ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY-FOUR YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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Committee calls for diversity initiatives AMANDA ALLEN/Daily
Engineering Graduate student Rohan Puranik speaks with a company representative at the Engineering Career Fair hosted by the Society of Women Engineers and Tau Beta Pi at the Duderstadt Center Monday.
Faculty outline recommendations to better campus climate in report to provost By ALLANA AKHTAR Daily Staff Reporter
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Schlissel talks emergency response at faculty senate President calls for administrative transparency By EMILIE PLESSET Daily Staff Reporter
As he continues to adjust to his new role, University President Mark Schlissel turned to
the faculty and staff in a question and answer session as he addressed the University Senate Assembly on Monday. Before opening the floor for questions, Schlissel expressed his desire for cohesive and transparent leadership among staff and faculty. After the brief gun scare in the Chemistry Building earlier this month when a student in
the NROTC was seen carrying a benign gun-shaped training device, many faculty and staff expressed concerns about gun safety on campus. Schlissel said while a similar situation will probably not happen again, there is always a concern that as a large public center, the University could be a target for outside violence. In response to the incident,
University administrators will take part in an exercise to discuss the chain of command and response procedures during various gun violence scenarios. In a report by The Michigan Daily, several faculty members voiced concern about whether they would be capable to respond to this situation appropriately. See SACUA, Page 3
After the University’s Black Student Union called on the University last year to take steps toward building a more inclusive campus, the Office of the Provost is starting the school year with a new set of recommendations to foster diversity and improve campus climate. The Office of the Provost released reports Sept. 16 from three faculty-led committees, including the Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The report contained 13 recommendations designed to build a more diverse student body and faculty, create a welcoming campus climate for minority students and establish programs to help members of the University community recognize and address
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‘U’, A startups foster budding community
Professor remembered for personal engagement
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University alumni inspired to pursue business ideas as undergrads By MICHAEL SUGERMAN Daily Staff Reporter
Michigan has been called the Silicon Mitten — and an integral thread of that glove’s stitching is Ann Arbor. Student organizations tout entrepreneurial spirit abound — namely MPowered, optiMize and MHacks — and administrative facilities and programs, like the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovate Blue, foster startup ideas and passion, providing resources that turn those concepts into realities. Even outside the University, startup enthusiasm is everywhere. Incubators and consulting firms like TechArb, Ann Arbor SPARK and Menlo Innovations are in high demand — the former two even partner with the students through Innovate Blue. Further, the introduction of the Desai Family Accelerator in August marked a strengthened effort to cater these valuable services to parties outside the University, expanding both entrepreneurial drive and the University’s influence beyond Washtenaw County. Tom Frank, the executive director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, wrote in an e-mail
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that Center’s growth in the last six years reflects the growing culture of entrepreneurship in Ann Arbor. He wrote that its location in the Duderstadt Center is twice as big as its original location, and added that these offices are “rapidly” reaching capacity. “We are always looking for more spaces we can use to facilitate student entrepreneurial activity,” Frank wrote. In the past three years, he said the Center for Entrepreneurship has had over 6,800 undergraduates enroll in its entrepreneurship program. In the same time, more than 140 “business concepts” have been identified — and more than 20 of these each year work with TechArb to further develop their ideas. As far as continuing to expand, Frank wrote that the Center has been working with places like Ann Arbor SPARK to provide students with more space to learn and explore. University alum Bill Mayer, SPARK’s vice president of entrepreneur services, said Ann Arbor’s demographics are conducive to the recent boom of innovation. “I really enjoy the fact that not only is Ann Arbor a well-educated city, but it’s a nice-sized town,” Mayer said. He added that many companies headquartered in states more well-known for entrepreneurship, like California, plan to open offices in Ann Arbor to continue See STARTUP, Page 3
instances of discrimination. The committee consists of 11 faculty members from eight schools and colleges, plus one graduate student, one undergraduate student and two staff members. The committee was convened by University Provost Martha Pollack in December 2013, shortly after the BSU launched their #BBUM Twitter campaign. The committee met on weekly basis through last May to gather data and compose a plan to address issues related to diversity. In an announcement in January, Pollack pledged to address several of the BSU’s demands, including the allocation of funds for a renovation of the Trotter Multicultural Center. The committee’s new recommendations include creating a strategic plan for diversity, forming a committee to study the experiences of faculty members of color and forming partnerships with school districts to improve the pipeline of minority students to the University’s freshman class. See DIVERSITY, Page 3
Pierre T. Kabamba passed away Saturday after battle with cancer By STEPHANIE SHENOUDA Daily News Editor AMANDA ALLEN/Daily
LSA senior Cooper Charlton, Student-Athlete Advisory Committee president, speaks at the Wolverine Support Network social media launch in the CSG chamber Monday.
CSG kicks off new mental health support network New initiative aims to help students maintain mental wellness By TANAZ AHMED Daily Staff Reporter
An array of student leaders gathered in the Michigan Union Monday for the launch of the Wolverine Support Network, a University-wide peer support program designed to improve mental health. The initiative aims to help students work through their issues with WSN student leaders in weekly meetings, which are set to begin in January. In addition to weekly meetings, the network will also host
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events on Fridays that will focus on community building and mental health education. The support network was one of the main initiatives that CSG President Bobby Dishell, a Public Policy senior, based his platform on during last year’s student government elections. “The number one place students turn to for a personal issue is their friends,” Dishell said during the launch. “However, there is currently not a space where this is encouraged or facilitated. That’s why we came together to really create this… Our mission statement is that we empower University of Michigan students to create a community to support each other’s mental health.” CSG worked with the University’s Counseling and Psychological Services to create
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the program. CAPS will train WSN student leaders through a three-day retreat as well as consultations with CAPS staff throughout the semester. Applications for students interested in becoming WSN leaders will be available Oct. 22. “I think it holds a promise of a wonderful idea to help complement all the other things on campus around mental health,” CAPS Director Todd Sevig said. “Some of that is CAPS, some of that is our Department of Psychiatry, some of that is the Depression Center... I really want to promote the idea of peer education, peer support, friends helping friends and I think Wolverine Support Network holds the promise of that.” See CSG, Page 3
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Students and faculty in the aerospace engineering department are mourning the loss of a teacher and colleague after Prof. Pierre T. Kabamba lost his battle with lung cancer Saturday, Sept. 20. He was 59 years old. Kabamba came to the University in 1983 after receiving his undergraduate degree in Belgium and his doctorate from Columbia University. In the winter of 2013, Kabamba visited the doctor for what he thought was pneumonia, only to discover he had stage 4 lung cancer, which forced him to stop teaching. His health was reportedly improving and Kabamba was scheduled to teach two classes this term, before deciding in late August that his health wouldn’t allow it. Kabamba taught Introduction to Aerospace Engineering and an advanced design course involving space and aircrafts. Additionally, he did research in controls design and scheduling operations, and addressed problems associated with spacecraft. Prof. Dan Inman, the Aerospace Engineering department chair, said he worked with Kabamba at the beginning of his career and even offered him his first job at See OBIT, Page 3
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