“Dr.
Harper
has
done
this through an innovative
student-centered
approach
that has been modeled at
other
higher
education
institutions throughout the
nation.”
Panhellenic
Association
president Taylor Fegan, LSA
senior, said working with
Harper on FSL matters was
a privilege.
“Working with VP Royster
Harper has been one of the
best aspects of my term
as president,” Fegan said.
“She is dedicated, kind and
one of the biggest student
supporters
on
campus.
In working with her, it is
so
clearly
apparent
that
she loves the University
of
Michigan,
but
more
importantly she loves the
University
of
Michigan
students.”
Izzy Baer, former vice
president of Central Student
Government, echoed those
sentiments as she looks back
fondly on her time working
with Harper.
“(Harper) made herself
extremely accessible to the
CSG executive team through
our term,” Baer said. “More
so, Royster always ensured
that student decisions and
actions were autonomous,
she worked hard to advocate
and advise, while always
maintaining student voices.”
Harper was also known
for being a champion of
diversity. She helped create
the new Trotter Center on
Central Campus and is on
the executive board of the
Ann Arbor branch of the
NAACP.
Baer
said
Harper’s
commitment to equity and
inclusion made a mark on
the University.
“Her
commitment
to
diversity and inclusion on
campus
reverberated
to
every corner of campus,”
Baer said. “I hope to see the
new VP prioritize revising
our
sexual
misconduct
policy,
expanding
mental
health resources on campus
and
continuing
Royster’s
legacy with a commitment
to DEI.”
Cardona also discussed
how having a vice president
of
Student
Life
who
prioritizes
diversity
is
essential.
“A
commitment
to
diversity,
equity
and
inclusion is a priority for
the University of Michigan.
As such, it is important to
continue the work of Dr.
Harper and other leaders
across
the
campus
of
supporting all students in
intentional ways as part
of our efforts to foster an
inclusive campus climate,”
Cardona
told
The
Daily.
“Additionally, it is important
that all members of the U of M
community, including those
who are underrepresented,
are
provided
equal
opportunities to thrive and
excel.”
Along
with
student
organizations,
Harper
oversaw
the
University
Health
Service.
Earlier
this month, Harper, along
with other administrators,
responded to the student
backlash
over
an
added
fee for testing for sexually
transmitted infections. The
University
then
reversed
its
policy
after
students
created an online petition
demanding the University
eliminate STI testing fees.
“You
have
helped
us
understand
just
how
important it is to maintain
confidentiality
in
this
process all the way through
how those tests are paid
for,” Harper wrote in an
email explaining the policy
reversal to students. “We
would
never
want
the
payment process for these
important
medical
tests
to stand in the way of any
student accessing important
medical services or testing.”
“We’ve done some small
pilot
studies
with
other
indications,
including
social
anxiety in adults on the autism
spectrum,” Doblin said. “We’ve
done work with MDMA for
anxiety associated with life-
threatening illness.”
After dedicating his life to
researching psychedelic drugs,
Doblin spoke on the progress
made since he was inspired to
start MAPS.
“The FDA is now going to
create guidance and documents
if you want to do psychedelic
research,” Doblin said. “This
idea of trying to bring our
different selves together —
bring the psychedelics out into
the open — it’s working and
what we’re doing is making
MDMA into a medicine.”
LSA junior Nick Lemaster
expressed his own long-term
interest in the topic, as he was
originally inspired by a pilot
study that used Psilocybin to
minimize withdrawal effects
of alcoholism.
“I just think it’s a fascinating
new
frontier
of
research
in terms of psychological
treatment,” Lemaster said.
“It’s an avenue that hasn’t
been explored much, and it’s
also an experience that hasn’t
been researched much.”
LSA senior Briana Johnson
spoke on the potential to
embrace this new type of
therapy.
“Keeping
your
options
open and not turning away
from things that people say
are inherently bad or add to
the degradation of society,
you
shouldn’t
turn
your
back on things that could
potentially
help
people,”
Johnson said. “As more and
more people start to see
that it’s beneficial, it might
be more mainstreamed and
have the potential to be more
regulated.”
