Board of Regents to meet June 16; livestream available
The Board of Regents is scheduled to meet at 4 p.m. June 16 in University Hall, a two-story multipurpose room in the newly renovated Alexander G. Ruthven Building, 1109 Geddes Ave., on Central Campus. Members of the public will also be able to watch a livestream of the meeting at umich.edu/watch/. Those wishing to make comments during the meeting must attend in person. An agenda will be posted at noon June 13 at regents.umich.edu/meetings/agendas/. To offer public comment at the meeting, sign up before 9 a.m. June 15 at regents.umich.edu/meetings/public-comments/form. People with disabilities who need assistance should contact the Office of the Vice President and Secretary of the University in advance at 734-763-8194. For more information, go to regents.umich.edu.
Election for non-union staff member on police oversight panel ends June 19
The election for a non-bargained-for staff member to serve a two-year term on the U-M Police Department Oversight Committee is now underway and continues through June 19. Non-unionized staff can review the list of candidates and their statements and then vote online. The newly elected member will take their place on the committee in July. The six-member PDOC consists of two student members, two faculty members (one Senate and one non-Senate), and two staff members (one union and one non-union), who are nominated and elected by their peers for two-year terms. Jayapalli Rajiv Bapuraj, clinical professor of radiology, recently joined the committee as a non-Senate faculty member. The committee reviews grievances against any university police officer and makes recommendations to the executive director of the Division of Public Safety and Security. More information about the committee is available at hr.umich.edu/pdoc.
Faculty experts to discuss possible implications of Roe v. Wade reversal
The U-M Center for the Education of Women+, Institute for Research on Women and Gender, and the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy will host a virtual panel from 2-3 p.m. June 8 about the potential implications if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. The virtual event is free and open to the public. In response to the recent leaked draft Supreme Court opinion — which would eliminate the constitutional right to abortion as settled in the landmark 1973 court decision — U-M law, public policy and medical faculty members will provide their perspectives about possible implications at the campus, state and national levels. The faculty panel includes Betsey Stevenson, professor of public policy and economics; Leah Litman, associate professor of law; Dee Fenner, professor and chair of obstetrics and gynecology; and Sarah Miller, assistant professor of business economics and public policy. Visit the event page for more information and to register.
U-M to host second annual Juneteenth Conference on June 15-18
The university’s Juneteenth Planning Committee will present the second annual Juneteenth Conference on June 15–18. This year’s theme is “Celebrate, Educate, Inspire.” The conference will feature Opal Lee, “the Grandmother of Juneteenth,” who will speak on Juneteenth’s journey to becoming a national holiday; and Minnijean Brown Trickey, one of the Little Rock Nine who enrolled at the formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957, who will be in conversation with journalist Roland Martin. These speakers will be joined by top scholars speaking on issues including health equity and mental wellness in the Black community, and the importance of African American institutions such as the church, fraternities and sororities. The conference also includes a music festival at the Michigan Union the evening of June 17, and a march and festival at Wheeler Park on June 18. Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day, marks the end of slavery in the United States when enslaved Africans in Galveston, Texas, learned of their freedom June 19, 1865. All events are free and open to the public, with options to participate in-person or online. Learn more at juneteenth.umich.edu. Pre-registration is required.
Survey looks at online government meeting quality, service disparities
More than half of Michigan’s local officials say that moving government meetings online during the pandemic decreased the overall quality of such gatherings, according to the Michigan Public Policy Survey conducted by the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. The survey found a gap in online presence between larger urban jurisdictions, which tend to have more resources and staffing to devote to their websites and are more likely to provide various high-tech online offerings, compared with smaller rural jurisdictions, which often have fewer resources and provide fewer services. The disparity exists despite most of those government entities having websites (81%) and conducting meetings using conferencing software (also 81%). For instance, 88% of urban jurisdictions allow online payments, compared with 31% of rural jurisdictions. The biggest issue discouraging jurisdictions’ online presence is a lack of broadband and high-speed internet access (reported by 52% of local officials), which is especially true for more rural areas.
— Compiled by James Iseler, The University Record
