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Athletics board held to secrecy agreement
Regents to vote on bldg. designs Dennison renovation project estimated to cost $49 million By CLAIRE BRYAN
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Daily Staff Reporter
University President Mark Schlissel speaks at his monthly Fireside Chat in the Michigan Union on Monday .
At Thursday’s meeting of the University’s Board of Regents, the governing body will vote to approve schematic designs for a $49 million renovation of the David M. Dennison Building. The regents will also consider several other capital projects, including designs for the new Biological Science Building, renovations for the second floor of Lorch Hall and improvements to Yost Ice Arena. In July 2014, the board approved the Dennison project and the hiring of Diamond Schmitt Architects to design the project. Thursday’s vote of approval will put the project into action. If approved, LSA will relocate the International Institute and associated centers for international studies from the School of Social Work to the Dennison Building after the renovation is completed. Approximately 106,000 gross square feet that have been vacated by the relocation of the Department of Astronomy from Dennison to West Hall will be renovated. Classrooms will be repurposed to create spaces for faculty work as well See DESIGNS, Page 3
Schlissel addresses misconduct policy In monthly fireside chat, University president talks student life issues By BECKY WEILAND For the Daily
In the Pond Room of the Michigan Union, about a dozen randomly-selected students from around campus gathered Monday evening to discuss issues with University President Mark Schlissel and E. Royster Harper, vice president for student life, during their monthly Fireside Chat. After breaking the ice with light discussion about his plans to spend his first Thanksgiving in Ann Arbor and receiving Snapchat pictures from one of his daughters, Schlissel opened
the floor up for questions. Among a host of questions and concerns, how the University handles sexual misconduct was featured in Schlissel’s discussion. In wake of the recent domestic violence charge involving the defensive end Frank Clark, students expressed issues regarding sexual assault and current campus policies. Though Michigan Coach Brady Hoke announced Monday that Clark was dismissed from the team, the circumstances surrounding former kicker Brendan Gibbons’ permanent separation from the University for violating the Student Sexual Misconduct Policy continue to raise concerns around campus for how sexual misconduct is handled at the University. Schlissel acknowledged that steps are currently being taken to improve the campus community and work toward preventing sexual misconduct, as well as an
examination of the current rules and procedures regarding sexual misconduct. Schlissel noted that all students — athletes or not — must be part of the effort to change the culture on campus to combat sexual assault. Throughout the majority of the chat, many students inquired about the need for renovations on North Campus, as well as frustration with the consistency of northbound buses. With renovations currently underway on the West Quad Residence Hall and the recent completion of renovations to East Quad Residence Hall and South Quad Residence Hall, students feel North Campus is being overlooked. “What I want is for when students hear that they’re on North Campus is to accept the inconvenience of it and the luck of the draw, but also to acknowledge that this is an opportunity See CHAT, Page 3
Confidentiality requirement calls group’s influence into question By AUSTEN HUFFORD Online Editor
The University’s Advisory Board on Intercollegiate Athletics, the only body charged with providing faculty, student and alumni input to the Athletic Department, is restricted by a wide-ranging confidentiality and fiduciary agreement with the department, causing some faculty members to call into question the board’s independence and influence. The ABIA is established by the bylaws of the University’s Board of Regents and is designed to serve as an adviser to the athletic director. It is also instructed to “make, adopt, and enforce the necessary rules and regulations” concerning student-athlete eligibility and “intercollegiate relations.” “The existing agreement starts from the premise that all information acquired in ABIA is confidential unless explicitly released,” wrote Scott Masten, chair of the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs and a professor of business economics and public policy, in an e-mail. The agreement has been
