adults destroy our village and 
our country,” Kayongo said. “I 
wondered who are these people, 
when do you become an adult 
who destroys an environment 
in which people must exist. So 
for me, adults were the most 
untrustworthy people you could 
ever meet.”

Eventually, Kayongo’s family 

fled to Kenya as refugees fleeing 
the civil war in Uganda. After 
receiving a scholarship to attend 
Tufts University, Kayongo moved 
to Philadelphia, which became 
the birthplace of his idea for the 
Global Soap Program. Kayongo 
remembered staying in a hotel 
upon his arrival to the U.S, and 
his surprise upon discovering 
800 million bars of used hotel 
soap are thrown away each year.

“Can you imagine delivering 

children as a refugee woman 
and the midwife goes in to 
deliver your child and doesn’t 
wash her hands and leaves you 
with a germ that kills you in two 

weeks?” Kayongo said. “It’s called 
childbed fever. Yet here we are 
in this country with 2 million 
dead children every year to lower 
respiratory disease.”

Kayongo then went on to 

offer 
important 
lessons 
he 

learned while developing the 
Global Soap Project including 
leadership, service, and business. 
He 
explained 
the 
value 
of 

observation, valuing each person 
and their contributions and how 
true leaders are born through 
service.

“A human being who walks 

around 
arrogant, 
and 
they 

assume they know everything 
… They lie because they have 
never been at the ground level 
to understand that housekeeper 
mama, they’ve never been at the 
ground level to see that refugee 
child,” Kayongo said.

He 
also 
tied 
his 
own 

experience to University students 
and explained the importance 
of believing in one another to 
succeed as a unit.

“Remember 
as 
you 
go 

out and finish school here at 
the 
University 
of 
Michigan, 

that the only way this school 
becomes permanent in its status 
intellectually … is if you have faith 
in all of us to be part of the story,” 
Kayongo said.

Kinesiology 
and 
Business 

senior Abigail Ruch said she 
resonated 
with 
Kayongo’s 

message 
and 
explained 
she 

appreciated how he was able to 
make his experiences relatable to 
the audience.

“It was really valuable that he 

catered his speech to students,” 
Ruch said. “We have a lot of 
speakers who come in here 
and kind of talk about their 
experiences 
but 
don’t 
really 

understand how they’re going to 
connect it back to their audience. 
I think for him, it was really smart 
not to make himself like a hero 
but make him seem relatable, and 
be like anyone can do this, anyone 
can achieve this.”

Ruch 
also 
discussed 
the 

relationship between Kayongo’s 
efforts and Delta Gamma’s values, 
especially in regards to spending 
time with those in vulnerable 
communities. 

“We’re 
really 
focused 
on 

actually giving our time,” Ruch 
said. “(Delta Gamma is) not 
focused on giving money, and 
that’s a valuable cause, don’t get 
me wrong. I think it’s great that 
we have so many chapters here 
on campus who focus on raising 
money and giving it to a good 
cause. For me, I think the value is 
in going out and doing things and 
meeting people because you’ll 
learn things you’ve never learned 
before.”

Ira shared Ruch’s sentiments 

and discussed how many people 
on the University’s campus can 
relate to what Kayongo had to 
say.

“I really liked his message 

especially that all good leaders 
have engaged in service before,” 
Ira said. “I think all aspects 
of his talk are something that 
every Michigan student can 
take throughout the rest of 
their career here and whatever 
career or passions they pursue 
post-graduation. I think what 
he said about being a leader, an 
active and engaged leader, in 
everything you do with a service 
mindset is so important.”

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Thursday, March 13, 2018 — 3

SACUA

DARBY STIPE/Daily

Senate Advisory Committee on Univeristy Affairs Chair Robert Ortega discusses campus programs and faculty responsibility at the SACUA meeting 
at the Fleming Administration Building Monday.

State Sen. Margaret O’Brien, 

R-Kalamazoo, 
is 
the 
lead 

sponsor of the bills. She said in 
a statement these are “much-
needed protections.”

“It is important that our 

laws protect those who are 
most vulnerable, including our 

children,” O’Brien said. “This 
legislation would put fear into the 
heart of any possible perpetrator. 
Justice must be served.”

