demanding that more of a response
from university officials. Some
students requested to have a day
off in order to organize a response
to the graffiti, while others called
on their university to provide more
mental health resources.
Hate speech was found again
two days later on staircases of Wise
Hall at EMU, a student dormitory
centrally located near a dining hall.
The crime prompted student
protests
for
more
action
by
EMU, with students saying the
administration
had
not
done
enough about the graffiti beyond
removing it. About 200 students of
color gathered at EMU’s football
game this weekend to bring more
awareness to the situations.
The University of Michigan faced
a similar situation regarding anti-
Islam chalk drawings on the Diag
last year, with multiple University
students expressing frustration
with the administration’s choice to
not remove the chalk drawings.
The
Eastern
Michigan
University Student Government
condemned
the
graffiti
on
their Facebook page Tuesday.
Emily
Kindred,
the
EMU
student government director of
communications, wrote in an email
to the Daily that the organization
plans to continue working with the
University to address this issue.
“EMU Student Government is
committed to working alongside
our university, as well as our allies
at the University of Michigan and
beyond, to combat racism and
injustice on our campus, within
our community, and across the
country,” she wrote. “We stand in
complete solidarity with students
of
color
and
are
committed
to creating and fostering an
environment where everyone is
accepted and loved for who they
are.”
CSG’s statement ended with
#BlackLivesMatter, a hashtag for
the movement surrounding police
brutality in the United States
toward Black life. The movement
started in 2012 after 17-year-old
Trayvon Martin was killed by
George Zimmerman in Florida.
The
University
chapter
of
the National Association of the
Advancement of Colored People
and fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha
also held a speakout on the Diag at
the University last Thursday night,
discussing the incident at EMU
and police brutality in the United
States. About 150 students were in
attendance.
Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity
member Christopher McClendon,
a Business senior, spoke at the
event.
“In this past week, we have
witnessed on our campus, within
this
community,
and
in
the
country, that racism is alive and
well,” McClendon said. “This isn’t
our first one, and it won’t be our
last one.”
Kindred
wrote
that
EMU
Student Government appreciated
seeing its allies in other universities.
“EMU Student Government is
grateful to have an ally in University
of Michigan’s Central Student
Government,” she added. “We
recognize that this is a struggle we
do not face alone — communities
and universities across the country
have been subject to the same
kind of blatant racism recently
discovered on our campus.”
3-News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Monday, September 26, 2016 — 3A
CSG
From Page 1A
finished with six sacks and 13
tackles for loss, bringing their
totals to 16 and 34, respectively, in
those categories in the past three
matchups against the Nittany
Lions.
The
biggest
mismatch
between the teams came when
the
Wolverines
flexed
their
muscles on third down. Michigan
entered with the top third-down
conversion defense in the country
at 10.5 percent, and Penn State
was among the worst in the
offensive category at 118th.
Early on, the teams played to
those rankings. The Wolverines
sacked the Nittany Lions on four
of the first seven third downs,
tackling running back Saquon
Barkley for a loss on another stop
and halting Penn State on a fourth
down as well.
“I thought for the most part our
guys were there and swarming,”
Harbaugh
said.
“They
were
coming two, three, four at a time.
I thought it was impressive.”
That was all the opportunity
the offense needed. Penn State
had to punt in the first two
minutes of the game. On that
play, redshirt sophomore Jabrill
Peppers caught a booming 61-yard
kick and returned it 51 yards to the
opposing 9-yard line. Even with a
15-yard sideline interference call,
the Wolverines scored in seven
plays, and they rolled from there.
“I think any time you shut down
a team that early in the game, it
kind of sets the tone for the rest of
the game,” said senior linebacker
Ben Gedeon. “I think we did a
good job in the third quarter
coming out of halftime as well.”
The offense made up for a lack
of big plays with a series of long,
methodical scoring drives. Its
touchdowns in the first half came
from one, two, three and two
yards out. Freshman running back
Chris Evans tacked on a three-
yarder in the third quarter, and
sophomore running back Karan
Higdon finally broke loose for a
40-yard scamper in the fourth.
