“With the climate in the
nation and here locally in
Ann Arbor, we have seen an
increased reporting of these
interpersonal violence crimes,
and we encourage increased
reporting,” Burke said.
CSG also voted to fund
bringing motivational speaker
Brandon Farbstein to campus
for an event titled “Ten Feet
Tall.” Farbstein was diagnosed
with
metatropic
dysplasia,
a rare form of dwarfism, at
age two. Business sophomore
Paul Schmitz worked to bring
Farbstein to the University,
saying his story needed to be
heard.
“He really has a story that
resonates with every single
person, and my goal is to get it
to as many people as possible,”
Schmitz said.
Farbstein speaks about his
experience
with
depression,
cyberbullying and life with
his diagnosis to empower his
audience. This semester, the
University has placed more
of an emphasis on equity and
inclusion of disabled individuals
on campus, creating a new slate
of programming titled Investing
in Ability.
CSG also passed a resolution
to
subsidize
MDining
gift
cards during final exams. The
resolution will provide a total
of 150 cards, each good for one
swipe, distributed over three
days
during
exams.
Public
Policy
senior
Drea
Somers,
co-author of the resolution,
said the gift cards are “strongly
recommended for Pell Grant
students, but any student can
pick it up.” The cards will not
have an effect on financial aid.
At the end of the meeting,
CSG
passed
a
resolution
that
will
require
its
representatives to attend one
event hosted by organizations
representing students of color
each month. LSA senior Cece
Huddleston wrote the resolution
to
serve
underrepresented
voices on campus.
“We are all at this school,
and we are all Wolverines,”
Huddleston said. “I just want
us to get to know people outside
of ourselves so we can truly
represent the school and act the
way we were elected to act.”
Finally, CSG President Daniel
Greene, a Public Policy senior,
read a statement denouncing the
University’s response to sexual
assault
allegations
against
SMTD professor David Daniels.
The council had no objection to
the statement.
“When
the
normal
institutional
processes
fail,
we, as leaders of CSG, have
a responsibility to hold the
University’s
administration
accountable,”
the
statement
read. “We expect the University
to
respond
appropriately
to
allegations
of
sexual
misconduct. We will work to
ensure that they do so.”
new homeowner, an existing
homeowner, you’ve got a lot
of things to attend to, one of
those
being
snow-clearing,
particularly if you live in a
Snowbelt
city,”
Albis
said.
“When it comes to this type
of service, you’re relying on
a workforce that isn’t pretty
business-savvy.
There’s
no
rhyme or reason to how or when
they show up. So even when you
have a contract with them, the
level of transparency is zero.”
Albis designed SnoHub as a
mobile technology solution to an
inefficient industry, comparing
it to services like Airbnb or Uber.
The company first targeted
individuals with trucks and
plows to be contractors, and is
now looking to expand testing
in the Midwest. One of his goals
was to make sure customers
can rely on SnoHub to send
the appropriate workers and
equipment, from students with
shovels to snow plow businesses
with trucks.
“As a contractor, this is part
of your onboarding process,”
Albis said. “You delineate what
type of worker you are. So
whether you’re a snow plower,
shoveler, snow blower, you just
tick that off and you take photos
of whatever types of equipment
you have, upload that to our
backend and we’ll approve.
Customers
can
order
and
specify that they don’t want a
snow plow guy ripping up their
lawn.”
Business sophomore Garrett
Wilson works for SnoHub as
its digital media director. He
said SnoHub is now trying to
recruit more contractors to
supplement the high demand
of homeowners. In particular,
SnoHub is looking for shovelers
to attend to smaller driveways
unable to handle the huge plows
of winter snow vehicles.
“We noticed last year that
a lot of driveways weren’t
exactly fit for a pickup and a
plow a lot of times,” Wilson
told The Daily. “You know,
smaller driveways or smaller
houses, they’re more fit for
just somebody with a shovel.
And additionally, it provides
another way for us to get
contractors to get into the
SnoHub
ecosystem,
people
that maybe are interested in
the concept but don’t exactly
have a pickup and a plow on
them. What we introduced this
year is SnoHub Shoveling. So
say you’re a student, a college
student at Michigan, you can
sign on to the app. It literally
takes five minutes and then
you can accept jobs the same
way that other contractors do.”
Wilson
emphasized
how
easy the app is to navigate, and
how the contractor job can be a
great part-time gig for military
veterans, firefighters or college
students with free time.
“You’ll sign on and you’ll
get job notifications from all
around,” Wilson said. “And you
can just accept the job and walk
to the house or you Uber or you
Bird or whatever you do. All
you do is snap a before picture,
you shovel, you snap an after
picture, you get out of there and
you get paid in three days. So it’s
just another way for us to get
more contractors involved and
to suit customers’ needs better.”
LSA and Business junior
Jennifer Chen thought SnoHub
was an innovative venture,
but
wondered
about
the
sustainability of the business
during summer months when
snow would not be a problem for
homeowners.
