City looks to citizens to dole out money given for COVID-19 mitigation
ACADEMICS
AUDREY CLAYTON
Daily Staff Reporter
On March 11, 2021, President
Joe Biden signed the American
Rescue Plan Act to mitigate the
economic effects of the COVID-
19
pandemic
by
allocating
funding to local governments.
Nearly a year later, Ann Arbor is
deciding what to do with the $24.1
million it received in ARPA funding.
City
Councilmember
Kathy
Griswold, D-Ward 2, spoke to The
Michigan Daily about her spending
priorities.
“I really want to focus on the people
who have been the most impacted by
the pandemic, and that would be the
marginalized community as well as
essential workers,” Griswold said.
Griswold said new programs
to help the homeless would help
ameliorate the impacts of the
pandemic.
“We forget that in Ann Arbor,
which is a very wealthy community,
we have people sleeping in their cars,
and that is not acceptable and we need
to address that,” Griswold said. “So
that would be my first priority.”
The City Council has also been
taking
public
suggestions
into
consideration for reallocating the
ARPA funding.
“Staff came up with an initial list
based on what was already in the
council pipeline,” Griswold said.
“But as one constituent said, those
seem like pet projects rather than
ways to help people recover from the
pandemic.”
Councilmember
Jeff
Hayner,
D-Ward 1, said in an email to The
Daily he is concerned that the process
was not considering enough input
from the community
“I feel that the process has been
very internal-facing and has not
taken into account many good ideas
presented from the public,” Hayner
wrote.
He said the original deadline
for project ideas, which was set for
early Dec. 2021, allowed the City
Council to avoid hearing public
input. According to Hayner, he
introduced Resolution R-21-396 to
push the deadline for project ideas
back to March 2022 to incorporate
more voices from the Ann Arbor
community.
RILEY HODDER
Daily Staff Reporter
Since presenting their research in Janu-
ary 2021, Michigan Law professor Michael
Steinberg and Taubman professor Robert
Goodspeed have been working to remove
racially restrictive covenants — policies
which bar people of color from owning cer-
tain homes — from Washtenaw County title
deeds.
Steinberg and Goodspeed are cur-
rently developing maps that lay out the
racially restrictive covenants in Washt-
enaw County, pursuing legal action to
repeal these covenants and expand-
ing their program to discover places
of potential de facto discrimination —
which may not be explicitly written in
law, but happens in practice — in Washt-
enaw County.
As of Jan. 28, Steinberg and Good-
speed have identified 66 subdivisions in
Ann Arbor that contain discriminatory
language against people of color within
their title deeds. In 1948, the racially
restrictive covenants were banned
from being enforced, but Steinberg and
Goodspeed say the continued existence
of these covenants illustrate the preva-
lence of institutionalized racism.
In their study, Steinberg and Good-
speed concluded that the presence of
these covenants can make PoC home-
owners feel unwelcome in their own
community and exist as a reminder of
institutional racism that still persists
today.
Ann Arbor resident Jeffrey Hamilton
said he felt disappointed by the racially
restrictive covenants, despite saying
how Ann Arbor is considered a more
progressive city.
“I feel honestly offended and very,
very let down, but not surprised,” Ham-
ilton said. “The funny thing is, being
in Ann Arbor, we were often given the
idea that Ann Arbor is a cut above when
it comes to these types of covenants …
When you look at Ann Arbor, as pro-
gressive as it is, it kind of sets you back.”
Hamilton also added that by continu-
ing to have these racially restrictive cov-
enants in place, the city is still upholding
institutionalized racism.
“This shows me that there’s still some
The
College
Board
announced major changes to
the SAT on Jan. 25, including a
move to a digital format as well
as changes to the general struc-
ture of the test — a move that
has reignited debates over the
future standardized testing in
college admissions.
LSA sophomore Alex Nguy-
en, LSA representative for
Central Student Government,
said he acknowledged that he
had advantages when taking
standardized tests due to his
economic background that dis-
advantaged groups might not
be able to afford.
“I’m lucky to be able to go to
these ACT/SAT prep courses,”
Nguyen said. “I (took the SAT)
twice and I could go back and
retake it as many times as I
want(ed) …. It would cost hun-
dreds of hundreds of dollars.
