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The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, November 3, 2014-- 3A
INCLUSIVITY
From Page 1A
eral events pushed discussions
about the experiences of minor-
ity students to the forefront of the
University policy agenda.
Last fall, the fraternity Theta
Xi's planned "Hood Ratchet"
party drew sharp criticism for its
racialized theme. In November,
the BSU began the #BBUM Twit-
ter campaign, in Black students
tweeted about their experiences
at the University.
Many of these tweets detailed
negative experiences, including
campus tolerance for racial bias
and a lack of minority voices,
and called for the University to
change its approach to diversity
on campus.
In a September interview with
The Michigan Daily, E. Royster
Harper, vice president of student
life, said for campus culture to
become more inclusive, the Uni-
versity community must advance
cultural shifts and promote a
stronger sense of unity among
members of the student body.
"We can all decide to watch
out for each other," she said. "It's
a choice we make all the time."
Concerns about diversity and
the respect afforded to people of
all identities are not new issues.
t The Expect Respect Campaign,
which aims to "create and main-
tain a respectful and inclusive
environment that provides the
support and opportunity neces-
sary for each member of our com-
munity to prosper and achieve,"
began in 2005 in response to a
widely known incident where
two students were harassed and
assaulted due to their ethnicity.
The campaign was created as a
way for students to anonymously
report instances of violence and
hate on campus.
Despite its relative longev-
ity in the University community,
Expect Respect is also work-
ing on new initiatives to address
some of the institutions contem-
porary challenges. Organizers
are currently developing a stu-
dent steering committee to create
new programs that encourage a
respectful campus environment,
including collaborations with
various departments and organi-
zations like Greek Life and Uni-
versity Health Service.
Inclusive Language Initiative
Despite Expect Respect's ini-
tial popularity, LSA junior Kida-
da Malloy, an Expect Respect
program assistant, said she is
worried the program isn't as
impactful now that all of the stu-
dents who initially spearheaded
the program graduated.
Malloy said she hopes the
Inclusive Language Campaign
will reintroduce some of the
same themes promoted by Expect
Respect. The ILC, which started
at the beginning of the semester
and is modeled after a similar
program in Maryland, aims to
educate students about the power
of words and their potential to
cause offense.
"I'm really happy we have the
ILC this year that does more
action around campus," Mal-
loy said. "A lot of students know
about the Expect Respect pledge
and they know that on campus
they're supposed to be respect-
ful of people of different cultures,
but I'm notsure if they actually do
that. The ILC actually gets them
to do those things that Expect
Respect wants from the commu-
nity. I'm excited to bring it back."
The ILC began with an event
where about 400 students and
staff signed a pledge to avoid
using harmful language and to
strive for inclusive dialogue.
"A lot of the time we use words
without understanding the
impact they have on others," said
Meghan McCullough, a graduate
student in the School of Social.
Work and a Diversity and Inclu-
sion intern. "The ILC is about
raising awareness about how
other people are impacted by the
words that we use and how that
contributes to our campus cul-
ture as a whole."
Malloy said that while organiz-
ers engaged in discussion about
how to prevent larger scale events
like the "Hood Ratchet" party,
the ILC is more focused on com-
bating day-to-day micro-aggres-
sions and promoting thoughtful
language.
"A lot of what students expe-
rience on campus are little
comments or phrases that
they overhear in class or just
when they're walking by that
are also triggering that maybe
don't receive as much attention
because they just happen in pass-
ing," Malloy said. "ILC is a great
program because it will improve
the day-to-day language of stu-
dents on campus by providing
education around words that are
offensive."
McCullough said the campaign
isreachingouttothestudentbody
by encouraging students to share
their experiences with hurtful
language. Students can fill out
postcards with thought bubbles
that start a potential sentence
with, "Would you... If you knew..."
Organizers hope to feature about
250 of the cards on a clothesline
in the Michigan Union later this
month.
"We want to elevate peo-
ple's voices and experiences,"
McCullough said. "It's this whole
idea about how our words and
our actions contribute to a larger
campus climate and a campus
culture. We want to highlight the
connection between our words
and actions in promoting inclu-
sivity."
Harper, the vice president of
student life, said programs like
the ILC break down discussions
of inclusive language to the basics
of what it means to be human.
"We have to be able to con-
nect with compassion to a
greater degree in this culture,"
McCullough said. "That means
going into the hard places of
wanting to learn about the truths
that other people hold and then
explore, with honestly, our own
truths as well. I think that in
order to do that we have to not
just have diversity in numbers,
but spaces and cultures that seek
to learn about other people's
realities in an honest and inquir-
ing way. That to me is our biggest
challenge, but also our oppor-
tunity to be positioned to form
genuine bonds across lines of dif-
ference."
Change it Up!
Launched this year, Change it
Up! is a bystander intervention
program designed to equip stu-
dents with the skills needed to
intervene in situations that are
harmful, hateful, disrespectful
and potentially unsafe. The pro-
gram is mandatory for first-year
students.
Will Sherry, interim director
of the Spectrum Center, said that
while many programs and stu-
dent organizations discuss diver-
sity, inclusion and social justice,
there wasn't a program focused
on introductory skills where stu-
dents could understand and learn
how to promote campus inclusiv-
ity.
"One of the strengths is that
the Change it Up! program is so
connected to other initiatives
going on around campus that
really seek to develop a more
inclusive campus," he said. "The
more students, faculty, grad stu-
dents, staff, everyone, are hear-
ing similar messages and similar
techniques, the more change we
will see."
