ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Tuesday, November 10, 2015
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Panel talks history of diversity at University ROBERT DUNNE/Daily
LSA freshman Raenell Williams marches against police violence on the one year anniversary of the shooting of Aura Rosser by Ann Arbor Police Officer David Ried. The march was organized by Ann Arbor to Ferguson and took marchers from Ann Arbor City Hall to Liberty Plaza for a candlelit vigil.
Ann Arbor activists march to oppose police brutality On anniversary of Rosser death, locals continue to advocate for change By ISOBEL FUTTER Daily Staff Reporter
After more than a year of national protests calling for an end to police brutality, Matthew
Lassiter, an associate history professor, decided University students might be interested in learning more about criminal justice issues in the United States. “I think there are a lot of undergraduate students and graduate students who have gotten really involved and really interested in the history of mass incarceration … so I wanted to bring in two scholars who have written a lot about this topic,” he said.
On Monday, Lassiter moderated a discussion between guest panelists Donna Murch, associate professor of history at Rutgers University, and Heather Ann Thompson, professor of Afroamerican and African Studies, to discuss these issues in depth. Sponsored by the Metropolitan History Workshop, the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, and the Program in Race, Law and
History, the event drew about 80 undergraduates, graduate students and faculty members. Both Murch and Thompson are leading historians on topics such as race, incarceration, black power, civil rights, criminal justice and the war on drugs, and both have forthcoming books on these topics. One important topic discussed was the difference between mass incarceration and the carceral See PROTEST, Page 3
Former faculty, staff discuss similarities between past, present climate By ALLANA AKHTAR Daily Staff Reporter
Though the event’s original intent was to convene a group of leaders to speak about the history of campus activism and diversity efforts, a panel discussion Monday afternoon instead largely focused on the fact that past grievances related to many issues of race and gender at the University continue to hold true today. “It’s sad to think it is 2015 and we’re talking about the same stuff we talked about in ’49 when the first Black woman was allowed to live in a dormitory,” said panelist Charles Moody, vice provost emeritus for minority affairs. Along with Moody, four other panelists discussed their experiences working to foster an inclusive community for minority students on campus: Associate Prof. Maria Cotera, former director
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Schlissel visits SACUA to tout diversity plan President says rhetoric must be matched with progress By GENEVIEVE HUMMER Daily Staff Reporter
Ahead of Tuesday’s diversity summit, University President Mark Schlissel attended Monday’s Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs meeting to discuss the impending school-wide diversity plan and the importance of balancing rhetoric with substantive action. Monday marked Schlissel’s first time at SACUA since appearing there last November. During that visit, Schlissel spoke candidly about the University’s athletics program — a conversation that drew both praise and criticism. On Monday, Schlissel said gathering input from as many people as possible will give the University’s diversity plan the greatest likelihood for success. However, he also acknowledged that it will take time to complete and implement. “The thing I like about this process is that it’s the most bottom-up thing I’ve ever done,” he said. “It would be an easier and faster process if we took a group like this, sat in a room 10 times and issued a plan for the University of Michigan. Strangely
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enough, that’s too easy.” While encouraging patience during the long-term planning process, Schlissel also pointed to diversity initiatives the University has already implemented. He pointed to the HAIL scholarship and the new Wolverine Pathways program, as well as the increased numbers of underrepresented minorities in this year’s freshman class, as evidence of tangible improvement. Schlissel noted the administration’s talk about increased diversity must continue to be supported by “concrete actions” like these. “Any time that we devote a significant amount of time to talking, then we really do have to prove to people that talking leads to substance,” he said. Following the discussion on diversity, SACUA chair SilkeMaria Weineck, a professor of comparative literature, asked for Schlissel’s thoughts on Tim Wolfe — the University of Missouri system president who resigned Monday amid allegations of mishandling incidents of racism on the school’s campus. “I don’t really understand enough about the circumstances in Missouri to have an opinion on it, I’ve only been following it for the last couple of days,” Schlissel said. “What was interesting was at the end of the series of events that led to his resignation, there were some pretty forceful student See SACUA, Page 3
of the Latina/o Studies Program; University alum Cynthia Stephens, a judge of the Michigan Court of Appeals; Abigail Stewart, director of the ADVANCE program, which aims to advocate for female faculty in science and engineering fields and the former director of the Women’s Studies Program; and James Toy, co-founder and former director of the Spectrum Center, then known as the Human Sexuality Office. Lester Monts, a professor of music and former senior vice provost for academic affairs, moderated the conversation. The panel was part of the University’s campus-wide diversity summit, which is to be headlined by an interview between University President Mark Schlissel and Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist Clarence Page Tuesday morning. The summit is a piece of Schlissel’s ongoing Strategic Plan for Diversity, which he launched in September by asking each campus school or department to design its own internal programs for enhancing diversity. Robert Sellers, vice provost for See DIVERSITY, Page 3
GSI union protests ‘U’ handling of new hire #StandWithAlex draws support for grad student terminated from job By ALYSSA BRANDON and EMMA KINERY
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Business graduate student Gautham Madhira tears down a mock Berlin Wall at an event organized by the Young Americans for Freedom on the Diag on Monday. The wall was decorated with phrases like “safe spaces,” “trigger warning” and “Political Correctness: the Iron Curtain of the University.”
Demonstration on Diag fights ‘political correctness’ Young Americans for Freedom mimic Berlin Wall, 26 years after its fall By ANNA HARITOS Daily Staff Reporter
Twenty-six years after the Berlin Wall fell in Germany, the first blows were delivered to the make-shift wall on the Diag constructed by the University’s Young Americans for Freedom chapter. The wall, created to honor the anniversary of the real wall’s destruction, was built to protest political correctness, according to
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YAF chairman Grant Strobl, an LSA sophomore. “Right now the bias hotline is against free speech,” Strobl said. “You can report a bias crime just because it’s offensive. That’s not in the constitution.” Strobl is referring to the University’s telephone hotline and online forms available for directly reporting hate crimes on campus. Members of the organization passed around a mallet, each taking a turn to smash the wall, which was covered with words like “safe space” and “trigger warnings.” However, the display was not perceived well by many of those who passed
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by, including LSA freshman Kevin Sweitzer. “It ignores all the progress we’ve made on promoting political correctness, and social justice across the University,” Sweitzer said. “It just puts it on some wall for some people who are privileged to take turns beating at. It’s unbelievable. This is a bias incident, and it needs to stop.” For many of the students who stopped to watch the display, confusion centered around what YAF was aiming to accomplish. Additional oppositions were voiced, particularly by one student, LSA sophomore Fahim Rahman. See WALL, Page 3
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On Monday, the University’s Graduate Employees’ Organization filled a hallway of the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning and tweeted #StandWithelx to protest the firing of a graduate student instructor. Alex Chen, a third-year dual degree master’s student in the Taubman College and the School of Engineering, was hired as a Taubman GSI in August and signed an employment contract, before receiving an e-mail a day later stating she was not fit for the position. The reason — according to protest organizers — cited by the University was that she was not a Taubman student, as the majority of the classes she was enrolled in were for her Engineering program. Because she was fired from her position as a GSI, Chen lost her tuition waiver, health care and the salary she anticipated. According to GEO President John Ware, an Engineering graduate student, the loss has resulted in nearly $50,000 in debt for Chen and a hold on her account so she cannot graduate. See GEO, Page 3
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