The conference “(S)exploiting the Vulnerable: Empowering Future Legal Advocates,” held April 12 at Wayne State University Law School, attracted more than 300 attendees from a variety of disciplines including, law, social work, law enforcement and non-profits. Planned and coordinated by Wayne State Assistant Professor Blanche Cook and law students Taylor Hilton, Ben VanSlyke, Lydia Mikail, Rebecca Bundy, and Elisabeth Moore, the event opened with remarks by WSU Law School Dean Richard Bierschbach about the issues of sex trafficking and how future legal advocates can make a change by bringing light to this topic. Wayne Law alumna Angela Povilatis from the Michigan Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention and Treatment Board, and Kim Trent from the WSU Board of Governors spoke about the growing world of sex trafficking and how the legal community can work to combat this practice. 

Patrick Gossman, deputy chief information officer at Wayne State University, agrees that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should give institutions the opportunity to deploy their own networks. Equipment costs have now come down significantly, and projects such as the NMU Educational Access Network have shown it can be done, he said. Gossman said the Educational Broadband Service (EBS) is being used effectively by educators. “The only spectrum not being utilized in the United States is the spectrum that the FCC has been sitting on for over 23 years, despite all the efforts we’ve made to get them to license the unlicensed areas,” he said. Wayne State University obtained its EBS licenses in the 1960s and produced educational television programming until the 1990s. It then leased its spectrum to Sprint, which built up the necessary infrastructure in Detroit to make the 4G LTE network operational. “There was no way that I could have built a cellular 4G LTE network to blanket 38,000 square miles and four million people. It made a heck of a lot more sense to partner with Sprint and let them go through that,” said Gossman. “We lease to Sprint, but I look upon it as a partnership.”

Around 7,500 people die each day in the United States—one person every 11.5 seconds. By your 50s and 60s, you’ve almost certainly had personal experience with death—a parent’s death, other close family members, and/or personal friends. And yet, when you hear that someone has died, it’s still hard to know what to say to their loved ones. Part of the reason is that seeing the grief and pain of others surrounding death is uncomfortable. You also may be grappling with your own feelings about your experiences. They may also be busy making arrangements, causing it to appear like they’re handling the death particularly well. “Then you might find a few months later that it’s all starting to hit,” says Peter A. Lichtenberg, a clinical psychologist and director of the Institute of Gerontology at Wayne State University. “Grief is very variable. It brings out a sense of finality and a sense of helplessness in all of us,” says Lichtenberg. 

Arash Javanbakht, assistant professor of psychiatry, wrote an article for The Conversation about post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. “PTSD is common, affecting 8 percent of the U.S. population, up to 30 percent of the combat exposed veterans, and 30-80 percent of refugees and victims of torture. A brain scan is a general term that covers a diverse group of methods for imaging the brain. In psychiatric clinical practice, brain scans are mostly used to rule out visible brain lesions that may be causing psychiatric symptoms. However, in research we use them to learn about the pathologies of the brain in mental illness. 

A redacted Mueller Report is likely to dominate the news cycle for the coming days and beyond as Congress and the public get a first glimpse at its findings. What answers should we expect? What answers should we not expect to get? What are the possible paths forward? And how does this report and investigation compare to other probes into presidencies throughout history? Marc Kruman, professor of American history and director of Wayne State’s Center for the Study of Citizenship joined Reuters reporter David Shepardson in a discussion about the findings.

The Detroit Jazz Festival has year-round education initiatives that bring musicians such as the artist-in-residence into local schools to work with and mentor the next generation of jazz artists. “I think it’s one of the jewels of Detroit,” said Wayne State University President M. Roy Wilson. “Wayne State is very proud to be affiliated with it. For students to be able to participate and be mentored is huge.”

Rachel McMahon, a west Michigan teen obsessed with pop star Justin Bieber, made national headlines when she was identified — outed? — earlier this year as the unpaid author of nearly 700 BuzzFeed quizzes. "Digital life, like life in general, has positive and negative aspects," said Karen McDevitt, a Wayne State University instructor on new media. "Economically, digital media has not really found a sustainable business model. It's based on virality." That means, McDevitt said, companies must get a lot of attention. "The joy of the Internet is that we can access everything, and the problem with that goes back to that unsustainable business model," McDevitt added. "If you post something online, why should I have to pay to access that? The thinking is that it should be free. So how do we pay people to do that?"

Over the past year and a half, national security agencies, federal granting agencies, the White House and members of Congress have all signaled their increasing concern about international students or scholars who might seek to exploit the openness of the U.S. academic environment for their own -- or their nations' -- gain. "I don’t think it’s necessarily that anything has changed so much as there’s just a growing awareness that there is a potential issue," said M. Roy Wilson, the president of Wayne State University and co-chair of the NIH working group on foreign influences on research integrity. "I do want to emphasize I think everybody on the committee -- most of us were university presidents -- were very, very, very sensitive to the fact that most foreign scientists who get NIH grants and who collaborate with scientists here, the vast, vast majority are very productive and have contributed a huge amount to science and are playing by the rules. We want to make sure that we don’t stigmatize the overwhelming majority of foreign investigators. But having said that, there’s just a growing awareness that there has been some small but nonetheless important problem that has to be addressed."

