ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY TWO YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Wednesday, January 11, 2023
Ann Arbor, Michigan
GOVERNMENT
Sen. Debbie Stabenow will not run for reelection in 2024
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CAMPUS LIFE
After a historic four terms, Stabenow will retire, opening a seat in the Senate JI HOON CHOI
Daily News Reporter
U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich, announced Thursday she will not be seeking reelection in 2024 following the end of her term in 2025. “Inspired by a new generation of leaders, I have decided to pass the torch in the U.S. Senate,” Stabenow said. In 2000, Stabenow was the first woman from Michigan to be elected to the United States Senate. During her time in the Senate, Stabenow has focused on protecting the Great Lakes, expanding affordable health care and improving the lives of Michigan families. Stabenow is also the chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry, where she authored and co-authored the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills to strengthen Michigan agriculture. For the remaining two years of her term, Stabenow said she will focus on the passage of the next five-year Farm Bill aimed at determining the nation’s food and agriculture policies. “(The bill) is also key in protecting our land and water and creating jobs in our rural and urban communities,” Stabenow said. After her term as senator, Stabenow plans to continue serving Michigan outside of elected office and spending time with her family. Stabenow’s retirement opens up a seat on the U.S. Senate for Michigan, in which both seats are currently held by the Democratic Party. There is speculation as to who may be strong candidates for the seat from both the Republican and
Democratic Parties, including from U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich, and Tudor Dixon, 2022 republican nominee for Michigan governor. U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich, said Stabenow is a champion for Michigan as a legislator and a leader as Michigan’s first female senator. He pointed out how the two of them worked together to deliver relief to Flint during the water crisis and to lead the expansion of union-made electric vehicles in the state. “Senator Stabenow’s record of legislative accomplishments is unmatched,” Kildee wrote in a statement. “It has been an honor to partner with her on so many initiatives to better our state.” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II also released a statement on Stabenow’s announcement. They focused on Stabenow’s work in Michigan and their expectations of what she will do next. “(Stabenow) is a fierce protector of our Great Lakes, fought for decades to modernize the Soo Locks and continues to tackle toxic contaminants in drinking water,” Whitmer wrote in the statement. “I look forward to working with her through the end of her term and beyond.” Gilchrist echoed many of the points Whitmer made. He said Stabenow’s advocacy on mental health and her work in protecting natural resources helped build Michigan into a better state. “I am grateful for Senator Stabenow’s friendship and leadership,” Gilchrist wrote in the statement. “Let’s build on her legacy and continue working together to make a difference for Michiganders in every community.”
NEWS BRIEFS
New Central Campus residence hall to be built on Elbel Field
Regents approve $6.5 million planning contract for a new residence and dining hall for firstyear students on Central Campus IRENA LI
Daily News Editor
University of Michigan President Santa Ono announced the University’s plan to build a new residence and dining hall targeted at serving first-year students on Central Campus at the Board of Regents meeting Thursday. The new residence hall will be built on the site of Elbel Field and is planned to have the capacity to house 2,300 students. Ono cited a stagnant supply of housing for undergraduate students amidst growing enrollment as the reason for the new development. “We want to make sure all first-year students who want to live on Central Campus are able to live there,” Ono said. “Since 2004, undergraduate enrollment has increased by more than 8,000 students, yet on-campus housing has simply not kept pace.” The regents unanimously voted to approve a $6.5 million initial planning contract with Robert A.M. Stern Architects. The Michigan Marching Band,
which currently practices on Elbel Field, will be relocated one block north to a 6.1-acre property on South Fifth Avenue, according to a press release from the University, which purchased the land on South Fifth from Fingerle Lumber in 2018. “The prospect of a new marching band practice field that continues to honor the Louis Elbel name, while creating a practice facility that moves the band into the future, is exciting to John D. Pasquale, who has directed the 400-member Michigan Marching Band since 2013,” the release read. Martino Harmon, vice president for student life, said at the meeting he believes the new residence hall will improve the undergraduate experience. “Demand among students for affordable, on-campus housing on or near Central Campus continues to rise,” Harmon said. “The first step of this multi-phase housing project will help us meet the needs for the growing student body and ensure excellence in the overall undergraduate experience.”
