About 50 researchers, students and industry professionals gathered in the Lurie Engineering Center on Tuesday for a discussion about the ethics of artificial intelligence. The forum,  titled “From Theory to Practice: Building Ethical and Trustworthy AI,” was hosted by the Michigan Institute for Data Science and featured three keynote speakers as well as “lightning talks” and panel discussions.

Information Ph.D. candidate Kwame Porter Robinson spoke at the forum about creating computing infrastructures that are based on meeting the needs of communities. He said AI policy often uses a top-down approach, focusing on making changes at the government or corporate level, rather than a bottom-up approach that would start with community members and workers.

“Typically in AI ethics … there’s a preference for top-down approaches or points of intervention in terms of policy or … regulation, but there are alternatives,” Porter Robinson said. “You can begin with workers, you can begin with people that are directly affected and ask them what they think.”

Keynote speaker Jenna Wiens, associate professor of computer science and engineering, talked about the potential dangers of AI bias in health care settings. She explained that artificial intelligence programs can pick up on certain correlations — for example, that patients with pacemakers are more likely to be diagnosed with heart failure — but those correlations are not necessarily useful in making a diagnosis.

“It’s a problem because this model learned this association of having a pacemaker and being at greater risk of heart failure,” Wiens said. “If the pacemaker wasn’t there, the clinician would still diagnose the individual with heart failure. The pacemaker is not a clinically relevant radiological finding.”

One of the forum’s speakers, Elisa Ngan, assistant professor of practice in urban technology at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, said AI bias is not going to disappear completely so it is important to consider new ways to overcome bias and create software that minimizes harm.

“I think it’s important to realize that the question of bias is not necessarily going to go away entirely,” Ngan said. “So thinking about what the real problem is and the sort of operation (that) is needed to deploy a solution and whether we need to innovate on the way that we work itself, to transition, you know, from agile development to a whole different way of working as a team is what’s necessary to build safe software.”

Merve Hickok, adjunct lecturer with the School of Information and president of the Center for AI & Digital Policy, was a keynote speaker at the forum. In an interview with The Daily after the event, she said she believes it is important to prioritize equity when setting policies on AI.

“So, where we are using (AI) for the criminal justice system or access to government benefits, access to education, access to credit, is it impacting our civil rights?” Hickock said. “Is it undermining our civil rights? Is it discriminating against certain groups? I think those spaces where there’s a higher risk of undermining the rights should be regulated first.”

According to Hickok, a key challenge to enacting AI regulations is a lack of concrete action from lawmakers and federal agencies.

“You see a lot of conversations, but not necessarily implementation,” Hickok said. “So you’re asking all federal agencies as well as lawmakers to ensure that these conversations are happening and regulations are put in place. You can talk (for) months and months about the impact and the risks of AI. However, because it’s already impacting civil rights and human rights, you should have protections in place.”

 Ngan said she believes interdisciplinary work is important in creating better AI systems and ethical frameworks.

“I feel like everyone really wants to solve this issue, but we’re all kind of working in our disciplinary silos,” Ngan said. “Trying to find a way outside of that to capture more of the context and the human problems is important to creating a system that’s actually viable in the long term and that doesn’t burden individuals who don’t have access to designing those systems — who are not lawyers, designers, engineers, but nonetheless are impacted by it.”

Summer News Editor Abigail VanderMolen can be reached at vabigail@umich.edu. 

The post MIDAS hosts forum on ethics in artificial intelligence appeared first on The Michigan Daily.

The state of Michigan finalized its plans to build the University of Michigan Electric Vehicle Center on April 27 after allocating $130 million for the project in the FY 2023 budget. The plan includes $60 million for campus infrastructure; specifically, an updated Battery Lab facility on North Campus. It also allocates $50 million for supporting technology research and development and $20 million for workforce education.

Engineering Dean Alec D. Gallimore appointed Alan Taub, materials science and engineering professor and former vice president of Global Research and Development at General Motors,  as director of the new center. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Taub said the center will work with companies in the auto industry as they transition from combustion engines to electric vehicles.

“We are experiencing a transformation in the (automotive) industry from the internal combustion engine to battery electric vehicles,” Taub said. “That involves a wide range of activities that are important not only to the University, but to the state. One is making sure our companies are at the bleeding edge of this technology change. So from the $130 million, we have $50 million … that will go to research (which) will be driven by our industry affiliates.”