In all, the Wolverines picked
up six rushing touchdowns from
five different players: redshirt
junior
fullback
Khalid
Hill,
senior running back De’Veon
Smith, Higdon (twice), Evans and
redshirt junior running back Ty
Isaac. True freshman tight end
Devin Asiasi found the end zone
for the first time with a three-yard
catch from redshirt sophomore
quarterback Wilton Speight.
Meanwhile,
aided
by
the
returns
of
senior
defensive
end Taco Charlton and senior
cornerback Jourdan Lewis from
injury, the defense continued to
shine.
Gedeon patrolled the field
with 11 tackles. The Wolverines
broke up three passes, hurried
Penn State quarterback Trace
McSorley four times and hit him
several more. Redshirt junior
linebacker Mike McCray added
an easy interception in the open
field for good measure.
Barkley was the lone bright
spot for Penn State. He carried
15 times for 59 yards and caught
five passes for 77 more yards, at
least tying for the team lead in
all four categories. He had 136 of
the Nittany Lions’ 172 total yards,
with the six sacks hindering the
latter count. Chris Godwin scored
Penn State’s only touchdown on
an eight-yard reception in the
fourth quarter.
The Nittany Lions’ only other
points came on a short field goal
in the third quarter, a play that
said all that needed to be said.
After
the
Wolverines
dominated the first half and
took a 28-0 lead, Penn State
forced a punt and moved down
inside Michigan’s five-yard line,
attempting to shift the score
toward respectable. A two-yard
touchdown run would have cut
the lead back to three touchdowns
with still 26 minutes to play.
Instead, the Nittany Lions lined
up for a short field goal. They then
called timeout to discuss going for
the touchdown, but ran out the
field-goal team again for the kick.
Franklin said after the game he
wanted to be sure his team scored
some points off of that possession.
Harbaugh, meanwhile, faced
the same situation on the first
series of the game, a 4th-and-
goal play from the one-yard line.
Speight motioned to the sideline
to go for it, and Harbaugh agreed.
Hill punched it in on a fullback
dive.
“He kind of gets a grin on his
face, because I know his mindset
is he wants to smash it in for a
touchdown too,” Speight said.
“It’s cool that we’re all on the
same page.”
Last
year’s
game
went
similarly.
Penn
State
came
within striking distance four
times but settled for three short
field goals, stifled at the goal line
by Michigan’s front seven. The
Nittany Lions appeared to have
improved in that area coming in,
just as many of Michigan’s other
recent opponents.
“When you got a D-line like we
have,” Gedeon said, “it’s hard to
even tell.”
FOOTBALL
From Page 1A
rigid curriculum.
Under this system, students are
expected to choose assignments
based on their own interests,
motivating them to learn course
materials.
Fishman said the University
allows professors great discretion
when it comes to designing and
grading courses, which is what
spurred him and other professors,
such
as
LaVaque-Manty,
to
explore new methods like gameful
learning.
At the heart of the gameful
learning program is a push to
eliminate the negative stigma
surrounding
certain
subjects
by boosting student confidence,
Fishman said. He noted when
students feel confident in their
competence, not only does grade-
based performance improve, but
so do student attitudes toward
learning.
“Students
want
to
feel
confident,”
Fishman
said.
“Whatever level students start at,
they should be able to try things
that will be challenging, but things
that they can accomplish.”
Fishman,
LaVaque-Manty
and other proponents of gameful
learning
argue
the
emphasis
placed on grades in traditional
learning
environments
makes
attaining a high grade point
average the end goal for too
many people. Prioritizing grades,
LaVaque-Manty
said,
prevents
students from focusing on actually
learning course material.
“In college, we view an 80
percent as failing to know the
final 20 percent of class material,”
LaVaque-Manty said. “Gameful
learning is different. If you get 80
percent of the points, that’s not
viewed as failing in a fifth of the
material, it is looked at as having
mastery over a lot of the new
information.”
