of ShabUM was to foster a
comfortable space for those who
may not feel comfortable going
to a Hillel dinner.
“We know that’s not for
everybody and not everybody
wants
to
come
to
Hillel,”
she said. “This event is an
opportunity, as the slogan says,
to ‘bring Shabbat home,’ which
means that different people
with particular interests are
able to have their own personal
Shabbat dinners.”
The
ShabUM
committee
supplied each Shabbat host with
a goodie bag that included the
weekly Torah portion, matches
with “Michigan” written in
Hebrew on the box and a cloth
cover for challah, a type of
Jewish egg bread, also inscribed
with
Michigan
in
Hebrew.
Hosts were welcome to use any
or all of the items, which are
included in traditional Shabbat
dinners.
Meisel said the event meant
a lot to her because of the
significance Shabbat has for her
personally.
“Judaism is a really big part
of my identity and I’ve always
loved Shabbat dinners,” she
said. “Even though the general,
basic
aspects
of
Shabbat
dinners can be the same, if that
means eating challah, one of the
ritual breads, or if it’s lighting
candles,
the
experience
is
different no matter where you
are. I’m really excited that I
get to facilitate other people
having their unique individual
Shabbat experiences, especially
for people who don’t usually
celebrate it at all.”
LSA senior Gabi Kirsch,
co-president
of
Ahava,
an
LGBTQ student organization
that is part of Hillel, hosted a
Shabbat dinner that aimed to be
inclusive of queer individuals.
“The actual name of the
event, actually, is One Fish,
Two Fish, Queer Fish, Jew
Fish,” she said.
Kirsch said she thought it
was important to give Jews a
queer space on campus that
isn’t necessarily in a straight or
heteronormative
perspective,
such as for traditional events
like Shabbat.
“It’s important to have a
queer space in general, just
because I think a lot time queer
Jews have to sort of self-censor,”
she said. “Either they’re in a
queer space and they have to
censor being Jewish, because
it’s not so typical, or they’re in
a Jewish space and they have
to censor being queer. It gets
really tiring and exhausting
having to censor like that and
always being aware of how
you’re coming off.”
Noting
the
integral
role
Shabbat plays for many Jews
growing up, Kirsch said she
felt that significance made it
especially important to host a
specifically LGBTQ dinner.
“It’s not that everyone is
having a conversation about
being queer out there,” she
said. “The goal is that they can
have it and not feel like they’re
the only one in the room who’s
feeling that way or have had
those experiences.”
LSA
sophomore
Sara
Bender-Bier spent the most of
her Friday cooking to get ready
for her dinner, which mostly
included freshmen. People in
her apartment, she said, had
always been eager to host Hillel
events, which is why they
decided to host Shabbat dinner.
“We like cooking and we
really like the idea of having
a bunch of people over for
Shabbat and making it more of a
homey feel,” she said. “At Hillel,
you have so many people there,
sometimes it can be really
overwhelming even though it’s
a really great community, but
when you’re here in a home, it
feels more comfortable.”
Bender-Bier said her dinner
didn’t include any religious
services
before
it
started
because she wanted to make
her guests feel as comfortable
as possible.
“There are some people that
don’t feel comfortable going to
Hillel because they don’t feel
that observant, that religious,”
she said. “We didn’t have any
rituals beforehand, we just
have the prayers and if you want
to go to the services at Hillel
before you can, but there’s no
pressure to do anything super
religious.”
Overall, she said she hoped
that by coming to ShabUM,
her guests could form new
friendships
and
explore
Judaism more.
“There are so many ways to
be Jewish and not a lot of people
realize that there’s more than
one way,” she said. “Hopefully
this makes them feel more
comfortable.”
Paul is the founder and
administrator of the Southeast
Michigan Returned Peace Corps
Volunteer Applicant-Mentoring
Program,
a
program
which
matches
former
volunteers
with students and community
members
interested
in
applying. The program works
in conjunction with the School
of Information and the Peace
Corps.
Rackham student Benjamin
Morse, a former Peace Corps
volunteer and strategic campus
recruiter for the corps, served in
Hawzen, Ethiopia from 2011 to
2013.
In addition to being able to
apply to specific regions, Morse
said
the
online
application
process
has
also
allowed
volunteers
to
gain
more
information about where they’re
going before they leave. When he
was deployed, prior to the online
application, he said he had no
information until right before he
departed.
“It was this elusive process
where you never really knew
where you were going until right
at the end,” Morse said.
Because he could not, at that
time, apply to any particular
region, after being admitted,
Morse was nominated by the
corps for a specific region.
Morse was asked to serve in
sub-Saharan Africa, and told
he would depart that October.
Morse said he was not permitted
to know what country he was
going to until 10 days after he
was told his region.
