2013 10 02

Hospital on the hill How the University of Michigan Health System tackles a changing landscape

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ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY-FOUR YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Ann Arbor, Michigan

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Upcoming president has hard act to follow

ORGAN - IZED

VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily

Tom Trenney plays the organ at the 53rd Conference on Organ Music Guest Recital at Hill Auditorium Tuesday.

RESEARCH

Not your average computer Supercomputer is at center of growing institute

By RACHEL PREMACK Daily Staff Reporter

There’s a computer on North Campus that’s about 10,000 times more powerful than a

MacBook.

University researchers can use it to simulate infectious disease outbreaks and investigate problems in nuclear reactors. It takes an hour to assess data that would require a month for a typical computer.

This supercomputer could have implications beyond its location in an engineering research center — it’s the nucle-

us of the recently established Michigan Institute for Computational Discovery and Engineering.

MICDE intends to bring together fields that use computational simulation in their research, said Eric Michielssen, chemical engineering professor and MICDE director. The institute is affiliated with 40 faculty from the College of Engineering

and School of Information, both sponsors of MICDE. Michielssen said a multidisciplinary atmosphere is ideal for innovation, which will be augmented by MICDE’s seminars and courses.

“A number of ideas are actually generated by people just interacting in an unorganized fashion,” he said. “Ideas never See COMPUTER, Page 3A

Students create journal focused on sustainability

By SAM GRINGLAS Daily Staff Reporter

For all but the most pedantic readers, academic journals have plenty of turn-offs. The language is technical. The concepts are intangible. The topics are niche.

But a group of University doctoral fellows wants to change that.

Fellows from the University’s Graham Sustainability Institute have launched an online journal — the Michigan Journal of Sustainability — designed to improve the accessibility of content and foster cross-disciplinary collaboration. With online access and no subscription fees,

WEATHER TOMORROW

HI: 76 LO: 63

the publication’s creators hope academic sustainability research will be easier to conduct and understand.

The periodical is aimed at a wide variety of readers, including academics, policymakers, students and concerned citizens — the people most likely to use the science that researchers are uncovering.

“In other words, the MJS puts sustainability science in the hands of those who can use it,” the journal’s website states.

Nicholas Rajkovich, the journal’s editor-in-chief and a Graham Doctoral fellow, said the publication’s format places special emphasis on collecting work from a wide array of academic disciplines.

“Sustainability issues, by nature, are interdisciplinary,” Rajkovich said. “They require input from a lot of different fields to derive solutions. If you’re writSee SUSTAINABILITY, Page 3A

has just concluded a series of six public forums to answer several key questions: What qualities are desired in the next University president? What opportunities and challenges lie in store for the University?

Coleman has left an indelible

By JENNIFER CALFAS mark during her nearly 12 years Daily Staff Reporter at the University — its longest serving president since Harlan With great power comes great Hatcher retired in 1967 after 16 responsibility — a mantra Uni- years at the helm. In Coleman’s versity President Mary Sue Cole- time as president, she has been man knows all too well. called upon to serve As Coleman prein a number of roles, pares to step down July including fundraiser2014, the responsibilin-chief, diplomat ity for finding a new for the University on president will fall on an increasing global the eight members of stage, facilitator of the University’s Board Filling Flemming change, advocate for of Regents and seven the University at all faculty members, who levels of government form the Presidential Search and symbolic leader of all three Advisory Committee. The com- University of Michigan cammittee, assisted by Alison Ran- puses. Her successor will need to ney, a search consultant from assume all those roles and more Russell Reynolds Associates, See PRESIDENT, Page 3A

HOT DOG!

ACADEMICS

Online database to foster crossdisciplinary collaboration

Administrators: Coleman will leave an impressive legacy of achievements

BUSINESS

Alums form takeout box company after success on campus VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily

Graduate student Ryan Holstad grills bratwurst on North Campus as part of a fundraiser for Pi Tau Sigma, the mechincal engineering honor society, Tuesday.

By HILLARY CRAWFORD

ANN ARBOR

Council candidates debate League of Woman Voters hosts Ward 3 and 5 hopefuls

By ALLANA AKHTAR For The Daily

Tuesday, the League of Women Voters hosted a forum for City Council mem-

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Bizeebox reusable containers follow pilot of Go Blue Box in Michigan Union

ber candidates in Wards 3 and 5 to discuss city issues including infrastructure, safety and transportation.

Ann Arbor City Council elections will be held on Nov. 5, and with the vote nearing, candidates are working to inform the community about their platforms.

Mary Stasiak, manager of community relations for the

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INDEX

League, stressed the inclusivity of the forums and said she believed candidates should have a chance to explore the issues in a productive way.

“Our being nonpartisan allows us to bring all people in and have civil discussions about the issues that we all care about,” Stasiak said.

Candidates for the 3rd See COUNCIL, Page 3A

Vol. CXXIV, No. 3 ©2013 The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com

Daily Staff Reporter

In a quest to reduce waste in a way that appeals to business and consumer interests, University alumni Rich Grousset and Raphael Meyer created Bizeebox, a reusable takeout container that can be sold to restaurants and reused up to 350 times.

Grousset and Meyer say Ann Arbor alone disposes of at least two-million takeout containers per year. Bizeebox could meet the takeout demand with less than one percent of that quantity.

See COMPANY, Page 3A

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News

2A — Wednesday, October 2, 2013

MONDAY: This Week in History

TUESDAY: Professor Profile

I N WA I T

WEDNESDAY: In Other Ivory Towers

THURSDAY: Alumni Profiles

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

FRIDAY: Photos of the Week

GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY WISHES TO EXPAND POLICE SERVICES

Officers seek off-campus justice

ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily

Music, Theater and Dance students wait to perform with conductor and alum Christopher James Lee at the University of Michigan Museum of Art Tuesday.

George Washington University has begun talks with other Washington officials about expanding police presence beyond its campus, The GW Hatchet reported Monday.

In doing so, they are following in the steps of the University of Maryland, Kent State University and Wayne State University, all of which have recently granted extended powers to their campus police, namely for the purpose of relieving an overburdened city police department.

David Martin, a criminal justice researcher at Wayne State, told the Hatchet that city police departments can often use the help of university police forc-

CRIME NOTES

es, and the trend of expanding jurisdictions may continue.

“Policing is certainly headed in this direction, as communications and technology have improved greatly,” he said.

UCLA Introduces New Evolutionary Medicine Minor The University of California, Los Angeles has begun offering a new minor in evolutionary medicine through the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, the Daily Bruin reported Monday.

The minor will push students to expand their perspectives on modern medicine, allowing

CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES

Harmed hydrant WHERE: University location WHEN: Monday at about 5:50 p.m.

WHAT: A vehicle struck a fire hydrant, University Police reported. No injuries were reported, but the hydrant sustained damage.

Not a thief WHERE: 2121 block of Bonisteel Avenue WHEN: Monday at about 11:45 a.m.

WHAT: After an electronic reader was reported stolen from the Crisler Center Auditorium, University police found it had been turned in by a custodian and staff attempted to contact its owner.

Fraud you later

Organ concert Career expo

WHERE: 500 block of Jefferson Street WHEN: Monday at about 1 p.m.

WHAT: When a vehicle backed into a parked car, the driver was found in possession of a stolen credit card, University Police reported. The vehicle was impounded.

WHAT: Local musicians will perform 30 minutes of organ solo music in a lunchtime concert. Attendees are invited to bring a bag lunch to enjoy.

WHO: School of Music, Theatre & Dance WHEN: Today at 12:15 p.m.

WHERE: Vaughan School of Public Health Building 1, Community Room

You can’t park with us

Harvest festival

WHERE: 2400 Patterson Street WHEN: Monday at about 8 a.m.

WHAT: A parking permit was reportedly stolen from an unlocked vehicle, University Police reported.

There are no suspects.

WHAT: The second annual festival will celebrate the first growing season of the Campus Farm’s Botanical Garden. The event features tours, food and music.

WHO: University of Michigan Sustainable Food Program WHEN: Today from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

WHERE: Matthaei Botanical Gardens

MORE ONLINE Love Crime Notes?

Get more online at michigandaily.com/blogs/The Wire

WHAT: Organizations will screen candidates and provide information during the second day of the Fall Career Expo. Half of the expo’s organizations will feature internship positions.

WHO:The Career Center WHEN: Today from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

WHERE: Michigan Union CORRECTIONS lIn the Sept. 30 edition of the Daily, a story (“Pollack reflects on first months as ‘U’ provst”) should have stated that last year, the University doubled the number of out-of-state students for whom they met full financial aid. l Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@michigandaily.com.

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them to view it through historical and evolutionary viewpoints as well as scientifically.

Daniel Blumstein, the director of the program, said evolutionary medicine tries to take a step back to analyze the evolutionary history of a pathogen or disorder. Modern medicine often focuses on fixing the immediate problems caused by a disease.

The minor involves a large amount of interdisciplinary study, ranging from sociology to neuroscience, and will potentially be open to most students.

— SHOHAM GEVA

THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW TODAY

1

Psychiatric drugs are being prescribed less to young children, Al Jazeera America reported.

Prescriptions peaked in the mid-2000s, according to a study by Pediatrics, a medical journal.

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Healthcare is changing in our nation, and the the $2.6-billion enterprise on campus, the University of Michigan Health System, is changing too. >> FOR MORE, SEE INSIDE

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BUSINESS STAFF Amal Muzaffar Digital Accounts Manager Doug Soloman University Accounts Manager Leah Louis-Prescott Classified Manager Lexi Derasmo Local Accounts Manager Hillary Wang National Accounts Manager Ellen Wolbert and Sophie Greenbaum Production Managers The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office for $2. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $110. Winter term (January through April) is $115, yearlong (September through April) is $195. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid.

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Venezuela leader alleges that U.S. NYC prison costs rival price attempted to destabilize country of Ivy League education Claims foul play with economy and power grid

South American nation.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Venezuela’s government delivered a diplomatic note to the U.S. Embassy in Caracas on Monday night that said it had declared the U.S. charge d’affaires, the political officer and the consular officer personas non grata. She said the three were given 48 hours to leave Venezuela.

Psaki said the U.S. might take reciprocal action in accordance with the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations and on consular relations but was still considering what action to take.

She said the allegations were related to the U.S. Embassy workers’ travel to Bolivar state, which is home to troubled stateowned foundries and Venezuela’s main hydroelectric plant.

“They were there conducting normal diplomatic engagement, as we’ve said in the past and should come as no surprise,”

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Nicolas Maduro said Tuesday that Venezuela will not have cordial relations with the United States as long as U.S. diplomats continue what he alleges are attempts to destabilize his country.

He said “new points of contact” can be established, but only if Washington ends such activity.

Maduro’s tough talk came a day after he announced the expulsion of the top U.S. diplomat in Venezuela, Charge d’Affaires Kelly Keiderling, and two other embassy officials, alleging they conspired with “the extreme right” to sabotage the economy and power grid.

SudokuThe Syndication United States again on Tuesday rejected the allegations that it is trying to destabilize this

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Exceptional resources required for upkeep of Rikers

Psaki said.

“We, of course, maintain regular contacts across the Venezuelan political spectrum. And we maintain a broad perspective on Venezuela and travel frequently, of course. That’s what diplomats NEW YORK (AP) — New York do. So there was nothing out of is indeed an expensive place, but experts say that alone doesn’t the ordinary about that. And that was part of their accusations,” explain a recent report that she said. found the city’s annual cost per inmate was $167,731 last year — Expelled with Keiderling, the top embassy official in the nearly as much as it costs to pay absence of an ambassador, were for four years of tuition at an Ivy League university. consular officer David Moo and They say a big part of it is due Elizabeth Hoffman, who works in the embassy’s political secto New York’s most notorious lockup, Rikers Island, and the tion. costs that go along with staffing, Speaking Tuesday from the government palace, Maduro said maintaining and securing a facilthat “while the government of ity that is literally an island unto itself. the United States does not understand that it has to respect our “Other cities don’t have Rikcountry’s sovereignty there will ers Island,” said Martin F. Horn, who in 2009 resigned as the be simply be no cordial relations nor cordial communication.” city’s correction commissioner, http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ “The day that the government noting that hundreds of millions of dollars are spent a year to run of President (Barack) Obama rectifies the situation we will the 400-acre island in the East River next to the runways of establish new points of contact to discuss common issues,” said Maduro, the hand-picked successor to late President Hugo Chavez.

On Monday, state TV showed photographs and video of the three U.S. diplomats in Bolivar and the neighboring state of Amazonas, including making visits to offices of Sumate, an electoral-monitoring group NEW ORLEANS (AP) — that helped organize a failed A BP executive who led the 2004 recall vote against company’s efforts to halt Chavez. Foreign Minister Elias its massive 2010 oil spill in Jaua accused them of working the Gulf of Mexico testified with Sumate on “the idea” of Tuesday that his decisions not recognizing the results of were guided by the principle Dec. 8 elections for mayors and that they shouldn’t do anything city councils. that could make the crisis even Dashiell Lopez, a board memworse. ber of Sumate, denied that memJames Dupree, BP’s first bers of the group had met with witness for the second phase the expelled diplomats. He said of a trial over the deadly in a phone interview Tuesday disaster, said his teams worked that Sumate only lent its facilities simultaneously on several for a meeting last week between strategies for killing the well the diplomats and religious that blew out in April 2010. groups. “There was no meeting Dupree said the company with Sumate, and no people of scrapped plans to employ Sumate were at the meeting,” he a capping strategy in midsaid.

May because the equipment

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LaGuardia Airport that has 10 jail facilities, thousands of staff and its own power plant and bakery.