Annmarie Cano, professor in the department of psychology at Wayne State University, discusses one way to be prepared for difficult situations. “What do speaking with someone with excruciating pain, meeting with difficult co-workers, or talking about politics with extended family members have in common? 

Some critics have claimed that palm oil is linked with heart disease and other non-communicable diseases. But a nutritional biochemist pointed out that many studies have shown that saturated fat may not have an impact on heart disease risk. Wayne State University’s Depar­tment of Nutrition and Food Science Associate Professor Pramod Khosla said that many such studies have since emerged since 2011. He added palm oil is a balanced oil with an equal amount of unsaturated and saturated fats. In fact, Khosla said that one of the biggest contributors to heart disease is too much salt, which could lead to hypertension, a risk factor for heart disease. 

Michael Addonizio, professor of educational leadership and policy studies, examines the growing disparity in compensation to America’s teachers. “In the spring of 2018, thousands of public school teachers walked out of their classrooms in a half-dozen states, protesting low salaries, rising class sizes and cuts to school budgets that have prompted most teachers to buy their own classroom supplies. Additional strikes followed in 2019 in Los Angeles, Denver and Oakland. While these walkouts, which enjoyed much public support, were about more than teacher pay, stagnant teacher salaries were central issues.” 

Saeed Ahmed Khan, senior lecturer in Near East, Asian and global studies, wrote a Conversation piece about the history of Muslims settling in America, and misunderstandings that many Americans hold about Islam. Khan notes that much of what Americans understand about Islam is from the media. “It’s not surprising then to see the many misunderstandings that exist about Muslims. Some see them as outsiders and a threat to the American way of life and values. President Donald Trump’s controversial policy to impose a ban on Muslims from seven countries entering into the United States played into such fears. What many don’t know, however, is that Muslims have been in America well before America became a nation. In fact, some of the earliest arrivals to this land were Muslim immigrants – forcibly transported as slaves in the transatlantic trade, whose 400th anniversary is being observed this year,” Khan wrote.

The new Henry Louis Gates PBS series, Reconstruction: America after the Civil War, which is airing in two parts, April 9-10, features four hours of footage examining the aftermath of the Civil War and onset of Reconstruction. Kidada E. Williams, associate professor in Wayne State’s Department of History, was featured among experts commenting throughout the series.

Created to address Michigan’s low literacy rates, Wayne State University’s School of Information Sciences (SIS) is launching an experimental program for spring/summer 2019 aimed at increasing the number of professional school librarians in the state. Kafi Kumasi, assistant SIS professor and lead developer of the program, says the time is right to act on “new synergy” in the state’s educational system and legislative bodies. 

The new Facebook Messenger chat bot, named after the Spirit of Detroit, is part of the DetroitEd411 program launched by Wayne State University in April 2019 and gives students free 24-hour access to resources and information about postsecondary education opportunities. It uses artificial intelligence and can answer questions from people in any stage of their educational path – from high schoolers who need financial aid information to parents seeking a career change. “This tool allows folks to engage wherever they are,” says Dawn Medley, associate vice president of enrollment management at Wayne State University. “The wonderful thing about AI is it doesn’t judge you. You don’t have to sit across from a person and say, ‘I was 16 and I made a mistake,’ or ‘I’m 30 and I never got my high school diploma and I don’t want people to know.’ It’s purely anonymous.”

You've probably seen them trotting around at all the big events in Detroit, dressed to the nines and directing crowds of people. They are the Detroit mounted police. But, what does an average day look like for a mounted officer? What is required to take care of the horses? Michelle Oliver got a chance to do a ride-along and this is what she learned. Oliver arrived at 8 a.m. and the officers had already done a lot of work. The horses were groomed and waiting in their stables for their officers to get dressed and ready. Speaking to Officer Garnette Steen, he said it takes them about an hour to prep the horses in the morning. Looking nice and polished is important for both the officers and the horses, so the horses are given a hoof treatment to make their hooves look shiny. Seargant Muston then did a roll call and handed out assignments for the day. They like to go where there is a lot of foot traffic. Eastern Market on Saturdays and the Wayne State area is a popular beat. Oliver followed Officers Steen and Murphy for their patrol of Wayne State. Not long after they mounted their horses, Remmy and Andre, people started coming up to ask them if they could pet the horses, something the officers welcomed. "It's a little different. I've never had anyone walk up and pet my squad car, but every time I am walking, somebody will stop [me], and want to pet Andre," said Officer Brandon Murphy. The horses help the police build relationships with the community they are patrolling, something Sergeant Muston finds very important. The Detroit Mounted Police started patrolling the streets in 1893. Sgt. Muston said they had a rocky start, but quickly got their footing and started growing. At their peak, the Detroit mounted unit had about 70 officers. In 2005, however, Sergeant Muston said the department was poorly managed and was shut down after over 100 years on duty. Muston saw the value in the mounted unit and wrote a proposal to bring it back, which they did in 2009. The officers work a typical 8 hour day and will spend about 5 hours on patrol with their horses, with breaks. They all seemed very dedicated to their work and enjoyed talking to people as they walked by. One girl was so enchanted by the horses that she ran off to buy apples to feed them. "Come say 'hi.' Come speak. We don't bite, unprovoked," joked Officer Murphy. 

