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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Thursday, November 3, 2016 — 3A

goes.”

So far, these efforts led by

Aqel and 10 other students
include
hosting
a
film

screening and organizing
informational
tables
in

University buildings such
as Angell Hall and the
Chemistry building. Aqel
said these efforts aim to
both increase awareness
of the educational crisis
in Syria and find students
willing to sign the petition,
which in turn strengthens
their proposal to CSG.

“If
this
campaign

continues
to
gather

signatures, all of that, and
even support from various
student
organizations,

that will only make this
call
for
scholarships

much
stronger,”
Aqel

said. “And then it’ll show
administrators that it’s not
just me or my team that are
interested in this, it’s this
diverse network of students
that are very interested in
this campaign.”

Public
Health
student

Lilah
Khoja
is
another

organizer of the efforts at
the University who works
with the Karam Foundation,
another Syrian nonprofit
organization co-sponsoring
Books
Not
Bombs.

Khoja said the campaign
resonated with her view
of education as a human
right, especially through
the lens of her identity as a
Syrian-American and her
experience working with
Syrian refugees.

“To
ask
elementary

schoolers, ‘what do you
want to do?’ and for them
to say ‘well, what can I do?
There’s nothing for me’ —
that’s really why I feel very
passionately about Books
Not Bombs and why I think
it’s so important to give this
opportunity to those who
really need it,” she said.

She said she felt the

University has the potential
to set an example for other
public universities around
the country.

“I think if (Books Not

Bombs) is a success at the
University
of
Michigan,

that will just galvanize
other students at other
universities to push for
the same thing on their
campuses,” Khoja said.

Khoja also emphasized

the
importance
of
the

apolitical nature of the
campaign.

“Education is a human

right, and so in a context
of war where numerous
crimes against humanity
and war crimes are being
carried out, education is
really oftentimes the first
thing to be attacked,” she
said. “Because education
is all about empowering
people in communities, it’s
important for a campaign
like this to remain apolitical,
so all communities in Syria
can benefit from something
like this, regardless of their
ethnicity, regardless of their
religion, of their sexual
orientation.”

BOOKS
From Page 2A

a concentration of wealth with a
select few people who control all
of the policies and we don’t really
talk about class in America. Like,
everyone is middle-class, you hear
it in political rhetoric, we avoid
class, and I feel like it’s time to
give it the attention it deserves.”

Lang said, when he was in

college, there were academic
conversations
on
racial
and

gender inequality, due to the
movements surrounding them,
but socioeconomic inequity was
not talked about in the same
fashion.

“I think that’s primarily due

to the civil rights movements
and primarily also due to the
women’s movement of the late
‘60s and early ‘70s,” he said. “So
that was on the agenda, race and
gender inequality, which were
important topics at the time. But
social class — or socioeconomic
status as it’s called by some, I like
to call it social class — wasn’t on
the higher education agenda.

Of course it was talked about
in different departments, but it
wasn’t a focus.”

However, Lang said he thinks

the current election, among other
personal experiences and issues
important to students related to
the political environment over
the past few years, has piqued
students’ interest on the topic of
social class.

“I think the interest in social

class
studies
relates
to
the

political environment that we’ve
seen, the political debates from
both Republicans and Democrats,
students’ lives as they’ve lived
in different social classes before
they’ve come here,” Lang said.
“A lot of students who are here
now grew up during the recession
and
they’ve
probably
heard

a lot of different interesting
conversations at home, stresses
and strains, even that middle
class
parents
and
families

experienced.”

Schandevel said she thought

Sen.
Bernie
Sanders’
(I–Vt.)

speeches during his campaign
in the Democratic primary that
highlighted low corporate taxes

and the economic power of Wall
Street helped spark conversations
on
social
class
inequality.

Additionally, she noted that the
support Republican presidential
nominee Donald Trump receives
from working-class Americans
continues to bring the issues in
the political sphere.

“People have been kind of

honing in on the demographic
and trying to figure them out,”
Schandevel said. “There are a lot
of subliminal conversations about
class that aren’t explicitly about
class.”

