Abbas family, Dingell proposed
the Abbas Stop Drunk Driving
Act, in honor of the family.
The
Abbas
Stop
Drunk
Driving Act would require the
Department of Transportation
to set a federal motor vehicle
safety
standard
that
would
require all new vehicles to
be equipped with an ignition
interlock device (IID). If the bill
is passed, automakers would be
required to meet this standard
within a year.
On the House floor, Dingell
spoke
on
how
terrible
the
tragedy was and how passing
the legislation will prevent other
accidents of its kind.
“This week, I’m introducing
legislation in memory of the
Abbas
family
that
would
mandate
all
new
vehicles
be
equipped
with
interlock
breathalyzer devices,” Dingell
said. “This will stop intoxicated
drivers from ever starting a
vehicle and keep them off the
roads. If we can keep one person
from dying on the roads and
make people think twice before
getting behind the wheel when
they shouldn’t — even when they
are buzzed and think they’ll be
okay — then won’t we have been
successful?”
Katie Kelly, communications
director for the University’s
chapter of College Democrats,
stated
she
is
confident
in
Dingell’s propositions to create
safer roads.
“Congresswoman
Dingell
is one of the hardest-working
individuals in Congress. If she
sets her mind to something,
she will find a way to get it
done,” Kelly said. “I believe
Congresswoman Dingell’s bill,
once implemented, will save
countless lives and make our
roads safer.”
Kelly
continued
to
say
setting this standard will be a
progressive move for Detroit,
the automotive capital.
“Michigan has always been
the center of the automotive
industry,”
Kelly
said.
“This
bill would continue the legacy
of automotive leadership that
Michigan is known for.”
Lincoln
Merrill,
communications
director
for
the
University’s
chapter
of
College Republicans, agrees that
the ignition interlock devices
have been implemented and
successful in curbing drunk
driving in various states, but a
national bill would possibly raise
some issues.
“It
is
difficult
to
obtain
accurate measurements without
inconveniencing the operator in
order to satisfy six sigma industry
standards
(meaning
99.9966
percent of samples would be
accurate),” Merrill said. “While
clearly
beneficial
in
theory,
universal implementation raises
some new issues with logistics,
quality management and wide
consumer acceptance.”
Merrill also brought up how
privacy laws and how mandating
a universal IID law would
unnecessarily affect millions of
users.
“I think this is an argument
of how far we are willing to go
giving up specific freedoms, in
this case not having to effectively
use a breathalyzer every time
we operate a car, in order to
in theory support something
bigger,” Merrill said. “Is drunk
driving and the accidents that
come with it an awful thing? Yes,
of course it is. But I’m not sure
that this specific bill is the way
to go when thinking about how it
unnecessarily affects hundreds
of millions of people.”
Washtenaw County Sheriff
Jerry Clayton fully supports the
bill, and brings up how drugged
driving has been an increasing
issue, and how an IID alone
would not solve this issue.
“Drugged
driving
is
a
growing problem,” Clayton said.
“Especially as drivers recognize
that a really good party is as
simple as a Xanax and 2 beers,
then we’re right back to the same
problem but without the illegal
breath alcohol concentration.
We’d still have to do roadside
sobriety evaluations, processing
impaired drivers and cleaning
up the crashes.”
Clayton
agrees
the
bill
would be a beneficial first step
to curbing drunk driving but
expects other related issues will
need to be addressed in the near
future.
“I fully support the spirit
of
Congresswoman
Dingell’s
proposed bill,” Clayton said. “It
is devastating every time we
experience loss of life as a result
of drunk or drugged driving. I
think the idea has merit and is a
good start.
scholarship aimed to help low-
income, high-achieving students
attend the University without
having to worry about paying
school tuition. Researchers found
targeted students were twice as
likely to both apply and enroll
at the University than those
students not contacted.
“We find very large effects of
the HAIL scholarship offer on
application and enrollment rates
at the University of Michigan and
more generally on college choice,”
the report reads. “The likelihood
of application to the University
of Michigan more than doubled,
from 26 percent among controls
to 67 percent among students
offered treatment. The share
enrolling at any highly selective
college more than doubled, from
13 perfect to 28 percent, with
this effect operating completely
through enrollment at University
of Michigan.”
As
a
field
experiment,
researchers wanted to analyze
whether or not targeting specific
students who were low-income
and
high-achieving
would
increase their application rate,
as well as the enrollment rate.
