The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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Thursday, October 31, 2019 — 3A

In addition to the academic 
portion of the building, the 
14-acre site will also feature 
residential 
units, 
a 
hotel, 
a conference center and a 
business 
collaboration 
and 
incubation space. Production is 
slated to begin in 2021. 
He went on to explain 
the 
center 
will 
provide 
degree programs through 
the University’s Ann Arbor 
campus 
tailored 
to 
the 
needs of the local economy, 
in the hopes of sustaining 
long-term growth for the 
city. 
“These 
could 
include 
senior-level undergraduate 
and 
graduate 
courses 
and 
stackable 
certificate 
credentials 
in 
highly 
relevant, 
growing 
areas 
such as mobility, artificial 
intelligence, cybersecurity, 
privacy, 
data 
science, 
financial 
technology, 
entrepreneurship, 
sustainability, 
and 
advanced manufacturing,” 
Schlissel said.
The 
development 
of 
the site will be funded in 
large 
part 
by 
donations 
from 
Stephen 
Ross, 
the 
University’s largest donor, 
and Detroit businessman 
Dan Gilbert, as well as other 
public and private funding 
sources. 
In a statement to the 
University, Ross expressed 
his donation to the center 
was rooted in his desire to 
give back to the city that 
made him into the man he 
is today.
“I spent my childhood 
and many of my young 

adult 
years 
living 
and 
working 
in 
Detroit 
and 
have long wanted to find a 
way to have a real impact 
on my hometown,” Ross 
said. “The University of 
Michigan helped spark my 
entrepreneurial spirit and 
nurtured my curiosity for 
all aspects of innovation, 
leading me to not only 
become a founder, but an 
incubator and investor in a 
variety of technologies and 
businesses.” 
The center’s development 
occurs 
in 
conjunction 
with other efforts by the 
University 
to 
expand 
into the city, namely the 
Detroit Center, Rackham 
Memorial 
Building, 
and 
“cradle to career” program 
at Marygrove College. 
Detroit 
Mayor 
Mike 
Duggan 
expressed 
excitement for the growing 
relationship 
between 
Detroit and the University, 
as it will allow the city to 
flourish in an era of rapid 
technological innovation.
“I am pleased President 
Mark 
Schlissel 
accepted 
the 
invitation 
to 
have 
U-M power this center,” 
Duggan 
said. 
“Detroit 
is the ideal location for 
this 
extension 
for 
the 
prestigious University of 
Michigan and will help 
keep our city competitive 
in the emerging industries 
of tomorrow.”
The 
University 
announced the Innovation 
Center 
would 
feature 
an 
interdisciplinary 
committee 
made 
up 
of 
faculty 
from 
the 
University’s 
three 
campuses, led by James 
Hilton, U-M Vice Provost 

of Academic Innovation, 
to 
develop 
academic 
programs 
and 
design 
the building in the most 
efficient way. Additionally, 
the faculty committee will 
convene 
to 
re-strategize 
every few years as an effort 
to efficiently target the 
most pressing issues of the 
surrounding community. 
However, not all were 
impressed 
with 
the 
University’s 
decision 
to 
take on such an expensive 
project, 
especially 
when 
the Dearborn and Flint 
campuses 
still 
lack 
significant 
funding. 
In 
response 
to 
the 
announcement 
of 
the 
Innovation 
Center, 
LSA 
junior and spokesperson 
for One University Amytess 
Girgis tweeted, “Perhaps 
the innovation of funding 
Flint and Dearborn.” 
In an interview with 
The Daily, Girgis cited the 
One University Campaign 
— a coalition aimed at 
increasing parity between 
the Ann Arbor, Flint and 
Dearborn campuses — and 
brought up that significant 
disparities 
still 
exist 
between students. 
While 
she 
commends 
the 
University 
for 
the 
important work they can 
potentially do in Detroit, 
she 
said 
she 
sees 
the 
University’s 
decision 
to 
invest so heavily in the 
Innovation 
Center 
in 
Detroit as misaligned with 
its 
commitment 
to 
the 
campaign.
“We 
commend 
the 
Administration 
on 
its 
professed 
commitment 
to 
support 
the 
people 
and 
communities 
of 