The city’s Independent Budget Office annual figure of $167,731 — which equates to about $460 per day for the 12,287 average daily New York City inmates last year — was based on about $2 billion in total operating expenses for the Department of Correction, which included salaries and benefits for staff, judgments and claims as well as debt service for jail construction and repairs.

But there are particularly expensive costs associated with Rikers.

The department says it spends $30.3 million annually alone on transportation costs, running three bus services that usher inmates to and from court throughout the five boroughs, staff from a central parking lot to Rikers jails and visitors to and around the island. There were 261,158 inmates delivered to court last year.

A way to bring down the costs, Horn has long said, would be to replace Rikers Island with more robust jails next door to courthouses. But his attempts to do that failed in part because of political opposition from residential areas near courthouses in Brooklyn, Manhattan and elsewhere.

“My point is: Have you seen a whole lot of outcry on this? Why doesn’t anything happen?” Horn said of the $167,731 annual figure.

“Because nobody cares.”

“That’s the reason we have Rikers Island,” he said. “We want these guys put away out of public view.”

New York’s annual costs dwarf the annual per-inmate costs in other big cities. Los Angeles spent $128.94 a day, or $47,063 a year, for 17,400 inmates in fiscal year 2011-12, its sheriff’s office said. Chicago spent $145 a day, or $52,925 a year, for 13,200 inmates in 2010.

Those costs included debt-service and fringe benefits.

BP executives defend spill response Testified in trial they avoided making the crisis even worse

wasn’t ready. He also said he was concerned that it could jeopardize other efforts to seal the well.

“We were very intent not to make the situation worse,” said Dupree, who was promoted to BP’s regional president for the Gulf of Mexico after the spill was stopped. Dupree is scheduled to resume his testimony Wednesday.

BP’s trial adversaries have argued that the company could have stopped the spill much earlier than July 15 if it had used the capping strategy.

Earlier Tuesday, an employee of the company that owned the doomed Deepwater Horizon drilling rig testified that he was surprised when BP scrapped the capping strategy his team had devised and never heard an explanation for the decision.

“We were so close. We had

come a long way,” said Robert Turlak, Transocean’s manager of subsea engineering and well control systems.

During the first few weeks after the spill, engineers focused on two methods for stopping the flow of oil: Capping the well was one option. The other, called “top kill,” involved pumping drilling mud and other material into the Deepwater Horizon rig’s blowout preventer.

BP ultimately used a capping stack to stop the spill July 15 after several other methods failed.

Turlak’s team was working on a strategy that was called “BOP-on-BOP” because it lowered a second blowout preventer on top of the rig’s failed one. He called it the “obvious solution” and said it was ready for installation in early June.

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NEWS BRIEFS

PRESIDENT From Page 1A

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich.

Feds defend plan to drop gray wolf protection Federal officials offered a staunch defense Monday of their proposal to drop legal protections for the gray wolf in most of the country, as opponents rallied in the nation’s capital before the first in a series of public hearings on the plan.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service called for removing the wolf from the endangered species list for the lower 48 states in June, except for a subspecies called the Mexican wolf in the Southwest, which is struggling to survive.

Ranching and hunting groups have praised the proposal, while environmentalists have said it is premature.

COUNCIL From Page 1A Ward included incumbent Councilman Stephen Kunselman (D) and Sam DeVarti, a challenger from the newly formed MixedUse Party. The two discussed issues such as city cleaning, regional bus systems, infrastructure maintenance and accessibility in the downtown area.

Kunselman — a University employee — recently pulled petitions to run for mayor in 2014.

DiVarti, 23, said it was important to for the city to consider residents’ impact on the environment, citing his party’s enthusiasm about zoning plans.

The Mixed-Use Party states that these zoning changes will allow people to live in developed areas near businesses to decrease air pollution from vehicles and slow construction on wilderness and farm land.

“I propose some zoning changes which I think are on the cutting edge of urban planning; our ideas for a walking downtown while still protecting residences from high buildings I think are spot on,” DiVarti said.

Kunselman placed more emphasis on ethical governing, highlighting his previous work in public safety and infrastructure. To get active in the community, he said students should know who the council members are, participate in neighborhood meetings and stay involved in environmental issues.

“For students coming in and (who are) only going to be here for four years or five years, (these issues) might not seem so important to them, but they have to remember that, at some point, it may be them asking someone else to take care of their neighborhood,” Kunselman said.

The 5th Ward candidates were incumbent Mike Anglin (D) and write-in candidate Thomas Partridge.

Among his most prominent stances, Anglin emphasized the need for programs for children, parks and recreation advancement, and getting kids in school by age 4. He said there needs to be a “city center” like a park on the undeveloped Library Lot. Partridge, a University alum, urged students to change their driver’s license addresses to their Ann Arbor addresses if they want to vote in the upcoming election. One of his primary concerns was to make life easier for University students.

“We need affordable housing for students on campus, off campus (and) affordable tuition as well.”

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as they begin their own tenure at the University.

In an e-mail interview, Regent Katherine White (D), vice chair of the Board of Regents and acting spokeswoman during the search process, referred to a list posted by the search committee detailing their expectations for potential candidates.

These include the ability to serve as a national advocate and spokesperson for the University, increase racial and socioeconomic diversity, address future challenges, and be a model of humility, integrity and passion for student support.

The University has been the beneficiary of three large donations from Stephen Ross, Charles Munger and the Zell Family Foundation within the past year.

The next president will have the same opportunity and challenge of engaging with University alumni and potential donors.

Coleman helped exceed fundraising goals by $700 million in the University’s four-year Michigan Difference capital campaign — which concluded in 2008 — with a total $3.2 billion, surpassing the original $2.5 billion goal. While the overall goal of the next fundraising campaign, “Victors for Michigan,” hasn’t been announced, more than $1 billion will be earmarked for financial aid.

Coleman works daily with Vice President for Development Jerry May and the University’s Office of Development, as will Coleman’s successor, who will immediately inherit the remainder of the next fundraising campaign.

May said Coleman holds a dedicated “vision” and “superior interpersonal skills” that are necessary for a University president to be an effective fundraiser. Her passion for fundraising allows her to garner these historic donations: renovations and plans are already underway.

“She is very supportive of the overall program of fundraising,” May said. “She contributes to it, and another way of being supportive of it is that she works and builds relationships with the most generous donors in constituency to the rest of the University.”

May added that he hopes to have a “seamless transition” between the two presidents, as Coleman’s 12 years of relationship-building will impact the work of her successor.

“That’s part of the seamless transition down a long line,” May said. “You think of yourself as a representative of the University as opposed to central to everything.”

The increasing importance of fundraising is in part a result of reduced state appropriation to the University, May said. In the midst of declining state appropriation, Gov. Rick Snyder proposed a 2-percent increase for

COMPANY From Page 1A “A better future is possible where we aren’t just creating unnecessary waste,” Meyer said.

“So we plan to start with reusable takeout containers and prove that people are willing to reuse, prove that people are willing to put in a little extra effort.”

The idea is pretty simple: customers will be able to request Bizeebox from participating restaurants and later return the registered box to the restaurant for cleaning and recirculation.

Grousset and Meyer, who graduated with dual degrees from the School of Natural Resources and the Environment and the School of Business, initially piloted the idea on campus in order to gauge feedback and learn what needed to be improved before applying the idea to downtown Ann Arbor.

In graduate school, they created the Go Blue Box, the predecessor of Bizeebox. The container was beta tested at the former University Club Restaurant in the Michigan Union.

Although Go Blue Box and Bizeebox are separate entities, they both promote environmentally friendly dining options. As one of the first four grantees of the Planet Blue Student Innovation Fund, the team was given $8,000 to launch the Go Blue Box in the University Club last year.

“You get those moments where people say, ‘Oh, this makes a lot of sense. Why aren’t people doing this everywhere?’ ” Grous-

News higher-education funding for this year’s fiscal budget, adding $30.7 million to Michigan’s $1.4-billion higher-education budget. This jump follows a 3-percent increase from the year before, improving from a 15-percent drop for the 2012 fiscal year.

During her tenure, Coleman has served as a cheerleader for the institution, testifying in Lansing for higher state appropriation and writing an open letter to President Barack Obama about the importance of highereducation support. Coleman and Obama certainly can agree on one thing: affordability remains one of the largest concerns facing higher education.

Cynthia Wilbanks, vice president for government relations, said she and Coleman have “a strong partnership,” and that Coleman’s work reflects that of previous University presidents.

“The University of Michigan has had a history of presidents who have been willing to speak up and speak out about the importance of higher education issues of the day,” Wilbanks said. “The University of Michigan is looked to as a leader in providing really strong advocacy for policies and funding that support our mission.”

To effectively work with the state and federal government, the University president needs to create relationships with all parts of the political spectrum, ranging from members of Congress to local elected officials, Wilbanks said.

While Wilbanks said she hopes state appropriations continue to increase and the federal government will refocus on higher-education issues, affordability stands at the forefront of concerns for many at the University. The next president will face budget constraints, and University Provost Martha Pollack said she hopes this new leader starts where Coleman leaves off.

In order to limit tuition increases in the face of declining state support, the formulation of the University’s annual budget and cost containment has become a critical focus of the University’s administration and of individual schools and colleges. Pollack said the next president will need to immediately face the persistent budget issues and continue working on cost containment.

“Clearly, we need someone who is really in tune with the challenges of not just any university, but of a university in the niche we occupy, which is a flagship public research university,” Pollack said. “I think we have a good team in place to keep on pushing, and I’m very optimistic that the new president will have support for where she needs to handle these challenges.”

In developing the University’s budget, Pollack said she and Coleman work together frequently — spearheading a col-

set said. “There’s a large segment of people who go to restaurants and care about the environment and sustainability.”

LSA senior Emily Jaffe, president of Michigan Student Athletes for Sustainability, said the idea has great potential to grow into something much bigger.

“When I was using the Go Blue Box, it was so nice to be able to walk out and return it the next time I was around, and with Bizeebox, there will be more places to return them in Ann Arbor, so I don’t think it will be a hassle,” Jaffe said.

During the nine months that the Union restaurant used the Go Blue Box, Grousset and Meyer estimated five thousand less disposable boxes were used.

Upon leaving the University, the team’s focus on Go Blue Box graduated into the development of Bizeebox, which could be used off campus. A few Ann Arbor restaurants have already expressed interest. Next, the duo must raise enough money to begin a manufacturing run, which the founders hope to finance through an Indiegogo campaign.

While Bizeebox is on its way to being launched, a student organization, the Reusable Takeout Container Program, has taken initiative to continue the Go Blue Box’s legacy and promote dining sustainability among students.

Rackham student Rohit Narayan, president of the organization, said he and other group members are pushing the University to bring back the Go Blue Box to support waste reduction

laborative process between the individual schools and colleges’ offices, other executive officers and the regents.

Coleman’s tenure was dogged first by a deep recession in Michigan and later a national recession — contributing to 71-percent increase in tuition since she assumed the presidency in 2002.

Tuition rose only 1.1 percent for this fiscal year, compared to an increase of 2.8 percent for instate students and 3.5 percent for out-of-state students last year.

Affordability is a significant challenge for many University students, who are the heart of the institution, said E. Royster Harper, vice president of student affairs.

Harper said one of Coleman’s most important contributions to improving the quality of the student experience on campus was the Residence Life Initiative — a more-than-$1-billion commitment over the last decade to renovate residence halls and other facilities. Harper said students should continue to have a close partnership with the president, just as they have with Coleman.

“I think that’s both the heart of what Michigan is; I think it’s something that President Coleman had when she came and certainly embodies,” Harper said. “I think any new president will need to understand the power of the voice of students at Michigan … I think it’s part of our strength.”

Students also benefit from an undergraduate teaching staff ranked 12th by U.S. News and World Report. According to Terrence McDonald, director of the Bentley Historical Library and former LSA dean, Coleman has been effective at helping individual schools and colleges retain quality staff members. While each school’s dean works more often with the provost, McDonald said they benefit from knowing a “sensible” and “powerful” leader guides and progresses the University.

Coleman’s commitment to many facets of campus reflects the strength of the University’s previous presidents, McDonald said. Since McDonald joined faculty during Harold Shapiro’s presidency, he said he’s seen a common thread of qualities throughout the past and present presidents: They’re “focused,” “determined” and “relentless in their pursuit of goals.”

By the expectations of those conducting the search, those qualities in a candidate are mandatory.

From talking to donors, working with faculty, socializing with students or creating a budget, the next University president will have a lot on his or her plate when they begin in 2014. There are some big shoes to fill, but one thing’s for certain: The next president will serve as the face of the University for years to come.

in other venues on campus.

“A lot of classes in engineering now support sustainability, so there is a general push towards making the campus more green and now we just need the right opportunities,” Narayan said.

For now, Bizeebox will be for only off-campus restaurants, but Meyer and Grousset are looking ahead to what their nascent com-

Wednesday, October 2, 2013 — 3A

COMPUTER From Page 1A get generated by people sitting around a table looking for new ideas. People have to interact with each other in seminars, in classrooms and so on for new ideas to naturally emerge.”

The institute is offering a new graduate certificate in computational discovery and engineering. Through MICDE, Michielssen said, students can enjoy the same intellectual variety as their professors, because graduate students from all science, technology, engineering and math fields will take courses together.

“My students take courses with students who are much like them: other electrical engineers,” he said. “But put these same students in the room with a physics or math or biology student and automatically new ideas just emerge.”

Thomas Finholt, Information School professor and dean of academic affairs, said high-powered computers were essential to uncovering new insights in the field of information. Search engines use computer simulation to modify and update their product.

“You can’t release the prototype search engine into the wild and hope people use it,” Finholt said. “You need to simulate the behavior ... and make modifications in the simulated world and that will say what you want to release.”

