Gov. Gretchen Whitmer pro-
posed allocating $75 million of fed-
eral COVID-19 funds to provide
Michigan law enforcement with bet-
ter training, find and remove illegal
guns from Michigan communities
and fund community programs that
provide more opportunities in educa-
tion, jobs and the justice system.
This
proposal,
which
was
announced in Detroit last month,
comes in the wake of an increase
in violent crime in Michigan over
the past year, with the crime rate in
Detroit increasing by 9.41% and the
homicide rate in Detroit increasing
by 19%.
In her announcement of the pro-
posal, Whitmer cited the impor-
tance of ensuring safety for citizens
of Michigan as her motivation for
the funding decision.
“People are scared,” Whitmer
said. “They’re afraid to pump their
gas or merge onto the highway,
pull up to a red light, drive to work,
drop their kids off at school. That’s
not right, and we cannot and will
not accept this. No one should feel
unsafe as they go about their lives.”
Whitmer’s proposal for increased
funding comes after protests erupt-
ed across the country last summer
following ongoing police violence,
as calls to defund law enforcement
gained support.
LSA senior Noah Streng, presi-
dent of Young Democratic Social-
ists of America at the University of
Michigan, is discontent with Whit-
mer’s announcement. Streng said he
believes that increasing funding of
law enforcement will not decrease
violence or crime and that this fund-
ing expansion does not address
socioeconomic disparities facing
Michigan communities as a result of
the pandemic.
“I think that Governor Whitmer
is wrong when she says that police
keep us safe,” Streng said. “It’s true
that we have seen an uptick in vio-
lent crime over the past year, but
crime doesn’t just happen for no rea-
son. There are real material reasons
why people are turning to crime.”
David Helps, co-chair of the
Graduate Employees Organization’s
Abolition caucus, said he thinks
lawmakers must look at more than
crime rates when making policy pro-
posals and decisions. He highlighted
Detroit’s 45% unemployment rate
during the pandemic and the impact
that has had on communities and
crime rates across the city.
“People have been traumatized,
people have been sick, have lost
work, have known people that have
died, and all of those forms of suf-
fering have been concentrated in
certain cities and in certain commu-
nities,” Helps said. “Those are some
of the same places in which we’re
seeing an increase in certain forms
of violence.”
Proponents of this proposal have
argued that sufficient police training
is key to decreasing violence among
communities because it will help
law enforcement better equipped to
handle high-stress situations.
LSA sophomore Alex Manthous
supports Whitmer’s proposal and said
he thinks this increase in funding will
help promote safety across the state.
“I stand with her decision not to
defund the police,” Manthous said.
“I am a proponent of getting illegal
weapons off the street, especially
since crime is closely associated with
guns and illegal weapons.”
Streng said he believes the police
should be defunded with a focus
on allocating more money to com-
munity programs in communities
that have been divested from. This
money would be used to bolster
education, housing and mental and
physical health, Streng said, which
may subsequently decrease violence.
“We cannot arrest our way out
of this problem,” Streng said. “If we
took federal funding and coupled it
with shifting resources away from
police departments and towards
robust social services, jobs, educa-
tion and health care, we would see
a much different outcome, where
people would have the opportuni-
ties and abilities to get themselves
out of poverty and not have to turn
to crime.”
The governor’s proposal is await-
ing support from the Republican-
held legislature, which has touted
bipartisan support for increased
law enforcement and funding of the
police.
Helps expressed his frustration at
the lack of action to address the root
causes of violence from both sides of
the aisle.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, September 22, 2021 — 3
BARBARA GRAZIOSI
PROFESSOR OF CLASSICS
AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
THE GERALD F. ELSE LECTURE
IN THE HUMANITIES
CLASSICS, LOVE,
REVOLUTION:
THE LEG ACIES OF
LUIGI SETTEMBRINI
WEDNESDAY,
SEPT. 29, 2021
4:00 P.M.
MICHIGAN LEAGUE
HUSSEY ROOM, 2 ND FLOOR
A public lecture and reception. For more info, call 734.615.6667
or visit events.umich.edu/event/86627. Livestreaming will be
available. Please visit lsa.umich.edu/classics for more information.
Congratulations
To our 31E scholars,
recipients of this year’s
Class of 1931 Engineering Scholarship
The class of ‘31E and its Scholarship Selection Committee welcomes
their five new scholarship winners for the 2021-2022 academic year:
Sidharth Anantha
Hanna Chen
Jose Diaz Peon Gonzalez Pacheco
Gina Kittleson
Kira Woodhouse
They will be joining the ‘31E Honor Society and our sixteen current scholars:
George Adamson
Tyler Bartlett
Alfonso Botta-Lopez
Robert Elliott
Michelle Gehner
Jessica Houghton
Jacob Mackey
Benjamin Manley
Aditya Middha
Taylor Scott
Morgan Serra
Joseph Taylor
Allison Wilcox
Laura Williams
Claudia Zimmerman
Chimmuanya Iheanyi-Igwe
All of these scholarship winners will be honored at the 39th Annual
Scholarship Dinner of the Class of ‘31E, which will be held virtually on Friday
evening, September 24th, 2021 at 5:30pm.
