“CSG
is
encouraged
by
the
President’s
Commission
on
Carbon
Neutrality
and
its joining of the Climate
Change Coalition. We hope the
University continues to take
meaningful steps to reduce our
carbon footprint.”
The Board of Regents then
unanimously
approved
the
construction of a new University
in-patient
hospital
next
to
the
Frankel
Cardiovascular
Center. The hospital has an
estimated cost of $920 million,
will be 12-stories tall and will
house 264 private rooms. It is
expected to open in the fall of
2024.
Regent Shauna Ryder Diggs
(D) said the new hospital will
help Michigan Medicine treat
all patients to the best of their
ability with new technology.
She said the planning process
took around two and a half
years.
“The
team
at
Michigan
Medicine has taken great care
to consider the needs of both
patients and families, both now
and in the future,” Diggs said.
“This new hospital will enable
healthcare providers to quickly
respond to complex cases with
the highest level of patient
safety, infection control and
the delivery of state-of-the-art
treatments.”
T. Anthony Denton, senior
vice
president
and
chief
operating officer of Michigan
Medicine, then spoke about the
hospital. He said a big reason
the University needs to build
a new hospital is to make sure
there are enough resources and
employees for all patients.
“The challenge is access
and capacity,” Denton said.
“It’s been a running story for
a while, but I would suggest to
you that it’s a good challenge.
It demonstrates that we are a
provider of choice … being busy
means that we are providing
a service to our community.
However, it does create access
constraints for people who
want to get into our hospital
who can’t.”
Denton
concluded
by
saying Michigan Medicine is
dedicated
to
environmental
sustainability. He said part of
the reason the hospital costs
so much is because they tried
to make it as environmentally
friendly as possible.
“We
have
been
very
committed to environmental
sustainability for decades at
Michigan Medicine,” Denton
said. “We believe that it is so
important to take care of our
home and serve the community
… we believe that investment
in the future will give us the
innovation, it will give us
the access, it will give us the
capacity that we need to serve
our future.”
Public
commenters
at
the
meeting
addressed
issues relating to pedestrian
safety, wrongful child abuse
convictions and funding for
STEM programs, among other
concerns.
Multiple
commenters
expressed concern about the
lawsuit against Black Girls
Code, a summer coding program
at Wayne State University.
In
February,
University
of
Michigan-Flint professor Mark
Perry filed a claim against
Wayne State alleging the school
violates Title IX by holding a
summer workshop aimed solely
at girls. In response, Williams
and about 15 other National
Action
Network
members
demonstrated outside the home
of University President Mark
Schlissel to call for Perry’s
firing.
Charles
Williams
II,
president
of
the
Michigan
chapter of NAN, addressed the
Regents about Perry’s claim
and representation in STEM
fields. Williams pointed out the
lack of racial diversity in the
University’s STEM programs
and urged the University to
take immediate action against
Perry.
“If you begin to investigate
the
graduate
programs
in
STEM and in other disciplines,
you will see rarely African
Americans admitted into your
programs,”
Williams
said.
“We know the University of
Michigan
fought
hard
for
affirmative action … but what
we don’t know is if their
commitment is sincere. Where
is the University of Michigan’s
footing in Detroit?”
Josh Mack, University alum
and NAN member, emphasized
Williams’s points and shared
his own experience at the
University as a doctoral student
in the early 1970s. Mack said
he faced social and economic
challenges as a black student
and added that he hoped the
University
would
continue
supporting STEM programs,
including those that reach out
to minority groups.
“Our Constitution of the
United States is designed to
make our country a more
perfect union,” Mack said.
“With the STEM program,
if we continue to support the
STEM program and the Bridge
program
and
the
(Women
in Science and Engineering)
program, it continues to make
the University of Michigan
a
more
perfect
learning
institution.”
Community
members
involved with Torn Family,
an organization dedicated to
overturning false convictions
of Shaken Baby Syndrome,
addressed the Regents about
cases related to University
hospitals.
Douglas
Smith,
a
retired
professor of pathology at the
University and a board member
of Torn Family, called on the
University to hold a formal
discussion about wrongful child
abuse convictions in an academic
and scientific setting. Smith
said although LSA and the Law
School held a day-long conference
a few years ago to address the
issue of Shaken Baby Syndrome,
representatives from the Medical
School refused to participate.