Taub said the $20 million allocated to workforce education will help with the retraining of the existing workforce as they transition from working with combustion vehicles to electric vehicles. 

“On the workforce side, we’re going to have a big transition in manufacturing and engineering and design jobs as we move from today’s vehicles to battery electric,” Taub said. “We’ll have activities within the University on expanding our curricula for electric vehicles, but also activities to help retrain the existing workforce.”

The $60 million toward infrastructure will facilitate collaboration with the U-M Battery Lab to create Battery Lab 2.0, which will contain state-of-the-art equipment and will be located, for the time being, in a building leased off campus.

Battery Lab Director Greg Less told The Daily in an interview that the Battery Lab and EV Center will work closely together in a mutually beneficial partnership.

“We’re going to be all but indistinguishable from the EVC,” Less said. “We’ll be offering capabilities for people to come in and do research and prototyping and testing, and they’ll be getting us out to a broader audience and helping us to find those teaching opportunities, research opportunities that maybe we haven’t had before.”

According to Taub, Battery Lab 2.0 will have a welder donated by Manz, a company that produces laser welding equipment. This will give the Battery Lab the capability to create battery modules made of multiple battery cells.

“(The welder is) already here in a big crate, and it’s going to be the first piece of equipment we’re setting up in the lease site,” Taub said. “Not only will it be new, advanced state-of-(the)-art equipment to make cells — we’re now expanding our capability to be able to weld them into modules, so we’re really excited about that.”

The current Battery Lab building and equipment will remain in use once Battery Lab 2.0 is operational. Less said this means the lab can utilize the pilot lines — production lines that can produce small quantities of products — at both facilities for research and experiential learning.

“(The new pilot line) will relieve some of the demand strain that we’re seeing, but it will also give us opportunity for classes,” Less said. “Having a second pilot line, we can keep the research going on one while teaching on the other or tinkering on the other… this gives us so many more opportunities.”

Rising engineering junior Chloe Acosta was the powertrain director of MRacing, the U-M Formula Society of Automotive Engineers team, and will be their technical director next year. Since 2022, they have only created and raced electric cars. Acosta said they have previously used the original Battery Lab for research and testing, but are excited by the possibilities of the new facility.

“(Typically) we will take the cells that we plan to use for our upcoming battery pack to that research lab (and) we’ll do some tests on the cells,” Acosta said. “That’s been really useful for us, so it’d be great to have access to that kind of center where they have more equipment to do testing that can help us … have a better characterized and modeled battery pack overall.”

Acosta said she believes the learning opportunities offered by the EV center will help students feel more prepared to enter the electric vehicle industry after graduation.

“Having the opportunity for people to learn about batteries (and) electric vehicles … earlier on in (their) career is absolutely incredible if it could happen,” Acosta said. “I think the EV center could potentially promote that and give that as an opportunity to students who know they want to go in that direction, because if you come in and you’re a freshman, you’re like, ‘I want to work in the electric vehicle industry.’ (If) you don’t learn about battery modeling until you’re a senior, then how prepared are you?” 

Emerson Miller, a recent Engineering graduate and former MRacing technical director, is now working for Our Next Energy, a battery company in Novi, Michigan. Miller said he felt the Battery Lab was very useful to MRacing, and that the $130 million investment in electric vehicle research and facilities will place the University at the forefront of this rising industry. 

“I’m just really excited to see that the University is leading the way on this issue and is being proactive rather than reactive in the investment side of things,” Miller said. “I think it’s going to make a big difference.” 

The EV Center will also collaborate with other U-M departments, including Mcity, the University’s autonomous vehicle testing facility. The EV Center and Mcity are still in the early stages of determining what a collaboration would look like.

In an interview with The Daily, Mcity director Henry Liu said a challenge of combining electric and autonomous vehicles is that computing power competes for the same battery power as the vehicle’s motor, limiting battery life.

“We’re competing to utilize the same battery power and so that need(s) to be coordinated and optimized (in terms of) the usage of the power,” Liu said. “It’s not only just the battery itself, but also we need to look at the vehicle as a whole to see how to distribute the power usage, how to optimize the power usage.”

Taub said the center is important in helping the state of Michigan, home to the “Big Three” automotive companies, hold onto its recognition as a leader in the automotive industry.

“It’s critical that (Michigan retains) that core capability and recognition and brand,” Taub said. “One reason the state made this investment is to make sure not only the University, but the region remains at the forefront of this mobility revolution.”