Since the establishment of the ‘31E Scholarship Program in 1982, more than
200 aspiring engineering students have been helped to experience a University
of Michigan education, and have gone on to productive and rewarding
careers.
A public lecture and reception; you may attend in person
or virtually. For more information, including the Zoom link,
visit events.umich.edu/event/84262 or call 734.615.6667.
Tuesday, October 5, 2021 | 4:00 p.m. | Weiser Hall, 10th Floor
LSA COLLEGIATE LECTURE
Ewart A.C. Thomas Collegiate
Professor of Psychology
VONNIE C.
MCLOYD
Latinx Heritage Month 2021
celebrations at the University of
Michigan commenced Wednesday
evening with the opening ceremony
in the Rogel Ballroom at the Michigan
Union. With Latin pop music blasting
from speakers, the smell of Latinx
food lingering in the air and students
pairing up to learn salsa dancing, the
ceremony marked the first event in a
month of cultural gatherings.
Across the nation, LHM is
celebrated annually between Sep. 15
and Oct. 15, a period during which five
Latin American countries as well as
Mexico and Chile commemorate the
anniversary of their independence.
The holiday originated in 1968
as a week-long celebration called
Hispanic Heritage Week, but was
later renamed and expanded to a full
month in 1988.
Every year LHM has been
celebrated at the University, the
program has been given a different
theme,
with
this
year’s
being
“florecemos de nuestras raíces,”
or “we bloom from our roots.” The
hybrid ceremony was attended by
students in-person, with several
viewing the festivities from the
virtual livestream.
Anamaria
Lopez,
Education
graduate student and the LHM
student
coordinator,
opened
the ceremony by explaining the
significance of the 2021 theme. Lopez
said the theme acknowledges how the
historical experiences — the “roots”
— of Latinx communities shape their
tenacity and resilience in the present
day and allow them to “bloom.”
“The (LHM) planning committee
decided that we wanted to celebrate
Latinx heritage by honoring the
beautiful culture, vivid life and all
the hard work that our ancestors and
those who have come before us have
put in,” Lopez said.
The ceremony officially opened
with a land acknowledgment and
a welcome address from Martino
Harmon, vice provost for student
life.
In
his
address,
Harmon
called upon attendees to reflect
on the contributions of the Latinx
community with those around them
during the rest of the night as well as
every day throughout LHM.
“I encourage you to practice
inclusive leadership and celebrate
your community wherever you go,
whatever you do,” Harmon said. “The
roots of this history, this community,
reach deep.”
In
2020,
8%
of
University
undergraduate students identified
as Hispanic, with Hispanic faculty
members constituting just 4% of total
faculty at the Ann Arbor campus.
Lopez told The Michigan Daily
the University has been expanding
campus LHM celebrations over the
past several years, though last year’s
activities were completely virtual.
Lopez said it is important to highlight
the contributions Latinx culture has
made within the U.S. to empower
what is often an underrepresented
and marginalized community at the
University and nationwide.
“(LHM) acknowledges all of the
movements and the history and the
people who are of Latinx descent who
have (also) made an impact within the
United States,” Lopez said. “In reality,
this should always be happening, but
the truth is that it’s not.”
Michelle
Ferrez,
director
of
the
Undergraduate
Research
Opportunity Program, gave the
keynote address. In her speech, Ferrez
spoke on her personal experience
with encountering and fighting racial
injustice during her time in college.
She also described the “cultural
capital” model, referring to the
inherent value of non-quantifiable
assets associated with a particular
culture — including social justice,
storytelling and aspirations — that
promote social mobility.
Ferrez gave examples of ways
the cultural capital model could
positively transform and equalize
higher education, and challenged
attendees to use their own cultural
capital to improve their communities.
“We need leaders like all of you
with your Latinx (perspectives)
and that capital each and every one
of you have, to (address) racism,
environmental justice, climate issues,
needs of communities with water
systems, access to food … not just in
our communities in the United States,
but in our home countries throughout
Latin America, throughout Central
America, throughout the islands,
the Caribbean throughout Mexico,”
Ferrez said.
Jesús Galván, program manager
of the University’s Office of Multi-
Ethnic Student Affairs, told The Daily
Ferrez was selected by a committee
of MESA members on account of the
relevant research she has completed
about educational equality for those
identifying as a part of marginalized
communities.
“For one, (Ferrez) is familiar
with the experience we’re trying
to represent and speak about, but
also, they’re part of us here at U-M,”
Galván said. “So we shine light on
the folks that are doing the good
work and are critical components to
student success on this campus.”
Lopez said MESA began planning
this year’s LHM over the summer, with
an important part of the preparations
involving MESA’s collaboration with
Michigan Dining chefs who identify
as Latinx. Throughout the opening
ceremony, attendees were encouraged
to try different food items from the
buffet which included tostones, arepas,
arroz con gandules and empanadas.