After finding notable increases in
both rates, the study concluded
encouragement for these students
to apply to the University, as well
as a promise of financial aid,
could assist in increasing the
numbers of low-socioeconomic-
status students at the University.
Two groups of students were
analyzed. The first were the
“treated”
students,
students
targeted
by
the
University
through
elaborate
mailings
and letters, encouraging them
to apply to the University and
guaranteeing a scholarship to
cover their entire tuition should
they
be
admitted.
Packets
received by families included a
letter from University President
Mark Schlissel encouraging the
student to apply, a flyer describing
the
application
process,
brochures about the University
and fee-waiving coupons for the
Common Application, the FAFSA
and the CSS profile.
The second group was the
control group. Students in this
cohort receive the mailings and
were treated the way they would
have been a few years ago before
the idea of HAIL was realized.
According to the study, the goal
of HAIL was to address common
problems low-income students
face when applying to college in
high school.
“The intervention, the ‘HAIL
Scholarship,’ was designed to
address three issues that research
shows affect the college choices
of low-income, high-achieving
students: uncertainty about their
suitability for an elite school,
over-estimates of the (net) cost of
college, and procedural barriers
such as financial aid forms,” the
report reads.
Susan
Dynarski,
public
policy professor and researcher
of college tuition policy, said
students who could attend the
University simply do not apply
because they believe they cannot
afford the tuition. The goal of
HAIL was to change this idea.
“Many
promising
students
across Michigan don’t know
how
affordable
an
excellent
school can be, so they don’t
bother applying for admission or
aid,” Dynarski said. “The HAIL
Scholarship sends a powerful
message that this world-class
university is open to Michigan’s
talented students, regardless of
their income.”
In an interview with The Daily,
Schlissel
commented
on
the
success of HAIL in bringing more
low-income and first-generation
students to the school. HAIL
lent a new type of outreach for
the University to students from
all over Michigan, and he hopes
this will increase the University’s
reputation as an outstanding
educational opportunity.
“The
HAIL
Scholarship
program
really
completely
revolutionized the way we reach
out to people in different parts
of
the
Michigan
economy,”
Schlissel said. “The early data
— it’s only been one admissions
cycle — but this year’s freshman
class has increased its fraction
of
first-generation
students,
has
increased
its
representation
of
students
from
the
lower
socioeconomic
quadrants or quintiles of the
economy and it’s exceeded our
expectations and we’re going to
stick with it. And not only that,
the study got national attention.”
In its first year, HAIL brought
in
262
low-income,
in-state
students, each receiving four
years of tuition covered — totaling
about $60,000 in scholarship
money per student. According to
the study, these students would
have been eligible for the free
tuition whether or not HAIL
existed. Eligible rising seniors
were notified through elaborate
maize
and
blue
emblazoned
mailings in high school, and
parents and principals received
letters commending the students’
academic achieving and notifying
of the opportunity for free
tuition.
The study reports a difference
between schools that higher-
versus lower-income students
choose
when
applying
and
enrolling
in
college.
Despite
having
the
same
academic
success, lower-income students
are less likely to attend similar
universities
to
their
higher-
income counterparts.
“Among
students
whose
academic
achievement
makes
them
plausible
candidates
for
University
of
Michigan,
low-income students are four
percentage points less likely
to attend any postsecondary
institution than their similarly-
qualified, higher-income peers,”
the report reads. “Gaps in college
selectivity are yet wider than
gaps
in
college
attendance:
low-income
students
are
8
percentage points less likely to
attend a highly selective (e.g. the
University of Michigan) or most
selective institution.”
According to the study, more
selective institutions can usually
give more financial aid to students
than less selective schools.
uses
a
cooperative
model
to to provide food space for
anyone who doesn’t have their
own restaurant or storefront
and
grants
small
businesses
marketing and branding support.
Their goal is to introduce these
products to customers who may
not otherwise be familiar with
certain food businesses.
The
venue
sells
a
wide
variety of food, providing local
restaurants and vendors with
refrigerator shelf space while
allowing the vendors to maintain
complete ownership over their
products.
Cofounder
Nick
Lemmer says the Nickels Arcade
offers the perfect opportunity to
reach a new community with a lot
of surrounding activity.
“Nickels Arcade is such a
unique place in the landscape of
downtown Ann Arbor,” Lemmer
says. “It has an eclectic mix of
retail shops that work so well
together to create an awesome
all-in-one shopping destination.