Rackham
student
Nick
Denomme presented research
on the history and discovery
of LSD and its key role in
understanding the function
of serotonin in the brain and
mental illnesses.
“The
remarkable
effects
of LSD evolved our thinking
about neurochemistry and the
etiology of mental illness,”
Denomme
said.
“These
discoveries really helped us
steer psychiatry away from
psychogenic
models
and
develop chemical models of
mental illness.”
Katrin Preller, a researcher
at Yale University, presented
her work on the therapeutic
potential
of
the
psilocybin
mushrooms,
or
magic
mushrooms.
“Alterations
in
social
cognitions are core symptoms
of many psychiatric disorders,”
Preller said.
Preller
described
the
profound
impact
social
rejection and exclusion has on
psychiatric patients. She also
explained the potential for
Psilocybin to lessen this.
“Psychedelics
reduce
the
processing
of
negative
information — under Psilocybin
they report reduced feelings of
being socially excluded,” Preller
said,
referring
to
patients
in a study with borderline
personality disorder.
Rackham
student
Emma
Trammel
emphasized
the
importance
of
increasing
public
awareness
in
her
presentation.
“So often we have these
science
conferences
that
just aren’t accessible to the
general public, so it’s just
scientists telling scientists
about what they did, when
what we really need to focus
on is telling the general
public about the work that
we’re doing so that they trust
that we know what we’re
doing and they have reason to
support us,” Trammel said.
LSA
senior
Christopher
Fields,
who
attended
the
symposium,
expressed
his
excitement at the prospect of
exploring this new field.
“The
therapeutic
use
of
psychedelics
halted
and
became a standstill in the late
60s,” Fields said. “The fact that
U-M is hosting this event is a
huge indicator of revamping
psychedelic research.”
That
same
year,
26
percent said they had used
marijuana at least once in
the last 30 days.
Schulenberg also noted
the
dramatic
increase
in
vaping
nicotine
and
marijuana
among
college
students,
particularly
among the percentage who
said they had done so at least
once in the previous year.
“For both of those, annual
use increased,” Schulenberg
said. “Both of those doubled
or more than doubled in just
one year, and we hardly ever
see that happen as we track
substance use.”
Among college students,
the 30-day prevalence of
vaping marijuana rose from
5.2 percent in 2017 to 10.9
percent
in
2018.
Vaping
nicotine increased as well,
with
30-day
prevalence
going from 6.1 percent in
2017 to 15.5 percent in 2018
in “one of the largest one-
year proportional increases
for any substance over the
past 40 years.”
Vaping
nicotine
also
increased
among
non-
college respondents, going
from 7.9 percent in 2017
to 12.5 percent in 2018.
Schulenberg
said
it
was
rare to see higher nicotine
use among college students
compared
to
non-college
youth, adding that people’s
perception of harm tended
to
impact
usage
levels.
Historically,
according
to Schulenberg, when the
survey
recorded
higher
levels of perceived harm
associated
with
using
a
substance, prevalence levels
tended to be lower.
“And it depends how you
think about it, but people
risking their health is bad,”
Schulenberg said. “The good
news is, for example, binge
drinking
among
college
students is at a record low.
That’s for the first time ever
below 30 percent, so there’s
a significant drop, just in the
past year in binge drinking
among college students.”
LSA senior Eric Terbush
is
a
member
of
Green
Wolverine,
a
student
organization that promotes
knowledge
of
the
legal
aspects
of
the
cannabis
industry. Terbush said while
the increase in cannabis
consumption among college
students
was
statistically
significant,
it
should
be
considered
alongside
the
“displacement
of
alcohol
consumption.”
“I think that overall ease of
access to cannabis, increased
interest
in
personal
health and perceptions of
cannabis’s safety are all key
elements in the increase in
consumption among college-
age demographics,” Terbush
said.
“The
real
question
is if this displacement is
an
overall
net
positive
or
negative
on
student
health. While alcohol has a
measurable death toll, the
social costs of cannabis are
much more opaque. I think
this study overall confirms
longer trends in substance
abuse.”
Schulenberg
said
researchers
were
still
trying to figure out if the
decrease in binge drinking
was associated with the
increased
use
of
other
substances like marijuana.
“Scientists
are
asking
that
more
and
more,”
Schulenberg
said.
