President-elect Donald 

Trump has selected incoming 

University of Michigan Regent 

Ron Weiser as a finance vice-

chair for his inauguration this 

January, meaning Weiser will 

be serving in that capacity 

when he starts in his role as 

regent. 

Weiser, a University of 

Michigan alum and previous 

chairman of the Michigan 

Republican Party, was elected 

to the board along incumbent 

Regent Denise Illitch (D), 

edging out incumbent Regent 

Laurence Deitch (D) and 

moving the board to a 5-3 

Democratic majority instead of 

its current 6-2 balance. He ran 

on his promise to freeze tuition 

rates and balance the growing 

budget.

Protests and vigils over 

Trump’s election, as well as 

several hate crimes reported in 

the aftermath of his election, 

have been frequent on campus 

over the past few weeks, with 

many students expressing fear 

and concern about what impact 

the next president could have.

Prior to serving on the 

inauguration committee, 

Weiser was also part of a 

national fundraising effort for 

the Trump Victory Committee 

during the campaign season, 

which Deitch frequently noted 

in his campaign. In an event 

last week, Weiser said he 

agrees with Trump’s economic 

policies but does not agree 

with all of his rhetoric in 

response to questions about his 

support for Trump.

“We all make choices, and 

I’m an economic conservative 

and I think that some of 

the things that I believe 

in are fundamental, and I 

don’t believe that they’re 

being promoted in order 

to take advantage of the 

disadvantaged,” Weiser said. 

“I spent most of my life trying 

to help the disadvantaged, not 

take advantage of them.”

He could not be reached for 

comment Wednesday on the 

appointment. 

—CAITLIN REEDY

BRIEF: INCOMING UNIVERSITY REGENT RON 
WEISER TO PLAY ROLE IN TRUMP INAUGURATION

JESSE JACK SON SYMPOSIUM

2-News

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2A — Thursday, November 17, 2016
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in Belgium, so I was around that 
type of environment for a while,” 
she said. “I was a little homesick 
for a while, but I got used to it 
because I’m quite used to being 
independent.”

According to the University 

of Michigan admissions website, 
international students make up 
14.4 percent of the University 
undergraduate population and 
originate 
from 
118 
different 

countries. Despite obstacles such 
as securing jobs in the United 
States, this number continues to 
grow.

Across the nation, the number 

of international students studying 
in American universities is at 
an all-time high. According to 
the annual Open Doors report 
released Monday by the Institute 
of International Education, since 
2015 the number of international 
students in the United States has 
grown by 7.1 percent to reach 1 

million total.

Many students from global 

backgrounds, 
like 
Gomes-Ng, 

attended international schools 
either in the United States or 
elsewhere for their primary and 
secondary education. University 
alum Alice Song, who graduated 
in 2015, said her parents’ decision 
to send her to boarding schools 
in Thailand and Canada was 
influenced by their concerns with 
the Korean school system.

“It’s a lot of studying and 

conformity (in Korea),” Song 
said. “Everyone takes the same 
classes and there are not many 
extracurricular 
activities 
or 

resources available.”

Many international students 

said the highly rated programs 
offered by the University are also 
a strong draw for enrollment, 
particularly in specific fields of 
study like engineering or pre-
medicine. 
Engineering 
junior 

Tay Tantivirun said he also 
likes the emphasis that both his 
international schools and the 
University 
place 
on 
learning 

outside the classroom.

“The difference between my 

international school and public 
schools in Thailand is that they 
really emphasize sports and doing 
activities,” he said. “That’s what 
I like about coming to Michigan. 
You’re not just here to study.”

A shift in identity
For 
many 
students, 
their 

time studying in the U.S. is 
characterized by the personal 
as well, experiencing shifts and 
changes in their identities.

Song, 
who 
identifies 
as 

bisexual, 
said 
escaping 
the 

constraints of traditional Korean 
society and studying abroad has 
allowed her to explore who she is 
and become more open-minded.

“Here, there’s a lot more 

freedom as to what you can 
identify with or what is OK,” 
she said. “I feel like when I go 
to Korea it’s like I have to be in a 
certain way because that’s just 
how it is considered. People care 
a lot.”

She said she has not told her 

family 
about 
her 
orientation 

because she believes her mother’s 
conservative 
upbringing 
in 

Korea has contributed to a lack 
of understanding of the LGBTQ 
community.

“She’s trying really hard to 

understand,” she said. “It’s me 
that’s changing, not her. That’s 
why it’s so difficult to talk about 
certain 
things 
because 
it’s 

hard to understand from her 
perspective.”

Song said she felt a disconnect 

with 
her 
identity 
during 

sophomore 
year 
overall 
— 

living outside of Korea for so 
long made her lose connection 
to her ethnicity. She also said 
she 
was 
influenced 
by 
the 

fear of being associated with 
negative stereotypes reflecting 
international students.

