ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Tuesday, January 12, 2016
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Study looks at gender gap among startups RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily
Architecture and Urban Planning Prof. Robert Fishman, interim dean of Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, speaks at the Architecture Prep graduation ceremony at the U-M Architecture Research Studio in Detroit on Monday.
Detroit high school students graduate from ‘U’ program Taubman partners with schools for architecture workshops By BRANDON SUMMERSMILLER Daily Staff Reporter
Twenty-five Detroit Public Schools high school students graduated from a preparatory
architecture program hosted by the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning Monday night. The semester-long joint workshop program, called the Michigan Architecture Prep Program, was created to expose DPS students to the field of architecture and job opportunities in related fields. The University has launched multiple programs in past years to better connect with cities across the state. The program, which
launched in December 2014, allows Taubman faculty and DPS staff to interact and work together to develop workshops for students interested in the field. Milton Curry, associate dean of academic affairs and strategic initiatives in the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, said Detroit was chosen as the site for the program because of the city’s history with the University. “The University of Michigan has a historic role in that it
was founded in Detroit,” Curry said. “It has a responsibility as a public university — one of the premier public universities — to be a leader.” Irene Nordé, executive director for the Office of Mathematics Education in Detroit Public Schools, said she thought the program was highly beneficial for students. She noted that for the program to work, several logistical measures were taken by DPS. “We had to look for ways to See DETROIT, Page 3
Research finds venture capitalists could contribute to discrepancies By ALEXA ST. JOHN Daily Staff Reporter
Female-led startup companies do not perform as well as their male-led counterparts in part because of gender discrepancies among venture capitalists, according to recent University research. This gap in performance, the research suggests, is due to the majority male-driven nature of venture financing syndicates. The study, conducted by Business Ph.D. candidate Sahil Raina, found there was a 25 to 30 percent difference in the average performance rates of male-led startups and female-led startups, with male-led startups more
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MLive reduces positions by 29 in restructuring Company fires, demotes writers, editors and photographers By MEGAN DOYLE Daily Staff Reporters
MLive Media Group announced Wednesday on their website that multiple positions would be eliminated in the latest restructuring move to impact the Ann Arbor News. According to a statement on Mlive’s website from John Hiner, vice president of content, 29 “content positions” were eliminated in an effort to restructure the company. Though the layoff may include Ann Arbor editors, reporters and photographers, the statement notes that the number of content positions remain the same overall statewide. Along with the Ann Arbor News, MLive also owns multiple other newspapers across the state. It was formed in 2012 when it ombined MLive.com with eight newspapers across the state of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Muskegon, Jackson, Flint, Saginaw and Bay City. Combined, it has the largest audience of any media company in Michigan — the website has a monthly digital readership of more than 11 million people. The changes aim to “(direct) resources to emerging content and business opportunities, while reducing some
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management, support and production roles,” according to the statement. When asked to comment further, Hiner wrote in an e-mail to The Michigan Dailythat MLive would not be disclosing the specific details of the internal restructuring at this time. “At this point … we’re going to let the article we posted stand, in terms of public comment by our organization,” he wrote. The announcement is the latest in a series of similar moves for newspaper outlets in the state. Last month, 13 journalists at the Detroit News accepted a buyout. Buyouts have also occurred at the Detroit Free Press recently. These buyouts have become common at newspapers outside the state as well, including at The New York Times and the Washington Post. The full list of positions that will be impacted or eliminated by the changes at MLive have not been released by the media group, though some employees have publically announced changes. Paula Gardner, the former Ann Arbor editor at MLive, tweetedthat she will now be reporting Michigan business news for the company, but declined comment when contacted by The Michigan Daily. For some, the move to eliminate content positions has sparked concern about the quality of coverage in Ann Arbor and beyond. See MLIVE, Page 3
successful overall. Findings indicated that the difference in rates depended on whether the companies were initially financed by venture capital partners with at least one female general partner in the financing syndicate, or if the syndicate was all male. Raina said his interest in this research began after reading that female entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley were having trouble working with venture capitalists. However, because the stories he read were lacking empirical evidence, Raina decided to study the issue himself. Venture capital financing works by offering money to startup companies in rounds until the company either goes public or is bought by another company. Companies pitch their startups to firms and work toward gaining their own funding during the process. At that point, the venture capitalists have the See STUDY, Page 3
The unique meaning of Ziggy Stardust A personal remembrance of David Bowie, the rocker from Mars By ADAM THEISEN
CLAIRE ABDO/Daily
SACUA Chair Silke-Maria Weineck, speaks during the Regents meeting held on Monday in the Fleming Administration Building.
SACUA discusses changes to Standard Practice Guide Grouup also continues examining faculty role in admissions By ISOBEL FUTTER Daily Staff Reporter
The Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs met Monday to discuss changes to several documents that govern faculty policy at the University. At a December SACUA meeting, University President Mark Schlissel addressed the assembly on possible changes to the Principles of Faculty Involvement Blue Document that would increase faculty involvement in undergraduate admissions. The document, which describes the general responsibilities faculty members have in governing the University, has
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not been revised since the Senate Assembly endorsed its second edition in 2008. During the December meeting, many members of SACUA said they felt the document should be further amended to address the role faculty play in undergraduate admissions. At Monday’s meeting, SACUA members presented possible revisions to the document, concerning several aspects including the faculty involvement in undergraduate admissions, faculty involvement in faculty disciplines and the definition of faculty sections. Revisions to the definition of faculty within the principles sparked a discussion among the members. Kinesiology Prof. Stefan Szymanski said the current definition of faculty is too ambiguous, and said SACUA should address whether administrators are also considered faculty.
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“The point is that the things that they are doing, they are not doing as faculty, they are doing as administrators, so that’s what we need to establish,” Szymanski said. Comparative Literature Prof. Silke-Maria Weineck, SACUA chair, said SACUA will work to outline the difference between a faculty member and an administrator. “We need to have a very clear memo that lays out what we mean by faculty,” Weineck said. “We don’t want to take their power, we just want to say in document defining faculty from administrators.” SACUA plans to work on the Principles document over the next few weeks and will discuss its conclusions with University Provost Martha Pollack and Schlissel when they have reached a conclusion. Until formal suggestions have been made, SACUA will continue to adhere to the current guidelines. See SACUA, Page 3
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Managing Arts Editor
There’s a scene in the movie “Velvet Goldmine” where Christian Bale’s character is with his parents watching a David Bowie-inspired ’70s glamrocker character give a press conference on TV. The Bowie character talks openly to reporters about his attraction to men, smirking to himself at how scandalous he’s being, and Bale’s character imagines himself jumping up and down, pointing at the TV, yelling to his parents “That’s me! That’s me!” That’s exactly how I felt when I first got into Bowie. I was about 14 and I was realizing that my feelings toward boys weren’t what one would call normal and I was freaking out because I didn’t understand it, and I didn’t even know any gay adults who could provide any sort of blueprint for what this meant now that my entire perception of myself had been blown up. So I went to Google and found David Bowie, one of the queerest straight men to ever exist, an artist who explained so See BOWIE, Page 5
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