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Regents to consider Schlissel’s CFO pick VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily
Rackham student Hyo Rim Han plays the violin during her first dissertation recital at the Walgreen Drama Center Monday.
Professor explores the role of status in college culture Research suggests connection between social standing and sexual assault By RACHEL PREMACK Daily Staff Reporter
Sociology Prof. Elizabeth Armstrong said Whitney, a pretty sorority girl, snubbed her. This incident was not during Armstrong’s college years, but 10
years ago when she was studying peer culture among freshman girls at Indiana University. “I always said, ‘I feel like the biggest loser around Whitney,’ ” Armstrong said with a smile. “In general I felt totally over feeling intimidated by the popular girl I never was, but she is something else. It was very disconcerting for me to feel like I was right back in that space.” If Armstrong, then an assistant professor at Indiana University, felt ostracized by the pretty rich girls during the course of
her research, it is hardly a shock that her study’s findings reflected how social status in college drives student choices on partying. Status even plays a role in sexual assault on campus, she said. Armstrong’s talk in a small room in the LSA Building Monday concerned the influence of “status anxiety” on drinking, hooking up and sexual assault among undergraduates. Indiana University is a large Midwestern college with a tradition of sports and Greek life. She
and her research partner, Laura Hamilton, studied interactions at a women’s hall in a freshmen dorm. They observed the young women study together, talk and drink before parties, and conducted interviews with many of these women in the four years following their dorm experience. What she found is detailed in her 2013 book, “Paying for the Party.” Wealthy freshman women were able to rush Greek life and pursue academic success; after college, they could thrive See STATUS, Page 3
Kevin Hegarty, UT-Austin official, to succeed interim chief Doug Strong By MICHAEL SUGERMAN Daily News Editor
In April 2014, Tim Slottow, who served as executive vice president and chief financial officer, left the University to become the president of University of Phoenix. Ten months later, his official replacement has been chosen. Kevin Hegarty, the University of Texas at Austin’s current vice president and chief financial officer, will be Slottow’s successor, also replacing interim executive vice president and CFO Douglas Strong, according to a release on the UTA website. Hegarty has served as UTA’s CFO for 14 years. “My recommendation of Mr. Hegarty follows a successful and competitive search process,” Uni-
ANN ARBOR
ACADEMICS
City’s homeless struggle to cope with cold
Local officials, councilmembers consider options to alleviate challenges By LARA MOEHLMAN Daily Staff Reporter
For the city’s homeless, staying warm has higher stakes as windchills dip well below zero. Last week, a 39-year-old man was found dead in a tent near the Amtrak station on Depot Street, according to the Ann Arbor Police Department. In an e-mail to Ann Arbor City Council members, Police Chief John Seto said the Washtenaw County medical examiner has not yet determined the cause of death. “Although the medical examiner has not yet released a final determination for the cause of death, it does not appear at this time that exposure was the cause,” he wrote. Police said the man did not have a house, and was living in a tent west of the long-term parking lot and north across the tracks in the woods near the river. Though police said there was a heating source in the tent, the heat was not turned on. This incident sheds light on the challenges for Ann Arbor’s homeless population during the winter season. In recent weeks, homelessness has sparked debate at several Council meetings. There have been efforts to
WEATHER TOMORROW
HI: 14 LO: -6
recall Councilmember Stephen Kunselman (D–Ward 3) from his position in response to comments he made last year calling for the eviction of a homeless tent community near Burton Road. Kunselman responded to these efforts at a review hearing in early January, explaining the need for a long-term approach to housing the homeless during cold weather. “No one in the city of Ann Arbor, in the county of Washtenaw, should be left out in the cold or should be encouraged to live in the cold, to be given a tent and a sleeping bag and told to rough it and try to survive in the subzero, harsh Michigan winter,” he said. Council has since revised legislation in response to the conversations. A resolution now states that, though humane displacement of homeless camps on both private and public property is an appropriate response to private property and resident complaints, “it is not the practice of the City of Ann Arbor to proactively seek out homeless camps for removal, nor to broadly deploy strategies to render areas used as campsites unusable.” Amanda Carlisle, executive director of the Washtenaw Housing Alliance, said the prevalence of tent communities in Ann Arbor is not a result of a lack of resources for the homeless, but rather a reflection of the homeless’ resistance to entering shelters. “We’ve put a lot of resources actually into shelter and specifically warming centers so that we See COLD, Page 3