“The courtroom is a terrible
place to have a scientific or
medical debate,” Smith said.
“We need to have academic
platforms for debate. But as
long these faculties refuse
to acknowledge that there is
something to debate, it won’t
happen … This Board would
be doing a great service for
the education of doctors and
the safety of families if this
debate were to happen.”
Jianping
Fu,
associate
professor
of
mechanical
engineering, led the team that
has worked on the project since
2015. He said his team was able
to generate embryoids with
about 5 to 10 percent efficiency
a few years ago, while the new
technology is about 95 percent
efficient.
Yi Zheng, a post-doctoral
research fellow in Fu’s lab, said
he felt encouraged by all the
attention the research received.
“I published quite a few
research papers before, but
none of them generated so
many interests and attentions
from
both
academia
and
the public,” Zheng said in
an email to The Daily. “It is
very interesting to read about
other’s comments from totally
different perspectives. I feel
quite proud that my research is
found useful and important by
the top scientists in the field, all
my hard work finally pays off.”
LSA
junior
Gillian
Rubenstein said she read the
paper after finding a link to it
in a newsletter from Nature.
Rubenstein, who is interested
in gender and health, said
she’s excited for the possible
implications the research has
and the fact it’s emerged in the
reproductive field.
“(Stem cell research) doesnt
seem like, so far, it’s gotten
into the reproductive field, so
I thought it was really exciting
that potentially we could create
embryos out of stem cells,”
Rubenstein said.
Fu said the new technology
could
aid
scientists
in
learning
more
about
what
he calls the “black box of
human
development.”
This
is the first few weeks after a
sperm fertilizes an egg and
the embryo implants into the
wall of the uterus, called the
preimplantation stage.
“During this period, many
miscarriages can happen and
serious birth defects can form
as well,” Fu said. “I think we are
very excited and very hopeful
that this system … has generated
a
reliable,
experimental
platform
for
answering
fundamental questions about
human development.”
Scientists have a good idea
of what happens for the nine
months of pregnancy, but have
had
trouble
understanding
the
preimplantation
stage
because
the
embryo
isn’t
easily accessible during this
period. The 1984 Warnock
rule has also made it difficult
to research preimplantation
— the Warnock rule, also
known as the 14-day rule, bars
researchers
from
studying
human embryos beyond 14
days of development for ethical
reasons.
Fu said there are no ethical
guidelines for embryoids yet.
He hopes embryoids aren’t
subjected to the 14-day rule
because they do not contain
certain cell types, so they
are unable to develop into a
baby. The lab has followed
the 14-day rule so far by only
culturing the embryoids for
four days, Fu said.
Six
months
after
a
previous
Climate
Strike
in
March
culminated
in
10
demonstrators
being
arrested after a nearly eight-
hour sit-in at the Fleming
Administration
Building,
another protest is planned for
Friday. The demonstration
will begin at 11 a.m. on
the Ingalls Mall outside of
Rackham Auditorium.
Naina
Agrawal-Hardin,
press liaison for Washtenaw
County
Climate
Strike
and a junior at Washtenaw
International High School,
applauded AAPS for allowing
students to leave class.
“While AAPS can’t legally
encourage students to leave
class,
as
organizers
we
are happy to see that our
work has pushed AAPS to
acknowledge our movement
and the right of all students
to be part of this historic
moment fighting for their
futures,”
Agrawal-Hardin
told The Daily. “We hope
that in future we can work
even more closely with AAPS
towards
transformative
action on climate justice.”
Comsa said administrators
would
work
to
maintain
order.
“In all cases, students are
supervised,
whether
they
choose to participate or not,”
Comsa wrote. “We encourage
all
parents/guardians
to
speak with their student(s)
about the messaging related
to
this
event,
including
anticipated student walkouts,
and ways in which students
can constructively and safely
express their viewpoints.”
Comsa
also
clarified
that students are not being
required to take part in the
walkout.
“We will respect the rights
of all students, whether they
choose to participate or not,”
Comsa said. “Thus, we work
with our student leaders and
coordinate supervision and
procedures to assure student
safety on our campuses. No
student will be required to
participate in any student-
led
activities,
including
walkouts.”