Even the humanities and

SUSTAINABILITY From Page 1A ing or reading just for your own discipline, you might not have the kind of linkages between fields to look at impacts of (your) projects.”

A new volume of the journal will be published annually with topics relating to three themes: sustainable freshwater systems, livable communities and climate change.

The journal’s first annual issue includes an article on hydraulic fracturing, for example, which involves the study of freshwater systems, urban planning, health sciences and energy.

“There’s a great push towards interdisciplinary research in journals, and sustainability’s needs are especially acute,” Rajkovich said.

The Graham Fellows noticed this unfilled need while they were discussing possible outlets in which they could publish their research. They discovered there weren’t many journals that appealed to the diverse nature of topics in sustainability. So, with the sup-

pany can work on next.

“In nature there is no such thing as waste. Everything gets reused, recycled and put back into service some way,” Meyer said. “It’s up to our generation to make the future what we all want to see.”

Grousset said he and Meyer have taken an optimistic approach to rewind the dam-

social sciences can benefit from computational research, he said.

High-powered computers can scan the entire body of Shakespearean works for similar passages, giving historians a better idea whether or not the plays had different authors.

Such endeavors may be possible as MICDE expands to LSA. Michielssen said the institute aims to add 40 professors from LSA and an additional 40 from the College of Engineering and the Information School. The math, biology, chemistry, physics and earth sciences departments currently are highly involved in computational research.

Computational simulation allows exploration of impossible experiments. A meteorologist can model what occurs inside a tornado through this technology, while such analysis is impossible in real life.

High-powered computers also lessen the cost of typically expensive experiments.

Aerospace Engineering Prof.

Iain Boyd said aerodynamic researchers would have had to build models of rockets and put them in a wind tunnel 30 years ago — a feat now made possible by computer modeling.

“There’s a small subset of physical phenomena going on you can look at in an experiment,” Boyd said. “You can calculate everything and it will be faster and it will be cheaper.

It’s changing and it’s changing strongly toward more computations.”

port of the Graham Institute, the fellows decided to develop their own.

“If an environmental nonprofit organization or municipality is grappling with a sustainability challenge, we want them to turn to the Michigan Journal of Sustainability for valuable insights and information,” co-editor Dana Kornberg said in a statement.

This year’s issue includes articles that touch on topics as diverse as sustainability and social justice, Detroit, climate change, green cities and humanwildlife interactions.

Beyond the compatibility of the journal’s focus topics with the study of sustainability, Graham Institute Director Don Scavia lauded the new journal as a significant step in furthering the institute’s core goals.

“The journal they created not only fills a notable gap in academic publishing but also helps to fulfill a primary mission of the Graham Institute — translating knowledge to influence decisions that protect the environment and enhance quality of life for present and future generations,” he said.

age done on the environment by the overuse of one-time containers.

“You look at all of the problems in the world and can get pretty depressed,” Grousset said. “Our sense of humor gave us playful interaction, and we want to project that in our business. We’re solving problems, but we’re having fun doing it.”

Opinion

4A — Wednesday, October 2, 2013

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

May I have this dance?

Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890.

420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com MELANIE KRUVELIS ANDREW WEINER EDITOR IN CHIEF

and ADRIENNE ROBERTS

EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS

MATT SLOVIN MANAGING EDITOR

Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s editorial board.

All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.

FROM THE DAILY

Sufficient funds yet lack of safety The Athletic Department should ensure that their programs are safe

A

t a forum on minors’ on-campus safety on Sept. 24, the director of the University’s athletic camps admitted to “significant gaps” in the University’s ability to oversee the safety of more than 9,000 minors in attendance. For instance, Athletic Camp administrator Katie Miranto highlighted flaws in the University’s background checks, acknowledging that the system didn’t account for crimes committed outside of Michigan — meaning out-of-state applicants, who make up approximately 33 percent of all camp staff, might not be fully scrutinized before beginning to work with children. While the Athletic Department’s acknowledgement of program flaws is a refreshing admission and steps have already been taken to amend the process, it points to a serious lack of prioritization within the Athletic Department.

It’s encouraging to see that the Athletic Department is taking the appropriate steps to fix this important hole in the system. In a letter to the editor of The Michigan Daily, David Ablauf, the Athletic Department’s spokesman, wrote that the Athletic Department has invested in the “hiring of a full-time administrator who focuses daily on the summer camps, stepped up safety and security training for the camp director and counselors, establishment of a tracking and location system for campers and coaches, development of facility emergency plans that are widely shared and annual audits of the camps to assure compliance with our policies.” The Athletic Department took the correct steps to solve this problem and did it quickly. However, it’s discouraging to see that this was overlooked in the first place.

The real problem here is something that the Athletic Department can’t necessarily solve with a new hire or advanced training.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

The Athletic Department has come under criticism lately — and rightly so — for spending money on trite endeavors, such as paying for 55 skywritten messages at $100 a piece.

While this is a drop in the bucket for the Athletic Department’s budget, and may very well be a smart marketing move, marketing comes after child safety. Money clearly isn’t the issue. Priorities are.

It’s troubling that it took this long to find gaps in the program. There’s a serious lack of communication within the department. A full-time administrator for summer camps was needed from day one; hiring someone after a problem was found is a good preventative move for the future, but it doesn’t change the fact that this oversight should have always been in place. The Athletic Department has no problem investing in new ways to market themselves. It’s unfortunate that they didn’t spend this time looking within and making sure their programs are safe.

Send letters to: tothedaily@michigandaily.com

The Athletic Department has program in place to protect children TO THE DAILY: The University of Michigan Athletic Department wanted to correct the record regarding incorrect information in The Michigan Daily.

The Athletics Department has spent the past 40-plus years providing a safe, fun environment for tens of thousands of kids through the summer camp program — an exceptional track record for which we’re extremely proud.

The Athletic Department, in partnership with the University, University of Michigan Police Department and others, protects minors at the camps through background checks, training programs and numerous other ways. Many of the counselors we select are teachers and coaches elsewhere, and they are hand-picked by University of Michigan coaches who own and operate the camps. Finances have never been a factor in our decision-making about safe practices nor will

they ever be.

We recently identified a gap in the system, were transparent about that at a public forum, have made corrections and are moving forward with an enhanced service that includes a national directory search.

That said, background checks of all kinds — whether handled personally, by coaches or through database reviews — are important, but they are just one way to keep kids safe. A multilayered effort is needed, and that’s what we have in place.

We’ve invested heavily in other areas to enhance the safety of our programs, including the hiring of a full-time administrator who focuses daily on the summer camps, stepped up safety and security training for the camp director and counselors, establishment of a tracking and location system for campers and coaches, development of facility emergency plans that are widely shared and annual audits of the camps to assure compliance with our policies.

David Ablauf Associate Athletic Director for media and public relations

DAN GREEN | VIEWPOINT

Being black in Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor — a college town with leafy suburban campus, beautiful skies, an old tradition and a dollop of grace — for all intents and purposes, is a haven of safety. People come here from around the world to study and to cheer on the ol’ maize and blue. Being from Detroit, I had (and still have) the same aspirations as any student. But being a senior at the University and being from Detroit, I have encountered an unsettling reality, one that may be surprising to those students who routinely ask me, “How dangerous was your high school?” and “When was the last time you were shot at?”

I feel less safe in Ann Arbor than I do in Detroit.

It’s not that I feel more physically threatened.

There are some students who are even so nice as to walk on the opposite side of the street when they see me walking their way. I feel a more pernicious, more dangerous threat than that. I constantly feel that my identity as well as my city are in need of protection.

This year I’m finishing up my Organizational Studies major. Out of 100 students, I’m the only black man in the program. How can this be? We are the flagship public university in the state of Michigan. We are 40 minutes away from Detroit, a city with a black population of at least 80 percent. But what is our black enrollment here at Michigan? Only about 4 percent. Worse yet, black enrollment has fallen 30 percent since 2006.

Then we have the “I was a Quicken intern and I love the Wings!” Detroiters. I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of Detroit on the commute from West Bloomfield, straight to Hockeytown and back to your safe haven. Often times these are the

folks who went to Detroit Partnership Day that one time freshman year and feel as if they have actually accomplished something. I love DP Day, but people should realize that it’s a genesis of something bigger. Your one day of service really doesn’t amount to much if you are not going to try to create bigger change from that day of service.

And what do you have left?

You have a campus that claims to be diverse, viewing the picture through a white lens, but falling pretty short of that mark.

Some may argue, “Nothing is in Detroit; what good can you really say about it?” I have seen this in so many comment sections on blogs and news sites. My family lives in Detroit. I personally take offense to this remark because it pretty much implies my family’s existence is worthless.

It hurts me every time someone makes a blanket statement about Detroit because I view it as a personal attack on who I am and what has shaped me.

It’s embarrassing that the University doesn’t have a bigger presence in the city of Detroit. It could help a lot in debunking the myths and challenge the stereotypes many people have of Detroit and Detroiters. The new Connector to Detroit is cool, I guess, but I have a suspicion it will be used most frequently for Red Wings game trips, which breeds the pseudo-Detroiter mentality I mentioned earlier. I never even thought of being a Detroiter as an identity until I came to college. Now, it is an identity I hold with pride to show the University that you really don’t know Detroit like you think you do.

Dan Green is an LSA senior.

CONOR ANDERSON/Daily

S

o, here’s a familiar situation: It’s Friday night. You’ve just spent a couple hours at a pregame where you popped beer bottles and clinked shot glasses of fruitflavored fire water with your friends cheering, “To tonight!”

EMILY You’re headed to a bigger party — PITTINOS maybe down the street, or maybe across town — but it doesn’t matter because the distance is truncated by your drunkenness. The walk is chilly, but your beer coat keeps you warm. You throw your arm around a friend’s shoulder and slur something along the lines of: “You guys, I just really want to make out with a stranger tonight.” Everyone laugh — it’s funny because it’s true.

It’s easy to arrive at a college party with sexual expectations. The first things you find when you walk through the door are 1.) a place to stash your purse and 2.) bodies, bodies, bodies. Contact seems so possible. Blood alcohol content is high, inhibitions are low and every room vibrates with kinetic sexual energy.

Whether it’s been a while since you got it on, you’re trying to get over someone or liquor just causes superhuman sensitivity to pheromones in the air, the thought of an anonymous bump and grind can be highly attractive.

The dance floor is often the breeding ground for these desires. Sure, with beer pooling on the living room floor and walls lined with couches full of kids who look like they’re

about to vomit, it’s not the sexiest of me, grab my waist and press their settings. However, that small space denim-confined whiskey dicks churning with colliding elbows and against my ass without so much as a throwback R&B is the closest thing nod — which, I’d like to gently point college kids have to a bathhouse, out, would be considered harasswhere sexual displays are politely ment in any other situation. I’m unacknowledged and rubbing your not saying that all men are guilty body against that of a stranger is of this, but it does happen and it’s a expected if not encouraged. If the turn off for me no matter how many night is going to soar into the direc- times I give it a shot. At that point I tion of sex, the dance floor seems to usually moonwalk out of there wonbe the most likely point of takeoff. dering: Is this sexy and I’m just not If you’re like me, however, the getting it? idea of these random encounters is Of course, for me the answer is much more enticing than the actual no. Call me vanilla, but turning experience. I usually dance onto the around to see who’s latched onto floor with confidence, wiggle for a my backside is not my ideal first minute, consider putting my mouth step toward a sexual encounter. on someone’s mouth, and then What happened to eye contact? rapidly wise-up to my surround- What happened to romance and ings. I watch some of the dancers conversation? It’s not naïve or goof off with uptight to crave their friends some kind of while the rest before It’s not naive or uptight spark sway dizzily locking lips to crave some kind of with another with lust, their drunk-eyes spark before locking lips person. only half open I, for example, with another person. am way more as they grind eighth-grade likely to hook style against up with somean unfamilone I’m laughing iar crotch. Everyone is sweaty. No with on the porch than a stranger one can be heard over the beats of taking liberties with my body inside Nelly’s “Hot in Herre.” The fantasy the house. It’s definitely possible to is suddenly too real, and the room have a meaningful one-night stand comes into sharp focus while my with a brand new person, but I don’t desire melts away. think the grab-and-grind approach But it’s more than forced voyeur- is the way to go. There would probism making me uncomfortable out ably be more successful hook-ups there; the lack of communication if initial introductions were done freaks me out. Yes, it may be too loud with the basics — words, smiles, eye for “May I have this dance?” but it contact — rather than a surprise dry seems like the moment I find myself hump masquerading as dance. marooned on the dance floor I’ve signed a blanket consent form that —Emily Pittinos can be reached entitles dudes to come up behind at pittinos@umich.edu.

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

Kaan Avdan, Sharik Bashir, Barry Belmont, Eli Cahan, Eric Ferguson, Jesse Klein, Melanie Kruvelis, Maura Levine, Patrick Maillet, Aarica Marsh, Megan McDonald, Harsha Nahata, Adrienne Roberts, Paul Sherman, Sarah Skaluba, Daniel Wang, Derek Wolfe

L

Crisis of confidence

ast week, a friend sent me a study that concluded college is bad for women’s self-esteem.

According to this 2012 study, female students graduated from Boston College with lower levels of self-esteem than they had ZOE exhibited as STAHL freshmen. Meanwhile, the male students of Boston College became more confident during their college careers despite having lower average GPAs than their female counterparts.

As a private, Jesuit research university on the East Coast, Boston College may seem worlds apart from our big, public, midwestern university.

But, it’s not hard to imagine how the same might go on here. In my classes, I’ve noticed that my female peers and I seem less certain of what we say — undermining our musings with “maybe,” “sorta” and “kinda.” The scientific research seems to suggest the same. According to the Center for Collegiate Mental Health annual report, female students were more likely to experience depression, generalized anxiety, social anxiety and eating concerns, making it hard to imagine how female students could feel confident about themselves.