But I was able to do that.”
The SAT currently offers fee
waivers for 11th and 12th grade
students of low-income back-
grounds in the U.S. In 2019,
the SAT also began offering
“adversity scores” in order to
acknowledge a student’s over-
all disadvantage level to help
college admission officers con-
textualize candidates’ socio-
economic circumstances.
Additionally,
the
College
Board has changed the read-
ing and math sections, and the
overall test will be shortened.
Previously, the test took about
three hours to complete and the
new updates will set two hours
for the test with more time allo-
cated per question. As a result
of these changes, the scores are
expected to be released in days
instead of weeks or months.
Priscilla
Rodriguez,
vice
president of College Readiness
Assessments at the College
Board, wrote in a press release
these changes are designed to
make the overall testing expe-
rience better for all students
in today’s changing college
admissions times.
“The digital SAT will be
easier to take, easier to give,
and more relevant,” Rodriguez
wrote in the release.
Rodriguez
wrote
in
the
release that the updates result-
ed from recent educational
trends and developments.
“We’re not simply putting
the current SAT on a digital
platform — we’re taking full
advantage of what delivering
an assessment digitally makes
possible,”
Rodriguez
wrote.
“With input from educators
and students, we are adapting
to ensure we continue to meet
their evolving needs.”
University
of
Michigan
spokeswoman Kim Broekhui-
zen told The Michigan Daily in
an email that the University is
still unaware of what impact
this could have on their admis-
sions process.
“We are aware of the recent
announcement from the Col-
lege Board. The new SAT test
will not be available until 2023
for international students, and
2024 for domestic students,”
Broekhuizen wrote. “We will
use this time to learn more
about the proposed changes
and
timeline
from the Col-
lege Board
to
deter-
mine
what,
if
any
impact, it
will have
on
our
process.”
FairTest,
an
organi-
zation lead-
ing
the
U.S. test
optional
move-
ment,
found
1,815 colleges and univer-
sities currently either prac-
tice test-optional or test-blind
admissions, a 70% increase
from the only 1,070 institutions
that did so before the pandemic.
Broekhuizen wrote the Uni-
versity has been flexible for
the past two admission cycles
due to the pandemic, and that
ultimately, the University is
still committed to a more com-
prehensive approach despite
changes
with
standardized
testing requirements.
“The University of Michigan
is committed to holistic appli-
cation review and testing is
just one of many factors in our
process,” Broekhuizen wrote.
“Holistic review includes con-
sideration of a student’s record
including
courses,
grades
and
grade
trend,
essays, extra-
curricular
activities,
recommen-
dation let-
ters, and
stan-
dard-
ized test
scores, if
provided.”
As one of
the
top
institu-
tions
in
the
country,
Nguyen said, the Uni-
versity should lead the
path away from standardized
testing like other top colleges.
“I believe we really are the
leaders, in which we need to
start going in that direction of
some of the best schools in the
nation,” Nguyen said.
Nguyen said the College
Board and other standardized
testing organizations are busi-
nesses who profit off wealthy
families trying to get their stu-
dents into good schools.
“I mean, it is a business, Col-
lege Board and the ACT, ” Nguy-
en said. “And I think Michigan
just kind of plays into it.”
LSA freshman Alan Zhang
said the SAT is something all
students have in common when
applying to college.
“I
think
it’s
extremely
(important) to have just a
benchmark
of
comparison,”
Zhang said. “People come from
widely different backgrounds
and the SAT is the one factor
that will be common.”
Zhang said the SAT could be
used to compare and differentiate
two people from similar socio-
economic backgrounds by using
their standardized test scores.
“Let’s say you have two differ-
ent individuals from disadvan-
taged backgrounds. But one of
them has a significantly higher
SAT score, right?” Zhang said.
“With the SAT, you can see who’s
most prepared properly for the
rigors of a higher University.”
The new changes to the SAT
were designed to address some
of the inequalities associated
with the test, according to The
College Board Press Release.
The changes will make it so
schools have more flexibil-
ity in providing a free weekday
test during school instead of
requiring students to adhere
to the strict schedule set by the
college board like before.
