2017-03-08 by The Michigan Daily

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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

APPLICANT From Page 1A J. Alex Halderman’s email, from which racist messages were sent to computer science and engineering undergraduate students. The emails sparked protests across campus in the following weeks, with many Black students decrying a pattern of inflammatory racist incidents. “I grew up being taught that the skin I am in is beautiful, and that I am capable of success,” the op-ed reads. “The thought that I will soon be confronted by people espousing the opposite messages terrifies me.” Gardner-Brown recognizes while events of this nature do not reflect the values of the University campus, they are happening there nonetheless. “In short, for them, being Black at a PWI (predominantly white institution) is getting worse,” she wrote. Gardner-Brown said in a phone interview she had initially planned on another topic for her Dialogue piece, but after coming across the emails on Twitter, she changed her mind. “I felt I need to write something about this,” Gardner-Brown said. “I was happy I got it out of my system, but at the same time I was hesitant to show the world, to write something so critical of the University before I even got a chance on campus.” Alone in the Crowd Affirmative action was dissolved at the University in 2006, when Gardner-Brown was still in elementary school. It was then she became aware of the prevalence

MEAL PLAN From Page 2A nationwide have used. Colleges like Michigan State University have also set up food pantries that offer different food distribution methods in an attempt to address the problem, but many have found it difficult to cope with the increasing demand. Regents at the University of California also recently launched a Global Food Initiative with a Food Access and Security Subcommittee, which includes measures such as vouchers for campus dining, expanding food pantry access and improving communication about resources. Students at Columbia University created an app called Swipes that connects people with meal plans to “receivers,” allowing them to use complimentary swipes to let other students into dining halls. Universities such as UW-Madison, New York University, Emory College and others have adopted similar policies. “I sat down with several different student organizations that were working on this and we

PANEL From Page 1A he said. “But it’s here and this is something that we’re dealing with.” Recent raids have also occurred in Ypsilanti and Detroit. Nicole Novak, University of Michigan postdoctoral fellow in the Population Studies Center, explained the similarities between current raids and a 2008 raid that occurred in Postville, Iowa, which was at the time the largest raid to occur in U.S. history. “That immigration raid (was) almost like an ethnic, city-specific or community-specific terrorist attack, because it had a lot of effects that we’re maybe seeing today,” she said. “People were trying to prepare for what might happen next.” For many immigrants currently residing in the United States, the fear of being undocumented or of lacking citizenship status had never been as severe as it is now under the current administration. Because of this, many have taken measures to avoid being publicized by having their benefits canceled or by continuing to live without forms of identification. University alum Maria IbarraFrayre works for the Washtenaw County ID program where she helps serve those who do not

of racial tension at the University, even among students for whom acceptance was a dream come true. When speaking with Black students on campus for her piece, she learned it was a complicated dynamic. “Now don’t get me wrong, they love the campus, they love the educational experience,” GardnerBrown said. “However, when put in terms of the culture in terms of the segregation on campus, I have not met a single Black person or a single person of color who has told me they were able to feel safe all of the time. Their classmates are ignorant of issues that Black people are subject to. They are positive about campus as a whole, but not the racial tension.” Engineering graduate student Aeriel Murphy is a member of Movement of Under-represented Sisters in Engineering and Science. Her high school and undergraduate experiences at the University of Alabama, she said, were very different than those GardnerBrown experienced. “I think that her points are valid, but I just want her to know, if you go to Michigan State it’s still going to be a very similar story,” Murphy said. “Really, no matter where you go there’s going to be this feeling of uncertainty, a feeling of weariness. In Alabama, you didn’t have it in emails, you had it in people screaming at you on your way to the football games.” When selecting a college, she advises, it is important for incoming minority students to do their homework in person. “When students are visiting schools, ask if you can chat with students of color,” she said. “If the school is like, we don’t really have

any, that’s a sign,” she said. “If you go to school, and you have a tour guide, more than likely they won’t be of your race.” Elizabeth James, faculty adviser for the Black Student Union, said as an alum and current employee at the University, she believes the mental health of Black students on campus is a crucial issue. “When I read the article, the first thing that popped in my head was the more things change the more they stay the same,” she said. “No matter where you are in the country you’re going to be combatting some of these issues.” Trelawny Boynton, director of Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs, wrote in an email interview she appreciates when current or prospective students share their concerns about the University as well as their hopes. “The transition to a new community, especially a college community, can be challenging for students,” Boynton wrote. “It can be academic, social and/ or personal, and it will show up differently for each of us.” James echoed these sentiments, and said she related to what Gardner-Brown wrote. “That’s showing she has all the makings of a true academic,” she said. “She is doing the type of critical thinking that shows she has what it takes to make it here.” Numbers Don’t Lie Racial inequalities at the University are well-documented, especially since the #BBUM Twitter campaign garnered national attention in Nov. 2013. In 2015, the ratio of Black to white students across the University measured 1,801 to 24,517, according to the Office of the Registrar.

