The summary disposition for 

the civil lawsuit against former 

University of Michigan lecturer 

Bruce Conforth was held in Detroit 

on Wednesday. The lawsuit, which 

was filed in the Michigan Court of 

Claims, names the University, the 

Board of Regents and Conforth as 

defendants. The plaintiffs, who are 

eight survivors of Conforth’s sexual 

assault, allege that the University is 

liable for the abuse. 

The summary judgment hearing 

was held on a motion from the 

defendants to dismiss the case 

against the University and the 

Board of Regents. 

In 
January, 
the 
survivors 

first took legal action by filing a 

complaint with the Washtenaw 

County Circuit Court, alleging that 

the University failed to protect 

its students from a predatory 

University employee. Sexual assault 

allegations against Conforth, a 

former American culture lecturer, 

first publicly surfaced in 2021, four 

years after his retirement in 2017.

Brian Schwartz, the attorney 

representing 
the 
defendants, 

argued 
for 
the 
dismissal 
of 

complaints 
filed 
against 
the 

University. 
The 
center 
of 

Schwartz’s argument was against 

the fraudulent concealment claims 

brought by the plaintiffs who allege 

that the University intentionally 

failed to disclose previous assault 

allegations against Conforth to 

prevent future cases. Schwartz 

said no fraudulent concealment 

was committed by the University 

because the victims would have 

known that they were assaulted as 

soon as the assault occurred.

“There 
is 
no 
(concealment) 

because plaintiffs knew they were 

abused by Bruce Conforth when 

they described those allegations,” 

Schwartz 
said. 
“They 
had 

everything they knew to file that 

claim the instant it happened.”

Schwartz said the University 

was not liable for a lack of action 

taken against Conforth because 

only three of the victims reported 

to the University prior to the 

lawsuit and thus failed to provide 

proper notice.

“It’s an element of (the plaintiffs’) 

claim, they have to prove that they 

provided notice to the University 

and the University failed to take 

responsive action,” Schwartz said. 

“If they don’t provide notice to the 

University … the University is not 

going to be liable.”

Daniel Barnett, the attorney 

representing 
the 
plaintiffs, 

countered by saying victims are 

not always immediately aware 

that they have been assaulted. 

Barnett cited a previous ruling by 

Judge Timothy Connors in a suit 

filed with the Washtenaw County 

Circuit Court that denied the 

defendants’ motion for summary 

disposition. Barnett also cited 

prior knowledge that Conforth 

would send anonymous emails to 

female students encouraging them 

to engage with Conforth’s sexual 

advances.

“(The plaintiffs) knew that they 

had sexual relations with Bruce 

Conforth, they didn’t know they 

were sexually assaulted,” Barnett 

said. “What Judge Conners held 

is, it doesn’t seem like (plaintiffs) 

knew they were sexually assaulted, 

because they didn’t know that it 

was defendant Conforth forcing 

them to go have sex with himself as 

part of this religious organization 

under threat of harm.”

Schwartz said he believed the 

claims against the University in 

the Court of Claims should be 

dismissed. 

“We believe all the claims should 

be 
dismissed,” 
Schwartz 
said. 

“(Plaintiffs) can proceed with their 

claims in front of Judge Connors 

… but we believe the claims 

against the University should be 

dismissed.”

Conforth survivor and plaintiff 

Isabelle Brourman spoke with 

The Michigan Daily following 

the hearing and said she was 

disheartened by the defendants’ 

claims that the University was 

not liable for Conforth abusing 

students, citing the “Last Chance” 

agreement in which the University 

had outlined requirements for 

Conforth in order to avoid being 

terminated.

“The thing that I’m not surprised 

about but most disappointed in 

is the University’s argument that 

they are not tied to Conforth’s 

actions even though they did know 

of prior assault (allegations) against 

him and even though they did issue 

a Last Chance agreement, which 

concedes that they did know that 

he was a dangerous character,” 

Brourman said. “I’m hoping that 

that foreseeability is strong enough 

to carry us successfully with the 

judge.”

Jon Vaughn, survivor of former 

athletics doctor Robert Anderson 

and former U-M football player, was 

also in attendance at the hearing. 

In an interview with The Daily, 

Vaughn said the University has a 

pattern of protecting perpetrators.

“If you look at (the University’s) 

history of leadership, at the Board of 

Regents’, as well as the presidents’, 

they continually speak about and 

announce all of the programs that 

they say have been put in place to 

empower survivors to come forth 

to speak out,” Vaughn said. “But 

it’s a black hole. There’s usually no 

progress, and you have to then … 

fight an uphill battle.”