Technology
access
during
service
University
alum
Rachel
Bielajew
currently
serves
as a math education Peace
Corps
volunteer
in
Malawi
and will complete her service
in September 2017. Rackham
student Megan Barnes served
as a Peace Corps volunteer in
Guatemala.
Though
technological
advancement is seen as vital
in the Western world, both
Barnes and Bielajew said they
found little use for advanced
technology in the field.
Bielajew
said
her
work
teaching math largely lacks
technological tools.
“In my work as a teacher I
use very little (technology),”
Bielajew said. “Day to day, it’s
just a chalkboard, chalk and
me.”
Bielajew said her school is
currently
trying
to
acquire
a computer, despite limited
funds. She brought her laptop
to Malawi and is using it to
teach her fellow teachers and
community members how to
use a computer, or to show films
to her students to help them
practice English.
In contrast, Barnes said she
remembered visiting a remote
community with no electricity
that had been gifted a complete
solar-powered computer lab.
She said the gift went largely
unused.
“It was reputed that no
one knew how to use or fix
the computers so they went
unused,” Barnes said. “I thought
a thing like that would be nice
for my community, but saw the
sustainability challenges with
installing a ‘gifted’ technology
suite’that would then be left to
gather dust.”
Charging a cell phone is
quite a feat in the Peace Corps.
Using car batteries to charge
phones or traveling to a city to
sit in a coffee shop are the norm
for many volunteers who are
seeking electricity. Paul said
she’s had return volunteers tell
her they have to walk to the
highest elevation in the area to
find cell phone reception, even if
that spot is hours away. Even so,
she said, every volunteer brings a
cell phone.
Though technology is not
largely
used
for
teaching
purposes,
both
Barnes
and
Bielajew brought cell phones to
their countries of deployment,
and
used
them
regularly.
Bielajew said she was one of few
community members to have a
smartphone.
“I use my smartphone all the
time for personal reasons, like
talking with other volunteers
and
friends
back
at
home
through WhatsApp,” Bielajew
said. “Many of the members
of my community have a cell
phone, but only a few of the
more well-off people have a
smartphone.”
Barnes said she was unsure
of what to expect of the
technology in Guatemala, and
she heard mixed accounts of cell
phone access and the presence
of Internet cafes. She said as
unpredictable as it was, media
access provided her comfort
during her service.
“I use Facebook occasionally
to update friends and family
back home and try to share
with them some of what I’m
learning about the culture of
Malawi,” Bielajew said. “ I don’t
remember the last time I read
or watched the news because it
just takes too long to load on my
phone.”
Reintegration into society
It can be difficult for Peace
Corps volunteers to reintegrate
into society upon return.
Paul said a smooth integration
to a new society is influenced
by the volunteers’ expectations.
Negative expectations can make
reintegration difficult for those
returning. She said volunteers
return with one foot in the
culture of the host community
and another foot in their native
culture, which can be difficult to
reconcile.
“They expect culture shock
when they go, they don’t expect
culture shock when they come
back and it’s very painful to
discover most Americans are not
interested in what they learned,”
Paul said. “And when they come
back
they’re
very
different
people.”
When Paul returned, the
landscape of American culture
had gone through an upheaval
during her 27 months in Brazil.
“Women were ironing their
hair on an ironing board, women
were all wearing miniskirts,
there was mass murder in this
country for the first time and
there was inflation — a term
we’d never heard before,” Paul
said.
For Barnes, the reintegration
period was not as difficult, largely
due to access to technology,
which Paul did not have during
his service. Due to access to
communication mediums like
e-mail and Facebook, Barnes
said, it did not feel as though the
world had moved on without her.
“I was a little behind the times
as far as popular culture and
music went,” Barnes said. “But
I had at least heard of ‘Game of
Thrones’ — even if I didn’t know
what it was.”
contract with the University,
Halloran, who is also a lecturer,
said she was not a full-time
employee
and
made
only
$19,700. After the contract, she
said, she saw a 43-percent raise
in pay.
“This is the kind of thing that
galvanized people to form a
union,” Halloran said. “The pay
rates were so low that they were
basically poverty wages.”
At
the
time
when
negotiations began, Halloran
said, the University recognized
the problem that existed in the
community.
“The University was willing
to work with the unions. They
did not start from the point that
unions are hostile,” she said.
“They knew that what we were
asking for was reasonable and a
public embarrassment.”
Jeffery Frumkin, associate
vice provost for academic and
faculty affairs and director of
academic
human
resources,
expressed similar sentiments.
“There are other institutions
who took a pretty hard stance
when their lecturers organized,
but for the leaders of this
institution that was never really
on the table,” Frumkin said.
“My sense was there’s a reason
that they wanted to unionize,
and there were treatments
of people that had go one for
time and time without being
reviewed.”