Miller said he feels a personal connection to Michigan’s automotive industry, having grown up in the state.

“I grew up here, and just down the street from the Ford headquarters actually,” Miller said. “So the automotive industry has kind of always been in the background of what I was doing … There’s just such a rich history of automotive excellence here, and we take a lot of pride in that.” 

Acosta said she thinks the EV Center will enhance students’ learning experience and affirm the transition within the industry toward electric vehicles. 

“The EV Center is a great thing to add to the University and I have a lot of hope for what it will provide to the students from both a project team perspective and a student curriculum perspective,” Acosta said. “I’m glad the University is doing it and I think it also will solidify the movement … to the electric-vehicle-dominated automotive industry.” 

Summer News Editors Astrid Code and Abigail VanderMolen can be reached at astridc@umich.edu and vabigail@umich.edu.

The post New U-M Electric Vehicle Center to support research, education and new battery facility appeared first on The Michigan Daily.

The Ann Arbor City Council met Monday evening to discuss a resolution to dissolve the city’s Brownfield Plan Review Committee, approve upcoming construction projects and hear community feedback on the city’s budget for fiscal year 2024.

During the public commentary portion of the meeting, many Ann Arbor residents expressed concern over Resolution DB-1, which would disband the Brownfield Plan Review Committee. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, brownfields are a property whose redevelopment “may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.”

Ann Arbor’s Brownfield Plan Review Committee determines whether construction projects which applied for brownfield development financial incentives should be recommended to City Council. One such financial incentive is tax increment financing, which reimburses a developer over time using money generated by the increase in tax revenue from a brownfield property after it is improved. The council can then recommend the projects for Washtenaw County’s Brownfield Program. 

Ann Arbor resident Ken Garber said removing the Brownfield Plan Review Committee would hurt the city’s ability to review applications for brownfield funding and limit opportunities for input from the public.

“This is a very capable city council, but you simply do not have the time or the bandwidth at your meetings to fully vet these complex and opaque (development) plans,” Garber said. “By dissolving the committee you are also eliminating one of two chances for public comment.”

Councilmember Jen Eyer, D-Ward 4, said the resolution would enable increased public scrutiny of proposed developments and reduce costs by having developers only present their plans at City Council meetings.

“What we are doing is going to increase public participation and transparency regarding the Brownfield review process,” Eyer said. “Instead of a small committee that meets quietly when the public isn’t paying attention, and receives the presentation from the developer (during the committee meeting) … the entire body here will receive that presentation from the developer and will be able to consider the plan as a body.”

During the City Council’s discussion of the resolution, Councilmember Lisa Disch, D-Ward 1, responded to concerns that the resolution gave disproportionate power over brownfield proposals to Washtenaw County. Disch said the decision to recommend development projects for the County Brownfield Program is up to the City Council, and it will remain so under Resolution DB-1.

“The (Brownfield Plan) Review Committee has never been the committee of final review,” Disch said. “It is now and will remain the responsibility of City Council to review brownfield agreements for projects within the city of Ann Arbor and deny or approve them … It is now and will remain the role of the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners to give final approval to any brownfield plan that comes before it.”

Resolution DB-1 was approved by a vote of councilmembers.

The City Council also approved multiple contracts for construction projects. During the discussion of CA-5, a resolution to approve a contract with Fonson Company for a water main project, Eyer said many of Fonson’s employees did not have safety training from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. To address this, she proposed an amendment that would require all employees on projects contracted by the city of Ann Arbor to complete OSHA training prior to beginning construction.

“From these proposals, Fonson admitted and revealed that they have just two laborers who will supposedly have the (OSHA) training by the time construction begins,” Eyer said. “I’m going to propose an amendment …  that companies must provide evidence that all craft labor that will be employed by the bidder on city projects has, or will have prior to commencement of the project, completed at least an authorized 10-hour OSHA construction safety course.”

Several community members spoke during the public hearing on the city’s budget for the fiscal year 2024. Representatives from Ann Arbor for Public Power, a local organization advocating for a publicly-owned energy utility, asked the council to set aside $250,000 for a valuation of DTE, in the event that the city’s feasibility study of public power comes back in favor of doing so. 

Ann Arbor resident Lauren Sargent gave an example of a community-owned utility in Holland, Mich. as a model for Ann Arbor. In order to finance the initial cost of improving energy efficiency, Holland created the Holland On-Bill Loan Program, a partnership between the Holland Board of Public Works and the nonprofit Michigan Saves. The program covers the initial costs of the switch to a public energy grid and the funds are repaid in monthly installments as part of residents’ electric bills.