In an email to The Daily, 

University 
spokesperson 
Kim 

Broekhuizen said the University 

will wait for a ruling. 

Around 170 students, faculty 

and 
staff 
gathered 
in 
the 

Robertson Auditorium at the Ross 

School of Business Wednesday 

evening for the event “Forging a 

Career at the Heart of the Climate 

Challenge: Perspectives from the 

Front Lines” with Gerry Anderson, 

former chairman and CEO of DTE 

Energy. Some members of the 

University of Michigan and Ann 

Arbor communities attended the 

event in protest of Anderson’s 

tenure as CEO.

The event, which was hosted by 

Net Impact Undergrad, consisted 

of a 50-minute presentation by 

Anderson about his journey from 

an undergraduate engineering and 

physics student to working with 

DTE to promote renewable energy 

usage. 

Business junior Trevor Wallace, 

vice president of sustainability 

for Net Impact Undergrad, said 

this talk is the largest event the 

student 
organization 
has 
put 

on this semester. Wallace spoke 

about the reasoning behind this 

discussion with Gerry Anderson.

“I think that overall we really 

want to be able to foster an open 

dialogue,” Wallace said. “This sort 

of event really gives us a unique 

perspective and (gives us an 

opportunity to) talk to someone 

who has a lot of knowledge in 

energy space. I think it’s a good 

way 
to 
foster 
communication 

between what sustainable efforts 

are and how we can do that 

through this event.”

The event was co-sponsored by 

the Gerald R. Ford School of Public 

Policy, the Business+Impact at 

Michigan Ross, Vertex Coffee 

Roasters and the BBA Council.

Anderson began by speaking 

about his education background 

at 
the 
Business 
School 
and 

his 
experience 
working 
as 

a 
consultant 
at 
McKinsey 
& 

Company. As he discussed his 

passion for sustainability and 

nature, Anderson said he never 

would have thought he would 

work with a corporation like DTE 

Energy when he was entering the 

workforce.

“(I wanted) to make my career 

focus on promoting the health 

of the natural world,” Anderson 

said. “I … began to think that my 

best chance to change the energy 

system perhaps was from within 

it, right at the very heart of an 

operation like DTE’s.”

Following 
Anderson’s 

discussion of his experience, seven 

protesters took the stage, standing 

behind Anderson and holding 

signs that said “No to Fossil Fuel,” 

“58% Coal No Thx” and “People 

Not Profit.”

All 
students 
who 
wish 
to 

major in computer science at the 

University 
of 
Michigan 
must 

now 
submit 
a 
major-specific 

application, according to a new 

policy from the University of 

Michigan’s Computer Science and 

Engineering Department.

Prior to the policy, which 

will go into effect during the 

fall 2023 admissions cycle, any 

undergraduate 
student 
at 
the 

University could declare a CS 

major given they had completed 

the 
prerequisite 
courses. 
The 

policy does not impact students 

who wish to enroll in the CS minor. 

The 
CSE 
Enrollment 
and 

Admission Team was created in 

2021 and consisted of engineering 

faculty and staff members. The 

team proposed the new policy as a 

part of the College of Engineering’s 

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 

Strategic Action Plan to design an 

admissions model that balances 

needs to control enrollment and 

increase diversity in the major. 

The Enrollment and Admissions 

Team is co-chaired by engineering 

professor Brian Noble and Donna 

Bender, 
Director 
of 
Strategic 

Initiatives. CSE chair Michael 

Wellman, said the changes were 

prompted by high student demand 

for 
computer 
science 
courses 

relative to classroom capacity.

“For the past decade or more, 

maybe even 15 years, there’s been 

a steady and very steep growth 

in student demand for (the CSE) 

major,” Wellman said. “We have 

been working hard to grow our 

capacity to meet that demand. It’s 

been a struggle at times, and we 

finally realized that we are unable 

to stay ahead of this continuing 

explosive growth in demand.” 

Nationally, 
student 
demand 

for enrolling in computer science 

majors 
has 
tripled 
between 

2006 and 2015. The University 

of Michigan’s computer science 

major has seen its enrollment 

nearly quadruple since 2010 for 

undergraduate students in both 

LSA and COE. Other universities, 

such as the University of Illinois 

Urbana-Champaign, 
and 

University of North Carolina at 

Chapel Hill have had similar issues 

meeting high demand for computer 

science courses among students, 

resulting in limited enrollment and 

restrictions for those students.

Wellman said his team sought 

out multiple solutions before they 

settled on the new restrictions.