Michigan,” Girgis said. “I 
just have to wonder why, 
if U-M is truly a public 
institution, it is allowing 
its 
Flint 
and 
Dearborn 
campuses to suffer from 
abhorrent lack of funding 
that it could very easily 
rectify? I guess the voices 
of students and faculty in 
these communities aren’t 
as strong as that of Dan 
Gilbert’s.” 
Some 
students 
also 
questioned the University’s 
decision 
to 
go 
into 
partnership with Ross and 
Gilbert. LSA senior Sharif 
Krabti said the University’s 
investment 
in 
the 
downtown area of Detroit 
as opposed to areas that 
receive less attention is an 
example of gentrification.
“I don’t really see how 
those two folks have a 
vested 
interest 
in 
the 
communities 
in 
Detroit, 
outside of the Downtown-
Midtown 
area 
and 
that 
business 
development 
there,” Krabti said. “It’s 
important 
to 
recognize 
— 
and 
the 
University 
really should know this 
considering its faculty are 
the ones teaching this and 
have 
this 
understanding 
— 
that 
business 
doesn’t 
mean that it’s going to be 
prosperous for communities 
that live there.”
Krabti, who participated 
in Semester in Detroit this 
summer, 
said 
there 
are 
Detroit-based 
initiatives 
the University participates 
in that help the city. He said 
this project, however, does 
not because it only benefits 
rich 
people 
and 
would 
rather see the resources in 
this project used elsewhere.

DETROIT
From Page 1A

During the event, students 
were able to split off into 
small groups to discuss a 
variety of issues pertaining 
to 
debate 
preparation, 
including 
campus 
climate, 
volunteer engagement, voter 
registration, media literacy 
and post-debate events and 
programs. 

Students had the chance 
to share their ideas with 
the event organizers. CSG 
President 
Ben 
Gerstein, 
Public Policy junior, said 
the small group discussions 
were beneficial for hearing 
the thoughts of the student 
body.
“To be able to share 
out 
here, 
in 
the 
room 
specifically, what students 
are thinking, I think is a lot 

different than just having 
questions answered at a 
surface 
level,” 
Gerstein 
said. “I think it allowed for 
us to dig deeper into sort of 
some of the details.
LSA 
junior 
Bridget 
Corwin said her group on 
voter 
registration 
talked 
about 
how 
to 
increase 
student engagement with 
the 
democratic 
process, 
and said the smaller focus 
groups allowed students to 
share ideas on topics that 
they are passionate about.
“It was cool to have those 
small 
group 
discussions 
as 
well,” 
Corwin 
said. 
“Sometimes 
I 
don’t 
necessarily 
talk 
about 
the different aspects of 
voter 
registration 
with 
my friends all the time, 
and 
it’s 
something 
that 
I’m passionate about, and 
I care about, and I see it 
as an important aspect of 

just like civic and political 
engagement 
on 
this 
campus.”
According 
to 
Corwin, 
the group discussed why 
voter 
registration 
is 
an 
important conversation due 
to the political ideas being 
brought to campus with the 
debate.
“I also think it’s really 
important 
that 
people 
understand that they have 
a voice and they are able to 
use their voice and literally 
shaping what those debates 
look like,” Corwin said. 
“I just think that voter 
registration 
is 
a 
really 
important piece to that, and 
it really important avenue 
for getting people civically 
and politically engaged.” 
LSA 
freshman 
Russell 
McIntosh said his small 
group, 
discussing 
media 
literacy, 
highlighted 
various modern concerns 

and 
discussions 
of 
the 
current media landscape 
and political climate.
“Media is pretty much 
our greatest influence and 
controls the way we think,” 
McIntosh 
said. 
“TV 
is 
going to be a huge portion 
of the debate, so we talked 
about the importance of 
educating people about the 
turn of the fake news and 
what fake news really is. We 
talked about how Michigan 
is going to be targeted by 
certain outside influencers. 
So media is just going to 
play a huge role.”
Carver said the debate 
presents 
a 
unique 
opportunity for students 
to 
participate 
in 
the 
democratic process.
“Educational 
opportunities 
are 
about 
what 
you 
do 
in 
the 
classroom and what you do 
outside of the classroom,” 