In terms of relations between
the LEO and the University,
Halloran said the negotiations
have yielded positive results
and
that
adjuncts
at
the
University have one of the best
contracts in the country.
However, she and other
lecturers noted that despite the
strides made in the last 10 years,
issues still remain.
In particular, Halloran said,
lecturers are still underpaid
for the skills they bring to their
jobs.
“These
are
people
with
advanced degrees and this is
the type of pay they get,” she
said. “We are teaching these
really key classes that are all
essential parts of the students’
education, and the people who
are teaching them are well
trained but poorly paid.”
Melinda Matice, a lecturer in
the English Language Institute,
echoed Halloran’s statement,
pointing to the impacts of
lecturers
on
defraying
the
University’s costs.
“As universities have become
more expensive I think it is
important to add that the
amount
of
teaching
that
lecturers do really helps keep
the costs down,” she said. “I
think it would be fair to inquire
why costs continue to rise when
our pay isn’t rising accordingly,
that rise is not reflected in
the people who are doing the
majority of the teaching.”
Frumkin said the University
has done a lot to meet the needs
of the union, but understands
that there is more the union
wants to address.
“I think the first contract
went a long way to meeting
the objectives of the union,”
Frumkin said. “It’s still not
everything they want, but that
is OK because that is what
unions do.”
Alexandra Matish, associate
director of academic human
resources at the University,
said the University has a solid
working
relationship
with
the LEO, but they still have
disagreements.
“We
have
a
very
good
working
relationship
with
them,” Matish said. “We don’t
always agree but we have a very
good working relationship. I
would be surprised if they were
pleased with it, but that is part
of the job of a union to continue
to advocate for their members.”
Speaking to wages, which
is what both sides identified
as
the
largest
point
of
contention, Halloran said lack
of prioritization is the reason
lecturer pay isn’t higher.
“The University could set
different kinds of priorities,”
Halloran
said.
“They
could put more money into
undergraduate education and
pay their lecturers a fair salary
for what they are doing.”
Frumkin
disagreed
with
Halloran’s
assessment
of
the situation and cited the
decentralized
nature
of
budgets instead as the reason
for variation in salaries across
different disciplines.
“The
dean
has
the
responsibility
for
managing
his or her resources,” Frumkin
said. “We have a wide range of
salaries on campus, but that is
not unique to the lecturers. The
salary ranges for tenure-track
faculty vary all over the place.”
Overall, both sides said they
agree that the University has
done a lot to compromise with
the unions, but disagreements
on issues like wages still exist
between the two groups.
Judy Dyer, lecturer in the
English Language Institute,
said while she still thinks
pay is still too low, she is
grateful for what the union has
accomplished.
“Salaries are pitifully low,”
she said. “However, I would
hate to work in a university
as a lecturer without a union
because all of the things we got,
we got together.”
Frumkin
said
he
had
heard
about
the
types
of
poor relationships that many
universities have with their
non-tenure track faculty and
feels the one at the University is
above the standard.
“We are so far removed from
that now, but that doesn’t mean
everything is perfect,” he said.
“From an overall standpoint,
looking at what has been
accomplished by LEO and the
University in the three areas of
salary, benefits, and job security,
it’s a very different kind of
supportive
and
protective
relationship in comparison to
other institutions.”
Halloran said she is proud
to work for the University, but
still hopes for improvement,
especially in regard to wages.
“It’s a good place to work, but
it doesn’t mean it’s perfect,” she
said. “It’s not as embarrassing
now as it used to be, but it is still
really low pay.”
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Monday, November 23, 2015 — 3A
‘U’ takes American
Campuses Act on
Climate Pledge
The
University,
along
with more than 200 other
colleges,
has
signed
the
American Campuses Act on
Climate pledge, according to a
University press release. The
pledge supports world leaders
taking strong actions against
climate change.
The
list
of
supporters
was released by the White
House Office of Science and
Technology last Thursday, and
a group of 10 faculty members
and students will be attending
the United Nations Climate
Change Conference in Paris
beginning Nov. 30 as part of the
pledge.
Participants
in
the
U.N.
conference will be from the
School
of
Information,
the
School of Natural Resources
and Environment, the College
of Engineering and the Public
Policy School.
Ann Arbor receives
record-hitting 10.7
inches of snow
Snowfall
in
Ann
Arbor
hit an all-time record for a
24-hour period in the month
of November, with almost a
foot of snow accumulating
across the city on Saturday.
The
first
records
date
back
to
1880.
Saturday’s
snow totaled 10.7 inches on
the
University’s
campus,
according
to
the
National
Weather Service.
Snowfall
tallies
varied
across
the
county.
Some
parts of town received less,
like
southeast
Ann
Arbor,
where 9.6 inches of snow was
recorded.
