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INDEX
Vol. CXXX, No.
©2020 The Michigan Daily
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STATEMENT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
SPORTS.......................15
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At the University of Michigan’s
2018 Winter Commencement,
Lynn Conway, professor emerita
of electrical engineering and
computer science, encouraged
the graduating class to embrace
changes and transitions as an
inevitable part of their future
adventures.
“You’re embarking in an era
of accelerating social change,”
Conway said. “You’ll encounter
increasingly
diverse,
often
conflicting ways of thinking.”
She then stepped away from
the stage to give the class of 2018
their moment to shine. But on
Oct. 14, 2020, Conway was the
one in the spotlight.
At a public event celebrating
LGBTQ+
inclusion,
the
International Business Machines
Corporation presented Conway
with a rare lifetime achievement
award. The award accompanied
IBM’s apology to Conway, which
came 52 years after the company
fired her for coming out as
transgender.
The
apology
epitomized
what Conway had preached in
her
commencement
address:
positive change occurs when
people come together to build
a future that transcends the
shortcomings of the past.
Though not a household name
like Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla
or Alan Turing, Conway appears
alongside them in Electronic
Design’s “Hall of Fame” for
revolutionizing the microchip,
which powers technologies from
smartphones to spacecrafts. In
1964, Conway began researching
supercomputers at IBM as a
man.
Four years later, Conway
decided to transition and receive
gender-affirmation
medical
care. When she came out, IBM,
then led by Chief Executive
Officer T.J. Watson Jr., fired her.
In her memoir, “IBM-ACS:
Reminiscences
and
Lessons
Learned
From
a
1960’s
Supercomputer
Project,”
Conway reflected on the logic
behind
IBM’s
decision.
She
wrote
that
IBM
executives
were concerned that her gender
transition
would
affect
the
mental health of her co-workers,
since
stigma
surrounding
transgender
people
was
so
pervasive at that time.
“I learned later … that the
executives feared scandalous
publicity if my story ever got
out,” Conway wrote.
The Michigan Daily sat down
with Arnold Monto, professor of
epidemiology at the University
of Michigan’s School of Public
Health and recently appointed
chair of the Food and Drug
Administration’s
committee
evaluating COVID-19 vaccines,
over the phone on Tuesday,
Nov. 24. He discussed his role
on the committee, background
working with vaccines and how
the COVID-19 vaccine process
has worked as a result of the
pandemic. This interview has
been edited and condensed for
clarity.
The Michigan Daily: What
is your background working
with vaccines?
Arnold Monto: Well, I’ve
been working here at the
University of Michigan for
more than 50 years, working
with influenza vaccines since
the start. Matter of fact, during
the 1968 pandemic, I was
involved in the study, trying to
see if you vaccinate school-aged
children in the community, if
you can reduce transmission
in the entire community. This
is a demonstration of herd
immunity. So I’ve been at this
for a long time. Currently, our
Center (the University “Flu
Lab”), which I head along with
Emily Martin, who is very
much involved in the local
response, has been evaluating
influenza vaccines in terms of
prevention of mild and severe
influenza.
TMD: How did you get onto
the committee to evaluate the
COVID-19 vaccine?
AM:
The
Vaccines
and
Related Biological Products
Advisory
Committee
is
a
standing committee of the
FDA with four-year terms.
I was selected to be on that
committee
in
2016
and
I
was chairman for four years
starting in February 2016. I
rotated off at the start of this
year in January, but I was
asked to come back to chair the
committee for COVID-19. So it
was the choice of FDA for me to
be brought back.
TMD: Recently, there has
been encouraging news about
possible COVID-19 vaccines:
early data from Pfizer’s and
Moderna’s vaccines show more
than 90 percent efficacy, with
AstraZeneca also producing
somewhat promising results.
Can you give me some of your
general thoughts about the
vaccine timeline, specifically
what creating a vaccine has
looked like for the different
pharmaceutical companies?
AM: Coronavirus vaccines
have
been
produced
more
rapidly
than
traditionally,
because
the
production
schedule has been telescoped.
In
other
words,
because
funding is available and the
process for the manufacturers
has been de-risked, they have
been able to do things which
they would generally do in
sequence, in parallel.
HEALTH
ALEC COHEN/Daily
U-M Professor Emerita Lynn Conway speaks at the 2018 Winter Commencement in Ann Arbor.