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VP of Student Life Martino Harmon reflects on Fall 2022
In an interview with The Daily, Harmon spoke on DEI 2.0 and campus development going forward RONI KANE, CARLIN PENDELL & RACHEL MINTZ
Managing News Editor & Daily News Editors
The Michigan Daily sat down with Martino Harmon, vice president of student life, to discuss the transition from DEI 1.0 to DEI 2.0, student engagement and activism and new construction projects across campus. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Campus diversity, equity and inclusion plans: The Michigan Daily: Since DEI 1.0 ended in 2022 and DEI 2.0 will be starting in fall 2023, what does it mean to have a “transition phase” this semester? Martino Harmon: The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion sort of maps out or outlines the process. It’s very different for me and refreshing that we have a year to evaluate, and now this year is a transition and planning year. I think it’s great because it allows for more engagement of stakeholders in a better planning process that’s more intentional. I’ve been to institutions where you have maybe one semester to transition, depending on when you release the plan. I think it’s also a much better plan for DEI at the very end when we release it. TMD: Now that the initial schoolspecific findings from DEI 1.0 have been released, and with the full report anticipated in January, have you seen any big takeaways from DEI 1.0 thus far? MH: From the Student Life perspective, I think there are three big takeaways that really jumped out to me. One is the opening of the Trotter Multicultural Center; that has been huge. We’re really, this semester, fully living in the Trotter Center, because the current center opened in April 2019. The involvement, the usage of the Trotter Center is very, very strong. Another takeaway really occurred a few years ago, and that was the formation of the Campus Involvement Advisory Board. We had a lot of advisory committees in Student Life, but that committee really brought together a large number of students from different, diverse perspectives and organizations. That group really helped us to make sure that we were using well-informed practices that students could identify with. The third takeaway happened during my first year. We expanded our services for students with disabilities with a three-prong approach. One, we had the office for Services for Students with Disabilities. Then we expanded when Student Academic Affairs asked us to take over the management of the testing accommodation centers for students with disabilities, so those now fall under Student Life. Then the third thing was when our director of Services for Students with Disabilities, Dr. Okanlami, brought the Adaptive Sports and Fitness program to the University and
expanded it. That provides a whole avenue of support and recreation fitness for students that identify as disabled. TMD: How will the DEI 2.0 framework incorporate student concerns, such as the points outlined in the Black Student Union’s (BSU) “More than 4” plan? MH: I was actually there when BSU announced the platform. I’ve been engaged along with President Ono, Provost McCauley, Vice Provost Adele Brumfield and Vice Provost Tabbye Chavous. We’ve been looking at that platform and dissecting it in a meaningful way. We’ve had one meeting, we have another scheduled with them next week. We propose a working structure that will allow us to bring people from across campus with BSU to really dig into each element of that platform, and to figure out what the current state of the platform is and what can we do in a realistically short-term and long-term period to address the gaps in it. It was very impressive, the way the platform was constructed and how it was presented. What I really love is that BSU talked about a co-constructive sort of approach for the University to work together with them. Student political engagement and activism: TMD: On Nov. 8, lines to register to vote in the midterm elections at the University made headlines across the state. Do you think the University was successful in communicating about and facilitating same-day voting and registration? MH: I really believe that the University was successful. I read the headlines and you can focus on the headline, but what I’ve focused on, which I think was the bigger message, was the participation and the willingness and eagerness of students to participate in large numbers in the midterm election, which doesn’t normally happen. Conventional wisdom says that students and young people don’t participate in midterm elections. Well, we certainly prove that not to be true. I want to make sure the groups get the proper respect for all their work, including Turn Up Turnout, the Ginsberg Center and the University of Michigan Museum of Art and Duderstadt Center. TMD: The University has expressed that it is on track to meet its carbon neutrality goals, including reducing direct and indirect carbon emissions by about 50% by 2025. How is the University collaborating with student groups on campus to continue to develop its sustainability goals and plans? MH: As of this fall, we assumed management and coordination of the Student Sustainability Coalition (SSC). We are much more intentionally engaged and involved with everything under the SSC than we were in the past. Now, we’re in the process of hiring a couple of additional staff to strengthen sustainability. As we look at more construction projects