Fishman
acknowledged
that
there has been some faculty
resistance to the switch over
concerns about gameful learning
causing a lack of rigor, in which
students choose the path of least
resistance to achieve an A.
However, he noted that social
scientific research has shown that
a gameful approach to learning can
strengthen student confidence. In a
study he co-authored with Holman
and then-Ph.D. candidate Stephen
Aguilar
called
“Game-Inspired
Design: Empirical Evidence in
Support of Gameful Learning
Environments,” Fishman found
students generally held positive
views of the reformed grading
system, and these views resulted in
greater confidence and perception
of fairness.
He also said traditional learning
and grading also have game-like
elements, but re- emphasized his
belief that the motivation to reach a
particular grade, rather than to get
the maximum educational value
out of a particular course, creates
a culture that encourages students
to only act in ways that boost their
GPAs.
“School is already a game,”
Fishman said. “It just is a terrible
game. However, there are things
that University faculty can learn
from
well-designed
games
to
make school into the kind of game
where students behave like users
of good games. They tend to seek
out challenges — they take on
these challenges not in spite of its
difficulty, but rather because it is
hard.”
For students, failing safely
For
students,
GradeCraft’s
positive reinforcement and the
tool’s emphasis on points earned
rather than points lost also aims to
create a system in which individuals
aren’t afraid to try failing.
GAMECRAFT
From Page 1A
released last week — but while
only 40 faculty members attended
the faculty forum, about 120 staff
members were present at their
Friday forum.
The LSA strategic plan is one
part of the overall DEI initiative,
with
forty-nine
units
across
campus
spent
the
summer
developing their own strategies,
which administrators are now
rolling into one school-wide plan.
Schlissel will debut the overall
initiative on Oct. 6.
Latisha Cunningham, LSA’s first
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
officer,
pointed
to
existing
practices, such as staff recruitment
and development, already in place
in the college. In addition to
reviewing best practices in every
department and unit over the
summer, Cunningham noted she
administered an administrative
forum survey across the college to
gauge attitudes.
“LSA
has
deeply
invested
resources, time, energy and effort
before this,” she told attendees.
“We are just building on this … to
the University’s overall strategic
plan.”
Cunningham
emphasized
the inclusion in the plan of new
cross-cultural and unconscious
bias training for faculty and staff,
referencing racial tension around
the nation and even as close as
Eastern
Michigan
University
in Ypsilanti, where protesters
gathered after racially charged
graffiti was discovered last week.
Cunningham
also
said
LSA
would
invest
more
resources
into cultivating an equitable and
inclusive environment through
these training sessions.
“One of the most common
things I’ve heard from people
applying to start in our position is
that staff would like to be equipped
with the tools to have those hard
conversations with faculty, other
staff and also students,” she said.
Staff
members
present
welcomed the initiatives, but also
shared hesitation about its lasting
effectiveness.
Jeff
Harrold,
academic
standards
and
special
populations coordinator in the
Newnan Advising Center, said
administrators need to balance
implementation and expectations
of the plan.
“This was pleasantly received,
and I know a lot of work went into
it,” he said. “How it works out will
depend now on disseminating
information … if it’s done right,
people will be able to engage
across units.”
Amy Harris, director of the
Museum
of
Natural
History,
urged the DEI team to think about
implementing more personalized
plans,
in
addition
to
the
administration’s overall initiative,
to ensure accountability.
“There’s been great input from
everyone, but as a unit director,
I’m especially interested in how
we can develop plans within our
units and even take responsibility
on an individual basis,” she said.
“(An individual plan) can be
aligned with where each person is,
whether it be certain tasks they set
for themselves, or a larger goal.”
She added that overall, she
thought ultimately the strategic
plan — while admirable — needs to
reach all levels of the college.
“We need to bake this into our
culture and not just have a plan
that’s coming out of our central
administration,” she said.
