Thursday, May 20, 2021 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
CECIEL ZHONG | SOPHOMORE DUAL-DEGREE
OPINION 5
Beyond empty promises: The pursuit of systemic change to the University’s toxic environment of gender-based violence
Content Warning: This article discusses gender-based violence, which includes but is not limited to sexual violence. ngaging in student activism was not part of my plan in 2019, but like many others, to stay calm was to ignore the horror and anger caused by the new interim sexual assault and misconduct policy. This policy, among other things, allowed direct cross-examination for survivors who came forward. Despite the outcry, the University of Michigan did not change its procedure, insisting to wait for former Secretary of Education Betsy Devos’s new regulations to come out. The University’s position drifted with the unstable political climate and in turn, allowed survivors of sexual violence to be re-traumatized through this interim policy. Administrators claim that they “take allegations of sexual misconduct very seriously.” The words seem
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clear: “Sexual misconduct will not be tolerated in the University of Michigan community.” However, in the past two years, it is hard to count the times when high-profile cases on campus arose with one hand. The University administration has made its stance well known through words and statements, but how has institutional change truly been implemented so far? To look at that we need to understand that sexual assault is about power and control. The University, as an institution, exerts institutional power that ostracises survivors through inadequate report addressments, resulting in institutional betrayal. This pattern has been exemplified through highprofile cases at the University such as Robert Anderson, Martin Philbert, and David Daniels, to name a few. Institutional betrayal created a mass of known perpetrators spreading across schools and departments, including SMTD, EECS, Michigan Athletics,
Michigan Medicine, and OIE itself, a place that everyone was told to go to if an incident occurs. Meanwhile, campus organizers witnessed an apparent disconnect between the administrators and the people whom the policy directly impacted. What was consistent among the headlines is that the University knows of perpetrators at the institution, but continues failing to act promptly and comprehensively, both in retrospect and in foresight. To “act” would be a series of steps toward justice, which includes both individually and systemically addressing where the failure occurred, rethinking and transforming the institutional structures and power relations that enabled harm. In the class-action lawsuit against former University of Michigan athletic doctor Robert Anderson, that abuse occurred years ago is not an excuse for fractional justice and no change. Appropriate actions extend beyond
JOSIE GRAHAM | JUNIOR
Beyond empty promises: Why I signed onto the class action lawsuit against U-M for students affected
Content Warning: This article discusses gender-based violence. Genderbased violence “ … refers to harmful acts directed at an individual based on their gender. It is rooted in gender inequality, the abuse of power and harmful norms.” write this article in honor of the survivors of gender-based violence filing the class-action lawsuit against the University of Michigan for allowing Robert E. Anderson former U of M athletic doctor’s decades of abuse to continue unabated and for all other survivors of gender-based violence. This story belongs to them and to all of the survivors who go unheard and continue to be failed by oppressive systems, which perpetuate violence and inequity against marginalized groups, on this campus, in this country and across the globe. I am no expert; I do not hold all the answers to solve this complex, nuanced issue. I write this, first and foremost, to call for justice for survivors, a form of justice defined solely by them and what they need to heal, varying on a case-to-case basis. They deserve better. To all survivors, thank you for protecting all of us in filing this suit. The University knew of its abuse and failed
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all of you and the rest of our community by enabling it. If the University cares about its students, it would take responsibility for this unimaginable injury and validate these survivors. Second, I write this as a call to myself and all of us to continue to reckon with the reality of gender-based violence, a reality we construct and maintain and to start to think of and pursue solutions to deconstruct it. I hope this op-ed encourages further debate, reflection and action when it comes to addressing and dismantling the oppressive systems that create gender-based violence. *** Zoom In. Case I: Former U-M provost Martin Philbert sexually harassed multiple people over two decades throughout his entire career at the University, rising in ranks from professor to Dean to Provost, the head of the office that oversees cases of gender-based violence. University officials, including President Mark Schlissel, knew of the rumors, now proven true, circulating about Philbert’s misconduct and failed to launch investigations until the 20182019 school year. Case II: More than 150 survivors have come forward in filing indi-
vidual lawsuits and a class-action lawsuit against the University in response to the University’s handling of sexual abuse of students by former athletic doctor Robert E. Anderson dating back to the 1960s. The University received over 460 complaints against Anderson, starting this February. Worst of all, former football coach Bo Schembechler and former athletic director Don Canham knew about Anderson’s actions and failed to do anything in response at the time. Anderson worked until his retirement in 2003, despite being demoted for his behavior in 1979. Case III: The Michigan Daily uncovered 40 years of harassment and sexual misconduct allegations against SMTD faculty Stephen Shipps. Case IV: Employees at Clinc, an AI start-up, made allegations of sexual misconduct against Clinc’s CEO and EECS professor Jason Mars; some faculty wrote a statement calling for Mars to take a leave of absence. He taught an undergraduate course during the Winter 2021 semester. Case V: In 2019, the University conducted a survey on sexual misconduct. Critical results include: 12.4% of women and 1.7% of men experience rape on campus; 20.4% of women and
providing verbal support to adopting institutional courage, which means cherishing the whistleblower, creating a culture of transparency, and using institutional power to protect community members, not assaulters. Despite the long-standing myths of false reports ruining one’s life, “the alleged” seldom face expulsion from the University, as reflected by OIE’s Annual Report in 2016, 2017, and 2018. In the workplace, three out of four sexual misconduct cases go unreported, and over 60% of people who committed sexual assault are repeated offenders. This reality is played out in Philbert’s rise in ranks despite years of rumors and Anderson’s decades of abuse, which harmed hundreds of students. Statistics and numbers numb me, as do all of the released “official statements.” Actions, not words, are the true criterion of our community values. When protecting survivors is solely treated as a checkbox to maintain fed-
eral funding and reputation, the campus climate will not improve. When the Sixth Circuit Court discouraged personal confrontation — recommending agents, not students themselves to conduct cross-examination — but the University’s interim policy still maintained to not provide representatives for students who need them, we ask, how could we count on the procedure to be trauma-informed? When a professor with pending sexual misconduct lawsuits was appointed to teach a large course in the upcoming semester without considering the community, we ask what the University has learned from the WilmerHale report that was released not long ago? Read more at michigandaily.com Ceciel Zhong is a sophomore dual-degree student in the School of Information and the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. She can be reached at xizhong@umich.edu.
AMBIKA TRIPATHI | OPINION CARTOONIST CAN BE REACHED AT AMBIKAT@UMICH.EDU.
4.2% of men experience nonconsensual sexual touching on campus; 34.3% of undergraduate women remain most at risk for experiencing nonconsensual touching and penetration on campus; 17% of undergraduates, 26.4% of women, experience unwanted kissing and sexual touching prior to coming to the University; 6.7% of undergraduates,
10.6% of women, experience unwanted penetration or oral sex prior to coming to the University. Read more at michigandaily.com Josie Graham is a junior in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts and can be reached at josiekg@umich.edu.
