director Kurt Svoboda offered
the following statement:
“We
learned
about
an
incident with Mr. Vetere on
Oct. 10 and suspended him
that day. He resigned from his
position on Oct. 15 during our
disciplinary review process.”
Svoboda said he “can not
comment” on the identity of
the 18-year-old student.
Vetere did not respond to
a request for comment at the
time of publication.
Vetere was hired as an
assistant coach in 2017 and
was a former gymnast at
Michigan,
graduating
in
2003. A 10-time NCAA All-
American, he was a member
of the 1999 team that won the
national championship and
served as an assistant coach
for the men’s team for five
seasons, from 2005-09.
Previously, Vetere worked
with the women’s team at its
summer camps for six years
prior to his hiring.
Ethan
Sears
and
Max
Marcovitch also contributed
to the reporting of this story.
This is a developing story.
Check back at michigandaily.
com for more details.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, October 24, 2018 — 3A
He resigned from
his position on
Oct. 15 during
our disciplinary
review process
enough resources so that they
are not starving.”
Engineering
sophomore
Tony Xavier was unanimously
confirmed to the International
Student Assembly seat. Before
his confirmation, he discussed
specific
issues
relating
to
international students that he
hopes to address.
“For international students,
there is one thing that University
of
Michigan
completely
neglects,” Xavier said. “There
is no financial aid giving to
international students.”
He went on to say many of the
reasons the University does not
offer aid is due to a stereotype
of
international
students
being wealthy. Xavier said the
stereotype does not apply to
him or other people he knew in
India.
“There were three of my
classmates back in India who
could not come to the University
because they found out the
tuition was too expensive,”
Xavier said.
After the CSG town hall
meeting next Monday, CSG
will
release
their
survey
and guide for housing lease
managing guide. This is an
effort
to
compile
lists
to
pinpoint landlord reliability and
housing prices are accessible to
University students.
Engineering senior Michael
Nwansi
proposed
student
organizations
receiving
funding from CSG to apply for
compostable dining material.
According
to
Nwansi,
the
Student Sustainability Initiative
spends a lot of money on
advertisements for students to
apply for compostable material.
He thinks the resolution will
help the University’s goal of
reducing landfill waste by 40
percent in 2025.
Public Policy senior Alli Berry
asked
for
CSG
sponsorship
for an event that will bring
one Israeli orthodox Jewish
person and one Palestinian
person to campus to discuss
their experiences and opinions
on the current state of affairs
in Israel. She said she knows it
is a difficult topic to discuss,
but hopes for a challenging
yet respectful event and not a
“kumbaya moment.”
The event comes at a time
when the conflict is on the
minds
of
many
University
students
and
professors,
specifically
in
relation
to
Prof.
John
Cheney-Lippold’s
recent decision to rescind his
recommendation for a student to
a study abroad program in Israel
and the University’s subsequent
sanctions against him. Berry
hopes
the
discussion
helps
foster
questions
about
the
situation, not further divide
campus.
“I think that this event could
potentially leave people with
more questions than they had
coming in, but it’s an initial
conversation,” Berry said. “And
if we don’t sit down to start
these conversations we will
continue to see what we see on
campus which are these isolated
events
hosted
by
multiple
organizations that don’t foster
diversity.”
CSG President Daniel Greene,
a Public Policy senior, also
emphasized how important it
is to promote their Buses to
Ballots initiative, which will aid
students getting to the polls on
Nov. 6.
CSG
From Page 1A
“I was happy to see the large
attendance
numbers,”
White
said. “There have been so few
events like this so far. Seeing that
many people, and not just seeing
those seats being filled with
black people or the white LGBTQ
crowd that comes out for their
events and things. It was good to
see people who aren’t necessarily
part of some marginalized groups
show up, or not visibly a part of it,
which in one sense is a privilege,
to be honest. I really wish that
more faculty came, I really do. But
that’s not on the event, that’s on
the faculty again. But I’m glad that
this is happening on a University
level.”