About 100 students attend each
90-minute session, which empha-
sizes how students come from
different backgrounds and must
widen their perspectives about
the people around them.
"Some things that make us
feel different are not the same
as things that make other people
feel different," he said. "It is our
responsibility as community
members to being to notice things
that are going on in our residence
halls and our classrooms that
affect other people that maybe
don't affect us."
The workshop partners with
the University Educational The-
atre Company to use interactive
performances to coach students
how to approach offensive situ-
ations through direct interven-
tion, distraction, delegation, or
by delaying confrontation if the
environment is unsafe.
Nursing freshman Hannah
Glanzman said the course might
have been more helpful if it fur-
ther discussed how to prevent
situations rather than how to
approach them once they hap-
pen.
"It didn't make me feel more
comfortable to intervene in awk-
ward situations when things are
going wrong," Glanzman said.
"I'm still nervous to do that. I
don't know if you can just make
people more comfortable."
The program is still new and
has only completed roughly 15 of
the 65 workshops slated to run
this semester, but Sherry said so
far much of the feedbackhas been
positive.
"I absolutely do believe the
program has an impact," Sherry
said. "That impact can affect
campus climate in that microag-
gressions can be reduced so the
many spaces in which students
are hearing and feeling messages
that who they are doesn't belong
based on the language other
people are using, the way other
people are engaging them or the
costumes that people are wearing
for Halloween. Those things can
be reduced based on a program
like this setting a standard that,
at the beginningof your first year,
talks about some of the cultural
values at the University of Michi-
gan and some skills to enact those
values."
Public Policy junior Hattie
McKinney, BSU co-programming
chair, said that while the Univer-
sity has been working to address
create a more inclusive campus
climate, it will take time to see
whether these efforts are effec-
tive.
"I feel that the University is
working with a diverse group of
students on campus to address
the concerns that were brought
up last year and to do all that it
can to change the climate on
campus," McKinney said. "Any-
thing of good.quality takes time
and it's definitely not an over-
night thing."
OBAMA
From Page 2A
million dollars or a nickel," Stabe-
now said. "Everybody has one vote
... and so it's up tous to show up and
take back our great state."
A slate of statewide candi-
dates who spoke during the rally
highlighted multiple aspects of
the Republican record over the
past four years as having a nega-
tive impact on the state, including
changes to education funding and
the passage of Right to Work laws
in2012.
"If you're a student or a teacher,
(Snyder's policies) aren't working
for you," Schauer said. "If you're a
parent, or a senior, or a union mem-
ber, they're not working for you.
If you're a woman, or a member of
the LGBT community, if you care
about livable cities and protecting
our Great Lakes, theyare not work-
ing for you. I thinkthat's wrong.
That's why Michigan's ready for
change and friends, that's why
change is coming."
During his remarks, Obama
spoke to both nationwide and
statewide concerns in the context
of change, focusing on, income
inequality issues such as pay equi-
ty, raising the minimum wage and
the middle class.
"More tax breaks for folks at the
top. Less investment in education.
Looser rules on bigbanks and cred-
it card companies and polluters. A
thinner safety net for folks when
they fall on hard times. You know
what - we've tried those things,"
Obama said of GOP economic poli-
cies. "They don't work."
In addition to urging change, he
also embraced another one his for-
mer campaign slogans: encourag-
ing those present to avoid cynicism
and to continue embracing hope.
"Cynicism is a choice;" Obama
said. "And hope is a better choice
... hope that we can rebuild our
middle class and pass on to our
kids something better. That's what
built America. That's what Motor
City is all about. That's what built
Michigan! Our best days are still
ahead."
Republicans, who are attempt-
ing to gain control of the U.S. Sen-
ate this election cycle, have been
turning up in Michigan as well.
Last month, former presidential
candidate Mitt Romney hosted a
rally in Livonia in support of Land,
criticizing the Obama administra-
tion on a slew of campaign issues,
including national security and
health care reform.
HACKETT
From Page 1A
experience in heading a complex
organization to his interim role
here.
"I am also very impressed
with his interpersonal skills, and
his longstanding commitment to
serving the university."
Steelcase reported a $70 mil-
lion loss in 1994, but Hackett
quickly steered the firm back
into safer waters. His moves
weren't always free of criticism,
though, especially after major
downsizing actions that included
a 2011 decision to shutter three
factories. Jobs from one of those
factories were later moved to a
facility in Mexico.
While at Steelcase, Hackett
oversaw the initial public offer-
ing of company stock, which
doubled in value in the last five
years after a rough first decade
of trading.
Hackett was a teammate of
Brandon's on the 1973 Michi-
gan football team, which was
Bo Schembechler's fifth year as
Michigan's head coach. A line-
backer, Hackett's freshman year
coincided with Brandon's senior
season.
"I'd like to thank Dave Bran-
don for his commitment to
Michigan," Hackett said. "I have
a tremendous amount of respect
for him and thank him again for
an extraordinary commitment to
this university."
Hackett cited the strong
financial footing of the Athletic
Department and growth in var-
sity sports offerings as reasons
Michigan can continue to be a
destination program, and went
out of his way to indicate that
two of his all-time heroes are
Michigan legends.
"My time as a student at Mich-
igan introduced me to two peo-
ple who would become lifelong
heroes of mine," Hackett said.
"Early on, there was Bo Schem-
bechler. The other was President
Gerald Ford, whom I met later in
his life after he retired from pub-
lic office. Both of them would be
quite certain that the future of
Michigan is not in doubt."
Schlissel was clear in indi-
cating that Hackett's role is an
interim one only, and that the
University will proceed with a
search for a long-term candidate.
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