Discussing the study with my friends, we admitted that, sadly, we weren’t all too surprised. What concerned us even more though was the conversation following the report’s release. The social commentary was predictable — merely platitudes.

Female students felt less confident, a writer suggested, because of the pressure to be perfect.

The same article cited Maria Pascucci, founder of Campus Calm — a

national organization focused on and structures may be similar, helping college-aged women lead they’ve now become more obvious healthier and happier lives — as to us college-aged women. We’ve saying, “In our society, being a per- heard that “we can do whatever we fectionist is a glorified and socially want” or “women are equal as men” acceptable form of self-abuse (for all our lives, but it’s hard to deny the women).” Other responses to the reality we see — that the Central study cited the hook-up culture and Student Government president is superficial pressures to look and always a man and that male college dress a certain way. athletics always seems to get more All the talk and reasoning have coverage than their female peers. become a redundant, empty trope.

This is certainly not to suggest And although these observations that men have it easy. At the end focus so acutely on superficial stress- of the day, this constantly cited es that could contribute to female narrative doesn’t only do a disself-esteem, they’re not everything. service to female students, but to But because these concerns have male students, too. Statements like been recited again and again in the “women leave college with lower discussion of young women and their self-esteem” and “women feel like psyches, they seem to prevail as the they have to be perfect” deny the only explanation, this creates a nar- pressure male students also feel. rative in which girls feel insecure as Gender norms can be just as confinthey endure the constant pressure to ing for men as women. And these be perfect, skinny and to hook up. broad claims overshadow the other What this narrative does is place part of the story: that male students the culpability on societal forces and experience higher levels of academeven women ic distress than themselves. But female students, if these collegeLet’s not rely on tired that men expeaged women greater truisms when talking rience have presumlevels of hostilably lived in ity and alcohol about men and our cruel world abuse, and that women in college. their whole men are more lives, aren’t we likely to seriignoring the ously consider new variables in the equation? What suicide after starting college than really, or at least specifically, might women. This picture reveals that be causing female students to feel we can’t forget the unique stresses less confident in college? of men.

Lisa Wade, an associate professor So, the next time we inevitably and chair of the sociology depart- start talking about men and women ment at Occidental College, has in college, let’s not rely on and reinsuggested that the root of female force these tired truisms. Instead, insecurity may have less to do with let’s consider the forces that create perfectionism and hook-up culture stress for all students. It might not and more to do with “the ongoing be an easy or pleasant dialogue, but privileging of men and masculin- it’s one worth having. ity in our society.” So, sure, college campuses are microcosmic, smaller —Zoe Stahl can be reached societies. And while the pressures at zoestahl@umich.edu.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Arts

PERFORMANCE PREVIEW

Wednesday, October 2, 2013 — 5A

FILM REVIEW

‘Red Noses’ to use Tense rivalry in ‘Rush’ laughter as a fix

By MAYANK MATHUR Daily Arts Writer

MT&D comedy to focus on the bright side

By GRACE PROSNIEWSKI Daily Arts Writer

The plague killed over 50 million people, wiping out nearly a third of Europe’s population. It also overthrew the existing Red Noses social order and caused Oct. 3 - 13 widespread Arthur Miller persecution of Theatre minorities. It’s From $10 not exactly a topic thought of as great fodder for comedy.

But that’s exactly the backdrop of English author Peter Barnes’s dark comedy, “Red Noses.”

The play follows the exploits of Father Flote, a Catholic priest facing the plague in 14th-century France. Flote is hoping for a sign from God, something that will enable him to give consolation to his beleaguered parishioners.

Father Flote finds his vocation when he unintentionally causes

laughter and sees how powerful it can be.

Flote brings together a motley company of performers, or “Red Noses,” and tours the disease-ridden country, spreading happiness and hope among the suffering people. On its travels, the troupe encounters all manner of wanderers, from flagellants to corpse robbers. And once the plague begins to decline, the Red Noses find themselves at odds with the church hierarchy’s attempt to restore their ecclesiastical influence.

The upcoming performance of “Red Noses” is a School of Music, Theatre & Dance production and the first of five mainstage shows that make up the University’s season.

Emily Shimskey, a junior acting major at MT&D plays the role of Frapper, a stuttering stand-up comedian in Father Flote’s ragtag group of performers.

“Working in an ensemble cast has been really fun,” Shimskey said. “Each character supports all the rest in one way or another. No one person carries the weight of the entire show.”

“Red Noses” celebrates laugh-

ter’s ability to change lives, not just to divert attention away from daily problems. Combining elements of slapstick, surprise and hectic comedy, the play provides many opportunities for the actors to hone their comedic skills.

“Since the show itself is heightened,” Shimskey said, “each actor had to work on fitting in the style of the show, but having all stylistic choices grounded in truth to be believable in the world of the play.”

The play also afforded the actors a chance to cultivate a different kind of skill as well: juggling.

“We all learned how to juggle,” Shimskey said. “Not everyone does in the show, but any Red Nose can juggle if you ask them to!”

Circus tricks aside, “Red Noses” aims to do more than just entertain the audience.

“I guess, all in all, I just want them to feel something. I want to make them think, be moved in some sort of way,” Shimskey said.

“The play is a beautifully crafted piece of art. I hope it affects each audience member in some way.”

ALBUM REVIEW

David vs. Goliath, Rocky Balboa vs. Apollo Creed, Chris Gardener vs. Life — stories that pit the underdog against certain defeat Ahave captivated audiences for as Rush long as can be At Quality 16 remembered.

We love it when and Rave our hero fights Universal tooth and nail through all the blood and sweat to beat the terrifying circumstances staring them in the face. We see these stories play out and are filled with the eternal fire that endures the length of the movie before we get back to the normalcy in our lives.

But what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?

Everyone has that one mortal enemy.

Director Ron Howard’s (“A Beautiful Mind”) latest installment tells us the story of a symbolic clash between two ideologies, personified in two drivers in the fight for the Formula One Championship — and shit goes down.

James Hunt, played by Chris Hemsworth (“Thor”), is a wom-

anizer off the track and a hotheaded maverick on it. His sheer brilliance outweighs his volatility, which makes him the biggest talent in the sport. He lives each day as if it were his last, and he isn’t afraid to make every race his last.

He believes that there’s nothing more beautiful than the thrill of coming close to death and cheating it.

Niki Lauda, played by Daniel Brühl (“Inglourious Basterds”), Hunt’s counterpart, believes in a precise and methodical preparation off the track and supreme efficiency on it. The two drivers collide early in the film, and their rivalry escalates through the exciting 1976 Formula One season, culminating in the final race in Japan, where Hunt needs a win over Lauda to secure the title. However, there’s a lot more at stake in this story than pride, self-esteem and the title itself.

The men face off against each other in a contest that takes place on an ideological battleground.

Hunt believes in a fast-paced life rocked with instability, where the only way to truly live is to live with reckless abandon. He is prepared to do anything anyone else cannot do — be it sleeping with women before the race, or exploiting the slightest of gaps behind the car in front of him to take the lead in a race. “Don’t search for men driving in circles looking for normality,” he tells his wife. In contrast, Lauda embodies that very normality. He believes in eliminating the risk completely — is as stable as Hunt is unstable — and that’s

why the two hate each other. Even more than winning, each wants to look the other in the eye and say, “My way is better.”

The film explores male machismo through racing. The fast cars and sexy women are symbols of manhood these two men must flaunt in their fight for the symbolic and literal prize.

While the film’s most impressive bits come off the racetrack, it manages to deliver some truly astounding moments on it. As the film builds closer to the climax, the races come in thick and fast, and the skill with which Howard commands his camera is commendable. The few last races, in particular, are full of suspense and wonderful cinematic moments.

The script does exceedingly well to overcome a slow start and develop the characters over time while focusing on the film’s themes. The actors execute fitting performances with a special mention for Hemsworth, who portrays the cocky Briton to near perfection. It’s a pity that Olivia Wilde (“The Incredible Burt Wonderstone”) is wasted, as her character is ultimately unnecessary.

“Rush” is an inspiring film: One can’t help but feel motivated by two men who are polar opposites of each other. You don’t really know whom you’re rooting for. This is a fight that neither man can technically “win,” since it’s a conflict of perspective, but what a riveting experience it is.

getting a fixed amount of points wins you the game. That’s it.

Yet this incredibly simplistic concept translates into hours upon hours of fun. The virtually limitless map possibilities mean that no game will ever be the same.

That being said, the game lacks the support to save any of the levels created, so devoted “Build ’n Bump”-ers will have to rebuild their favorite levels from memory. Definitely worth the $1 price tag, the first of these two overlooked multiplayer games makes a great addition to any living room’s repertoire.

For those with a penchant for the mysterious, “Hidden in Plain Sight” offers a variety of stealth- and deception-oriented games. Five modes — Death Race, Ninja Party, Knights vs.

Ninjas, Assassin and Catch a Thief — all offer a different take on the matter. In each mode, players select a team and begin playing. Typically, players are unaware of which of the 30 or so characters on screen they control, and a large part of the game is determining who is and

is not a real person.

In Death Race, each player has one bullet to use on another character while they all compete with two dozen computercontrolled opponents for the finish line. Overzealous players will find themselves getting taken out right before the finish line, and more cautious ones will never make it in the first place; gameplay is a careful balance of boldness and precaution.

In the Assassin mode, players either embody a sniper guarding a dinner party or an assassin intruding on said dinner party.

Assassins attempt to kill as many guests before being spotted, snipers try to kill as many assassins before guests die. Just like “Build ’n Bump,” “Hidden in Plain Sight” ’s simple mechanics translate into hour upon hour of strategic, tense and exorbitantly fun gameplay.

While not necessarily up to today’s aesthetic standards, both of these games are a blast to play with friends. Just don’t let anyone get any ideas about having a dinner party.

HAIM’s ‘Days are Gone’ exceeds expectations Multiplayer games ‘Build’ and ‘Sight’ new life of party VIDEO GAME REVIEW

By JACKSON HOWARD Daily Arts Writer

In the past two years, HAIM performed at festival mainstays such as Glastonbury and Bonnaroo, topped the BBC Sound of A 2013 poll and signed with Days Are Jay-Z’s Roc Gone Nation management. It might HAIM be important to mention Polydor that the group accomplished all of this before releasing an actual album. In fact, before the release of the band’s debut, Days Are Gone, HAIM had only released a threesong EP and a few singles. Nonetheless, Danielle, Este and Alana Haim — three sisters from Los Angeles — have become one of the most talked-about groups in music almost overnight.

On Days Are Gone, the sisters, with their drummer Dash Hutton, not only live up to the hype, but actually exceed it. Though five of the 11 songs have already been released, the album still has the raw energy of a first record.

Days Are Gone somehow manages to retain the band’s base sound — an impressive, symbiotic relationship between Fleetwood Mac, grunge and golden era 1990s R&B, all sprinkled with a heavy 1980s dance music influence — while also exploring new musical and thematic avenues.

A fusion of Fleetwood Mac, R&B and dance.

The opening song, the single “Falling,” sets the bar for the entire album. Laced with a Chromeo-sounding synth bounce, the track builds and builds until the drop-off of the chorus, where the three girls’ voices reverberate in succession, actually creating an incredible sensation of “falling.”

As the lead singer on most songs, Danielle’s talent is not necessarily in the strength of her voice — which isn’t to say it’s weak — but instead in her somewhat-uncanny ability to make her voice just another instrument in the band’s sound.

Her well-timed pauses, quick breaths, frantic shouts and hazy,

By JULIAN AIDAN Daily Arts Writer

POLYDOR

Kerrytown.

rhythmic delivery are just as important to every song as Hutton’s drumming, Este’s bass or Alana’s guitar. As a result, the lyrics on Days Are Gone are not extremely complex. Still, though they focus mostly on broken hearts and typical romantic themes, the stories in these songs hold nothing back, creating clear if not palpable feelings of genuine love, heartache and living in the moment.

This added dimension of melancholy and introspection infused into seemingly happy-golucky summer songs is key to Days Are Gone. On “Forever,” accompanied by thumping bass and more shouting call and response, Danielle unleashes another great whisper-sung chorus, capitalized by the now expected HAIM bridge breakdown, in which she sings, angrier and angrier, “Go get out of my memory.”

Along with “Forever” and “Falling,” “The Wire” and “Don’t Save Me” were also released before the album and happen to be two of the band’s best songs.

“Don’t Save Me” is the prototypical HAIM track: handclaps, reverberating vocals, thick bass, big drums and a subtle but powerful chorus chord change, punctuated with serious ’80s synths and tons of harmony.

“The Wire,” on the other hand, is the band’s strongest shot at a Top-40 breakthrough. Equipped with a heavy drum beat and vocals traded between the sisters, the song condescendingly comforts an ex, with the girls singing, “I know you’ll be okay anyway.” The end of “The Wire,”

which features a stripped-down, violin-infused bridge complete with the girls singing the chorus as a round, foreshadows the musical development in the second half of the album.

With its echoing arena hook and vocals heavily reminiscent of Florence Welch, the album’s title track, the anchor of the project’s experimental second half, is part futuristic funk, part piano ballad and completely refreshing.

Even more out there is “My Song 5,” a song that sounds like absolutely nothing HAIM has ever attempted. Built off a slow burning drum-and-guitar combo, the song shakes to life with an unexpected eruption of light dubstep mimicking fat synthesizers. Danielle’s vocals are sped up and slowed down throughout, the latter effect making “Honey, I’m not your honey pie” sound surprisingly frightening. “My Song 5,” which might as well be Gwen Stefani’s classic “Hollaback Girl” slowed down, put through a blender and filtered through thick smoke, is about as risk-taking as possible for HAIM. And it pays off.