DEBATE
From Page 1A

The lecture began with opening 
remarks from CHEAR center 
director Lisa Prosser. Prosser took 
the stage to recognize Meiser, 
who founded the CHEAR Center 
Board of Advisors and for whom 
the center is named after.
Gordon began by addressing 
the current political climate, 
emphasizing the importance of 
simple and efficient change. He 
went on to identify the three key 
themes of his discussion: policy, 
process and personnel. 
“All of this sounds Hallmark 
simple, and it is,” Gordon said. 
“I 
think 
we’ve 
gone 
astray 
because we have made things too 
complicated and if we can stay 
anchored in simple ideas like these 
and if we can simplify the ways 
we do our work, we can activate 

a compelling agenda for reducing 
poverty and hunger.” 
Gordon then called attention to 
more specific issues in the process 
such as recent strides to move 
to self-attestation, which would 
allow low-income applicants to 
report their assets themselves 
instead of having to provide 
asset proof when filling out 
applications for benefits. Gordon 
said he believes the change to 
self-attestation would take away 
some of the stress from having to 
provide proof of assets. 
Gordon also spoke about the 
importance of good design when 
it comes to applications and 
processes, providing an example 
of a benefits application that was 
cut down from 42 pages — the 
longest in the country — to 18 
pages, making it more efficient 
for low-income families to apply. 
Gordon also talked about changes 
in website layout that would make 

it easier and quicker for applicants 
and caseworkers to read and fill 
out. 
“We should care about how 
things 
look,” 
Gordon 
said. 
“Design, as it turns out, is one of 
the ways that we treat people as 
equals.”
 Gordon closed his presentation 
with a call for hope, ensuring 
that although this type of work is 
difficult, it is worth it. 
“The public sector is often 
demonized. And a big part of 
my job is just reminding my 
colleagues that our work is among 
the most important work that 
there is,” Gordon said. 
Orringer, who has a specialty 
in pediatrics and a degree from 
Harvard Medical School, spoke 
on identifying food insecurity as 
a major indicator of child health 
as well as a social determinant 
for health. Orringer elaborated 
further on this topic, linking food 

insecurity to youth mental and 
physical health problems as well 
as family vulnerability. Orringer 
stressed 
the 
importance 
of 
advocating for children’s health, 
specifically 
calling 
on 
the 
engagement of hospital staff. 
“What’s really important on a 
clinical basis is to make sure our 
staff, our nurses, our medical 
assistants, our trainees that 
come through, and faculty all 
are sensitive to this issue and 
are aware of the screening for 
this, why we are doing it, why 
this is important, and what the 
resources are,” Orringer said.
Pilkauskas reiterated many 
core facts Orringer touched on, 
focusing on the policies that 
influence the prevalence of food 
insecurity. 