The dialogue was not mandatory
for every department, although
the
umbrella
organization,
Program in Biomedical Sciences,
did require its members to attend.
Many
attendees
were concerned faculty members
were not required to be in
attendance.
“I’m not as worried about what
another person in my cohort thinks
of me, to a certain extent — yes, as
I am about someone who’s going
to be writing a recommendation
letter for me, someone who
basically my future’s in their
hands, someone who contributes
to my daily happiness, because I
have to interact with every day,”
White said. “That is way more
power. Having this community is
great, but it’s really important for
(faculty members) to figure it out.”
Sherrica Tai, who recently
finished her post-doctoral studies
in
pharmacology,
believes
a
top-down approach is key to
increasing faculty attendance at
diversity dialogues.
“Just like the scenarios that
were put into play, everyone kept
saying it seems to be the victim’s
responsibility to change this,
but it can also be the top-down
approach where their superiors
need to tell the faculty that they
need to attend these trainings,”
Tai said. “I don’t remember seeing
too many of the faculty members
in the session, especially when
they asked. If they were told to
go, if it was mandatory for their
employment here, to participate
in an event like this once a year or
every other year, that would make
a difference. Why am I being the
one educated on this issue, but yet,
faculty are not.”
Rackham student Chiamaka
Ukachukwu, a first-year PIBS
student, thinks dialogue trainings
are
necessary
to
increase
appropriate
conduct
within
workspaces.
“Some of these professors don’t
care, they just don’t,” Ukachukwu
said. “So having them do these
mandatory trainings, if this is
not something you care about or
something that you don’t agree
with, I don’t need you to agree,
I just need you to treat me with
respect. For me, I think one of
the main points is just making
sure there is some sort of action
plan whether you agree with this
and are genuinely interested in
learning how to be a better person,
or this is something you have no
interest in doing, it’s mandatory.
Just don’t touch my hair, don’t talk
about Colored People Time. You
don’t have to agree with, just don’t
do it.”
White emphasized this point,
saying such remarks make it
difficult to concentrate in the
workplace.
“It’s
accountability,”
White
said. “It’s not like, ‘Hey, don’t hurt
our feelings.’ It’s like, ‘You are
making my life harder for me to
get my job done right now.’ I hope
people can be empathetic and not
treat people poorly, but that’s not
apparently the world we live in.
For a morality standpoint, that’s
not enough for scientists.”
Carter believes the issue lies
in
representation
and
thinks
increasing
minority
faculty
members could help mitigate it.
“I think the issue is also
looking at the faculty themselves,”
Carter said. “There are only a
few faculty members of color at
that level. So the bottleneck isn’t
necessarily grad school or even
post-doctoral level. It’s the faculty
level. That’s where the change
needs to happens. If you get more
women. If you get more people
who identify as LGBTQIA. If you
get more people of color. There are
more voices. And you have more
advocacy.”
Rackham
student
Rachael
Baliira said providing financial
incentive
through
grant
funding would increase faculty
participation.
“A huge part of a grant should
be, ‘Have you done this training?’
so that professors get rewarded,”
Baliira said. “Some people, they
only count points and that’s how
they measure success. They need
it to be measurable. For some
PIs
(principal
investigators),
attending these training courses
doesn’t help them or they don’t
think it affects their research.
It’s a waste of time. But if it did
financially affect their research,
they would have to do it.”
Carter said organizations like
the National Institutes of Health
are requiring diversity in research,
which could serve as a solution to
similar problems.
“A lot of funding agencies, like
the NIH, are asking for that now,”
Carter said. “They’re really, really
looking for that. They’re looking
for that in terms of our studies, just
in terms of designing experiments.
You have to do research on both
sexes. And if you’re looking at
social sciences, you have to look
at all gender spectrums as well.
They’re also looking for that
in terms of people of color and
other, as they said, non-dominant
culture. That’s something that’s
also happening. That could be
where that initiative is.”
