mission is diversity and
race. One project related to race
issues will be the “Our Compelling
Interests” book series, which
Lewis will continue working on at
the University.
“I’m bringing it with me to
Michigan and to the Center,” he
said. “We have published two
books so far to date in partnership
with Princeton University Press.
We have subsequent volumes
already either in development or
poised to come out in the next
year.”
The Center for Social Solutions
will develop other initiatives,
beyond the book series, to address
what Lewis says is “the nation’s
need to think about diversity as an
asset.”
In
addition,
Lewis
hopes
to work through the center to
increase dialogue about the history
and legacy of U.S. slavery.
“What we want to do with the
center is to work with universities,
museums, arts orgs, theatres,
social justice institutions, public
parks, national parks, etc. to begin
to look at that history in a more
integrated fashion,” Lewis said.
“So much about the American
present, even when it’s not stated,
is about that part of the American
past. Slavery looms there in the
shadows, and what we want to do
is actually see if we can’t bring it
out into the spotlight and deal with
it directly.”
The center will also address
issues of water access. Lewis wants
to develop a model for moving
water “from flood-prone areas to
drought-stricken areas.”
“It’s
not
an
engineering
problem, we can actually move
water,” Lewis said. “It’s a fiscal
problem. It’s a regulatory problem.
It’s an environmental problem. It’s
a social problem.”
One
reason
that
water
distribution is a social issue,
says Lewis, is that proximity
to water often correlates with
socioeconomic status.
The final focus area of the
Center for Social Solutions is
the future of work in the face of
increasing
automation.
Lewis
sees new technology as important
and
beneficial,
but
considers
job displacement as a result of
mechanization a serious social
concern.
“My question about the future
of work is this: How do we think
about the dignity of labor in an
automated world?” Lewis said.
The center will conceptualize
ways to make new technology
considerate of human needs.
“I want the center to really
work with the technologists who
are developing these new tools
and these new systems and these
new ways of working to think
about the dignity of labor and how
we craft that into all our design
features,” Lewis said.
The three core interests of
the Center for Social Solutions
are, in Lewis’s opinion, urgent
and challenging problems. Still,
he thinks the center will be
adequately equipped to address
race, water and the future of work.
“These are three projects that I
can imagine, in partnership with
others, that we can solve some
parts of, if not the whole thing,”
Lewis said. “If we’re successful by
any measure it will improve the
common good.”
The idea for the Center for
Social Solutions has been in
the works for quite some time.
In developing his plan, Lewis
reached out to colleagues across
the country, discussing the
feasibility of a Center for Social
Solutions.
Lewis decided to establish the
center in Ann Arbor because of
the University’s many resources
and because of his connection to
the University.
Faculty
members
and
administrators at the University
were
receptive
to
Lewis’s
proposal. President Schlissel,
LSA Dean Andrew Martin and
Provost Martin Philbert have
worked alongside Lewis to pave
the way for the Center for Social
Solutions.
“Earl Lewis is an outstanding
historian and educator, and
we are fortunate that he is
returning to the University of
Michigan,” Dean Martin said
in a press release. “Not only
will he be a strong leader for
the Center for Social Solutions,
but he will provide wisdom and
experience as a faculty member
in LSA’s departments of History
and Afroamerican and African
Studies.”
Over the summer, Lewis will
continue to sort out logistical
and administrative details, such
as hiring staff and acquiring
space on campus.
Lewis has a specific vision for
how the project will unfold. The
Center for Social Solutions will be
organized into “collaboratories,”
or interdisciplinary groups of
people focused on the same
problem. Lewis hopes to get
students involved in the center’s
work as research assistants
and team members. In fact, the
center will eventually offer a
curriculum tied to various social
projects.
Lewis believes the Center
for Social Solutions will be an
impactful way for students to
put the skills they learn in the
classroom to use.
“Imagine yourself being able
to, 10 years from now, say, ‘I
worked on something where we
not only crafted a question, but
we came up with a solution,’”
Lewis said.
A $2,500,000 women’s athletic
building, complete with the long
awaited swimming pool, will be
constructed in the near future, ac-
cording to University officials.
Preliminary plans call for a one
million dollar swimming pool unit
to be built first, Prof. H. O Crisler,
athletic director, revealed. The
exact date for starting the construc-
tion has not been set.