had this idea of a partnership with dining,” Sabada said. “We looked into some other school programs and this was the result of what we found worked best with the infrastructure we have here.” LSA sophomore Skylar Burkhardt, who currently lives off-campus, acknowledged the lack of food resources on campus and brought up the fact that food insecurity is an issue a lot of students at the University deal with. “I was in a program the other day where there was a simulation about food insecurities in developing countries, and a lot of people were very frustrated with it, and were talking about how they didn’t have to be demonstrated what food insecurity looks like, or what in general not having these privileges looks like because this is something they experience on a day-to-day basis.” Burkhardt said. “There is definitely a lack of cheap, healthy food resources in the downtown Ann Arbor area, so really if you’re living off-campus you have to drive or take a bus to get to these places.” While Burkhardt admired the program and acknowledged it was a step in the right direction,

she also felt it was a short-term solution to a much larger issue. “It doesn’t seem like a very sustainable program, in that it’s not going to be solving their hunger in the future,” she said. “But I think as long as someone is getting the meal — it’s definitely a good cause to be working towards, and I think it’s really cool that they’re eliminating this disadvantage for the time being, but I’m curious to see if any long-term solutions will come up.” Sabada also acknowledged the fact that the program wouldn’t be sustainable for the future, but added it is primarily being used to address immediate student concerns, as well as collects data so new initiatives can be launched in the future. “We realize this program is not a long-term solution — it’s only six meals, and that doesn’t solve food insecurity on campus,” she said. “But we’re hoping to really meet that immediate need for students that are struggling now, helping them through this period and hopefully coming up with a program next semester that is more long-term and able to help students throughout the duration of their college career.”

have access to a form of state identification. Primarily, these services provide IDs to those who are undocumented, do not have a permanent address or do not have birth certificates. Recently, however, the fears of becoming identified have stopped many who would previously have tried to obtain this form of identification. “People both are afraid to not have an identification and are afraid to get the ID because they’re afraid that this will put them in the database,” she said. Panelists also spoke of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a two-year renewable permission enacted under President Barack Obama in June 2012 for those who were between the ages of 15 and 31. The permanence of the act remains in question given the Trump administration’s stance on immigration. Panelists highlighted its importance in recent years, specifically when promoting a sense of togetherness with recent waves of immigration. “Part of me wants to believe that the reason (Trump) has not rescinded DACA is because the Trump administration is afraid of people who have DACA,” she said. “It’s been such a huge movement of undocumented youth who have gotten up and really claimed their status in the U.S. and were able to speak out against everything that had been happening with immigration,” Ibarra-Frayre said.

Panelists explained these youth, however, are currently facing even greater fears in regard to their families and the questions as to whether new policies will end up moving them to different locations or separating them from their loved ones. “They’re not sleeping at night, they’re not showing up to school, they’re just deathly afraid that their parents are going to be taken away from them,” Flores said. “The greatest impact is the uncertainty of how this is all going to unfold and the damage path that’s going to be as a result of it.” Panelists concluded by urging audience members to become involved in their communities, to take part in local nonprofits and to network with others passionate about advocacy and awareness. LSA junior Donny Hearn III, who attended the panel, said he has found these types of events to be especially important for students when it comes to engaging in movements they learn about and start to feel strongly about. “Especially in a university it’s important to take what you learn in the classroom and recognize that it’s a real-life issue,” he said. “By reading actual faces and actual people you can connect things you hear on the news and so forth with academia and I think actually make some sort of push to change reality.”

Wednesday, March 8, 2017 — 3A

That disparity — the difference of 4.1 percent against 56.2 — is difficult to conceptualize. In LSA, the largest college at the University with 19,338 students, the ratio was 961 to 11,649 — not even one Black student to every thousand white. Broken down, there were 607 Black female students listed to 6,355 white female students. For men, the ratio decreases to 354 to 5,294 white male students. This fall, the University boasted bolstered enrollment numbers, which in turn affected diversity numbers. The University indicated in a press release it had reviewed and processed 55,500 applications for the current freshman class, a 7-percent increase from the last class’s 51,761. Black enrollment, however, still dropped from 5.1 percent in 2015 to 4.6 percent for the class of 2020. It has been found that simply increasing the number of students who enter the University cannot solve the problem of inequity and can, in fact, create new problems. In 2014, the University overshot the targeted freshman class size of 6,000 by a margin of 505 that overburdened housing and instructional resources. The Board of Regents crafted a plan to curb enrollment, such as reducing early admissions offers, hiring its first associate vice president for enrollment management and increased use of wait-listing. As a result, the number of freshmen entering campus decreased to 6,071 the following year. “I believe that diversifying those primarily white campuses is crucial,” Gardner-Brown said. “That’s a part of the reason why I was so excited. Even the fact that