“Holland actually had … a problem twice within the last decade,” said Sargent. “(The first was) how to return all the extra money that they got from the revenues from customers … And also, the electric utilities borrow money for infrastructure repairs at half the rate that DTE does, it’s a budget no-brainer.”

The council will vote on whether to approve the budget at a later meeting. Summer News Editor Abigail VanderMolen can be reached at vabigail@umich.edu.

The post City Council meets to dissolve Brownfield Plan Review Committee and hear concerns over 2024 budget appeared first on The Michigan Daily.

The Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs met in the Alexander G. Ruthven Building Monday afternoon to discuss a proposal to recommend the creation of a task force to respond to harassment against faculty from people outside the University of Michigan and say farewell to members whose terms end on April 30.

Julie Boland, president of the University’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, spoke to SACUA about the proposal to create a task force on external harassment. Boland said the task force would work to support faculty experiencing harassment from non-U-M community members, including online harassment. 

“Often (the external harassment is) online harassment, but not exclusively,” Boland said. “So (for example), people getting trolled because of what they’re teaching or because of some service, maybe (a) DEI service that they’re involved with. Maybe some clinical practice that they’re doing, but (it’s) their work for the University and they’re getting harassed.” 

Boland said this committee would aim to place less of a burden on targeted faculty members, and more on the offender. She referenced a conversation with Tabbye Chavous, chief diversity officer at the University and director of the National Center for Institutional Diversity.

“The proposals that we looked at (from other universities) still largely put the onus on the targeted faculty member,” Boland said. “That’s something that came up in my conversation with Tabbye Chavous. We want to take the burden off the targeted faculty member, and she’s interested in partnering with us on this.”

The proposed committee would be composed of AAUP and SACUA members, as well as other U-M faculty. Luke McCarthy, director of the Faculty Senate Office, suggested expanding the size of the committee beyond four members to reflect the variety of jobs and disciplines which may put faculty at an increased risk of external harassment.

“Does (the committee) need to be larger to make sure that particular disciplines that tend to be targeted are included in the conversation?” McCarthy said. “There are going to be different issues for clinical abortion-related things versus what would come up in Stamps, for instance, and the arts.”

SACUA voted unanimously to approve the proposal and plans to work with AAUP to send a letter to University Provost Laurie McCauley outlining the task force.

At the conclusion of the meeting, outgoing members shared advice and said their goodbyes. Outgoing SACUA member Kentaro Toyama, professor of information, said he thought it was important for SACUA to strike a balance between criticizing the University and supporting it.

“We should be super conscious of the relationship that we have with various members of the administration,” Toyama said. “We don’t want to be in a situation where we’re constantly worried about whether they’ll think badly of us and therefore don’t push back hard enough, nor do we want to be in a situation where all we do is criticize and ask for things that are very difficult … I do think that we need to find this balance.”

Summer News Editor Abigail VanderMolen can be reached at vabigail@umich.edu.

The post SACUA discusses task force for external harassment of faculty appeared first on The Michigan Daily.

About 100 University of Michigan community members gathered to hear discussions on the relationship between the environment and social and racial justice at Rackham Auditorium Thursday evening. Hosted by the Tishman Center for Social Justice and the Environment, the event featured local and national activists Maria Lopez-Nunez, Anthony Rogers-Wright and isaac sevier.

The panel was moderated by Nayyirah Shariff, a grassroots organizer during the Flint water crisisand co-founder of the Flint Democracy Defense League. They discussed the harmful effects of government silos, or when different departments work independently of one another. Shariff said this separation of various causes across government agencies means organizers need to work harder to address intersectional movements.

“(The) government intentionally silos our movements, and we have to work collectively to deconstruct those silos because we can’t just fight for environmental justice (and allow for) no one (to have) health care,” Shariff said. “We have to fight for it all.”

Panelist isaac sevier, an energy engineer and founding co-director of People’s Utility Commons, spoke about how conversations around clean energy projects — such as electrification — often don’t benefit marginalized communities.

“When we talk about electrify everything I ask, “For whom?” sevier said. “Because it is very easy right now, with the policies and investments that we have, to see that … it was designed just for some people.”

Shariff then asked panelist Anthony Rogers-Wright, director of environmental justice for New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, about the political forces behind the Inflation Reduction Act and the response from social justice organizations. The act, which aims to reduce inflation, increase domestic energy production and reduce carbon emissions, has been touted as a significant step forward in climate energy.