Michigan Men offers two 
formats of discussion: Michigan 
Man Box, a one-time 90-minute 
session, and Expeditions of 
Manhood, which consists of 
several sessions. 
In 
Michigan 
Man 
Box, 
participants 
explore 
expectations 
and 
messages 
they’ve 
experienced 
surrounding 
masculinity. 
McEvilly said two common 
themes that emerge during these 
sessions are the expectations 
of dependability and lack of 
emotional expression. 
Expeditions 
of 
Manhood 
consists 
of 
seven 
sessions 
that dig into the concept of 
masculinity more deeply, using 
Ted Talks, activities and open 
discussion 
and 
questions. 
McEvilly said participants work 
on creating their own definitions 
of 
masculinity 
and 
discuss 
self care, consent and healthy 
relationships. They also evaluate 
how masculinity plays out in 
their communities, particularly 
in fraternities. 
Engineering 
junior 
Ian 
Ross, who participated in the 
first cohort of Expedition of 
Manhood this past summer, said 
he believes men don’t talk about 
masculinity 
and 
masculine 
socialization as freely as they 
should. The program is designed 
to be peer-facilitated, making 
the conversations much more 
relaxed, honest and open, Ross 
added. 
“I feel like conversations 
about femininity happen on a 
more frank and open level,” Ross 
said. “Men don’t feel like having 
those conversations because it’s 
been programmed out of them, 
and when you start having them, 
it’s actually very, I think, freeing 
and rewarding because you 
get to look at yourself and your 
community in a very different 
light.”
McEvilly said it’s important 
to 
talk 
about 
masculinity 
because the effects of masculine 
socialization 
manifest 
themselves in a number of 
alarming ways. For example, 
men have high rates of substance 
use and abuse, are 3.54 times 
more likely than the general 
population to commit suicide, 
have a higher representation 
in campus judicial proceedings 
and are more likely to commit 
sexual violence. In addition, men 
form less complex social support 
systems than women and are 
less likely to reach out for help, 
especially from other men. 
“When you look at those stats, 
clearly something is going on, 
there is some kind of impact 
being 
felt,” 
McEvilly 
said. 
“Those are very, very powerful 
trends.”
Ross heard about the program 
through his Beta Theta Pi 
brother Sebastian Capp, one 
of the organizers and student 
facilitators 
for 
Michigan 
Men. Touching on why the 
Greek community has been 
so involved in Michigan Men, 
Ross said fraternities provide 
a unique environment because 
they put so many masculine-
identifying people in the same 
place, all under a common set 
of ethics. According to SAPAC, 
membership in all-male groups 
is linked to higher rates of sexual 
violence, one of the factors 
McEvilly linked to masculine 
socialization.
“There are definitely aspects 
of the Greek system and how 
masculinity plays into that that 
are interesting,” Ross said. “I 
think the fact that you have a 
lot of men in once space, the fact 
that you’re dealing with people 
at such a pivotal time in their 
life — the undergrad age is that 
across the board — and the fact 
that they’re all in that one space 

together, 
especially 
because 
they are under the context of a 
set of values.”
In particular, Ross said, he 
was struck by a session focused 
on male vulnerability.
“As men you’re taught not to 
be vulnerable, you’re taught to 
be very stoic,” Ross said. “Just 
having to have a space to talk 
about why it’s a good thing to be 
a little more raw and a little more 
candid about your emotions can 
be a very positive and productive 
thing.”
Although the program was 
designed for male-identifying 
people, 
and 
Michigan 
Man 
Box is offered solely to men, 
McEvilly said Michigan Men is 
open to connecting with people 
of 
different 
identities. 
For 
example, he’ll soon be holding an 
informational presentation for a 
group of cisgender women. 
“When it comes to designing 
this program and implementing 
this program, I don’t feel that it 
should ever just be cis men doing 
the work,” McEvilly said. “It 
needs to be informed by anyone 
who would like to inform the 
work. No one group could ever 
have complete ownership over 
this type of program.”
McEvilly 
said 
he 
wishes 
Michigan 
Men 
could 
reach 
more people on campus, but he 
and the other facilitators have 
to be realistic. Even if they 
involved every single masculine-
identifying 
person, 
McEvilly 
said, Michigan Men couldn’t 
completely reverse all harmful 
societal trends. He said the goal 
of Michigan Men is to at least 
start a conversation or spark 
some initial engagement. 
Commenting on how societal 
perceptions of masculinity are 
shifting, McEvilly said he hopes 
more men will start thinking 
about definitions of what it 
means to be a man. 
“I think conversations around 
masculinity are slowly, slowly 
changing.” McEvilly said. “I 
would say from the time that I’ve 
been alive, over the last thirty 
years or so, the general popular 
or cultural awareness around 
masculinity seems to be shifting 
and I think there’s a lot of 
reasons for that. I’m cautiously 
optimistic that as awareness 
grows, interest will also grow.”
LSA sophomore Maira Gajda 
echoed McEvilly’s sentiments, 
saying she thinks the idea of 
talking about masculinity is 
valuable in an ever-changing 
cultural environment.
“What it means to be a man 
is changing so much nowadays, 
that it’s really important for 
students to take a proactive 
approach to make the definition 
of 
masculinity 
something 
productive for themselves, for 
their communities, and for their 
loved ones and everyone around 
them,” Gajda said.
According to Ross, Michigan 
Men stands out because it 
doesn’t prescribe a certain set 
of beliefs or tell men who they 
should be. He said the main 
goal of the program is to help 
participants think about what 
aspects of their identities are 
intrinsic versus prescribed by 
societal expectations, so they 
can live their most authentic 
lives. 
“I think a lot of program 
offerings that the University 
has, students think of it under 
a certain context,” Ross said. 
“It’s 
the 
University 
saying 
XYZ, or there’s a clear opinion 
trying to come through the 
program. The thing I like about 
Michigan Men is that it’s about 
the people going through it, it’s 
about their identity, it’s about 
the conversation that you get to 
have. It’s you just having frank 
conversations about what you 
think, and no one’s going to tell 
you, you have to think a certain 
way.”

