Thursday, July 1, 2021
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
inside NEWS
Hidden New Email Regent Ron Weiser uses a new U-M email while facing email controversies >> SEE PAGE 3
OPINION
Hot Girl Summer The hot girl movement is the torch of feminism for fighting for equality >> SEE PAGE 4
MICHIGAN IN COLOR
Palestinian Reem Hassan creates a poem that reflects on the idea of what “To be Palestian is to know...” >> SEE PAGE 6
‘I do not need to be muzzled’: recent Malaysian graduate alleges CSEAS unfairly cut promised U-M employment short JESSICA KWON Daily News Contributor
ARTS
“Luca” Review
The movie “Luca” may involve childhood friendships but there are more layers
Courtesy of Josh Kam Josh Kam speaks about his experience at CSEAS
>> SEE PAGE 8
SPORTS
Tokyo Olympics
Three U-M men’s gymnasts head to compete in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics > SEE PAGE 12
INDEX Vol. CXXIX, No. 112 © 2020 The Michigan Daily
NEWS .................................... 2 OPINION................................ 4 MiC......................................... 6 ARTS.......................................8 STATEMENT..........................10 SPORTS.................................12
On Tuesday, March 16, Joshua Chun Wah Kam’s phone rang. A University of Michigan International Institute employee and Rackham student at the time, Kam was living at home in Malaysia with his single mother, trying to keep them both healthy during the pandemic. When Kam answered the call, he said he was alarmed to hear his friend break down and begin crying, mourning the racially motivated shooting deaths of six Asian women at three Asian-owned spas in metropolitan Atlanta. That day, Kam said he received several more calls from emotionally distraught Asian and Asian American-identifying friends, all similarly devastated by the rise in anti-Asian attacks taking place in the U.S. “I got this stream of concern from Asian-American and Asian students at the University of Michigan,” Kam told The Michigan Daily in an interview. “These were friends and comrades, they were crying on the phone.” As a University-employed office
assistant and social media assistant at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS), Kam said he wanted to utilize CSEAS social media platforms to console his peers and to share educational resources pertaining to anti-Asian racism. After posting statements about the Atlanta shootings on behalf of CSEAS on Twitter and Facebook, Kam sent an email to his work colleagues notifying them about his posts. “Just writing real quickly to mention I have put up a CSEAS statement of outrage and grief in response to the Atlanta shootings and murders of 6 Asian American women in three spas yesterday,” Kam wrote in his email. “(An additional coworker) and I were considering that a statement should come out soon, in particular because of the long connections between SE Asians and spas in America, and well, because this is close to our own hearts as well as to the hearts of so many Asian Americans who view our content.” In the tweets, Kam wrote, “On behalf of the staff, student workers, and faculty at CSEAS, we offer our condolences to the 8 Asian women killed in 3 shootings in Atlanta tonight. We are horrified, but not
suprised, by this wave of gendered Anti-Asian violence.” Kam has said his response was written in haste, and it contains notable inaccuracies. For instance, “surprised” is spelled incorrectly and he erroneously reported that eight Asian women were killed; in reality, only six Asian women died, while the two other murder victims were not of Asian descent. But on June 3, Kam posted another tweet thread — this time on his personal Twitter account — alleging that on April 27, he was told his positions as a student employee at the University would be reopened because of the statements he had previously posted on CSEAS accounts about the Atlanta shootings. Kam told The Daily he had initially been verbally promised by University staff that his employment would continue through the end of July. However, after controversy concerning his tweets, Kam said he was notified by Asia Centers manager Do-Hee Morsman that he could only remain in his position until the end of May, which he did. University spokesperson Rick Fitzgerald wrote in an email to The Daily that it is customary for the
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University’s student employment positions to conclude after graduation in May, as Kam’s did. “No employee in this unit has been fired from his or her position during the past year,” Fitzgerald said. Kam said he and his mother have been relying on the income he received from the University to support their livelihoods at their home in Malaysia. He alleged that Dr. Laura Rozek, director of CSEAS and associate professor of environmental health sciences, knew of his situation and said losing his position amidst the ongoing third wave of COVID-19 in his country was particularly stressful. “(Rozek) knew that I have a single mother that I’m supporting, she knew that we were in a pandemic and that employment in Malaysia is not something I can viably consider right now,” Kam said, citing the difficult COVID-19 conditions in Malaysia. Kam’s previous positions, office assistant and social media assistant, reopened for new applicants in May. Kam reapplied, but the roles were ultimately filled by another candidate. On March 17 — the day after the Atlanta shooting — Rozek responded to Kam’s email, a copy of which was shared with The Daily. In her email, Rozek stated that CSEAS should not have published a statement about the Atlanta shooting without having first posted anything on recent violence perpetrated against activists in Myanmar and the Philippines. “I think (CSEAS) needs to be sensitive when making a statement about what it says … when we DON’T make a statement,” Rozek wrote to Kam. “I think it’s important to be mindful of how and when we communicate and what it says to all of our partners around the world.” Kam’s former co-worker and CSEAS former program assistant Hannah Johnson, who is using a pseudonym for fear of professional retribution due to seeking future employment, told The Daily she was infuriated by Rozek’s response. She said she believes although it is absolutely important for CSEAS to speak on the situation in Myanmar and the Philippines, it was imperative to release a statement pertaining to the Atlanta spa shootings as quickly as possible given their closer physical proximity to the University. Read more at michigandaily.com