3-News

 
 
 
 AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily

Best-selling author Dr. Michael Eric Dyson talks about his experiences with race and business at the Alfred L. Edwards Conference at 

Robertson Auditorium on Friday. 

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Monday, February 8, 2016 — 3A

Wednesday they were investigat-
ing ROK’s original plan to meet 
up, but did not release a statement 
after the cancellation.

AAPD Sergeant Patrick Magu-

ire said though the backlash 
against the meet-up took place 
primarily online, AAPD officers 
still needed to monitor real-life 
implications. 
Maguire 
stood 

outside Nickel’s Arcade, ROK’s 
proposed assembly point in Ann 
Arbor on Saturday night, but said 
aside from a few protesters inside 
the arcade, the space was fairly 
quiet throughout the night.

“We’re just keeping an eye on 

things tonight,” he said.

A majority of attendees at the 

rally were local community mem-
bers and activists. Groups used 
the rally to promote other wom-

en’s rights issues — many carried 
signs for Planned Parenthood and 
Students for Choice. Second-year 
law student Dana Ziegler, member 
of Law Students for Reproductive 
Justice, said it was important for 
her organization to stand united 
with those at the rally.

“We saw that the undergrads 

had organized this event, and saw 
it as a great opportunity to turn 
it around into an educational and 
positive event, ” she said. “It’s 
important not to just talk about 
this event as a reaction to this 
group, but as a reaction to the 
prevalent sexism in our society.”

Multiple protesters also spoke 

of lending their voices to the cause 
as individuals. Ann Arbor resident 
Chris Thomas said it was impor-
tant for him as a Black man to 
attend.

“Utilizing the support networks 

that are built between things like 
Black Lives Matter and the femi-

nist movement brings about a bet-
ter place for everyone,” he said. 
“As we all sort of gain rights, we 
gain a better world.”

The rally drew protesters from 

communities as far as Lansing and 
Detroit, many of whom spoke dur-
ing the rally’s slate of speakers or 
as part of an open-mic speakout-
style session. The Sexual Assault 
Prevention and Awareness Center 
staffed a debriefing room in the 
Michigan League for the dura-
tion of the event, and organizers 
repeatedly referred to the rally as 
a “safe space.”

Though multiple speakers did 

touch on prevailing issues of vio-
lence against women, the occasion 
ultimately celebrated feminists’ 
rights and the women present at 
the event. 

“Tonight, our kings are in caves, 

it seems,” one attendee chanted 
from the crowd during a speaker. 
“We won.”

to sharing a few lyrics from classic 
hip-hop songs. The lecture, howev-
er, mainly focused on the relation-
ship between business and social 
movements and a legacy of leader-
ship, which was the theme of the 
conference.

The Detroit native had a lot to 

say about the importance of being 
authentic in business and social 
movements; he cited himself as an 
example.

“I’ve got to be who I am, talk like 

I do, cite some blues lyrics, some 
Shakespeare, some hip-hop, some 
great poetry, some Black preach-
ing, some country music — which I 
love very greatly — and that is who 
am and that is why I am comfort-
able doing what I do and express-
ing the full range of my identity as 
much as my gifts will allow me,” 
Dyson said.

Dyson also talked about the 

importance of knowing how to 
“code switch” as a person of color 
in the business world and shared 
with the audience advice he gave 
to his own son. Code switching 
refers to when a speaker alternates 
between two different forms of 
speech, which can mean either 
switching dialects or languages.

“When you’re working in busi-

ness you’ve got to be the most noble 
sellout you know how to be,” he 
said.

He emphasized that he didn’t 

want to overstate the importance of 
race, noting that people are diverse 
in many ways, but said individuals 
shouldn’t be afraid to be who they 
are, even in professional situations.

“There is something to be said 

for coming from a society where 
the experiences of our culture 
have been limited according to 
artificial barriers like race, class, 
sexual orientation and gender and 
the like,” Dyson said. “So at the 
end of the day it makes a differ-
ence, and yes, business does have 
a role to play in the distribution 
of justice and the application of 
it, both in a board room, both in 
the corporate culture, and in the 
broader society that those corpo-
rations or businesses or conglom-
erates or startups affect.”

Victor Olowu, a Chicago resi-

dent attending the conference, 
said he thought that Dyson was 
amazing, albeit unconventional, 
and he felt he took a lot away 
from the talk. Olowu was espe-
cially impacted by Dyson’s story 
of General Motors’ actions in the 
Flint water crisis, where the com-
pany switched from Flint River 
water back to Lake Huron water 
in Oct. 2014 due to fear of its cor-
rosion, much before the city itself 
changed its water supply a year 
later. The initial change to Flint 
river water occurred in April 2014. 

“Businesses should make their 

stance on ethical issues known, 
regardless of the financial con-
sequences,” Olowu said. “Com-
panies should think about the 
communities around them and 
how their actions affect them.”

