Vice President of Student 
Life E. Royster Harper, is 
retiring from the University 
of Michigan after 20 years in 
her current position.
In 
an 
email 
to 
the 
University 
community 
Thursday morning, Harper 
announced her retirement, 
which will be effective at the 
beginning of the Winter 2020 
semester. She cited wanting 
to spend more time with her 
family and enjoying other life 
pursuits as the reason for her 
retirement.
“I read a statement recently 
that said, ‘Life is too precious 
to be anything but deeply 
alive in it.’ For me that means 
moving from my current 
role that I have cherished 
over these past 20 years, and 
spending more time with 
my family and life’s other 
pursuits,” 
Harper 
wrote. 
“Thus, it is with deep gratitude 
that I am announcing my 
retirement, 
effective 
Jan. 
17, 2020. While this was an 
incredibly difficult decision to 
make, I am ready and excited 
for this next adventure.”
As 
vice 
president 
of 
Student Life, Harper works 
closely with several student 
organizations such as Sexual 
Assault 
Prevention 
and 
Awareness Center, Fraternity 

& Sorority Life and the 
Trotter Multicultural Center. 
In an email statement, 
University President Mark 
Schlissel thanked Harper for 
her service with the broader 
Michigan community for the 
past two decades.
“During the five years I 
have known her, I’ve been 
continually 
impressed 
by 
her 
thoughtful 
and 
innovative 
leadership 
on 
important issues,” Schlissel 
wrote. “In particular, she 
has spent all of her time at 
U-M working to improve 
the 
student 
experience, 
particularly for those who 
are underrepresented, and 
she has led groundbreaking 
sexual misconduct prevention 
efforts 
and 
empowered 
survivors to report, recover, 
and seek justice.”
Faculty 
and 
student 
leaders 
on 
campus 
who 
have 
previously 
worked 
with Harper describe her 
commitment to prioritizing 
student voices. Julio Cardona, 
director 
of 
the 
Trotter 
Multicultural Center, detailed 
how Harper’s dedication to 
the University’s student body 
has spanned over her decades 
of service.
“Dr. Harper has committed 
her 
career 
to 
making 
a 
positive difference in the 
lives of generations of U-M 
students,” Cardona said. 

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Friday, September 13, 2019

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Marijuana 
use 
by 
college 
students 
hit 
a 
35-year 
high, 
according to a study released last 
Tuesday. The annual Monitoring 
the Future panel study, a joint effort 

by researchers at the University’s 
Institute 
for 
Social 
Research, 
found that, in 2018, 43 percent of 
full-time college students said they 
used marijuana at least once in the 
previous year, while one in four said 
they had used it in the last 30 days. 
The national survey also showed 

that binge drinking and other types 
of illicit drug use had decreased 
among college students. 
The study surveyed 1,400 adults 
age 19 to 22, including 900 who 
were full-time college students and 
approximately 
500 
non-college 
youth. Principal investigator John 

Schulenberg put it bluntly: He 
noted that prevalence levels for 
marijuana use have not been this 
high for three-and-a-half decades, 
when 45 percent of full-time college 
students in 1983 said they had used 
marijuana in the last 12 months. 

Study finds marijuana usage among 
college students at historic 35-year high
Researchers note dramatic increase in vaping as mode of consumption

LEAH GRAHAM
Daily News Editor

See STUDY, Page 3

The University of Michigan 
Transportation Research Institute 
released a report detailing methods 
to quantify motion sickness in 
automobiles in August. With the 
conversation on driverless vehicles 
growing, motion sickness has been 
a concern, since one out of three 
people is highly susceptible to 
motion sickness according to the 
National Institutes of Health.
UMTRI Director James Sayer, 
an adviser to the project, said the 
autonomous car industry talks 
about how these cars would free 
up time for passengers, allowing 
them to even watch movies. 
But motion sickness needs to be 
addressed before this idea can be 
made into reality, Sayer said. 
“The idea that you could have 
a fully autonomous vehicle drive 
you to work while you get work 
done or watch a movie … that’s 
something that the industry has 
been pedaling for some time,” 
Sayer said. 