“I 
think 
it’s 
important 
to 

emphasize that this is really 

a last resort kind of action,” 

Wellman said. “As I mentioned, 

our faculty would very much 

prefer to serve anyone who’s 

interested in computer science. 

We explore(d) because we are very 

late to this game. Many of our peer 

institutions already have had… 

restrictions on CS enrollments 

(for some time), and we reluctantly 

concluded that this was necessary 

for us as well.” 

In a Piazza post, Westley 

Weimer, CSE DEI Committee 

Chair, explained some of the 

considerations 
that 
lead 
to 

restricting enrollment. The Piazza 

post was public to the Electrical 

Engineering 
and 
Computer 

Science 481 Piazza forum as a 

personal opinion of Weimer’s in 

response to the policy.

“There is very high demand 

for the service of ‘taking this CS 

class,’ and it is challenging for us 

to supply more of it (i.e., to offer 

more seats),” Weimer wrote. “I’m 

not going to claim CSE’s decision-

making process is perfect, but 

compared to some well-publicized 

‘hasty’ actions CSE has taken, 

this one really did involve a huge 

amount of thought, deliberation 

and discussion.”

Engineering 
junior 
Hassan 

Kadiri reflected on the struggles 

he faced due to high enrollment 

when he was taking EECS 280 and 

EECS 281.

“Based on what I remember, 

it was a lot of students because 

I 
remember 
when 
we 
were 

submitting different projects to the 

autograder, sometimes we would 

get flooded in with 200 (or) 300 

students at a time trying to submit 

projects,” Kadiri said. “I took those 

classes my freshman year, so you 

can imagine that there’s a lot more 

CS students now.”

Kadiri said he thinks the policy 

will have an impact on diversity in 

the CS major.

“If you don’t have CS experience, 

you’re probably not going to major 

or have the chance to major in CS,” 

Kadiri said. “And even if you do, it’s 

going to be a lot more competitive 

in nature. So I feel like this (policy) 

would impact (diversity) on that 

end, at least.”

Diversity in Computer Science 

On average, women are less 

likely to pursue computer science 

courses than men in high school 

and at the undergraduate level 

in 
the 
United 
States. 
While 

the enrollment for women is 

much lower than for men in the 

computer science program at the 

University, the enrollment for 

women has increased from 2020 to 

2021. A CSE DEI report found that 

during the 2021 academic year, of 

students enrolled in the beginning 

of introductory computer science 

courses (EECS 183, EECS 101, 

ENGR 151), 59.76% were men and 

39.45% were women. However, 

by the time the cohort reached 

the end of EECS 376 that year, it 

was reported that 67.89% of the 

enrolled students were men and 

31.41% were women. 

Wellman addressed concerns 

about 
the 
impact 
the 
new 

admissions 
policy 
could 
have 

on diversity, saying the new 

enrollment policies will ensure 

students from various backgrounds 

have the opportunity to pursue 

computer science at the University. 

“It’s no secret that the field 

of computer science currently 

faces significant challenges with 

diversity,” Wellman said. “Many 

are put off from considering 

computer 
science 
based 
on 

their earlier perceptions of the 

major and of the topic and their 

impression that succeeding in the 

major requires extensive prior 

experience. Our new enrollment 

policies are designed to ensure that 

there’s an access for students from 

a range of experience backgrounds, 

and who come to computer science 

based on a variety of interests and 

motivations.”

Wellman said the policy will 

have a positive effect on the 

diversity of those who pursue a 

computer science degree.

“I think it will have a positive 

effect on diversity mainly because 

of this way that we’re making room 

for those who merely discover CS,” 

Wellman said. “I also want to 

stress that we consider anybody 

who was accepted to engineering 

or LSA.”

LSA 
senior 
Mitchell 

Kuppersmith, an instructional aide 

for an upper level computer science 

course, described the similarities 

between the new policy and those 

at other universities and reflected 

on his opportunity to pursue 

computer science at the University. 

He said he initially thought there 

would be less accessibility for 

computer science education for 

students.

“Coming to Michigan was my 

only chance to really do computer 

science,” Kuppersmith said. “I 

… worry that other people who 

apply to these programs have to 

apply to a major. That immediately 

makes things more competitive 

and cuts off access to people who 

wouldn’t have experience in this 

field. And even as somebody who 

has experience in this field, I just 

don’t think that’s a fair thing to do 

since it drastically reduces people’s 

ability to explore different majors.” 

Kuppersmith said while the 

general 
reasoning 
from 
the 

computer science department to 

restrict the major was to serve 

computer 
science 
majors, 
but 

the restrictions will not limit 

enrollment in the most full courses.