After 52 years, IBM apologizes for
firing transgender ‘U’ professor
Computer science professor Lynn Conway faced discrimination, stigma in her career
Epidemiologist talks
role on FDA COVID-19
committee, research
Dr. Arnold Monto discusses timeline for
development and distribution of vaccine
RONI KANE
For The Daily
PAIGE HODDER
Daily Staff Reporter
LSA senior Amytess Girgis
recently
became
the
29th
student from the University of
Michigan to receive the Rhodes
Scholarship, the oldest and
most prestigious international
scholarship
program.
Girgis
was awarded the honor for her
work in campus and community
organizing and for her thesis
researching the increase in
mutual aid groups in the wake
of the current pandemic.
The scholarship funds all
expenses for two to three years
of study at the University of
Oxford in England. In this
year’s list of Rhodes Scholars,
22 of the 32 Americans chosen
are students of color, 10 of whom
are Black, which is the most
chosen in one year, according
to the Rhodes Trust press
release. Nine of the winners are
first-generation Americans or
immigrants and one is a DACA
Dreamer. Additionally, 17 of the
winners identify as female and
one as non-binary.
Girgis is graduating in the
spring from the University with
a degree in Political Science. She
will head to the University of
Oxford in fall 2021 and told The
Michigan Daily she is leaning
toward getting a doctorate in
philosophy, political science,
sociology
or
anything
that
would allow her to specifically
study social movements.
Though she is honored to
win, Girgis said she has some
conflicting feelings about the
scholarship and is still digesting
what it means to be a Rhodes
Scholar-elect.
“My primary reaction is
shock, I still haven’t fully
internalized that this is really
happening,” Girgis said. “My
second
reaction
is
feeling
the responsibility of what it
means to carry this title and to
head to Oxford with all of the
opportunities it affords and
what it looks like to take that
opportunity on behalf of those
who never get a chance.”
University of Michigan Law
School alum Theary Seng cut
her hair live on Radio Free Asia
this past Thursday. It was not for
fashion but convenience: should
she go to jail the next week, she
wanted to be prepared to deal with
lice.
Seng is a well-known political
activist in Cambodia. She has
frequently spoken out against
Prime Minister Hun Sen and his
government,
criticizing
them
for abusing human rights and
acting undemocratically. Now, the
government has charged her with
committing treason and inciting
social
disorder.
According
to
Seng’s lawyer, 60 other activists,
most of whom reside out of the
country, have been charged with
similar counts.
“It’s a show trial,” Seng said in
an interview with The Michigan
Daily.
Human
rights
defenders
have criticized the Hun Sen
government
for
politically-
motivated trials used to imprison
dozens of journalists, activists and
members of the opposition party.
Still, Seng is adamant about
showing up to court. At 8:30 a.m.
on Thanksgiving Day, Seng will
defend herself against a jury that
is likely heavily influenced by the
government. She will also go to
court without having received
an indictment, meaning that she
doesn’t know what evidence the
government will present against
her.
According to Jared Genser,
a fellow Michigan Law alum
who has worked with political
dissidents, this is a violation of
both Cambodian and international
law. Genser is representing Seng
pro bono.
“What’s happening to Theary
is, unfortunately, part of a much
bigger pattern and practice of
repression of human rights in
Cambodia,” he said.
Seng’s former Michigan Law
classmate
Glenn
Kaminsky
organized a GoFundMe to pay
for her legal expenses. They
have crowdfunded a little under
$13,000 as of Monday afternoon
Seng sought refuge in the
United States at age nine after both
her parents were murdered by the
Khmer Rouge. She and her brother
moved to Michigan in the middle
of the winter in 1980, calling the
transition to cold weather and a
new culture “baptism by fire.”
Seng
said
she
considers
Michigan her home in the U.S.
“Oh, I love Michigan with all
my heart,” she said. “It was my
first introduction to the United
States.”
INTERNATIONAL
LILY GOODING
Daily Staff Reporter
KEEMYA ESMAEL/Daily
Amytess Girgis, an LSA junior at the time, speaks outside of a Board of Regents meeting in 2019.
ZAYNA SYED
Daily News Editor
U-M senior Amytess Girgis
named 2021 Rhodes Scholar
Campus activist wins prestigious scholarship to study in the United Kingdom
U-M Law alum goes to
trial in Cambodia amid
crack down on dissidents
Human rights activist Theary Seng faces
charges from government for her advocacy
See SCHOLAR, Page 2
See VACCINE, Page 3
See APOLOGY, Page 3
See TRIAL, Page 3