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Thursday, June 2, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com NEWS
Warrior Scholar
project helps
students returning
from service
By KEVIN LINDER
Daily Staff Reporter
For the third summer since
2014, the University of Michigan
hosted
the
Warrior-Scholar
Project, a week-long summer
program that provides veterans
with
assistance
during
the
transition from military life to
higher education.
Founded at Yale University
in 2012, the program expanded
to both the University and
Harvard University in 2014. This
summer, it will be hosted by 12
different
universities
across
the country. In Ann Arbor,
the program was hosted at the
Mosher-Jordan Residence Hall.
Students sleep, eat and study
from 9 a.m. Sunday morning
to late Saturday evening. This
year’s cohort of 27 veterans at
the University represented the
largest group ever to participate
in the program.
Upon leaving the service,
one of the challenges that many
veterans face when they leave
the service — which the Warrior-
Scholar Project seeks to address
— is a lack of preparation for the
transition directly into a collegiate
environment.
The veterans enrolled in the
program take part in classes
designed to improve critical reading
and writing skills. After breakfast,
students attend seminars led
by volunteer professors from
the University, and later in the
day, they participate in reading
classes in which they analyze
the ideas and arguments made in
challenging texts from authors
such as Alexis
de Tocqueville,
Thucydides
and Plato. The
students
also
take
writing
classes,
led
by
full-time
tutors, in which
they learn to
effectively develop a thesis and
present arguments.
The program is designed to
help students who are planning
to attend college in the future, but
it’s also open to students who feel
they need additional academic
assistance following a couple of
semesters of enrollment.
Program
Director
Ryan
Pavel, a Marine Corps veteran
and University alum, said the
program is very humanities-
focused, yet is also designed to
aid students with all types of
interests and needs.
As the organization grows,
there
are
plans
to
further
incorporate STEM-based skills
into the program. According to
Pavel, Yale University and the
University of Oklahoma offer
additional week-long programs
to students who want to pursue
STEM degrees.
Pavel also said the work
students do through the program,
and
the
way
the
program
is
designed,
prepare
students for the
challenges and
expectations of
fields
outside
of
higher
education
as
well.
“We
are
trying
to
start
conversations about these study
skills,” Pavel said. “Being a good
student helps you anywhere.
Knowing how to approach a
complicated text helps you in
anything; the skill of knowing
how
to
approach
and
be
GOVERNMENT
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Participant Riva Szostkowski hugs her English teacher Mary Beth Harris at the program’s closing dinner in 2014.
North Carolina
style legislation
introduced in state
senate
By CAITLIN REEDY
Daily Staff Reporter
The Michigan state legislature
is
attempting
to
join
North
Carolina in passing a bill that
would
require
transgender
people to use the bathroom that
corresponds with the sex listed on
their birth certificate. State Sen.
Tom Casperson (R–Escanaba) is
sponsoring the bill and is firmly
set on legalizing it despite the
apparent obstacles and media
firestorm North Carolina is facing.
North Carolina, the first state
to successfully restrict which
public
bathrooms
and
locker
rooms transgender people use,
sparked
headline
news
and
strong opposition from LGBTQ
rights advocates, and the state
is currently facing many legal
battles regarding the bill. LGBTQ
rights advocates filed a lawsuit
against the law’s legality, and
the federal government ordered
North Carolina to abolish the law
as it violates federal civil rights,
leading to a lawsuit against North
Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) by
the Department of Justice.
Despite
President
Barack
Obama
cutting
billions
of
dollars in federal aid from North
Carolina, Casperson will continue
to advocate for the bill and wishes
to stop children from sharing a
bathroom with others who are
“biologically different.” Casperson
decided to introduce the bill after
discovering that the State Board
of Education stated in a proposed
reccomendation
that
public
schools should allow transgender
students to use the bathrooms
with which they identify, as
well as being referred to by the
pronoun of their requests.
This
proposition,
however,
didn’t
sit
well
with
the
Republicans in Lansing, including
House Speaker Kevin Cotter, who
also spoke out against the board’s
recommendation. Cotter said in
a statement that he is protecting
the wishes of parents who may
not have approved a gender switch
concerning their child.
“Maybe there’s something there
that’s just not normal,” Casperson
said. “And normal’s not the right
word. Maybe there’s something
there that’s just not right, where
we’re mixing these kids together.”
The proposed bill is already
receiving
backlash
similar
to
the comments made in North
Carolina.
A
public
comment
section
already
has
7,000
responses and comments, mostly
in opposition to the measure.
John Austin, president of the State
Board of Education, is an active
force against this bill. Austin said
that the bill could violate federal
civil rights and further isolate
these transgender students who
are already at-risk for suicide,
depression and bullying.
The bill is also facing opposition
from state Democrats. U.S. Rep.
Dan Kildee (D–Mi.) released a
statement condoning what he is
calling the Anti-LGBT Bathroom
Bill. Kildee pointed out that
Casperson and other Republicans
are willing to spend time and
money on such a divisive issue
rather than focusing attention
on issues such as improving
infrastructure, ensuring funding
for the public schools and safe
drinking water in Flint.
“Their ‘bathroom bill’ ... is
discriminatory
and
bigoted,”
Kildee said in a statement. “It
seeks to divide Michiganders and
deny people access to restrooms
when they simply want privacy,
safety and respect when using
such accommodations. Michigan
Republicans
like
Senator
Casperson should spend less time
bullying Michiganders and more
time on the actual problems facing
our state. This hateful bill flies in
the face of Michigan values like
dignity, equality and respect, and
it should be promptly shelved and
defeated.”
See VETERANS, Page 9
See BATHROOM, Page 8
Program prepares veterans for
transition from service to school
Controversial new
bathroom bill affects
transgender students
“Being a good
student helps
you anywhere”