DIVERSITY
From Page 1A
GYMNASTICS
From Page 1A
happen to our planet, not within
the next century, but within
decades and less if we don’t do
something about climate change,”
Rabhi said.
In 2011, the University of
Michigan
established
a
set
of sustainability goals to achieve
by 2025, chief among them to
reduce
campus
emissions
25
percent below the 2006 level of
680,000 metric tons of carbon
dioxide-equivalent. In 2017, the
University emitted approximately
644,000 metric tons, representing
a decrease of about 5 percent.
LSA senior Carly Rosenberg, a
student studying in the Program
in
the
Environment,
voiced
support of Rabhi’s bill and spoke
on the importance of taking
action at the state level to reduce
harmful environmental impacts
of climate change.
“I support this bill 100 percent,”
Rosenberg said. “At the very least,
I think it’s really important that
he’s bringing in this bill because
it’s calling attention to the fact
that we need to do better and
Michigan could be at the forefront
of renewable energy and reducing
our carbon footprint.”
DTE Energy, serving about 2.2
million customers in southeast
Michigan,
has
also
released
plans to improve upon their own
energy sources. Earlier this year,
the company announced plans
to double their use of renewable
energy over the coming four years
through wind and solar energy.
The company has also proposed
plans to reduce carbon emissions
by 80 percent before 2050, with
the goal of having renewable
sources power 40 percent of its
energy by 2040.
Like Rabhi’s bill, DTE’s plan to
increase use of renewable energy
also has interim targets to meet
their goals. These targets would
reduce emissions by 30 percent
before the late 2020s, 45 percent
by 2030 and 75 percent by 2040.
While Rabhi does expect some
opposition from state energy
companies regarding his proposal
of 100 percent renewable energy,
he also believes the 30-year
timeline to accomplish the goal
will allow companies adequate
time to adjust.
Rabhi explained the current
standards
in
Michigan
have
already set the precedent for
increasing the use of renewable
energy,
and
the
bill
would
continue the practices that are
currently used but would increase
standards to higher percentages.
“There’s already a precedent
and a mechanism in place to force
the utilities to do these types
of increases in terms of their
ratio of alternative energy that’s
generated of the total amount
of energy,” Rabhi said. “The
mechanism would really be the
same that we currently have in
the current system, and it would
just be increasing the percentage
standard … so that there’s sort of
benchmarks and dates by which
the utilities have to improve their
renewable energy standard over
that period of time, which is now
only 32 years.”
Engineering
junior
Nathan
Houghteling, who helped found
the Michigan Energy Club last
year and currently serves as its
vice president, stated he agrees it’s
necessary to set goals to reduce
the impacts of climate change
in the energy industry, and the
energy industry is a place where
this work can be done. However,
he also thinks it is important to
think about the implications of
a 100 percent renewable energy
plan.
“There’s a lot of complexities
involved with renewable energy
that
our
current
grid
isn’t
equipped for,” Houghteling said.
“A lot of it’s the intermittency
of renewable sources, especially
wind
and
solar,
and
to
accommodate
a
100-percent
renewable grid would require a lot
of new technologies. What could
potentially happen is the costs
of these technologies don’t fall
enough over the next thirty years,
is we could see a dramatic spike
in the price of energy per unit for
residential users, for commercial
users, for people across the board
who are trying to buy energy if
we’re trying to go to a 100-percent
renewable grid.”
For Rabhi, the bill is a vision
that sets goals for where the state
and the country should be moving
in terms of renewable energy.
“I wanted to set the goalpost of
where we should be going. I don’t
necessarily support an energy
future that has any CO2 emitting
sources, I think that we should
ultimately have a carbon-free
energy economy, and so I would
like to see a day when Michigan,
and quite frankly our country
and our world, doesn’t have to
use carbon to generate energy,”
Rabhi said. “Instead of passing
legislation or putting forward
legislation that is sort of working
around
the
margins
of
the
problem, I’d like to actually aspire
to something and address the
actual problem.”