In
Manchester,
in the southwest corner of
Washtenaw
County,
more
than 14 inches of snow fell
Saturday.
According
to
Dennis
Kahlbaum, the University’s
staff
meteorologist,
this
variance was due to a dry
pocket in the weather system
that formed during the storm,
causing the county’s northern
and western parts experienced
more snow than other areas.
Even though Ann Arbor saw
a record for a 24-hour period,
the overall snowfall was not
the biggest in the state. Howell.
recorded 16.5 inches of snow as
of 8:45 a.m. Saturday.
—TANYA MADHANI
NEWS BRIEFS
ADJUNCT
From Page 1A
PEACE CORPS
From Page 1A
SHABUM
From Page 1A
mattered now was Ohio State.
Michigan overcame a slew of
untimely penalties, a poor run
game and a hostile Penn State
crowd to not only win, but also
keep its Big Ten Championship
hopes alive.
“It was a great win,” said
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh.
“The amount of players that
contributed to this win was
very higher — probably our
highest total of the season. …
There was a lot of guys sucking
it up and playing good, winning
football.”
Much of that good, winning
football came from fifth-year
senior quarterback Jake Rudock.
After compiling 777 yards and
eight touchdowns in the last
two weeks, Rudock was back at
it against the Nittany Lions (4-3,
7-4) on Saturday.
In a back-and-forth game, the
reigning Big Ten Co-Offensive
Player of the Week threw for
256 yards and two touchdowns
on 25-for-38 passing. Both of his
touchdowns came immediately
after the defense allowed a
score.
After the Nittany Lions scored
a field goal on the opening drive,
Rudock found junior tight end
Jake Butt for a touchdown on
the ensuing possession. Later,
when Penn State took a 10-7
lead with a touchdown, Rudock
connected with redshirt junior
wide receiver Amara Darboh for
an 11-yard score to close the first
half.
“Just finding a way,” Rudock
said.
“Scratching,
itching,
clawing, whatever you have to
do to get points on the board. It’s
what we have to do.”
With
the
performance,
Rudock
became
the
first
quarterback in Michigan history
to throw for 250 yards or more
in three consecutive weeks.
As in recent games, the run
game continued to struggle
for the Wolverines. Five backs
combined for just 87 yards on 30
carries, but senior fullback Sione
Houma found the end zone after
the Nittany Lions fumbled a
punt, setting Michigan up for an
easy score.
And
with
just
over
five
minutes to go in the game and
Penn State trailing just 21-16,
junior running back De’Veon
Smith scored from two yards out
to provide the dagger Michigan
needed.
Before that dagger came, the
Wolverines’ defense continued
to exhibit the big-play woes
that have plagued it all month.
Penn
State
running
back
Saquon Barkley broke loose for
a 56-yard run on the game’s
opening drive to set up a field
goal, and quarterback Christian
Hackenberg
found
receiver
Saeed Blacknall for a 25-yard
touchdown in the first half’s
waning moments.
Michigan’s defense buckled
down
in
the
second
half,
however, ending the game with
10 tackles for loss and just 207
yards — including just 74 in the
second half — allowed on 54
plays. In four trips to the red
zone, Penn State mustered just
nine points.
“It’s been remarkable the
way our defense is playing,
and I can’t imagine anyone’s
playing any better,” Harbaugh
said. “The amount of guys that
stepped up was really a lot. …
I’m really trying to single one
guy out, but I can’t.”
With each defensive stop and
ensuing score, the Wolverines
quieted the crowd of 107,418 in
Beaver Stadium. As the players
left the field, the hundreds
of Michigan fans that made
the trip remained and began
chanting “Beat Ohio.”
Michigan had conquered its
latest opponent, and was on to
the next week.
“Whenever
you
win
a
road game, you’re not just
overcoming the other team,
you’re overcoming the other
team’s fans,” Harbaugh said.
“That really makes you feel like
a man when you do that.”
Despite
the
win,
the
Wolverines’ hopes of winning
the Big Ten East took a hit
on Saturday when, later in
the
afternoon,
Michigan
State defeated Ohio State in
Columbus. Michigan’s path to
the Big Ten Championship Game
now hinges on not only a win
over Buckeyes, but also Penn
State upsetting the Spartans in
East Lansing.
However, after a long and
hectic season, the Wolverines
can tune out the noise and focus
solely on Ohio State. With wide
smiles and a sense of purpose,
Michigan’s dreams are still
alive.
“It’s
fun
to
be
in
this
environment and this position,”
Harbaugh said. “It’s fun to be in
the playoffs. In our minds, we’ve
been in it for weeks.
“We’re right where we want
to be, and we’re playing for the
championship.”
PENN STATE
From Page 1A
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