FOOD
From Page 1A

MEN
From Page 1A

“What we do is we have 
a meeting, and we show the 
history of the library block 
first, and then we have them 
do an interactive exercise,” 
Tyler said. “And then, we find 
that people are ready to talk. 
If you just went into a meeting 
and you said, ‘Tell us what you 
think about the library block,’ 
they 
probably 
wouldn’t 
be 
good reference points, but by 
taking the time, they gradually 
open up, and we get a lot of 
comments.”

John 
Haines, 
another 
member 
of 
the 
subgroup, 
reflected on the addition of an 
activity survey as well as the 
urban spaces survey to have 
community members consider 
the activities they’d like to 
have in the community space. 
“The goal for us is to really 
generate discussion,” Haines 
said. “And while we did get 
some 
discussion 
after 
the 
urban 
spaces 
exercise, 
we 
thought maybe by describing 
activities people might be able 
to think a little bit more about 
what they might want to talk 
about.”
Next, 
the 
task 
force 

discussed 
the 
upcoming 
open house at the Ann Arbor 
District Library scheduled for 
Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 6 p.m.
The open house will host 
four 
stations: 
a 
welcome 
station, a definition station, 
an audience station and an 
experience station. 
Each station has an activity 
to 
stimulate 
conversation 
on defining the space of the 
library lot, considering who 
will use the space and how it 
will be used. 
After 
discussion, 
Task 
Force Chair Meghan Musolff 
expressed 
an 
optimistic 
outlook on the upcoming event. 

The event will have coffee, 
cookies and other snacks. 
“I’m feeling good about what 
our strategy is for this event, 
and we’ll see what we learn and 
move on from there,” Musolff 
said. “And as a reminder, we 
have another one in January, so 
I’m hoping, somewhere along 
the way, we’ll have a little bit of 
time to debrief to think about 
what we learned from this one 
and what our strategy might be 
for the next.”
The committee also talked 
about online public engagement 
to allow those who can’t make 
it to the event to participate, 
as well as discussion on the 

pop-up “idea pod.” The idea 
pod, a structure known as a 
DecaDome, is planned to be 
open in the library lot from 
Nov. 3 to 10 to allow community 
members to ask questions and 
share ideas. The task force is 
currently finalizing logistics. 
This 
idea 
was 
initially 
proposed 
by 
committee 
member 
Alan 
Haber. 
The 
committee considered alleged 
pushback 
from 
community 
members on the idea of the 
DecaDome because of its cost 
but concluded to review its 
efficacy 
after 
the 
planned 
week-long 
trial 
period. 
Committee 
member 
Ann 

Dilcher said she was looking 
forward to the activity.
“In my mind, I think it’s an 
activity to do, and that it is 
something that can come back 
to if we find it to be very useful. 
Or something else can take its 
place,” Dilcher said.
The 
group 
unanimously 
passed on the next task force 
agenda to debrief on the Nov. 
6 meeting, the DecaDome, 
targeted mailing and possible 
speakers 
from 
stakeholders 
with a vision for the library lot.

TASK FORCE
From Page 1A

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