LSA Dean Andrew Martin
affirmed
the
importance
of
accountability, arriving in the
last half of the session to listen to
attendees’ comments and address
concerns.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,
and accountability is baked into
this process. If this doesn’t work, I
will not be the dean after a certain
period of time,” he said. “Our
expectations are high, and this is
an exercise we’ve gone through
as a campus before. Leadership …
is on board, not just regard to our
rhetoric but also the commitments
we’re making financially to do the
right things.”
Martin, along with Katrina
Wade-Golden,
director
of
evaluation and assessment for
the Office of the Vice Provost for
Equity, Inclusion, and Academic
Affairs, also previewed a staff
census to be administered next
spring to provide baseline data on
broader campus climate.
size of the audience does raise
concern.”
LSA Dean Andrew Martin
said he was disappointed with
the faculty turnout, but assured
those in attendance that he was
committed to doing the work to
ensure the implementation of DEI
is successful.
“To be frank, I wish we had a
couple hundred more colleagues
with us today,” Martin said.
The three main goals of the
plan Cole focused on included
improving faculty climate and
retention,
establishing
stronger
mentorship
programs
among
faculty and strengthening faculty
recruitment.
Cole said the administration
found female professors often
felt
excluded
from
significant
faculty policy discussions and that
faculty who were committed to
implementing
diversity
wanted
more recognition.
Faculty in the audience agreed
with this discussion. Mathematics
Prof. Roman Vershynin said a
sense of belonging among minority
faculty can be improved.
“There
are
people
in
departments who reject diversity,
so it is important to bring awareness
to this topic,” Vershynin said.
To
improve
mentoring
in
particular, the plan outlines new
LAUNCH mentorship programs
for all departments, which would
provide faculty with a support
system
by
incorporating
the
department chair, a mentor within
the department, a mentor outside
the department, and a convenor,
or someone who is trained for
the role to implement mentorship
programming.
Cole noted that a focus of the
overall DEI plan is also on the
recruitment and establishment of
a postdoctoral fellowship program.
University
President
Mark
Schlissel is expected to explain
the postdoctoral fellowship plan
in more detail on Oct. 6, when the
DEI initiative is officially launched.
Cole only briefly outlined the plan
to the audience stating that the goal
is to hire 50 postdoctoral fellows to
LSA over the next five years who
have the skills, backgrounds and
commitment to enhance diversity
on campus.
Faculty in attendence questioned
the postdoctoral fellowship plan
and how it would be successfully
implemented.
“The proposal to have postdocs
is complicated because different
disciplines have different ways they
use postdoctoral fellows” said Prof.
Jim Penner-Hahn.
Another point of controversy
among the attendees centered on
potentially creating a new position
of associate dean for diversity,
equity and inclusion and faculty
development.
As it stands in the plan, this
dean would be responsible for
communicating between different
departments
on
campus.
In
response
to
faculty
concerns,
Martin acknowledged finding a
place for the position would be
complicated.
“We want to make sure that this
person has real responsibility and
authority in this organization and
how that works in the way we are
already structured is complicated,”
Martin said. “We don’t know what
the answer is, but we will have to
make a decision within the next
four to five months.”
Along
with
discussing
the
steps DEI planners are taking
to achieve the plan’s goals, Cole
also emphasized the importance
students
influences,
citing
#BeingBlackatUM
movement,
or #BBUM, which began in 2013
when Black students took to
Twitter to describe experiences
of estrangement and exclusion on
campus.
“We think it is really important
to
also
acknowledge
in
the
planning process the fundamental
motivation of the students who
participated in the Being Black
at the University of Michigan
movement,” Cole said.
Two of the four forums held to
discuss the plan have also been
geared
toward
graduate
and
undergraduate students, another
way administrators and faculty
hope to include student voices in
the plan’s creation.
In closing the forum, Martin
reiterated that the purpose of the
DEI initiative is to create a better
University of Michigan.
“The goal is for LSA to be the
absolutely best place in the world
to be a faculty member or student,”
Martin said.
STRATEGY
From Page 1A
PLAN
From Page 1A
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