Thanksgiving at Camp David, 
with Chelsea Clinton who gave 
her old stuffed dolls to Gior-
gione’s kids to use, and with 
Laura Bush who loved to play in 
autumn leaves on the lawn.

Jerri 
Jenista, 
a 
hospital 

worker at the Medical School, 
said she enjoyed hearing about 
the presidents’ everyday lives.

“It was nice to hear that the 

presidents were real people, 
they have real lives, their fami-
lies are real people,” she said.

The retreat is necessary, he 

Giorgione says, because of the 
lonely sentry theory, an idea 
he references from his book. 
The theory states a marine will 
patrol alone all night in freezing 
subzero weather because of his 
duty to the country. In his mind, 
the marine is the president.

Giorgione 
discussed 
the 

challenges of being in place of 
responsibility as well as com-

mand, where all eyes are on 
them.

“They don’t really have a 

place to getaway that often but 
maybe this is the one place that 
they can getaway.” he said.

Giorgione also discussed the 

challenges of being a leader, 
whether that is the responsibil-
ity that comes with being the 
commanding officer of Camp 
David 
or 
the 
international 

challenges 
the 
president 
of 

the country faces. That is why 
Camp David is so necessary, he 

said, to offer a tranquil escape.

Though Camp David was 

primarily a retreat for the 
presidents, it has also been the 
grounds for international talks 
and peace treaties. From Presi-
dent Ronald Reagan entertain-
ing 
British 
Prime 
Minister 

Margaret Thatcher to President 
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Brit-
ish Prime Minister Winston 
Churchill smoking cigars and 
discussing how and when the 
U.S. will enter WWII.

“It still comes down to two 

people building human rela-
tionships,” Giorgione said. “You 
have to get face to face. You 
have to get to know each other.”

Giorgione told another story 

from his book, dubbed the 
“infamous horseshoe incident.” 
In 1990, Bush invited Presi-
dent Mikhail Gorbachev of the 
former Soviet Union to Camp 
David, where they then engaged 
in a game of horseshoe tossing.

Bush had always been an avid 

fan competitive games, Gior-
gione said. But, Gorbachev, 

despite not having ever tossed 
a single horseshoe, gets a ringer 
for the first time. 

“It is the little things that 

resonate and stay with you,” he 
said. “It is perfect but natural.” 

work with our partners.” 

The 
dioxane 
plume 
was 

introduced to the groundwater 
after Ann Arbor manufacturer 
Gelman Sciences, now Danaher 
Corp., released the chemical as 
an industrial byproduct into 
an unlined lagoon from 1966 
to 1986. The chemical was able 
to leech into the underlying 
groundwater 
and 
the 

contaminated plume continues 
to spread underground. The 
plume 
was 
first 
reported 

in 1969 and has since spread, 
covering an area more than 
three miles long and a mile 
wide.

As the pollutant progresses 

underground through the Allen 
River and West Park, it moves 
toward the Huron River. and 
possibly 
Barton 
Pond, 
Ann 

Arbor’s 
main 
source 
for 

drinking water.

“Once it’s in West Park, it’s 

pretty easy for it to get to the 
river,” Pratt said. “It’s really 
primarily testing to find out 
if the tip of the plume, which 
is the weakest part, is headed 
towards the park.”

The tip of the plume, as 

estimated by test results, is 
believed to be moving east 
through West Park. Pratt said 
one of the primary aspects the 
tests is looking at is which way 
the plume is heading.

“We are definitely going 

to keep monitoring it and 
making 
sure 
it 
is 
moving 

east and not north because 

if it’s headed north, there’s 
potential it could get upstream 
and head towards the water 
treatment plant,” Pratt said. 
“One of our primary goals is 
to make sure it’s not moving 
 

toward the water treatment 
plant.”

Outside of polluting water, 

the DEQ acknowledges dioxane 
could potentially pose vapor 
intrusion health risks.

The 
Agency 
for 
Toxic 

Substances 
and 
Disease 

Registry explainshumans can 
be exposed to the contaminant 
through both air and direct 
skin contact.

“1,4-Dioxane can be released 

into the air, water, and soil at 
places where it is produced or 
used as a solvent,” the website 
reads.

While dioxane can enter the 

air, skin contact is unlikely and 
usually through substances like 
lotions.

 “Your skin may come into 

contact with 1,4-dioxane when 
you use cosmetics, detergents, 
and 
shampoos 
containing 

1,4-dioxane,” the website reads.

