Opinion
JENNIFER CALFAS
EDITOR IN CHIEF
AARICA MARSH
and DEREK WOLFE
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS
LEV FACHER
MANAGING EDITOR
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily@michigandaily.com
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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4A — Thursday, October 22, 2015
A
s I stroll down State Street, I’m finding
it difficult to enjoy my favorite season.
The yellow leaves blowing across the
road (despite the lack of
nearby trees) or the autumn
breeze as it picks up my hair
(and throws it across my
face) are not holding their
usual charm. Honestly, they
overwhelm me.
More and more often I
have been struggling with
the recognition that time
is passing. Already, I’m in
my second year of college.
Already, the leaves are rashly
diving to the ground; the
wind is prematurely becom-
ing crisp. Everything happens just a bit too soon
for my liking. Already, it’s nearly November, and
already, I have to rent my first house.
“It’s just what everyone does,” I defensively
tell my mother after asking her for house-
searching advice. She responds, “Why?”
She cannot believe I’m this old either. My
answer isn’t good enough for her.
“Well,” I continue, “I’m not going to apply
to be an RA, because I don’t think they would
hire my personality, not because I couldn’t do
the job, but because the personality, you know,
my personality?” I ramble. “And my friends
are starting to look and I don’t want to get left
behind, not that I need to do what everyone else
is doing, except that I do in order to pay rent
and live and attend school. Mom.
“I love school,” I say, breathing heavily.
I may seem too nervous to someone who
thinks I just started thinking about looking for
a house that day. But what my mother did not
know was that I had been thinking about it for
weeks already, maybe even months. (Early and
abundant nerves are some of my charms.)
The first time I started to actively search
instead of worry was near the end of Septem-
ber. A few friends of mine were going to look at
what one of them thought was a relatively inex-
pensive apartment complex; I hedged her into
asking the group if I could tag along.
The following week we went for our sched-
uled tour, but as soon as I entered the lobby I
knew something didn’t feel right. That is a
nice painting above the front desk, I thought to
myself. There is a gym. And it’s big. Throughout
the tour I tuned out what our guide was saying,
so much so that I repetitively tried to open a
door the wrong way.
“It’s push,” our guide said. So the staff
is helpful, too, I criticized. Why could I not
describe what was wrong with this place?
It was after the elevator ride up to the deck
on at least the 10th floor that I realized what
it was. When the now annoyingly attentive
tour guide finally gave us a second, I pulled my
friends together to share my epiphany: “This
place is too good for us.”
That was the truest sentence I have ever said.
“I don’t know about you, but I am the aver-
age the college student. I am moderately quite
poor, or I am quite moderately poor — either
one. (Again, with the rambling.) But the thing
is, while I am poor, I need to live like I am poor.
I need to look like I am poor; I need to feel the
poorness that I am.”
There was a pause after the declaration that
made it seem more revolutionary than it actu-
ally was, but my friends both looked relieved
when finally they agreed. I rode down the
elevator feeling somewhat victorious (one can
only feel so victorious in an elevator).
We were also back to the beginning. This time,
we would properly search without dignity.
The following week, I attended a housing fair
at the Union, searching, though still not entirely
sure what I was searching for. “This one has four
bedrooms,” I informed my friends after accept-
ing the listings from various property manage-
ment companies. “This one costs this much,”
pointing to what, without really knowing, is just
a fairly arbitrary number. If I could be any less
helpful, I’m sure I would be. “This one is blue.”
After collecting many different flyers of rental
options, we rifled through them, highlighters
in hand, to narrow the search. But looking back
now, even the highlighting was arbitrary. I could
not reason why one house deserved fluorescence
and the other did not. Four bedrooms, I was told
to look for. I know now that it depends on the
size of the bedroom and who is willing to share.
Oh, that is a good price, I was told; but now, post-
calculations, I have realized I can indeed pay that
amount per month, if I never eat again.
Navigating how to find your first house isn’t
a simple task, and I should remember that the
people I’m searching with are as clueless as I am.
By this I mean that they’re also just practicing
“how to adult” and so they don’t know what they
need, let alone what I need. If I have to discuss
my price range with my parents, how do I expect
them to know what I can and cannot afford?
My advice, then, in embarking on this new
quest for shelter comes in three points:
1. Remember to put yourself first. Your
friends might not know what you can and can-
not afford, and I’m sure they will like you bet-
PAYTON
LUOKKALA
FROM THE DAILY
D
iversity — the loaded
term
that
describes
variety
in
personal
backgrounds,
opinions
and
experiences,
among
seem-
ingly
countless
other
things.
To acquire this
bloated
jargon
is the mission
of almost every
reputable work-
place and uni-
versity.