The annual conference is host-

ed by the Black Business Students 
Association and is the longest-
running student-led conference on 
campus. Business senior Giancarlo 
Moise, a member of the BBSA, said 
he felt the conference was impor-
tant to students because they were 
able to get advice from individuals 
with a range of experiences.

“(The speakers) have met so 

many influential people through-
out their life — they had been 
shaped by so many different 
things, and we can experience 
that by listening to them,” he said.

Business 
senior 
Christian 

Abney, who is also a member of 
BBSA, said the student organiza-
tion and the conference have had 
a profound impact on his educa-
tional experience.

“Especially the MBA is much 

more than a classroom experi-
ence,” Abney said. “It’s the dif-
ferent people that you’re meeting, 
the different groups that you are 
involved in, the different cultures 
that you’re exposed to and bring-
ing that into business.”

Moise agreed.
“I thought it was powerful 

that many of our classmates who 
weren’t African American were 
there sitting next to us,” he said. 
“BBSA has had an impact outside 
of just students of color within the 
Ross community. When our dean, 
Alison Davis-Blake, talked about 
the Black Lives Matter vigil, that 
was powerful for all of us, and that 
was powerful because it wasn’t 
just the BBSA students that were 
there — everyone stood up in soli-
darity for that movement.”

Both students said they thought 

the talk was inspiring and made 
them more optimistic about find-
ing ethical companies to work for 
post-graduation.

“To a certain degree, busi-

ness needs to lead a lot of change, 
because business is given a plat-
form,” Abney said. “Especially 
for successful businesses — it’s 
just like anything else, if you are a 
celebrity, or a politician or an ath-
lete, you are given a platform and a 
means to reach people in order to 
create some type of change.”

CONFERENCE
From Page 1A

infertile or unable to have chil-
dren,” she said. “In the phrasing 
of their recommendations they 
just said any young women who 
are having sex and not on birth 
control need to be worried about 
being pregnant, which obviously 
isn’t factual. It just marginalizes 
a lot of people who are already 
excluded from the mainstream.”

One of the concerns cited in the 

CDC’s recommendation was the 
number of unplanned pregnan-
cies in the United States, mean-
ing women may not be aware that 
they are pregnant and at risk of 
giving their newborns fetal alco-

hol syndrome. Bailey said about 50 
percent of pregnancies are unin-
tended, a fact the CDC empha-
sized as a reason for restricting 
alcohol use if women are not using 
a form of birth control.

Bailey said though avoiding 

alcohol makes sense for women 
planning a pregnancy, there is 
conflicting 
empirical 
support 

for the true effects of drinking 
on fetuses, and noted the CDC’s 
approach is severe.

“Fetal alcohol syndrome is a 

real thing,” she said. “As far as 
we know, fetal alcohol syndrome 
occurs in women who are drink-
ing very large amounts of alcohol, 
like a fifth a day. Even of those 
women who are chronic alcohol-
ics who drink that much, not all 

children that they give birth to 
while they’re consuming that 
alcohol are going to have fetal 
alcohol syndrome. We don’t really 
know what is different in each 
gestating embryo and fetus.”

She added that other countries 

have different approaches to alco-
hol during sexually active times 
for women as well as for preg-
nancy. This, she said, adds to the 
discrepancies surrounding the 
true risk associated with alcohol 
consumption.

“There’s never been data that 

people support across the board 
that says ‘this is a safe amount’ 
in the United States,” she said. 

children can lead to developmen-
tal issues and can cause behav-
ioral problems and affect future 
academic performance.

“This is no time for politics as 

usual,” she said. “Flint should be 
able to start making the repairs 
you need to have clean water as 
soon as possible. We need to do 
so much more to provide health 
care and educational support for 
Flint’s children.”

Clinton talked about lead 

poisoning as an issue affecting 
communities across the coun-
try, citing her work dealing with 
lead-based paint exposure dur-
ing her tenure as one of New 
York’s senators.

She said she would stand by 

the Flint community and fight to 
ensure they are taken care of.

“As a senator I fought for chil-

dren,” she said. “I will fight for 
you in Flint no matter how long 
it takes.”

Citing an amendment to a 

bipartisan energy bill proposed 
by Senator Gary Peters (D–
Mich.) and Debbie Stabenow (D–
Mich.) — which would provide 
$200 million in federal fund-
ing for Flint — Clinton said she 
supported legislation aimed at 
assisting the city.

U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Flint) 

also recently sponsored compre-
hensive legislation, which would 
provide $765 million in federal 
funding to Flint for both short-
term infrastructure repairs and 
long-term support for affected 
children. The bill additionally 
requires the state to match every 
dollar provided by the federal 
government with state funding.

In an interview Sunday Kildee 

said he thought Clinton’s sup-

port helps raise the issue to the 
national level it needs to get the 
proper response.

