Weekly Summer Edition Ann Arbor, MI
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African American Festival Local community gathers in downtown Ann Arbor for music and dancing.
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ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY SIX YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Author speaks on role of White House Chief of Staff
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NEWS
Climate accord
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OPINION
Sustainability
Daily Staff Reporter
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Filmaker Chris Whipple discusses the role of the White House Chief of Staff at the Gerald R. Ford Library on Tuesday.
Boston Calling showcases A-list musicians
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Lauded filmmaker explains duties of the “gatekeeper” to the federal government By JENNIFER MEER Summer Managing News Editor
SPORTS
Season in Review: Baseball Michigan won its most games since 2008. >> SEE PAGE 11
INDEX Vol. CXXVII, No. 76 | © 2017 The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com
NEWS .................................... 2 OPINION ...............................4 ARTS ......................................6 CLASSIFIEDS.........................8 MiC.........................................9 SPORTS................................ 10
Symposium offers ways to address gender bias in medicine
By ALON SAMUEL
“DEI should not be the only way we address racial inequality...”
Festival Recap:
RESEARCH
Panel goals were to identify problems and inequities within the Medical School
University community responds to withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.
ARTS
Thursday, June 8, 2017
On Tuesday night, Chris Whipple — an acclaimed filmmaker of pictures such as The Spymasters, author and Emmy Awardwinning producer — presented the importance of the White House Chief of Staff, a role he describes as the second most powerful job in government, to a crowd of approximately 200 at the Gerald R. Ford Library. Central to his discussion was his 2017 book “The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency,” which includes conversations with all 17 living chiefs of staff and two former presidents. He also referenced and showed clips from his 2013 documentary “The Presidents’
Gatekeepers,” which similarly features chiefs discussing the past nine presidential administrations, approximately 50 years of office. The Chief of Staff is sometimes referred to as the “gatekeeper” — the individual who decides who can enter the Oval Office, communicates often with the president and works as a secretary of sorts. His tasks include advising the president and negotiating with Congress, among others; the role is seen as the highest-ranked position in the White House. Whipple explained, the job of White House Chief of Staff as it exists today was created by H. R. Haldeman — a chief of staff under then-President Richard Nixon, who served 18 months in prison for conspiracy in the Watergate scandal. “Haldeman is a fascinating character because, on the one hand, he failed to speak truth to Richard Nixon for the Watergate cover infamously, and yet ultimate successors will tell you he created a template for the modern, empowered White House Chief of
Staff,” he said. Whipple said every president learns, often the hard way, he cannot govern effectively without empowering a White House Chief of Staff to execute his agenda and tell him what he doesn’t want to hear. He explained that today, President Donald J. Trump does not seem to be aware of this fact. “Modern history is littered with the wreckage of presidencies that did not understand that,” he said. “It’s a lesson that our current president, oblivious to history, either has not learned or has chosen to ignore.” From the Watergate scandal to the Iran-Contra scandal to the Monica Lewinski scandal, the Chief of Staff makes the difference between success and disaster, he explained. He elaborated that though the Nixon White House neared disaster, it could have been worse if it were not for Haldeman who often “talked Nixon off the ledge” — strongly advising the president against acts that seemed inappropriate. See WHITE HOUSE, Page 3
Close to 200 attendees filled the Kahn Auditorium of the Biomedical Science Research Building Wednesday morning for a symposium titled “Strategies to Empower Women to Achieve Academic Success,” which examined gender gaps and inequities in the medical academic world, as well as strategies to overcome them. Beginning with two keynote speakers and followed by a panel discussion and focus groups, the symposium aimed to identify problems and inequities in the University of Michigan Medical School as well as the field in general and develop workable strategies to tackle them, according to Eva Feldman, director of the Taubman Medical Research Institute. “We want to have clear deliverables from today,” Feldman said. “I hope as a first step, this is the first conversation of many, but the content of this conversation is not going to end when we leave this room at 11 o’clock, but rather it’s going to be carried forward in a very systematic way.” Keynote speaker Dr. Reshma Jagsi, director of the Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine, presented research on the gender gaps in academic See GENDER BIAS, Page 3