So far, Schandevel said, student

responses
for
her
program

have been generally positive.
LSA
Student
Government
is

supporting the idea as well, and
is sending out a survey next week
to gauge interest in the discipline.

Schandevel said she and the

team of other students working
to create the major have primarily
been meeting with faculty to
discuss the new major this
semester. Next semester, the team
plans to focus on independent
studies looking into the feasibility
of the new curriculum.

“Three of us on the team are

doing
an
independent
study

with our mentor at the School
of Social Work, who is giving
us credit to develop a proposal
for the course, the capstone
and then the proposal itself and
throughout that process we’ll be
working with faculty from across
departments to develop these
things,” Schandevel said. We’re
going to write a letter and have
faculty members sign it and so
when we take it to the curriculum
committee it’s a little bit more
compelling.”

Ideally, Schandevel said the

group would get a pilot course
implemented by next year, which
students in it would then evaluate
at the end. She said they will
conduct focus groups to see what
the interest for a program is like
to gain empirical data, and to
determine if they have enough
faculty support to introduce the
proposal
for
implementation

around 2018 or 2019.

Barry Checkoway, professor

of social work and Schandevel’s
mentor, said he met her after he
wrote a “fan letter” to Schandevel

for her column in The Michigan
Daily on her initial impressions of
social class at the University as a
freshman.

The two have been discussing

social class for the past year, and
he supported the idea for the
new program when she began
speaking to him about it.

“I thought that social class

is among the most important
forces in American society, that
there are almost no courses at the
University of Michigan that focus
on social class, and that if the
University of Michigan is trying
to recruit lower-income, first
generation students, that there’s
need for a course or courses that
are responsive to them,” he said.

The program, according to

the group, would potentially
be housed in the Sociology
Department. Lang said he thinks
the Sociology Department would
be a logical place for the program,
though he said there has been
discussion about housing it in the
American Studies Department,
too, or other departments.

“Historically,
sociology

has
always
studied
social

stratification and social class has
always been part of that,” he said.

While it may be housed in

the
Sociology
Department,

Schandevel said ideally students
could take related classes in
any department because of the
program’s
interdisciplinary

nature, noting many existing
classes that touch on social class
could be incorporated into the
potential program. This would
mean only an introductory course
and a capstone project would
have to be created to tie the
disciplinary together.

Overall, Schandevel said she

hopes the major can change
students’ views on social class
by studying the issue with more
nuance.

“I grew up in a working-class

background so I already have
thought about these things and
I want this to be available to
students who haven’t thought
about class in this way, so maybe
students from an upper-middle
class
background
could
take

these courses and go through this
program and see the world in a
different way,” she said.

MAJOR
From Page 1A

Black people differently.

In
this
study,
Assari

ultimately
found
that
while

negative perceptions of both
neighborhood safety and quality
predict mortality, these factors
are better predictive of mortality
for white people than Black
people.

Similar research has been

conducted by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention,
which found that social, physical
and economic characteristics of
neighborhoods are increasingly
recognized as having short- and
long-term
consequences
for

residents’ lifespan.

Assari noted that there are

social
factors
contributing

to Black resilience in poorer
conditions, such as a history of
oppression.

As an example, he cited Flint,

noting that traditionally, the
poorer areas of the city were
occupied by low-income Black
people, more and more white
people have been moving into
the area in recent years. Assari
connected this to his findings,
saying poor neighborhood quality
would have more negative effects
on the newer, white residents.
This is in part due to traditional
community
support
systems

Black people tend to have that
reduce
their
neighborhood’s

effects.

“In the community there

are sources of support from
community
members,
from

religion, from connection to God
which are known to be stronger
for Blacks,” Assari said.

Assari also noted that an

individual’s comparison with
social
networks
can
also

influence his or her perceptions
of a neighborhood environment,
saying it should be considered
in crafting policy aimed at

improving neighborhood safety
and quality.

“There
might
be
certain

populations
that
are
more

vulnerable
to
the
same

exposure,”
Assari
said.
“So

policies which do not consider
these group differences may
fail to reduce health disparities
because, if you just universally
promote safety and just ignore
that safety is going to have
differential effects for different
groups, you would not be able to
predict what (these policies are)
going to do.