Research done by Public
Policy Professor Susan Dynar-
ski found that when Michigan
made the ACT a requirement
for all high school juniors in
2007, the percent of students
who took the test rose from 54%
to 99%. Before this require-
ment, only 35% of low income
students were taking the test
due to a lack of access to testing
centers, fees for the test, inter-
net access to sign up for the test,
and transportation to the test.
The research found that by
making universal school day
testing available to all high
school
Michigan
students,
more
low-income
students
went to and graduated from
four-year universities. Accord-
ing to the research, the new
changes to the SAT are intend-
ed to hopefully make universal
school day testing more acces-
sible to all students.
Rodriguez said the changes
to the SAT are about allowing
students, no matter their back-
ground, access to higher educa-
tion and opportunities.
“The SAT allows every stu-
dent regardless of where they
go to high school to be seen,”
Rodriguez
wrote.
“And
to
access opportunities that will
shape their lives and careers.”
Daily Staff Reporter Emma
Moore
can
be
reached
at
emmmoo@umich.edu.
News
Wednesday, February 16, 2022 — 3
ADMINISTRATION
SAT goes digital, reignites debate over standardized testing
EMMA MOORE
Daily Staff Reporter
College Board shortens admissions exam after virtual shift, alters math and reading sections
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
JOSE BRENES/Daily
U-M programs work to address racially
restrictive covenants in Washtenaw County
Two law professors lead efforts to develop maps of potential de
facto discrimination
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
5 bills to watch in the
Michigan state legislature
this month
February slate includes distracted driving law,
sentencing reform
IRENA LI
Daily Staff Reporter
or signed into law by the Michigan state
throughout the past month.
publishes a compilation of bills in the
Michigan state legislature for students
aware of.
1. Stricter distracted driving
laws
Status: Passed by the House
On Jan. 25, the Michigan House of
Representatives passed H.B. 4277 –
4279, a three-bill package that would
qualify any phone usage as distracted
driving. If signed into law, the bills
would expand the definition of dis-
tracted driving to include any activ-
ity with a mobile device that involves
the usage of one or more hands. Cur-
rently, Michigan law only explicitly
outlaws texting while driving.
State Rep. Mari Manoogian, D-Bir-
mingham, introduced the first bill in
the package and co-sponsored the
other two. After working for years to
reduce distracted driving, Manoo-
gian shared her excitement when the
House passed all three bills in a tweet.
“Honored to share that we passed
legislation that would modernize
Michigan’s distracted driving laws,”
Manoogian wrote. “This legislation
serves as both a way to encourage bet-
ter behavior from drivers and allows
our law enforcement to keep those
who are driving distracted in check.”
In a speech on the House floor, Manoo-
gian mentioned Mitchel Kiefer, who was
killed in an automobile accident caused by
a distracted driver in 2016.
“What better way to honor Mitch-
el’s life and legacy than to work to
ensure that no other family feels the
pain that his family … has felt every
day since his passing?” Manoogian
said.
The first bill passed the House in a
vote of 75-26 and the other two passed
76-25, all with bipartisan support.
After passing out of the House, the
bills were referred to the Senate Judi-
ciary and Public Safety Committee.
2.
Eliminating
life
without
parole for juveniles
Status: Introduced in the Senate
S.B. 848 – 851 seek to abolish life
sentences without parole for crimes
committed by individuals under the
age of 18 in Michigan. This legislation
would instead designate a maximum
prison sentence of 60 years, with the
possibility for parole review after 10
years in prison.
Currently, 25 other states and
the District of Columbia have
banned
juvenile
life
without
parole. In the 2012 Miller v. Ala-
bama case, the Supreme Court
ruled that juvenile life sentences
without the possibility of parole
were unconstitutional. Despite
the ruling, some states, including
Michigan, retain the possibility
of juvenile life without parole in
their state laws. Over 360 juve-
niles in Michigan are currently
serving life without parole, the
second highest number in any U.S.
state.
State Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann
Arbor, introduced S.B. 848 on
Jan. 27 and co-sponsored the
other three bills. In a Jan. 31 press
release, Irwin said Michigan state
law needs to be amended to be in line
with the Miller v. Alabama ruling.
“Now that the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled that our harsh laws
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Ann Arbor asks public for advice on distributing $24 million in federal funding
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
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