What consti-
tutes diversity anyway? In work-
places and academic institutions
such as the University of Michigan,
quantifying and qualifying diversi-
ty is salient to intentional inclusion
efforts. There’s a fine line between
tokenizing
identities
to
score
points in the diversity index and
purposeful recruiting and build-
ing support systems for a variety of
backgrounds, ultimately deepening
the intellectual and social develop-
ment for students and faculty.
In a study conducted by Deloitte
and the Billie Jean King Leadership
Initiative, millennials were more
concerned with being surrounded
by people who hold different cog-
nitive viewpoints based upon their
upbringing, rather than focusing on
demographic features like gender,
sexual orientation or race. These
differing viewpoints are rooted in
people’s
demographic
identities
and cannot be monolithic in defin-
ing diversity. In order to experience
the full value of varying viewpoints
and perspectives, the University
must invest more resources to
recruit and retain a diverse student,
staff and faculty population.
#BBUM — a hashtag that stands
for Being Black at the University
of Michigan — sparked, last year, a
University-wide dialogue about the
deficiency in demographic diversity
in the student body, and the scant
institutional support for students
of various backgrounds. #BBUM,
which continued the legacy of the
Black Action Movement and other
activist movements on campus, was
this generation’s uprising to chal-
lenge the University to reform its
approaches to diversity, specifically
in terms of recruitment and and
retention. In response to the cam-
paign, the University has adopted
several approaches to refine their
diversity strategies.
In December 2013, Provost Mar-
tha Pollack established the Com-
mittee on Diversity, Equity, and
Inclusion to address the concerns
of University students — particu-
larly pertaining to the decline of
minority students and accounts
of an unwelcoming campus cli-
mate for students of color. One of
the committee’s recommendations
was to write a diversity report for
each academic department. These
reports should include data on staff
hiring processes, plans to launch
sustainable student recruiting ini-
tiatives, identify areas of improve-
ment and make recommendations
that create a supportive workplace
climate for all. The committee is
liable for holding each department
accountable for their work around
diversity while also providing them
with tools and resources to pro-
mote diversity. Though broadening
the diversity of the student body
is a key priority of this initiative,
efforts to increase the diversity
among University faculty are just as
critical to ensuring a well-rounded
campus climate.
In 2005, the Journal of Blacks
in Higher Education reported that
Blacks make up 5.4 percent of all
tenured faculty. Throughout my
four years at the University, I have
not been taught by a Black profes-
sor. I have taken classes in a variety
of disciplines, and the closest I’ve
gotten to having a Black professor
was an education class my sopho-
more year, in which the class was
co-instructed by a Black female.
This is the first year — my senior
year — that I’ve had a Black GSI. I
have yet to see a Black professor at the
Ford School of Public Policy. Not one.
To their credit, the dean of the Pub-
lic Policy School is a Black woman.
While it delights my soul that the face
of the Public Policy School School is
a Black woman, most students don’t
get frequent face time with her. She’s
amenable to meeting with students
through
organized
lunches
and
forums, but it’s a different experi-
ence to have continuous interaction
between faculty and students.
As little as I have encountered
Black
female
professors,
I’ve
encountered even fewer Black men
in academia. I’ve grown so accus-
tomed to the lack of Black and
brown faces from my previous edu-
cational experiences that I failed to
see it as an issue.
Since I didn’t have professors
that looked like me, I sought to find
resources in Multi-Ethnic Student
Affairs, the Office of Academic
Multicultural
Initiatives
and
other institutional mechanisms
that were designed to embody safe
spaces for people of color. I discov-
ered a sense of belonging and found
personal connections, solace and
guidance from people who could
relate to my experiences through
these venues, which is what I des-
perately sought all along. I then
realized the consequences of being
unable to develop meaningful and
sustainable relationships with fac-
ulty in times I felt my identity was
threatened. Having a diverse body
of faculty is critical for student
engagement and development.
Both nonwhite students and
white students gain from learning
from teachers of color. An article
in The Atlantic about the benefits
of increasing the number of teach-
ers of color for students of color
and white students pointed out,
“Studies show that, academically,
nonwhite teachers produce more
favorable outcomes for students of
similar backgrounds; emotionally
and socially, these educators serve
as role models who share students’
racial and ethnic identity.”
Students are often more comfort-
able around faces that reflect their
own identity, as it empowers their
achievement, and creates a safe
space. Professors of color are likely
to identify with and provide strate-
gies for students on how to navigate
spaces where they were “the only,”
and affirm to them that being “the
only” does not mean they are alone.
“What hasn’t gotten much atten-
tion, however, are the potential
gains for white students.” Teachers
of color are often able to introduce
materials outside of the Eurocen-
tric curricula that primarily focus-
es on white American characters
and narratives. This assists in dis-
rupting the one-sided portrayals of
the world.
Diversity is about more than just
race. Though I have been content
with the number of female pro-
fessors and the amount of ethnic
diversity among my professors, I’ve
had little interaction with profes-
sors who are disabled, homosexual,
transgender, from a low or middle
socioeconomic status or non-Chris-
tian. As a student in the Public Pol-
icy School and at an institution that
prides itself on a community of the
“Leaders and Best,” it’s a disservice
and injustice to neglect the missing
voices in our dialogue.