When considering the impacts
this bill might have on students,
Rabhi emphasized the effects of
climate change on young people
who currently see the climate
changing and who might, in the
future, witness even more drastic
effects to the environment if steps
aren’t taken soon to reduce global
warming.
Rosenberg agreed and spoke
on the actions the University
is taking to reduce harm to
the
environment.
She
also
highlighted the influence that the
state legislative level could have
on the University in continuing to
improve their environmentally-
friendly decisions and projects.
“I know (the University of)
Michigan has really lofty goals of
becoming renewable and there’s
a huge emphasis on serving
local food in the dining halls
and on campus to reduce carbon
footprints,” Rosenberg said. “I
think it could just be a really
inspiring push for the University
because obviously, they want
to be at the forefront of what’s
happening, and they’re already
doing their part but it could be
even more if the state of Michigan
were to actually implement this
… Long term, it could be really,
really important in mitigating
climate change.”
Houghteling
urged
consideration
of
the
details
that must be taken into account
should a bill such as Rabhi’s
be
implemented.
Specifically,
he spoke on the importance of
ensuring power is transmitted
safely,
efficiently
and
with
a good quality of the power.
Focusing on technologies that
will be necessary for increasing
renewable energy standards will
be vital, he explained.
“I
would
say
with
some
confidence that I don’t think
there’s any grid on the scale
of a state that could handle
100 percent renewable energy
today,” Houghteling said. “Just
technologically it wouldn’t work,
the grid would fail. I think that
looking out towards 2050 there’s a
lot of room for those developments
to be made, but I’m looking at the
technologies.”
Rabhi
further
spoke
on
activism he’s seen around campus
on the issues of climate change
and protecting the environment.
He highlighted the impact this bill
could have on living conditions in
the future.
“It impacts us now and it
impacts us in the future, and
we need to be at the forefront of
advocacy to push for a carbon-
free future,” Rabhi said. “I think it
impacts everybody, and it impacts
our climate, our environment,
and ultimately it impacts each of
our abilities to live on a planet that
continues to be habitable into the
future.”
Pieology, a pizzeria located
at 620 E. Liberty St. in Ann
Arbor, closed Tuesday, Oct.
23.
On the restaurant’s front
door hangs a handwritten
sign
stating,
“due
to
unfortunate
circumstances
beyond
our
control,
this
Pieology location is no longer
open for business.”
University
of
Michigan
student
Jonah
Erlich,
an
Engineering junior who said
he eats at Pieology about
every other week, read the
sign with dismay. He said
he was surprised, and noted
the
mystery
surrounding
“unfortunate circumstances.”
“I was mostly surprised,”
Erlich said. “It kind of sucks,
but I’m mostly just confused.
Unfortunate circumstances is
very vague.”
Pieology’s sudden closing
reminded Erlich of BurgerFi
closing in 2017, as they also
notified customers with a
sign on the door.
“What’s interesting is this
is kind of how BurgerFi shut
down a few years ago,” Erich
said. “It was just kind of
done one day. So I wonder if
there’s some kind of city law
or something.”
This
Pieology
location opened in summer
2015, replacing the former
Borders bookstore. It was
the California-based chain’s
first location in the state
of
Michigan,
preceding
the
opening
of
a
Grand
Rapids location. It’s known
for its customizable pizzas
and salads.
According
to
MLive,
Hughes Properties CEO Ron
Hughes, landlord of 620 E.
Liberty, said Pieology had not
yet given notice of closing as
of Tuesday.
Though Erlich feels sad
about
Pieology’s
sudden
farewell, he is sure he’ll
keep eating delicious pizza
elsewhere.
“There’s a lot of good pizza
in Ann Arbor, so I’m not too
worried,” Erlich said.
ENERGY
From Page 1A
A2 Pieology
closes doors,
reasoning is
unknown
Hand-written sign said restaurant closing
due to “unfortunate circumstances”
ELIZABETH LAWRENCE
Daily Staff Reporter