The bills would also allow 

victims of childhood sexual abuse 
to remain publicly anonymous 
when bringing a claim in the 
Michigan Court of Claims and 
increase reporting requirements 
for college employees and youth 
sports coaches, making them 
mandatory reporters of child 

abuse. Failing to report could 
result in a felony of up to two 
years imprisonment and/or up to 
a $5,000 fine.

An analysis of the legislation 

by the nonpartisan Senate Fiscal 
Agency said the financial impact 
would be “indeterminate.”

O’Brien told the Associated 

Press 
the 
pushback 
is 

“not 
surprising 
but 
very 

disappointing.”

“I don’t understand what a 

delay would do except delay 
justice, or maybe the hope is to 
stop it entirely,” O’Brien said.

LSA 
freshman 
Morgan 

McCaul was sexually assaulted 
by Nassar when she was 12. On 
Twitter, she berated MASU’s 
request to delay a vote on the bills.

“I am ASHAMED to attend 

a public university in this state,” 
she wrote. “How much is a child 
worth? They’ve just given their 
answer.”

populations 
such 
as 
racial 

minorities, women and members 
of the LGBTQ community.

After 
the 
University 
of 

Michigan 
Substance 
Abuse 

Research Center closed in 2016, 
there was a need for a new 
interdisciplinary 
center 
for 

substance use research. Boyd 
then conceptualized the DASH 
center.

In particular, Boyd said she is 

interested in the intersections 
between 
drug 
misuse 
and 

minority 
populations 
and 

believes that the center can work 
toward mitigating these issues.

“Sexual, ethnic and gender 

minorities, 
adolescents, 

pregnant women, veterans and 
the elderly are at highest risk 
for the negative consequences 
of substance use, including HIV, 
injury, birth defects, suicide, 
cancer, and liver disease,” she 
wrote in an email interview. 
“These 
at-risk 
populations 

are the primary focus of the 
DASH 
Center 
scholars; 
we 
 

are 
faculty 
committed 

to 
advancing 
knowledge 

of 
substance 
use 
and 
its 

consequences 
through 

pioneering 
scholarship, 

evidence-based 
prevention, 

innovative clinical training and 
timely public policy and service.”

Stephen Strobbe, a clinical 

associate 
professor 
at 
the 

Nursing School, is a researcher 
affiliated with DASH. He said 
his interest lies in integrating 
substance use screening and 
youth psychiatric care. Strobbe 
is working on a clinical initiative 
supported by a grant from the 
Flinn Foundation to educate and 
train clinicians in adolescent 
psychiatric care.

“The plan is to train members, 

across disciplines from the entire 
clinical team … toward youth 
ages 14 to 18 who are receiving 
inpatient psychiatric care,” he 
wrote in an email interview. 
“Across the lifespan, individuals 
with mental health disorders 
are 
at 
markedly 
increased 
 

risk for lifetime and concurrent 
substance 
use 
and 
related 

disorders, 
which 
otherwise 

complicates care, and leads to 
poorer 
treatment 
outcomes. 
 

Our 
hope 
is 
that 
earlier 

identification, 
intervention, 

and treatment may help to 
reduce 
or 
eliminate 
some 
 

(of) these potentially avoidable 
complications, 
leading 
to 

improved outcomes.”

Strobbe 
emphasized 
the 

DASH center is a good place for 
this initiative to happen.

“The 
DASH 
initiative 

allows for robust collaboration 
across 
disciplines 
to 
better 

address issues related to social 

determinants, 
risk 
factors, 

clinical care, and recovery,” he 
wrote.

Yasamin 
Kusunoki, 
an 

assistant 
professor 
in 
the 

Department 
of 
Systems, 

Populations 
and 
Leadership, 

works for the new DASH center. 
Kusunoki explains why taking an 
interdisciplinary look at health 
and substance use is crucial.

“It is important to have a 

variety of voices at the table in 
order to most effectively and 
creatively address these issues,” 
she wrote in an email interview. 
“Individuals 
are 
embedded 

in 
multiple 
interdependent 

social contexts, such as their 
intimate relationships, families, 
and communities, that have 
both short-term and long-term 
consequences for their health. 
Therefore, 
it 
is 
important 

that researchers continue to 
investigate 
the 
connection 

between 
social 
factors 
and 

health.”

