The University of Michi-
gan Board of Regents met
at the Richard L. Postma
Family Clubhouse Thursday
afternoon for the fifth meet-
ing of the calendar year. At
the meeting, the board dis-
cussed Ann Arbor campus
planning.
University
President
Mark Schlissel opened the
meeting by thanking UM-
Flint
Chancellor
Susan
Borrego for her work at UM-
Flint. Borrego, who has been
chancellor since 2014, will
finish her term at the end
of July and be replaced by
Debasish Dutta.
“Chancellor Borrego, as
we bid you farewell, I want
to thank you for your leader-
ship and commitment to the
University, the region and
the people that your campus
serves,” Schlissel said.
Borrego
thanked
the
board for their support of
UM-Flint. She said UM-
Flint has remarkable stu-
dents, faculty and staff.
“I think the UM-Flint
campus is a remarkable
place to be, and it’s been an
honor to be there,” Borrego
said. “I look forward to what
happens for it and with it in
the future.”
Schlissel recognized six
new distinguished profes-
sors. He then discussed the
board’s efforts to examine
the relations between the
three University campuses,
which he said the board
promised to consider at last
month’s meeting in which
five speakers from One Uni-
versity spoke regarding the
campaign’s goals.
“The board, the chan-
cellors and I are always
engaged
in
discussions
about how to promote the
longstanding excellence of
each of our campuses and
the success of our students,”
Schlissel said. “Following
the board’s guidance from
when I was hired, we’ve
worked to expand synergies
and contribute to the unique
missions and priorities of
our three campuses.”
University planner Sue
Gott gave a presentation on
the ongoing and future ren-
ovation projects on the Ann
Arbor campus. Gott said the
goals of the project include
enhancing
campus
life,
emphasizing
sustainabil-
ity, honoring tradition and
strengthening connectivity.
Gott focused her presen-
tation on plans for North
and Central Campuses. Cur-
rently, more than eight Uni-
versity buildings are under
construction, including the
historic
Michigan
Union
and the LSA building. Gott
said the University looks
to expand development on
North Campus.
“Our largest land area of
our campuses is North Cam-
pus,” Gott said. “ … It is really,
out of our five campuses, the
place where we will want to
continue directing growth
and new development oppor-
tunities in our future.”
Future plans include mov-
ing the School of Dance and
School of Information onto
North Campus, rebuilding
the Fleming Administration
building and constructing a
new School of Pharmacy.
Plans are also in place to
construct a new residence
hall on Central Campus to
replace Mary Markley Resi-
dence Hall. Gott said the
University plans to repur-
pose Mary Markley as an
additional medical center.
“There may be real benefit
for supporting our clinical
mission by repurposing this
site long-term for another
patient care use,” Gott said.
Gott said property pur-
chased on South Fifth Ave-
nue would be a great location
for a new residence hall. The
location is slightly closer to
the Diag than Markley.
An
additional
new
residence hall on North
Campus will also replace
Northwood housing. When
renovations are complete,
Gott
said
approximately
one third of students living
on campus will reside on
North Campus.
“As we continue to see
us reach the end of the use-
ful lives of our Northwoods
facilities, we would like
to develop that area more
densely as we replace those
units,” Gott said.
3
Thursday, July 25, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com NEWS
Public commenters spoke
about medical processes,
funding equity, investments
and climate change at the
University
of
Michigan
Board of Regents meeting
Thursday afternoon.
Westland resident Allie
Parker delivered a list of
changes to medical processes
at the C.S. Mott Children’s
Hospital. Parker — who spoke
about this issue during the
February meeting — said her
family endured psychologi-
cal, emotional and physical
trauma because a University
physician inaccurately attrib-
uted one of her children’s
injuries to parental abuse.
In February, Parker said
the University Child Protec-
tion Team — comprised of
doctors at C.S. Mott Chil-
dren’s Hospital — accused her
and her husband, James Park-
er, of child abuse. The Parkers
were then brought to court
over this alleged child abuse,
with the judge ultimately dis-
missing the case.
Parker claimed in Feburary
that this legal process unnec-
essarily stalled the treatment
of her child and believes this
resulted in a miscarriage. She
said her predicament could
have been avoided if there
was more accountability and
that she is not the first person
to raise these concerns.
“U of M was on a fishing
expedition at my children’s
expense,” Parker said. “I
asked you in February and
I’m asking you again: How
many families will need to
stand here with another hor-
ror story before something is
done?”
Students
and
faculty
expressed support for the
One University campaign, a
coalition aimed at creating
funding equity the three Uni-
versity campus.
UM-Flint student Matthew
Baldwin shared his experi-
ence as a nontraditional stu-
dent. Baldwin said the Board
of Regents should align itself
with the goals of 1U to ease
the burden of students in the
University system.
1U has asked for the Go
Blue Guarantee and funding
from the Victors for Michi-
gan campaign to be limited
to the Ann Arbor campus and
expanded resources to sup-
port programs such as study
abroad and Diversity, Equity
and Inclusion at the Flint and
Dearborn campuses. At the
board meeting in May, a 1U
spokeswomen said the coali-
tion had the support of six
board members.
“You, the University of
Michigan Board of Regents
members, have a story you can
tell here today,” Baldwin said.
“By having equitable funding
amongst our three campuses,
you can tell one of expanding
opportunity, one of dignities,
one of respect for faculty and
students, one of solidarity.”
Multiple public comments
addressed concerns around
the potential closing of the
Livonia Outpatient Surgery
Center
operating
rooms.
Members of the board reiterat-
ed that no decisions were final.
Stacy Roth, a nurse at the
Livonia Outpatient Surgery
Center, read a letter from a
surgeon at the center, con-
cerned about the possible
shut-down of the center in
three years. She said shutting
down the center would be
“counterproductive.”
Monica
Sirven,
clinical
assistant professor and medi-
cal director of the Livonia
Outpatient Surgery Center,
said the operating rooms ser-
vice the community and has
consistently been profitable
for Michigan Medicine.
The board is considering
expanding its health system,
though the operating rooms at
the Livonia Outpatient Surgery
Center are not currently includ-
ed in this plan. Sirven said she
hopes the board will reconsider.
“Surgeons want to operate
at the Livonia Surgery Center,”
Sirven said. “The long-term
opportunity to keep patient
access open in this area will
be worthy of the investment if
new ORs are included.”
Last week, Bridge Maga-
zine published an article
with
information
that
showed the board voted to
invest endowment money
into the Detroit Renaissance
Real Estate Fund, which is
owned by FDR’s two busi-
ness principals.
Regents meet for final summer meeting
Board examines construction plans on Ann Arbor campus
Read more at michigandaily.com
ALEX HARRING
Summer Managing News Editor
MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily
Westland resident Allie Parker speaks about medical practices at a University of Michigan Regents meeting.
Read more at michigandaily.com
Public commenters address climate, investments, medicine
BARBARA COLLINS
Summer Managing News Editor