For the three sisters from Los Angeles, who months ago probably couldn’t even fathom their impending success, the days are certainly not gone — they’re just getting started. And as the chants of “keep running” fade out at the end of the album’s closing track, you can’t help but feel like you’re in the final scene of the perfect John Hughes movie, full of broken hearts, isolation and a taste for what it really means to be young.

It’s hard to want to replace, or even think about replacing, “Super Smash Bros.” as the go-to party game.

Just B+ about everyone over 14 Build ‘n has played it, Bump the concept is simple enough Roppy Chop to grasp and you can get away reason- B ably well with Hiddin in smashing buttons until Plain Sight your hands go numb if your Adam Spragg friends aren’t that great. But for those looking for newer games to play with friends and lacking access to the wonders of “Mario Party 9” or “Super Smash Bros. Brawl” on Wii, the Xbox Live Arcade is pleasantly full of independently developed surprises. While they may lack the polish of AAA titles, welldesigned games with functional and interesting mechanics like “Build ’n Bump” and “Hidden in Plain Sight” make excellent investments for the curious gamer.

“Build ’n Bump” consists of exactly two stages: building and bumping. Up to four players on the same console select one of four characters and a team color by which to be identified. One player then builds the level on which the players will fight to the death. With experience, carefully created maps can play out in novel and exciting ways.

What’s better than ‘Smash Bros.’? Indie ‘Smash Bros.’

During the bumping phase, players on opposite teams attempt to jump onto each other’s heads. Doing so nets you a point, falling to your death causes you to lose a point and

Sports

6A — Wednesday, October 2, 2013

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

WOMEN’S GOLF

At Onion Creek, a tear-worthy performance Michigan follows second-place finish in 2012 with ninthplace in 2013

By MATTHEW KIPNIS PATRICK BARRON/Daily

Junior linebacker Brennen Beyer’s status at the SAM could hinge on the return of redshirt junior linebacker Jake Ryan from an ACL tear.

Beyer’s surge and Ryan’s return presents ‘M’ with difficult decision

By ZACH HELFAND Daily Sports Editor

Before Brennen Beyer was the strong-side linebacker for the Michigan football team, he was its weak-side end. Before he was a weak-side end, he was a wide receiver at Plymouth (Mich.) High School.

Before that, during his junior year there, he played tight end. As a sophomore, he played offensive tackle. Through it all, on the other side of the ball, he played defensive end.

Then and now, Beyer is a Swiss Army Knife of a player. At Michigan, he played for two years at end before redshirt junior linebacker Jake Ryan tore his anterior cruciate ligament this spring. The team needed Beyer at linebacker, so Beyer played linebacker. Now, the list of position groups he hasn’t played for is shorter than the one he has.

“I’m not unused to switching positions,” Beyer said after practice Tuesday. He added with a laugh: “Could never throw.”

But aside from that, there are few positions left for Beyer to try. That may be a blessing for Michigan in the upcoming weeks,

because along with being one of the defense’s most versatile players, Beyer has also been one of its most productive.

Playing in a front seven that has struggled to rush the passer, Beyer has been a constant presence in the backfield. Though he splits time with fifth-year senior Cam Gordon, Beyer leads the team in tackles for loss with four. He is tied (with Gordon) for the team lead in sacks with two. He is one off the team lead in quarterback hurries and is one of just two players on the roster with a forced fumble.

When Michigan needed a stop in the final seconds to escape an Akron upset, defensive coordinator Greg Mattison called Cable Zero Train — an all-out blitz.

Someone needed to get to the quarterback. Beyer broke through.

The next week, Mattison said that Beyer executed the play perfectly.

“He just does what he’s coached to do every time,” Mattison said.

This Monday, Michigan coach Brady Hoke said that “Brennen Beyer probably is as important piece to our football team as anybody because he can do so many different things for you.”

Yet Beyer’s emergence at the SAM position presents the Wolverines with a surprisingly difficult decision. Hoke has said for months that he expects Ryan to return some time in October.

Ryan, Michigan’s most explosive and reliable defender last season, will likely resume his role as the starter.

Hoke said that he plans to get Ryan more involved in this week of practice. He has done individual work without contact for weeks, but “he does some team stuff more and more every day,” Hoke said.

So where does that leave Beyer?

Even after switching positions this season, Beyer has played on the line at times. Two weeks ago, Mattison said he hadn’t yet thought about switching him back to the line. (Both coordinators were not available to speak to the media this week due to a team meeting.)

“I don’t know,” Mattison said.

“We haven’t even looked at that yet. No. Brennen Beyer has done a great job at the SAM linebacker position, and he would always do it, just like Jake did, put his hand in the dirt in pass rush situations.

We’ll put the best pass rushers out there on the field when that time

Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, October 2, 2013

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comes.”

Beyer, for his part, said he’d go wherever the coaching staff asks him to go. His experience gives the staff plenty of options. As does his size. At 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds, Beyer fits the size profile of a number of positions.

But a move back to the line might be the most likely option.

He could back up Ryan at the SAM while Ryan regains his conditioning. But that would leave out Gordon, a team captain and himself a productive defender. He could shift within the linebacking corps, but he’d still see little action, even if his skills prove compatible.

The line, too, is jammed with a deep rotation of players, but the pass rush has disappointed this year. Beyer, more than anyone, has been successful getting to the quarterback. That could be enticing for Mattison.

And it could mean yet another position change for Beyer. At this point, though, Beyer has no issues switching.

“Honestly, I didn’t even know it was a position change,” said redshirt sophomore cornerback Blake Countess. “I’m joking, but he just seems like a natural at the position.”

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DOWN 1 Clowns 2 Mark replacement 3 Figurehead spot 4 Silently understood 5 Birth state of four of the first five American presidents 6 More than unfriendly 7 Word after fire or bake 8 Met program details 9 Austrian painter Klimt 10 Superlative suffix 11 *Phone that can’t be tapped 12 Ancient Greek market 13 Mob boss John 18 Subject of the 2003 TV film “The Crooked E” 22 Zippo filler 24 Should, with “to” 26 Work-wk. start 27 Pollution meas.

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10/02/13

The Michigan woman’s golf team was hoping it could build on its upward trend at the Challenge at Onion Creek on Monday and Tuesday in Austin, Texas.

The Wolverines returned to the two-day, 54-hole invitational for the first time since 2011 – when they placed second, improving on their 15th and seventh-place finish the previous two years. This time, though, they reversed course, and they finished ninth out of 11 teams.

The tournament did not start as planned, and midway through the first round, Michigan found itself tied for last place with Texas-San Antonio.

The Wolverines were able to pick up their play and to finish the round with a combined score of 307, putting them in ninth-place.

By that point, Michigan was 16 strokes back from Texas Tech, the leader.

After the second round, later that day, Michigan had gained no ground on Texas Tech, and in fact, fell back two more strokes from the leader. The Wolverines managed to maintain their ninth-place position, posting a 309 in the second round.

“We dug ourselves way too big a hole after that first day,” said Michigan coach Jan Dowling. “It was a pretty poor outing and wasn’t our best performance by any means.”

On the second day, Michigan played its best golf of the tournament, posting a 299 and breaking 300 for the first time in the tournament. But it was not enough, as they had fallen too far behind the rest of the leaderboard in the first two rounds, finishing the tournament where they had ended the first round – ninth place.

“I was pretty disappointed in our showing this past

“We dug ourselves way too big a hole...”

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week,” Dowling said. “We let some physical errors affect us through the 36-hole day and dug a pretty deep hole. When you are playing 36 holes in one day, you are going to hit some bad shots, everyone does. The best teams are the ones who aren’t letting it get them down mentally. They are not overreacting to bad shots. As a team, we did a little better the second day of the tournament, but we did not play to the best of our abilities.”

Michigan sent five players to Texas this week, including seniors Yugene Lee and Alyssa Shimel, junior Lauren Grogan, sophomore Catherine Peteres and freshman Grace Choi.

Senior Chelsea Pezzola participated in the tournament as an individual.

Although Lee, Shimel and Pezzola had played the course before, it was Grogan who led the way for the Wolverines. The junior tied for 19th, finishing the tournament plus-14. After the first two rounds, Grogan stood at plus-12 but managed to score a two-over par 72 in the third round.

Lee, who had played at this event twice – previously tying for 43rd in 2010 and 10th in 2011 – finished in 45th at 25 over par for the tournament. Lee started the third round poorly with three bogeys in the first four holes but finished the round with 11 pars in the 14 remaining holes. “(Lee) had a great comeback in the third round Tuesday morning,” Dowling said. “She showed a lot of gut and learned a lot from her first 36 holes. She didn’t let one bad shot affect her in the third round. Often when you start to get over par you try to force things, however (Lee) did a great job staying in the present and focusing on the shot in front of her.”

The Wolverines will have two weeks to prepare for their next tournament at the Diane Thomason Invitational in Iowa City.

“We don’t have to reinvent the wheel, but we have to get back to work and focus on staying in the present, not allowing physical errors to affect our play as much as it did this week,” Dowling said.

You’ll show them!

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Sports

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Wednesday, October 2, 2013 — 7A

Lexi Erwin: How unique became unstoppable

By RYAN KRASNOO

and often clashed with coaches and other authority figures.

That spring, eager for a change, Erwin approached Rosen and told him she wanted to be one of the best outside hitters in the country.

“We felt that Lexi had a really high top end but was underdeveloped and overlooked,” Rosen said.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a player that has transformed herself as much as she has.”

Daily Sports Writer

Lexi Erwin is quirky.

A senior and co-captain on the Michigan volleyball team, she spends most of her nights before bed absorbed in thoughts about what her life will be like in 10 years. Her imagination spirals into fantasies about playing professionally in Europe or South America, or touring the United States as an urban planner. Her biggest fear is divorce, despite the fact that her parents are still together and her insistence that she’s far removed from marriage herself. She has her heart set on traveling to Greece because the main character in “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” goes to Greece, and Erwin hopes to go everywhere the movie character went.

Erwin is a spaz. She says so herself. She’s deathly afraid of public speaking, and any attempt at saving face is belied by her flushed cheeks. “It’s not like the ‘cute’ blush,” she says. “It’s like the ‘I’m a tomato.’ ” Her favorite quote is “The people who love to eat are always the best people,” by Julia Child, American chef and TV personality. In fact, Erwin considers a hidden talent of hers eating whatever her parents put on her plate when she was younger. She giggles, embarrassed. “I guess it’s not really a talent,” she says. “I’m not very cool.”

Erwin is gritty. The summer before her sophomore year of high school, she was on a jet ski for the first time. One of her friends suggested they drive fast and Erwin agreed. Shortly after picking up speed, her legs flew out and she fell off the back, hitting her head on the corner of the jet ski and breaking 11 bones in her face. She received 150 stitches above her eyebrow. Somehow, she wasn’t concussed, and, miraculously, after colliding with the jet ski, she impacted the water so hard that the bones went back into place and prevented her from requiring plastic surgery.

Had Erwin’s head been turned a little more, doctors said, the jet ski would have hit her spine and she likely would not have survived. She tells this story candidly and with a hint of excitement.

“I think it’s a really cool thing,” she says. When asked if she’s a badass, she doesn’t hesitate.

“Yeah,” she deadpans. “Just a little.”

Individually, Erwin’s attributes are as bizarre as they sound. They are a hodgepodge of seemingly random and unrelated traits, but collectively, they shape the background of a bona fide star who’s been doing things her own way since she first picked up a volleyball.

And her transformation from an inconsistent, unproductive sophomore back-row player to one of the nation’s most lethal offensive weapons is one of the most

***

JAMES COLLER/Daily

Senior outside hitter Lexi Erwin went from inconsistent back-row player to one of the nation’s most lethal offensive weapons.

remarkable Michigan coach Mark Rosen has ever seen. With one final season in Ann Arbor, Erwin, idiosyncrasies and all, aims to forever etch her name into the annals of Michigan volleyball. *** Spring, Texas is a town of roughly 50,000 people located 30 minutes due north of downtown Houston. The Erwins have called Spring home for the past 16 years after Lexi’s father, Blane, uprooted his family from Boston.

Blane, who had been working grueling hours for IBM, was raised to be a family man and decided to take a pay cut in order to spend more time with his wife and three daughters. A job opened in Texas, and he jumped at the opportunity.

Lexi found volleyball at a young age and quickly climbed the Texas ranks. She made the second team for her club when she was 12, and as her dedication to the game increased, she became a highly touted high-school prospect.

Erwin — whose parents are both 6-foot-1— sprouted four inches from 5-foot-9 to 6-foot-1 between her freshman and sophomore years of high school.

When she was 15, Erwin watched Stanford play for the first time and had her heart set on playing for the Cardinal. Her coach told her she might be good enough to play there and that she could be recruited. A lightbulb went off, and her desire to play at the collegiate level intensified.

Erwin ponders not having played volleyball, where she might have ended up without it.

“I’d probably be in a hick [college] town in Texas with my entire high school,” Erwin says, laughing, attempting to cover her mouth as her “tomato face” sets in.

“That sounds so bad. I needed volleyball to get out of there.”

Michigan was not originally on Erwin’s college list because she didn’t want to attend a school where it snowed. Then one day, she received a personalized recruiting letter from the Wolverines’ staff — a section of a puzzle that said, “You’re the missing piece” with her name on it.

“I thought it was so cool, and no one had ever sent me something

expected. She enrolled in a “Religion, Politics and Power” class her freshman year, and, coming from a conservative and Christian atmosphere back home in Texas, she was shellshocked by the class discussions.

