On Thursday afternoon, the 
Ross School of Business hosted the 
first session of the ninth annual 
Michigan India Conference in 
the Robertson Auditorium. The 
theme of this year’s conference, 
which was first held in 2011, was 
“Moving Beyond Emerging,” and 
was focused at analyzing and 
comparing emerging markets — 
countries that have some elements 
of a fully developed market, 
but are not quite at that status. 
The first day’s keynote speakers 
included D. Shivakumar, president 
of Aditya Birla Group, and Harry 
Broadman, former White House 

trade advisor. Both discussed 
growing markets around the 
globe, especially in India and 
China.
The conference started with 
M.S. Krishnan, associate dean for 
executive programs at the Business 
School, who welcomed all the 
attendees and explained the 
idea of educating responsible 
leaders behind the conference.
“At Michigan, our mission 
is to educate leaders, who 
believe in business that can 
change the world,” Krishnan 
said. “We ask for responsible 
leaders who can create a 
positive 
impact 
wherever 
they go, whether it is profit, 
non-profit 
or 
whichever 

organization they choose, and 
whichever part of the world.”
The 
audience 
then 
welcomed Shivakumar, who 
focused his keynote address 
on 
the 
development 
and 
growth of markets around 
the globe, with an emphasis 
on consumer habits in those 
markets.
“All my life I worked with 
consumers,” 
Shivakumar 
said. “All my life I worked 
with emerging markets. And 
all that you see in the next 
30 slides are pure, personal 
experience.”
Shivakumar 
condensed 
his experiences into some 
general trends reflecting the 

development 
of 
emerging 
economies 
with 
respect 
to 
population, 
wage, 
urbanization and technology. 
He 
first 
pointed 
out 
the 
trend of having a relatively 
young population in emerging 
countries.
“Emerging markets have 
very 
young 
populations,” 
Shivakumar said. “The U.S. 
has 
the 
youngest 
among 
developed 
economies 
with 
a 
37-years 
average. 
The 
right side is the developing 
economies, 
Pakistan, 
21; 
Nigeria 18; South Africa, 25.”

As part of Ripple’s University 
Blockchain Research Initiative, the 
University of Michigan received 
a $1 million grant for education 
and research in blockchain and 
cryptocurrency — types of financial 
technology, commonly referred to 
as FinTech. Ripple is a technology 
company working in the blockchain 
payments working in the field.
Ken Weber, head of social 
impact at Ripple, said UBRI aims 
to support students and faculty 
actively engaged in the blockchain 
space. The initiative hopes to 
streamline ongoing partnerships 
with universities across the world 
and Ripple will help tailor initiatives 
to fit each school’s curriculum and 
goals.
“The 
University 
Blockchain 
Research Initiative is a program 
for partnerships with universities 
to 
advance 
understanding 
and 
innovation 
in 
blockchain, 
cryptocurrency and FinTech and 
related topics,” Weber said. “It 
is given in the form of a gift and 
universities are able to utilize that 
funding in ways that are aligned 
with students and faculty interests.”

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Friday, February 15, 2019

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A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

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michigandaily.com

For more stories and coverage, visit

ANN ARBOR
The Ronald 
McDonald 
House gets 
 
36k grant

Students, faculty respond to 
impact of ‘U’ DEI initiatives

Michigan Masons B.E.S.T award to 
charitable organization in Ann Arbor

Different complaints regard Title IX adherence, lack of community input

At the University of Michigan 
and 
around 
the 
country, 
universities are engaged in ongoing 
discussions 
about 
diversity 
programs and Title IX adherence. 
The University has repeatedly 
stressed its commitment to its 
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 
initiatives. But some people take 
issue with this type of initiative, 
claiming certain diversity efforts 
exclude men.
LSA 
sophomore 
Saveri 
Nandigama 
said 
themes 
of 

diversity, equity and inclusion 
have a historical place at the 
University. Nandigama, a member 
of South Asian Awareness Network 
and 
former 
Central 
Student 
Government chief of staff, said it’s 
important for the University to 
include student voices — which has 
been a problem for the University 
historically.
Nandigama specifically noted 
the three Black Action Movements 
and the Trotter Multicultural 
Center as times students had to 
make campus-wide calls for change 
from the University. She said the 
University has a good DEI presence 
on campus, but should take student 

concerns into consideration before 
students feel they must demand 
action through large-scale actions. 
“The quantity of D, E and I 
initiatives is great, but the quality 
can definitely be greatly improved 
if there was more student input in 
the programming that’s done, and 
looking at the history of diversity, 
equity 
and 
inclusion 
on 
our 
campus, I think that’s very easily 
forgotten, but it’s important to go 
back to our history,” Nandigama 
said. “It’s important to get student 
voice into these D, E and I offices to 
sort of be proactive about ensuring 
that students feel like they have a 
space on campus before they feel 