in place since at least 2010. The confidentiality agreement, which was released for the first time at Monday’s meeting of the University Senate, refers to ABIA’s “fiduciary duties of loyalty and care.” “Members of the ABIA sign confidentiality and fiduciary agreements because there often is confidential information shared,” Associate Athletic Director David Ablauf wrote in an email. “It’s important that ABIA members understand how seriously the university takes the protection of that information.” By making all discussion confidential by default, the agreement stops members of the committee from discussing concerns — large or small — with anyone other than University President Mark Schlissel. The current policy requires direct approval of the athletic director, who is chair of the ABIA by default but lacks a vote, to publicly discuss issues brought up during meetings. Ablauf wrote that members could always bring up issues to fellow ABIA members, appropriate offices at the University or use the University’s compliance hotline. The agreement itself does not provide for outside contacts other than the University president. Masten and other members of SACUA are troubled with the See AGREEMENT, Page 3
HEALTH
Despite Ebola precautions, enterovirus D68 proves to be a more prevalent concern Symptoms for virus include respiratory infection, cold sores in children, adults By QUAN NGUYEN For the Daily
While Ebola might dominate the front pages of health and news publications, a different virus has had a more widespread impact in Michigan. As of Nov. 7, 90 positive cases of enterovirus D68 were reported in the state out of the 139 cases sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing, according to Jennifer Smith, public information officer at the Michigan Department of Community Health. This year, the Washtenaw County Department of Public Health reported two positive cases in the county. One patient is an adult with a history of asthma and the other is sevenmonth-old infant. The season for EV-D68 typically ends with the onset of winter. First discovered in Califor-
WEATHER TOMORROW
HI: 31 LO: 17
nia in 1962, EV-D68 is most frequently diagnosed during summer and fall, causing mostly infants, children and teenagers to suffer symptoms including respiratory infection, mouth sores, diarrhea, vomiting, coldlike symptoms and wheezing. Since adult immune systems have more exposure to various kinds of viruses, they are the least susceptible age group for enteroviruses. This year, EV-D68 is a strain that “came through with spread that makes the kids quite sick, especially those with asthma,” said Dr. Marie Lozon, division director of pediatric emergency medicine at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. Lozon said the hospital’s emergency room was full of patients fighting the virus during the peak of EV-D68 season. “We were absolutely cramped and overwhelmed; the ICU was packed,” she said. Lozon said her department witnessed a 20- to 30-percent increase in the number of daily patient visits as a result of EV-D68. Staff would see about 70 children in most years, but this year the hospital received a
record number of visits during the few weeks when EV-D68 was the most prevalent. “We have seen more kids than we have ever seen before,” Lozon said. On those days, the hospital housed about 105 children per day. The CDC is current the only institution that performs the diagnostic test for EV-D68. While waiting for test results to come back, which might take several days, staff at the University Hospital apply the same treatment for potentially positive EV-D68 patients as they would for patients with rhinovirus. Preliminary test results usually indicate patients as positive for both enterovirus and rhinovirus. Though Lozon and her colleagues do not know if EV-D68 causes flaccid paralysis — a symptom that characterizes polio, another enterovirus-related disease — her department saw a cluster of seven patients of various ages and from different parts of Michigan admitted with flaccid paralysis of lower and upper extremities in a period of a week and a half. See ENTEROVIRUS, Page 3
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Mayor Christopher Taylor listens at the City Council meeting at the Washtenaw County Administration Building Monday.
In Taylor’s first meeting as mayor, Council approves winter shelters Fuller parking lot lease to continue with University Daily Staff Reporter
parking lot to the University. Additionally, Councilmember Sabra Briere (D–Ward 1) was appointed as 2015’s mayor protem; if Taylor were unable to perform his duties as mayor for any reason, Briere would fill the position.
Monday’s Ann Arbor City Council meeting marked the first in Mayor Christopher Taylor’s term. Councilmembers passed two key resolutions — one pertaining to winter housing for the city’s homeless and another continuing the lease of the Fuller Park
Winter shelter Council members unanimously voted to increase the amount of money given to the Delonis Center, a winter emergency shelter in Ann Arbor. Extreme winter weather has been a concern for public speakers at Council meetings for the second week in a row, follow-
By EMMA KERR
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ing a report filed by the mayor’s office at the last meeting. Briere said the money set aside by this resolution will also help support other warming shelters in association with the Delonis Center, such as three churches that have volunteered to host those in need during extreme. She said it is crucial that the Council give people a reliable opportunity to get off the streets. “We are all excited to have winter come so early, but it can be a problem for people who do not have a home,” she said. “This resolution allows us to support this See COUNCIL, Page 3
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