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Thursday, September 5, 2019 — 3
P O L I C Y T A L K S @ T H E F O R D S C H O O L
STEPHEN BIEGUN
U.S. Special Representative
for North Korea
Photo: Josh Burek/Belfer Center
Free and open to the public.
Reception to follow.
Info: fspp-events@umich.edu
fordschool.umich.edu
@fordschool #policytalks
W E I S E R D I P LO M ACY C E N T E R L A U N C H S E R I E S
International diplomacy
challenges: North Korea
Friday, September 06, 2019
1:30 - 3:00 pm
Rackham Amphitheatre (4th Floor)
915 E. Washington St.
Hosted as part of the Ford School's Conversations Across Difference Initiative.
Co-sponsored by the Nam Center for Korean Studies.
According to the University
Library’s announcement, the
cameras will only be installed
in entrances, exits, elevator
lobbies and stairwell landings.
They will be carefully placed
in order to protect the privacy
of library goers.
Despite
the
limited
placement of the cameras,
they will still be instrumental
in helping DPSS solve reported
crimes, DPSS deputy chief of
police Melissa Overton wrote
in an email to The Daily.
“Security cameras can be
a useful tool used to identify
those in the facilities if a crime
has been committed and a
suspect description or time
frame of the crime has been
identified,” Overton wrote.
Engineering junior Hadley
Peterson had her wallet stolen
at the Graduate Library last
February. She said she briefly
left her belongings alone in
a cubicle in the stacks, then
came back to find her wallet
missing. Due to the secluded
nature of the stacks, no one
else saw the theft.
“I was up in Hatcher on the
fifth floor,” Peterson said. “It
was the morning of one of my
exams. I was studying, and I
just kind of figured I could run
to the bathroom real quick,
and so I was only gone for a
couple of minutes, and then
when I came back, all my stuff,
like my backpack, was opened
up. Of course, no one saw
anything.”
Peterson said she turned
to look for the potential
perpetrator and saw a tall man
leaving with her blue wallet
sticking out of his pocket, but
he went down a side stairwell
before she could confront him.
She then called the police
and tried to get it sorted out,
but because there were no
cameras at the time, not much
could be done.
“I just called the police and I
ended up talking to an officer,”
Peterson said. “They weren’t
able to really help much with
the case because there wasn’t
really much to do other than
get a description, and it’s not
really the sort of thing that
will get resolved typically.”
Peterson said the addition
of the cameras might have
helped her get her wallet back
and feel more secure because
DPSS could potentially use
them to identify a face.
Dunkle said the University
Library
is
dedicated
to
student
privacy,
and
the
reason the cameras are placed
strategically is to protect the
students in their work. She
said neither the University or
DPSS will actively watch or
check the security cameras,
and they will only be used in
the case of a criminal incident.
“We do not want to know
what people are looking at
in the library, what subjects
they are studying, what print
or online resources they are
looking at, who they are sitting
with or generally anything
else they are doing,” Dunkle
said. “We are careful to install
the cameras where they will
record people coming and
going in the stairwells and
entrances
but
not
record
what they are looking at on a
computer screen or checking
out at a service desk.”
Peterson
said
she
isn’t
sure if she would appreciate
more cameras in the main
study areas of the library. She
explained she prefers to have
her computer activity private
for security reasons, but could
see the importance of cameras
in terms of catching a thief.
SECURITY
From Page 1
Many
students
have
insurance
coverage
through their parents, and
when plans are billed, an
Explanation of Benefits is
often sent to the insurance
policy holder to detail the
services provided at UHS.
If students want to avoid
this, they have the option to
pay for STI testing out-of-
pocket. The fee is $90.
In the comments of the
petition and on social media,
students wrote about the
importance of accessibility
of STI testing, especially for
those in vulnerable medical
situations and in the context
of the University’s Diversity,
Equity & Inclusion goals.
Engineering
sophomore
Kaleb Clover signed the
petition.
Clover
said
he
recently came out as gay,
and explained to The Daily
if these changes had been
made before he had came
out, he would not have
gotten tested for STIs. He
would have feared his family
would know he was gay and
sexually active before he felt
comfortable telling them.
“I wasn’t going to have
them (my parents) know
before I wanted them to
know,” Clover said.
Information
junior
Harrison
McCabe
also
signed the petition and noted
his
disappointment
with
UHS
Executive
Director
Dr. Robert Ernst. Ernst told
The Daily last week students
should consider obtaining
their
“own
personal
health
insurance
plan”
if
they’re
uncomfortable
with their parents finding
out about STI testing from
an
insurance
statement.
McCabe felt Ernst didn’t
take insurance accessibility
into account when making
those recommendations.
“I thought that comment
about how students should
get their own insurance
was
very
insulting
and
condescending
because
it’s not that easy to find
insurance,” McCabe said.