“It was the first time I’d ever heard of people really believing in evolution or people believing in other religions and actually shar-

JAMES COLLER/Daily

Erwin grew up in Spring, Texas, and the move to Ann Arbor was an adjustment.

like that,” Erwin said. “I had to visit.”

In January of her junior year of high school, Erwin visited Ann Arbor and fell in love. She initially had her heart set on Long Beach State, but Rosen had given Erwin tickets to a Michigan hockey game and she was sold. Erwin was not No. 1 on Michigan’s target list, though, and it wasn’t until another recruit fell through that Erwin was able to commit.

The transition from the south to progressive Ann Arbor was more drastic than Erwin had

ing their opinions,” Erwin says.

“I remember calling my mom and saying, ‘They said this in class, I can’t believe it.’ ” The leap from high school to college athletics wasn’t easy either. Erwin started just two matches during her freshman season, and as a sophomore she was in and out of the front row.

The coaches were concerned she wasn’t physically capable or consistent enough to play at the net in front of the Big Ten elite. She struggled, additionally, through a self-described rebellious phase

MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY

Runner Smoragiewicz can bike and swim too

By REBECCA DZOMBAK For The Daily

For most people, making the Michigan men’s cross country team would be enough to sate their athletic desire. But for sophomore runner and internationally ranked triathlete Tony Smoragiewicz, running is only a third of what’s on his plate.

Smoragiewicz started competing at an early age; he was in the pool by the tender age of 8 and entering triathlons by 12.

His interest in swimming was sparked by his father, who swam in college for Maine.

Training through his teenage years landed Smoragiewicz in Beijing in 2011, racing against fellow up-and-coming triathletes in the International Triathlon Union Junior World Triathlon Championships, where he took the bronze. He followed that performance, placing 34th in 2012, and this September, by placing 42nd. The ITU Junior-level race

is a sprint-distance triathlon, which comprises a 750-meter swim, a 20-kilometer bike ride, and a 5,000-meter run.

Smoragiewicz believes the drop in his performance in triathlons is due to a combination of the increased demands of college life – both running and academics – and the fact that the competition has gotten tougher.

“Last year was a hard transition, going into school – starting at college, being away from home, being in a new training atmosphere,” Smoragiewicz said.

“This year, I feel like my training is going really well. I know I had a really good fitness level and that I was prepared for the race, it just didn’t go very well. So that was frustrating, but it was good motivation for cross country this fall.”

Balancing running, crosstraining in two other sports and academics is no easy task, but Smoragiewicz thinks that he has a better feel for how to handle everything this year. It helps

that Michigan coach Alex Gibby and the rest of his teammates are supportive of his triathlon goals.

The other colleges recruiting him wouldn’t have allowed him to compete in triathlons, which was the main reason he chose Michigan.

“Any time you’re competing at the highest level, in any discipline, that’s to be respected,” Gibby told MGoBlue.com on Sept. 30. “He’s had a hard go of it because he really has his feet in two different worlds. He’s trying to compete at a world-class level in the triathlon in the summers and develop as a national-class distance runner through the other nine months of the year. It’s a tough balancing act, but I think it’s one he’s handled with considerable maturity.”

Smoragiewicz’s training focuses primarily on running during the school year, which makes sense, as he’s an excellent runner. His best race last year was at the Big Ten meet, where

he placed 16th. He continues to swim and bike; his teammates even venture into the water every once in a while to work out with him.

Although triathlons have grown to be highly competitive and draw deep international fields, the NCAA does not recognize the triathlon as an official sport. Instead, Smoragiewicz occasionally trains with the Triathlon Club on campus. He’s OK with this arrangement, since running cross country and racing triathlons – both at high levels of competition – at the same time would be exceedingly difficult.

Smoragiewicz’s aspirations don’t end there.

“I’ll probably do (an Ironman) once I’m older,” Smoragiewicz said. “But for now I’m going to focus on transitioning to the Olympic distance, since I’m moving out of the junior level. Later, though, an Ironman would be fun. Grueling, but fun ... mainly grueling.”

The lights are bright at Cliff Keen Arena, and Erwin is struggling. No. 10 Michigan is hosting Maryland in the Michigan Invitational, and Erwin is out of sync.

The timing on her jumps is off, her kill attempts ineffective. One of her shots is blocked easily and drops on Michigan’s side for a Terrapins point.

Erwin huddles with her teammates and is not upset. In fact, she’s smiling, almost laughing.

She shakes her head, brushing off another missed opportunity.

Teammate and junior setter Lexi Dannemiller gives Erwin a slight nod, indicating she will be looking to send the next ball in Erwin’s direction. Dannemiller does, and Erwin fires an attempt crosscourt that knifes through two Maryland players for a Michigan point.

Erwin, a 2012 honorable mention All-American and 2013 preseason All-Big Ten selection, is immensely talented. Her poor play that evening is uncharacteristic but fixable, something she has been striving toward for nearly two years.

Erwin has been seeing Michigan’s sports psychologist, Greg Harden, every other week since her sophomore year. Harden suggested Erwin write down all of the characteristics of the person she aspired to be when she ultimately left Michigan — a great volleyball player, but a better teammate, friend, and person.

While her off-the-court goals are in a constant state of improvement, Harden has also helped Erwin shake her frustration on the court. Gone are the days of her brash and rigid volleyball personality. She plays with a rare looseness and thrives in — and needs, really — a relaxing, fun vibe.

Erwin and her teammates often joke in the gym that playing volleyball is akin to the childhood game of keeping a balloon off the floor.

“We’re basically a bunch of 20-year-olds acting like we’re 5 again,” Erwin says.

When Erwin finally allowed her play on the court to mirror her character off it, things clicked. She drove that mentality to the tune of a school-record 614 kills last season while pacing Michigan to its first-ever Final Four appearance. ***

When the Wolverines entered the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky., last December, days ahead of their Final Four matchup with Texas, ESPN reporters swarmed the players. There were interviews and photo shoots — publicity rarely granted to nonrevenue student athletes. The venue, home to Louisville basketball, seats 22,000 people, nearly 11 times the size of Cliff Keen Arena.

All of a sudden, Erwin was thrust into the spotlight. One thousand people showed up to watch her practice. The attention consumed her, and anxiety reared its ugly head. Her same free approach that had led Michigan to that point, that had remained a constant when seemingly nothing else did that season, evaporated into a stoic, robotic-like effort which left Erwin uncomfortable and out of rhythm.

The effects carried over from practice to the beginning of the Wolverines’ match with the Longhorns, as Texas took the first set 25-12. Erwin retreated to the bench, with her familiar goofy smile reappearing, seemingly unfazed by the beating Texas had just delivered in the biggest match in Michigan volleyball history.

“We were laughing,” Erwin recalled. “We just got whooped, so badly. Someone made the comment that we made every single mistake you can make in a volleyball game so we might as well grow a pair and just play.”

Erwin thought of her conversations with Harden and relaxed.

She settled in and nearly sparked an upset over the eventual national champion Longhorns. Despite falling to Texas 3-2 and ending their magical run, the Wolverines rebounded, led by Erwin’s 26 kills on a school-record 87 attack attempts. She responded, smile and all, and in an oddly poetic way, Erwin’s performance reflected her ascent from Rosen’s doghouse to All-Tournament accolades.

“She’s one of my all-time success stories in terms of someone I’m really proud of,” Rosen says.

Nine months have passed since Michigan’s appearance in the Final Four, since the first time Erwin has — by her own admission — really felt like a talented volleyball player. She’s learned to handle pressure better than she ever thought she could. The attention that comes with being great no longer corners her. She used to “black out” and not know what to do. Now, she’s the one teammates turn to, and laugh with, in pivotal moments.

After a recent practice, Erwin’s thoughts stray off again like they do before bed. She rambles on, seemingly to no one in particular, about the Kardashians and one of their latest exploits. She pauses, then chuckles, awkwardly.

In a way, her off-beat remark is a sign she’s enjoying herself. But in a truer sense, it’s simply Erwin being Erwin, whoever she is.

8A — Wednesday, October 2, 2013

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

statement OCTOBER 2 , 2013

HOSPITAL on the HILL

2B Wednesday, October 2, 2013 // The Statement

online comments

issue 9/25/13

ann arbor affairs: distance and decisions

Dave Brandon’s fireworks: How ‘The Dave Brandon Show’ changed the Athletic Department “Dave Brandon is very much the 21st century Don Canham - who was running the show when Mr. Brandon was an athlete. I was there during DC’s era too and find many similarities between them. The scale and methods of college sports have changed, but the dramatic flair is very much the same.”

– USER: ‘82Grad “Chest bumping players, jumping into every TV frame when Hoke is interviewed & standing on sidelines is not something an AD should be doing. As a player Dave was a malcontent. His teammates disliked him & I suspect when Mary Sue is gone so will Dave. He has not created any new friends on the hill. As one former player recently wrote ‘as our athletic department has been impregnated with an unabridged, ego-maniacal despot, who’s only directive is dollars and self-promotion. (incestuously, btw, he was a regent)’ Dave is college footballs version of a Jerry Jones wannebe.”

– USER: Canham ghost “So what exactly is the point? He has done many good things, yes. Have there been hiccups, sure. But by your own story the good has far outweighed any negative. Stop trying to make a controversy when there isnt one.”

– USER: Bradley Paskievitch “I didn’t take it as negative. The article pointed out successes and popularity as Dominos’ CEO, and his significant imprint on the athletic department. Should the controversies over ticket policies have been ignored?”

– USER: PeteM Feast Your Eyes: An ode to Ari and Paul “Ari is my mentor and I look up to him practically more than anyone in the industry. An excellent article indeed and well written.”

– USER: Josh Kimbell

THE

statement

Magazine Editor: Haley Goldberg Deputy Editor: Paige Pearcy Design Editor: Alicia Kovalcheck

Photo Editor: Teresa Mathew Illustrator: Megan Mulholland Editor in Chief: Andrew Weiner

Managing Editor: Matthew Slovin Copy Editor:

He had my yearbook for a solid hour. As I watched him scribble endlessly with black Sharpie across the back page, I struggled to find words to put down in his.

It wasn’t that I couldn’t think of anything to say, but the probability of writing down what I considered to be the elephant in the room — a.k.a. the lounge our grad night took place in — outweighed anything else.

After eventually giving up and writing a short, sweet note and moving on to signing other yearbooks, Zach stood up, handed my book to my friend who had been waiting, and walked over to me.

“Don’t read what I wrote in your book. I want to talk to you about it on the bus first.”

Uh, alright. Throughout the following hours of signing yearbooks, eating sandwiches and getting temporary tattoos, Zach’s words loomed above my head. Grad night was fun, but I really just wanted to hear what he had to say once it was over.

Five o’clock hit: time to head back. Zach and I walked hand in hand to the bus and took the back seat behind all of our friends who deliriously snacked on candy and eventually passed out from exhaustion.

“I know it’s kind of early, but I wanted to figure this out as soon as possible … ”

Yep, here it is. The elephant was about to be addressed.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking about this, but I want to stay together through college. I love you, and breaking up with you would absolutely break my heart.”

Relief.

While we only dated for a few months before making decision to stay together, it felt right. I often consider Zach my best friend rather than my boyfriend, and I believe that’s the best mindset to have in a relationship. (Note: The only two other relationships I’ve had were in fifth grade and with my good friend, Huntington, who is gay. So maybe my insight is a little lacking.)

The summer of 2012 went by quickly. August came around and we both began perusing different paths in college: he at Washington University in St. Louis, me at the University of Michigan.

Although I missed him constantly, I found our long-distance relationship to really come in handy when it came to attending the almost-obligatory frat parties during freshman Welcome Week.

(We’re in college now, guys!)

With every frat boys’ terrifyingly disgusting pursuit, I easily and nonchalantly responded: “I have a boyfriend.” While the responses were usually mixed, it did serve as a great method to ward off testosterone-filled creepers.

by jen calfas

As we both became more immersed in our lives at our respective schools, the time between visits became shorter and our ability to navigate social scenes and activities became easier. Yes, we still text constantly and Skype every so often, but the independence offered to each of us allows us to pursue what we’re passionate about.

Some of my friends who are in a relationship are perpetually glued to their significant others, making it impossible for them to interact with anyone else. Sure, I often imagine how great it would be if Zach were here. But I realize how much I’ve been able to progress by navigating Michigan without my family, anyone else from my high school, and, yes, without my boyfriend.

As Daily columnist Emily Pittinos wrote recently, long-distance relationships might not be worth it. If you’re the kind of person who can’t navigate life without being led by the hand of your boyfriend or girlfriend, I’d refrain from engaging in a life like mine.

The distance remains between us, but the end goal looms in both of our minds. With the reassurance of what’s to come after school, I can truly explore Ann Arbor, which I consider a world of my own.

Tom McBrien Josephine Adams

THE

Jennie Coleman

No. 494:

It’s OK, we all fall victim to believing a 3-day weekend will make us more productive.

No. 495:

Thank you, campus liquor stores, for selling both cheap vodka and flour for baking cookies.

rules

No. 496:

“What’s a cider mill?” Ask this, and we know you’re out-of-state.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013 // The Statement 3B

statement on the street: Thoughts on the government shutdown?

“

on the record

“It was kind of a surprise when we played Iowa. I’m pretty sure I got knocked off the ball the first time.”

– MADISSON LEWIS , Women’s soccer freshman forward, about starting Big Ten play last week with competition.

“All the monuments and museums will be closed, so there won’t be anything to do anyways.”

PHOTOS BY TERESA MATHEW

“I think it’s a symptom of a larger problem that indicates bipartisan action is necessary to actually get something done in D.C.”

“It’s silly that the Democrats weren’t even willing to negotiate, and it’s foolish of the Republicans to bow to the minority of their party and push this issue this far.”