Despite 
potential 
vapor 

intrusion health risks, Pratt 
argues dioxane is not a chemical 
like gasoline, which is can be 
easily separated from water and 
released into the air.

“Dioxane 
is 
not 
a 
good 

thing at any levels, but it is 
not 
absorbed 
through 
the 

skin and the likelihood of the 
chemical entering the air is 
not high,” Pratt said. “From 
my understanding, it is not a 
chemical that wants to break 
free from water. It wants to 
stay in water once it’s in water. 

It does not want to vaporize and 
go into the air.” 

However, Pratt said the DEQ 

will continue to look into vapor 
intrusion risks.

Residents have also expressed 

concern regarding whether the 
polluted groundwater may find 
its way into their basement. 
But Pratt said the residents 
near West Park need not worry, 
 

explaining any flooding the 
residents might experience is 
caused by rainwater, not the 
plume.

“A lot of people are quick to 

tie rain water in the basement to 
the dioxane plume, but the two 
are not correlated,” Pratt said. 
“The houses are substantially 
higher than the ground and 
the ground is a little bit higher 
than the groundwater. The 
groundwater is separated from 
the basements beyond where 
the EPA would even think 
about keeping an eye on it, as 
far as would it possibly get into 
somebody’s 
basement. 
Right 

now, it doesn’t seem possible.”

The 
U.S. 

Environmental 
Protection 

Agency classifies dioxane as 
likely to be carcinogenic to 
humans via water, air and, in 
some cases, direct skin contact. 
The chemical is also linked 
to potential kidney and liver 
damage as well as respiratory 
issues 
through 
long-term 

exposure.

According to the EPA, only a 

few parts per billion of dioxane 
in drinking water over a long 
period of exposure can pose a 1 
in 100,000 cancer risk.

The dioxane levels are well 

below state standards even 

though 
Michigan 
standards 

for dioxane in groundwater 
venting to surface water were 
tightened earlier in the year.

The national advisory for 

dioxane in surface waters 
that 
are 
protected 
as 

drinking water is 3.5 parts 
per billion, while the limit 
for dioxane in surface waters 
that are not protected as 
drinking water sources is 
280 parts per billion. For the 
 

dioxane 
in 
residential 

drinking water, the state’s 
separate limit is 7.2 parts per 
billion. 

Taylor 
emphasized 

dioxane 
has 
never 
been 

found in Ann Arbor drinking 
water.

“It is incredibly important 

that 
we 
understand 
the 

nature of the plume and the 
risks that are associated with 
dioxane,” Taylor said. “It’s 
also important to understand 
that it’s never been found 
in 
Ann 
Arbor 
drinking 

water and that we are doing 
everything we can that folks 
in Ann Arbor remain safe.”

While 
Pratt 
supports 

further testing, he said much 
of the testing for dioxane 
has come up negative and he 
does not currently see the 
pollution as a threat to the 
city.

“There isn’t any threat 

specifically to anybody — 
everybody in the city is on 
wells, but we’d like it cleaned 
up even though that’s not 
what the current legal system 
says (and) the county is in 
court fighting for something 
better.”

The plume is a source of an 

ongoing legal battle against 
Gelman Sciences by Ann Arbor, 
Washtenaw 
County, 
Scio 

Township, The Huron River 

Watershed Council and the 
state.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Thursday, November 29, 2018 — 3

DIOXANE 
From Page 1

Stout also revealed previous 

donor number statistics may 
not be comparable to current 
statistics 
due 
to 
a 
recent 

software change. This year, 
the individual number of gifts 
from donors was calculated, 
whereas in previous years, the 
number of donor transactions 
was calculated. This means 
that there is not a statistic to 
compare the exact number 
of donors from this year to 
previous years. The number 
of gifts does not necessarily 
reflect the number of donors 
because 
some 
donors 
give 

multiple gifts.

All 
three 
University 

campuses 
–– 
Ann 
Arbor, 

Dearborn 
and 
Flint 
–– 

participated in Giving Blueday, 
which 
coincides 
with 
the 

national Giving Tuesday after 

Thanksgiving. Donors could 
choose to direct gifts to various 
funds across the University, a 
specific school or college, or 
student organizations.

The University release also 

reported 
LSA 
received 
the 

most gifts through the Giving 
Blueday 
website 
this 
year, 

while the Michigan Sailing 
Team raised the most money 
out of any student organization 
through the website.

The 
amount 
of 
student 

participation 
in 
Giving 

Blueday 
increased 
for 
the 

fourth straight year, as over 
150 student organizations took 
part.