“Looking at me, I’ve had a
lot of chronic health issues
and I’ve gone through a lot
of insurances and it’s been
very difficult for me.”
The
University
does
offer a health insurance
plan through the Blue Care
Network of Michigan. The
cost for a full-year plan
for domestic students is
$1,709 annually with a $100
deductible.
McCabe
also
said
he
wonders why the services
were being cut in light of
increasing tuition rates.
“My tuition has gone up
every year since I’ve gone
here,” McCabe said. “Why
are you cutting the cost
when we’re paying more?
We’re paying more for less.”
In an earlier interview
with The Daily, Ernst said
billing changes were a result
of creating new revenue
streams for UHS.
“In the context of being
asked
to
stay
creative,
stay innovative, and hold
increases
in
the
health
service fees to a minimum,
the easiest first step is to let
the hospital bill what they’re
doing, instead of us just
paying for them,” Ernst said.
University spokesperson
Rick Fitzgerald told The
Daily the University was
aware of the petition but had
no new information to add at
this time.
PETITION
From Page 1
Migrant
Justice
co-organizer and Helen
Zell
Writers’
Program
visiting
professor
in
poetry, opened the event
by explaining the group’s
background
and
its
mission within a national
context.
“This
started
as
a
nationwide
movement
when a few poets got
together
and
thought,
‘Hey,
while
America
has always been a fairly
inhospitable
place
to
a
bunch
of
varieties
of
people,
this
is
an
especially
cruel
and
brutal period of time in
America for folks who are
migrants seeking refuge
and immigrants and racial
minorities,’” Chakraborty
said. “We wanted to raise
some money to benefit
some organizations that
were directly targeting
and trying to ameliorate
the worst effects of this.”
Brittany Rogers, one of
the evening’s performers,
teaches in Detroit Public
Schools
in
addition
to her work as a poet.
Rogers
commented
on
the urgency of donating
money to organizations
that support immigrant
communities.
“A lot of our students
come
from
migrant
families,”
Rogers
said. “Seeing how our
students are affected by
(immigration
issues)
is
one of the hardest things
for us to watch.”
Samantha
Magdaleno,
director of One Michigan,
elaborated
on
the
continued
necessity
of the local support to
immigrant
communities
her organization provides.
“A lot of folks, since
(immigration issues are)
popular
on
the
news
now, they’re like ‘I want
to do something, I want
to get involved in it,’”
Magdaleno said. “And all
this money is going to new
(organizations), who are
kind of thinking they’re
reinventing
the
wheel,
right — but we’ve been
doing this work, and we’ve
been having strategies in
place, and we have these
connections.”
Many
of
the
poems
and
short
literature
pieces focused on themes
regarding
migration,
oppression,
cultural
belonging, undocumented
experiences
and
first-
generation experiences in
the United States.
LSA sophomore Hannah
Martin attended the event
and said she particularly
resonated with one poet’s
commentary
on
the
absurdity of referring to a
human being as “illegal.”
“How can you be that
when you’re everything
this country’s built on?”
Martin said. “That was a
very, very powerful piece
that I would love to hear
again.”
The
group
hosted
more
than
40
similar
fundraising events across
the country on Sept. 4,
with the goal of raising
$5,000. By the time the
final speaker performed
at
the
University
of
Michigan event, Michigan
Writers
for
Migrant
Justice had raised nearly
$2,000.
MIGRANTS
From Page 1
“In 2009, the city put out
a request for proposals as (to)
what should happen on top of
the parking structure, and at that
time I and another person with
a larger group put in a proposal
for the Ann Arbor community
commons,” Haber said. “The
city, under the table, had decided,
already, that this was going to be
a kind of conference center ... So
our proposal for a community
commons was not considered
nor another proposal for a town
square.”
LSA senior Hannah Boettcher
is the sole University of Michigan
student
voice
on
the
task
force. Boettcher is a part of the
Roosevelt Institute, a think tank
and campus network at U-M
focused on public policy. The
Institute originally campaigned
against the proposal, instead
advocating for an affordable
housing complex at the same
location.
“The
alternative
to
the
Proposal A in the center of
the city would have been an
affordable housing building,”
Boettcher said. “So we as a
student body took the opinion
that affordable housing near
campus would have been more
beneficial, not only to students,
but also to the community at
large.”
Following the approval of
Proposal A, Boettcher applied
to be on the committee in order
to represent the student body
and ensure the project took all
community members’ needs into
account.
“All that aside, I’m interested as
a student on this project, because
it does lie in the intersection
of
student
neighborhoods,”
Boettcher
said.
“There
are
student neighborhoods pretty
much all around this location,
so to me it’s really important to
have a student voice representing
this so it doesn’t become another
wasteland park in the middle of
downtown that nobody uses.”