Roshanak Mehdipanah, an

assistant professor of health
behavior and health education,
was not directly involved in
the
study,
but
highlighted

Assari’s findings in terms of
her research, which primarily
focuses on urban health equity.

Mehdipanah
said
both

one’s
physical
environment

—
including
infrastructure,

housing, public transportation
and physical access to healthy
food sources — and social
factors — such as access to
clinics, employment programs
or
employment
rates,

education
opportunities
and

demographics — all contribute
to one’s perception of their
neighborhood’s
safety
and

quality.

She noted that in many poorer

neighborhoods, there is a lack
of investment that leads to
physical neighborhood issues
around safety, lack of resources
and higher vacancy, all of which
then contribute to social factors.

“Because
there’s
this

disinvestment,
resources

begin dropping out too, so you
don’t have as many outlets —
for example, for employment
opportunities — and so it’s
this cycle of one contributing
to the other in creating those
inequalities between these types
of neighborhoods,” Mehdipanah
said.

NEIGHBORHOOD
From Page 1A

Over the past few days, both

campaigns
have
stopped
in

Michigan in the last week left on
the trail. In addition to Sanders’
rally, Trump stopped in Warren
and Grand Rapids on Monday, his
children Ivanka Trump and Donald
Trump Jr. rallied in Troy and
Detroit Wednesday and a Clinton
rally is scheduled for Detroit on
Friday.

Support in the state and at the

University of Michigan has leaned
in favor of Clinton for most of the
general election season. The most
recent
RealClearPolitics
polling

average shows Clinton leading by
6.4 points, and the most recent
Michigan Daily election sample
survey showed Clinton with 70.3
percent of student support and
Trump with 13.1 percent.

In his remarks, Sanders stressed

the importance of voter turnout
and encouraged students to vote,
as young people traditionally have
the lowest voter turnout rates.
Additionally, he mentioned the
accusations Democrats have made
against the Republican National
Committee for voter intimidation
efforts targeting minorities.

“We’ve got to do everything we

can to get more people voting, more
people engaged in the process,”
Sanders said. “I want this country to
have a vibrant democracy.”

The Clinton campaign has also

stressed the importance of higher

education
reform
throughout

the campaign season. After she
accepted the nomination, Clinton
and Sanders collaborated to update
Clinton’s New College Compact
to include tuition-free college for
families earning less than $125,000
per year. While the feasibility of
these plans has been questioned by
some institutions, higher education
reform is a popular topic among
students.

On Wednesday, Sanders stressed

that more jobs require a college
degree than in previous decades,
meaning higher education must
be provided at little to no cost for
maximum employment equity.

“When we talk about public

education, it is not good enough
to say kindergarten through 12th
grade,” he said. “The world has
changed and education has got to
change. When we talk about public
education, it must be making public
colleges and universities tuition
free.”

Western Michigan University

sophomore Mara Minott said she
plans to vote for Clinton because
she believes she will best help all
citizens.

“It was really a moving speech

that makes you think about what is
going on in our country,” she said.
“For African Americans I think
(Clinton is) for everybody and it’s
not as if you are this color you get
looked upon more highly than
someone — it’s equal. For me, I was
like, ‘I can be down with that.’ ”

In his remarks, Sanders also

asked the audience to consider each
candidate’s stance on the issues

rather than consider the candidates
as individuals.

Both candidates have relatively

high unfavorability ratings, leading
many voters to feel dissatisfied with
their two major party options in the
election.

“There are a lot of people in

Michigan and a lot of people in
Vermont who don’t like Donald
Trump and who don’t like Hillary
Clinton,” he said. “I am asking you to
go beyond personality. Take a hard
look at the issues that are impacting
the middle class and impact this
country, and on every issue you will
find Hillary Clinton’s position far,
far superior to Donald Trump’s.”

Paul Clements, WMU professor

and
6th
district
Democratic

Congressional candidate, in his
introduction of Sanders praised
the senator to the crowd for the
grassroots movement he created
during the primary election.