In
contrast,
University
administrators
have
not
made
any
announcements
excusing students and staff
from
classes
during
the
strike. LSA freshman Porter
Hughes created a petition
calling on the University to
“dismiss all students, faculty,
staff,
employees,
and
all
other associated personnel
during this time so that all
who wish to participate may
without fear of punishment
or consequence.”
“I think the University has
a responsibility to ensure that
civic engagement maintains
a core part of its mission by
not only talking the talk but
also by walking the walk
and allowing people to go
and participate in the event
without fear of retribution
or punishment in any way,
shape or form,” Hughes said.
Hughes said the petition is
meant to be sent University
President Mark Schlissel, and
that he’s trying to get in touch
with other administrators as
well. The University should
recognize how impactful the
climate crisis is for students
and for their futures, Hughes
said.
“Climate
change
is
affecting us in our everyday
lives and is going to have an
even bigger impact in our
near future,” Hughes said.
Foer emphasized individual
action is truly engineered
toward the person and is not a
one-size-fits-all program. He
mentioned a plan that focuses
on a plant-based diet and
limited travel, saying clean
eating was much easier than
less travel.
“Acknowledge and accept
who we are, acknowledge
what our limits are,” Foer
said. “I find it relatively easy
to be a vegetarian. I find it
rather difficult to control the
number of flights I take.”
Regardless
of
what
action someone takes, Foer
emphasized the importance
of taking any action at all.
He said simply accepting the
reality of climate change isn’t
permissible.
“Intellectually
accepting
the truth isn’t virtuous in
and of itself, and it won’t save
us,” Foer said. “If we accept
the fact of the reality, that
we are destroying the planet,
but aren’t willing to believe it,
we are no better than those
who denied the existence
of
human-caused
climate
change. And when the future
distinguishes
between
the
two kinds of denial, which
will appear to be a grave error
and which an unforgivable
crime?”
Perfecto then brought up
the instance of Puerto Rico,
the U.S. territory devastated
by a hurricane.
“I think that more and
more,
because
of
these
climate
catastrophes,
people that didn’t know, are
knowing, and the people that
knew, are more compelled to
do something,” Perfecto said.
“Do you agree that things are
changing?”
Foer agreed that things are
changing, but said he worries
Americans
emphasize
resilience too much after a
natural disaster and do not
talk about how things are
getting worse.
Foer ended his discussion
by offering up the idea of
climate change as a chance
to start again, rather than an
ending.
“We
are
so
used
to
thinking of climate change as
endings: the end of the polar
ice cap, the end of coastal
cities, the end of tolerable
weather,” Foer said. “But we
never think about it as an
opportunity for a beginning.
Maybe that is the ultimate
altercation of climate change
is not ‘we’re doomed,’ but
‘we’re at the beginning.’”
LSA sophomores Natalie
Suh and Katie Kulie are fans
of Foer’s work and were
pleasantly surprised by the
event.
“I
had
read
his
book
‘Extremely
Loud
and
Incredibly
Close’
in
high
school, and I thought it would
be a good opportunity to see a
New York best-selling author
talk,” Suh said. “I didn’t know
what to expect, really, out
of this. It seems so different
from ‘Extremely Loud and
Incredibly Close.’”
Kulie
said
she
likes
how
Foer
tells
a
story,
acknowledging the trials and
tribulations
without
being
too depressing.
“He’s really good at framing
things that are traditionally
considered super negative as
positive, but also still being
realistic about it, which I
think is something that is a
struggle,” Kulie said. “You
don’t hear stuff like that in
the rhetoric about climate
change these days.”
Both Kulie and Suh said
they plan on attending the
Washtenaw County Climate
Strike Friday and hope it
will be the beginning of real
change.
“I hope that the University
of
Michigan
officials
are
listening and actually see this
as a powerful statement and
not just, ‘Oh, the college kids
are at it again’ and actually pay
attention,” Suh said. “I think if
there is more of a diverse group
of ages and identities, it will be
more of an impactful statement.”
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Friday, September 20, 2019 — 3
Read more at
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REGENTS
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ALEC COHEN/Daily
LSA sophomore Morgan Anderson talks to University students during Earthfest on the Diag Thursday.
E ARTHFEST
CLIMATE
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WALKOUT
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EMBRYOS
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