CSG absolutely cannot fill its pur-
pose. It is not possible for CSG to fill
its purpose if it can’t represent its
students. There are certain needs
that the different communities
require and if those people are not
on student government, it’s really
hard to identify those needs and
execute on the appropriate strate-
gies to fulfill those needs.”
Comparing CSG presidential and
vice presidential representation to
the student demographic break-
down reveals disparities in almost
all categories but white students.
“The environment is not always
created on CSG to be welcoming
of very different perspectives,”
said LSA junior Meagan Shokar.
Shokar served as secretary dur-
ing her freshman and sophomore
years and as vice president earlier
this year before stepping down due
medical purposes.
The student demographic break-
down was obtained through aver-
aging racial identities of the student
population from 1993 to 2015, using
the years 1995, 2000, 2005, 2014.
Data was obtained from the Office
of the Registrar.
Numbers prior to 1993 were not
available in accessible formats,
constricting the comparison years
to after 1993. The comparison was
also limited because the University
does not recognize certain nuances
in ethnicity and gender. It does not
report how many students do not
conform to the gender binary, nor
the ethnicity of international stu-
dents (called “non-resident aliens”
in the Registrar’s data), nor how
many Arab students attend the
University — who are classified as
white. Asian students are grouped
into one category despite the dif-
ferences among, say, Pakistani,
Malaysian or Korean communities
on campus.
Also complicating the conclud-
ing analysis is an “unknown” cate-
gory, totaling 7 percent of the scope
between the four years averaged
between 1993 and 2014 .
The Daily’s analysis found that
Asian American and Black students
on campus are well represented
compared to their respective popu-
lations on campus. Black presidents
and vice presidents have accounted
for 10.7 percent of presidents and
7.1 percent of vice presidents in the
last two decades, 66 percent higher
than the Black population.
As international students are not
ultimately sorted into racial catego-
ries, it may be that Asian students in
general are actually under-repre-
sented as CSG executives due to the
large proportion of international
students from Asia.
LSA senior Alex Abdun-Nabi,
CSG treasurer, attributed these
groups’ proportionally large repre-
sentation on CSG to their legacy as
activists campus wide, particularly
the Black Student Union’s activity
in the past year.
“It doesn’t surprise me that
they’re involved in CSG because
it’s a prime way to make change on
campus,” Abdun-Nabi said.
Other groups have less vigorous
representation. No CSG president
or vice president for the last 20
years have identified as Hispanic
or Native American. These groups
have comprised, respectively, 4.18
percent and 0.53 percent of the stu-
dent body on average.
Three Latina students noted the
general lack of Hispanic students as a
barrier for greater CSG representation.
“I don’t think it’s lack of interest in
CSG, it’s the lack of support,” Nurs-
ing junior Anna Pokriefka said as to
why more Latinos were not leaders
of CSG. “They don’t feel a sense of
community or feel discriminated by
the majority population.”
LSA senior Sarah Ballew, co-
chair of the Native American
Student Association, wrote in an
e-mail interview that she does not
think CSG is representative of her
and others.
“I don’t think it is representa-
tive, exactly, because it doesn’t have
an adequate number of members
that are WOC/Native American,”
Ballew wrote. “This would inhibit
representation because that view-
point is missing.”
Abdun-Nabi noted that, of the
hundreds involved in CSG, there is
representation at levels other than
president and vice president.
“President and vice president
are not the only people,” he said.
“Sometimes they’re not the people
doing the most work.”
One-fourth of presidents and
less than one-third of vice presi-
dents have been females, who com-
prise 52 percent of the student body.
“I would argue very strongly
that we have amazing female lead-
ers on this campus with all sorts of
racial identities and sexual orienta-
tions, so why are none of them run-
ning for president or vice president
seat this year?” Public Policy senior
Carly Manes said. She was a repre-
sentative in the 2013-2014 academic
year and ran for CSG president.
Students of similar identities
tended to succeed each other as
CSG leaders. For instance, from
2002-2006, every vice president
was female. In 2009, 2010 and 2013,
every president identified as Asian.
Similar trends applied for other
identities, indicating that students
could set trends for representation
on campus or bring their own social
networks into CSG.
Many former or current CSG
members who were interviewed
pointed to that trend in particular,
framing it positively or negatively.
Party politics
The process for earning the CSG
presidency or vice presidency often
starts with being identified by exist-
ing CSG members as a candidate.
