Gov. 
Gretchen 
Whitmer 
discussed education, jobs, health 
care and roads at her second 
State of the State address on 
Wednesday evening at the State 
Capitol in Lansing. This was her 
second state address since her 
swearing-in as the 49th Governor 

of Michigan in January 2019.
In her 2019 address, Whitmer 
discussed key issues including 
Michigan’s infrastructure and 
educational system, emphasizing 
her 
intention 
to 
garner 
bipartisan support to address 
these problems. On Wednesday, 
Whitmer revisited her solution 
for Michigan’s infrastructure, 
which she claims would have 

fixed the roads by 2030 if it had 
been accepted by the Michigan 
legislature. 
“I am not giving up because 
the problem remains. In fact, it 
is worse because another year 
has passed. Cracked windshields, 
blown 
tires, 
busted 
rims,” 
Whitmer said. “That’s money 
that could go into your childcare 
budget, or your retirement fund 

or rent. And it’s also bad for 
business. We can’t ask businesses 
to invest in Michigan if we refuse 
to invest in ourselves.” 
With a lack of bipartisan 
cooperation 
for 
her 
initial 
proposal and a disappointing 
gridlock, according to Whitmer, 
she vowed to pursue executive 
action with her “Plan B.” 

The College of Literature, 
Science and the Arts Building and 
the Michigan Union both opened 
their doors to students and faculty 
on South State Street earlier this 
month, providing new study and 
meeting spaces. The reopened 
buildings provide more room for 
students as well as several cafes, 
study rooms and meeting spots.
Music, 
Theatre 
& 
Dance 
freshman Kiran Mangrulkar said 
it was easy to come to the Union 
because he lives in West Quad. 
Mangrulkar said the Union was 
a better study space than the 
Shapiro Undergraduate Library 
and Hatcher Graduate Library, 
where he has studied in the past. 
“I come here somewhat often,” 
Mangrulkar said. “I like the new 
spaces. I wish there (were) more 
outlets… I think they’re just very 
common, normal in general, 

nothing 
crazy, 
but 
nothing 
awful.” 
LSA junior Aparna Iyer said 
she 
appreciates 
the 
Union’s 
additional collaborative spaces. 
“I really like the student org 
spaces,” Iyer said. “The Idea Hub 
on the second floor, and I like 
that they put a ceiling over that 
courtyard, because that was just 
an unused wasted space, and I’m 
glad that we’re able to make use 
of that.”
LSA freshman Alex Majie said 
he likes the Union’s older design 
and anticipates studying there in 
the future. 
“I haven’t necessarily studied 
here yet,” Majie said. “But as I’m 
looking around, like, it would be 
a nice place to study. It’s not as 
quiet as a library, which is good in 
some aspects.”
Iyer said she thinks the Union 
has opened up space in other 
frequented study spaces. 

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Thursday, January 30, 2020

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

As attendees walked into 
the Emerging Drinking Water 
Contaminants Panel at Ford 
School of Public Policy on 
Wednesday afternoon, they 
were greeted with pizza, 
salad and voter registration 
forms. 
Panelist 
James 
Clift, 
deputy 
director 
at 
the 
Department of Environment, 
Great 
Lakes 
and 
Energy 
(EGLE), explained the role of 
the word “emerging” in the 
name of the event. 

“Contaminants have been 
around for a long time,” Clift 
said. “It’s usually an emerging 
understanding of what this 
contaminant means to us as 
humans.”
One 
of 
the 
types 
of 
chemicals 
currently 
under 
the 
public 
eye 
is 
perfluorooctanoic 
acid 
(PFAS), which is a group of 
manufactured 
chemicals 
that have been found in 
water. According to panelist 
John Meeker, professor and 
associate dean for research in 
the School of Public Health, 
it has been found to have 

negative effects on immunity, 
thyroid, liver, cholesterol and 
fetal development. 
Several of the panelists said 
Michigan’s government was 
ahead of the curve on PFAS 
and other water regulation 
policies compared to other 
state governments. They also 
mentioned the implications 
of the federal government’s 
inactivity regarding updating 
water care policy. 
Sara Hughes, an assistant 
professor 
at 
the 
School 
for 
Environment 
and 
Sustainability (SEAS), was 
one of the panelists. Her 

research 
focuses 
on 
the 
political 
and 
institutional 
dimensions 
of 
water 
and 
climate 
change 
policies, 
specifically 
in 
an 
urban 
context. 
“It is really exciting that 
the state of Michigan is 
acting ahead of the federal 
government and ahead of most 
other 
state 
governments,” 
Hughes said. “It’s a pretty 
exciting thing, and fun to 
watch, but we don’t want to 
give up on federal action by 
the EPA.” 

GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail 
news@michigandaily.com and let us know.

INDEX
Vol. CXXIX, No. 56
©2019 The Michigan Daily

NEWS......................... 2A

OPINION.....................4A

CL ASSIFIEDS ..............6A

S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 A

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 A

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 B
michigandaily.com

For more stories and coverage, visit

Ford panel
discusses 
impact of 
Facebook

CAMPUS LIFE

ISABELLA PREISSLE 
Daily Staff Reporter

Experts on drinking water discuss 
current contaminants regulations

Professors and researchers analyze state’s handling of hazardous chemicals

ANN ARBOR

Follow The Daily 
on Instagram, 
@michigandaily

The auditorium was slow 
to fill up, as students and 
community members trickled 
into the event. The projector 
above 
the 
speakers 
moved 
through slides with captions 
such as “Senator DeLima is still 
imprisoned” and “Duterte is 
called the indisputable king of 
Facebook conversations.”
In an event at the University 
of Michigan’s Ford School of 
Public Policy on Wednesday 
afternoon, 
Davey 
Alba, 
a 
reporter for the New York 
Times, 
and 
Ceren 
Budak, 
an 
assistant 
professor 
at 
the 
School 
of 
Information, 
discussed the crisis of social 
media disinformation in the 
most recent election in the 
Philippines. 
Alba, a Filippino American 
journalist, recently won the 
Livingston 
Award, 
a 
prize 
bestowed by the University each 
year on media professionals 
under the age of 35. In her 
article “How Duterte Used 
Facebook To Fuel the Philippine 
Drug War,” Alba exposed the 
disinformation 
campaign 
Filippino President Rodrigo 
Duterte used to get elected. 

IULIA DOBRIN
Daily Staff Reporter

PAULINA RAJSKI/Daily
Panelists Eric Oswald, Charlotte Jameson, Dr. Sara Hughes, Dr. John Meeker and James Clift discuss drinking water contaminants at the Ford School Wednesday morning.

Staff, administration 
respond to messages 
football players sent 
in private group chat

JULIA RUBIN 
Daily Staff Reporter

See WATER, Page 3A

KATHERINA SOURINE
Daily Staff Reporter

See WHITMER, Page 3A

ASHA LEWIS/Daily
Governor Gretchen Whitmer delivers the State of the State at the Capitol in East Lansing Wednesday night.
 ‘CONCRETE ACTION’

Governor Whitmer gives second annual State of the State address, calls on 
members of Michigan Legislature to reach bipartisan solutions 

Campus refurbishments provide 
additional spaces for school work

See STUDY, Page 3A

Saline HS 
teenagers 
post racist 
comments

Saline High School staff 
and administration were made 
aware on Monday of racist 
comments posted on social 
media by students. 
MLive obtained messages 
posted in a group chat on 
Snapchat created by Saline 
High School football players. 
In a chat titled “Racist,” 
followed by two gorilla emojis, 
one 
student 
introduced 
another to a chat with a 
message saying “My ni****,” 
while 
another 
responded 
by saying “Sup n****.” More 
messages 
were 
posted 
afterward by the same two 
students including “WHITE 
POWER” and “THE SOUTH 
WILL RISE AGAIN.” 
The 
chat 
included 
four 
students 
of 
color. 
After 
students sent the slurs and 
racist messages, some other 
students left the chat. 
In 
an 
interview 
with 
The 
Daily, 
Scot 
Graden, 
superintendent of the Saline 
School 
District, 
said 
the 
school 
has 
a 
three-phase 
discipline 
policy, 
including 
initial discipline, restorative 
justice and education. 

See SALINE, Page 2A

ARJUN THAKKAR
Daily Staff Reporter

In Philippines, Rodrigo 
Duterte manipulated 
public opinion to 
caputure an election

See FACEBOOK, Page 3A

Union, LSA 
Building open 
up study spots 
for students

Youth
b-side