We are trying to give businesses
that don’t have a downtown
presence the ability to get their
brands and tasty food in front of
all the different types of people
that frequent downtown. If our
members are successful, the
collective is successful.”
Backed by a team of Ann
Arbor residents and University
of Michigan alumni, the staff
has a wide variety of work
experience in the food industry.
Constellation
Collective
has
several co-founders, including
Max Steir, founder and owner of
Salads UP; Alex Perlman, former
music festival food cart operator
for The Beet Box and Cheese
Dream; Jared Hoffman, partner
of Salads UP; as well as Lemmer,
a cofounder of Ioria’s Gelateria.
Public Health alum Danielle
Butbul, director of community
relations
for
Constellation
Collective, said the Collective
will be holding regular lunchtime
pop-ups in collaboration with
other food businesses. The pop-
ups are recurring events and are
expected to begin as early as next
week.
“We have several lunchtime
pop-ups in the works with
Harvest
Kitchen
and
Pilar’s
Tamales,” Butbul said. “During
these pop-ups, customers will
be able to come by and grab a
fresh, warm and quick meal
served by the hosting company.
We also hope to collaborate with
our neighbors in the arcade to
activate the space for
larger
community
events.”
LSA
sophomore
Marley Duerst maintains a vegan
diet and believes she will benefit
from the market because of their
variety of gluten-free and vegan-
friendly options. She hopes it
will be a convenient place to grab
quick and healthy food.
“I think it’s really exciting
that there is a place located so
centrally on campus,” Duerst
said. “Easily accessible fresh food
is hard to come by in a downtown
area,
so
I’m
really
looking
forward to trying out this place. I
try not to eat processed food, and
I love eating produce, so it will
be nice to have such a convenient
place to get it.”
With just a full week since
their regular hours began, Butbul
said the business has drawn
significant local attention.
“Within
the
first
week,
we’ve received so much love,
encouragement and even received
flowers from our neighbors at
the
University
Flower
Shop
and Bivouac,” Butbul said. “We
managed to sell out of most of
our members’ food and will be
ramping up our deliveries to meet
the demand. We would definitely
consider it a successful first
week and we can’t wait to grow
and carry out the lunch pop-ups
and other events planned for the
arcade.”
There
are
currently
six
members partnered with the
collective,
including
Better
Health of Novi, Fluffy Bottom
Farms of Chelsea, and Harvest
Kitchen, Juicy Kitchen, Salads
UP and Tasty Kitchen, all of Ann
Arbor. Butbul says the number of
partners will continue to grow.
“We’re continuing to grow the
roster, with special consideration
to include companies and food
items requested by customers,”
Butbul said.
climate? Do you see the high
amount of reported hate crimes
as a success on the University’s
part, or as a sign the University
needs to work harder to prevent
bias incidents? Why?
President Mark Schlissel:
I think it’s very hard to know,
but I share the frustration, and
really the anger, that members
of our community have to be
subject to hate of any kind
and particularly the hate of
the type we’re talking about
here — a hate crime based on
identity. We are a very large,
complicated organization with
a lot of people coming and
going, a lot of geography to
cover, a lot of public buildings,
and when hate is as simple
as someone rolling down a
car
window
and
shouting
something terrible at one of
your fellow students or a faculty
member, it’s a big challenge
… I think we should continue
to aggressively investigate all
episodes that are brought to
attention,
recognizing
that
sometimes it’s very hard to
track down a perpetrator given
the scale and the openness of
the campus … Probably some
of it is a reporting incident,
and remember, the number
15 is a big number, but there’s
45,000 students on campus,
30,000 employees, so there
shouldn’t be any episodes and
15 should be 0 and we have
to work in that direction. But
I don’t want to dismiss it as
enhanced reporting, but look
at it for what it is and mitigate
it. … One of the things I’d like
to pay elevated attention to in
the context of our DEI work
is acts of religious bigotry and
bias and some of that comes to
the floor in discussions around
Israel-Palestine politics, and
I think we have to be wary of
increases
in
anti-Semitism,
increases
in
anti-Muslim
bigotry and I think we are
going to feature education and
programs around that more
prominently in the year ahead.
TMD:
Along
with
information
from
the
FBI
report on hate crimes on
university campuses, data from
the Division of Public Safety
and Security showed from 2015
to 2017, the Black community
reported the highest number
of hate crimes followed by
the
Muslim,
LGBTQ+
and
Jewish
communities.