Often, that’s done with a political
party, not unlike national politics.
Business
graduate
student
Michael Proppe, who was CSG
president during the 2013-2014 aca-
demic year, said CSG parties gener-
ally last about two years in name
and are grouped by two ideologies.
According to Proppe, one is typical-
ly based on tangibility, accomplish-
ing goals that are feasible during
the candidate’s one-year term. The
other, he said, is typically more
idealistic. Members of this party
may, for instance, focus on making
campus climate more comfortable
rather than things more easily mea-
sured when reviewing the year.
Abdun-Nabi, who is not affili-
ated with a party, described these
parties as a good way to enter and
lead CSG.
“A lot of the gatekeepers in CSG
are not exercised by CSG,” Abdun-
Nabi said. “They’re exercised by the
party.”
Proppe, who ran with Make
Michigan, a party that has won
the presidency two years in a row,
said the groups are generally posi-
tive. He said they promote diversity,
and to win the election, candidates
must have a diverse slate of repre-
sentatives.
“The parties are actively recruit-
ing people and talking them into
running, either because they think
they’re very intelligent and hard
workers or they think they have
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EASY BREAZY.
puzzle by sudokusyndication.com
2A — Thursday, March 26, 2015
News
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THREE THINGS YOU
SHOULD KNOW TODAY
In this week’s B-Side,
Daily
Arts
Editor
Karen Hua looks at
the screenwriting industry
at the University through
the stories of several faculty
members.
FOR MORE, SEE THE B-SIDE, PG. 1B
2
CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES
Storing data
WHAT: Henry Neeman, the
director of the Oklahoma
University Supercomputing
Center for Education
and Research, will give a
presentation on why storing
large data is difficult.
WHO: Michigan Engineers
WHEN: Today from 2:30
p.m to 3:30 p.m.
WHERE: Cooley
Building-G906
Publishing
industry
WHAT: Alum Kevin Sul-
livan will hold a presenta-
tion to share his knowledge
about the publishing indus-
try. Sullivan has 13 years
of experience in the field.
WHO: The Career Center
WHEN: Today from
1:30 p.m. to 4:25 p.m.
WHERE: The Career Center
Shakespeare
performance
WHAT: A performance
that combines songs and
Shakespeare prose.
WHO: School of Music,
Theatre & Dance
WHEN: Today at 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Duderstadt
Center
Please report any
error in the Daily
to corrections@
michigandaily.com.
The black box from an
airplane
that
crashed
in the French Alps on
Tuesday was recovered, the
BBC reports. The black box
has usable information about
the flight, which reportedly
contains
a
cockpit
voice
recording.
1
Linguistics
information
WHAT: Students
interested in linguistics
classes should participate
in the department-wide
backpacking session. Pizza,
pop and advising will also
take place.
WHO: Department of
Linguistics
WHEN: Today from 5:30 p.m
to 7 p.m.
WHERE: Lorch Hall, 403
Companies
Kraft
Foods
and
Heinz
will merge, Buisness
Insider reported. The
two companies will become
Kraft Heinz Co. The new
organization
is
expected
to generate $28 billion in
revenue each year.
3
Combustion
WHAT: Aerospace
engineering prof. at
Princeton University
Richard Miles will give
a lecture on new ways to
anaylze combustion.
WHO: Aerospace
Engineering
WHEN: Today from 4 p.m
to 5:30 p.m
WHERE: Boeing Lecture
Hall, Room 1109
Fiction reading
WHAT: Kazuo Ishiguro,
the author of seven novels,
will give a book signing and
reading. His work has been
translated into more than 40
language. Two of his books
were adapted into highly
acclaimed films.
WHO: Helem Zell Visiting
Writers Series
WHEN: Today from 6 p.m
to 7 p.m.
WHERE: Museum of Art,
Apse
DELANEY RYAN/Daily
Art & Design Prof. Janie Paul, founder of the Prison Creative
Arts Project, gives a tour of the 20th annual Art by Michigan
Prisoners exhibit at the Duderstadt Gallery Wednesday.
ART EXHIBIT
TUESDAY:
Campus Voices
THURSDAY:
Twitter Talk
FRIDAY:
Photos of the Week
WEDNESDAY:
In Other Ivory Towers
MONDAY:
This Week in History
“Quote from a meeting yesterday:
“The University of Michigan is 10,000
different businesses, united by a football
team.”