“He inspired me, like I know he

inspired many of us here today, with
a vision of what government of, by
and for the people needs to be in the
21st century,” he said.

WMU junior Erin Huggett said

Clements, who appeared popular
among the crowd from cheers and
numerous , earned her support due
to his ability to further Sanders’
goals on more local level.

“I knew once Bernie wasn’t able

to make the primary election goals
that he had that I would want to vote
for someone who he backed and
supported for our local election,”
she said. “I think as the revolution
goes on, it is important that we look
at the local elections.”

SANDERS
From Page 1A

purple and greater and greater
difficulty in states being able to
find ways to work across partisan
and even regional boundaries,”
Rabe said.

To illustrate his point, Rabe

cited the state of Washington,
which in the 1980s and 1990s
pushed forward numerous pieces
of
progressive
environmental

legislation but over the course of
the last decade has struggled to
pass any sort of bill. Currently, on
the Washington ballot this year is
a proposal known as Initiative 732
that would place a tax on carbon
and while the idea of a carbon tax
has been adopted in countries like
Canada, Rabe said he thinks the
ballot proposal will be defeated.

“That will be defeated as we are

at a point where there is almost an
even split amongst the electorate,”
Rabe said. “When you get this
far into a campaign, the ‘no’ vote
begins to take over. It is the first
explicit test of whether or
not that policy is credible in a
larger system.”

Panelist
Lisa
Wozniak,

the
executive
director

of
the
Michigan
League

of
Conservation
Voters,

a
nonpartisan
political

organization
dedicated
to

safeguarding the state’s land,
air and water, highlighted
the current state of policy in
Michigan. Wozniak said since
2008, a significant amount of
environmental legislation has
been proposed in the state
legislature.

ENERGY
From Page 1A

Over the past few months, the

Republican nominee has faced
significant criticism on his attitude
toward
women.
Last
month,

The Washington Post released a
2005 tape of Trump in which he
discussed touching women without
their consent. Since the publication
of the tape, multiple women have
come forward to accuse Trump
of sexually assaulting them. The
Trump campaign has denied the
women’s accounts.

However,
in
Troy,
Ivanka

Trump’s discussion of her father’s
policies
on
women’s
issues

resonated for many in attendance,
including a collection of local
businesswomen
who.
attended

the event. Michelle Fint, who is
employed in the hotel industry and
expressed support for Trump, said
she was especially concerned about
health benefits.

“My concern is primarily with

women’s issues,” Fint said. “In
particular, with the plight of
single mothers. Some places have
been forced to stop offering the
same health benefits to those in
that situation, which can really
affect people’s future planning.”

Business issues were a frequent

touchstone for Ivanka Trump,
who also wove in concerns about
child care and education, such as
maternity leave — issues that she
said are of particular concern for
women in business.

“One of the areas that my

father has felt strongly about is
paid maternity leave,” Trump
said, prompting a loud applause
from the crowd.

Despite
the
focus
on

women’s issues, some women in
attendance, like Marian Sheridan,

did not emphasize women’s issues
as the most important issues of
the election.

Prior to the event, Sheridan

said she believed gender relations
in the United States were already
positive.

“We already have the best

country in the world for gender
relations,” Sheridan said. “I don’t
see that as something that needs
tinkering. I believe that it’s an
example of how Democrats try to
find issues with things.”

In her remarks, Ivanka Trump

also
discussed
her
father’s

educational plan, in particular
his proposal for the allocation
of grants to the states to address
educational standards, and his
support for charter and magnet
schools.

“My
father
will
repeal

Common
Core
when
he
is

president,” Trump said. “He
has a plan to provide grants
to the states so that they can
best address the needs of their
schools. Additionally, he believes
in school choice for students …
There should be no one-size-fits-
all approach.”

Trump concluded the event by

reaffirming her confidence in her
father’s abilities to call upon his
business leadership skills during
his time in office, if elected.

“My father is someone who

swings for the fences, but also
executes,” Trump said. “And
what you can count on is that he
is not beholden to anyone but the
American people.”

Some supporters also gathered

outside of the event to express
their sentiments about Trump.

IVANKA
From Page 1A

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