“But if you look at the enrollment 

for computer science classes, the 

most crowded classes are the intro 

classes, and the intro classes aren’t 

going to have any restrictions on 

who can take them,” Kuppersmith 

said. “These are the classes where 

the kind of people who are just 

getting into computer science are 

going to struggle the most, (so) 

I feel as though the restriction 

on the major’s really pointless 

because anybody who’s trying to 

get in without experience is just 

going to like suffer from a lack of 

help there.” 

News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Survivors’, University attorneys spar over liability, fraud claims in summary disposition hearing

ADMINISTRATION

Eight women filed suit against Regents, former ‘U’ american culture lecturer Bruce Conforth over sexual assault allegations

LILA TURNER/Daily

 Looking to join Computer Science? Expect new 
application process aimed at reining in enrollment
EECS program overwhelmed by rapidly rising demand, chair 
calls new process a “last resort”

 RACHEL MINTZ
Daily News Reporter

NIRALI PATEL
Daily Staff Reporter

ACADEMICS
NEWS

Michigan Medicine announced 

Thursday that the health data of 

approximately 33,850 patients was 

exposed 
through 
compromised 

employee emails during a cyber 

attack in August. The attack lasted 

from Aug. 15 to Aug. 23 at which 

point Michigan Medicine discovered 

the breach. 

The cyber attack took place 

through a phishing scam, during 

which a cyber attacker prompted 

users to fill out their Michigan 

Medicine login information in a 

fake webpage. According to the 

Michigan Medicine press release, 

four Michigan Medicine employees 

entered 
their 
information 
into 

this faulty webpage, allowing the 

attackers to access the Michigan 

Medicine database.

Jeanne 
Strickland, 
Michigan 

Medicine chief compliance officer, 

emphasized that Michigan Medicine 

understands the gravity of the 

incident and will work to prevent the 

situation in the future.

“Patient privacy is extremely 

important to us, and we take this 

matter very seriously,” Strickland 

said. 
“Michigan 
Medicine 
took 

steps immediately to investigate 

this matter and is implementing 

additional safeguards to reduce risk 

to our patients and help prevent 

recurrence.”

The breached emails contained 

identifiable 
patient 
information, 

including name, medical record 

number, address, date of birth, 

diagnostic 
and 
treatment 

information and health insurance 

information. 
No 
information 

included credit card, debit card or 

bank account numbers. One patient 

received notice since their Social 

Security Number was involved. 

According to the release, the specific 

information varied from patient 

to patient, but all emails were job-

related communications necessary 

for patient care. 

The release states that once 

Michigan Medicine learned about 

the breach, all subject accounts 

were 
disabled 
and 
passwords 

were changed. Any patients who 

were affected will be notified by 

letter, and notices were mailed to 

affected patients starting Oct. 19 and 

completed on Oct. 26.

According to the release, Michigan 

Medicine trains employees on risks 

involving cyberattacks, including 

sending simulated phishing emails 

as a way to educate staff on how to 

recognize and report phishing.

The employees involved in the 

breach had all participated in similar 

training exercises and are currently 

subject to disciplinary action based 

on Michigan Medicine policies and 

procedures. The release did not 

indicate what disciplinary actions 

will be taking place.

Though the release indicates that 

Michigan Medicine does not believe 

the accounts were breached with 

the intention of obtaining patient 

information, Michigan Medicine is 

encouraging all clients to monitor 

their accounts and their medical 

insurance statements. 

Patients concerned about the 

breach can reach out to Michigan 

Medicine at the assistance line 

between 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. from 

Monday through Friday, with the 

exception of holidays.

 Check MyUofMHealth. 33,000 patients affected 
by data breach

 NEWS

Impacted accounts disabled, customers should monitor their 
personal information

MATTHEW SHANBOM
Daily Staff Reporter 

Jon Vaughn and Plaintiff Isabelle Brourman sit in court for a summary judgment hearing for the 
civil suit against Bruce Conforth and the University of Michigan for actions of sexual misconduct 
Wednesday morning.

4 — Wednesday, November 2, 2022

Former CEO of DTE speaks on career, renewable 
energy as protestors express disapproval

Gary Anderson faces jeers during discussion on job searching 
amid climate change

ALI CHAMI/Daily

DTE Energy Former Chairman and CEO Gary Anderson speaks at the Ross School of Business in 
front of protestors from Ann Arbor public power organizers and supporters Wednesday night.

IRENA LI
Daily Staff Reporter

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