At the top of the agenda on
Wednesday
was
community
engagement, and members of
the task force proposed several
tactics to gather local support
and inform the community.
Heather Seyfarth, an Ann
Arbor city planner, suggested
several methods of increasing
awareness,
including
invite
letters,
town
social
media
accounts, holiday letters and
posting flyers across town.
However,
Councilmember
Chip Smith, D-Ward 5, warned
against the use of mailings to
consolidate community support,
explaining they tend to be less
effective than other means of
spreading information.
“It’s been my experience,
because I do this work for a living
and I’ve organized more than a
few political campaigns, that we
shouldn’t spend any money on
mailings,” Smith said. “Mailings
don’t generate any feedback, they
don’t get people to meetings,
generally if they’re looked at at
all, they’re quickly tossed in the
recycling bin. I think we need
to prioritize what’s going to be
the most effective way to reach
the different populations we’re
trying to reach for each event.”
The task force also set out
goals for the next several months
of project development. By the
end of October, the committee
hopes to complete outreach to
the public and members of the
community who have vested
interests in the project. During
November
and
December,
a
public
proposal
will
be
written, and by February, final
discussions will be had about
gaining approval from the Ann
Arbor City Council.
While
members
of
the
committee are eager to see the
projects progress in the next
few months, Boettcher explains
she has some reservations about
the task force’s composition.
Boettcher says the multitude
of city planners and local
officials on the task force gives
it a diversity of opinion, though
not
necessarily
of
race
or
socioeconomic background.
“I’m disappointed in the
lack of minority voices, when
we’re talking about the ethnic
diversity and the racial diversity
of this task force, and likely the
socioeconomic diversity of this
task force,” Boettcher said.
“I don’t think it’s been well-
considered that this is an
area downtown that maybe
is not the most welcoming
to all walks of life. That’s
disappointing in that regard,
but I think we’re mindful of
that, and I think we all have a
vision of inclusivity.”
TASK FORCE
From Page 1
Khaldun
commended
Whitmer for her move to
block the sale of flavored
e-cigarettes.
“In the past few years, we’ve
seen an explosive increase in
the number of Michigan kids
exposed to vaping products,”
Khaldun said. “This is a public
health crisis. These products
can contain harmful chemicals
that put our kids’ health at risk.
I’m looking forward to working
with Governor Whitmer to
mitigate these effects and keep
our kids healthy.”
Though the University of
Michigan is deemed a smoke-
free
campus,
e-cigarettes
are popular on campus. LSA
junior Blake Richards owns a
Juul electronic cigarette and
said he is trying to use it less
because of the negative health
effects.
“Juul
already
stopped
selling fruit flavors so I’m not
really affected by that, but
people like my brother would
probably be pissed,” Richards
said. “From my experience the
addiction is strong enough that
if people have already started
smoking this (ban) won’t stop
them. But it could probably
make it much less attractive for
non smokers to start smoking.”
The ban goes into effect
immediately, giving retailers
30 days to days to comply with
the mandate.
In a statement, Juul Labs,
a popular e-cigarette startup
based in San Francisco, said
the company had not reviewed
Whitmer’s order, but supports
guidelines from the Food and
Drug Administration calling
for
more
restrictions
on
e-cigarettes and that “strong
and serious actions need to be
taken around certain flavored
products.”
“There is simply no place
for kid-appealing flavors in the
marketplace,” the statement
reads.. “That is why we would
also support an outright ban
on such flavors, including
those that mimic kid-specific
candies, foods, and drinks.”
The statement also said Juul
Labs backs laws prohibiting
minors
from
purchasing
tobacco, but added electronic
nicotine
delivery
systems
can help people quit smoking
traditional
combustible
cigarettes,
a
claim
that
has
faced
scrutiny
from
scientists
and
researchers.
While
e-cigarettes
are
often marketed as smoking
alternatives, the FDA has not
formally certified them as
cessation aids.
In June, Whitmer signed a
senate bill, which banned the
sale of e-cigarettes to minors,
and another senate bill, which
mandated electronic nicotine
delivery systems be sold in
child-proof
containers
and
“vapor products or alternative
nicotine products” sold in
retail stores be kept behind the
counter.
In a press release, Michigan
Attorney General Dana Nessel
praised Whitmer for instating
the ban.
“With a more than 1.5
million increase in the number
of students using vaping
products in just one year,
the governor’s emergency
actions today are exactly
the bold measures we must
take to protect Michigan’s
children from the dangerous
effects of vaping,” Nessel
said in the press release.
While e-cigarettes
are often marked
as smoking
alternatives, the
FDA has not
formally certified
them as cessation
aids
E-CIGARETTES
From Page 1