ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Friday, October 14, 2016
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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STUDENT GOVERNMENT
CSG and A city officials collaborate on housing 2
During panel, representatives discuss student apartments, affordability NISA KHAN
Daily Staff Reporter ELIZABETH XIONG/Daily
Foreign affairs analyst, journalist, and author Robin Wright speaks at the Michigan Union Thursday.
Renowned foreign correspondent Robin Wright gives lecture at ‘U’ Journalist describes her experiences reporting on conflicts in Iraq, Libya EMILY MIILLER Daily Staff Reporter
Robin Wright, an internationally renowned journalist and author, spoke on her experience in the Middle East as one of a few female journalists to a crowd of about 400 in the Michigan Union Ballroom Thursday. This is the second lecture Wright has given in connection with the Margaret Waterman Alumnae Group’s Town Hall Celebrity Lecture Series, which
raises scholarship money for University of Michigan students. The Waterman Alumnae Group has organized Town Hall lecture series for 43 years, and this year’s series includes four lectures. In addition to describing her views on global changes moving forward in the 21st century, Wright spoke to her background as a University of Michigan alum and her journalism career, which includes being published in The Washington Post, The New York Times Magazine and TIME Magazine. She noted she has also
travelled with every secretary of state since Henry Kissinger and with every U.S. President since Jimmy Carter, and has reported from more than 140 countries on six continents. While describing her work in the Middle East, Wright said she focused her reporting on international conflicts in places like Iraq, Libya and Syria. “I’m very interested in wars and conflict,” she said. “I’m ultimately interested in peace, but it’s understanding conflict that gets you closer to understanding
how you make peace — how do you undo the hate and fear and animosity that can so divide society.” She also noted the lack of women in journalism both when she started and today, citing a 106-person press corps during an assignment in Africa in which she was the only female. However, she noted that success in journalism is not linked to gender so much as a willingness to tell the stories of others. “It’s not being a female, See WRIGHT, Page 3
At a town hall Thursday with Central Student Government members and Ann Arbor city officials, members of each group tried to find common ground between city and student interests for downtown housing. During the event, individuals compared housing costs near the University of Michigan to other Big Ten schools, saying that the University’s housing is more expensive. Speakers also noted the economic drawbacks of a less diverse group of individuals living in an areas like downtown Ann Arbor. CSG recently created an affordable housing project in response to student concern about the high costs of offcampus housing. Public Policy junior Nadine Jawad, who spearheaded the initiative, said the town hall was an important launching point for further
communication between students and city officials. About 25 individuals attended the event, the majority of which were students. “We have to be allies and work together with the community, with the larger Washtenaw County, with the city, with the campus, and think (about) how we can unify our interests to benefit all,” Jawad said. Ann Arbor City Councilmember Zachary Ackerman (D–Ward 3), who is a recent University graduate, and County Commissioner Yousef Rabhi, both on the panel, emphasized impacts of increasing housing costs, such as the exclusion of students of lower socioeconomic status. “(Ann Arbor’s) diversity is slowly escaping us,” Rabhi said. “If we don’t work hard and make sure we have our full options on where to live, not only will our student body become less diverse, our community will become less See HOUSING, Page 3
Founder of nonprofit coding group for In Regents Faculty org bid, Meyers girls campaigns for Clinton at Union hosts event
ADMINISTRATION
CAMPUS LIFE
cites fiscal experience
Reshma Saujani emphasizes Democrat candidate’s technology policy plans
Former state GOP treasuer calls for freeze on cost of tuition
Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code — a nonprofit to support women in the computer science field — visited Ann Arbor Thursday to campaign for Hillary Clinton in the Michigan Union. With the Nov. 8 election nearing, Saujani stressed her endorsment of Clinton, noting she has clear policies in place for innovation and technological advancements and has shown support for women and people of color. “She is the tech candidate of this presidential cycle,” Saujani said. “She has made a commitment to continue President Obama’s work on ‘(Computer Science) For All,’ (including) making sure we get computer science to every classroom, and making sure that we go to the classrooms that are the hardest to reach.” The Democratic presidential nominee has included plans to double investment in the Computer Science for All program and launch a new set of grants in her platform. Clinton also aims to substantially expand the pool of computer science teachers through a number of different methods, such as recruiting new teachers and retraining existing ones. According to the campaign’s website, the goal is to ensure teachers stay up-to-
KATHERINE CURRAN Daily Staff Reporter
This article is part of a Michigan Daily series profiling the four candidates seeking a seat on the Board of Regents at the University of Michigan this November. Carl Meyers, former Michigan Republican Party treasurer, is hoping to become the third Republican regent on the leftleaning University Board of Regents this November. Meyers, a UM-Dearborn alum, is also the senior vice president of investments for the financial services firm Raymond and James and the chairman of Dearborn’s Police and Fire and General Employee’s pension boards. He said he hopes to use his financial expertise to prevent further tuition increases at the University and increase efficiency of the University’s budget. “I will propose a freeze in tuition, starting with Michiganresident students,” Meyers said. “It can be done rather easily and would have minimal impact on the budget.” Prior to joining Raymond and James, Meyers was a managing See MEYERS, Page 3
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RHEA CHEETI
Daily Staff Reporter
date with new technology, provide them with learning opportunities and streamline certification pathways. “A huge problem in getting computer science into classrooms is the lack of teachers, and she’s made a commitment to making sure we train 50,000 new computer science teachers,” Saujani said. “Her policies on entrepreneurship — having young entrepreneurs have
loan forgiveness programs up to $75,000 for five years — is the incentive that is going to make people start those new businesses. She made a commitment to making sure that happens in underserved areas.” LSA senior Pavithra Vetriselvan, who is majoring in computer science, said Clinton’s new policies have a huge impact on computer science students and potentially increase the
number of teachers in the workforce. “I think (Clinton’s computer science initiatives) are amazing,” Vetriselvan said. “I think that’s something that’s so important, because after studying CS, there’s huge pressure to work for a big tech company and have that be your justification for spending four years in college. But I think there’s a huge need for teachers See CODING, Page 3
KEVIN ZHENG/Daily
Reshma Saujani, founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, talks to University engineering students in support of Hillary Clinton at the Michigan Union Thursday.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVI, No. 12 ©2016 The Michigan Daily
for LGBTQ networking
Group aims to foster inclusive environments in departments ISHI MORI
Daily Staff Reporter
The University of Michigan Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Faculty Alliance held its annual reception Thursday night in the Rackham Graduate School, for faculty and staff across campus to meet and network. The event, which drew a crowd of 30, has been a consistent opportunity for LGBTQ faculty to mingle at the University. The University of Michigan Faculty Alliance was founded in 1992 as a body for LGBT faculty to advocate for the addition of sexual orientation to the University’s non-discrimination bylaw. The bylaw, 14.06, was incorporated under the Board of Regents that year. Cortney Turner, assistant research scientist at the Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute and event organizer, said since then, the organization has worked on University policies affecting the LGBTQ community and meeting LGBTQ students’ academic needs. R. Van Harrison, professor of Learning Health Sciences, See LGBTQ, Page 3
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 CLASSIFIEDS..............6
SUDOKU.....................2 ARTS.....................5 SPORTS....................7