Rogers-Wright said the act has been praised by oil companies and that he believes it does not benefit the people it is intended to. He referenced a quote from Colombian Vice President Francia Márquez about the issue.

“Why don’t the demographics of the people who were so rhapsodic about this match the demographics of people most impacted by the climate crisis?” Rogers-Wright said.

The panelists also discussed President Joe Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which aims to put 40% of federal money from climate-related investments into disadvantaged communities. Maria Lopez-Nuñez, deputy director of advocacy and organizing for Ironbound Community Corporation, said though Justice40 has potential to enact change, its impacts will depend on what people make of it.

“How are we holding people accountable — because this is at the federal level,” Lopez-Nuñez said. “That means that there’s opportunity for us at the state and the municipal level … I think it gives us a loose target to shoot for.”

As she urged audience members to actively participate in democracy, Lopez-Nuñez emphasized how she believes environmentalism and democracy are linked.

“I think we’re here for Earth Day, but (also for) social justice,” Lopez-Nunez said. “And we need to stop making Earth Day something separate from democracy, because it is democracy and public participation (and) public struggle that will help us and if we don’t … we might be doomed.”

In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Kyle Whyte, a SEAS professor who helped organize the event, spoke about what he took away from the event. Whyte said he believes the United States is moment in time with potential for a lot of climate action, but people have to take advantage of it.

“A big takeaway for me is that we are in a moment right now where there’s a lot of resources (and) a lot of attention on environmental justice, but whether we’re going to be able to take advantage of that moment depends on our attitude,] depends on our approach and especially depends on our relationships with other people,” White said.

Environment and Sustainability graduate student Srikari Punyamurtula told The Daily she resonated with what sevier said about talking to family members and close friends regarding environmental and racial justice.

“I guess the thing that took me the most by surprise was (sevier’s) point about how (if) you can’t talk to the people that love and trust you about racial justice, how are you gonna convince anyone else,” Punyamurtula said. “I think that’s something I really need to think about because I separate my family from my work and I don’t really go out of my way to talk to my family about it.”

Daily Staff Reporter Abigail VanderMolen can be reached at vabigail@umich.edu.

The post SEAS hosts Earth Day panel on environmental justice appeared first on The Michigan Daily.

University of Michigan a capella group Maize Mirchi will be the first South Asian group to compete in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella finals following their first-place finish at the Great Lakes Semifinals of the ICCA March 26. Maize Mirchi, which performs a fusion of South Asian and Western music, will compete against nine other teams in the ICCA finals in New York on April 29. 

Kiran Mangrulkar, School of Kinesiology and School of Music, Theatre & Dance senior, is a current member of Maize Mirchi and will be competing at ICCA finals. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Mangrulkar said he is looking forward to making history as a member of the first group to perform South Asian music in ICCA finals.

“The fact that we’re going to be able to sing our unique blend of music and sing a South Asian piece at that stage for the first time ever is just a crazy thing to think about,” Mangrulkar said. “I think we’re all just excited for the experience. … It just feels like a once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity.”

A capella groups in the ICCA competition each have 10 minutes to perform their set. Mangrulkar said every member of Maize Mirchi is involved in selecting songs for their sets, which typically consist of two South Asian and two Western songs.

“We spend probably six to eight hours one day going through all the songs (we are considering), talking about different combinations and what might flow well together, and then again, maintaining the balance of South Asian and Western (music),” Mangrulkar said. “But it’s very much a collaborative experience. It can get very, very intense because we all are very passionate about the music that we think could be a great part of this great set. But over those hours, we ended up coming up with a vision.”

In order to build up the stamina to sing and dance at the same time, LSA sophomore Brooklyn Stack, a music director for the group, told The Daily the team speed walks while singing their competition music.

“We would perform our set, but we would be walking around aggressively,” Stack said. “(The team) would get out of breath (during) practice because when we did it with choreography, we’d always get tired by the fourth song. It’s a good 10-minute set and we’re doing choreography and singing, so we (didn’t) sound as good (by) the last one (before we started conditioning).”

Stack recalled how the Maize Mirchi members prepared to perform at their best while warming up before their semifinal competition. 

“We (warmed up) in this rush and it was in a parking garage, but for some reason we all were just locked in,” Stack said. “Everyone’s just like … we did it the best (we) could.”