“What are you going to
do when there’s no one else
requesting the service?” she
asked.
Albis addressed a similar
concern
of
sustainability,
saying he intends to use the
SnoHub platform to start other
similar ventures.
“I have a pickup truck, but
the utilization of the bed of
that pickup truck is zero in
the spring and the summer,”
Albis said. “So we can use
that, whether it’s to move a
piece of artwork, move a piece
of furniture across town, by
using the same technical stack
that we have right now for
our app in the spring and the
summer.”
Chen
thought
college
students might find SnoHub
attractive, especially as home
renters. She pointed out how
some students already use
similar apps for other day-to-
day services.
“College students are busy
and they don’t want to do it
themselves, or they might not
know the resources on how to
get snow removed efficiently,”
Chen said. “So maybe asking
for the Uber-like service might
be really helpful. And there’s
already a lot of services that
do laundry for them. I think
college
students
are
more
interested in getting other
people to do the work for
them.”
On the other hand, Chen was
unsure about whether or not
the students she knew would
want to work as contractors.
“I think there might be some
interest but it would be a very
minimal amount,” she said.
“Because we’re also college
students, we’re very busy. And
there might be some liability
involved,
like,
we’re
also
college students, we don’t want
to obviously get hurt. And it’s a
very time-consuming business
... So I think it might be
difficult to fit into a student’s
schedule.”
Wilson,
however,
sees
SnoHub and the contractor job
as perfect for college students
needing extra spending money,
and who want to get involved
in the gig economy.
Albis
echoed
Wilson,
highlighting
the
increase
in gig jobs and contractors
in industries. For the snow
removal business, he saw an
opportunity for job creation
for many to work in a field that
doesn’t require a great amount
of skill.
Army. Edie Meeks, another
speaker
at
the
ceremony,
served as an Army nurse in
the Intensive Care Units at a
field hospital in Saigon during
the
Vietnam
War.
Meeks
referred to her patients as “her
boys,” emphasizing the close
connection she shared with the
soldiers.
The event was organized in
to help fundraise and spread
awareness for the creation of
Michigan’s first Fisher House.
Fisher House Foundation is a
nonprofit organization aiming
to
build
large
communal
homes next to military and VA
medical centers for families of
current military personnel and
veterans to stay in at no cost
while their family members are
in the hospital. There are nearly
80 Fisher Houses around the
world, but there are currently
none in Michigan.
Kate Melcher, co-host of the
ceremony and former Apache
helicopter pilot, said her own
personal experiences with a
Fisher House while her husband
was in surgery were what led
her to fight for construction of
more.
“It was my home from the
moment that I crossed that
threshold,” Melcher said. “We
couldn’t do it for the generation
that came back from Vietnam,
but Fisher House Foundation
has been doing this for the
last quarter century and we’re
going to continue it here in
Michigan.”
Fisher House says it will
open its first Michigan location
in Ann Arbor in 2019, with a
second opening shortly later in
Detroit. The organization aims
to raise $20 million for the
construction and management
of these houses.
Several
of
the
speakers
recounted their battles with
post-traumatic stress disorder,
mental health and loss. Army
veteran
Melissa
Raulerson
illustrated how being a member
of
the
military
community
helped her cope with mental
health issues upon discharge,
saying
organizations
like
Fisher House, which facilitate
communal
support
among
military
families,
were
necessary for people like her.
“I went on to lead a small
group of wives called Wives of
Warriors,” Raulerson said. “We
became a family. It was there
that I learned the meaning of
thriving and not just surviving.”
LSA junior Michael Koch said
the event helped to increase
awareness
and
support
for
Fisher Houses in Michigan by
showing people what they were
supporting.
“When you add a face and a
story to a cause, it makes it a lot
more personal,” Koch said.
presents
in
terms
of
giving
Democrats
a
chance
to
win
back
important
positions
at
the state and the federal
level.
Instead
of
focusing
on
discussing
their
platforms
specifically,
these
candidates
all
emphasized
the
importance of actually
getting
out
the
vote.
Several
candidates
mentioned
President
Donald
Trump
won
Michigan by a margin
of 0.3 percent in 2016
— only 2.2 votes per
precinct
could
have
swung the election in the
other direction.
The
University
has
been
urging
students
to
vote
for
months
leading up to Tuesday.
Last
September,
the
University joined the Big
Ten Voting Challenge, a
competition among Big
Ten schools to improve
voter
registration
and
turnout numbers.
Candidates urged the
audience to encourage
everyone they knew to
vote. State Rep. Yousef
Rabhi, D-Ann Arbor, said
his personal experience in
his first campaign in 2010
— which he won by two
votes — showed him no
vote is insignificant.
Public
Policy
senior
Kellie
Lounds,
chair
of
College
Democrats,
cited several other large
campus events that were
geared
toward
getting
students
involved
in
politics and encouraging
them to vote, including
a rally with gubernatorial
candidate
Gretchen
Whitmer early in the year
and a more recent rally
that featured U.S. Sen.
Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
However, when asked
about
the
University’s
role
in
encouraging
students to vote through
initiative such as the Big
Ten
Voting
Challenge,
Lounds
expressed
several
suggestions
based on her experiences
at the University, such
as
canceling
class
so
students can vote without
missing
lectures
or
exams.
“I think the University
does a great job on doing
publicity on whether or
not students should vote,
but I think if they really
wanted students to vote,
they would not have class
on Election Day, they
would tell departments
not to schedule major
exams on Election Day,
they would work with the
city to have more polling
places
on
campus,”
Lounds said. “There are
a lot of structural issues
that the University does
not do a good job of
addressing.”
Central
Student
Government
passed
a
resolution
in
2017
advocating for Election
Day to be a University-
wide
holiday,
but
administrators
have
not acted on such a
suggestion.
Despite
logistical
difficulties,
Lounds
still said she believed
more
students
seem
motivated to vote in this
election than in previous
elections, based in part
due to higher numbers
of absentee ballots that
have already been cast.
As of Monday, the city
clerk’s
office
counted
11,300 voters who turned
in absentee ballots early
in Ann Arbor. Across
the state, the number
of
ballots
issued
and
returned is up by more
than 50 percent from
2014.
“This compares more to
a Presidential Election,”
City
Clerk
Jackie
Beaudry
wrote
in
an email statement to
MLive
Monday.
“We
issued about 15,000 in
2016
and
only
8,000
in 2014. We have had
about 5-10 people in line
waiting for ballots pretty
consistently
since
last
week.”
Rabhi
was
similarly
optimistic
about
the
impact increased voter
turnout could have in
this election, but also
recognized that people
must be committed to
vote.
“Go to bed hopeful …
but with that fire in your
belly still,” Rabhi said.
Ann
Arbor
Mayor
Chris Taylor made a point
to mention Proposal A, an
initiative on Ann Arbor’s
ballot that would prevent
the city from building
a
17-story
commercial
complex
on
a
vacant
lot near the Ann Arbor
District
Library
and
would instead mandate
a city park be built in its
place. Taylor and other
City
Councilmembers
have
opposed
the
proposal in recent weeks,
though
proponents
of the measure push.
Reiterating
a
similar
point
made
by
other
speakers, Taylor targeted
students by connecting
this election to a pertinent
issue for students looking
for affordable housing.
LSA freshman Andrea
Bavikatty said she only
voted for the first time
in
the
primaries
for
the midterm elections,
but explained why she
felt this election was
especially important to
vote in.
“In
2016,
obviously
there
wasn’t
incentive
for people to come out to
the polls, people weren’t
really feeling connected
to the candidates … They
didn’t really care as much
as they do now,” Bavikatti
said.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, November 6, 2018 — 3A
RALLY
From Page 1A
SERVICE
From Page 1A
Chen thought
college students
might find SnoHub
attrative, especially
as home renters.
She pointed out
how some students
already use similar
apps for other day-
to-day services.
“We are all at this
school and we are
all Wolverines. I just
want us to get to
know people outside
of ourselves so we
can truly represent
the school and act
the way we were
elected to act.”
Several of the
speakers recounted
their battles with
post-traumatic stress
disorder, mental
health and loss...
being a member
of the military
community helped
(them) cope with
mental health issues
upon discharge.
SNOW
From Page 1A
CSG
From Page 1A
University
spokespeople
maintain standard procedure
is to defer any reports that
have criminal elements to law
enforcement before beginning
an Title IX investigation
This isn’t the only incident
in which the University has
recently
received
backlash
for unreliable processes of
reporting
sexual
assault.
In October, another Music,
Theatre and Dance School
student told her story of sexual
assault
and
the
stagnant
investigation currently being
conducted by the Office of
Institutional
Equity.
Some
students
reported
waiting
months
for
correspondence
from the University regarding
their case, while others were
still waiting for a response.
“We expect the University
to
respond
appropriately
to
allegations
of
sexual
misconduct,” Greene and Baer
wrote in their statement. “We
will work to ensure that they
do so.”
Greene,
a
Public
Policy
senior, and Izzy Baer, an
LSA junior, ran an executive
campaign last semester that
focused
on
survivors,
and
proposed
an
empowerment
fund
for
the
University’s
Sexual
Assault
Prevention
and
Awareness
Center,
in
addition to the implementation
of a SAPAC Ex-Officio CSG
Representative.
Through
these propositions, CSG would
provide resources to students
on topics such as bystander
intervention
and
survivor
empowerment, according to
the MVision platform.
“In this time when students
and survivors on our campus
may feel like they (sic) voices
are not heard or do not matter,
we want to remind those who
are struggling of the resources
on campus at their disposal
should they choose to seek
help,” CSG Communications
Director Lydia Barry wrote
in an email to The Daily.
“Most importantly, we hope
to provide a voice for students
that view the administration’s
response to this investigation
as inadequate.”
MISCONDUCT
From Page 1A
Look out for Michigan Daily election coverage Tuesday, Nov. 6!