The issue we discuss in and out-
side of the classroom and the way
we approach problems we seek to
solve as future leaders have inher-
ent biases that impact diverse com-
munities. Without learning from
people — either educators or stu-
dents — with characteristics differ-
ent from our own, we’re missing out
on a fundamental part of our intel-
lectual and personal development.
We cannot see or understand what
we have not been exposed to.
I’m hopeful for the future efforts
in increasing diversity. Many admin-
istrators and some students are
proud of the proactive steps the
University has taken to ensure rapid
implementation of diversity efforts.
Educational leaders, especially those
of color, have a significant role as
coaches and trainers, enlightening
generations about their own history
and identity and how it impacts their
approaches to a given subject matter.
Furthermore, educational leaders
serve as mentors, role models and
personal life coaches who can help
direct students onto the stepping
stones of success.
The University needs to increase
its diversity in the student body,
faculty and staff populations. We’re
anticipating
what
changes
can
occur. The University’s reputation
as a diverse institutional communi-
ty for future generations rests on our
shoulders, so we all must be keenly
aware and and sensitive to the ways
in which we approach facilitating a
diverse academic community.
— Alexis Farmer can be reached
at akfarmer@umich.edu.
Thickening the melting pot
I just want a home
D
uring last week’s Senate Assembly Committee on University
Affairs meeting, Engineering Prof. James Holloway, the vice
provost for global and engaged education, announced the
University’s plan to release student course evaluation data via a newly
developed, restricted-access website. The announcement dismayed
some committee members, who don’t believe the evaluations in
their current form provide valuable information and see no merit in
publishing them for student use. While there’s no discernible harm
in releasing the data as is, the administration must emphasize that
course evaluations were created as a method of improving professor
performance rather than a tool for scheduling classes.
Release course evaluation data
‘U’ should improve survey and build better scheduling system
The decision to release the course evaluation
data came after prompting from the Central,
LSA and Rackham student governments.
While the information is currently available
through Freedom of Information Act requests,
it is difficult and time-consuming to access.
Holloway and his colleagues are offering
to expedite the process with a University-
sponsored
website
that
would
feature
evaluations for each respective class. The
format is relatively simple: All of the data is
quantitative — comments are not included in
the report — and publication is limited only to
professors who have taught longer than seven
terms. Only those with a University uniqname
will be able to access the data.
Some officials have expressed concern that
the release of the data could have devastating
effects on faculty who receive poor ratings,
but because nothing is invasive or personal,
this claim is questionable.
Given faculty concern over the usefulness
of the evaluations, the University should
invest its resources in the expertise of
researchers to improve the survey to ensure
it provides constructive feedback for both
teachers and students. In the meantime,
the University should release the current
version of course evaluation results as long as
it makes extremely clear the purpose of the
collected data: It is not meant to replace other
professor-ranking sites like ratemyprofessor.
com. Only once the University frames course
evaluations in the proper context and makes
improvements could this be possible.
Flaws in the design of the evaluations
aren’t the only problem. Instead of investing
time and money into developing a separate
website to publish the data, the University
should work to create a central database
for all course-related needs. Incorporating
the data into Wolverine Access instead
would simplify backpacking and planning
by making all of the necessary resources
readily available: Students could read syllabi,
course descriptions and professor ratings
all in the same place. A more in-depth
evaluation coupled with a more integrated
scheduling process could go a long way for
students looking to make the most of their
credit hours.
Course evaluations in their current form
may not aid students in choosing classes, but
releasing them should be a relatively painless
process. If, however, the University is open to
improving upon the course-evaluation system
in the near future, it would be a welcomed
step in the direction of a simpler scheduling
method and, consequently, satisfied student
and faculty bodies.
ter in an apartment across town than
in the room across the hall when it is
January and you can no longer pay
your portion of the rent.
2. Embrace the poverty. You can-
not have everything. Chances are
there will be too few bathrooms
and too few square feet. Chances
are you will have multiple room-
mates and chances are one will
not like you. On the positive side,
you get to go to school. Are we not
all here because we love to learn?
(If you’re not, I suggest that along
with housing, you seek an attitude
adjustment.)
3. Don’t stress so much. It’s bad for
the immune system.
— Payton Luokkala can be
reached at payluokk@umich.edu.
Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Ben Keller,
Payton Luokkala, Aarica Marsh, Adam Morton, Victoria Noble,
Anna Polumbo-Levy, Melissa Scholke, Michael Schramm,
Stephanie Trierweiler, Mary Kate Winn, Derek Wolfe
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
ALEXIS
FARMER
E-mail GabriElla at Gabsmay@umich.Edu
GABRIELLA MEYER