In addition to Maize Mirchi’s first-place win at the semifinal competition, Mangrulkar also won the award for outstanding soloist. When preparing for a solo, Mangrulker said he first works on technique before finding an emotional connection to the music.

“That last week (before competition), I really tried to figure out, ‘What is the story from my life that I can bring into the song and use to fuel my emotion?’ ” Mangrulkar said. “Those are the times when I feel like I’ve performed (my solo) best.

Laila Odeh, a Maize Mirchi alum who graduated in 2022, told The Daily she is looking forward to watching her former a capella group make history.

“I’m just excited to see them on that big of a stage,” Odeh said. “And I think it’s also exciting because they’re making history, right? It’s the first South Asian group to get to ICCA finals. …But I also think I’m just excited to watch them have fun and smile — and for the seniors, to watch them have such a memorable final performance.”

During the week after the semifinal competition, Mangrulkar said the group shifted focus to practice their set for the team’s spring concert last Friday. He also said rehearsals leading up to finals in New York have been more relaxed than their past rehearsals before semifinals.

“I think it’s all about that balance of letting the set sit because we know we can do it,” Mangrulkar said. “We’ve seen (the competition set) dusted off, and then finding it, re-energizing it, finding your narrative. And just getting into a place where it’s like, ‘Alright, we’re back in the narrative. We’re back in the muscle memory.’ And now we’re just traveling to do it one last time.”

Daily Staff Reporter Abigail VanderMolen can be reached at vabigail@umich.edu.

The post Maize Mirchi becomes first South Asian a capella group to advance to ICCA finals appeared first on The Michigan Daily.

The University of Michigan Central Student Government met Tuesday night to discuss off-campus housing, the Winter 2023 CSG elections and racial biases within CSG.

During the public commentary portion of the meeting, Public Policy junior Ruth Lynch called on the assembly to pass the Hong Seng Solidarity Resolution, which would signal support for the University’s chapter of United Students Against Sweatshops in condemning alleged wage theft committed by the Hong Seng Knitting Factory, a producer of Nike-branded U-M merchandise.  

“Nike pays the University $174 million just to be able to produce (U-M) merch,” Lynch said. “It’s halfway across the world, but we do have real power to actually get money back in (the) hands (of the employees) that deserve (it).”

The resolution was passed unanimously by the assembly.

CSG Elections Director Taylor Quick then gave the assembly an update about the CSG elections taking place on March 29 and 30, with the ballot opening online for all U-M students throughout those two days. Quick said the election committee has spoken with the Graduate Employees’ Organization, who began striking against the University Wednesday morning, before the strike to ensure that the CSG voting booth on the Diag would not interfere with GEO’s walkout and vice versa.

“I already reached out to GEO (executives), we’re both in agreement that we’ll share the space,” Quick said. “They’re gonna be respectful of our polling site. We’ll be respectful of them. And everything is still gonna go as we have been planning, so nothing to worry about with that.” 

CSG speaker Karthik Pasupula presented a report on the annual CSG Housing Management Survey at the meeting, which asked U-M students living off campus about their experiences with housing, leases and rent payments. Pasupula said the survey suggested that students wait an average of 250 days, or more than eight months, between signing a lease and the lease’s start date.

“This is counterintuitive to what the Early Leasing Ordinance is supposed to do,” Pasupula said. “So there’s something that we’re missing, and those things may be waitlist fees, non-refundable deposits, just general pressure (to resign) your lease, things like that.”

The Early Leasing Ordinance, passed in July 2021, states that a landlord in Ann Arbor must provide tenants with terms and conditions of a lease no later than 180 days before the end of the current lease period. The ordinance was passed in hopes of protecting students from being forced into signing leases nearly a year before the beginning of the lease.

Art & Design junior Santana Malnaik, the CSG Art & Design representative and part of the communications committee, gave a member report to the assembly, alleging that diversity initiatives are often ignored or met with resistance within CSG.

“It’s beyond frustrating and exhausting to go to school at a (Predominantly White Institution) and to work in CSG, where there is little diversity and little value placed on diversity, even when (people) say there is,” Malnaik said. “When the bare minimum, such as spending five minutes to create a Black History Month Instagram post, is asked of assembly members and it’s a fight to get done, you can see how undervalued diversity initiatives are.”

Aarushi Ganguly, the vice speaker of CSG, called on assembly members to consider their place of privilege within CSG based on their identities and to make room for those of other identities in their thoughts and actions.