“I didn’t very strongly identify 

as a Korean,” she said. “There was 
nothing good that could come out 
as identifying as Korean because 
there were a lot of stereotypes 
about 
Asians 
in 
general 
or 

studying abroad that I didn’t want 
to be associated with.”

Tantivirun 
echoed 
these 

sentiments, saying the prolonged 
time he has spent outside his 
home country has left him feeling 
alienated in both Thailand and 
the United States.

“I’m 
really 
different 
from 

people back home in Thailand 
because I’ve been abroad for so 
long,” he said. “Sometimes I feel 
like an outside when I’m home. 
And sometimes when I’m in the 
United States, I don’t feel exactly 
at home.”

Despite this, Tantivirun said 

he is glad to be attending school in 
the United States. He said leaving 
the country he has lived in for 
most of his life to learn in a new 
environment has allowed him to 
see opportunities that he did not 
have at home.

“You’re so used to the world 

that you live in,” he said. “But once 
you move out, you start realizing 
the flaws and what’s wrong with 
certain things.”

Life on campus
Coming from an international 

school, 
Tantivirun 
said 
he 

was prepared to handle the 
difference in the environment 
of American colleges. He credits 
this ease from culture shock to 
the 
extracurricular 
activities 

offered at the University, citing 
student organization BLUElab 
in particular as an outlet he 
could use to discover what 
he was passionate about. The 
organization, comprised of 12 
multidisciplinary project teams, 
promotes collaboration with local 
and international stakeholders on 
a variety of issues.

“It 
really 
changed 
my 

perspective,” Tantivirun said. “I 
really want to do engineering for 
humanitarian purposes. In the 
long run, I want to come back 
home and help out my country.”

For Song, her time in English-

speaking international schools 
in Thailand and Canada was also 
beneficial in transitioning into 
post-secondary education in the 
United States. 

STUDENTS
From Page 1A

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

EMMA RICHTER/Daily

University of Michigan alum Bryon Maxey discusses his student activism during his time at the University at 
Rackham Ampitheater Wednesday. 

of the microphones stationed 
around the space. The audience 
was urged not to clap, but to sit 
in silence as a show of respect 
and to reflect on the survivors’ 
words. Because the content 
shared in the event could have 
been 
potentially 
triggering 

for other survivors, SAPAC 
advocates 
were 
stationed 

outside the doors to talk if 
anyone needed to exit the 
space and survivors could go 

to a “debrief” after the event.

After the event, Dunbeck 

said 
she 
thought 
it 
ran 

smoothly, noting that there 
was 
never 
a 
long 
pause 

between 
the 
survivors’ 

sharing of stories.

“I think it went really well,” 

Dunbeck said. “It’s a space 
for survivors to share their 
stories and we almost had no 
lulls in the conversation at all. 
Everyone went up right after 
another and got to tell their 
story.”

As 
the 
SAPAC 
Speak 

Out is an annual event, the 
co-coordinators 
said 
they 

drew on how the event has 
been run in the past to ensure 
the continuity of the message 
of the speak out.

“I think in general, from 

our 
notes 
from 
previous 

co-coordinators, I think it’s 
maintained 
the 
same 
idea 

throughout, the structure of 
the event is pretty much the 
same,” Subramanian said.

Dunbeck and Subramanian 

ended the event by inviting 
audience members to place a 
flower on a painting of a tree at 
the front of the room, to show 
their solidarity with survivors 
of sexual assault. They also 

encouraged members to write 
down their stories and place 
them in a designated box at 
the back of the room if they did 
not feel comfortable speaking 
in front of a large audience.

Dunbeck 
said 
she 
has 

volunteered 
with 
SAPAC 

for four semesters and was 
inspired by her mother, who 
works as a police officer 

dealing with sexual crimes. 
She 
said 
she 
wanted 
to 

make a positive impact like 
her mother, and to support 
survivors.

“We want all the survivors 

to know that we believe them, 
we support them and if they 
need any help to come and 
see SAPAC or to call our crisis 
line,” Dunbeck said.

LSA sophomore Nicholas 

Maternowski 
attended 
the 

event as a SAPAC volunteer. 
Volunteers wore “I Believe 
You” buttons and directed 
survivors to an advocate if one 
was needed. He said he was 
pleased with how the event 
went, especially in terms of 
how 
sensitive 
the 
subject 

matter was.

“I think it went really well,” 

Maternowski said. “I mean it’s 
obviously a difficult topic for 
people to talk about, so it’s just 
very powerful to see people 
talk about their experiences 
in such a open space. It’s very 
eye-opening.”

“It’s a space for 

survivors to share 
their stories and 
we almost had no 

lulls.”

“We want all the 
survivors to know 

that we believe 

them, we support 

them.”

SAPAC
From Page 1A

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