versity President Mark Schlissel wrote in an e-mail to faculty and staff Monday. “I thank the members of the search committee for their thorough efforts leading to this outstanding recommendation.” Schlissel also thanked Strong for his work as interim CFO in the e-mail, adding that the University Health System would “look forward to welcoming him back.” Strong previously served as the chief executive officer of the University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers, and will return to this position when Hegarty takes office. Hegarty will leave his post at UTA on Feb. 26 and begin his position at the University on April 6. The University’s Board of Regents will vote to approve his appointment at their regularly scheduled monthly meeting this Thursday, according to their February agenda. The contract will run through 2020. In a release, UTA President Bill Powers thanked Hegarty See CFO, Page 3
Students petition academic calendar More than 4,000 signatures logged to protest dates for winter break Read the story on MichiganDaily.com
RITA MORRIS/Daily
SACUA Chair Scott Masten, a professor of business economics and public policy, runs the Senate Assembly meeting at Palmer Commons Monday. The assembly agreed to restructure its committees to increase productivity.
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
New CSG party announces candidates for 2015 race ‘The Team’ selects two LSA students to appear on ballot for top positions By EMILIE PLESSET and TANAZ AHMED Daily News Editor and Daily Staff Reporter
With Central Student Government elections nearly a month away, campaign organizers announced on Monday the formation of The Team, a new political party. LSA junior Will Royster will head the ticket as the party’s presidential candidate. LSA sophomore Matt Fidel, a current LSA representative, will serve as Royster’s running mate and The
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Team’s vice presidential candidate. LSA junior Jacob Abudaram, The Team’s campaign manager, said the new party is composed of several current representatives from the parties forUM, which will fold at the end of the academic year, and Make Michigan, as well as students with no prior student government involvement. Royster is currently academic concerns chair for the Black Student Union and has no prior experience on CSG. He said The Team is trying to represent students from all parts of campus to ensure an inclusive campus environment. “I wanted to use my voice and my talent to help the campus on another scale,” Royster said. “Really a place like CSG is a place where you have a number
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of opportunities to help people.” Abudaram said several current Make Michigan members are now involved with The Team. LSA junior Meagan Shokar, who ran for CSG vice president on last year’s Make Michigan ticket with CSG President Bobby Dishell, a Public Policy senior, has departed that party for The Team. She will serve as The Team’s outreach chair. Though Make Michigan captured the top two executive offices, Shokar stepped down in August, citing an injury and subsequent medical treatment. CSG later appointed LSA senior Emily Lustig to assume the vice presidency after Shokar’s departure. Shokar explained her decision to leave Make Michigan for The See CANDIDATES, Page 3
Vol. CXXIV, No. 68 ©2015 The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com
By MICHAEL SUGERMAN Daily News Editor
More than 4,000 people have signed a petition demanding the University to change its 2015-2016 academic calendar, which currently schedules Fall 2015 exams to end Dec. 23 and the Winter 2016 semester to begin Jan. 6. The petition, posted through the Central Student Government’s UPetition website, says in its description that the current schedule would inconvenience the University’s out-of-state students. “For out-of-state students, this would require flying home on Christmas Eve, not only causing an obstruction of a religious holiday, but also causing an extreme increase in flight prices — most by hundreds of dollars,” the petition reads. By contrast, the Fall 2014 semester ended Dec. 19, with Winter 2015 classes commencing Jan. 7. The 20152016 Winter Break will be shorter than the 2014-2015 Winter Break by five days if the academic calendar goes unchanged. LSA freshman Lauren SieSee PETITION, Page 3
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