“Make an active effort to consider how you occupy the space that you do,” Ganguly said. “Are you actively seeking to respect and value different identities? Are you unintentionally placing less value on some people’s contributions than others? Are you working to understand identities and perspectives?”

CSG also discussed a resolution to allocate funds for the Rackham Student Government Micro-Grant Program, which provides short-term financial assistance to graduate students to support the cost of living and basic needs. 

CSG Rules Committee Chair Jarek Schmanski said under the resolution, CSG’s contributions to the micro-grant program are currently set to be in line with those of previous years.

“I do believe … that the current amount, which would be a $5,000 allocation from the (Legislative Discretionary Fund) plus approximately $7,000 from the remainder of the public elections fund — I think that’d be a great contribution to this microgrant program,” Schmanski said.

Daily News Contributor Abigail VanderMolen can be reached at vabigail@umich.edu.

The post CSG talks off-campus housing, ongoing elections and racial bias appeared first on The Michigan Daily.

Five women working in municipal government positions around the state of Michigan spoke with University of Michigan students and Ann Arbor community members Monday morning about their experiences. The interactive virtual webinar, titled “Women Leading Local Government” was attended by more than 70 people and was hosted by the Ford School of Public Policy’s Program in Practical Policy Engagement and the Michigan Municipal League’s 16/50 Project on Zoom.

The 16/50 Project aims to correct the gender imbalance in municipal management by providing professional development and encouraging more women to enter the profession. The project’s name comes from the fact that women make up more than 50% of the state’s population, but only 16% of municipal managers.

Several of the panelists said they had not initially planned on going into a public service career. Torrie Lee, township superintendent of Buena Vista Charter Township, said she became involved in local government six and a half years ago when she came across a posting for a job in the township where she grew up.

“My pathway here was not traditional, it definitely was not the typical ‘go to school for it, love government’ — that was not me,” Lee said. “I saw the position from Buena Vista Charter Township, the community where I was born and raised. That actually led me into government, into this position. I can say since getting (a career in public service) is extremely rewarding.”

After each of the panelists spoke about their individual journeys, participants were sent to five breakout rooms with the women, where each panelist led a discussion about how to deal with unique problems they face in specific roles in municipal government. Panelist Rebecca Fleury, city manager of Battle Creek, MI and one of the panelists, said at the event that her group’s discussion about school board representatives led to discussion about the importance of remaining politically neutral and prioritizing the public good.

“I love the conversation around the importance of educating and informing versus taking a side,” Fleury said. “Ultimately, we have to take the direction of our elected officials … but yet (recognize) the importance of educating and informing the community as well as our employees.”

The webinar concluded with everyone coming back together for a Q&A session with all of the panelists. Sheryl Theriot, one of the panelists and director of external affairs at the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, described the process of updating municipal policy for the audience. She said it is important to approach politics as an opportunity to grow rather than a topic that always has to be controversial or divisive.

“An open, honest conversation about what the current policy (is), why it (is) there and then the opportunities to improve, move forward and be progressive (is my approach),” Theriot said. “If you focus on the negative … conversation tends to spiral in a downward direction, but if you look at how (we can) be better … how (we can) be more inclusive? How can we empower and uplift whatever that policy is and engage more people in it? And that will be the approach that I would take.”

Lee advised women interested in public office to get involved in their local government even if they think they lack experience. She said taking the first step can be as simple as joining local committees and looking for volunteer opportunities.

“Get involved in any kind of local committees or commissions that you can, even with elections,” Lee said. “A lot of times we find that a lot of people in a community, they really don’t understand the way that government even works. And once they actually join a committee or commission you learn so much about your local municipality.”

Daily News Contributor Abigail VanderMolen can be reached at vabigail@umich.edu.

The post Leaders in Michigan municipal governments speak in Ford seminar appeared first on The Michigan Daily.

University of Michigan researchers found improvisational theater classes improve anxiety symptoms and lessen uncertainty intolerance in adolescents in a February study. The new study focused on students enrolled in improv classes through the Detroit Creativity Project, is the third installment of a series — including previous installments published in 2019 and 2020 — investigating the link between improv and improvements in anxiety symptoms.

February’s study was the last paper of a three-part dissertation written by Peter Felsman for his Ph.D. at the University. U-M psychology professor Colleen Seifert, statistician senior Brandy Sinco and Joseph Himle, professor of social work and psychiatry, also contributed to the study. 