Given
that
different
marginalized
communities on campus may
have varying comfort levels
with reporting hate crimes,
how do you plan to work with
individual communities who
are often targeted to prevent
bias incidents?
MS: Me personally, but more
importantly, Student Affairs,
is
continuously
engaging
with groups, and new groups
come forward every day. I
have every year, and we’ve
already
done
several
this
academic year … meetings at
my home over either breakfast
or pizza for dinner to discuss
these issues with leaders and
members of all different kinds
of groups, and various arms
of student affairs have very
regular
interactions
with
student leaders representing
each of the identity groups
you mentioned. But those are
just a handful and there are
more. We’re all individuals
that
carry
with
us
many
identities and unfortunately
at different moments we’re all
subject to unfair or inequitable
treatment and I think we have
to prioritize eliminating this
prejudicial treatment wherever
we see it.
TMD: In a working paper
published
by
the
National
Bureau of Economic Research
in December 2018, researchers
discussed the impact of the
HAIL
scholarship
on
the
applications and attendance
of students from low SES
backgrounds.
The
study
indicated
personalized
intervention,
especially
through
attractive
letter
packaging and contact through
HAIL,
positively
impacted
students’
choice
of
more
selective, elite schools. Given
the study has only drawn
conclusions from the first two
years of the program, is it too
soon to deem the scholarship
a
success
in
regards
to
substantially decreasing the
income gap? Why?
MS: In the case of this
HAIL
Scholarship,
which
is a study led by Professor
Dynarski
from
the
school
of Public Policy, the results
were so incredibly striking
that although the professor
continues her study and this
NBER publication was the
first public report of the data,
we’ve begun implementing it
already … It’s such a major goal
of our University, to make sure
a Michigan education remains
accessible and affordable, and
we attract talented people
from all different parts of the
economy, and we’ve already
implemented it and it’s already
showing success … and one of
the main take-homes from the
HAIL Scholars program is in
the setting of this high-touch
interaction
with
potential
students, instead of saying
to them, if you say, ‘We give
generous need-based financial
aid and we’ll meet your full
calculated need,’ if you say to
them, ‘If you come from a family
at or below a family income of
65,000 dollars, you don’t pay
any tuition — it’s free,’ it turns
out that’s really powerful and
the HAIL study, it increased
the frequency of applicants
two-and-a-half fold compared
to a control group. … The HAIL
Scholarship
program
really
completely revolutionized the
way we reach out to people in
different parts of the Michigan
economy. The early data — it’s
only been one admissions cycle
— but this year’s freshman class
has increased its fraction of
first-generation students, has
increased its representation
of students from the lower
socioeconomic quadrants or
quintiles of the economy, and
it’s exceeded our expectations
and we’re going to stick with
it. And not only that, the study
got national attention. So, it’s
the buzz of the community
of people around the country
that are struggling with the
problem of enticing talented
kids from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds
to
be
brave
enough
to
apply
to
great
universities. So I’m really, I’m
as proud of this as anything
we’ve done.
TMD: Are there any plans to
implement the paper’s findings
about increased personalized,
early intervention for all types
of scholarships the University
offers?
MS: We continuously learn
what
resonates
as
we
do
outreach around the state, so
the goal is to have people from
all around the state and all
around the country think of us
as an outstanding opportunity
for their college education.
And financial aid is part of it.
We’ve tended to focus a lot of
our resources on need-based
aid … We try to use the lessons
we
learn
from
something
like HAIL to improve the
effectiveness of our outreach
to students, and you know, it
must be working. The number
of applications we get is going
up by leaps and bounds every
year. This last year we got over
65,000 applications, the year
before we were in the high 50s.
Two years earlier we were in
the 40s … We’re quite good
at attracting the attention of
talented people to apply here.
TMD: At the final University
of Michigan Senate Assembly
of 2018, you discussed the
University’s revisions to the
policies
regarding
student
sexual misconduct as well
as a ban on faculty-student
relationships.
Some
of
the
revisions involve establishing
two different ways to settle
cases
—
either
through
adaptable
resolution
or
investigative resolution —the
involvement of a case member
from the Office of Student
Conflict Resolution during each
investigation, and the option
for students to cross-question
one another. What about the
new policies will allow the
University to deal with sexual
misconduct more effectively?
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, January 15, 2019 — 3
SCHLISSEL
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HAIL
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DUI
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FLAVOR
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