— @juliewbee
Ann Arbor resident Julie
Weatherbee tweeted a takeaway
from a meeting.
Each week, “Twitter Talk”
is a forum to print tweets
that are fun, informative,
breaking or newsworthy,
with an angle on the
University, Ann Arbor and
the state. All tweets have
been edited for accurate
spelling and grammar.
FOLLOW US!
#TMD
@michigandaily
Training for
Treatment
WHAT: The brothers of Tau
Kappa Epsilon will pump
out 13,5000 push ups to rep-
resent the number of chil-
dren diagnosed with cancer
anually. All proceeds will
go to St. Jude’s Hospital.
WHO: Tau Kappa Epsilon
WHEN: Today
WHERE: The Diag
Taste of Tea
WHAT: For fans of tea or
those who are interested
in tea sampling, a tea
tasting event is being held.
Participants can decorate
a mug, eat scones and learn
about the tea brewing
process.
WHO: Center for Campus
Involvement
WHEN: Today from 5 p.m to
7 p.m.
WHERE: The Michigan
League
“
U.S Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.)
tweeted about a University event
in Washington, D.C.
“Enjoyed today’s @umich
Congressional Breakfast! U of
M research makes our state
a magnet of migration and
opportunity”.
— @SenGaryPeters “
Ross School of Business tweeted
about their upcoming program
in Detroit
“Our faculty members are
partnering with #Detroit Public
Schools to reinvent the district’s
business operations.”
— @MichiganRoss
Committee discusses police
oversight recommendations
Members agree to
ask city for funding
in upcoming budget
By ANDREW ALMANI
Daily Staff Reporter
The Ann Arbor Human Rights
Commission’s Subcommittee on
Civilian Police Oversight con-
tinued deliberations Wednesday
evening about the proposed cre-
ation of an oversight board for
the city’s police force.
Subcommittee Chair Dwight
Wilson, a HRC member, led the
meeting, focusing on questions
about the Ann Arbor commu-
nity at large, the operations of
the police department and how a
civilian police oversight commit-
tee would function if established.
Over the past few months,
the
subcommittee
conducted
research on police oversight
organizations across the nation
to better understand their logis-
tical difficulties and effective-
ness.
The committee was started
in response to broad community
concerns about the role of police
in the Ann Arbor community.
One of the experts who has
provided advice to the com-
mittee is Barbara Attard, an
oversight and police practices
consultant recommended to the
board by the ACLU.
In a written statement from
Attard shared with the subcom-
mittee Wednesday, she high-
lighted the dynamic nature of
police oversight committees.
“Oversight is not a static pro-
cess and should evolve over time
to incorporate effective practices
learned from others, and to be
continually responsive to chang-
ing community needs,” Attard
wrote. “In order to succeed, the
oversight body must be inde-
pendent from special interest
groups, police … and government
officials. The community, as well
as the police officers under over-
sight scrutiny, must trust that the
oversight agency and its leader-
ship are fair and unbiased.”
The subcommittee has also
spoken with Richard Jerome,
the deputy police monitor of the
NYPD’s stop-and-frisk program.
Wilson said Jerome indicated
that all police oversight com-
mittees prompt opposition from
police unions until the commit-
tee proves to be fair and compe-
tent.
Jerome also said that on
the other end of the spectrum,
oversight committees are often
criticized by police activists
who doubt the effectiveness
and impact of the committee’s
efforts. The best way to counter
this is via community outreach,
and
surveys
or
publications
assessing the committee’s work,
he said.
The fatal shooting of Ann
Arbor resident Aura Rosser by
police last November sparked
discourse in the community
about the use of force by law
enforcement. In relation spe-
cifically to that incident, the
subcommittee
also
discussed
suggestions of embedding men-
tal health workers within the
police department.
In the agenda presented to the
subcommittee, Wilson highlight-
ed Washtenaw County’s Project
Outreach Team, a program that
aids police in dealing with men-
tally ill residents, as an already
existing resource.
“PORT has a 24-hour crisis
intervention line, which comes in
handy because the chief of police
says the majority of people with
whom they come in contact have
mental challenges,” he wrote.
Subcommittee members who
were present included fourth-
year Medical student Mohamad
Issa, Law student Nick Kabat and
Human Rights Commissioner
Pamela Dent.
Read the rest of this story online
at michigandaily.com.
CSG
From Page 1A
See CSG, Page 3A