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at Student Life, obviously we’re going to really make sure we get feedback from students about sustainability and putting them into process, but it also requires us to work closely with Facilities and Operations. Health and safety campus initiatives: TMD: Do you think the “maskoptional” policy on campus during the fall 2022 semester has been effective in preventing major outbreaks of COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses? MH: I’m regularly in connection with Dr. Robert Ernst, the chief health officer for the University. From everything that I’ve seen, looking at rates of the spread of COVID, looking at quarantine and isolation housing, I think we’ve had a really good semester considering the level of engagement that we’ve had between students and staff and faculty. Anytime you repopulate a campus you’re gonna see a lot of cases that first week or so. I think we’ve managed that pretty well. I think the big reason for that is, number one, our vaccine policy. That makes a difference because we know that a significant percentage of the population is vaccinated and boosted. We’re not out of the pandemic, but as we move to what health professionals called the endemic stage of the COVID-19 virus, it really allows people to take responsibility on an individual level. Whenever I go to an airport, I’m wearing a mask, because I want to be protected. If you’re sick, stay home, don’t risk coming in. So far, I think we’re doing a good job with that. TMD: Do you think the University’s response and messaging around the monkeypox virus (MPV) was effective in mitigating the spread of the virus on campus while not targeting “high-risk” groups, including members of the LGBTQ+ community? MH: We were obviously very sensitive about that. We have a lot of professionals on campus who are very in tune with the needs of the LGBTQ+ population and they were involved in those discussions with public health professionals. I guess if there was a positive to going through the pandemic, it was that we had health systems in place that may not have been in place a few years ago. We’re able to use those systems in the same way with monkeypox, realizing that it is a different disease and realizing that there’s certain populations that we need to be aware of so we don’t stigmatize any groups. I think we were ready for it when it happened, and I don’t think we had any really bad outcomes from it. TMD: Do you have anything else you’d like to share with us about this topic? MH: One thing I wanted to mention was our whole initiative around health and well-being. Our focus is on students, but really it should be a campus focus. I am particularly excited for the Wellbeing Collective project, because one of
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the things I noticed when I came here is that the sole focus was on therapy from CAPS. That’s got to be available. We got to invest in that. But there are a range of support services and programs that are available to students and we need to do more to highlight that. There are a lot of different ways to approach mental health and well-being. What the Wellbeing Collective is doing is talking about a health-promoting campus and really reaching people in different ways. Campus development, renovation and construction projects: TMD: What has been the significance of renovating and reopening the three multicultural lounges in residence halls on campus this semester? MH: It is so exciting. I cannot tell you how unique it is. As a person who worked at other fouryear institutions, I have never seen such an expansive program with 18 different multicultural lounges that all have different themes and reach different audiences and are open to everyone. You may not even realize how many multicultural lounges there are on this campus. I think we need to do a better job of letting people know that, yes, the Trotter Center is here, but there are other multicultural spaces. The renovation project was very successful. I spoke at one of the grand openings, and it was packed. I think it really just highlights and amplifies the really unique nature of over 50 years of multicultural lounges at the University of Michigan. We’re now going into the next phase of lounge renovations that will take place over the summer and then you’ll have more grand openings next fall. One of the goals of the renovations is trying to make the lounges more accessible whether or not people have moved out of on-campus housing, so they can attend programming. We have to do that in a safe way. But I know that we’re trying to make changes so that more people can utilize the lounges and recognize how great they are. TMD: The Central Student Government (CSG) recently discussed what the former site of the Fleming Administration Building might be used for. Will the Office of Student Life have any input on this decision, and if so, what would you like to see done with the space? MH: I think now that we’ve heard from students, it will allow us to now have a system for students’ feelings about the use of the former site of the Fleming Administration Building. Though we have not had any deep discussions regarding the former site, I’m certain that at some level the Office of Student Life will be more involved. Right now the plan is to have a kind of green space, and the question really will be: is that the long-term plan, or is that the short-term plan? And if it’s a short-term plan, what does it become after the green space?
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