“I don’t want to give an opinion because I don’t know exactly what’s happening. I would give an opinion if I knew more about it.”

Sonja Karnovsky, LSA senior

Neal Shah, LSA senior

Emma Hyde, Engineering sophomore

– ANDY CRAFT, LSA senior and Michigan in Washington participant, about life in the capital after the government shutdown.

“Shit, this show is all over the place. It’s hard to follow, even with commercials every five minutes.”

”

– MAX RADWIN, Daily Fine Arts Editor, about his first time watching “Breaking Bad.”

trending #Lions #Homeland #GTAV

Jose Juarez/AP

So the Lions are ... winning? That’s right. Last weekend, the Lions showed which ferocious beast was greater when they bested the Chicago Bears at home. So far, the Lions are 3-1 and leading the NFC North — for real.

Jim Mone/AP

The Detroit Tigers baseball team sealed their spot in the 2013 postseason last Wednesday, making it the second time the team has had three consecutive years of playoff appearances. The last time was from 1907 to 1909, according to ESPN. Third times the charm, right?

#insurancemarketplaces #Clinched #SorryWeRClosed #lorde #BrBaBreaks

Carolyn Kaster/AP

After displaying its true inability to compromise, Congress allowed a government shutdown to take place on Tuesday for the first time in 17 years. This means many employees can’t show up to work, and national parks, monuments and many services are closed.

The show that claimed Outstanding Drama Series at the Emmys just a little over a week ago went out with a bang during its series finale.

The final episode had 10.3 million viewers and, the series had a 442-percent increase in viewers from the season four finale two years ago, according to Entertainment Weekly.

Jordan Strauss/AP

4B

Wednesday, October 2, 2013 // The Statement

Wednesday, October 2, 2013 // The Statement

5B

Quiet Giant

By Barry Belmont and Ian Dillingham

W

ithin the University lies a giant — quiet and unnoticed by many students as they run between classes, dorms and

dining halls.

The University of Michigan Health System consists of 29 departments, about 3,000 faculty and staff members and about 1,800 medical, graduate and postdoctoral students. Some departments, such as Internal Medicine — with over 700 faculty — are larger than every other school and college at the University. Accounting for nearly half of the University’s operating budget, it’s approximately 200 times larger than the entire Athletic Department financially.

But amid the changing national healthcare climate, UMHS must now take new and innovative approaches to maintain the financial security of a $2.6-billion enterprise.

MAKING CENTS OF CHANGE “In a way, the present and the future are sort of using the same words.”

Doug Strong, chief executive of the University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers, faces the challenge of turning visions of the future into reality while managing all patient-care operations conducted by the University.

“In terms of patient care, our assignment goal and our daily work is to improve quality and efficiency at the same time,” Strong said.

“We’re under significant, but appropriate financial pressure — external pressure — to really do both things.”

In addition to these external pressures, UMHS was financially strained in recent years through the construction of the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital,

which opened in December of 2011 at a project cost of $754 million. In the 2012 fiscal year, UMHS saw a 0.5 percent loss on its operating expenses after drawing in $2.1 billion in revenues, according to the University’s financial report.

However, the construction of the new facilities is a necessary part of growing the health system to accommodate the typical 4-to-5-percent growth in patient volume per year.

“We built that building to last 40 or 50 years so we expect to take it on at a loss and build it up over time,” Strong said. “We’re very much on track for that, it’s filling up on schedule.”

“We’re investing ourselves for the future — short-term pain, long-term game.”

In addition to construction, he said the hospital’s health record system update — contracted to the Wisconsin-based Epic Systems Corporation — contributed to the financial concerns.

The new system was implemented over several months, and intended for use by the University’s approximately 1.9-million clinic visits per year.

“It caused us to slow down because it was complicated and people had to learn it,” Strong said. “As a result we were suffering more financially than we had been previously … as we speak we are resurfacing from that.”

Despite its not-for-profit status, UMHS must still generate revenue to fund such expansions.

While the hospital can raise prices on some services to compensate for losses, many prices are dictated by Medicare or other national insurance programs and, therefore, cannot be negotiated by the University.

In order to reduce costs, UMHS is working to reduce waste, error, and duplication — estimated to account for as much as 30 percent of healthcare costs nationwide, Strong said.

“If you cut that in half … it means we probably

need less physical structures,” he said. “We’ll probably be investing less in big new hospitals … and more in ambulatory facilities because it may be less necessary.”

Technological innovations are also expected to decrease costs by allowing inpatient cases to be treated on an outpatient basis, he added.

While maintaining the day-to-day operations of the University’s hospitals and health centers, Strong must also keep a watchful eye on the state of healthcare reform on a national level. Beyond the scope of the Affordable Care Act — or Obamacare — Strong said the nature of healthcare in the country is changing at a fundamental level.

“The national issue is that healthcare costs have been increasing much faster than the rate of inflation for a long period of time — that’s the cost curve that people want to bend,” Strong said.

Americans have made choices as a culture that mean higher healthcare spending, he said.

“But the chorus around us is saying that it’s too much, and that is felt in the state of Michigan.”

Despite the implementation of the ACA, the future of healthcare reform appears uncertain.

House Republicans have voted to defund the legislations upwards of 40 times, and it was the main point of contention between the two parties that resulted in the government shutdown.

Regardless of the implementation of Obamacare, Strong said change is necessary on a national level.

“The national incentive is to use too much.

And I think experts say there’s huge variations actually in care patterns,” he said. “Employers need healthcare quality and efficiency to be improved as much as Medicare and the government does.”

One emerging trend among U.S. healthcare providers is the concept of population management, which gives a health system or group the responsibility to care entirely for the health of

a large population, regardless of the services provided. Under the new healthcare laws, these have come to be known as accountable care organizations.

This may represent the future of healthcare at the University as the hospital expands its geographic reach within Michigan. Currently, UMHS operates 40 outpatient facilities and 120 clinics and, in the future, these sites may play a larger role in maintaining public health.

“I think you’ll see organizations like ours extend, maybe through partnerships, deeper into communities to promote health,” Strong said. “Fortunately, in our marketplace, there’s a great demand for our services.”

Regardless of the financial and organizational hurdles, Strong remains confident the University will continue to provide some of the nation’s most advanced healthcare.

“We do our jobs very well and we’re able to take care of patients that have very complex conditions that can’t be taken care of elsewhere,” Strong said. “We have the best and the brightest in terms of physicians … and others who are on our staff. It just really attracts patients by virtue of the fact that we do things well.”

THE BIRTH OF A HOSPITAL When the first class of medical students arrived at the University in 1850, they could expect to pay $5 per year for two years of education that consisted of lectures. Students were not required to obtained an undergraduate degree — they only needed a basic understanding of Latin and Greek.

Over the next century and a half, the University developed one of the first formal medicaltraining programs, introduced clinical clerkships into the educational process and opened the first

university-owned hospital in the nation.

Former University President James Duderstadt said the medical school and health system were one of the most important developments in the history of the University.

“It’s very important — it’s also very large,” Duderstadt said.

After World War II, increased federal funding and the formation of the National Institute of Health prompted major expansion of the University’s research efforts, as well as medical education. Today, approximately 65 percent of federal funding coming into the University is marked for biomedical research, Duderstadt said.

“Medical education has always been a very important part of the University,” he said.

“Although started as an educational activity it rapidly evolved into the premier source of healthcare in the state of Michigan and one of the best in the United States.”

As it became established as a nationally renowned health center in the mid-20th century, UMHS began to generate its own resources and operate, to a larger extent, under its own leadership. Duderstadt compared this independent operation to University Housing or the football team, both of which generate enough revenue to cover their own expenses.

“As it became more prominent in treating advanced diseases — diseases that you couldn’t treat anywhere else — it became larger and larger,” Duderstadt said. “Structurally it was reconfigured to become an auxiliary activity.”

With the onset of health-maintenance organizations, such as Humana, in the 1980s and 1990s, many large research universities across the nation began to “spin off” their hospitals to cut costs and protect the finances of their respective colleges. Currently, there are several models of university-hospital relation-

ships nationwide, such as Harvard University, which operates independently of Massachusetts General Hospital.

Over the last 15 to 20 years, some have suggested a similar spin-off of UMHS from the University. While this idea was put before the University’s Board of Regents, Duderstadt said it was not in the best interest of the University.

“We explored that very carefully but in the end the regents of the University decided that there were many good reasons to retain ownership of the hospitals and continue to manage them,” Duderstadt said.

James Woolliscroft, dean of the Medical School, said he agreed with the decision to keep the health system under the ownership of the University.

“For our medical students, learning in a context where the highest quality clinical care is provided is arguably the most powerful learning modality we have,” Woolliscroft said. “Lectures and books pale in comparison to being immersed in a place where you live, breath, see this incredibly high-quality care being rendered.”

Woolliscroft’s alma mater, the University of Minnesota, merged its hospital with Fairview Riverside Medical Center in 1997 when the rise of managed care threatened to increase the cost of healthcare across the nation. While University of Minnesota still maintains a top 10 ranking in primary care, its research rank has dropped to 38th in the U.S. News and World Report medical school rankings.

“They disassembled the whole enterprise,” Woolliscroft said. “I think that was just a terrible decision and they’ll never recover from it.”

Giving medical students direct access to a high-quality medical center greatly benefits their education, but Woolliscroft said the future of medical education may see more students in

community clinics, rather than large hospitals.

“That’s really critical that students have the ability to interact with patients, to learn from patients and that remains is true today as ever,” Woolliscroft said. “The context, the physical site has changed as more and more care moves ambulatory, more and more education moves to ambulatory clinics.”

“Medicine, for now, has more promise than ever in my career so the challenge is figuring out how to capitalize on this for the good of society and the good of our individual patients,” he said. “But the place won’t look like it does now in 20 years.”

THE PUBLIC RESPONSIBILITY Even amid the uncertain future of healthcare in the United States, Duderstadt is busy looking at the role UMHS will play on a national and global level in the coming decades.

“We’re very much a public university,” Duderstadt said. “We were founded that way. It’s still part of our character and will remain there. The question is, who is that public?”

In the coming years, UMHS will likely play an increasing role in national and international healthcare and medical research. The University — originally founded under an act of Congress 20 years before there officially was a state of Michigan — has “national as well as state responsibilities,” Duderstadt said.

However, in an interview with Time magazine, Duderstadt said the University’s classification as a “state” university could be questionable, given that state support has fallen below 10 percent in recent years.

“It’s always important to remember that the University of Michigan is a public university,” Duderstadt said. “You hear a lot of times that … we’re privatizing the University, but my sense is

that’s the wrong word to use.”

“We have to take very seriously what our public responsibilities are and those responsibilities are changing,” Duderstadt said. “All of these great public universities are becoming more national in character, continuing to serve their state, but broadening out very significantly and providing services to broader constituencies.”

In addition to national populations, Woolliscroft said the University stands to benefit from new international relationships. While the United States has been the worldwide leader in medical research since the late 19th century, that status may not be held for long.

“There’s absolutely nothing to say that will be the case in 20 or 30 years,” Woolliscroft said.

“How do we position ourselves that the University of Michigan Medical School is a globally leading medical school in 2030?”

Woolliscroft predicted that, in the near future, medical schools will fall into one of two categories: “global centers” or “niche players.”

While the niche players will become proficient in certain specialties, the global medical systems will serve as epicenters of research and collaboration for a large region.

“I think there will be 10 or 15 global medical schools, that’s one of the reasons we are consciously setting up collaborations with superb medical schools in China, Brazil, Ghana, India,” Woolliscroft said. “I really think collaborations like that on the global level is the future and that’s how you ensure that the school remains relevant in 20 or 30 years.”

These international partnerships, while still in development, seek to broaden the reach of UMHS to a scope never before seen at the University — perhaps at any university. Or, as Woolliscroft put it: “The sun will never set on the Block M.”

6B

Wednesday, October 2, 2013 // The Statement

Cadavers Get Personal

by Jackson Howard

J

ust as they do today, University medical students in the mid-19th century studied human cadavers in the early stages of their medical training. Unlike today, though, the cadavers those students studied were not donated legally. Rather, they were acquired in a decidedly illegal, morally questionable, no-questions-asked manner reminiscent of a horror movie.

In the 1860s, before amendments to the Michigan Anatomy Act of 1875 allowed easier access to cadavers for educational purposes, the University procured cadavers in every imaginable way, such as buying them with cash from random brokers — with no knowledge of where they came from — or even stealing them from anonymous graves, according to Horace W. Davenport’s history of Michigan’s medical school. According to Davenport, three professional body snatchers were arrested in Toledo, Ohio in 1878 after authorities found they had a contract to ship about 130 bodies to — you guessed it — Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Today, the University’s Anatomical Donation Program — note the use of the word “donation” — is legitimate, and is certainly no longer robbing graves. Aided by the state’s Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Law and similar legislation in the past 60 years, the University’s program accepts over 300 gifts per year and has more than 7,000 future donors already registered.

In 1909, the original Michigan Anatomy Act was revised, effectively providing the University with nearly 100 legally obtained bodies per year. Almost 100 years later, RUAGL, (which stemmed from changes to Michigan state legislature in 1958, 1969 and 1978), was enacted in 2009. RUAGL’s adoption in Michigan created near uniformity across states in anatomical donation law, in addition to simplifying the donation process and protecting donor intent.

Anatomical donations are essential for medical students’ education, as they are oftentimes referred to as students’ “first patient.” Anatomy courses rely on such donations to provide their students with first-hand knowledge of the basic structure of the human body, knowledge that serves as the foundation for years of medical training ahead.

The donation process The process of donating one’s self to medicine is not as easy as dropping off a body at the Medical School steps. There are legal and procedural requirements

taken by both the donor and the University to ensure the safety and legitimacy of the body being donated.