"Ours is a society that craves vulnerable flesh,” says Blanche Cook, an assistant professor at Wayne State University Law School and a leading national expert on sex-trafficking prosecutions and the commercialization and exploitation of females. Cook, previously an Assistant U.S. Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice in Nashville, Tenn., specializing in large-scale drug and sex-trafficking prosecutions, is helping organize an April 12 conference, “(S)exploiting the Vulnerable: Empowering Future Legal Advocates to Combat Sex Trafficking.” “Unlike other sex trafficking conferences, Wayne Law’s conference centralizes the point of view of the survivor and uses that point of view to critique the legal process,” Cook says. Cook notes sex trafficking, that victimizes both children and adults, has reached epidemic proportions. Homeless youth, victims of discrimination or domestic violence, and asylum-seekers are frequent targets, and the Internet and substance dependency makes vulnerable people easy prey, often through force, fraud, or coercion. “Sex trafficking is omnipresent and always has been,” Cook says. “Vulnerability is the lynchpin—or epicenter—of exploitation. Geographic location is peripheral, vulnerability is key. “Large scale events like trade shows, where there is disposable cash, large crowds, and an abundance of recreational time and party-like atmosphere are often a recipe for commercialized sex disaster. Vulnerability combined with domination and control by reducing human beings to commodities to be bought and sold on an open market are the essence of commercialized sex.” 

In 2007, the U. S. economy was in a recession and Detroit, where Wayne State University is located, was on its last legs financially. Then, in 2011, Michigan slashed state support for public institutions by 15 percent. “We were in a state of crisis because our graduation rates had fallen from 33 percent in 2007 to 26 percent,” said Monica Brockmeyer, senior associate provost for student success at the university. “And with that our reputation had fallen, our enrollment was falling.” To make matters worse, the administration was anything but stable. “In five years, we had about three presidents and three provosts and a deputy president and an interim president and an interim provost,” Brockmeyer said. But in 2011, the school reallocated funds to help boost its graduation rate, which was then 26 percent.

Wayne State University School of Medicine announced Monday the formation of Wayne Pediatrics, a new clinical service group of the university's medical school, that is intended to replace its longtime pediatrics group, University Pediatricians, which has left Wayne State and signed an affiliation agreement with Central Michigan University. Under the proposal, Wayne Pediatrics would become the clinical arm of the 130-physician Wayne State department of pediatrics, many of whom are also affiliated with 280-member University Pediatricians. Wayne Pediatrics also is discussing a partnership with the pediatrics department of Henry Ford Medical Group that would provide a continuum of primary and specialty pediatric services, said Herman Gray, M.D., chair of the department of pediatrics at Wayne State medical school. Gray said the Henry Ford partnership would also focus on improving the health of children and such social determinants of health as lack of access to quality housing, healthy food and transportation. Last week, a larger affiliation fell through between Henry Ford and Wayne State over a split on the unfolding arrangement by the university board of governors. Both WSU President M. Roy Wilson, M.D., and HFHS CEO Wright Lassiter III said they looked forward to resuming master affiliation talks sometime in the future, but would continue to work together on existing academic and clinical collaborations. The formation of Wayne Pediatrics is expected to cause Wayne State faculty pediatricians, many whom also belong with University Pediatricians, to choose between Wayne State and Central Michigan for their faculty affiliation. University Pediatricians, which is now a private-practice group that is affiliated with DMC Children's Hospital of Michigan, recently signed an affiliation with Central Michigan. It is expected that the UP pediatricians will become full-time faculty members faculty members with the six-year-old Mt. Pleasant medical school.

After nearly 125 years on Cass Avenue, Wayne State University’s historic David Mackenzie house began its move to a new location. Crews worked for hours Monday morning ensuring that the house at 4735 Cass was ready for the move. Around 10 a.m. the house, sitting on steel beams atop 12 sets of wheels, began to creep inch by inch toward its new location across the lot at Second and Forest. “You only get one chance to do this,” said Ryan Miller, project manager for Wayne State University. The Queen Anne-style home was built in 1895 and was the home to David Mackenzie, Wayne State’s founder. The university has entrusted the move to New York-based International Chimney, the same firm that helped move the Gem Theatre in 1997. Is there some nervousness involved in the move? “Sure,” Miller said. “Anytime you’re moving a structure of historical designation. But these are professional movers. They do this all over the country. If there’s anyone to do it, it’s these guys.”