ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY-FOUR YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Ann Arbor, Michigan
michigandaily.com
CAMPUS LIFE
Town hall asks input for Trotter renovation ADAM GLANZMAN/Daily
James Hilton, vice provost for Digital Education Initiatives, speaks during the Senate Assembly meeting at Palmer Commons Monday.
Senate Assembly looks at technology optimization Final meeting of the year focuses on IT overhaul, committee reports By ANDREW ALMANI Daily Staff Reporter
The final Senate Assembly meeting of the year took place Monday afternoon,
with discussion focused on optimizing information technology processes and status reports from Chairs of Senate Assembly Committees. The meeting began with a presentation from Chief Information Officer Laura Patterson, vice president for Information and Technology Services, and Dean of Libraries James Hilton, vice provost for Digital Education Initiatives. Hilton also has a position on
the Information Technology Council as the steward of Teaching and Learning and Knowledge Repositories. The duo introduced the NextGen Michigan project, which aims to optimize the investments the University makes in information technology. The University’s Information Technology Council established a strategic plan to provide tools and an environment that facilitates
innovation, engagement and integrative learning on campus. To accomplish this goal, the University has considered joining a consortium known as Unizin, which would consist of various educational institutions working together with information technology companies. Unizin would include other universities such as the University of Indiana and the UniverSee SACUA, Page 7A
Students identify most pressing concerns for new center By KRISTEN FEDOR Daily Staff Reporter
Discussions regarding upcoming renovations to the Trotter Multicultural Center were facilitated in an open town hall meeting Monday evening. Architects from Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas + Company, representatives from Doers Consulting Alliance, LLC and University administrators were in attendance to gauge student input. The New Trotter is a student led initiative to update the existing Trotter Multicultural Center and eventually plan for a new building. When the Black Student Union announced their seven demands for increasing diversity on campus on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, updating the Trotter Center was one of their main requests.
ANN ARBOR
GOVERNMENT
City council bans smoking in public areas With 9-2 vote, long-debated ordinance takes effect in A 2 By MATT JACKONEN Daily Staff Reporter
A smoke-free Ann Arbor is finally here — or at least one more free of smoke. The Ann Arbor City Council passed the long-debated smoking ordinance Monday night by a vote of 9-2 with only Councilmembers Jane Lumm (I–Ward 2) and Jack Eaton (D–Ward 4) voting against the ordinance. The ordinance now makes smoking near bus stops and within 20 feet of city buildings a civil infraction. Though the first draft of the ordinance contained wording that also made smoking within 20 feet of bus stops illegal, a late amendment by ordinance
sponsor Chuck Warpehoski (D–Ward 5) reduced the distance to 10 feet from bus stops. Warpehoski said after speaking with AAATA officials, it was agreed that a 20-foot buffer might prevent bus drivers from seeing smokers who are also waiting for buses. The ordinance will also prohibit smoking in certain areas of Ann Arbor parks at the discretion of the city administrator. Councilmember Stephen Kunselman (D–Ward 3) proposed an amendment to decrease the fine for ignoring any warning from a police officer to cease smoking in prohibited areas from $50 to $25. “Fifty dollars may be disparate to some of the (citizens) that may be most likely to receive the fine,” Kunselman said. He added that the fine for smoking a cigarette should not be higher than the fine for smoking marijuana, as smoking a cigarette is actually legal. See SMOKING, Page 3A
The original Trotter Center opened in 1971 as a space for Black members of the campus community, originally named the Black Culture Center. After it burned down in a 1972 fire, the space was relocated to its current home on Washtenaw Avenue in an old fraternity house. In 1981, it was renamed the Trotter Multicultural Center — named after William Monroe Trotter, a prominent civil rights activist — to expand the space for other minorities. Today, the center works in coordination with the Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs. In January, the University announced it would be allocating $300,000 toward short-term renovations to the Trotter Center. Moving the space to a new location closer to Central Campus is also a long-term goal. Students engaged in multiple group activities to identify key issues with diversity on campus and how the New Trotter Center can help to target these concerns. Danny Sledge, a Doers consultant, led the discussion and spoke See TROTTER, Page 3A
Schauer proposes education initiatives ADAM GLANZMAN/Daily
Margo Picken, a Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence, speaks during a Policy Talk on the Khmer Rouge Trials at the Ford School Monday.
Ford talk discusses history of Cambodian genocide After as many as 2.5 million deaths in 1970s, UN trial sought culprits By NEALA BERKOWSKI Daily Staff Reporter
In the last Ford School Policy Talk of the academic year, Margo Picken, a Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence, and John Ciorciari, a Public Policy assistant
professor, discussed the controversy surrounding the United Nations-backed Khmer Rouge Trials in Cambodia. Public Policy Prof. Susan Waltz moderated the discussion, which was held in the Annenberg Auditorium an attracted a crowd of public policy undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and community members. According to Ciorciari, from 1975 to 1979, as many as 2.5 million people out of a population of 7 million died from starvation, over-work, disease,
torture and execution in the Cambodian Genocide under the Khmer Rouge regime. The Cambodian government and the United Nations agreed on an international hybrid tribunal in 2003 to look back at the crimes and try those most responsible for violations of international law and the Cambodian Genocide. “We’re talking about a time of intense human suffering as the Khmer Rouge, an ultra leftist organization born out of the cauldron of the Vietnam See FORD, Page 3A
Gubernational candidate pledges to reverse Snyder’s spending cuts By ALLANA AKHTAR Daily Staff Reporter
Mark Schauer, the Democratic candidate in the upcoming gubernatorial elections, released a detailed policy plan April 16 highlighting his education plan that he hopes to implement if elected. The six-page outline states that Michigan must start to reverse Republican Gov. Rick Snyder’s budget cuts to K-12 education in the upcoming years. Schauer’s policy note refers to the 2012 $930 million spending cut Snyder made in his first year in office. “It’s time to get our priorities straight, and stop balancing the budget on the backs of our students and hardworking school employees,” Schauer said in a press release. The education plan also See EDUCATION, Page 3A
» INSIDE
The Michigan Daily presents a commemorative issue looking at Coleman’s tenure.
WEATHER TOMORROW
HI: 57 LO: 36
GOT A NEWS TIP? Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail news@michigandaily.com and let us know.
NEW ON MICHIGANDAILY.COM Order of Angell announces 2015 members MICHIGANDAILY.COM/BLOGS
INDEX
Vol. CXXIV, No. 105 ©2014 The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com
NEWS......................... 2A SUDOKU..................... 3A OPINION.....................4A
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7A CL ASSIFIEDS...............6A G O O D B Y E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 B