I’m going to be one of the people that help change the campus. Honestly, people think the civil rights era was so long ago but it really wasn’t.” Outside Ivory Towers James said while recent events at the University were heartbreaking, she believed students responded with resilience. Though she does not believe the recent racially charged events were perpetrated by members of the campus community, she feels they are an unfortunate but necessary method of character building for Black students. “You can’t escape outside,” she said. “It’s going to be there when you leave these ivory towers,” she said. “But when you leave Michigan, you have more in your portfolio that will assist you. It strengthens your spirit and your perspective so that you can say in any workplace in America, ‘I’m enough.’ Because you’ve had to first say it here.” James said her mother, who attended the University during the height of the Jim Crow era, furnished her with advice that continues to be relevant today. Though she experienced more covert racism in the southern institutions she attended previously, James’s mother was met with a different type of discrimination that ultimately prepared her for the larger community. Boynton said her advice for incoming students from minority backgrounds should avail themselves to the support systems at the University, such as a resident adviser in the residence hall, various student organizations and offices like

MESA to support their transition. “We are thrilled that she’s been accepted and look forward to meeting her and the incoming class,” Boynton wrote. Frontline Diversity Work Gardner-Brown, who aims to pursue a global health major while at the University, said though she still has anxieties she is excited to matriculate with the class of 2021. “I don’t think that people should not have opinions,” she said. “I just think that every opinion should be valued and I just don’t think that’s the case on campus and I would like to be part of changing that.” James calls the phenomenon frontline diversity work — closing the space between differing groups increases the potential for progress. She referenced the success of a joint Shabbat dinner between Hillel and the Black Student Union. “I was really proud of them,” she said. “That’s stepping out of your comfort zone, and really taking a look at another culture. We have to find a way to reach out and talk to one another. You can’t do it if everybody in the room is the same — you just can’t.” Murphy said regardless of how much preparation incoming students have when transferring to a predominantly white institution, there will always be culture shock. “The environment of support is going to be completely different,” she said. “As a student, as she goes out into the real world — you’re not going to meet people who look like you. You are going to work in an environment in which people are racist.”

CSG From Page 1A

from working the polls.” Engineering senior A.J. Ashman, co-author of the resolution advocating for the holiday, echoed this statement, adding it was unfair for the administration to force students to make difficult decisions about their civic engagement and education. “Students are residents of Ann Arbor; they have the right to have their voices heard,” he said. “It’s borderline morally unjustifiable to have a system where students have to choose between going to class, getting their education and being

involved in the decision of their country’s state of power.” Rackham Rep. Andy Snow was skeptical of the idea, saying he talked to constituents and they were not very receptive to the idea because a holiday on Election Day would result in the loss of Fall Break, or at least a part of it. “Have you actually asked students specifically if they prefer this to Fall Break?” he said to the body.

— specifically the high rates of incarceration in Black and Latino populations — and pushed for more frank discussions of the United States’s history of racism. “The United States is the most punitive society in the world … we have a criminal justice system that treats you better if you’re rich and guilty than if you’re poor and innocent,” he said. “We have to talk about the fact that we are living in a post-genocide society. I don’t think (the United States) is shameful enough for what we have done wrong.” Stevenson at times connected

the themes of racial and class equality and social justice to the current political climate in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election. During his talk, he noted the high support for President Donald Trump in his home state of Alabama. “When people say, ‘Make America great again,’ I want to know what decade we’re talking about,” Stevenson said, drawing exuberant applause from the crowd.

“This University has a comprehensive history of civic engagement, but this dedication of citizenship is dependent on how the University prioritizes students’ ability to vote and participate in our democracy,” Galindez said. “As it stands, the University of Michigan discourages students from voting by prioritizing class over civic duty and dis-incentivizing students

MEDAL From Page 1A rights leader; the Dalai Lama; and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a South African anti-apartheid activist. Stevenson began by detailing his journey as a Harvard Law graduate through the Southern criminal justice system, defending inmates on death row in an era of unprecedented growth in the country’s incarceration rate. Stevenson stressed the racial disparities present in the system