Similarly, the Addiction Center 

conducts 
multidisciplinary 

research 
on 
vulnerable 

populations such as adolescents, 
pregnant women, older adults 
and veterans.

Angela Galka, an assistant 

to the director of the Addiction 
Center, outlined one of the 
Addiction Center’s major goals: 
Examining 
root 
causes 
of 

substance misuse.

“Specifically, 
one 
of 
our 

major research themes focuses 
on 
the 
identification 
of 

genetic, 
neuropsychological, 

and psychosocial factors that 
contribute to alcohol and drug 
use and/or disorders,” Galka 
said.

Boyd 
explained 
DASH 

offers 
a 
new 
perspective 

as a center because of its 
unique combination of faculty 
 

members. 
Boyd 
herself 
is 
 

also a professor of Women’s 
Studies. 

“As a director of DASH faculty 

I bring together faculty that 
focus on vulnerable populations 
such as sexual minorities and 
youth,” she wrote.

DASH is working toward its 

three-year goals: Establishing 
strong 
connections 
with 

researchers who share in their 
mission 
and 
establishing 
a 

mentorship 
program 
in 
the 

Nursing School. The mentees 
would consist of undergraduates, 
graduates, post-doctorates and 
faculty interested in becoming 
scholars of substance use.

As Boyd looks further into 

the future, she envisions greater 
training in the field.

“The 
long-term 
goal 
is 

to 
increase 
the 
number 
of 

substance 
use 
scholars 
who 

are also nurses, and to build a 
critical mass of substance use 
scholars in schools of nursing,” 
she wrote.

DASH
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NASSAR
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KAYONGO
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When 
Sandra 
Levitsky, 
an 

associate professor of sociology at 
the University of Michigan, walked 
into a meeting last Thursday, she 
he hadn’t even had her morning 
caffeine yet. She wasn’t expecting 
anything out of the ordinary to 
happen, and she definitely wasn’t 
expecting to be presented with this 
year’s Golden Apple Award.

“It was a surprise,” Levitsky said. 

“I, unfortunately, had not had my 
first hit of caffeine so I was trying 
to process why all of these people 
were walking into my meeting 
from all different parts of my 
professional life. It’s one thing to 
sort of hear the news in the abstract 
and it’s another to actually look 
in the faces of your students. That 
makes it all the more special … This 
is the award that nobody expects! It 

feels impossible.”

Winning the Golden Apple 

Award shows Levitsky not only has 
a love for teaching, but a talent for 
it, too. The honor is the University’s 
only 
student-selected 
faculty 

award, and for the past 28 years, 
professors and lecturers have been 
nominated by their students for 
the prestigious award. This year, 
Levitsky was chosen out of a pool of 
almost 700 nominees.

While in college herself, Levitsky 

didn’t want to go into teaching. She 
comes from a family of teachers, and 
said she “fought the teaching gene” 
by going to law school. But much 
to her chagrin, she found herself 
drawn 
towards 
the 
discipline 

anyway.

“About halfway through law 

school, I had won a best brief 
competition, and the dean asked 
me if I would teach the first year 
legal writing class,” she said. “It’s 
supposed to be a really boring class 

but it was my first opportunity to 
sort of stand up in front of a class 
and teach material and I found it to 
be exhilarating. I found that this is 
a value my family has had for a long 
time, and no matter how much I 
ignored it, I had it too.”

LSA sophomore Ellie Benson, 

marketing chair for the Golden 
Apple Award selection committee, 
said the group chooses a winner 
based 
on 
both 
quality 
and 

quantity of nominations. This 
year, Levitsky’s nominations were 
clear stand-outs, and Benson said 
students’ enthusiasm for Levitsky 
came across as clearly as Levitsky’s 
enthusiasm for her students and her 
subject.

“A lot of times we see stuff about 

how passionate people are about 
these professors and how this is 
much more than a class to them,” 
she said. “But one of the things 
I thought was really interesting 
(about Levitsky’s nominations) was 

how they thought her lectures were 
like a TED talk and how fun they 
were, and how she’s really good at 
connecting class topics to things 
that are going on right now.”