In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Felsman said the new study’s focus on uncertainty intolerance — negative beliefs about uncertainty and negative reactions to uncertain situations — in the context of the real world sets it apart from the other installments of the dissertation. This study examines whether uncertainty intolerance and anxiety levels are correlated in a real-world improv situation.

“In the real world, this intolerance of uncertainty proposed mechanism seems to hold up,” Felsman said. “And that is really cool. So (for) people who don’t show up to improv with a high degree of social anxiety, but maybe they’re feeling depressed — learning to embrace uncertainty can be helpful to them.”

The Detroit Creativity Project works to bring improv classes directly to the schools of students  in Detroit and neighboring cities. Seifert told The Daily the project was a good topic for  their study because of its aim to bring improv to students who likely hadn’t had access to improv classes before.

“(Detroit Public Schools) is an area where it’s really low resource,” Seifert said. “ … So the brilliance of the Detroit Project’s plan is it’s right in the school classroom. … You just sign up for it if you want it. So it’s very accessible.”

The researchers asked study participants to take a survey screening for mental health issues both before and after taking an improv course. Seifert said though this approach allowed all students who wanted to participate in improv to take the class, this approach made it more difficult to determine causation.

“We didn’t want to deny anybody improv … so what we went to is called an A/B test,” Seifert said. “So you test them before they have the intervention, and you test them afterwards. And so you can’t claim that the intervention caused (decreased anxiety or uncertainty intolerance) because you don’t have a control group to see that it didn’t happen in that control group. Instead, what you do is infer a correlation.”

The survey consisted of 11 questions assessing social anxiety, uncertainty intolerance and social self-efficacy — one’s confidence in their ability to navigate social situations. The study showed decreases in both social anxiety and uncertainty intolerance after participating in the course, as well as a correlation between the two. The researchers conclude from these results that engaging in improv exercises decreases uncertainty intolerance, and that a decrease in uncertainty intolerance is associated with a subsequent decrease in social anxiety.

According to Felsman, facing situations that are unpredictable — such as those found in improv — can help people gain a more positive outlook on the prospect of uncertainty. 

“Engaging repeatedly in the unknown in this fun and playful way would teach people that there’s something nice to be discovered in the unknown,” Felsman said. “It’s not always a terrifying thing.”

LSA senior Cassie Bergen is co-president of Midnight Book Club, an improv comedy group on campus. She spoke with The Daily about how she learned to deal with unpredictability by repeatedly facing uncertain situations with people she trusts in the group.

“In practice, you do this over and over again,” Bergen said. “You go into this uncertain situation with support over and over again (and) you learn that, okay, yeah, I can do this. Yeah, I can face uncertainty and be okay.”

Music, Theater & Dance senior Paul Legallet, the other co-president of Midnight Book Club, noted in an interview with The Daily that being able to live in the moment is not only essential to doing improv, but also helpful for improving mental health.

“To be really good at improv is to live in the moment you know, respond naturally to everything around you and being present,” Legallet said. “And if there’s one thing that eases anxiety or anything like that (such as) social anxiety, it’s just kind of putting yourself in the present moment.”

LSA senior Lelia Darmer, member of Midnight Book Club, also told The Daily living in the moment is a mental health benefit of improv.

“You’re really hanging on to every word, which forces you to be present in a way that’s really helpful for me, because maybe I’m thinking about something in the back of my mind, but then I’m in a scene and suddenly that’s all I’m thinking about,” Dormer said. “I’m so consumed by it. So it’s really helpful to kind of (reorient myself in the present) and to get out of my own head and really just be in a moment.”

Seifert noted how students in the study reported they felt more present as they got to know each other over the course of the improv class.

“It wasn’t like they were all fast friends,” Seifert said. “But you could see that they felt more present as a person, that they felt confident that they could play their role and (have it) go well. That’s really what I think you get out of improving.”

In addressing the advantages of engaging in improv courses over traditional therapy, Felsman said improv carries less stigma and is often more accessible. Felsman emphasized, however, that he believes the stigma around therapy should change.

“There’s way, way less stigma (surrounding improv) historically than with mental health treatment,” Felsman said. “I also don’t want to embrace that (stigma). Hopefully, there will be no stigma with traditional mental health treatment and this will be more just another option.”

Daily News Contributor Abigail VanderMolen can be reached at vabigail@umich.edu.

The post <strong>UMich study shows benefits of improv for mental health</strong> appeared first on The Michigan Daily.