The building will be constructed
on the southeast corner of S. Forest
Ave. anti N. University Ave. The
houses now located on the Univer-
sity property will be moved.
Lester F. Etter, public relations
manager for the athletic depart-
ment, was less certain than Crisler
about plans for the new building.
“I’m not positive of the exact
location of the proposed building,”
Etter said. “Its construction will be
sometime in the future and it’s hard
to say exactly about some details.”
Prof. Crisler said the struc-
ture had been authorized by the
Board of Regents and the Board in
Control of Intercollegiate Athletics.
Three architects, Lee and Kenneth
C. Black of Lansing and Alden Dow
of Midland, are now working on
plans for the building.
“We have funds now for the
pool unit only,” Prof. Crisler said.
“We’ll leave the rest of the project
to be constructed when we get the
money.
“The $1,000,000 available
for the construction of the pool
resulted in part from the profits, of
the University’s intercollegiate ath-
letics program, principally football
receipts,” he explained.
Several student drives through
the years also have added to the
million dollar fund. Outstanding
among these is Michigras which
turned $3,050 into the fund coffers
last spring.
However, Crisler said that they
are going to proceed and draw
plans for the full building. “We
have to look forward to the even-
tual loss through age of Waterman
and Barbour Gymnasiums.”
Tentative plans for the swim-
ming pool unit call for a three-story
building, housing a six lane
pool, 75 by 44 feet and adequate
locker and shower facilities.
“We have considered estimates
that include spectator space
for 300 to 1,500 persons,” Prof..
Margaret Bell, chairman of the
department of physical education
for women, declared.
The remainder of the building
which will be constructed at a later
date will contain two
gymnasiums with enough floor
space to interchange indoor and
outdoor physical education activi-
ties.
Other facilities for the build-
ing would include therapeutic
gymnastic equipment, small games
rooms, classrooms, special facilities
for a teacher education program’,
offices, staff rooms, locker facilities
and a possible laboratory.
The lack of swimming pool
facilities for women has been for a
long time a problem with the wom-
en’s athletic department. Women
have been forced to practice their
aquatic abilities in the Union pool,
I-M. Bldg. pool. or a small tank in
Barbour Gymnasium.
2A —Wednesday, March 7, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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Amid an immigration crisis,
gun control debate and delicate
foreign relations landscape, it
would seem as though President
Donald Trump would not have a
lot of time to tweet.
However,
early
Tuesday
morning Trump defied odds
again, firing up his Twitter
account before dawn. The tweet
was 122 characters mocking an
issue one wouldn’t expect to be at
the top of any presidential agenda:
The TV ratings of the Oscars.
To respond to the growing
presence of social media, even
among
national
leaders,
the
University of Michigan is creating
a new Center for Social Media
Responsibility, which will be
housed within the School of
Information, aiming to explore
the meaning and threats behind
social media, a channel Trump
has utilized as the centerpiece of
his communication strategy.
Information
School
Dean
Thomas Finholt was inspired
by
this
growing
dialogue
surrounding social media and
made the establishment of the
center a priority when he assumed
the position in 2016.
According
to
Finholt,
the
technological
revolution
has
been trailed by the question of
the global impact of mass public
communication.
“From the earliest days of
the
internet,
technologists
envisioned
the
benefits
of
broader access to the means of
public
communication:
social
mobility, resistance to despotism,
universal authorship and open
source software,” Finholt said in a
University press release.
The center will be headed by
one of former President Barack
Obama’s social media managers,
Garlin Gilchrist II. Gilchrist is
a Detroit native who graduated
from the University of Michigan
with degrees in computer science
and computer engineering. His
career both in the White House
and most recently working for
the City of Detroit highlights
his passion for working at the
intersection of technology and
politics.
“Our job is to create tools, and
to use and make our research
usable
to
media
makers,
media consumers to platform
companies, to make sure we
deal with this ongoing threat
of more difficult-to-understand
and potential misinformation,”
Gilchrist said.
The center will be funded
with the internal resources
of the Information School in
addition to financial support
from the Office of the Provost.
SHANNON ORS
Daily Staff Reporter
ON THE DAILY: MAJOR IN SOCIAL MEDIA
SOLUTION
From Page 1A
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