The University keeps a strict protocol when dealing with anatomical gifts.

Once the donation has been permitted by RUAGL — requirements including notification to the donor’s family, registration with the University and proper delivery of the body by a funeral home, among other things — the donation is then inspected. In order to be used in the classroom, the body has to be in the proper state, meaning no emaciation or obesity, no extensive burns or mutilation and no history of contagious diseases.

In addition to physically clearing the

between the rigid process of studying a cadaver in a medical context and the innate emotion associated with the death of a fellow human. How, then, do you reconcile both the scientific and moral aspects of a notion such as anatomical donation — a concept that is truly without societal parallel?

One way the program is trying to bridge this gap between the scientific and the personal is a new initiative beginning this year that allows donors to voluntarily prerecord videotaped messages to accompany their body. These video messages, in which the donor is able to talk about whatever he or she chooses, are played for the students — again, voluntarily — before

“The University procured cadavers in every imaginable way, such as buying them with cash from random brokers — with no knowledge of where they came from — or even stealing them from anonymous graves.” body, the University enforces privacy and respect for the dead to the upmost extent, as the bodies are never on display in the open and are used solely for medical purposes.

Getting to know the bodies Though the program can be summed up neatly in terms of its strict legality, respectful procedure and clear necessity, the human aspect of the process cannot be ignored. These cadavers were, at one point, the bodies of living, breathing people who led real lives and, for whatever reason, chose to donate their bodies to science.

Understandably, things become a little murky when attempting to draw a line

they begin their dissection. Though it may sound uncomfortable to watch the person you are about to cut open talk about their life via a video message, two studies from 2011 show that medical students actually desire a more personal relationship with their donors.

Published in the journal “Anatomical Sciences Education,” the studies led

by University alum Michael Bohl, found 74 percent of students and 81 percent of donors surveyed said they would participate in the video-message program, while the vast majority of students answered that they wanted a deeper personal connection with their donor.

“You really want to know what type of person donates their body to science,”

said Dean Mueller, the University’s Anatomical Donor Program coordinator. “Are they doing it for personal reasons? Are they doing it because they like our football team? You never know. It can be so many different dimensions, and it was interesting to think, ‘Why would you donate?’ ” No matter the reasons behind the donation, Mueller, the students and the program’s overall sentiment towards its donors is one of humility and great thankfulness.

“You immediately feel an obligation to accept the donation and use their body for the best possible way that we can use them, and to learn everything that we can learn from them,” Mueller said.

These feelings, along with others of gratitude, admiration and honor, were expressed repeatedly throughout the Medical School’s annual Donor Memorial Service, held Sept. 18 in Rackham Auditorium.

The service itself is certainly unlike any other type of memorial. The entire program — from musical performers to ushers — is staffed completely by current medical and dental students, all dressed in white lab coats, as a demonstration of respect and thankfulness to the donor’s families in attendance. Several students gave short personal remarks detailing their own personal experience with the donors and the incredible learning experience that they gained from the opportunity.

These students also expressed thanks for the donor’s gift. Students touched on their inability to repay a donor’s selflessness and echoed Mueller’s statement of honoring their donor’s legacy in the only way they can: by becoming the best physicians, dentists, nurses, physical therapists and health professionals possible.

On the front of the program for the memorial service, there is an inscription of a Latin phrase that is also seen on a plaque in the Anatomical Donations Program: Hic Locus Est Ubi Mors Gaudet Succurrere Vitae. “This is the place where death rejoices in coming to the aid of life.”

It is this balance, of the dead helping the living then the living paying respect back to the dead, that makes anatomical donation one of the more fascinating and complex processes in society.

“It’s not even really about the students,” Mueller said. “It’s about humanity and those student’s impact. You can say that (the donors) are giving (their bodies) to the students — which, in a sense, they are — but they’re really just passing on something positive to the world.”

Wednesday, October 2, 2013 // The Statement

7B

Dreams of my great-grandfather

by Peter Shahin

ILLUSTRATION BY MEGAN MULHOLLAND

A

bout one hundred years ago, my great-grandfather landed in America from Lebanon — then part of greater Syria. Fifty years before that — in 1860 — Lebanon had been torn apart by sectarian conflict between Maronite Catholics and Druze.

He was neither. For generations, his family had been Greek Orthodox Christian, stuck in the middle between a wealthy and influential Maronite majority and a Druze and Muslim minority backed by the Ottoman government.

It’s hard to know exactly what his village was like when he left. Today, Khiam Marjayoun — the same village journalist Anthony Shadid’s parents came from — is one of the few Orthodox Christian outposts left in Southern Lebanon, a stony town on a rolling green Lebanese hill.

His father was blind and his mother was handicapped — though his father made a meager living by being the village herbalist. (I once referred to the job as a “witchdoctor,” which earned the justified wrath of my grandmother.) As the Ottoman Empire waned, my great-grandfather left Lebanon, alone, at about 16-years-old — hoping to avoid the Ottoman draft and find work in America.

The country that adopted him sent him to war in 1917 — where he fought in the fields of France for a nation that was barely his, for a people he hardly knew. His first view of Old Europe was probably in a dirty trench with wet socks, where he inhaled mustard gas and resolved to only donate to the Salvation Army — since they gave soldiers free coffee

while the Red Cross charged for it.

When he returned from the war, he found the successful chain of grocery stores he had built in Flint, Michigan had disappeared — as had the money — with a relative who had been charged with keeping the business while he was away. So, like millions of men from his generation, he became an autoworker. For decades, he worked in the manufacturing complex that would become the famed “Buick City,” perhaps now more remembered for being progressively demolished from 2002 to 2006 than for the millions of cars that rolled off its assembly lines over the half century it existed.

Though the manufacturing job went well, the mustard gas from the fields of France continued to haunt him every winter — when he would contract pneumonia — but he had to go to work or not get paid. In the summers, he saw men in the steel casting plant, collapsing from heat stroke, being physically dragged away by managers and replaced with new workers to keep the line rolling.

He again found himself at the edge of history when he participated in the formative 1937 Sit-Down Strike, protesting those horrendous conditions. My grandmother said, “He wasn’t anything special. He was just one of the workers.” But I still think that’s something. The strike led to the recognition of the United Automobile Workers by General Motors and later Chrysler and Ford.

After that, his life seemed mostly uneventful. He raised my grandmother and her siblings, helped build a church for Arab Orthodox Christians in Flint and died while

drawing a GM pension.

I never knew him. Sorry for the letdown.

He died in the 1970s, well before I was born.

But his life does serve as an inspiration for my own — and perhaps the legend is greater than the man himself.

I’m the child of two teachers, both born and raised in Midwestern America. Three generations hence, my family is still Greek Orthodox, though I don’t identify with being an Arab-American like any of the generations that preceded me. I’m more than happy with the food, but I don’t feel the need to debate or dwell on absolutist political positions in Middle East policy or smoke a water-pipe — sorry, now called a “hookah.”

As I’m trying to find my way in this world, I find myself drawn to my own family’s history for inspiration. I don’t need to leave my country with nothing to my name to start over in a foreign land — thank God for that.

But I do think America offered something different to my grandfather than it does for me.

While studying abroad in Russia last year, my professor said he was one of those people who thrived on discomfort — the kind you get from being a stranger in a foreign land. I would like to think I’m one of those people too. My great-grandfather must have been.

Instead of traveling abroad and returning home, he made a new home, where every day was a challenge to build a life and family while trying to respect his cultural inheritance but assimilate to his new country.

Something my great-grandfather did out of necessity, I hope to do by choice. He left his country to find new opportunities in

another country; I hope to leave mine to represent it abroad. My goal is to be a Foreign Service Officer — a diplomat representing the United States. For my great-grandfather, life in the United States meant economic security, freedom and safety from the sectarian clashes of the old world. For me, the modern American life makes it difficult to build something enduring while racing from job-to-job and city-to-city searching for that elusive promise of economic security.

The two pictures that I’ve seen of my great-grandfather are of an austere, wellmustachioed young man about my age and another from the late 1950s, as a wrinkly, smiling and proudly toothless old man bouncing my father on his lap. At the very least, it’s comforting to know that the life of an immigrant-soldier-autoworker can lead to happiness — which, when I’m feeling cynical, I think is restricted to those getting the $75,000 “starting street” salary in their first year out of the Business School.

I’ve never been to Lebanon. The country of my ancestors (for full disclosure, half of them) is still wracked by violence and plagued by a weak government. A century after my great-grandfather left Lebanon, the Maronites and Muslims have flipped demographics, but it’s still a very divided country with an unfortunate penchant for never-ending retaliatory rocket attacks.

Eventually, maybe, I’ll get there. For now, it seems about as distant as America must have seemed to my great-grandfather.

Peter is a Business junior and Daily news editor.

8B

Wednesday, October 2, 2013 // The Statement

Can University students work hard and play hard? with Business senior Christine Vanek and LSA senior Cameron Fletcher We’ve all heard the Wiz Kahlifa song, “Work Hard Play Hard.” Wiz’s recommendation to achieve both: “Make sure you do whatever is that you gotta do, that’s your job” (as well as make it rain with bigger bills). But in all seriousness, with a surplus of academic requirements and organizations on campus, can students maintain a balance between working hard and playing hard? Business senior Christine Vanek and LSA senior Cameron Fletcher met in The Michigan Daily newsroom to answer this question based on their own experiences.

Cameron Fletcher: I think the answer is definitely yes, mostly because the University attracts really motivated people. The University has so many opportunities for people to do stuff. People are motivated to do what they love, and that could be academics or that could be outside of academics. I feel like people will have their work and then they have their passion, and they’re motivated to finish their work so they can do their passion. Or if their passion is work, they can just do work.

Christine Vanek: I think it’s cool that people come in with a lot of different interests and then, eventually, as you’re moving through your years at U of M, I’ve found work and play really start to overlap in more interesting ways.

CF: For sure. I’m in a percussion group on campus called Groove, and I’m in two music classes right now. I’ve just seen both of those overlap perfectly. What I use in Groove is what I’m learning in class, and I also use what I learn in class in Groove. It’s pretty cool that they overlap.

CV: I’ve found that, too. I’ve started doing a lot of research, and right now I’m doing (research) with 1,000 Pitches, and it’s just really cool to see how my own personal interest in innovation can also be something that counts as work.

that are fish-related are really fun for me, and they’re definitely interesting. But it’s taken me a while to get to those classes. The classes I’ve taken for the past three years, not all of them have been the classes that I want to be in, but I just have to be in them to get to the ones I would enjoy. Now, since I’m in those classes, they’re a lot easier just because I enjoy them more. And because they’re easier, it’s not as hard to sit down and take the time to do that work when I know I have other fun things I could be doing.

“As a senior, I’ve definitely put more time into my clubs and my extracurriculars than my classes. I don’t know if that’s the right thing to do, but that’s what I’ve found makes me happier.”

CF: You’re doing business. Are those classes hard? I know a lot of people think Business classes are hard.

— LSA senior Cameron Fletcher

JAMES COLLER/Daily

CF: Right. What are you pitching?

CV: I’m not pitching, I’m just studying (the pitches). It’s kind of a bit top-secret.

CF: I know whenever I sit down to do work, I always have a goal in my mind, like I have a show next week so I should probably get my paper done this week so I’m not all crazy. I think, for me, it just comes down to motivation. I think everyone at this school has something they’re motivated to do, and that’s what makes it easy to work hard.

CV: For me, motivation is something that kind of makes it difficult to work hard and play hard, because there’s just 24 hours in a day, right?

CF: Yeah, that’s true.

CV: But I definitely find that motivation is something that helps me

make time for things that are important. There are some days where I have to rush to finish something so I can run to a Comedy Club meeting.

CF: Yeah, that’s another thing: deciding what to put your effort into. I’ve seen that over the course (of my college career), I’ve kind of taken some effort from my academics and put that into other things, such as Groove or Camp Kesem, which is another organization I’m in. But I just think that’s interesting that over the course of college, you figure out what you like to do and you realize that some of the classes that you have to take aren’t that important in the long run.

CV: Do you find that the time and the energy you put into your clubs energizes you more for the rest of your week and the rest of the stuff you have to get done?

CF: Yeah, I would definitely say that. I just love doing the clubs that

I do. I love going to those meetings and seeing the people that I always see, and that just makes me feel better, honestly, for the rest of the week. I think that helps me get through the tough parts of the week. As a senior, I’ve definitely put more time into my clubs and my extracurriculars than my classes. I don’t know if that’s the right thing to do, but that’s what I’ve found makes me happier, which I think is more important than doing well on a stupid exam.

CV: So you’re studying environmental science, right?

CF: Yeah.

CV: Do you find that that’s become something that’s not just a work interest but something that stems into your personal life?

CF: Yeah. My concentration is fish and aquatics, and I’ve always loved fishing and fish. Those classes

CV: Some of the classes are hard, some of the classes are easier. A lot of them, for me, have quantitative stuff and you just have to get through the exercises. But then there are others where it’s talking about the strategy of Microsoft search and what they should do going forward to be more successful and, perhaps, try and take on Google. Having the chance to think about a real business challenge and break it apart and invent a possible strategy for a company — when I get to sit down and do that with my peers, that’s working hard but it’s also kind of playing. It’s a lot of fun.

CF: That’s cool. I don’t get to do a lot of fish stuff with other people, since I feel like it’s not a group activity.

CV: You could take a trip and go fishing with some people!

CF: I would definitely love to do that, and it would be working and playing at the same time.

That’s kind of what I’m looking for in post-grad: research and field stuff. I just love being outdoors, and working with fish hands-on is one of my favorite things to do. If I could get that as a post-grad job or fellowship, then that would be the ultimate playing and working at the same time.