like they need to speak out 
and they need to take larger 
efforts in order to feel seen 
and heard.”
In 2016, the five-year 
DEI plan, which promised 
$85 million over five years 
and 
included 
campus 
climate-related training, the 
creation of the new Trotter 
Multicultural Center and 
new recruitment strategies, 
was unveiled. 
According 
to 
2016 
Daily reporting, the plan 
was in part a response to 
recent 
student 
activism, 
specifically 
the 
#BBUM 
movement on Twitter and 
2013 protests started by the 
Black Student Union.
The 
DEI 
plan 
made 
connections 
to 
social 
movements 
on 
campus, 
including 
Black 
Action 
Movement and debates over 
affirmative action in the last 
decade. Students protested 
the plan because they felt 
the student voice was not 
properly accounted for during 
the keynote speech at the plan’s 
launch.
The costs of DEI 
Perry has seen what he’s called 
increased “administrative bloat” 
over his 25 years in the University 
system. He pointed to position 
changes related to diversity as 
part of this issue. Ultimately, he 
said this changing administrative 
landscape and the costs associated 
with it fall on students, families 
and taxpayers.
“This is very, very costly, and 
it’s one of the reasons that college 
gets more expensive,” Perry said. 

ALEX HARRING
Daily Staff Reporter

For 
Business 
freshman 
Aamisha 
Kini, 
coordinating 
class schedules and keeping up 
with assignment deadlines are 
difficult tasks. It’s stressful, 
she 
said, 
because 
many 
times the primary option for 
keeping up-to-date in classes is 
navigating pages and pages of 
online syllabi.
“No one really told me what 
Canvas was,” Kini said, “I 
wouldn’t have known that I had 
assignments due.”
This issue inspired the free 
mobile 
application 
Skoller, 
founded 
by 
Carson 
Ward, 
Logan Matthews and Jonathan 
Rankin. The app allows the 
user to download a syllabus, 
generate a grade calculator, a 
course schedule and a to-do list 
with 
notifications. 
Matthews 
said Skoller is unique from other 
grade calculators and course 
planners because it’s “student-
powered,” and doesn’t rely on 
professors or teachers to update 
information on official university 
platforms like Canvas.

App offers 
academic 
support for 
students

ACADEMICS

Free mobile application 
‘Skoller’ allows users 
to access updated class 
information and tools 

MARIA SOBRINO
For The Daily 

Ross holds annual Michigan India 
Conference, ‘Moving Beyond Emerging’

Business leaders discuss impact of developing markets in India and China

Ripple to 
donate $1 
million for
research

CAMPUS LIFE

University will create 
FinTech Collaboratory 
to build multidisciplinary 
curricula for innovataion

SONIA LEE
Daily Staff Reporter

See RIPPLE, Page 3

See DIVERSITY, Page 3
See GRANT, Page 3

Follow The Daily 
on Instagram, 
@michigandaily

On Thursday morning, 
members of the Michigan 
Masonic 
Charitable 
Foundation 
awarded 
the 
Ronald McDonald House 
Charities 
of 
Ann 
Arbor 
a $36,000 grant for their 
notable work.
The Ronald McDonald 
House 
provides 
lodging 
for the families of children 
being 
treated 
at 
C.S. 
Mott 
Children’s 
Hospital 
across the street. Mott is a 
component of the University 
of 
Michigan’s 
medical 
infrastructure.
Julaine LeDuc, director of 
development for the Ronald 
McDonald 
House, 
said 
the house aims to provide 
comfort and convenience 
to families facing a difficult 
situation.
“The mission of Ronald 
McDonald 
House 
is 
to 
provide a home away from 
home for families whose 

children are seriously ill or 
injured and are hospitalized 
at the C.S. Mott Children’s 
Hospital,” LeDuc said. “We 
provide rooms, meals, each 
bedroom has a private bath, 
and families can stay for 
as long as they need to stay 
while their child is in the 
hospital.”
The 
Masons’ 
donation 
is a part of their annual 
B.E.S.T. Grant, an acronym 
for build, enrich, strengthen 
and transform. The Masons 
award $1 million dollars 
split between seven causes 
chosen from 88 applicants. 
Executive 
Director 
Walt 
Wheeler said the Ronald 
McDonald House stood out 
in the applicant pool for its 
truly influential work.
“Really, 
the 
deciding 
factor is that we try to look 
at what’s going to have 
the most impact — what’s 
really going to change a 
person’s life or really make a 
difference in a person’s life,” 

MELANIE TAYLOR
Daily Staff Reporter

Design by Roseanne Chao and Sejal Lal

JIALIN ZHANG
For The Daily

ZACHARY GOLDSMITH/Daily
M. S. Krishnan, associate dean for executive programs at Ross School of Business. speaks at the Michigan India Conference at the Ross School of 
Business Thursday evening.

Read more online at 

michigandaily.com

Read more online at 
michigandaily.com

