ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Ann Arbor, Michigan
MARINA ROSS/Daily
LSA senior Mark Lawson attends a viewing party for the State of the Union held by the College Democrats at the Gerald R. Ford School on Tuesday.
In State of the Union, Obama reflects on term POTUS highlights economic successes, looks to nation’s future By LYDIA MURRAY Daily Staff Reporter
President Barack Obama highlighted the economy, healthcare and national security, focus-
ing not only on 2016 but also the future of the country for years to come, in his final State of the Union address Tuesday night. In an interview after the speech, Communications Prof. Josh Pasek said the president’s focus during the speech was shaped by the fact that it was his last in office. “The president is going to attempt to define his legacy in a way that he thinks will help shape the understanding of what
policies he’s put in place throughout his tenure in office,” Pasek said. “And in his view this will help encourage the future of the presidency to be one that maintains or upholds those policies.” During his speech, Obama first addressed the economy, calling the United State’s economy the strongest in the world. He accredited the country’s success to both job creation and the recovery of the auto industry. “We’re in the middle of the
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longest streak of private-sector job creation in history,” he said. “More than 14 million new jobs; the strongest two years of job growth since the ’90s; an unemployment rate cut in half. Our auto industry just had its best year ever.” The White House recently announced plans for Obama to visit Detroit for the North American International Auto Show. Obama also visited a Ford Motor manufacturing plant prior to his 2015 State of the Union address last year. In a press release after the speech, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D–Dearborn) emphasized the importance of Obama’s mention of Detroit’s auto industry. “We also must continue to innovate, which is why it was so important that the President highlighted the comeback of the auto industry,” she said. “As we saw at the North American International Auto Show, Michigan is still in the driver’s seat when it comes to producing and designing next-generation vehicles and I cannot wait to see the President there next week,” Speaking to his actions on healthcare reform, Obama said the Affordable Care Act, passed in 2012, centers on ensuring coverage for Americans when they need it most. In particular, he highlighted what he called the act’s main successes: job creation and slowing a rise in health care costs. “It’s about filling the gaps in employer-based care so that when we lose a job, or go back to school, or start that new business, we’ll still have coverage,” he said. “Nearly eighteen million have gained coverage so far. Health care inflation has slowed. And our businesses have created jobs every single month since it
became law.” In an interview after the speech, Public Health Prof. Peter Jacobson said the most significant achievements of the Affordable Care Act were the decrease in the number of uninsured people and health care costs, as well as encouraging healthy behavior to keep people out of the hospital. “The act if not directly, then implicitly, encourages healthcare providers to think outside the walls of the hospital to keep communities healthy, and in the long run that is the most significant aspect,” he said. He added that due to a general public misunderstanding of what the Affordable Care Act has achieved, the president’s last task involving health care should be to educate about that through platforms like the State of the Union. “He and his administration can do a better job of explaining all of the benefits that the act has brought while recognizing its shortcomings,” Jacobson. Along with discussing the Affordable Care Act, Obama also announced a national effort to combat cancer, which was met by applause from both sides of the aisle. “Last year, Vice President Biden said that with a new moonshot, America can cure cancer,” he said. “Tonight, I’m announcing a new national effort to get it done. And because he’s gone to the mat for all of us, on so many issues over the past forty years, I’m putting Joe in charge of Mission Control.” Turning to the issue of national security, Obama noted the success of various international agreements such as the Iran nuclear deal — which aims to prevent the country from acquiring a nuclear weapon — and the Paris See UNION, Page 3A
MEN’S BASKETBALL
By JACOB GASE Daily Sports Editor
Before the Michigan men’s basketball team’s Tuesday night showdown with No. 3 Maryland, the students filling the Maize Rage stood, cheered and waved their thousands of blue LED glow sticks. But it’s hard to believe they were expecting too much from the game itself. After all, the Wolverines were without senior guard Caris LeVert for the third straight game, and they were facing a lineup loaded with stars like preseason Big Ten Player of the Year Melo Trimble, versatile wing Jake Layman and highly touted freshman center Diamond Stone. But two hours later, after a huge night from junior forward Zak Irvin, a first-half 3-point barrage and a second-half reawak-
ening, the same students were waving the glow sticks in the air again after their Wolverines upset the Terrapins in a 70-67 thriller. “It just feels good to get this win today, against a really good team with a lot of weapons,” said Michigan coach John Beilein. “Everybody contributed, and I’m really happy for this team and our students. I really want (the students) to have this great experience of going to see a good basketball team, and for a lot of reasons, we haven’t been as good the last two years.” The Wolverines (3-1 Big Ten, 13-4 overall) jumped out to an early lead thanks to eight firsthalf 3-pointers, but the Terrapins — led by Stone and his 22 points and 11 rebounds — used their size advantage to quickly get back into the game, tying it at 54 with 7:33 remaining. Though Michigan’s offense nearly collapsed in the second half with two scoring droughts of over three minutes each, it came back to life at the right time. Junior forward Mark Donnal See BASKETBALL, Page 8A
SOURCE: PEW RESEARCH
SOURCE: GALLUP INFOGRAPHIC: MARIAH GARDZIOLA
ACADEMICS
Michigan pulls off huge upset of No. 3 Terps Irvin scores 22 as Wolverines stun Maryland without Caris LeVert
SOURCE: CNN/ORC
Forum aims to connect diversity, academic initiatives ANDREW COHEN/Daily
Rackham student Mary Jones and LSA junior Julia Kaye exchange notecards as part of an activity to crowdsource ideas regarding the University’s new diversity initiative at a town hall meeting at Angell Hall on Tuesday.
University holds first town hall on diversity, inclusion Students raise concerns about Schlissel’s push for strategic plan By RIYAH BASHA Daily Staff Reporter
Approximately 50 University community members attended the first of three diversity forums slated to be held this semester as a part of University President Mark
Schlissel’s diversity initiative Tuesday night. Hosted by the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the forum featured a presentation on Schlissel’s strategic plan, followed by a question and answer session during which audience members offered ideas for and critiques of the plan’s structure and focuses. Rather than charging an executive team with dictating a course of action, Jackie Simpson, director of the Trotter Multicultural Center and
a member of the University’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team, noted during the event that the initiative calls for strategic plans from 49 distinct campus units. Each unit was appointed a planning leader, and should have conducted research on the state of internal diversity last semester according to the plan’s public timeline. This information, in addition to various town halls and focus group data, will be rolled into one University-wide strategic See TOWN HALL, Page 3A
Panel examines importance of urban planning in issues of race By ISOBEL FUTTER Daily Staff Reporter
The Duderstadt Center Gallery, decked with hanging statistics and artwork, housed a conversation Tuesday evening that sought to link urban planning and diversity. Hosted by the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, the event was one of several planned for the Agents of Change exhibition, a series presented by students across colleges housed on North Campus. Tuesday’s event featured a film made by Rackham student Christopher Locke, who is studying architecture, called “Streaming Blackness.” The See PANEL, Page 3A
» INSIDE
the statement A look at the availability of HIV testing in Ann Arbor
WEATHER TOMORROW
HI: 35 LO: 29
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INDEX
Vol. CXXV, No. 51 ©2016 The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com
NEWS......................... 2A OPINION.....................4A S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7A
SUDOKU.....................2A CL ASSIFIEDS...............6A S TAT E M E N T. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 B