In the News
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September 30, 2020
While some may call summer 2020 a turning point for the country — with a raging pandemic and surging activism — Lydia Kelow-Bennett, assistant professor of Afroamerican and African studies, likens it to a broken leg that continues to heal improperly, and the only way to fully repair the limb is to break it again: “We keep trying to heal these breaks but they’re not set right in the first place, and so the reason then why these issues keep coming up, the reason why we have not addressed racial justice effectively in this country, is because we never set the break.”
NBC News -
September 29, 2020
“This is going to be the only recession in history where income goes up. This is the most bizarre thing we’ve ever seen,” said economist Don Grimes of the Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics, commenting on the 54 percent growth in personal income in Michigan during the second quarter — not from wages but from government stimulus checks, jobless benefits and expanded unemployment that added $600 per week to payouts.
Bridge Magazine -
September 29, 2020
Andrew Gronewold, associate professor of environment and sustainability, says the past 10 years have been the wettest on record for the Great Lakes watershed: “The rate at which precipitation has changed over the past decade simply cannot be explained by historical variability alone. The best explanation is a warming atmosphere and warming global temperature.”
Physics Today -
September 29, 2020
“She wrote that the decision whether to bear a child is central not only to a woman’s dignity and autonomy, but also her place in society … that women have the right to participate as equal citizens. And in order to be able to do that, in order to be able to realize their full potential, they must be able to control their reproductive lives,” said Kate Andrias, professor of law, who as a clerk worked with Ruth Bader Ginsburg on a dissent in a case that banned an abortion procedure, with no exceptions for a woman’s health.
National Public Radio -
September 28, 2020
“We know that everyone is eager to have the COVID vaccines and would have liked to have those vaccines yesterday. … We want to expedite the trials and get it done as quickly as possible, but we have to make sure there’s safety data that these vaccines work before they will be approved,” said Anna Lok, professor of internal medicine and assistant dean for clinical research. Njira Lugogo, associate professor of internal medicine, added, “As investigators we’re responsible for making sure our first priority is the safety of our participants.”
WDIV/Detroit -
September 28, 2020
“Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death could not have come at a worse time for the millions of Americans who get their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. … What’s at stake is not just the coverage that millions of Americans have gained through the new insurance exchanges and the Medicaid expansion but also the parts of the law that protect Americans with pre-existing conditions,” co-wrote Nicholas Bagley, professor of law.
The New York Times -
September 28, 2020
“As policymakers (in Detroit) think about recovery, we want them to focus on economic mobility in a holistic way. It shouldn’t just be a conversation about jobs. It should also be a conversation about health care, transportation and education, as well as a conversation about who’s at the table making decisions when we’re spending money to address these priorities,” said Afton Branche-Wilson, strategic projects manager at Poverty Solutions’ Detroit Partnership on Economic Mobility.
Detroit Free Press -
September 25, 2020
Melvyn Levitsky, clinical professor of public policy, says a series of factors serve as a troubling combination for Russian President Vladimir Putin: “A country that tries to control its population without having all the means of control, where the economic situation is not so good, where dependency on oil and natural gas is certainly coming down, particularly during this period of time. … There is something brewing that could create problems for Putin.”
U.S. News & World Report -
September 25, 2020
“Top-down mobilization propels the whole bureaucracy to meet Xi’s mandate — eradicating poverty — at any cost. Its strength is also its weakness. Results will look impressive because they must, but if extreme measures are used to achieve them, they bring unintended problems down the road,” said Yuen Yuen Ang, associate professor of political science, on President Xi Jinping’s promise to end rural poverty in China.
Bloomberg -
September 25, 2020
“I always feel a little uneasy at looking back at people creating things with so little support and pre-established protocols, without necessarily thinking about the social, racial and colonial motivations that made them act the way that they did,” said Antoine Traisnel, assistant professor of comparative literature, and English language and literature, on the legacy of American ornithologist John James Audubon.
Gizmodo