Dance Marathon raised the 

most money out of any student 
organization 
overall. 
Other 

student orgs such as MUSIC 
Matters and the Health Policy 
Students Association ranked 
in the top 10 organizations to 
increase donors from last year 
by the highest percentages.

The 
Michigan 
Sailing 

Team, 
SAE-Michigan 

Baja Racing and M-Fly all 
received monetary prizes to 
contribute to their cause for 
ranking as the top three student 
orgs to increase donor turnout 
by the highest percentage.

According 
to 
the 
press 

release, first-time donors who 
donated $50 or more to the 
University received an extra 
$50 to donate to the cause of 
their choice. First time student 
donors who donated $25 to U-M 
received an additional $25 to 
give to a fund of their choice.

LSA senior Marina Ross, 

co-chair of The Quito Project, 
spoke about the impact of the 
funds raised during Giving 
Blueday. The Quito Project 
is an organization run by 
University students who work 
in partnership with students 
from the Universidad de San 
Francisco in Quito, Ecuador, 
to hold a free summer camp 

program for Quito children in 
extreme poverty. 

According to Ross, The Quito 

Project raised about $200 on 
Giving Blueday in 2017. This 
year, they raised approximately 
$1600.

“We are going to use (the 

funds) to run the entire summer 
camp,” Ross said. “We do 
provide our students with two 
meals a day, so we’ll use that 
money to actually purchase all 
the food and also pay the local 
workers there that will prepare 
it.”

Donors on Giving Blueday 

also contributed to the Victors 
for Michigan campaign, which 
extends until December 2018 
and continues to break public 
university fundraising records. 
The campaign has raised $5 
billion to date.

GIVING
From Page 1

week. Henry Liu, a research 
professor at the University 
Transportation 
Research 

Institute, 
developed 
this 

testing 
technology 
with 

UMTRI assistant research 
scientist Yiheng Feng.

Currently, Liu and Feng 

have a patent pending for the 
testing technology. 

Liu 
explained 
while 

augmented 
reality 
is 
not 

exactly the same as a real 
world environment, testing 
autonomous 
vehicles 
in 

a 
virtual 
environment 

eliminates 
many 
of 
the 

restrictions of testing in the 
real world.

“Testing driverless vehicles 

in 
an 
augmented 
reality 

environment is not going to be 
as ‘accurate’ as testing in the 
‘real world,’” Liu wrote in an 
email interview. “However, 
testing in the real world has a 
number of limitations that are 
difficult to overcome.”

Liu cited safety as a top 

limitation 
and 
concern 

when 
testing 
autonomous 

vehicles 
in 
real 
world 

environments. Testing in a 
virtual environment is safer, 
he said, because there have 
been many driverless vehicle 
accidents when testing in the 
real world. According to Liu 
and Feng’s publication, there 
have been 26 crashes while 
testing autonomous vehicles 
at their site in California from 
2014 to 2017. 

Liu explained augmented 

reality also makes testing 
autonomous 
vehicles 
more 

efficient because researchers 
can 
simulate 
rare 
traffic 

scenarios that may be difficult 
to find in the real world.

“Most of the testing in the 

real world is not very useful, 
as the testing environment 
is repetitive and it is not 
challenging to autonomous 
vehicles,” Liu wrote. “What 
is important is to find ‘corner 
cases’ 
that 
can 
challenge 

autonomous 
vehicles, 
but 

‘corner cases’ are rare events 

so it is not easy to find in the 
real world.”

Mcity Director Huei Peng 

Huei 
Peng 
supported 
the 

use 
of 
augmented 
reality 

in the testing of University 
driverless vehicles.

“Since virtual vehicles are 

used, instead of real vehicles, 
we 
can 
simulate 
risky 

situations without the real 
safety risk, we do not need 
to waste fuel and we can run 
continuously,” Peng said. “So 
it is safer, cheaper and faster 
compared with using real test 
vehicles.”

Engineering 
senior 

Michelle Kearney has been a 
research assistant at UMTRI 
for her entire undergraduate 
career. At Mcity, she has been 
involved with several studies 
on passenger behavior and 
responses 
to 
autonomous 

vehicles.

“Our recent tests at MCity 

have focused on the safety of 
individuals who are actively 
engaged 
in 
a 
task 
other 

than driving (i.e. working 
on a laptop, reading a book, 
etc.) and are subjected to an 
abrupt automatic braking or 
lane change by the vehicle,” 
Kearney wrote in an email 
interview. “In addition to 
safety 
considerations, 
the 

study also provided great 
insight 
into 
consumer 

response 
to 
unanticipated 

abrupt vehicle movements.”