Though the award is student-

selected, Levitsky’s colleagues also 
hold her in high regard. Sociology 
Department Chair Karin Martin, 
a sociology professor, said in a 
University press release Levitsky 
has worked hard to make her 
classes as inclusive as possible 
for 
students, 
especially 
those 

who are first-generation college 
 

students.

“She’s 
a 
really 
passionate 

teacher,” Martin said. “She has a lot 
of respect for students and thinks 
students deserve the best education 
that this university can give them. 
And I think she really cares about 
students as people — individuals 
with goals and aspirations of their 
own as well as whatever it is she 
wants to teach them.” 

Indeed, LSA junior Kia Schwert, 

a first-generation college student, 
sees Levitsky as a major source of 
inspiration.

“I just want to say having 

you as a professor at my first 
 

semester here at the University as 
a first-generation college student, 
 

and you making yourself apparent 
that you can be a resource here and 
help make a place like this accessible 
to me has inspired me and keeps me 
going,” Schwert told Levitsky at the 
initial award presentation.

The award is presented through 

the University’s Hillel, and was 
inspired by teacher Rabbi Eliezer 
ben Hurkanos, who taught that 
everyone should “get your life 
in order one day before you 
die.” In the spirit of Rabbi ben 
 

Hyrkanos, 
each 
winner 
of 

the 
Golden 
Apple 
gets 
the 
 

opportunity to give their Last 
Lecture — the lecture they would 
want to give if it were the last of 

their career.

Levitsky hasn’t yet decided on a 

theme for her talk. She joked that 
she’s been glad in the past to not 
win the award because of the stress 
coming up with the perfect Last 
Lecture would entail.

“When I first heard about 

this award when I came to the 
University as a postdoc 10 years ago 
and I heard about the last lecture 
part, I thought ‘Oh thank god I’ll 
never win that award, that seems 
impossible!’ and now the universe 
has come around to haunt me!’” 
Levitsky said. “So I don’t know what 
(my topic) will be … But usually, the 
process of inspiration is a solitary 
one so I’m sure it’ll come.”

Nonetheless, Levitsky said she 

feels incredibly honored to have 
won the award, and is excited 
for inspiration to strike. Her Last 
Lecture and official Golden Apple 
Award ceremony will be open to all 
on April 7 at Rackham Auditorium.

28th annual Golden Apple Award given to Sandra Levitsky

The sociology professor was nominated by students for her engaging lectures and ability to connect class topics to current events

MAYA GOLDMAN

Daily News Editor

Resource Management Plan.

Amid discussions of higher 

water rates, Tom Crawford, chief 
financial officer of Ann Arbor, 
discussed capital financing.

Crawford explained the capital 

financing policy as “(a) sinking 
fund based on prioritization of 

need.”

Financial Services explained 

that a new capital financing policy 
would allow the expenditure to 
follow a steady rate rather than 
causing the budget to go through 
harsh 
spikes 
in 
expenditure 

through wear and tear.

Councilmember Jane Lumm, 

I-Ward 
2, 
expressed 
concern 

regarding the capital financing 
policy.

“Conceptually this makes sense, 

but its obviously expensive up 
front to prefund all of this,” Lumm 
said. “Where will this money 
come from?”

During the budget proposal, 

Financial Services also discussed 
increasing expenditure for street 
lighting. Following the capital 
financing policy, they proposed 
increasing 
the 
street 
lighting 

budget by $295,000 to $595,000. 
 

With this new budget, City 
Council could install about 30 new 
streetlights a year.

Financial Services also proposed 

using proceeds from the mental 
health millage for pedestrian 
safety — including street lighting 
and electronic speed limit signs 
near schools — as well as climate 
action and affordable housing.

While the budget addressed 

issues with city hall security, street 

lighting, and police transparency, 
Crawford also addressed future 
issues for the city such as medical 
marijuana, 
increasing 
parking 

meter enforcement hours, the 
Solid Waste Fund, as well as the 
financial needs of a community 
policing board.

During the special session, 

which followed the budget meeting, 
City Council passed an improved 
contract of compensation for City 

Administrator Howard Lazarus, 
following a positive performance 
review. The council agreed to a 4 
percent raise to Lazarus’ current 
salary of $215,000 to an annual 
salary of $223,600, effective Jan. 
1, 2018.

COUNCIL
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Read more at 
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