“They
call
it
substitution.
It’s,
‘OK,
well,
they’re
going
to get high on something,’
so, first they’ll want to use
something
that’s
readily
available,
and
basically,
marijuana is always readily
available. Perhaps there’s
more opportunity to use it,
and perhaps the perception
is it’s not such a big deal,
and
maybe
people
are
substituting. The research
is not there yet, so we don’t
know, but it’s definitely a
good hypothesis.”
L.J.
Horowitz,
Green
Wolverine
President
and
Kinesiology
senior,
said
increased use of marijuana
should
be
viewed
as
beneficial.
“The increase in marijuana
use among college students
should be noted as a positive
for
both
the
cannabis
industry and society as a
whole,” Horowitz said. “It
is imperative for readers to
know that the report, more
importantly,
indicates
a
significant drop in abuse of
other illicit drugs — alcohol
and opiates — due to using
cannabis as a substitute.”
Schulenberg added that
the
study
also
found
a
decrease in reported usage
of
narcotics
other
than
heroin, saying that public
health efforts to combat the
opioid epidemic may prove
effective in curbing other
addiction crises.
“We’re seeing declines in
that among, not just college
students, but also same-age
people who are not in college,
and
that’s
great
news,”
Schulenberg said. “I mean,
these can be horrible drugs,
so what I want to say is that
public
health
campaigns,
getting information out, can
turn things around. We can
be proactive and turn things
around, and I think that
applies to the vaping.”
“I believe that Michigan
Political Consulting offers
a
niche,
yet
incredibly
valuable,
opportunity
to
Michigan
students,”
Freedman said. “I think
political consulting would
give
students
access
to
a
variety
of
political
perspectives, offices, causes
and operations compared to
one internship or job.”
The group works with
various Michigan campaigns,
including Senator Elizabeth
Warren’s
presidential
campaign,
Jon
Hoadley’s
congressional campaign for
Michigan’s 60th district and
Alberta Griffin’s state House
campaign
for
Michigan’s
61st district. Hoadley is a
Democrat, first elected to
the House of Representatives
in 2014. Griffin is also a
Democrat
and
served
a
previous term in the state
House, before being defeated
in 2018.
MPC
Recruitment
Co-Chair and LSA junior,
Taylor
Smith,
said
the
group has to adapt to each
campaign’s specific requests,
but in general MPC works
on social media, polling,
fundraising and more.
“Every client will have
a different set of needs,”
Smith said. “But the work
generally includes making
social media posts for them,
doing graphic design, data,
polling, fundraising — a lot
of different things.”
Burnstein
talked
specifically
about
MPC’s
work
for
the
Warren
campaign and how they got
connected.
“We got in touch with
someone from the Warren
campaign,” Burstein said.
“She expressed an interest
in working with us, and she
connected us to the youth
political director. He was
keen on having us set up
student
groups
on
other
campuses across the state of
Michigan.”
Though
MPC
says
they’re
a
non-partisan
group,
the
majority
of
their current clients are
Democratic
campaigns.
Burnstein emphasized that
the group is happy to work
with both Republican and
Democratic
campaigns,
but
acknowledged
the
difficulty of finding an
ideologically
diverse
membership.
“By the nature of being in a
college town, it begets a lot of
progressive and democratic
voices, which is the main
composition of our executive
board,
unintentionally,
of
course,” Burnstein said. “I
think it has been difficult
recruiting
students
with
non-mainstream voices and
views.”
Freedman agreed having
a
group
with
diverse
perspectives and ideologies
is
important
in
political
organizations.
“It is absolutely vital to
incorporate
individuals
from all political ideologies
at
one
table,”
Freedman
said. “Executing effective
political
leadership
and
best representing those who
elect an official is done with
a diverse representation of
ideologies present.”
The
group
hopes
to
grow this semester while
providing
quality
work
for their clients. They are
receiving applications until
Sept. 1.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Friday, September 13, 2019 — 3
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
STUDY
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KEEMYA ESMAEL/Daily
Self-identified cyborg artist Moon Ribas performs her cyborg art movement in the Michigan Theater Thursday evening.
C YBORG ARTIST
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