Kearney 
said 
using 

augmented reality for testing 
autonomous vehicles will help 
advance research of consumer 
safety.

“Simulators 
can 
be 

very 
important 
tools 
in 

autonomous vehicle research, 
as they allow researchers to 
gather key information about 
consumer 
preferences 
and 

behaviors with regards to 
autonomous vehicles without 
requiring individuals to trust 
the actual vehicle for a test 
drive,” Kearney wrote. “It 
is going to be a slow process 
to convince the public that 
these vehicles are safe and 
reliable, 
so 
using 
virtual 

reality simulation is a good 
first step.”

MCITY
From Page 1

campus this semester after a 
professor and graduate student 
instructor declined to write 
letters 
of 
recommendations 

for 
students 
applying 
to 

study 
abroad 
in 
Israel. 

Administrators disciplined the 
professor, 
John 
Cheney-

Lippold 
of 
the 
American 

Culture Department, claiming 
his action did not “support 
students’ academic growth.”

Members of the University 

community 
have 
been 

outspoken about their opinions 
on the instructors’ actions and 
the University’s response, and 
several events and panels have 
sought 
to 
foster 
campus 

discussion around the topic. 
Some have felt the University’s 
response has been inadequate, 
while 
others 
argue 
the 

University’s 
punishment 

of 
Cheney-Lippold 
was 

unwarranted. 
Public 
Health 

student 
Melissa 
Makled 

attended a panel on academic 
freedom held this Tuesday 

and said she was curious to see 
where the University will take 
this issue in the future.

“I’ve been unimpressed with 

the University’s response and 
I really liked the Graduate 
Employees 
Organization’s 

response,” 
Makled 
said 
at 

Tuesday’s event. “I really liked 
the nuance in their stance 
because they say it’s not a 
political decision, but a matter 
of academic freedom.” 

At 
the 
Faculty 
Senate 

lecture, 
Neil 
Marsh, 
chair 

of 
the 
University’s 
central 

faculty governance, gave the 
introductory remarks. Marsh 
noted upholding these values 
“requires continuous vigilance 
and courage.”

“This lecture is an example 

that academic and intellectual 
freedom are essential … for a 
university,” Marsh said.

Nichol, 
who 
described 

himself as a self-proclaimed 
“devotee 
of 
public 

universities,” 
detailed 
his 

personal pitfalls and views 
on the unique struggles that 
public 
universities 
have 
in 

terms of constitutional rights, 

specifically 
the 
issue 
of 

freedom of speech.

“The constitution itself is not 

self-triggering,” Nichol said. 
“It often requires blood and 
sacrifice and bravery.”

Nichol cited this bravery 

specifically 
as 
intellectual 

courage as he went on to 
explain 
the 
main 
problem 

public universities face: the 
intersection of free speech 
and equal protection. He gave 
the example of boycotts, as 
well as sexual harassment and 
bullying policies as measures 
that threaten to weaponize the 
freedom of speech.

“When a University is sued 

for implementing harassment 
and 
bullying 
policies, 
the 

dispute 
usually 
presents 

competing 
and 
colliding 

essential constitutional values 
of equality and expression,” 
Nichol said. “When a faculty 
member or a graduate student 
participates in an expressive 

boycott, 
speech 
and 

equal 
protection 
guarantees 

can meet head on. Perhaps the 
collision can be avoided, but it’s 
not always easy work.”

Nichol 
also 
detailed 
his 

personal struggles with the 
University of North Carolina 
at 
Chapel 
Hill. 
At 
UNC, 

the 
governing 
boards 
are 

handpicked by state legislative 
leadership, which, according to 
Nichol, causes administrative 
suppression.

“Academic 
freedom 
is 

deeply weakened in places, 
including my home,” Nichol 
said. “If the last decade has 
taught us anything, it is that 
there are fewer fixed stars, 
fewer uncontested, consensus-
based constitutional standards 
and patterns of behavior that 
we 
might 
have 
supposed,” 

Nichol said. “Who would have 
thought, for example, that a 
dominant political party would 
take as a central agenda point 
the suppression of the effective 
exercise of the right to vote. 
Who would have guessed a 
large 
segment 
of 
political 

leadership would overtly seek 
to limit the active participation 
of African Americans without 
shame or embarrassment?”

UNC
From Page 1

CAMP DAVID
From Page 1