Research 
focuses on 
sickness in 
automobiles

TRANSPORTATION

White paper examines 
method for quantifying 
illness in driverless vehicles

FRANCESCA DUONG
 Daily Staff Reporter

DESIGN BY SHERRY CHEN

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Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail 
news@michigandaily.com and let us know.

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INDEX
Vol. CXXVIII, No. 131
©2019 The Michigan Daily

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O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

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

S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

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S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
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ADMINISTRATION

Symposium discusses psychedelic 
therapies, neuroscience impact

RUCHITA IYER/Daily
Neuroscience graduate student Emma Trammel presents research findings at the Psychedelic Neuroscience and Therapy Symposium in the Rackham Thursday. 

Keynote speaker Rick Doblin takes a trip to Rackham, discusses ongoing projects

On 
Thursday 
in 
Rackham 
Auditorium, about 200 attendees 
listened to experts on psychedelic 
neuroscience 
share 
their 
research and the vast potential 
for psychedelic therapies to treat 
patients 
with 
mental 
health 
disorders. 
The 
“Psychedelic 
Neuroscience 
and 
Therapy” 
symposium was hosted by the 
University of Michigan’s Center 
for Consciousness Science.
Psychedelic science and therapy 
go far beyond the familiar party 

drugs characteristic of the 1960s. 
Researchers and advocates aim 
to sway public opinion away from 
entrenched taboo stereotypes and 
toward decriminalization. 
Originally 
characterized 
as 
hallucinogens, psychedelic drugs 
are known for inducing states of 
psychosis or altered perception. 
Many 
drugs 
like 
MDMA 
(commonly known as ecstasy) 
and LSD were discovered in the 
early 20th century. These drugs 
were used for research purposes 
in their infancy, and it wasn’t until 
the 1960s that their recreational 
use became popularized. This 

led to mass criminalization of 
psychedelic substances by the 
FDA and the development of their 
illicit social stigma. 
The keynote speaker of the 
event was Rick Doblin, founder of 
the Multidisciplinary Association 
for Psychedelic Studies. Through 
MAPS, Doblin has dedicated 
himself to popularizing a more 
positive and scientific view of 
psychedelics. 
Doblin 
introduced 
several 
ongoing projects investigating the 
healing potential of psychedelic 
drugs. One aimed to use MDMA 
as a treatment for post-traumatic 

stress disorder. The brains of 
people suffering from PTSD are 
altered to respond dramatically 
to fear triggers and to think less 
logically. 
“MDMA changes the brain too, 
but does it in the opposite way,” 
Doblin said. “It increases activity 
in the frontal cortex so that people 
can think logically about these 
things and not get triggered so 
easily.”
Doblin discussed studies which 
show promising healing potential 
for MDMA in other disorders.

HANNAH MACKAY
Daily Staff Reporter

VP E. Royster 
Harper retires 
after 20 years
in leadership

Campus community reflects on her legacy, 
commitment to diversity and lengthy career

JULIA FANZERES
Daily Staff Reporter

See PSYCH, Page 3

A group of University of 
Michigan 
students 
recently 
launched 
Michigan 
Political 
Consulting, the first political 
consulting 
organization 
on 
campus. 
The 
non-partisan 
organization works with various 
state and national campaigns 
and currently comprises of an 
executive board and a small 
consulting team. 
MPC Vice President Sam 
Burnstein, an LSA sophomore, 
said the group was founded to 
fill a gap in opportunities for 
campus involvement. 
“There are over a dozen 
different business consulting 
groups that are well known 
and highly coveted by students 
pursuing 
those 
careers,” 
Burnstein 
said. 
“But 
there 
wasn’t even one for politics or 
campaign work.”
LSA senior Rachael Freedman 
is interested in campaigning 
and was intrigued by MPC’s 
mission. 

Consulting 
group to be 
politically 
connected

First non-partisan student 
organization forms to 
work for local campaigns

EMMA RUBERG
Daily Staff Reporter

See CONSULTING, Page 3

See RETIRE, Page 3

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

CAMPUS LIFE