“I think her presence helps 

elevate this to the national 
issue it should be at,” he said. 
“A national issue is a legiti-
mate issue that Congress should 
take up. The moral outrage that 
people feel that she expresses 
doesn’t mean anything if it’s not 
translated to help for the people 
of Flint, and that’s the message 
that she helped deliver.”

Flint resident Laura Henry 

said she believes Clinton will 
help ensure Flint will receive the 
support it needs to get through 
the crisis.

“I think it was very nice of 

her to come,” she said. “It was 
an awesome experience. I think 
she is going to look out for us. She 
is going to do the best she can to 
make sure we get all of the help 
and resources we need.”

CLINTON
From Page 1A

ment, students could be facing 
something there that students in 
the economics department aren’t. 
That’s just how LSA pans out.”

LSA junior Jacqueline Saplicki 

Lausell said she found the forum 
productive and was inspired by 
some of the discussions she had.

“It’s humbling to always see 

that people want to give back to 
their communities in ways that 
won’t only benefit themselves,” 
she said. “The question of inclu-
sivity is something that this cam-
pus has struggled with and what 
I found very impactful from this 
discussion is that we as students 
are looking for several ways to 
combat problems that have arisen 
in the general cookie-cutter mod-
els of education systems.”

LSA senior Jessica Feather said 

she felt motivated after the forum 
to become more involved in the 
campus community before she 
graduates.

“I’m really excited that I’m not 

the only one who sees issues on 
this campus, nor am I the only 
one who experiences them,” she 
said. “Of course, a lot of my expe-
riences aren’t the same as others’, 
but I like how we can express 
solidarity and really connect 
with each other in such a safe 
space and actually develop ideas 
for what can tangibly promote 
change on campus.”

Feather added that the forum 

made her feel more connected to 
the campus community.

“There is a community that 

I’ve missed out on but can also 
still connect to,” she said. “I’ve 
also come away with the under-
standing that my school does care 
about me and students do care 
about each other, which is really 
heartwarming and relieving in a 
way.” 

ing that she hopes students will 
consider not only the theme 
#WhoWillBeNext but also who 
will be now.

“Here we are today in the 

midst of one of the largest acts 
of injustice on a community 
for quite some time,” Borrego 
said. “It wouldn’t be completely 
accurate to say this is new.”

Outlining other instances of 

environmental injustice, such 
as contamination of water and 
improper waste disposal, she 
said then disproportionately 
affected low-income communi-
ties due to their lack of political 
capital.

She ultimately urged stu-

dents to collaborate with each 
other and consider ways in 
which they could positively and 
respectfully impact the Flint 
community. 

“The consciousness that we 

bring to this work always has 
to be ‘What’s our relationship 
to power in the community?’ 
— ‘what’s our relationship to 
power in our daily lives?’ ” 
Borrego said. “How do we not 
exploit a people but use our 
power and resources to make 
more space?” 

Following Borrego’s address, 

students 
attended 
various 

workshops, 
all 
promoting 

community engagement and 
networking, and focusing on a 
different campus issue.

At the workshop on workers’ 

rights, students from the Uni-
versity’s chapter of Fight for 
15, a student organization dedi-
cated to encouraging the Uni-
versity to raise minimum wage 
for its student and non-student 
workers to $15, gave a presen-
tation on their cross-campus 
work between the Ann Arbor 

and Dearborn campuses.

LSA junior Rebecca Wren, 

a member of Fight for 15, said 
she hopes the workshop will 
encourage students from the 
University’s other campuses to 
engage with the organization 
in the future. The organization 
is currently active on both the 
Ann Arbor and Dearborn cam-
puses.

“One of the most rewarding 

experiences of doing the cam-
paign is meeting the Dearborn 
students because I think there 
is a lot of isolation from the 
campuses in general,” Wren 
said, attributing the barrier 
between the Ann Arbor and 
Dearborn campuses to a lack 
of transportation. 

“If more things could bring 

the campuses together, I think 
that would be really great for 
students to see the differenc-
es in their campuses but also 
see the similarities we have 
together as students,” Wren 
added.

Teia McGahey, a junior in 

the College of Arts, Sciences 
and Letters at the University’s 
Dearborn campus, who is also 
involved in Fight for 15, echoed 
Wren’s optimism.

“I thought today’s conversa-

tion went really well. I think it 
just sort of reflects the whole 
conference — the power of 
bringing the three campuses 
together,” McGahey said. “A 
big part of why I’m here is 
student power, and knowing 
how much we can get done if 
we work together, and finally 
being able to bridge the gaps 
between Dearborn, Ann Arbor 
and Flint to really make big 
changes on our campuses and 
hopefully reflect the changes 
that students want to see for 
the future.”

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

CLIMATE
From Page 2A

FLINT
From Page 1A

CDC
From Page 1A

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

RALLY
From Page 1A