The two main chefs — Luz Ruiz
from Panama and Miriam Palacio
from Colombia — were also given the
opportunity to explain their personal
backgrounds and identities to the
crowd as well as why they chose to
prepare each specific dish for the
event.
Empanadas, Palacio told The Daily,
are usually made using corn flour-
based dough. But she had experience
in Colombia making the dough with
flour derived from the yuca root,
which makes the dish gluten-free so
more students can try it.
“I used yuca to make the dough
and it makes this food be gluten-free,”
Palacio said. “I hope you guys enjoy …
their Colombian flavor.”
Autumn Battin-Flores, the senior
associate director of retail and catering
for the University, told The Daily
MCatering has been collaborating
with
MDining
and
cultural
organizations on campus for three
years to serve authentic cuisine at
various heritage month events. Flores
said encouraging chefs to cook dishes
from their individual cultures is a
promising start to promoting culinary
diversity within campus dining.
NEWS
Virus cases remain stable after sharp rise in late August
Since
students
returned
to
campus in late August, the number
of
positive
COVID-19
cases
associated
with
University
of
Michigan students has increased
then decreased.
The number of COVID-19 cases
increased from 73 on the week of
Aug. 22 to 195 the week of Aug. 29,
the first day of classes.
Preliminary data from the two
weeks since then shows numbers
have remained high at 156 the week
of Sep. 5, then dropping to 82 for the
week of Sep. 12.
Since class began, positivity rates
have remained under 2%.
In an email to the University
community on Friday, President
Mark Schlissel wrote that per the
dashboard, “case numbers and our
quarantine housing usage have
flattened.”
In an email to The Michigan Daily
last Thursday, Dr. Robert Ernst,
associate vice president of student
life for health and wellness and
the director of COVID-19 Campus
Health Response, wrote he believes
the University’s mitigation strategies
such as masking and vaccination
reduce the risk of transmission
on campus, even with the more
contagious delta variant.
“Given
the
repopulation
of
campus and many associated large
social gatherings where masking is
not universal, the finding of covid
transmission among students early
in the fall semester is not surprising,”
Ernst wrote. “Peer institutions
like ours have seen similar early
increases, and campuses like ours
that started earlier have seen these
early increases followed by a gradual
decline.”
In the past few weeks, doctors
across the state have reported seeing
a gradual increase in the number
of COVID-19 cases in hospitals.
According to Jakob McSparron,
associate director of the critical care
medicine unit at Michigan Medicine,
the number of cases per week in the
past month has risen from 25, to 35,
to 45 as the delta variant has spread.
“The rise is a little bit slower
compared to the previous surges we
used to see,” McSparron said. “This
time it’s more of a steady increase in
our numbers.”
Hallie Prescott, a pulmonary care
physician at Michigan Medicine,
said in an email she believes these
rising trends should be of concern to
students.
“It is certainly worth noting
that COVID is circulating in our
community, and therefore (it is)
important to take extra precautions
such as wearing a mask while in
public indoor spaces,” Prescott
said. “Even if one’s personal risk of
hospitalization/death from COVID
is low, these extra measures are
important to keep case counts low
and protect our community as a
whole.”
According to McSparron, the
majority of patients in the intensive
care unit at Michigan Medicine
are unvaccinated. The few that
are vaccinated have underlying
conditions putting them at risk, he
said.
McSparron said he believes things
could start to look more normal if
vaccination rates increased.
“Unfortunately,
I
think
we
are seeing more young patients
this time around in terms of the
unvaccinated,” McSparron said. “It’s
very hard to see a 20-year-old on a
breathing machine knowing that so
much of this was preventable.”
LSA sophomore Lana King
said she first started to notice
the uptick when she received
multiple
“COVID-classroom”
notifications, which have since been
discontinued.
“I personally don’t feel too scared
because we’re all wearing masks and
especially in class, you’re not getting
that close to people,” King said.
When asked if the recent trends in
COVID-19 cases on campus should
be concerning to students, Ernst
said it’s too soon to predict further
developments this fall.
“There has not been evidence of
transmission within residence halls
and fortunately, as we would expect
in a highly vaccinated population,
most affected individuals experience
only mild symptoms,” Ernst said.
Ernst
said
the
University
is in a very different position
compared to the last academic
year, when Washtenaw County
had to use stay-in-place orders and
recommendations to curb the spread
of the virus.
PUBLIC SAFETY
Gov. Whitmer proposes
allocating federal COVID-19
funds to Michigan police
Proposal responds to increase in violent crime in state
KATE WEILAND
Daily Staff Reporter
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
ASHNA MEHRA
Daily Staff Reporter
Three weeks into the
semester, here’s the COVID-19
outlook at UMich & in Ann
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
‘Florecemos de nuestras raíces:’ UMich kicks of Latinx
Heritage Month with opening ceremony
RONI KANE &
PAIGE HODDER
Daily Staff Reporters
CAMPUS LIFE
Speakers talk cultural identity, history at event celebrating independence of numerous Latin American countries
Read more at MichiganDaily.com